From our research we drew up codes and conventions of existing music videos of the indie genre. This aids us in discussing the ways in which we have used, developed and challenged these conventions. The codes and conventions I devised from my research are:

•A balance of performance and narrative shots.

•Performance shots and narrative shots are generally in completely alternate locations.

•Close ups of the artist and shots of the instruments used to create the track.

•Aspects of ambiguity or abstractness.

Originally, our edited music video did not contain performance shots. However, after worries that it appeared more like a short film than a music video we shot and added performance shots. We tried to balance the amount of each, in order for them to compliment each other. The two different actress’ we used for the performance shots and the narrative shots are completely different in appearance. This draws a stark contrast between the two separate shots and adds depth to our product.

Our performance shots are filmed in a forest, whereas our narrative shots are filmed in the city. This idea of urban v rural is seen throughout all our products (digipak, video and advert). This motif is effective as it is a strong contrast which is attractive and pleasing to the viewer. The rural setting suggests a sense of freedom within the performer and perhaps is a statement about singing being a freedom. The urban setting reflects the girls life, as a bustling London city reflects her busy life.

We use several close ups of the performer. This sells the artist and helps with further products of hers that we may wish to produce and sell. Introducing the artist and ensuring there are close ups of her face enables her to build up a fan base. However, unlike the majority of indie music videos, we do not show any use of instruments in our music video. We felt that it perhaps would not fit in with our video and could not see where we would place shots of instruments.

Our video has a strong aspect of abstractness, through the use of masks. The masks create a sense of abstract confusion for the viewer and is an individual take on animalistic imagery. This obscurity is enhanced by the way the masked characters walk and the handheld camera shots. The masked characters creep throughout the video- enhancing this idea of abstractness. The hand held camera shots has the same effect as it is cutting fast between the separate masked actors.

Through my research into magazine adverts I was able to draw up codes and conventions of an indie magazine advert and digipak and use them in the evaluation of our own magazine advert and digipak.

The codes and conventions that I discovered from my research regarding magazine adverts included:

•An image or background, linking with the music video or album cover.

•Information about the release of the album, often written in bold.

•A continual font, with the exception of the band’s name.

Our image and our background follow this convention as they link all of our products together. The background of our advert links urban with rural (the two locations seen in our video) through the use of tree branches on top of a brick wall. The panels on our digipak start as solely a rural background and get continually more urban until the final panel is solely urban.

Above is a cut out from The Killers poster (a typically indie band) and the one below is a cut out from our own poster. This comparison shows how closely our advert followed the conventions of other indie magazine adverts. The font is bold and in capital letters so that the viewer is fully aware of the details and so it catches the eye of readers. The information given includes a list of things included in the album and the date of release.

We did not follow this convention as we used a separate font for the name of the band, the title of the album and the information regarding the album. We chose to use separate fonts in order to reinforced the motif of urban v rural. The font depicting the band’s name represents the rural and the more childlike font, represents a graffiti type font, suggesting an urban feel.