EVALUATION TASK 1

Media Conventions in our Music Video

What are conventions?

■ A convention is an arrangement of codes and traditional rules which dictate the way that something is usually done.

■ These norms are often widely acknowledged within regular culture, and help audiences instantly recognise the genre of certain products.

■ All forms of media conform to conventions when creating products in order to comply with what an audience expects to see.

■ In relation to music videos, conventions are often based around things like camera work, editing, set design and cast.

■ The genre of our band was indie-rock which therefore meant that we were searching for conventions within that bracket of the music industry.

Indie-Rock as a genre■ Indie-rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United

Kingdom in the 1980s. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the college rock.

■ Genre of music, nicknamed after the independent labels which support lesser-known bands. Typically, the independent labels allow more "musical freedom", which results in a truer, less cookie-cutter sound that mainstream listeners do not immediately identify with. Indie rock draws inspiration from bands such as the Beatles, The Velvet Underground, and Radiohead.

■ Many indie rock bands are characterized by the use of unique or less-popular instruments. Subjectively (since music is subjective), indie rock cd’s typically sound less "perfect" than mainstream music, which typically grabs the attention of indie rock enthusiasts.

Music videoSet DesignWe chose our sets in order to give our band a platform to show their characteristics as well as to help with the narrative. This meant that our sets were very important to the video so the first shot we used was of one of our sets.

Using an alternative set like a wood is a physical representation of the band’s choice to make alternative or “indie” music as opposed to making pop songs and mainstream music.

Music VideoSet DesignWe used a minimalistic set design because it develops the conventions of an indie-rock video. Indie-rock bands about the music, not about the way they look in their video.

The connotations within the video that suggest the band are down-to-earth people. This is a convention of indie-rock and they are ”normal” just like their fans.

This is further explored through the performance element of the symbolic conventions.

Music VideoPerformanceOur performance style for our music video not only is similar to that in the “Use Somebody” video, but it also links in with Dyers star theory, that a star should be both relatable for their fans. The way our lead singer and the band perform suggest that they are just normal people. Our lead singer often moves around the other band members and shares moments with them as they perform the song. This shows that their relationship isn’t constructed by their manager or producer – their friendship is real. Much like Kings of Leon, the performance mainly comes through the instruments rather that the singer which develops the convention that indie-rock bands are “about the music” and not about the fame and fortune of being talented in the public eye.

Music VideoPerformanceIn The 1975’s video for “Chocolate” the lead singer mainly sings to the camera. This gives a sense that he is singing to the audience, which not only makes their songs more relatable, but it makes the band more likeable in general.

We tried to replicate this in our video because they are a new band, and therefore need the largest audience possible in order to gain more recognition and popularity in the music industry.

Music VideoLightingIn filming, we tried to make blue and pink washes a motif throughout the video. We chose these colours because stereotypically, pink appeals to females and blue appeals to males. This therefore means that our chosen colour scheme appeals to both sexes and eventually will widen their audience.

We used projections over the band to stimulate the idea of the wild lights at a gig, to induce excitement in the viewers and to add a quirky edge to video that would set it apart from other videos in the indie-rock genre.

Music VideoLighting

Our use of shadows within the video was very stylistic. We did this by doing backlighting the whole band, rather than just using a darkly lit studio and/or editing the colours in post-preduction. Therefore we developped this common convection and gave our video a much more natural effect.

We also challenged this convention further, by using the whole band rather than just the lead singer. This promoted a more unified band as opposed to a clear leader/follower feel.

I felt that this reflected that our band was being advertised as new rather than pre-existing, thereby showing them all as equal in their band but also equal to their audience and fans.

Music VideoCamera WorkWe tried to be very expressive with our shot composition to instil the fact that the band is indie-rock and therefore not mainstream.

We used oddly-angled shots to add depth to the video, as well as to make it more interesting to watch.

The way we chose to film helped us to stay within the lines of an indie-rock music video This is because we stayed away from basic shots - like a wide shot looking straight forward – as much as possible.

Music VideoCamera WorkWe often angled our wide shots in different ways to make it more interesting to view as well as mirroring the excitement of the video.

An example of this is having a wide shot on the camera but pointing it towards the left as the boys climbed the fallen tree. This way of shooting is also seen in The 1975’s video for their song “Chocolate” as they use a wide shot to show the band in a car through its windscreen.

We chose to film like this because it develops the individual way an indie-rock group would approach their music videos. Our angled shooting style differs from generic pop videos and allowed us to be a lot more creative when filming.

Music VideoCostume, Hair and MakeupAlthough we spent a lot of time deliberating over the costumes and the overall style we wanted to achieve, we wanted their costumes to look effortless – like the band had rolled out of bed and put on the first items of clothing they saw.

We wanted this unclean, rebellious look to conform to the convention that indie-rock bands care more about the music they create, rather than their styling.

Music VideoCostume, Hair and MakeupIn general, our costumes were heavily influenced by rock music. This is because rock is often seen as a rebellious music genre, and the main theme of our entire shoot was rebelling against society.

From looking at ”Chocolate”, we developed this costumes theme to be “lost boys” because the band had decided to rejects society’s idea of good fashion sense and do their own thing.

Furthermore, we wanted the boys to look grubby, but comfortable because in general that’s what artists in indie-rock bands look like, in my opinion. For example, they don’t iron their shirts or have multiple rips in their jeans.

Music VideoEditingEditing is a crucial stage to any music video as it is when all the ideas for styling and narrative come together.

In order for our editing to be successful, we needed to cut the clips to the beat of the song. Not only would this add an element of excitement, but it would match the pace of the song and therefore not lose the happiness and lack of authority the song suggests and what we wanted to portray with our video.

Like “Use Somebody”, we colour graded our video in post-production so that it would have a vintage feel. We did this because we wanted the viewers to realise that the band’s music is authentic and created for a real purpose as opposed to creating a new song to gain more followers.

Music VideoEditingWe challenged the conventions of a basic music video by having an equal amount of shots of each band member within the edited video. We showed each artist playing their instrument in the first set, and then showed them all equally messing about in the second set. This defiance of a convention showed that not only are our band really good friends, but that again, they are more about the music than making up appearanced for the sake of their fans.

This style of editing promoted every band member as opposed to just the lead singer and gave the gave the video a more wholesome feel overall.