In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product conforms to the indie genre in a number of ways, it has the typical codes and conventions that you would fine in a number of British and American indie music videos. These codes and conventions include a hybrid video involving performance and narrative, this sort of convention is very common in the indie genre and this was made relevant in Biffy Clyro's video for Black Chandelier. The fact that the shots cross match between the band and the other characters reflects this hybridity of the genre and shows the audience the differences between the performance and narrative of the music video.
Andrew Goodwin said there were particular key features of a music video and these included illustrated or amplified music lyrics, the use of close ups, iconography, intertextuality and for the female artist to be used as an object. In my own music videos the lyrics are illustrated in the way that the couple in the video represent the lyrics "Runaway, runaway, runaway with me" as they are running away together to escape their own lives. The couple in Bullet For My Valentines video for "Tears Don’t Fall" inspired this idea because I was hooked whilst watching it due to the fact that the couple were arguing and shouting at each other. Instead of having the couple in my own music video arguing and shouting I decided that they would be running away together because it fitted with the lyrics of the song, I felt that it also amplified the lyrics because they were being repeated and it gave the video a meaning in the way that the audience can see the couple travelling to meet each other. However, this idea of the couple running away together doesn’t create a contrast because the lyrics and the footage go together, so this is one way that my music video goes against the key features which then makes it more unique when compared to other music videos from the indie genre. Lots of close ups are used throughout my indie music video because they are expected in this type of genre in order to show the audience the bands ideology because this is a typical convention of the indie genre and the audience expect to see these sorts of shots included. The type of clothing worn by the band and actors themselves creates a type of iconography that is normally associated with the indie genre and this is because other bands in the same genre wear similar clothes. The types of clothes worn by indie bands include leather jackets, jeans, shirts with collars, beanie hats, converse, boots or canvas shoes, and the band and actors in my own music video wore these sorts of clothes because they are typical conventions of an indie music video so it is expected that indie bands wear this style of clothing. This creates a sense of iconography because the clothes that indie bands wear are a symbolic representation of their style of music and their lifestyle. There isn’t a female artist in my own music video but there is a female actor and she isn’t represented as an object of men’s desire because I didn’t think that it was highly appropriate for this type of music video. This goes against Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory, which says that women should be represented as passive objects for men to enjoy, this theory denies women human identity and is regulates them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance.
The video also conforms to indie genre locations and settings, Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" was filmed in a woodland area which is an unusual setting for a normal music video but in terms of the indie genre it is actually quite relevant as it makes the video look more organic and it would attract people who like the environment and indie music. The product uses natural aesthetics, which links in with Richard Dyer's Utopia theory. This theory suggests that people watch, read or listen to media texts for escapism and diversion from their everyday lives because they want to get away to a perfect and ideal world which reflects a utopian society. This sort of setting will attract the psychographic profile of reformers because they want to make the world a better place. This will cater for their tastes and needs, which will make them want to watch the rest of the music video.
The video conforms to a number of lighting conventions due to the woodland area being a very natural environment with natural light, this sort of convention is common in the indie genre because it reflects the ideals of the band and the music that they write. Paramore's video for "Decode" is set in a woodland area, and it uses cold ambient lighting which also conforms to the typical indie genre. This video reflects the melancholic mood of the lyrics, because of the lighting and the way the woodland area and different types of shots in the video, are synchronous to what the band are singing. The different shot types in this video are similar to my own in the way that they pan across the band in order to give the audience a full view of them and what they're doing, this gives the audience a chance to escape their real lives by the diversion that this video is offering them, this links in with Blumler and Katz's Uses of Gratifications Theory that says audiences consume media texts because it offers them a diversion from the real world.
The video conforms to a narrative of romantic music videos by having a couple who are represented as a prince and princess in terms of Propp's character types, this sort of narrative appeals to a demographic of young girls who are looking for a perfect relationship, and this sort of narrative will attract them to my music video because it offers the audience an enigma code, as said by Barthes, to deconstruct which would be why they're running away together. Another video that has the same sort of idea about a couple who are trying to get away together comes from Bullet For My Valentine "Tears Don't Fall", this video offers multiple enigma codes for the audience and this is the main reason as to why I wanted to have a couple in my own video. The couple in my music video reflects Levi Strauss' theory of Binary Opposites due to them being a man and a woman.
The video also conforms to the use of shot types and angles because they are varied and they reflect the ideals of the band in a way that the audience would be able to make some form of connection with the band members through the shots of the band giving direct address to them. For example, the video for Arctic Monkeys "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" uses a range of different shots, including close ups, to show the audience what the actor is possibly thinking and going through in the video. The same sorts of shots are used in my own music video in order to show the audience what the actors are planning, so they can guess what's going to happen next and then find out if they're right or not. Which creates simulacra and a sense of hyper reality within the audience.
Using some shots from this video for my own was important because I wanted the audience to be able to relate to the characters in my video and I wanted to use shots and angles that would make this easier. The use of close up will help create this sort of connection, and this theory comes from Andrew Goodwin who said that there are seven key features of a music video and the use of close ups is one of these features.
