Evaluation - Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

To assess whether my products have been a success or not I am going to be evaluating them on a number of criteria, beginning with the use of conventions. To make my products look realistic and identifiable as media texts I needed to make sure I followed conventions but to make my products unique I also needed to challenge certain ones. I already had a strong idea of the conventions of music videos before beginning research but I built upon this knowledge by looking at the specific conventions of the mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography and editing within a music video. Upon which I found that following conventions can help to build the narrative and make the message clear. An example of this is in my work is the use of the knife prop and the fake blood (mise-en-scene) to imply that my male character has been harmed without the audience being able to visibly see the girl attacking him. I also found that conventions are changeable with genre and what may apply to a pop video does not apply to an Indie video. An indie video is likely to have dark lighting and colours and may feature controversial or different costumes, whereas a pop video would probably use brighter colours and the costumes may be more mainstream. In my video my actress is often wearing dark clothing suited to current style of the indie genre, for example she is frequently seen wearing ripped jeans. I also found that it is quite common for indie artists to actually break conventions, which is a convention of indie artists in itself. In addition to the conventions analysis, I also did a few textual analyses using L.I.I.A.R and the technical elements to see how specific products have used/challenged conventions to create meaning. This proved my initial research, implying that conventions are a vital part of constructing a music video. 

As with the music videos I also had an idea of the conventions of both digipaks and magazine ads having been a consumer of them in the past. However to ensure maximum knowledge of them I conducted a conventions analysis on numerous existing products, enabling me to see what is necessary and what could potentially be left out. From conducting this research I found that features such as the band/artists name, album name and a main, cohesive image were needed on both of my ancillary texts. Cohesion between each product being necessary to create a link. The separate texts have further, differing conventions which are essential in making their mediums identifiable, such conventions have generally been kept in my work. 

Music video

Genre

The genre of my song and therefore my music video is Indie Rock. This genre tends to break conventions rather than following them (which could be classed as an actual convention of the Indie Rock genre). This allowed for a lot of experimentation in the narrative, mise-en-scene, shot types etc and theoretically I could have made the product completely my own. Of course some conventions would have to be kept to allow the story to be understood and interpreted the way I intended. 
I would say that I have followed conventions of the Indie Rock genre, particularly with mise-en-scene. The costumes used generally portray the typical style of an Indie personality, for example the frequent use of black and grey clothing. My actress, Kate is often also seen wearing numerous bracelets and layered necklaces which is a noticeable fashion of the genre. Kates continued eyeliner and dark lipstick make up style also links well with the genre. The lighting I have used in some of the scenes is quite dark which is fairly conventional as the genre is often associated with darkness and dark colours. The narrative of the video is also conventional in relation to the genre as it follows the 'gorey/grunge' style. I found that another common convention is the use of fast pace editing, this is because songs of the Indie Rock genre are usually quite fast paced and it is conventional to match the editing to the pace of the song. I have followed this convention with my video as I have tried to make the majority of my editing fast paced.

Soundtrack 

 

The song I choose to create my music video to is 'Heads Will Roll' by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This song is upbeat but has a sort of sinister feel and doesn't have a direct meaning, therefore as an audience member you have the ability consume the song how you want to. This made deciding on a narrative fairly easy as I and a lot of flexibility and was able to express my interpretation of the song. In this way I have followed conventions as music videos are generally based around the lyrics of the song and its meaning. I have also followed the conventions set by the original video by using 'death' as a theme however the way in which death is portrayed differs to the original which is more playful using glitter and ribbon to insinuate blood. I have not followed any other conventions however (such as cinematography, mise-en-scene, editing, styling, narrative, etc). 
There are remixes of this song such as the A-Trak remix used on the popular film 'Project X' however I chose to use the original because I like the style of the original and the band themselves. The beat of the remix is quite fast which would have made the editing pace fast and this probably wouldn't have worked with my narrative. It is also unconventional for a cover to have a music video. 
Some music video soundtracks also feature diegetic sound which helps to build the narrative but I did not see this necessary with my own video. This is not a rare feature but is not used on all music videos therefore I would not say I was breaking conventions in this way. 

Narrative

The narrative I choose to use follows a couples broken relationship leading to domestic violence and 'mental illness'. I chose to use this narrative because although it is fairly conventional, it is not as common as 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Cinderella' or 'Circe' narrative types meaning there was more room for experimentation enabling me to make the product my own. 

It is quite conventional for narratives to be connected to the lyrics of the song, this is because it creates a clear message for the audience to receive. The narrative should also represent the band/artist and there should be a clear link so that the video is not only selling the song but the artist too. It is quite conventional for artists to appear as a character or glorified version of themselves in order to do this. I have followed conventions in this way by featuring the main members of my constructed band as characters in the music video (particularly Kate- the lead singer). Below I have made a powerpoint which explains the links between the narrative and the lyrics.

Links between the narrative and lyrics from emily_rhian18

I have gone on to discuss how I have followed/challenged specific conventions of music videos in the prezi below. 

Ancillary Texts