Evaluation question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?
I have chosen to present my music video and ancillary tasks on youtube and blogger. Youtube is typically where most music videos get uploaded to so by uploading mine there too I can be seen conforming to the typical conventions of where a music video would be uploaded to. I also posted my my music video and ancillary tasks on blogger alone with the rest of my research and planning for my A2 coursework.
Music video
The genre my music video is Indie Rock which is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the united states and the united kingdom in the 1980s. Some of the main conventions for an indie rock music video would be:
Within my video I have challenged, developed and conformed to a number of different conventions typical to indie rock music videos.
Challenged and developed conventions
One of the biggest conventions that I challenged was not incorporation any performance elements within my video. Typical to indie rock music and solo artist music video is the incorporation of performance elements with the focus of the video primarily being on the artist. I chose not to conform to this convention however as I felt that the songs slow pace and the emotional meaning behind it was more important to focus on with a narrative rather than the artist singing it. Including performance elements in my video would have broken the video up between narrative and performance and that would have made the impact of the emotional narrative less cathartic to the viewer.
Another convention that I chose to challenge and develop was the narrative that I created for the music video. Most indie rock music videos do incorporate narratives that follow the lyrics of the song and have deep meanings, however I feel that the type of narrative I portrayed is something not typically shown in music videos. Music videos that I have watched don't tend to show the death of a child or ever really focus on family relationships. Many videos today tend to focus on romantic relationships which is where my video can be see challenging conventions. When I created my video I knew I wanted to create something emotional that would fit well with the song, however I didn't want my emotional video to be based around a romantic relationship as I felt that it would be too cliché and would fit well with the song. Instead I decided to focus it around the love felt between a father and a daughter as that seemed to fit better with the song lyrics and would also be more emotional.
My narrative also challenges typical conventions for a music video as it also focuses on grief and depression, specifically that felt by the father after losing his daughter. Within the UK in 2016, 5,668 suicides were recorded and of those, three quarters of them were male. Suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 years in England and Wales yet people seem oblivious to this. Men are often encouraged to hide their feelings and not talk about them as that isn't seen as masculine. Within numerous films and TV shows men are often portrayed in a masculine way which intern makes society believe that this is what all men should be like. By creating the label that men should be masculine, it encourages them to hide traits that are typically considered feminine, such as talking about their feelings which can result in mental health problems. One of the main things I wanted to raise within my video is that men aren't always strong, tough and unemotional. Within my video we can see how the father is morning the loss of his child and how her death has affected him. By showing this in my video I hope that it makes people more aware that men don't always have to be seen as masculine and that it is okay for them to show how they are really feeling.
The final convention the I challenged was the use of different speeds of footage within my video. Typically indie rock music videos will slow down footage however I chose not to do this as I felt that the footage looked fine playing at normal speed. I did however increase the speed of the footage during the scene where the daughter gets hit by the car. I did this to make the car look like it was travelling faster than it actually was so that when viewers watched the video, they would realise that there was no chance of the girl surviving the impact of the hit.
Conformed conventions
Although I did challenge typical conventions with the narrative of my music video, there are some elements of the narrative in which I conformed to typical conventions for an indie rock video. Narratives within this genre tend to follow the story of the lyrics which is something that I tried to conform to. When I first heard to song I believed that it was about loss, either from death or from losing memory in an accident. The lyrics are very clear on the meaning of how a man is desperate to get back what he has lost (whether it be a daughter, wife, sister) and so I decided to base my video on the loss between a father and daughter and use the lyrics to help illustrate my video. Within the lyrics of the song, there are lines in which I deliberately placed certain pieces of footage to emphasis certain points. For example during the lyric 'call all your friends and tell them I'm never coming back' I placed the footage of the daughter lying dead in the road. I again did this with the line 'the police are coming too slow now' where I placed the footage of the police detective telling the father that his daughter is dead. The song also mentioned certain settings, for example 'the beach' which is one of the settings I deliberately used because of this. All this helped in aiding audiences to understand my video and what was going on within it, I matched certain lyrics up with certain pieces of footage to emphasis exactly what is going on within my video.
I also conformed to the use of filters and effects within my video. I used a mix of different filters, effects and transitions within my video to help enhance and illustrate which parts were memories. I used the effects 'heat' and 'desert glare' to make the memory footage look more like a memory and less like the footage in real time. I also used the transition 'cross dissolve' so I could smoothly go from one piece of footage to the next. I mainly used this when transitioning from the photo to the memory but I also used it to cut from a few different scenes smoothly.
I also used a mix of different shots and camera angles when filming, especially close ups and extreme close ups. Although close ups are typically used when focusing on the artist singing within the video, they are often used with in the narrative part of the video as well. I used a rang of these different shots in order to give a range of different perspectives and to make the audience fell as connected to the characters within the video as possible. By allowing the audience to connect to the characters through the use of many different camera angles and shots, it makes it more cathartic for the viewer as the see all the good times the father and daughter had together and how all he has left now is these memories.
The final convention which I conformed to was the use of costumes which tend to be symbolic. The only obvious costume for the viewer is the police detectives uniform which consists of smart attire and a police badge. This costume was one of the key ones within my video as it had to be obvious to the audience that this character was a police officer and were here to give bad news. Whenever police knock on doors within films and TV shows it is never a good sign, and I wanted to recreate that dread of the police being at the door within my music video. The autumnal clothing of the daughter was also a big part within the video as the clothing was casual which is what a typical teenager wears and it is also fairly bring in some scenes. By having clothing worn that is red and orange it brings all the attention to the daughter and shows her to be bright and cheerful, which is what you expect from memories. When people think about the past they tend to only think about the good times and the happy memories so by having the daughter wearing clothing which reflects happiness, it helps to emphasis how much the daughter meant to the father and how much he is going to miss her. I also used lighting to help show the happiness within the memories by enhancing the brightness within certain clips and using natural light which people often associate with happiness.
- Performance from the artist(s)
- Lighting to enhance the mood of the song
- Cinematic effects and filters are often used
- Use of extreme close ups
- Deep meaning narratives that often follow the lyrics
- Often use a rang of different speeds (clips slowed down)
- Costumes used tend to be symbolic.
Within my video I have challenged, developed and conformed to a number of different conventions typical to indie rock music videos.
Challenged and developed conventions
One of the biggest conventions that I challenged was not incorporation any performance elements within my video. Typical to indie rock music and solo artist music video is the incorporation of performance elements with the focus of the video primarily being on the artist. I chose not to conform to this convention however as I felt that the songs slow pace and the emotional meaning behind it was more important to focus on with a narrative rather than the artist singing it. Including performance elements in my video would have broken the video up between narrative and performance and that would have made the impact of the emotional narrative less cathartic to the viewer.
Another convention that I chose to challenge and develop was the narrative that I created for the music video. Most indie rock music videos do incorporate narratives that follow the lyrics of the song and have deep meanings, however I feel that the type of narrative I portrayed is something not typically shown in music videos. Music videos that I have watched don't tend to show the death of a child or ever really focus on family relationships. Many videos today tend to focus on romantic relationships which is where my video can be see challenging conventions. When I created my video I knew I wanted to create something emotional that would fit well with the song, however I didn't want my emotional video to be based around a romantic relationship as I felt that it would be too cliché and would fit well with the song. Instead I decided to focus it around the love felt between a father and a daughter as that seemed to fit better with the song lyrics and would also be more emotional.
My narrative also challenges typical conventions for a music video as it also focuses on grief and depression, specifically that felt by the father after losing his daughter. Within the UK in 2016, 5,668 suicides were recorded and of those, three quarters of them were male. Suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 years in England and Wales yet people seem oblivious to this. Men are often encouraged to hide their feelings and not talk about them as that isn't seen as masculine. Within numerous films and TV shows men are often portrayed in a masculine way which intern makes society believe that this is what all men should be like. By creating the label that men should be masculine, it encourages them to hide traits that are typically considered feminine, such as talking about their feelings which can result in mental health problems. One of the main things I wanted to raise within my video is that men aren't always strong, tough and unemotional. Within my video we can see how the father is morning the loss of his child and how her death has affected him. By showing this in my video I hope that it makes people more aware that men don't always have to be seen as masculine and that it is okay for them to show how they are really feeling.
The final convention the I challenged was the use of different speeds of footage within my video. Typically indie rock music videos will slow down footage however I chose not to do this as I felt that the footage looked fine playing at normal speed. I did however increase the speed of the footage during the scene where the daughter gets hit by the car. I did this to make the car look like it was travelling faster than it actually was so that when viewers watched the video, they would realise that there was no chance of the girl surviving the impact of the hit.
Conformed conventions
Although I did challenge typical conventions with the narrative of my music video, there are some elements of the narrative in which I conformed to typical conventions for an indie rock video. Narratives within this genre tend to follow the story of the lyrics which is something that I tried to conform to. When I first heard to song I believed that it was about loss, either from death or from losing memory in an accident. The lyrics are very clear on the meaning of how a man is desperate to get back what he has lost (whether it be a daughter, wife, sister) and so I decided to base my video on the loss between a father and daughter and use the lyrics to help illustrate my video. Within the lyrics of the song, there are lines in which I deliberately placed certain pieces of footage to emphasis certain points. For example during the lyric 'call all your friends and tell them I'm never coming back' I placed the footage of the daughter lying dead in the road. I again did this with the line 'the police are coming too slow now' where I placed the footage of the police detective telling the father that his daughter is dead. The song also mentioned certain settings, for example 'the beach' which is one of the settings I deliberately used because of this. All this helped in aiding audiences to understand my video and what was going on within it, I matched certain lyrics up with certain pieces of footage to emphasis exactly what is going on within my video.
I also conformed to the use of filters and effects within my video. I used a mix of different filters, effects and transitions within my video to help enhance and illustrate which parts were memories. I used the effects 'heat' and 'desert glare' to make the memory footage look more like a memory and less like the footage in real time. I also used the transition 'cross dissolve' so I could smoothly go from one piece of footage to the next. I mainly used this when transitioning from the photo to the memory but I also used it to cut from a few different scenes smoothly.
I also used a mix of different shots and camera angles when filming, especially close ups and extreme close ups. Although close ups are typically used when focusing on the artist singing within the video, they are often used with in the narrative part of the video as well. I used a rang of these different shots in order to give a range of different perspectives and to make the audience fell as connected to the characters within the video as possible. By allowing the audience to connect to the characters through the use of many different camera angles and shots, it makes it more cathartic for the viewer as the see all the good times the father and daughter had together and how all he has left now is these memories.
The final convention which I conformed to was the use of costumes which tend to be symbolic. The only obvious costume for the viewer is the police detectives uniform which consists of smart attire and a police badge. This costume was one of the key ones within my video as it had to be obvious to the audience that this character was a police officer and were here to give bad news. Whenever police knock on doors within films and TV shows it is never a good sign, and I wanted to recreate that dread of the police being at the door within my music video. The autumnal clothing of the daughter was also a big part within the video as the clothing was casual which is what a typical teenager wears and it is also fairly bring in some scenes. By having clothing worn that is red and orange it brings all the attention to the daughter and shows her to be bright and cheerful, which is what you expect from memories. When people think about the past they tend to only think about the good times and the happy memories so by having the daughter wearing clothing which reflects happiness, it helps to emphasis how much the daughter meant to the father and how much he is going to miss her. I also used lighting to help show the happiness within the memories by enhancing the brightness within certain clips and using natural light which people often associate with happiness.
Ancillary Tasks
For my digipack and poster I deliberately chose to challenge the typical forms and conventions for them. For a solo artist it it typically common for the artist to feature on the cover of the album and poster as their music is a sole representation of themselves. I however chose not to conform to this convention as I didn't include the artist within the video so I though it only fitting that I didn't include them within the ancillary tasks. I instead chose to create a piece of art work which features on both the CD cover and the poster. Typically bands tend to use artwork as their CD covers but I felt that the song didn't fit having performance within it and it didn't fit having the artist on the front. I also used some of the photos from within the video in the ancillary tasks so there was clear synergy between all three products.
Although I did not stick to typical conventions when it comes to putting the artist on the cover, I did include the artists social media within the digipack which is something that is increasingly common now. I also included different logos on the poster of where the CD would be available. This is something that again is becoming increasingly common and is something that i found out during my audience research is something people would like to see on a poster.
What were you inspired by?
One of the main things that inspired me to create this music video is the lyrics from the song itself. When I first listened to the song I could feel the emotion and depth behind the lyrics and that inspired me to want to create an equally emotional video to go with it which would move viewers and make them feel more emotional after watching and listening to it.
My Chemical Romance - The Ghost Of You
We The Kings - Sad Song
Unsteady
What inspired the narrative for my music video is the film, The Child in Time. In the film it shows how a father deals with the lose of his young child after she disappears one afternoon from a shop and isn't seen again. I liked how emotional the film was and how it dealt with many different elements (depression, suicide, loss etc) This was the sort of emotion I wished to cover in my video and is how I came up with the narrative of a daughter going missing and then being found dead. In society today, media tends to over look depression in men and passes on ideology that men should keep emotions (specifically depression, anxiety and loneliness) to themselves and should appear tough and strong to others. Because of this many men don't seek out help when they need it and this is why the suicide rate are highest for men. In my music video I want to show how people cope with loss (through the character of the father) which will hopefully show viewers that it is normal for anyone to feel sad/depressed and also make a emotionally moving video which will fit well with the song. 
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