1. In what ways does your mediaproduct use, develop or challenge form and conventions of real media products?Chloe Flynn

2. Conventions of Indie MusicWhen watching indie artist music videos, this is a list ofconventions we created. Some of these are more conventionalthan others: Instruments are present The people on screen are generally well dressed Calm and not aggressive Simple video, sometimes a random concept Artistic and imaginative No sexism unlike some other genres 3. Conventional?For my music video I wanted to create a text that was conventional andsomething that would be successful. Although in my music video someconventions were challenged, I decided it would be best to develop on existingconventions.After deciding on my chosen song, I researched the artist and the genre.Although the artist didnt have other music videos that I could research, I lookedat numerous videos for the Indie genre. After researching this I decided mymusic video would be a narrative with some performance element. The conceptMumford and Sons - I Will Wait Music Videowas soon developed after listening to the lyrics, as it is conventional for the lyricsof the song to have a link between the visuals on screen. This is reinforced byAndrew Goodwins theory about music videos. I also feel that by having a linkwith the visuals and the song it makes sense to the audience. Our conceptseemed quite conventional to existing texts as it was a story of a relationshipsimilar to the narrative stories in Aiden Grimshaws Curtain Call and The ScriptsFor the First Time with the performance element coming from live footage ofthe artist. This is growing in popularity for music videos in the indie genre and iswhen the footage is filmed in front of the audience whilst theyre performing Billy Lockett My Music Videogig. I felt this would work really well with our song and wanted to develop uponan idea that is growing in popularity therefore I contacted the artist of the songand organised a time that I could film this footage. As you can see in theMumford and Sons video for I Will Wait there is an element of live footage aswell as Ben Howards Only Love. Something that I was unable to do for mymusic video was vary the shots of the artist like these two artists were able todo. This is because we would have obstructed the view of other fans and alsothere was a restricted number of cameras available therefore if I could changeanything it would be to have different angles shots during the live footage. To Ben Howard Only Loveresolve this problem I decided to only use the live footage for the chorus. Music Video live close up 4. Conventional?During the process of creating my music video I realised how important camerawork, sound, editingand the mise en scene was for the overall finished product. Therefore it was important to look atconventions of each of these and how conventional my text is:CameraworkMy music videos opening shot is an extreme close up of someone playing the guitar. This is aconvention used in a lot of indie bands/artists music videos, it isnt always a guitar it is generally aclose up of the instrument being played at the time. In The Scripts Hall of Fame there is a closeGuitar close up in my musicup of a piano. Although this is a conventional shot we have developed it because we chose it asvideothe first shot of the whole video. I think this is successful because the beginning of the song is aguitar playing and no vocals therefore it engages the audience and links with the song and theaudience can immediately connect the action on screen to the song.Throughout the music video there are a sequence of long shots, followed by close ups. Thesewere used to show the location and the setting and then the close ups were used to get to knowthe characters. However long shots were used more often than close ups, this was a decisionThe Script- Hall of Famemade because of the lack of time there was to cover a large space of time. Therefore I decided to Piano close upuse the long shots more often because after the audience had familiarised themselves with thecharacters then the settings and what they were doing was more important to express thenarrative correctly. I believe this still successfully gives the audience enough time to establish themain characters whilst also conveying the correct story line.Another camera angle used was a slight high angle shot of the couple when theyre sat inan empty room. In this shot I wanted to convey the couples lack of money, however Ididnt want to make them look vulnerable or weak because as a couple they are strongand in love. So with this shot there is only a small high angle so the audience feelsympathy for the lack of money but do not feel pity for their relationship.High angle shot in my music video 5. Conventional?SoundSome music videos include diegetic sound within them for example the start of Ed Sheerans GiveMe Love music video. It is used to set the scene of the music video and create suspense. This isoften used in a music video that is only narrative or a music video with little performance elements. Ichose not to include this because there was nothing that we could use as a sound before, during orEd Sheeran- Give Meat the end of the music video as our narrative was pretty explanatory. Also the beginning of the songLove Starting Audiolinks immediately with the image on screen.EditingSimilar to nearly all music video I cut the clips in time with the music and the start of anew line.The editing was kept very simple like most music videos. The only transitions I used wascross dissolve and I used it between the live footage and the narrative of the music video.I decided to do this to create a divide between the two different sections. I dont thinkCross dissolvethis is something that most music videos do as theygenerally just use basic cuts between scenes.However I felt this added a divide, yet merged thetwo parts together successfully.Another way I created a contrast between the twosections of the video was to use black and white forthe narrative and then use colour for the livefootage. This is something that is quite conventionalto a music video with different sections and is usedin The Scripts For the First Time. The black andwhite effect on my music video is very conventionalto the Indie genre as videos like Ed Sheerans The ATeam use this composition. I believe this effect issimple yet very effective. My music video black and white to The Script-For the First Time colour to colour black and white. 6. Conventional?Indie StyleMise en SceneThis was an extremely important factor for our music video because when looking at other musicvideos the surroundings, the outfits and the props are what made the music video look realistic.However it is difficult to judge how conventional a location is because it depends on thenarrative behind the song.The clothes that the actors wore were quite important as we needed to make sure they werentThe style in ourwearing the same for a scene that is supposed to represent a different day. Also we needed tomusic videomake them look as though they were within the demographic of the target audience in order fora connection to be made between the narrative and the audience. I believe this was successfulas the female character wore quite typical indie clothes and the male character did thesame, however I felt that the males clothes didnt need to be specific as the females.I specifically chose to film our music video in the Autumn time especially for the park scenes.This is because the sun would be quite low and would allow scenes to be created how I wantedthem to. This seemed like a conventional season for a music video to be filmed with videos fromEd Sheeran and Aiden Grimshaw being filmed in quite dull and cloudy days. I chose to do thisbecause I liked the mood both of these videos created.Ed Sheeran- The A TeamActorsThe people I chose to be the characters in my music video were both within the age of the targetaudience this was a decision I made this choice as I felt that there should be a connectionbetween the audience and the narrative. Also I feel this is something that works well for themusic video.Another decision I made was to use two actors that were completely different to the artist. SomeAutumn weather in mymusic videomusic videos use the artist as an actor in the narrative. I did not want to do this as firstly it wouldhave been difficult to organise but also I felt that the narrative and the performance were twoseparate parts of the music video. 7. Conventional?The only decision I made to go against most conventions was to create a music video that with littlelip syncing, this was a decision that I made after watching some indie music videos that had little orno lip syncing in. Although there arent many the one I watched I found engaging and they weresome of my favourite music videos. Therefore I wanted to create something that I would enjoymyself as I am in the audience demographic. It is not something that no music video has ever donebut it is something that is growing in popularity in the Indie genre. Whilst I didnt want the wholemusic video to include lip synching I felt it was important for elements to have it because it is soconventional it would be difficult to be successful not using it at all. Only one music video I havewatched has successfully carried this out which is Ed Sheerans The A Team. So I decided toinclude live footage for the chorus but use different people to the artist for the narrative story.