In what ways does your music video use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Use of a PerformanceThe reason we decided to use this form as part of our music video is because its showcases the artist and demonstrates their abilities as performers. This shows the audience who they are and creates a marketable star image as a talented band that all work together to create their music, rather than an artist that has to rely on the image e.g. appearance/costume and public appearances. We decided to base this on Keith Negus notion of an ‘organic ideology of creativity’. This is one way of thinking about promoting potential artists within the music industry. This is when the band is promoted as naturalistic and when the seeds of success are within the artists but are yet to be ‘nurtured’ by the record company. So the use of this form - performance element - helps to showcase the raw talent and potential this band hold. Negus sums this up as “the real act. The act that can just get up on stage and do it”

An example of this form being used is by the band ‘Busted’ who constantly used performance as part of their music video to demonstrate their talent as musicians but also promote this united band image of them all being important and not one dominate leader.

Use of NarrativeAs the institution of this music video, ‘Grounds for Divorce’, this form is useful. Narratives are normally used to help the audience to link qualities to the band and help expand the target audience. For example the performance element clearly shows that this is a talented and music focused band, so this may only appeal to people who are less mainstream with their music choices. However, by adding the performance element it additionally makes our band seem rebellious and edgy.

Additionally, we decided to use narrative because we were able to link it to the overall theme of the song - relationships not working out very well.

Our narrative helped our main target audience - males between the ages 15-25 - to connect with the band more for it involves violence, guns and action which is normally what this group like to watch and live vicariously through, (this type of target advertisement is demonstrated in other media e.g. music videos, games or movies).

Furthermore by adding narrative it makes the music video more rememberable and sets it apart from other videos that may only use a performance which if not well done can become very boring after a while. It also makes the viewer more invested to watch the entire music video to discover how it all unfolds and finishes. Due to use using guns and special effects like the explosion, it makes the viewer more likely to watch the video more than once; firstly to fully absorb in what has just occurred and also because it is entertaining to watch. An example of a music video that uses narrative well is ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus for it links in tightly with the lyrics and adds depth to what the singer is singing about and presents a story that is entertaining and easy to understand.

Narrative StructureSince we decided to use a narrative, the narrative’s structure (which is a form used in music videos) was also a key element in shaping our music video. We choose not to show the beginning - how the couples fight escalated to a gun fight. We left the beginning slightly ambiguous. This is because we felt that it was not as visually interesting as a fight scene and the ending - the kiss - so we focused on the stronger and more intriguing parts of the story to keep the audience engaged. However we hinted that a fight might have occurred and escalated to a gun fight due to the destroyed bedroom that is the setting for the performance element of our music video.

Most music videos use a linear narrative with a clear beginning, middle and end, for example Taylor Swifts ‘You Belong With Me”. This gives her the impression that she doesn't want any different interpretations of what the music video is about, giving her the star image of her being innocent and straight forward. However we wanted out band to be more edgy and less pop and mainstream, therefore we started with an ambiguous beginning so the audience could interpret how the fight started any way they liked and skip straight to the action sequences which made our music video more impacting and gave the impression that this band gets straight to the point and is slightly dangerous/dynamic. This has been used in other music videos like ‘Stan’ by Eminem to give it a more unsafe feeling to it.

‘Artistic’ Camera WorkThis convention was very important to our music video because we wanted to create a action packed music video with the use of guns, explosions, running and fighting. ‘Artistic’ camera work was vital in creating these hectic, dynamic sequences because if we kept the camera still through out then some of the energy would have be lost and in especially the fighting sequences they would seem to be less realistic. This is why we used focus pulls and handheld camera work to make the video as thrilling as possible and in an attempt to capture the anger the characters in the narrative had towards each other.

This ‘artistic’ camera work also complimented with the music very well, because its genre is alternative rock it has strong sections where ‘the bass drops’ and the music is then primary about the drums and guitar and less about the singer. In these sections the music is more chaotic and using handheld helped to make these scenes feel more alive.

This use of camera work helps to promote our band as more of a British alternative rock band that is rousing and energetic. This type of camera work has also been used to help promote the image or message that a band/artist wanted to promote to their viewers. For example Linkin Park’s song ‘Final Masquerade’ uses a little hand held camera, tracking shots and focusing shots which helps them to create a more alarming and unsetting image for their band, giving the audience the opinion that they are more edgy.

Conspicuous use of Lighting

This convention helps the audience understand what type of music is being shown and that genre it is. For example Katy Perry is usually in the pop music genre so the lighting used is bright and colourful suggesting that this is a happy, playful song which is normally identified with pop music.

However, our music video used darker lighting and more blues to create the image of a darker tone than pop music have. We also used a single light bulb to show that the room where the band is performing in is not completely illuminated, hinting that its no in the best condition and has been destroyed. Plus the shadows and lack of light help to create a more thrilling and tense atmosphere. An example of this is used in ‘Breezeboxes’ by Alt-J that use a very blue colour palette and use little lights so shadows are created. However this is then contrasted with the outdoor scene which uses natural lighting of the forest. Promoting an earthy feel to this band instead of an artificially made band.

This overall helped us to create more of a British, rock band feel to the music video, so the audience can guess what type of genre the music video is visually.

CostumeCostume is important for us in helping to create a star image. We wanted our band to appear more relatable to its audience so we decided to dress them in ordinary clothing that anyone can wear or buy. This is part of the ordinary/extraordinary paradox which is important in promoting a band, and its highlights what elevates then above other people is their talent. This is similar to Ed Sheeran who distinguishes himself with his music rather than his styleBut it does go against other artists who's star image is more important than their music. For example Lady Gaga who's more well known for her weird outfits.

Website HomepageFor the website homepage we decided to use an image/prop that had been used in all of our media products for this band. We did this to help link the products so the band could easily be identified and the products linked together. This lead us to use the image of a hand holding a tree inside the lightbulb. The lightbulb was featured in our music video and the narrative element of the music video was set in a forest, thus linking it to the image used for the homepage.

This is a very stylised picture with its black and white editing and the framing of the shot focusing in on the lightbulb. This shows the band to be artistic, creative and original for it shows that they have taken the time to personalise an image and make it unique to them.

Using this type of personalise motif is often used by other bands e.g. “Imagine Dragons”, who use the image of a bird escaping from a pair of hands creating the idea of something wild and free being released suggesting their band to be unconventional and rebellious. Similar to our band.

Website Photo GalleryOur choice of gallery format has also been used before, by “The 1975”. We choose to use this format being its a bold and clearly presents all the photos to the viewer in a neat and pleasing format to look at. Also by presenting all the pictures as a whole it helps the viewer generate an image about this band e.g. musical gifted and edgy.

We choose to use a mixture of photos from the ‘behind the scenes shoot’ from the music video mixed with photos taken from a professional photo shoot. We did this due to Richard Dyer’s paradox idea that an artist must be “simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary” in order to succeed in the music industry. We have achieved this by using these different types of images for we get to present the band full formed and professional looking showing them to be extraordinary due to their music talent and performance skills, thus making the audience want to look up to them. But by using behind the scene shots it shows that this band are ordinary human beings and this helps the audience relate to them. Therefore making this band more successful overall.

Digi-Pak Panel 1Since we decided to present this band to have a strong front man image like bands such as ‘Panic at the Disco’ and ‘The Script’. We choose to use one of the photos we professional shot and edited of the lead singer.

So we used the traditional convention of having the singer in the middle of the shot to show his importance and having the bands name in big bold writing to draw the audiences attention to it, so they remember the name. The setting of this photo is in in a forest to link to the other products so this nature theme can be seen through out all the products linking the products and presenting the audience with a strong unified image of the band, giving the impression that they are original and ‘indie’.

However we did go against the convention that normally all the band is presented in the image. For most bands present the whole band or use an symbolic images as the front panel of their digi-pak. This helps our bands star image as rebellious and fresh for they do not do what is expected of them.

Digi-Pak Panel 2However we did follow the most used convention for the back panel of the digi-pak. Using an image representing nature to link with the natural theme shown in other panels, website and music video. However we kept the image very simplistic to not draw attention away form the songs presented on it. Using white writing in the same front used on the front to keep the album constant.

This convention has been used by other bands such as ‘Kodaline’. Using an image that carries the theme of the digi-pak so there is a consistency between the images and looks like a professional product that holds a unified image. But not drawing attention away from the true aim of this panel which is to inform the reader of what songs they would be getting if they where to purchase this item.