EVALUATION QUESTION 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

MUSIC VIDEO

The brief was for me to make and music video and promotional package marketing a British unsigned band. Kankouran are the British unsigned band I chose to use for my music video. Their song 'Rivers' stood out for me personally as a dramatic song that had a good pace, I was inspired by that to coincide the pace of the song with the pace of the edit. I needed to research what is typically associated with a mix of genre's for a sound like Kankouran. They are a unique band as I find it hard to stratify them into a specific genre, even a collaboration of genres. They use instruments like steel pans, acoustic guitars, piano, saxophone, hi-hat, symbol, snare drum, toms, electric guitar and a tambourine. They would fall into several genres, such as, indie, electro, Spanish rock, alternative. Some of the bands influences are artists such as Foxes, Coldplay, Beirut, Edward Sharpe and Bob Dylan. Their influences are recognisable in the pace of their songs rather than the sound of their music, which is wholly original. This is what makes them a unique band, they combine so many different varieties of music to create something that is as dramatic as 'Rivers' is.

After researching the genre of Kankouran (generally indie) I concluded that it is an open-minded genre and is accepting of many approaches to different mediums, whether it be fashion sense, music, hair style and so on. Therefore this makes it hard to pin down exactly how our video challenges the genre of 'indie'. However there are ways in which our video slots right into the indie/electro/rock genre. Below are the influences that my music video was swayed by.



Although the two videos have their differences both contain the style of video I wanted to use similar locations that I intended to shoot at (mainly the first video), both emitting a similar overall look in general to my video. Location was important in my video; trying to make it look like someone had committed suicide jumping off a sea wall required very specific locations. This shows the female character's, Ava, insecurity and her mindset, juxtaposed to the beautiful bright memories. I shot at iconic locations in Devon and Dorset, areas associated with Thomas Hardy, another influence and inter textual reference to my work, meaning my demographic and the appropriate audience could identify with my music video. Although the lyrics are "Rivers Run Dry", and the title, "Rivers", I included many shots of the sea and coastline as well as the River Dart. This links strongly with Goodwin's theory, 'There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals'. My music video very much illustrates what the core of the song is trying to say. Concluding that I used the conventions of the genre in this aspect of my music video.

The roots of the song are about change, death and loss, yet the song is written and performed in an illuminating way. 
"Rivers for me personally is about life and death, growing up, things changing, nothing stays the same. Life is always changing, there is no certainty from day to day. That kinda vibe... its also about sharing that with somebody. that whole experience... its really a dark song, but its been done in a uplifting way." - Tarek Musa, Kankouran & sound producer. 

The song rooted from isolation, doomed love and change and inspired the song. They are communicating their alienation and isolation through their song. From this idea, it is what the themes in my music video are based on. The coast is often somewhere you go alone or with your whole family, so I thought it was a great location to film as, connecting with the lonely and communal side of it, enabling the demographic to be able to connect and identify with the situation of each character. Filming at the British coast uses the conventions of indie/electro/rock music videos such as Foals' - 'Spanish Sahara, is shows desperation for  something the character loves, using the evocative seascape to indicate restlessness. This is much like in Campion's film The Piano, the sea is an important metaphor for the passion that exists between the two lovers. It also adds a distinct British-ness to the mise-en-scene.

Foals - Spanish Sahara

Kankouran - Rivers
My Music video

Lyme Regis and the Cobb worked well as base of location for my music video (despite using many, this is the one that most stands out). It emphasises the relationship between the inter textual references to 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', 'Persuasion' and to Thomas Hardy's career based in Devon and Dorset. 

Another piece of media that influenced my work was a short 8 minute film introduction to The Maccabees album - Given Into The Wild. It uses locations in the same way which my music video does; to evoke desperation and loneliness. Below is a screen shot that I took influence from when shooting Nile down at the sea searching for Ava. The subject in The Maccabees video is providing a clear performance of what the character's motives are. 

The Maccabees - Given Into The Wild
Short Film

The full version of Given Into The Wild - Short Film by The Maccabees; to visualise the links between my music video and this to show where I got some inspiration for the some shots discussed already. 

Despite this, it also illustrates Gunther Kress' theory, "a kind of text that derives its structure form from of a (frequently repeated)social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes." - location.  Kress' statement leads me on to the next point fluently. The demographic I have targeted (16-25 year olds) includes a wide range of people, I was able to capture the attention of my audience with my first shot (featured after the title sequence), appealing to young women and teenagers who are feeling submerged by the weight of their problems.  Some of my demographic are able to identify and feel 'comfortable' when watching something they have chosen to view. This is also an aspect of narcissism from my side, putting my troubles into an image that other people alike will be able to see themselves in the same position as my character. 

Opening shot

By doing this, I have not only utilised the genre but also the roots of the song; by choosing a shot to open with that a majority of my audience will be able to identify with. Kress thought the theme of lost love is familiar in novels, poems, films and music videos the images of the performer jumping off The Cobb and rising out of the icy grey waters and quite disturbing and suggest the suspense towards the end of Camion's film The Piano, when Ada hurts herself falling off the Maori Canoe.

Elements of costume also administer the genre, both Nile and Ava wore clothes that my demographic would typically wear as their dress code, which is a big part of being an 'indie fan' - looking a little individual and different from everyone else. Complying with the conventions of costume within the genre, Florence and The Machine is where I took inspiration for some of Ava's costume. I wanted to re-create the long dark skirt, that Florence Welch wears in her video 'Shake It Out'. As this shot appears, the lyrics synced with the picture are 'the devil on your back', linking the long dark costume representing the devil taking over her. 

Florence and The Machine - Shake It Out

Goodwin said that the 'artist may develop motifs which reoccur across their work'. The image of the long dark skirt is one of the motifs that feature across some of my promotional package as well as my music video.

In music videos the idea of gender inequality indie/electro/rock is often taken to extremes, women are either exploited, or are treated as a superior in music videos. In a music video by Austra - Beat And The Pulse, on purpose instead exploiting the 'perfect' female body, she creates mutations on the performers; mutated breasts, webbed fingers etc. She highlights them in a forceful way, maybe suggesting alienation gives them power over others. I feel there is a strong political message behind this video. 'The Gaze Theory' - objectification of women of voyeuristic treatment of the female body. This strangely is rejected by this music video in a sense that they are not objectifying women, they are showing their beauty even if mutated, it shouldn't matter. 

Artists try to challenge or come up with something new and innovative. I chose to deliberately develop this trend, and create my female character to be an equal to the male character, finding an equilibrium between the two extremes, meanwhile the 'pop' genre in industry tends to unjustifiably womanise 'text book' bodies. Use of genre costume I chose to use means the character Ava is not exploited to a sexual extent, this can often divert the focus of a film. I was influenced to make a music video where the image illustrates the lyrics and the meaning/rots of the song, utilising Goodwin's theory of the 'link between lyrics and visuals' the audience finding a genuine interest in the link between the two. 

The narrative of my music video is heavily dependant on the editing in of flashbacks - taking the moment back in time from the current point that the story has reached. In my music video, the flashbacks re-account for what has already happened, clearly illustrating why the characters are doing what they're doing now. I have developed this in the traditional sense of indie/electro/rock. A theme amongst the videos I have already posted, a majority of them are about the zeitgeist of the music video, not many indie/electro/rock music videos fully explore flashbacks, it is almost an unexplored territory for the genre, possibly something the demographic are not used to either. 
Mumford & Sons are a band that often use performance music videos instead of creating a story line, however they illustrate their story through the passion and possibly pain of their performance. They two songs of theirs that illustrate this best are 'Little Lion Man' and 'I Will Wait'. 

Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait

By using this screen shot, I wanted to highlight the point that the message of the music video is shown through the performance of the band. The passion that the lead singer Marcus Mumford feels when he plays his guitar is a story in itself, it tells you more than you need to know about his feelings - relative to the song. Similarly to 'Little Lion Man' also. 



It is an area that is a 'hit and miss' in the indie/electro/rock genre. In this sense  I have developed this is aspect and possibly inspired others to develop other areas of the blanket that is 'indie'. Below is an example of the flashbacks in my music video. 

FLASHBACK

PRESENT DAY

To indicate that the flashbacks are flashbacks, it meant editing the saturation of the clip to make it brighter and more colourful that the present day clips. This links well with the association of colour. Audiences automatically tend to associate black and white with being sad and lonely, which is partly why I didn't edit my video in black and white, but instead used a grey-wash, I didn't want the audience to immediately stratify the present day into 'given up hope' because that is not what the characters have done. 

The representation of colour in Paramore's song - 'Now' is the best way of me illustrating my point about flashbacks. It is set on a traditional battlefield using washout filters to give it the same effect that my present day clips do - destruction of the mind = loneliness. 

It is the significance of the colour that gives meaning to the grey scale wash. In the music video for 'Now' the bright blue colour is representing good, peace and equality. It then emphasises the meaning of the wash to be unjust, brainwash and order. This reflects my music video in that the colour flashbacks were the peaceful fun happy times and the present day the lonely depressing days. Overall the flashbacks add appeal to my music video as not many similar artists have tried it surprisingly. This gives my audience a chance to decode what I have encoded in my music video like Hall's theory says. 

Using the conventions of indie in the performers i chose would have been easy. I set out to challenge the genre by casting Fraser (Nile) and Emily Chawawa, who is black. This would have used the history of the name 'Kankouran' back to it's origin of being the name of an African Dance, yet challenged the genre's conventions. 

Emily Chawawa

However Emily Chawawa was not available to film when I had scheduled the shoot so I arranged for another actress to play the part of Ava called Emily Greig. She fitted the conventions of the indie/electro/rock genre; long dark hair, slim, and pretty, delicate looking facially. 

Emily Greig

This aspect of my music video was utilising the conventions of performers sweetly. However I would have preferred it if I was able to have used Emily Chawawa, as it would have opened my demographic of 16-25 whites, to 16-25 white and black demographic. 

 The transitions had to create the illusion of flashback, so in these terms they worked well together as one section. Cross dissolves are heavily used in my music video to create the dream-like past that the two characters held together. Also the layering of images makes it like a dreamy collage. This aspect uses the genre meaning the audience will be able to identify and be comfortable watching a 'common/familiar image' according to Kress' theory of genre. 

The Maccabees - Went Away

Kankouran - Rivers
My music video

Fade to black was also an important effect on my video. In a sense, the moment when the screen is black gives a snippet of time for the audience to contemplate their feelings in relation to the music video. It is reflective of the mood of the audience in a way that they can fill the black with their own colour and imagination. 

My music video using 'fade to black'

The Naked and Famous - The Sun
Illustrating a fade to black influence

In particular there are some camera angles that austerely challenge the indie/electro/rock genre. No matter how much planning you put into a production, things will always be different when you're actually there filming; new ideas, change of weather etc. When I was on set at The Cobb in Lyme Regis, I had my lyrical time line and my shot list with me, knowing exactly what I wanted to shoot and where it would go. However because of the structure of The Cobb, it enabled me to explore more with angles than I thought. I created a worms eye view angle but from a lower ledge, creating that feeling of power. 

I feel as though I have developed the convention of 'power' within the indie/electro/rock genre as the very few images I found using a similar structure were not evoking the same feelings. Jane Eyre for example runs away from her job and sleeps in the moors on a large rock tor. Despite it being linkable to my productions it does not carry the same message, re-enforcing the fact that I have developed the generic conventions. 

I also included 2 or 3 shots of Ava on a tor in Dartmoor, this image again portrays the feelings of threat, danger and isolation to herself as a character, much unlike Jane Eyre; weak, powerless and tired. Including Jane Eyre as an inter textual reference is a little along the lines of maturing my audience. It means I have possible opened up another age of people, or that the audience demographic (16-25) are well read and well educated, this was my original plan. 

Another type of shot I feel I have utilised well and portrayed is a strong over the shoulder shot. After watching a video by a similar sounding band called 'GLITCHES' with their song 'Leper' it made me realise how voyeuristic they really are. Below is a screen shot from my music video and the other two by 'GLITCHES'. 

GLITCHES - Leper

GLITCHES - Leper

My music video

This image could suggest that either Ava or Nile are watching over their past selves and re-living what it was like for them, maybe looking back and seeing what went wrong. I feel this is one of my stronger shots, including the muse-en-scene and of costume choice. The ambiance is also of a balance which I am satisfied with. 

DIGI-PACK

Indie/electro/rock is mostly about the style and simplicity of things, in terms of image, and font style writing, also to an extent, colours. Therefore in my promotional package I had to create something along the same lines to attract my audience to what they are used to. Much like Kress states; "an audience should feel comfortable and enjoy familiar comfort zone". My magazine advert tries to convey the generic conventions that attract a specific audience to buy your album.  

My magazine advert 

My advert uses many of the generic conventions that is required of the indie/electro/rock genre; simple white text, formatting, simple form of information and an image that is contrasting the colour of the text and filling a majority of the page. I layered the image with an image I took of the azure waves, I made it more opaque so you can see the image of Nile underneath, by doing this it suggests that Nile want to go back to when he was happy, the tropical blue wash of colour over the top employs this. He lye's on a bed of pebbles suggesting he is on a beach  which was part of the idea of location motifs and carrying that on through my music video, and my advert. By using the image it allows the audience to identify with his loneliness, isolation and longing to be part of something or with someone. 

For example in the following adverts, there is the generic convention of simple and colour-less texts, a wash out of colour and 1 main image filling most of the advert. 

Using an image of the artist is common but not essential, for example in The Verve and The Maccabees adverts, they have used images of the natural environment, enhancing colours and washing out others. I have included elements of both in my advert; the natural formation of beaches (i.e. - him lying on the pebbled beach) and the image of the performer, representing the artist. By including a mix of the both type of images, it means I would be attracting the right sort of audience, ideally my demographic. In this case, I feel I have developed the conventions of the genre by combining two elements that wouldn't normally be put together. 

I used the conventions of formatting in the genre by having the band's name at the top of the image, and also an image of something relateable to the music video of the did-pack, in my case, relateable to both a they are a very coherent package.

 I have challenged the standard layout of a digi-pack by similar artists. I have created a 6 panel digi-pack and the conventions of the genre tend to be 2 (slip in CD) or 4 panels, standard CD package size. For example Foals' digi-pack is a regular CD case.

Using a powerful picture to open my digi-pack with was important to the genre, I chose to utilise this convention on my front cover, inspired by an image on the front of a band called 'Awolnation' 's album cover. It uses the natural element of rock, inspiring me to use my front cover image involving a dramatic rock-like landscape. It also uses the wash of few colours that features in a majority of indie/electro/rock promotional work. 

My digi-pack cover

I tried to mimic the grey sea with the colour of the sky, but by adjusting it to be too dark would have meant the rocks would not have stood out as much or had as much of a dramatic effect. The dark colours connote the idea of sadness, yet contrasted with the costume piece, the white t-shirt - happiness, innocence etc. This was the colour scheme I intended to spread over the back panel as well. 

My digi-pack back cover

A similar back in terms of positioning to my back cover is again, 'Total Life Forever' - Foals. The positioning of the text is the same as mine, it re-enforced my idea to centre the text when I was unsure about about. In includes on the back, the bar code, the list of tracks and the production company. Also the copyright terms but I didn't include that on mine, most have them in the booklet that is attached to the CD.

The four panels inside suggest a slightly different message to the ones portrayed on the outside panels to my digi-pack. 

I used these two images to do two things. 1, in the song there is a female's voice featured and I wanted to inform the audience that it is not a male dominated song, which links back to my music video and challenging that convention that most 'indie' (general on purpose) bands are dominating the music industry with make vocals. 2, it suggests an equality between genders, in a world with much inequality this was important to me. It also paints a picture of what to expect in the music video, encouraging people to go and check out what Kankouran are like; one of the aims of a digi-pack. 

This is probably one of the most dramatic images in my digi-pack, it represents the link between 'The French Lieutenants Woman' and 'Persuasion', both of which use the Cobb in the footage they include. However it is more important about what it stands for; loss, love and freedom, both applicable to my music video. This image utilises the genre. 


The next image I utilised is contrasting to the rest of the package, it adds colour connoting the idea of hope. However that colour is red, which also represents love and danger, which is what my music video is about. In this image I utilised the rule of thirds, complying with many of the genre's conventions, drawing the attention to the jumper and the background; sea and rock, the focus pull of the camera landing on Nile, with the combination of the red jumper highlights him as a possible victim, even though he is not the one who tried to commit suicide at the end of the day.