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1)

By Georgia McLaughlin

For my A2 media studies course work I (with a group of fellow classmates) produced a music video to the 1975’s So far (it’s alright). As well as this I also produced a CD Digi pack and an album release poster. In doing so I believe we used, developed and challenged the forms and conventions of real media products as we followed some stereotypes to fit the genre and the song; this being indie rock as well as trying to put our own spin on videos of this type. For this question I will discuss how we did this.

Firstly, in terms of narrative our music video uses both a fragmented narrative and narrative enigma to leave the audience on edge and help them come to their own conclusion. The narrative enigma comes from the unanswered questions though out, for example leaving the audience to wonder why Darcy is crying and the fragmented narrative comes when we cross cut between happy memories and Darcy crying again. This is similar to the neighbourhoods ‘let it go’ music video which shows the two sides of a suburban housewife. The use of narrative enigma continues visually on ancillary one as seemingly unconnected images (i.e. a flower and the artist walking down a winding path) work together to create meaning and significance.The neighbourhood – Let

it go

A typical convention I found in indie music videos was a happy end to the narrative or overall feel good story. This was seen in videos such as Coldplay’s ‘Paradise’ and The 1975’s ‘Robbers’. Our video breaks this convention by leaving the audience with no clear resolution making them sympathise with the girl as they don’t know whether or not she is still with her abusive ex.

Unlike other indie music videos such as the 1975’s girls and Oasis’ Wonderwall our video contains no performance aspect. Adding a performance aspect is a stereotypical convention of indie genre music videos and is featured in almost all of the 1975’s music video.

The 1975 - Girls

Coldplay - paradise

Oasis - wonderwall

The 1975 - Robbers

We followed the conventions of the 1975’s past work and the work of other artists of this genre for the styling of the video and ancillaries as we used an easy to read white font with large spaces and made all images and footage black and white to maintain a theme.

Opening credit on real media products

Use of black and white in real media products (indie genre)

The 1975 – the city Arctic monkeys – R U mine?

Ed Sheeran -One Coldplay - Magic

Within the mise en scene we tried to maintain the indie style by having the characters dress in a laid back, casual style; often including checked shirts, denim jackets, and American apparel style hoodies. This style is popular among teenagers and is typical of the indie genre. We also did the majority of our filming in or around Manchester city centre to contribute to the iconography. This can often style be seen in videos by circa waves.

Our video Circa waves - young chasers

The 1975 – band style

Indie music videos often show the artist in the video (such as videos by the 1975 and the Neighbourhood) to challenge this convention our music video did not feature the artist at all. However I did feature the singer on the cover which is not usually done.

The 1975 -

the 1975

The neighbourhood – I Love

You

Arctic Monkeys -

AM

Bastille – Bad Blood

< My CD cover

Finally, our use of cinematography was entirely hand held to make it seem more personal and get the audience involved. This was done in Ed Sheeran’s A-team video to make the audience feel sympathetic towards ‘Angel’ like we have done for ‘Darcy’

In terms of editing we frequently used cross cuts to cut between narratives to put a spin on the typical one narrative storyline music video. For the shot in the car we speed this up to not only fit the beat but also as a pastiche of the 1975’s chocolate video and the neighbourhoods sweater weather.

The 1975 - ChocolateThe neighbourhood –

sweater weather

I believe I have successfully challenged the conventions of a real media product with the creation of my music video and ancillary projects by putting my own spin on a traditional narrative. However we have still made it clear what genre and style it is by sticking to certain conventions that the audience are familiar with (I.E. the use of black and white).

In conclusion…

By Georgia McLaughlin