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

Introduction

Throughout of my music video I have clearly embedded the generic conventions of the indie pop genre. The strategy I used to do this was through the narrative, editing, cinematography and mise en scene. In this blog post I will be exploring analyzing through specific elements of my music video assessing how and if they do or challenge  the representation of my chosen genre effectively. Therefore In this task I will be identifying for; 

Representation of the artist Setting/location Costumes and props Camera work and editing Performance Narrative Genre and how the music video suggests this  How characters are introduced Special effects

Representation of ArtistIn my music video I have portrayed two very different representations of my artist. At the beginning of the song I represented my artist to be very weak and vulnerable which is a stereotypical representation of a teenage girl suffering from a breakup in the indie pop genre. However as the song continued their was an outburst of confidence, and frustration as the main artist expresses her emotions to the audience, as the beat also gets stronger, faster and louder. I had chose to do this as it would not only go with the lyrics of the song but also perfectly fit into the indie pop genre as the vulnerability represents the indie genre whilst the confidence, and rebellious side of the artist represents the pop genre. I chose to incorporate two sides of the artist in my music video to make her more likeable and relatable towards the audiences, Nico is shown to get stronger through the song, leading to her finally rejecting her boyfriend who is mistreats her from the very start of the song. I felt that this portrayal was very vital as I want my artist to be a good role model towards her target audience, helping to them to know how to react in similar situations. I think that these features definitely show the representations of the artist especially through the narrative and performance side of my music video, as the audience can create more of a accurate idea of the artist of what they are feeling and what situations are reoccurring in their life enabling them to relate to the artist. Furthermore one element of the narrative that represents what the artist is going through is the repeated theme of rejection of love. This indicates to the audience that both the Nico and Edd are typical teenagers, experiencing stereotypical teenage problems in life. The two artists are both introduced at the very start of the music video, which makes them the very first characters the audience see’s. I felt that this was a necessity as I wanted to empathise on the importance of these two characters, making them more recognisable and memorable for the audience. This conforms to the conventions of the indie pop genre as the representation of the main characters is essential, as well as ensuring that they are identified as the most important aspects of the music video.

Setting & Locations In my music video I used a variation of simplistic settings to shoot. This is because indie pop music videos include locations which are reasonably simplistic that relate to every day tasks to ensure that the target audience can easily relate. An example of this is used in Your song by Ellie Goulding as she uses locations such as roads, houses, train stations and fields to record her music video. All these different locations have one thing in common they are simple and relatable to her target audience of young adults. Therefore to ensure that I conformed to the generic indie pop conventions I chose to keep the locations in my own music video very simple based on every life situations which are easily accessible and part of every day life essentially. Furthermore it would completely go against the indie pop genre if I chose to use extravagant locations such as hotels, concert halls, restaurants and etc. as these locations will make it harder for my target audience to relate as they are all not easily accessible. In comparison I have decided to use locations such as the local embankment, a generic teenage bedroom, house and local streets, which conform to my genre and appeal to my target audience. The simplicity of the locations I used goes extremely well with the indie genre, however by using a variety of simple locations I have also conformed to the pop genre as I have shown a diversity making the music video look more interesting, making it stand out.

PropsThe main prop I used in my music video was the iphone 5s. Most of the characters in my music video has a edition of an iphone that they were shown constantly using. Props in generic indie pop music videos are commonly dependant of the narrative and so vary accordingly, however the props used in the music video are always relatable towards the target audience. Mobile phones have a large impact and influence on mostly all teenagers, therefore by including a mobile phone would make the music video more relatable towards them as it is now considered the norm to own one. However I chose to incorporate the iphone 5s in my music video as it is currently the most latest and popular phone out there, I felt that this was very important as it connotes to the audience that the characters in my music video are very current and up-to-date with the latest gadgets. In addition the phone is central in the music video as some lyrics in the song focus on Edd calling up Nico to apologise e.g. “He called me up again last night”, therefore it was a necessity to include this prop as the audience were expecting to see a phone call.

CostumesI chose to include a range of costumes in my music video, which is generic in the pop genre, as pop artists are always shown to change their clothes constantly to make the music video appear to be more exciting and engaging as the audience is persistently waiting for the next change of costume. Pop costumes are very glamorous, trendy and revealing which include pieces of clothing such as short skirts, dresses and crop tops. However to ensure that the I had also contained elements of the indie genre conventions I chose to keep the costumes simple and basic, however these costumes were trendy and very modern, which furthermore represented the pop genre. For an example the images on the right show two different costumes of what my artist was shown to wear in my music video as you can see I merged both the indie and pop genre conventions into the outfits, as although my artist is wearing simple and basic clothing e.g. jeans and leggings she has dressed it up with stylish scarf's, crop tops and leather jackets, which are all very girly and feminine which goes very well with the type of clothing that teenager girls wear on a daily basis.

Camerawork and EditingThe main focus of my camerawork was to capture the emotions each

character was expressing and to show the audience closely what was going on throughout the music video whilst highlight the important features. This was due to the fact that most indie pop genres see expressions of the artists emotions as a necessity in order for the audience to promote them and gain a personal relationship with the artist through the emotions that are getting portrayed through the camerawork, therefore it is important that all the camerawork is done accurately so it creates precise meanings that the director is intending. The technique I did this through was by using a wide range of shots to both show the posture and facial expressions of the artists these include mid shots, close-up shots and a few long shots, which enabled the audience to gain a better understanding and feel of the emotions that were recurring in and out the music video. Furthermore the editing was also done relative to the indie pop genre. Indie pop music videos often use light filters as they focus on keeping the editing fairly simplistic to show more empathise on the storyline of the music video and artist. Therefore to conform to this aspect of the indie pop genre I tried to keep the editing as minimum as possible only incorporating edits in scenes I felt would benefit from it. For an example I added brightness in the performance side of the music video to make my artist stand out, which also connotated her feelings of happiness and relief as she has realised she never wants to get back with her boyfriend who has been mistreating her. In comparison to this I used a shadowing and contrast effect on the narrative side of my music video to show her weakness and vulnerability towards the end. Overall I used edits that went with the mood of the song. I did not use slow or fast motions as I felt that the song was naturally up-beat which led me to think that it did not need any of these additional edits .

Performance

The majority of indie pop genres incorporate a performance in their music videos, which is commonly a band or solo artist in a few simple locations. Therefore I chose to follow this convention and shoot the performance side of my music video in a few locations ranging from the local embankment and the main artists bedroom. The performance side of my music video enables the artist to fully express her emotions and frustrations towards the audience making her more likeable and relatable, as we see outbursts of confidence strike through once the music video turns over to the performance, which goes extremely well with the storyline. Due to this I have conformed to the indie pop genre, as I feel that the performance side of my music video fits in with the narrative and the genre it is based on. However there are certain locations that I have used that do not fit in with the lyrics of the song , and this is the embankment however the embankment connotes nature, and it is generic for the performance side of them music video to be set in a totally different place to the narrative side of the music video in the indie pop genre to make the music video more engaging for the audience and give them a change in scenery.

Narrative

A majority of indie pop music videos include a narrative that goes extremely well with the lyrics of the of the song. The narratives are commonly very straightforward and simple to understand, and the artist usually plays the main role. The narrative is often based on every day situations that individuals will face in life e.g. Such as bad break ups which make them exceedingly relatable towards the audience. To do this I chose to include my main artist in the narrative , which addressed the audience that the message they were reacting was personal to them, which made the audience feel as though they were too included. The narrative went extremely well with the lyrics of the song as it reinforced the audiences understanding of why the main artist was singing so negatively about her boyfriend, as in the narrative all he does is keep pushing her away from him. The audience was made aware of the situation and complications the two were facing in their relationship which enabled them to relate to their problems in their own life, enabling them to aspire to Nico.

Genre & how the music video suggests this?

I think that my music video is well suited to a indie pop music video in a variety of ways. I feel that this is mainly due its simplicity. I chose to keep my music video very simple as I wanted the audience to focus on the main artist and the point she was portraying through the narrative towards the audience. It is generic for a indie pop music video to centre on the narrative and artists, to ensure that they are recognisable and memorable for the audience, this also contributes to the promotion of the artists, as by focusing on the narrative the audience is more likely to be able to relate with the artist which will increase their popularity, due to this I feel that I have done a extremely well job. I feel that by using a range and use of certain locations definitely suggests that the music video is part of the indie pop genre. I feel that that the brightly coloured locations and background used e.g. The green leaves and the red bed room suits the stereotypes of the genre as they represent the nature and simplicity of the indie genre and the fun, energetic and trendy side of the pop. Therefore I believe that is it justifiable to say that from the camerawork to the performance, my music video fits with the conventions of a indie pop genre music video, due to the large amount of effort I tried to link all aspects in with it.