..........

2.  Mis en scene is arguably the most important part of a music video. This is
because it includes setting, costume, props, movement, etc. These are all
things needed to engage the audience and make a captivating piece of
media. Whether the video is narrative, performance, or concept (Lynch
1984) all of these things are used to create meaning within the world of the
video. Props have a huge significance in the making of a music video. It is one
of the codes and conventions you expect to see. They help to convey the
message the artist is trying to portray as they can have symbolic meaning as
well as what they are at face value.

3.  For example, symbolic meaning is used in Beyoncé's video ‘Formation’. The video opens with a
New Orleans Police Car submerged in deep NOLA flood waters...the stage is set. Hurricane
Katrina aftermath. The voice over says, “What happened after New Orleans?” — voiced by
Messy Mya, a controversial African American social media celebrity from New Orleans who was
shot down in the street. A video of the murderer confessing surfaced online, he was arrested,
claimed he was bipolar, they put in a psych ward for 18 months and released him. This videos
meaning is not only about the lack of help and media coverage from the flooding, but also the
racial privileges received by those who could have had a very different fate.

4.  I decided for my music video that I would keep props minimal. This is
because I didn't want to over complicate the video and have too many
things going on. Also, just having one key prop could help create a good
brand identity and help with my magazine advert and digipak later on.
For example, having a key theme or colour that runs through all the
products.

5.  The only props that I will be using in my video are blue and red baubles
as I can link these to the song and establish a connection with the rest
of the products. I also think this could be effective for my digipak as I
could use the colours red and blue or feature some baubles on it. This
would be effective for the audience as they would be able to make the
connection between the different media products.

6.  Denis McQuail said that “The genre may be considered as a practical
device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and
efficiently and to relate its production to the expectation of its
customers”. This shows that the audience expect a certain
verisimilitude from an indie genre video. I have tried to follow this by
choosing appropriately coloured baubles (red and blue) instead of
going for bright pink and green which couldn’t be related to this genre
in any way. The audience have expectations of what they are going to
see in an indie music video, and also expect continuity between media
products to establish a brand identity they can follow.