Week 7 presentation for Blogger

1. Research into Genre
Conventions
How other Bands in the Indie/Rock Genre have
Produced their Music Videos.

2. Introduction
The song I’m going to produce a music video for, is called “I Wanna
Know” by a band called Secret American, which falls under the genre of
Indie Rock.
I will look over these particular songs that are in the same genre as I Wanna Know:
Cheers Elephant - Peoples
Sleepwalkers - Wake Up
Ali Awan - Be a Light
Ceramic Animal - Look for a Lover

3. The first band I’ll looking at is Cheers
Elephant, who are a four man band
formed in Philadelphia. They compose
psychedelic poprock using 3 vocalists;
2 are lead guitarists and 1 a bassist,
and they have a drummer.
Their star image is to become a good
conversation topic that everyone’s
talking about through their “traditional
songwriting skills” through their genre
that people really enjoy.
Image source: https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/cheering-cheers-elephant
About the Bands
The next band I’ll be looking at is
the Sleepwalkers. This band is
formed of 5 players from Richmond,
Virginia, USA. They have a
singer/guitarist, a drummer and
pianist and 2 other guitarists. Their
star image is to be cool and
uplifting, which reflects on their
music.
Image source: https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/premiere-sleepwalkers-band-ages-listen-stream/

4. The third band I’ll look at is called Ritual
Talk. This band is a trio formed from
Brooklyn, New York who do Indie music with
a “hint” of Soul in their music. Their overall
star image is portrayed by how different and
unique their music is, which develops
through every song.
The last band I’ll talk about is Ceramic
Animal. They are a five man band; 3 of them
being brothers - all from Philadelphia. Their
music videos have a 60’s band vibe to them
and they wear “handsome boy” suits to
every live show. They’re trying to portray the
star image of a suit-wearing band.
Image source: https://www.onestowatch.com/blog/ceramic-animal-dedicates-crowd-favoriteall-my
Image source: https://ritualtalk.com/ through Google images

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_BpfdXbuacCheers Elephant - Peoples
is this song’s music video similar to my music video concepts through symbolic conventio
. We can also see them hiking near the sea; this is how they spend their leisure time. In my video
This is similar to our video in
the sense that we can see the
band performing like how we
see them performing in the
Peoples video. Another
similarity is that we can see the
band fooling around in the
Peoples, which is what is
intended with my video when
the audience can see the band
mucking about in the second
half of the music video. The colour of the Peoples
video is an old VHS tape tint
to it, which is what we want in
our video

6. In terms of mise-en-
scene, the costumes of
the characters in the
Peoples video have t-
shirts and trousers on,
which is how we want to
dress our characters.
One out of four
characters also have
long hair, which is what
we have with one of our
characters.
rs Elephant are not the most mainstream bands; they play for themselves. This is what we want t

7. How many symbolic differences are there in this video in comparison to mine?
The set designs are based all
outside, i.e on performing stands
with speakers, band travelling by
the sea, whereas my video is
based inside with a living room
arrangement, with another gym set
outside the main set.
Sources of Images on last 3 slides: Peoples music video

8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRv7PJmnU0gSleepwalkers - Wake Up
When the music starts, we see a
close up of each instrument that starts
playing, which is similar to my video
to where there is an introduction to
each member with a close up shot of
their faces to get a feel of the band
and the setup of the band too. Also,
the singer comes into the video when
he sings the first line of the song. The
band seems to also be playing with a
beatbox; something retro whether a
prop, or lighting, is quite popular in a
music video of this genre. This
portrays that the music being
performed is from the 90’s, however
with the quality of the video, the music
that is played sounds like a modern
song with a classic twist - this is the
same with my song.
What similar symbolic conventions are in this video?

9. In the last minute of the song, the band in the Wake Up video decide to use their third
concept to do something that a normal person wouldn’t; this is also very common in a
music video of this genre when filming the last concept of the video. In this video, the
band look like a gang in the backstreets of a city looking to kill someone: this is the main
connotation of this part of the video. One of the members turns into a werewolf, and this
is kept through to the end of the video.

10. The Wake Up video doesn’t show the
band performing in a single shot at
the start, however it does show a
collective of them throughout. My
video does show a band
performance in it; as long as the
whole band is shown performing at
same time but in different shots, that
is important to a performance based
video for genre such as Indie Rock.
My video also doesn’t consist of any
outside shots for any of the concepts,
which is featured in the Wake Up
video.
(The whole band is in the car)
Sources of Images on last 3 slides: Wake Up music video
What symbolic differences are there to my video that are in this one?

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AopMQHqCJNQRitual Talk - If
What similar symbolic conventions are there in this video in comparison to my product?
When the drums first start playing
towards the beginning of the song, this is
where the band is being introduced to
us. This is presumably the lead singer,
as he is the first one to be introduced to
the audience. He is also seen when the
vocals are introduced, which gives an
obvious sign that he is the lead singer.
This technique is used in my video, as
the audience is moire familiar with who
is who. The rest of the band is seen as
all the introductory instruments are
heard in the song, which is also used in
my video as the audience gets a full
understand of who is in the band and
how many members there are in it.
They use natural light in the If video as
they are filming in a natural environment.
My video is recorded in what is
supposed to be a basement, which has
use of artificial lights and “natural”
moonlight. The light in both Ritual Talk’s
and my video is based on the
environment in which the video is filmed.

12. Each band member is wearing a
dorky set of clothes, i.e colourful
shirts, with long trousers and
sneakers. All the members have long
hair, as can be seen below the mirrors
they are holding, which adds to the
“dorky-ness” of the video. This is what
the characters in my video are being
portrayed as through their costumes,
and one of my band members have
long hair, which helps support the
band’s supposed image.

13. What differences in sybloic conventions are there in this video in comparison to my pro
The setting is based outside
through the whole video and each
the concepts of the video are very
similar top each other, unlike my
video, as each concept is different
but related to each other.
The faces of each band
member is anonymous due to
the mirrors they hold in front of
their faces, but get later
revealed. In my video, the
faces of the members get
shown right away as the music
starts.

14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdhqdwsUvVkCeramic Animal - Look for a Lover
is this song’s music video similar to my music video concepts through symbolic conventio
At the start of the video, the
band are instantly shown
with a wide shot of their
instruments with their hands
up: each band member is
shown to what they play,
and the gesture of their
hands going up means that
they are surrendering to
them being on the camera.
We can also see the set
behind them, which allows
the audience to get a sense
of the environment in which
the video is set. Most of the
video is set inside a
building, as the narrative of
this video is set as a dating
show.
My video shows the band play at
the start of the video, also with a
wide shot of the room to show the
environment of the video. It is also
set inside, which is what the
narrative of it portrays as it is set
in an unused room of a house.

15. The lighting in the Find a Lover video
represents the lighting from an old
fashioned set, coming from the 60’s,
as the light has an orange tint to it. As
other videos in this genre, they play
with retro styles aspects, if it is a prop
or the quality of the video that
represents a retro feel to the video.
My video uses more retro looking props, such as sofa and chairs, and other
pieces of furniture used that give an older vibe to the video, as it is a
common occurrence in this genre of music. The light used also uses the
lightbulb light source like how the Find a Lover video uses their light source
from lightbulbs, or at least that is what is portrayed within the video.

16. How many symbolic differences are there in this video in comparison to mine?
The Find a Lover video is filmed
mostly in the same set. This can
be identified due to how the set
design is kept the same
throughout the video and the
costumes of the characters
haven’t changed either, which
means the band are the ones
who are trying to find a lover,
while also playing the music for
the show themselves.
In my video, at least two sets are used
well in the video, which are introduced in
the first 2 concepts. Then for the third
concept, the first set that is introduced in
used in another way in terms that the
narrative within the video has developed
but with man children acting immaturely
and younger than the average band in a
video of this genre.

17. What Similar Technical Conventions are there in each of the Music Videos?
Each video has a wide shot of the band either performing as a band or as a
collective that are not performing.
Ritual Talk’s “If” video uses natural light throughout the video, as well as in Cheers
Elephant’s “Peoples” video, apart from a gig shot. Sleepwalker’s “Wake Up” video uses
moonlight in the third concept of the video as for natural light.
Ceramic Animal’s “Find a Lover” video uses an artificial light source, which comes from
the lightbulbs in the set of the video. This is also the case for Sleepwalker’s video at
the start and at the end of the video; light is from the set.
The quality of the visuals in 3 of 4 of the videos represent a more retro feel, as if the
video came from a VHS tape. This is also common in music videos of this genre.
The camera is placed in front of the band when performing in each video that is looked
at, and this is common in a performance video and in a music video of this genre.

18. What Different Technical Conventions are in each of the Music Videos?
Sleepwalker’s video uses coloured lights, whereas the other videos use naturally
coloured lighting. Their set isn’t shown to its full size when we see the band is
performing, whereas the other videos show the set as soon as the instruments
come in.
In Cheers Elephant’s video, there are some first person wide shots of one of the
band members cycling down a dirt road, which isn’t used in any of the other
videos, thus being a creative use of shots.
In Sleepwalker’s video, it starts off with a cassette tape going into a beatbox. The
sound of the cassette going in and being played is heard through diegetic sounds.
No diegetic sounds are used in any other video looked at, but is sometimes used
in some other music videos in the Indie genre.
In Ritual Talk’s video, it has captured a close-up shot with the mirrors that the
band members hold, which they use to reflect a reflection of a band member
holding a given mirror to show an interesting camera shot. This isn’t done in any
other video that is looked at, and is a very unique shoot in comparison to other
music videos done in the past.

19. Digipak Comparisons
Source: https://ceramicanimal.bandcamp.com/track/look-for-a-lover
Source: https://cheerselephant.bandcamp.com/track/peoples
Look for a Lover:
Peoples:
Source: https://genius.com/Sleepwalkers-cocaine-annotated
Cocaine:
Ceramic Animal
Cheers Elephant Sleepwalkers
Source: https://ritualtalk.bandcamp.com/releases
Ritual Talk
If:

20. Comparing Digipaks
3/4 of the digipacks show the band members - Ceramic Animal’s doesn’t
All of the digipaks don’t have the album or song name
3/4 of the digipaks use very basic colours - Ritual Talk’s digipak uses a
natural backdrop
Only Ritual Talk’s digipak is a photo taken from the scene of the video
Only Ceramic Animal’s digipak doesn’t have the band in the cover
Only Sleepwalker’s digipak has text on it: the band name is written all over it
3/4 digipaks have a retro/old-school colour scheme, the odd one out is
Ceramic Animal’s digipak, as it has only 2 colours on it
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The colour scheme also symbolises the genre of music each band writes, so
the “retro/old-school” scheme fits in with their video, and what other bands
and artists in this genre of music are doing
-

21. Bands’ Website Homepages
Ceramic Animal
Site: https://ceramicanimal.net/
Site: https://www.sleepwalkersmusic.com/
Ritual Talk
SleepwalkersCheers Elephant

22. Website Homepage Similarities/Differences
- All 4 homepages have the bands’ names or logos at the centre-top of the page.
- 3/4 homepages have a menu at the top of the page, next or surrounding the
band name, only Ritual Talk’s website doesn’t have this feature.
- Ritual Talks’ and Cheers Elephants’ websites have an image of the whole band
at the top of the page, with the band names.
- Ritual Talk’s and Sleepwalker’s sites allow the user to scroll down through the
website, whereas the other two websites don’t allow the user to do so.
Only Ceramic Animal’s site doesn’t show their most recent music and media,
whereas the other 3 websites do.
-
The colour scheme of all the websites use basic and flat colours. Sleepwalkers
and Ceramic Animal use the same colours of their recent albums.
-
Either black or white text is used in each of the sites.-

23. Which band do I think has the best campaign throughout and why?
ccessful campaign due to the fact that they have kept their 60’s ideology through the website, mus
oked at, and also bands in this genre of music - as being a band that wear suits even to live shows