Media Coursework

1. My Music Video PitchMy Music Video Pitch
Rebecca HortonRebecca Horton

2. My Idea Summary:My Idea Summary:
Ø To fit my genre, I have decided on creating a male three-piece band.
Ø
Ø The main theme of this music video is adventure – it focuses on a male and female character {with the
male character also being the lead singer of the band} going on a journey through the streets
during the evening. The video begins with them making eye contact at the train station - the
relationship between the two is never confirmed and is left ambiguous for the audience to decide
with their own opinion. Near the end of the music video, the characters are at a party – representing
their freedom and enjoyment in life.
Ø My idea is to have equal parts of narrative and performance throughout the entire video, increasing
the interest in the audience but still conforming to my chosen genre.
Ø
Ø There is an intertextual reference to the novel ‘Just One Day’ – a story about two characters who first
meet on the Euro-Star. Although I don’t believe that my audience would read a book like this, the
male character in it really represents them – he’s rebellious, edgy and his look matches the band’s
costume.

3. How does my music video fulfil the
specification?
How does my music video fulfil the
specification?
Ø The specification states “You should create a cross-media production for an independent record
label targeting a specialised audience of 16-35 year olds who have a specific interest in your
chosen genre of music”.
Ø
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Ø Independent Record Label: I have chosen ‘Domino Recording Company’ – a British independent
record label based in London. This record label have signed incredibly successful indie-rock
bands and artists ranging from the Arctic Monkeys to Franz Ferdinand so I thought they would
be best to represent my band as they have very similar features and produce songs of the same
genre as these successful artists.
Ø
Ø

4. How does my music video fulfil the
specification?
How does my music video fulfil the
specification?
Ø Specialised Audience of 16-35 year olds: When carrying out my market research, I created a
questionnaire which was given to those who fit this age barrier. I did not see any significance in
giving it to a member of the public who were younger/older as they may have had different
interests and hobbies.
Ø
Ø Specific Interest in chosen Genre: After choosing my genre I needed to create a band that fit it
well, a band that would represent the genre’s audience. Therefore widening their audience
appeal. I also gave my questionnaire to only those who listened to indie-rock music.

5. How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
Ø The song I chose is one of my favourites by the indie-rock band The Smiths – ‘There’s a light
that never goes out”. I chose my song first, so that I could then use the genre belonging
to that song and in this instance it was indie-rock.
Ø
Ø To get an idea of the codes and conventions belonging to this genre I looked at examples
of music videos of the same genre:
Ø
q Arctic Monkeys – ‘I bet that you look good on the dancefloor’
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q Magic – ‘Rude’
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q Vampire Weekend - ‘A-Punk’
q The Fratellis – ‘Chelsea Dagger’

6. Codes and Conventions Evidence:Codes and Conventions Evidence:
I found the following codes & conventions in the music
videos:
Ø Low-budget production
Ø Performance based
Ø Narrative based
Ø Close-ups of the artists
Ø Low-key lighting & colours
Ø Male-Dominated
Ø Illustrative

7. How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
Ø So for my music video, I needed to match these conventions.
Ø Low-budget production – there are
minimal settings used in my music
video, [train station, streets, house
party] those of which are outdoor,
further conforming to the genre’s
stereotypes.
Ø Performance based – there are sections
of my video that are performance
based with the artists playing their
instruments.

8. How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
Ø Narrative based – There is a small portion of a storyline
present about two young characters going anywhere &
everywhere.
Ø Close-ups of the artists – These are evident in the
performance section of my music video.
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Ø Low-key lighting & colours – The narrative is set in the
evening, low-key lighting used with dark toned colours
seen in the costumes used.

9. How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
How effective will it be in communicating
genre?
Ø Male-Dominated – The band is male only.
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Ø Illustrative – some of the lyrics match what is seen on screen,
for example; “If a double decker bus” – tilt of bus.

10. TimelineTimeline
Ø After deciding on the song, I needed to create a timeline to get a clear idea of what was happening at every moment of
the music video. From doing my timeline to creating the storyboard, I did add in an extra scene because I felt that it
needed to be more interesting without it being the same thing over and over again. However the timeline was
incredibly useful in giving me an idea of what would occur and when.
Ø
Ø The timeline also helped me look deeply into the lyrics of the song and I was able to find that parts of the lyrics link to the
target audience. An example of this would be the lyric “welcome no more” – the audience are young, inexperienced
and people that age have a fear of not belonging or that they believe they don’t fit in.
Ø
Ø I also looked at the mood and tone of the song from using this timeline, and I believe that although it does have a mixture
of both an optimistic & pessimistic mood about rebellion and youth, I think that the tone is rather soft.
Ø The pace of the song is slow/medium which I will match when editing the music video, thus challenging stereotypes of
indie-rock songs.

11. RepresentationRepresentation
Ø Representation of the band: Due to the fact that the music video is partially performance-
based with many close-ups, the audience can get a feel of the identity of the band
and who they are as people. Their identity is further shown through the costume – the
band will conform to stereotypes of what indie-rock bands wear, such as; leather
jackets, graphic t-shirts & ripped jeans.
Ø
Ø Representation of youth [target audience]: The band themselves are relatively young, and
this helps them connect to the audience as they experience similar lifestyles and
identities to each other. Representation of youth is evident through the repeated use of
streets/outdoor settings as youths are commonly associated with being outside going
anywhere and everywhere. The final scene of the music video also represents the
audience (youths) as it is a house party – a place where people of that age group
would go to be rebellious and have fun.

12. Audience ResearchAudience Research
In order to get a
feel of my target
audience, I needed
to carry out
audience research
so I did this through
questionnaires & a
focus group.

13. Audience ResearchAudience Research
Once I collated my results I obtained a better idea of who my target audience would be.
Ø After sending out 20 questionnaires, 4 people preferred a storyline music video, 6 people preferred a concert-based video
and the remaining 10 chose a mixture of both.
Ø The key features they believed where present in an indie-rock music video where: lighting effects, musical instruments, the
band/artist, grunge aesthetics, drugs and alcohol.
Ø 16/20 were aware of the band Arctic Monkeys and recognised a few of their music videos, which strengthened my
confidence on picking Domino Recordings as my record label.
Ø When I asked my focus group [that inc. fans of the indie-rock genre] their preferred genre of film, they said adventure,
action and a small portion of violence. Thus giving me ideas of themes for my video.
Ø
Ø My music video will help persuade the audience to buy the music and help sell concert tickets as the video will be
performance-based giving the audience an insight into what a concert would be like.