3. How I’ve challenged, used, and developed the
medium of music videos.
I decided to use the entire track of ‘Gather and Run’ to promote the artist
(Natasha North). My use of whole track reflects a convention of the
medium and achieves this purpose of advertisement.
I also used the convention of using the visuals to amplify, illustrate, or
contradict the lyrics (Goodwin).
The length of the video is also a convention of the medium of music
videos: it is around the 3-4 minute mark and continues for the same time
as the track does. The music video almost always follows the same time
length as the music, exceptions of this are ‘Alright’, ‘Runaway’, and
‘Blackstar’ among a few others. My production follows this.
However, my production challenges the convention of
using a chronological straight narrative structure,
mine uses a montage like structure within a
flashback meaning it is non-linear.
4. Locations
The main generic convention of a music video created by a British artist, is
using archetypal British locations and imagery. This is also a large part of
my video where the different locations represent the different stages of the
relationship. From the forest to the bleak beach and the riverbank/marshes.
All of these locations are quintessentially archetypal British locations.
However, this convention is challenged because we do not use wide shots
or open establishing shots to show off these locations which therefore
makes it less evident to the audience that these are British locations.
Another convention I used is the convention of nature and freedom within
the locations of indie folk songs. This convention can be seen in the lyrics of
our song and in the imagery of almost every music video of the genre. This
is symbolic ideological representation of the freedom and organic feel of the
music is representing of the audience of young British ‘hippies’. Which is
why we decided to use this choice of location to use the convention in our
favour and further target an audience.
5. Lighting
I decided I would use the common yet small convention of lens flares
as a lighting technique along with complete natural ambient lighting;
adding more to my natural, raw atmosphere I have created in this
video. Within the lighting of the film I have not challenged many
conventions of the genre or the medium because I have used bright
ambient light which creates hardly any shadow and ensures the
brightness of the film in look and in theme. I decided to keep it light
because I didn't want to get it mistaken for the conventions within the
thriller and horror genres, where dark connotes death and darkness
in theme.
However, I have used chiaroscuro lighting within the minimum
shadows I have to challenge the convention and add a sort of eery-
ness to the scenes and make the audience uneasy and weary of the
relationship, so that they know somethings wrong with it.
6. Actresses
An identity theory by Lucan suggests that as an audience member we
see ourselves reflected within the media text, meaning that we can
relate to the characters and even more so if we share specific traits,
such as being female. Being able to identify with the age, gender or
situational factors can help massively on the effect that the video has
and also whether people watch it in the first place. This convention of
audience relate-ability is something which I tried to achieve,
developing the relationship between audience and the text to keep it
engaging and to successfully promote the artist and track.
In my production the characters and cast are both female and in a
romantic relationship, the genre convention for this is to objectify and
use the male gaze. However, I disagreed with this ideology and
decided to challenge the conventions by instead portraying their
relationship and actions with close ups to the eyes instead of using the
actresses purely as ‘eye-candy’ and
7. Sound
The sound in my video was almost entirely from the song
but with the ambient, location sounds quietly underneath the
track, this again forms the atmosphere even more natural.
Our track formed to all of the conventions and forms of the
genre like using acoustics, a single soft female voice and
using a British accent which is the strongest convention of
British indie folk music.
In our video we also used a convention of the medium
which is editing the visuals to the beat and audio aspects of
the track. This means while editing we had to try to edit the
different shots to the song.
8. Colour
In my video we use colour to separate past and present,
love and loneliness, and happiness and sadness. The
colouring of sepia tone and warmth is a strong generic
convention which we have developed to imply different
emotions and reflect the feeling of our main character, this
allows the audience to connect further to this character too.
Relatability is a large part of this genre and is used to
attract and target their audience.
The colouring I have chosen for this production is a natural
warm orange much like the colours of spring which is a
season that is undoubtably connected to the indie-folk
genre.
9. Narrative Structure
In my video I challenge the conventions by using a non-linear
narrative structure. This is because I use a flashback within the
story, this flashback depicts their relationship whereas the present
day story is her alone. This creates a binary opposition between the
two times. This also leaves it as an open text (Barthes) strongly
hinting that maybe the flashback was not a memory but a
dream/fictional story she has created to make her life seem less
lonely.
This type of structure is not used in the genre or even in most music
videos. This separates our video from the norm.
The convention of using Todorovs 3pt structure is also challenged
in our video. We do not use the Equilibrium-disruption-solution. This
is also a generic convention used by many music videos of the
genre.
