1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. Music Video In order for us to decide whether we used, developed or challenged particular conventions of an indie music video I decided on typical conventions of existing indie music videos from the research I did. These conventions consisted of: a mixture of performance and narrative in the video the narrative is usually shot in a different location to the performance locations are usually outdoors and urban close ups of the band members and instruments used to sell the band's identity and the use of instruments in indie music the narrative is usually addressing a personal issue rather than a widespread issue, as young audiences can relate to these kinds of issues (like relationships) the behaviour of the band and their sense of fashion are individual to and identifiable of the indie genre

3. Performance/Narrative I noticed that most indie music videos contained a mixture of performance and narrative in their videos. This is because indie audiences like to identify with the band and their image, as well as seeing their use of musical instruments. Indie bands are known for making and playing their own music, and so showing the band emphasises this. The narrative element is also widely used as this breaks up the performance and adds another element to the video that makes it more entertaining to watch. Most of the time the narrative and performance are shot in different locations, as this breaks up the video and makes the locations more visually exciting as they are varied. We used this technique in our own video. This shows a shot from our video in which we had band performance This is an example from The Kooks’ video for ‘Ooh La’, in which they show the lead singer performing with his guitar. A shot from our video showing a flashback in the narrative of a boy and girl A narrative from Maroon 5’s video ‘She Will Be Loved’ involving the lead singer and a girl

4. Nature of Locations Typically the locations in indie videos are outdoors and in urban environments. This gives the band a D.I.Y image, making the video seem low maintenance and continues the idea that indie bands produce their own products. Maroon 5’s video for ‘Won’t Go Home Without You’, in which the performance and narrative are shot in different locations, however unlike our video their performance is indoors. We decided to shoot both our performance and narrative in outdoor environments, although some indie bands differ by shooting their performance indoors, however, we thought shooting outdoors for both in different locations would mean the video would reflect the theme running through our video, advert and digipak which all show the outdoors. Our video showing the locations of narrative and performance in different locations

5. Use of close-ups Typically in indie music videos there is a lot of use of close ups of the band members which help the audience to identify with the band’s image. There are also many close ups of instruments which highlight the fact that indie bands write and play their own music. Close ups are generally used in order to sell the band and produce an identity and image that the audience can familiarise with. We used this technique in our own video as we think it is a very good way of creating band identity and an indie video would not be the same without this technique. Here are some close ups of the band member’s face and some of the instruments from The Enemy’s video for ‘It’s Not OK’ These are close ups from our own video of the instruments and lead singer’s face, allowing the audience to identify with the band and their musical ability

6. Style of narrative I realised through my research that mostly the narrative in an indie music video addresses a small or personal issue, rather than a large or widespread issue. These personal issues are usually to do with things such as romantic relationships between young men and women, as these are the sorts of issues young audiences can relate to. Whereas other genres may address a relationships issue, they might address the forming of a relationship, whereas an indie genre tend to show the break up of a relationship or a relationship ‘gone wrong’. This may be because it provokes feeling in the audience, and as young people in this culture young people often go through a number of relationships and break up often. We chose to also address a relationship in our video, but leave the audience with an enigma at the end of the narrative, as they never find out what happens to the girl in the video, and she only appears in the flashbacks so it is obvious that the relationship is no longer ongoing. Stills from the video ‘Won’t Go Home Without You’ by Maroon 5, which also uses flashbacks to show the no longer ongoing relationship with a girl.

7. Band image The image of the band, in terms of their fashion sense and ‘behaviour’ are very individual and important to an indie band. Indie fashion is often very recognisable as indie fashion, and usually looks anti-mainstream and like the band have styled themselves, as this is the sort of image indie bands want to convey to their audiences. Their behaviour is usually laid back and relaxed, showing them to be at ease and enjoying their music. In our video, we made sure the boy in the narrative also had an indie fashion sense in order for him to, although not in the band, give the impression he was very similar to them. The Kooks One Night Only Our video – it can be seen that our band replicates indie fashion through their self-styled image, and also the behaviour of our band seems laid back throughout the video, by the way they are standing