This document analyzes how the author's music video and promotional materials for the song "Moving to New York" by The Wombats reinforce conventions of the indie music genre. The music video uses conventions like dark lighting, handheld camerawork, and casual clothing to portray the band consistently with expectations for low-budget indie videos. Similarly, the promotional poster and album packaging stick to genre norms by prominently displaying the song and band names while omitting images of the band themselves. Through adhering to these established forms, the author aimed to effectively promote the song while reinforcing the genre's stereotypical "outsider" image.

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2. Contents
Page 2. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Page 4. How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary text?
Page 5. What have you learnt from your audience
feedback?
Page 7. How did you use technology in the construc-
tion and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Page 2. In what ways does your media product use, de-
velop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
n Neale’s 1990 theory it stated
that that genre provides guide-
lines and expectation [for a music
video]-this meaning each share
certain conventions that form the
identity of the genre and my music
video and ancillary texts doesn’t
seem to challenge such conven-
tions that real media products
follow.
My music video is a performance
videos, following a circular nar-
rative, with amplified lyrics, for
the song Moving To New York by
the Wombats. This an indie song
and my music video does little
challenge but rather reinforces
conventions of other media videos.
In indie music videos the locations
is usually that of somewhere quite
dark and all though my chosen
location was not that dark to begin
with, but through editing I made
it out to be which reinforces a
conventional expectation of the
genre. This is also to help with the
amplification of the lyrics in which
there is references throughout the
song to the artist having problems
with his sleep, which could be seen
as linking to the darkish light-
ing of music videos, which also
contribute to this outsider image
associated with the indie genre.
Other common conventions of
the genre that I used myself is the
use of multiple close ups; whilst
using a range of shots, the main
type of shots in my music video
were closes ups and these are the
most commonly used, especially
in performance videos within the
indie genre.
The stereotypical/conventional
view of the indie genre is that it
is mainly low budget and this is
reflected in my camera movement.
To continue this conventional view
of the gerne, my whole video was
filmed handheld and contained
a variety of camera movement
within the different shots, main-
ly titling slightly every now and
then. The reason for this is to give
two affects, one that it feel as if its
flowing with the music and the
other being to solidify this stere-
otypical image of the genre being
low budget, as gives the hand held
feeling and not that of a major big
budget pop production. Other
conventional views are continued
using the mise-en-scene which is
affective in continue conventional
views through both the clothing
and the background. The back-
ground of my music video is in
a studio, which once again links
back to this conventional view of
a low budget indie project, as a
studio is the most common place
for music to be recorded and the
band isn’t going out of their way to
change where they are performing,
which would the budget and look.
The background has lots of props
of other instrument lying around
which links back to of low budget,
as is not like it is their own private
studio, and links to the stereotypi-
cal view that indie bands are quite
un-professional, mainly as they
consist of young band members
and don’t have a large budget.
Also looking at mise-en-scene the
clothing in my music video rein-
forces the conventional representa-
tion of age in my music video.
There are plenty of reinforcing
stereotypes about youth and youth
culture in my music video. The
two most featured musicians in my
music videos are wearing hoodies,
whilst performing, as they are a
young band, and this reinforces
stereotypical ideas about youth
identity-as it is common in the
media they are presented wearing
such clothing. The choice of wear-
ing a hoodie, whilst seen as casual
by teenagers, also share negative
connotation about being edgy and
rough, a connotation that is also
shared by teenagers in mainstream
media. Yet the reason for my musi-
cian wearing such clothing, is not
to link them to the negative con-
notations that come with wearing
hoodies, but more to link the uses
and gratifications theory. The uses
and gratifications theory men-
tions one of the reason media is
consumed is for social identity. By
having people dressed in hoodies
it can be seen as relatable to the
target audience; 15-25 year old’s,
as they are seen as the primary
consumer to the indie genre. This
is why I choose to represent my
artists in this conventional way.
Linking further Goodwin’s theory
about codes and conventions is
that intertextual references are a
common convention with in music
videos, and I continued this idea.
The first intertextual references

3. within my music appears right at
the start in which the number of
takes for the music videos on the
clapper board reads the area code
for Manhattan, as the music video
is titled Moving to New York.
Another intertextual references
appears right at the end, by slight-
ly copying the end for American
Dad episodes, which each time
end with a thumbs up which fades
out, with the reason for this being
copied is that American Dad is a
late nigh TV show and the artist
continuously mentions how he has
problems with his sleep. The other
intertextual reference is less clear
but is present in my music video;
linking back to clothing, there
are other connotations with how
my artists have been represented
that link to the genre, but is not
to do with stereotyping. I men-
tioned how my two main artists
are wearing hoodies, but the other
artist within my music video is
wearing quite different clothing.
My other guitarist is wearing a
shirt, smart trousers but with no
ties-whilst this is still casual like
hoodies there is a different mean-
ing behind it. The clothing has
connotations with and is an en-
codes message (Stuart Hall 1973)
which links to the mod culture.
The reason why I have chosen to
represent my artist in such cloth-
ing; is that a large amount modern
day indie bands are said to have
gained a lot of inspiration for the
mod movement, including the
Wombats, who’s song I am making
a music video for. This intertextual
reference to the mod movement is
my way to salute the inspiration of
the genre, through the representa-
tion of my artists.
The other ancillary task in my
music video also follow conven-
tional guidelines, that are expected
with such products. The adverts
aims is to promote the musician
and their work and mine does so
in a conventional fashion. The
two largest texts on my advert
is the name of the artist and the
song. This is because the aim is to
promote those two thing and is
important and conventional that
they stand out from the rest of
the text and are clear to audience,
otherwise it defeat the purpose
of the adverts. Other texts on
the page also include attempts at
promoting, which would be found
on most other adverts including
reviews, release dates and what
platform it would be available on.
These are conventional placement
on an advert, and I followed them
to avoid potential audiences being
confused. A conventional expec-
tation of the genre is also frequent
on the advert in the lack of the
actual artist, as this is not always
a major selling point for the indie
genre, unlike pop and hip hop
when the artist themselves plays a
big part in the selling point of the
music video.
This is also a theme continued
onto my digpack in which the
artists lack presents on the cover.
This is a conventional expectation
of the music, shown in the fact
that the wombats themselves, as
well as other popular indie bands/
artists such as Catfish and the
Bottlemen and Jamie T on all
their albums combined have never
appeared on the cover, so this is
sticking to a common convention
of the genre. Inside my digipack
is the offer of a free poster, which
can see to a conventional feature
of musicians looking to appeal to a
young audience, in which my tar-
get audience would be included.
This how throughout my media
tasks that most conventions are
usual followed.
Whilst the main product and
ancillary differ in their overall
purpose to one another, they are
all interlinked with each other and
together serve as an important
make-up of the brand image, as
well being linked in other ways.
The purpose of the advert seeks to
promote the artists and their prod-
ucts (Moving To New York) and I
feel mine is affective in doing so.
The reason for this is the fact that
it sticks to conventional expecta-
tions of an advert for a song/music
video, as the two largest texts on
the pages are the band name and
song title. This is important as
the purpose of the advert is for
promotion and two things it is
promoting are the clearest things
on the page and the audience is
made aware of it them due to this,
the advert wouldn’t be affective if
the audience weren’t able to make
out what was being promoted. The
advert also serves its purpose ef-
fectively by being laid out this way
as a single page advert is likely to
appear on bus shelters or in mag-
azines, which means people are
only likely to take a quick glimpse
at them so it is important to make
the artists name and song clear. To
role of promoting the band/song is
also being served through small-
er texts on the page. Theses text
include the realise date-the third
largest text for similar reasons as
prior-with the platforms it will
be available on beneath it. Other
texts on the page include reviews
from magazines and intuitions;
of which are linked with the indie
genre-the genre of the band. Other
links to indie genre play into
unifying theme (the brand image)
of my products. Indie bands have
connotations of outsiders, as they
are mainly out of mainstream mu-
sic and mainly unsigned and this
outsider image is reinforced by
my advert, as its part of the bands
image. This is down to the lack of
the band themselves on the ad-
vert, giving off connotations that
they are not the main selling point
but the music itself is, unlike pop
music where the artist is key to the
selling point; therefore, creating
this outsider indie feel to it.
This band identity, being the
unifier between my products,
is continued onto the digipack
through similar methods. Just like
the advert, the digipack lacks the
presents of the band on the cov-
er. This signal once again similar
connotations to that of the advert
but goes further in differentiation
of the band from other potential
genres. If someone saw the cover
and was unaware of the band, they
could take a good guess, despite
not being completely clear, that
this is an indie band, as faces of
the artist in question, on covers
are usually in other genre, such
as grime, pop and rock. The lack
of the band on the cover or ad-
vert also creates this mysterious
feel to the band, a similar theme
to the actual band The Wombats,
who’s song I am using, as they
have never appeared on any of
their covers for singles or all four
albums. As well continuing the
unifying theme of my products,
the digipacks also serves its main
purpose quite effectively. One
of the purpose the digipack is to
help sales, as this is the physical
product people buying a CD or
Vinyl are paying for. This is why
my digipack has a clear cover, as
the only texts on the cover; is the
band name, album name, tagline
and “freebie”. It is important to
minimise the amount texts on the
cover so it doesn’t become over
crowded, as the key selling point
becomes unclear. My digipack
does include within it a note to
the fans from the band as well as
a free poster, these are to please
fans who buy the products, which
suit nicely with the bands indie
identity as a lot of these band have
cult like following, which would
appreciate such things within a
digipack, but also plays into the
down to earth indie identity.
This indie identity is also highly
present within the music, as well
such an identity being linked as
one of the purposes of such a mu-
sic video which is to give the pub-
lic an impression of the band, with
other purpose being promotion of
the song itself. The indie identity
of the band is created through the
music video through many differ-
ent connotation associated with
the genre. The ideas of the indie
genre being low budget is present-
ed through the different filming
techniques and editing to give it a
dark, low budget feel to the pro-
duction, which can also be seen
to be linking to the brands image
of the band being quite mysteri-
ous. The handle held camera also
links to the low budget outsider
image and the style of the perfor-
mance separates the band image
from similar punk/glam rock
performance videos which are
both in your face and glammed
up, whilst the artist are wearing
casual clothes and lack eye contact
with the camera at most points in
the video, once again reinforcing
this indie image, which also a key
purpose of the music video.
How effective is the combination of your main product
and ancillary text?

4. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Throughout the planning and pro-
duction stage of my coursework I
received feedback on the different
stages of my music video and an-
cillary texts, in order to gain opin-
ions on my work and help shape
the direction I was going with in
creating my coursework.
My target audience for my mu-
sic video was 15-25 year olds, so
when receiving feedback, I col-
lected opinion from this target age
group. The reason for this is the
largest consumer of the modern
indie genre is 15-25 and also the
artist involved in my video are of
this age bracket and I had them
dress in clothing commonly asso-
ciated with this age bracket (hood-
ies and jeans). This would link to
the uses and gratification theory
as it provides a form of social
identity, through relatability of my
artists, which would support with
the feedback I received saying in
which respondents felt the music
video felt realistic, modern and
that it stuck with the identity of
the genre.
The importance of feedback
was shown through its presents
throughout different stages of my
coursework’s, as it gives an idea to
what is working and what needs
changing. This is shown, especially
well, in the first bit of feedback I
received about my proposal. Even
when writing my proposal, I was
still slightly unsure of which type
of video I was going to make; a
performance or narrative, but after
receiving feedback on my propos-
al I was able to understand the
popularity of the idea I had for a
performance video, which despite
some changes along to its style/
idea (due to further feedback), was
the base for my final product.
The feedback I received for my
ancillary texts; digipack and mag-
azine advertisement, was through-
out different draft stages, in order
to provide guidelines on what was
working and what should change.
I started off first with my digipack,
as magazine adverts usually share
a lot of similarities with but are
less complex than a digipack, so if
I got that right then it would easier
to make my magazine advert and
feedback would similar but less
in depth. The first draft for my
digipack was using images off the
internet and whilst respondents
said they liked the creativity of
my digipack design-especially the
text-but the chance of recreating
the borrowed images to an effec-
tive standard was brought into
question. This lead me to change
the phots and overall design of
my digipack to contain images
that were easier for me to recreate
or ones I already had, yet to till
try to incorporate the creativity
of my previous design which had
gone down well with the potential
audience’s feedback. I contin-
ued through the use of a creative
layout for my texts within my
digipack, with result with posi-
tive feedback on future draft, and
continued such designs onto my
magazine advert-which received
similar positive feedback. The
feedback I received for both my
ancillary task was written down,
which allowed me to refer back
when making changes more easily
and look at what had worked in
each draft, without making similar
mistakes. The feedback was also
from fellow media students for
these tasks. As well as fitting into
my target audience bracket, the
feedback being from other media
students was also useful as they
provided advice on how I could
make the improvements that were
suggested, as they were using the
same software.
When I moved onto my main task
I received feedback even more
frequently than on the previous
tasks and through a further variety
of forms of feedback. Like with
the previous task at first I received
written feedback on my first two
drafts, this was for similar affect
as having written down feedback,
which was easier to refer back too
for changes that could be made
but to also make sure I didn’t re-
move scenes that had gone down
well in previous feedbacks. Whilst
the range shots themselves and the
number of cuts were seen as pos-
itives to take away from my first
two drafts, but a majority people
felt the footage was too blurry in
some scenes and that there wer-
en’t enough shots of the other
musicians and too many of the
singer. This lead to me re-filming
effective shots that came out too
blurry and to film more shots of
the drummer and guitarist, as well
some group shots. The feedback I
got on my final draft however, was
not written down like previously
but what I got my potential audi-
ence to do was watch the footage
and give recorded feedback whilst
they were watching it. This was
useful as it gave me an idea of
what people were thinking whilst
watching the video and allowed
them to point out things that
stand out or issue that I may have
missed. This sort of feedback was
also useful as; the other feedback I
had received was mainly about the
video as whole or scenes towards
the end of the music video, as this
section was fresh in people minds,
so by having them give feedback
whist watching it allowed for more
specific feedback but also areas of
improvements to do with the start
of the music video. Also through-
out the make of my music video I
would ask people in my class for
feedback on cuts that I had added
in or edited and ask if they prefer
that or an alternative shot, which
helped with my decision making
throughout
The only criticism of the feedback
I’d received was it was too nice at
some point and I could have used
more constructive criticism which
would of helped further improved
my music video, but overall the
feedback I received was very use-
ful and drastically altered some of
my decision making.

5. How did you use technology in the construction and re-
search, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout the process of creat-
ing my music video and ancillary
texts I used aa range of technology
for various reasons.
During the research and planning
stage of my music video I used
many different types of software
to do the tasks needed. The main
two types of software I used for
these stages were prezi and emaze.
The reason for predominant use
of these two websites, was to avoid
the use of more conventional
applications like powerpoint and
word, but create similar work and
these two whilst they do differ
from conventional applications, at
the same time share some simi-
larities. They also provide more
of creative layouts for the task
in hand, which was useful in the
planning stage as it required more
creative thinking, which is also
important as creative thinking was
need to create and effective music
video. Also within my planning
stage I used premier pro for the
first time, which I would later use
for the construction of my music
video and the planning stage help
me get use to such technology.
When filming my actual music
video, I used cannon 50 camera,
perched on top of a Steadicam.
This technology was useful as it
allowed me to make an affective
looking handheld like video, with-
out the camera being too shaky
but not restricting movement. I
didn’t use any additional lighting
in the room, mainly for the reason
it in small already crowed space
and I didn’t want to make my art-
ists feel claustrophobic or limit the
amount of movement I could have
to get different angles.
I began editing my raw footage
into a music video using premier.
Premier was useful as it allowed
me to add different layers in, so I
could have many videos playing at
once in line with the song and was
able to cut out the scene I didn’t
want but save time having to find
a different footage and resyncing
it with the song as a replacement
was already in another layer
synced up. The ability to have
different layer, also made it easier
to add in extra shorter footage for
instrumentals and allowed me to
place side by sides footage of my
different scene in my music video
at once. This same scene my music
video was benefitted by the use of
Premier Pro as it allowed me to
have an effective looking transi-
tion back to a full, by using the ef-
fects offered by the software-being
page turn on each of the videos.
Other affects was the adjustment
of the colour balance, which help
create the dark indie feel. On my
footage from the first time I had
filmed I used a colour balance
of midtone blue 20 throughout
to create this affect, but the sec-
ond lot of footage we required
more colour balancing to create a
constituent tone throughout, due
to a difference in natural lighting
on the days I refilmed. This made
premier extremely useful for the
making of my music video.