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

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS ?

2. Introduction
Throughout of my music video I have clearly embedded the generic conventions of
the indie pop genre. The strategy I used to do this was through the narrative,
editing, cinematography and mise en scene. In this blog post I will
be exploring analyzing through specific elements of my music
video assessing how and if they do or challenge the representation of my chosen
genre effectively. Therefore In this task I will be identifying for;
 Representation of the artist
 Setting/location
 Costumes and props
 Camera work and editing
 Performance
 Narrative
 Genre and how the music video suggests this
 How characters are introduced
 Special effects

3. Representation of Artist
In my music video I have portrayed two very different representations of my artist. At the
beginning of the song I represented my artist to be very weak and vulnerable which is a
stereotypical representation of a teenage girl suffering from a breakup in the indie pop
genre. However as the song continued their was an outburst of confidence, and frustration
as the main artist expresses her emotions to the audience, as the beat also gets stronger,
faster and louder. I had chose to do this as it would not only go with the lyrics of the song
but also perfectly fit into the indie pop genre as the vulnerability represents the indie
genre whilst the confidence, and rebellious side of the artist represents the pop genre. I
chose to incorporate two sides of the artist in my music video to make her more likeable
and relatable towards the audiences, Nico is shown to get stronger through the song,
leading to her finally rejecting her boyfriend who is mistreats her from the very start of the
song. I felt that this portrayal was very vital as I want my artist to be a good role model
towards her target audience, helping to them to know how to react in similar situations. I
think that these features definitely show the representations of the artist especially
through the narrative and performance side of my music video, as the audience can create
more of a accurate idea of the artist of what they are feeling and what situations are
reoccurring in their life enabling them to relate to the artist. Furthermore one element of
the narrative that represents what the artist is going through is the repeated theme of
rejection of love. This indicates to the audience that both the Nico and Edd are typical
teenagers, experiencing stereotypical teenage problems in life. The two artists are both
introduced at the very start of the music video, which makes them the very first characters
the audience see’s. I felt that this was a necessity as I wanted to empathise on the
importance of these two characters, making them more recognisable and memorable for
the audience. This conforms to the conventions of the indie pop genre as the
representation of the main characters is essential, as well as ensuring that they are
identified as the most important aspects of the music video.

4. Setting & Locations
In my music video I used a variation of simplistic settings to shoot. This
is because indie pop music videos include locations which are
reasonably simplistic that relate to every day tasks to ensure that the
target audience can easily relate. An example of this is used in Your
song by Ellie Goulding as she uses locations such as roads, houses,
train stations and fields to record her music video. All these different
locations have one thing in common they are simple and relatable to
her target audience of young adults. Therefore to ensure that I
conformed to the generic indie pop conventions I chose to keep the
locations in my own music video very simple based on every life
situations which are easily accessible and part of every day life
essentially. Furthermore it would completely go against the indie pop
genre if I chose to use extravagant locations such as hotels, concert
halls, restaurants and etc. as these locations will make it harder for my
target audience to relate as they are all not easily accessible. In
comparison I have decided to use locations such as the local
embankment, a generic teenage bedroom, house and local streets,
which conform to my genre and appeal to my target audience. The
simplicity of the locations I used goes extremely well with the indie
genre, however by using a variety of simple locations I have also
conformed to the pop genre as I have shown a diversity making the
music video look more interesting, making it stand out.

5. Props
The main prop I used in my music video was the iphone
5s. Most of the characters in my music video has a
edition of an iphone that they were shown constantly
using. Props in generic indie pop music videos are
commonly dependant of the narrative and so vary
accordingly, however the props used in the music video
are always relatable towards the target audience. Mobile
phones have a large impact and influence on mostly all
teenagers, therefore by including a mobile phone would
make the music video more relatable towards them as it
is now considered the norm to own one. However I chose
to incorporate the iphone 5s in my music video as it is
currently the most latest and popular phone out there, I
felt that this was very important as it connotes to the
audience that the characters in my music video are very
current and up-to-date with the latest gadgets. In
addition the phone is central in the music video as some
lyrics in the song focus on Edd calling up Nico to
apologise e.g. “He called me up again last night”,
therefore it was a necessity to include this prop as the
audience were expecting to see a phone call.

6. Costumes
I chose to include a range of costumes in my music video, which is
generic in the pop genre, as pop artists are always shown to
change their clothes constantly to make the music video appear
to be more exciting and engaging as the audience is persistently
waiting for the next change of costume. Pop costumes are very
glamorous, trendy and revealing which include pieces of clothing
such as short skirts, dresses and crop tops. However to ensure
that the I had also contained elements of the indie genre
conventions I chose to keep the costumes simple and basic,
however these costumes were trendy and very modern, which
furthermore represented the pop genre. For an example the
images on the right show two different costumes of what my
artist was shown to wear in my music video as you can see I
merged both the indie and pop genre conventions into the
outfits, as although my artist is wearing simple and basic clothing
e.g. jeans and leggings she has dressed it up with stylish scarf's,
crop tops and leather jackets, which are all very girly and
feminine which goes very well with the type of clothing that
teenager girls wear on a daily basis.

7. Camerawork and Editing
The main focus of my camerawork was to capture the emotions each
character was expressing and to show the audience closely what
was going on throughout the music video whilst highlight the
important features. This was due to the fact that most indie pop
genres see expressions of the artists emotions as a necessity in
order for the audience to promote them and gain a personal
relationship with the artist through the emotions that are
getting portrayed through the camerawork, therefore it is
important that all the camerawork is done accurately so it
creates precise meanings that the director is intending. The
technique I did this through was by using a wide range of shots
to both show the posture and facial expressions of the artists
these include mid shots, close-up shots and a few long shots,
which enabled the audience to gain a better understanding and
feel of the emotions that were recurring in and out the music
video. Furthermore the editing was also done relative to the
indie pop genre. Indie pop music videos often use light filters as
they focus on keeping the editing fairly simplistic to show more
empathise on the storyline of the music video and artist.
Therefore to conform to this aspect of the indie pop genre I
tried to keep the editing as minimum as possible only
incorporating edits in scenes I felt would benefit from it. For an
example I added brightness in the performance side of the
music video to make my artist stand out, which also connotated
her feelings of happiness and relief as she has realised she never
wants to get back with her boyfriend who has been mistreating
her. In comparison to this I used a shadowing and contrast
effect on the narrative side of my music video to show her
weakness and vulnerability towards the end. Overall I used edits
that went with the mood of the song. I did not use slow or fast
motions as I felt that the song was naturally up-beat which led
me to think that it did not need any of these additional edits .

8. Performance
The majority of indie pop genres incorporate a performance
in their music videos, which is commonly a band or solo
artist in a few simple locations. Therefore I chose to
follow this convention and shoot the performance side
of my music video in a few locations ranging from the
local embankment and the main artists bedroom. The
performance side of my music video enables the artist to
fully express her emotions and frustrations towards the
audience making her more likeable and relatable, as we
see outbursts of confidence strike through once the
music video turns over to the performance, which goes
extremely well with the storyline. Due to this I have
conformed to the indie pop genre, as I feel that the
performance side of my music video fits in with the
narrative and the genre it is based on. However there are
certain locations that I have used that do not fit in with
the lyrics of the song , and this is the embankment
however the embankment connotes nature, and it is
generic for the performance side of them music video to
be set in a totally different place to the narrative side of
the music video in the indie pop genre to make the music
video more engaging for the audience and give them a
change in scenery.

9. Narrative
A majority of indie pop music videos include a narrative
that goes extremely well with the lyrics of the of the
song. The narratives are commonly very
straightforward and simple to understand, and the
artist usually plays the main role. The narrative is often
based on every day situations that individuals will face
in life e.g. Such as bad break ups which make them
exceedingly relatable towards the audience. To do this
I chose to include my main artist in the narrative ,
which addressed the audience that the message they
were reacting was personal to them, which made the
audience feel as though they were too included. The
narrative went extremely well with the lyrics of the
song as it reinforced the audiences understanding of
why the main artist was singing so negatively about
her boyfriend, as in the narrative all he does is keep
pushing her away from him. The audience was made
aware of the situation and complications the two were
facing in their relationship which enabled them to
relate to their problems in their own life, enabling
them to aspire to Nico.

10. Genre & how the music
video suggests this?
I think that my music video is well suited to a indie pop music video
in a variety of ways. I feel that this is mainly due its simplicity. I
chose to keep my music video very simple as I wanted the
audience to focus on the main artist and the point she was
portraying through the narrative towards the audience. It is
generic for a indie pop music video to centre on the narrative
and artists, to ensure that they are recognisable and
memorable for the audience, this also contributes to the
promotion of the artists, as by focusing on the narrative the
audience is more likely to be able to relate with the artist which
will increase their popularity, due to this I feel that I have done a
extremely well job. I feel that by using a range and use of
certain locations definitely suggests that the music video is part
of the indie pop genre. I feel that that the brightly coloured
locations and background used e.g. The green leaves and the
red bed room suits the stereotypes of the genre as they
represent the nature and simplicity of the indie genre and the
fun, energetic and trendy side of the pop. Therefore I believe
that is it justifiable to say that from the camerawork to the
performance, my music video fits with the conventions of a
indie pop genre music video, due to the large amount of effort I
tried to link all aspects in with it.