The media product uses and develops conventions of indie music videos in several ways: 1) It uses diegetic sound of a rehearsing band at the opening, a technique seen in videos like "Teddy Picker" by Arctic Monkeys. 2) The clothing of the male character reflects typical indie fashion with boots, jeans and coats evoking the genre's mod influences. 3) It challenges conventions by depicting the female character in a more sophisticated, classy style rather than typical indie attire.

1. Media Evaluation –
Question 1
Tom Hogan
Music Video

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

3. The opening title sequence of the main product uses
diegetic sound of a live band rehearsing the song of the
music video. This is a common convention often
implemented in indie music videos such as “Teddy
Picker” by Arctic Monkeys. The use of this technique
reminds the audience of the fact that the instruments
on the recording are being played live and also sets the
scene for the video.
Sound
During the planning process of the main product the
group came up with the idea of having diegetic sound at
the very end of the video as the male character walks
into the café. This would have emphasised the
conclusion of the storyline and been an interesting end
to the product. However during the filming process we
were not equipped with an external microphone and so
instead left the last few seconds silent. We felt this was
still an effective ending and was better than using free
samples from the internet that could have instead spoilt
the effect.

4. Clothing
The clothes worn by the male character of the music video are
very typical of the indie music genre. The leather boots and
skinny black jeans are very common within the genre with many
current bands sporting the look, such as Catfish and the
Bottlemen. The green parka coat, Ben Sherman Harrington
jacket and Fred Perry polo shirts all highlight the genres origins
and relation to the “Mod” era. Whilst the clothing used for this
video is undoubtedly classed as indie, I feel that a more “rock n
roll” outfit would have suited the song more. For example, a
leather biker jacket would have been more similar to the Arctic
Monkeys’ current style and would still have retained the indie
fashion style that was desired.

5. The clothing worn by the female
character in some ways challenges the
typical clothing female indie fans would
wear. The actress is well presented in
knee high boots with leggings and either
a white top or blue shirt. The coat and
scarf combination works with the neat
hair and natural make up to create a
classy, sophisticated look. The challenges
the conventions of indie music as most
female indie fans would be expected to
wear Doc Martins, skinny jeans and a
loose fitting top, often in dark colours or
displaying a band logo. The idea of the
female character having a more classy
appearance allows the audience to draw
up a direct contrast to the male character
in the video, as he is dressed in more
traditional indie attire. This comparison
carries with it connotations of
uncompatibility between the two, which
adds to the dysfunctional relationship
that the video conveys.

6. Lighting
The most obvious use of lighting effects in
the main product is during the shots of the
live band. Two spotlights were used during
the filming process to draw attention the
musicians whilst casting their shadows
onto the walls behind. The spotlights also
accent parts of the instruments such as
the cymbals, the rim of the snare drum
and the white scratch plate of the bass
guitar. Combined with the use of black and
white after effects, a common feature of
indie music videos, this results in some
interesting lighting. The objects that have
caught the light of the spotlights have
come out vibrant which emphasises the
black shadows.

7. Location
The majority of our music video was filmed
in a city/urban environment. This is
conventional of the indie rock genre as
many indie artists come from working
class, urban areas. For example the Smiths,
Oasis, Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses
and Joy Division all come from the
Manchester area. To demonstrate our
choice of inner city, urban location, shots
of shop fronts and café doors were
included within the video. The inspiration
for this came from Jake Bugg’s “Seen It
All” video. The café featured in our video
could be considered as slightly more
upmarket in comparison to the one
featured in the Jake Bugg music video.
This is a reflection of the female characters
slightly higher social status that is
presented through her choice of clothing.

8. Another large portion of the video was
filmed at the arcades/amusements. This
form of entertainment could be
considered as somewhat working class as
it is cheap, easy to access and available in
many urban areas. The inclusion of such
locations was inspired by the video for
“Swim” by indie rock band JAWS.

9. Editing Techniques and Video
Features
A common feature within indie music
videos is to have the lead character of the
narrative singing to the camera within the
setting of the video. This reminds the
audience of who the main focus of the
video is and who the story is set around.
This feature is also present in videos such
as “Mr Brightside” by The Killers. The use
of this technique also addresses the
common use of close ups within indie
music videos. This is also emphasised
within the band shots situated primarily in
the chorus of the song. The close up shots
of the instruments reiterates the live
origins of indie music.

10. An editing effect that is repeatedly used
throughout the final music video is slo-
motion. This is an incredibly popular video
effect used widely within the music
industry. The original plan for it’s use
within our music video was to have the
lead vocalist and main character of the
video sing in slow-motion, by recording
the original footage to a sped-up version
of the song. However, on the day of
shooting the video we were unable to
access the edited audio meaning only
shots that didn’t feature miming were able
to be edited into slow-motion. Much of
the use of this effect is found on the
arcade shots as this emphasised the
relaxed and playful atmosphere of the
location. The original video for “Arabella”
featured moderate use of the slow-motion
effect, influencing the group to do the
same as it enhanced the mood of the
song.

11. Magazine Advert
During the planning process there were
two primary ideas put forward as to what
the design of the magazine advert should
be. One of which was to have the advert
formatted in the style of a café menu, with
the title of the album at the very top,
followed by the name of the band,
followed by a list of the most popular
songs. This idea tied in nicely with a
featured location within the video,
however didn’t particularly adhere to the
conventions of indie music. The second
idea was to take a picture of a friends wrist
who happened to have the artwork for the
2013 album tattooed onto his wrist. This
seemed to carry the rebellious
connotations associated with indie music
whilst also possibly reffering to a certain
political statement, an idea that bands
such as Rise Against and Rage Against the
Machine notoriously play with.
Final Design

12. Digi-Pak
The final digi-pak design borrows elements
of other media texts produced by the band
Arctic Monkeys. Being possibly the most
successful indie bands of recent years, we
felt confident in taking ideas from their
products. The idea to have the cover as
the outside shot of the café for example is
directly lifted from the bands EP “When
the Sun Goes Down”. This cover captures
the urban heritage of the band,
encouraging us to adhere to this indie
convention. We also wanted the digi-pak
to relate to the music video in some form
so having the front of the café as the cover
achieved this.

13. The inside cover of the digi-pak was also
inspired by another product of Arctic
Monkeys’. The initial plan was to take a
photograph of the band sat in the café
featured in the video, similar to the image
of Arctic Monkeys sat in an American
styled diner showed here. However, upon
filming the video, the other band members
featured within the band shots were
unavailable, prompting us to resort to a
simple shot of the members stood against
a wall taken at a later date. This still
achieved the reference to the urban
location that we were after and also
allowed us to divide each member and
assign them to their own individual print
area on the inside sleeve of the album.

14. The use of the image of a cup of tea carries
with it connotations of Britishness, a
common theme within indie music dating
back to the Who using the iconic Mod
symbol. The image also relates to the
location featured on the digi-pak as tea is a
common drink served in every café. The
idea of having an image relating to the
front cover placed within the album sleeve
comes from the Arctic Monkeys album
“Whatever People Say I Am That’s What
I’m Not”. In this example they used an
image of a man smoking a cigarette for the
album cover and an image of an ashtray
with several discarded cigarettes for the
CD face.