The document discusses conventions in indie music media products and how the author's media product used and challenged some of these conventions. Specifically: 1) The author's music video for the indie band "Your Illuminations" used conventions like featuring young male band members, including both a narrative and performance elements, and having a low-budget setting. 2) However, it also challenged conventions by filming part of the performance at a live concert instead of just a studio. 3) For promotional materials, the author followed conventions like using simple colors and fonts for a magazine ad, but made the digipak unique to the band by incorporating their theme of lights into the design.

1. IN WHAT WAY DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCT?
Georgia Adderley

2. My media product uses conventions of the indie genre
to appeal to the audience of 15-26 year olds who see
the indie genre as a chance to identify their personality
linking to the uses and gratifications of Blulmer and
Katz; this may be through the lyrics, band identity or
many other aspects that the indie genre construct. The
music video we created was for an independent indie
band called “Your illuminations”, This band is made up
of young males which is a common convention of the
indie genre; for example, “The 1975” is made up of 4
young males. Due to us analysing that a male band
present in the indie genre music videos again such as
“The 1975” but also “Two Door Cinema Club” when
planning our music video, we planned to include the 4
male members of “Your Illuminations” in the
performance based narrative of our music video.
However due to me doing analysis of existing texts I
analysed that there was a common convention of having
performance and narrative within a music video.

3. The mise-en-scene that features in the indie genre is a very
important factor as it helps to portray the narrative much
better due to it being a nice genre.
The common costume you would see in the indie genre is
that artists have a retro look which can be created through
the costume and makeup they use. Costumes play a role in
the audience identifying themselves in a music video
(personal identity, Blulmer and Katz). In addition, due to the
indie genre being niche their simplistic, niche costume may
also set them apart from others. For example, the costume
of “The 1975” wear very minimalistic and simple but this
sets realism to allow the audience to identify themselves in
the artist/characters. The band we worked with “Your
Illuminations” wear simplistic casual clothing, for example
the main singer wore black skinny jeans and a casual red t-
shirt. Within our narrative we constructed the actor and
actress to wear very simplistic clothing like the band
members of jeans and a t-shirt. This is also part of their
identity as a band and their band image.
Mise-en-scene
Lead Singer
The 1975

4. The conventional setting in a music video of the indie genre I
quite low budget and the main settings of the video are in
studios, cities, parks or tunnel etc. These are places that are
easy accessible and can be used to create enigma. They are
often simple because the indie genre has a main focus on the
performance not the location the narrative is filmed in. It is
also made to suit an amateur producer with no budget. We
used and developed this as for the narrative we filmed in a
house setting as this allows for realism but also it’s a simple
location that fits the lyrics of the song. Goodwin suggests that
the “visuals are an extension of the lyrics” leading to the
house setting being appropriate. However, we also challenged
this by filming at a live performance; we chose to do this as it
allows the audience to potentially feel as if they were with the
band and there watching them. Even though it was more
challenging to film at a live performance we believed it would
be more conventional.
Our location for
narrative for
“Skin Tight”
The 1975
location for the
narrative of
“Somebody
else”
“You
Illuminations”
performing
“Skin Tight”
live.
“Catfish and
the Bottle men”
performing in a
studio

5. Editing
The editing of the music video contains cuts to create a contrast
between the narrative and the performance. There is also cuts
between use of instruments and the bands singing along with fades
to the narrative which links to the lyrics played over the music video.
There is the use of conventions of real media products from the
indie band as there is always a focus on the instruments being
played as these create the sounds to their songs suggesting a large
involvement, alongside this a convention of the indie genre is that
their focus is on the music before anything else. This lead to be
having a focus on the instruments they played for example the over
the shoulder shot of the drummer but also I used Ken burns to zoom
into drummer mid performance. The lighting significantly changed
throughout the music video to create different moods and feelings;
such as the performance there is a constant theme of blue lighting
however for the narrative there is dull lighting for the sad times but
bright lighting for the happy times when the couple were together.

6. Camera
Commonly in the indie genre there is a huge focus on performance
as this focuses on the lyrics and the band which is a convention of
the indie genre. Due to the focus on performance this allows the
audience to focus on the band the leaves the audience to be
imaginative and use the lyrics to picture the narrative. However, we
chose to contradict this by using Goodwin’s theory of using narrative
and he states that “visuals are the extension of the lyrics”. My music
video consists of a range of performance and narrative throughout
leading to it meeting the conventions of the genre and the audience
will still be able to connect with the artists; the use of narratives
makes it simplistic for the audience the relate the lyrics due to the
use of a clear narrative. The narrative follows a break-up of a
relationship which is rather clichéd however we aimed to make this
music video less clichéd by using symbolism during the narrative
such as a smashing photo frame but also going against character
tropes and stereotypes. The male character is portrayed as
emotionally weak as he is shown to struggle to move on while the
female character is shown to move on quickly and have minimal
emotion after they have broken up. She is also represented to be
want to be independent this is shows through a long shot of the
male and female character splitting of and walking away from each
other; the male character looks back but she continues to walk. This
strong emotion goes against the stereotype of females being
emotional compared to men. She is also shown through a close up
shot to be laughing and smiling even though she has split from her
boyfriend.

7. Ancillary Task
Magazine Advert
The conventions of the form for the magazine cover and digipak
need to be followed to allow the audience to recognise the type of
text.
Common conventions of an indie genre magazine advert involve
very simple colouring with a bright coloured font, also the artists
look to be focused and creates a connection with the audience. This
lead to me using a black and white filter however using a
contrasting green font colour. In addition, I chose to use the green
font as the 'MANIA' font has a green and purple reflection coming
off it so I believe that they complement each other very well. I have
placed the band name and album name central as this then
immediately allows the reader of this to associate 'MANIA' with
'YOUR ILLUMINATIONS'. In addition, I have also included the band
logo to allow for the association to me created again.

8. Ancillary Task
Digipak
The digipak I have design follows the conventions such as having the band central to the piece but I
have also incorporated key aspects to the band that make them unique such as their use of lights
which are linked to the band name ‘Your Illuminations’. This suggests that I have used however
challenged the conventions of an indie genre digipak as I have made it unique to the band by
incorporating lights which may not be seen on others. However, other indie bands may see lights as a
feature of their band.