Evaluation - Question 1

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


For the first evaluation question, I have taken 9 screen shots from my music video that I feel use, develop and challenge the conventions of music videos.

I would place my music video in the Indie/Rock genre.

Below are the main conventions of Rock/Indie music videos.

Rock music video conventions

- Usually dark/deep colours

- Displays the band performing on stage

- Usually no narrative

- Uneasy camera movements

- Handheld shots

- Usually no special effects

Indie music video conventions

- Show artist/band throughout

- Some special effects

- Usually calm setting but changes when beat kicks in

- May be black and white

- Shows band performing

- Sometimes have a narrative

Below are my 9 frames that I picked out from my music video.

Frame One.

In the first frame, it features the song title and name of the band. This appears at the beginning of the song and at the end of the song for several seconds, so the audience have recognition of it. Featuring the song titile and name of the band is very conventional for all genre of music videos.

Frame Two.

In the second frame, it shows the band performing together. I wanted it to look like they are performing live on stage. This uses the conventions of both a rock and indie music video as most of this genre's music videos have the band performing on stage whilst using different lighting and this is what I adopted when filming my video. It gives more of a professional feel to it rather then band practise. 

Frame Three.

In the third frame, it shows the colour scheme that I used throughout my video, this being red, white and black. It also shows the special effects that I created, my inspiration came from a band called The White Stripes with their music video 'Seven Nation Army'. The conventions of a rock/indie music video often does not have alot of special effects, therefore I feel I have developed these conventions as well as challenging them at the same time. If you look at the music video by The White Stripes, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY you will see that they use a special effect throughout the entire video, where as I have used the special effects at certain intervals during my video, as well as having shots of the band performing on stage and close-ups of the band without any special effects. Whilst filming my video, I used a green screen so in editing I could create the effects that I wanted. I feel that I have developed on the convention of special effects by repeating the effect to create something new and different.

Frame Four.

In the fourth frame, it shows a extreme close-up of the singer of the band. I wanted it to look like the singer was performing on a white studio background and that there was no distractions for the eye, just a clear shot of the singer so all focus was on him. I feel that this frame shows the use of the singer performing which uses the conventions of rock/indie music videos. 

Frame Five.

In the fifth frame, it shows a close up of a guitar, this being a typical convention of a music video, especially a rock/indie music video as it displays the instruments being played by the band members. There is no special effect on this, apart from putting a black background onto the green screen so it looked like the singer was performing on stage, keeping the continuity between the band performing and just the singer, so it looked like I had zoomed in. It also shows the singer playing the guitar to the rhythm of the song so it looks professional and links the sound the viewer hears to what they can see. 

Frame Six.

In the sixth frame, it shows a split screen which gets maximised more as the beat changes, however the image gets smaller. It starts off with a four way split screen and then the spilt screens get smaller as more appear creating a repitition effect. In a way I have used one of the conventions of an indie music video that its usually a calm setting but changes as the beat kicks in. With all my shots, I tried to match the movements with the rhythm of the song, so as the beat develops throughout the song so would my video. 

Frame Seven.

In the seventh frame, it shows a two way spilt screen. In each screen, it shows something different; one being a close-up shot of the singer playing the guitar, and the other being the other band member playing the drums. They are also playing in time with the music, which creates more of a professional look and makes the video flow well. Again, I am using the conventions of rock/indie music videos as there are mainly displays of the band performing with no narrative, however I have then developed this by having a two way spilt screen showing the band performing instead of having no special effects and sticking to the conventions of the media.

Frame Eight.

In the eighth frame, it shows the special effects that I created. It also shows the continuous colour scheme, red, white and black, this a typical convention to rock/indie videos as they keep the same colours throughout however the conventions are usually dark deep colours, where as I have used the contrast of bright red against white and black. My use of special effects again develop and challenge the conventional idea that rock/indie music videos do not  use a lot of special effects. The use of the repeated traingle plays on your mind and keeps your eye focused waiting for something else to appear. I feel I challenge the conventions by having the band performing whilst having several different effects happening at the same time. 

Frame Nine.

In the final frame, it shows a four way spilt screen. Two frames having the main singer, and the other having the drummer, this appears at the last few seconds of the video, I think it is effective at the end as it just shows the band members looking straight at you not singing or playing instruments. I used spilt screens a few times throughout my video as it gives the viewer several different things to look at in one frame at the same time. 

Overall, I feel that my video is inbetween the conventions of the rock/indie genre, it develops on special effects as well as challenging them as they are created in a establised and repeated way, the effect was so repeated effects play on your mind as you are watching it, there is always one thing appearing after the other and then thats repeated again. The continuous colour scheme of red, white and black twist the conventions as there is a contrast of bright red against the black and white. My music video does not have a narrative, which is a typical convention of a rock/indie video, the use of the close-up shots of the instruements and band members is another typical convention of that genre. The outfits the band members are wearing are very casual and suit the type of song and genre, they attract the audience by wearing everyday clothes like t-shirts, jeans etc. 

I feel that my music video is very unique and even though it does use some conventions of the rock/indie genre it does also develop and challenge at the same time.