The media product I am going to be evaluating is my music video which was of The Kooks, Always Where I Need To Be. Before the construction stage of my ancillary tasks and music video I did researched into how to make the end product look professional as possible i did this by finding out what the codes and conventions of a successful media product were. The codes and conventions that I used in our music video were; The first one was that my video was many a performance based video which I believe really suited the genre of my music video which was indie rock. Researching into known indie bands and there music videos I found that the videos are mainly performance based videos with little storylines. As most of these videos were performance based videos I thought that I should try and make my video a performance based video as wel as I believe this is what the indie rock demographic like. My next convention was what the band looked liked.
I also followed the convention in the way the band looked. It was important the band looked the part so that the video was realistic. So I asked my friends who I felt looked the part whether they would be willing to be in the music video and after weeks of asking I finally got 4 people. Paddy (lead singer) and Guy (lead guitarist) are actually brothers in real life and that is also common that in indie bands there are brothers so this is another convention I followed. John who was the other guitarist looked like a stereotypical indie band member, skinny jeans, t-shirt and beard and this was just what we needed to help the band look real. Jack who was on the drums also looked the part, rolled up sleeves, short spiky hair and this was another thing we found from our research, that is what most drummers looked like. The mise-en-scene we used was also following conventions, I wanted the band to look as real as possible so having analysed what current indie band members where we then picked out outfits for our band to wear. For example, Paddy’s leather jacket and Jack’s rolled up sleeves. I also paid close attention to props, for example when filming in the recording studio I made sure that guitars where plugged in, headphones were used for Paddy and also smaller things such as having the electronic drum set turned on so the small green light came on. So I think the casting and mise-en-scene defiantly followed the codes and conventions of an indie rock band. Another convention we followed was our camera angles. Mainly using midshots and close ups made the video relatable and also follows the demands of a record label as they demand close ups for publicity of the band. I think the close up of Paddy with the lyrics ‘do do do..’ work very well as he keeps eye contact straight down the camera so it looks as if he is singing directly to the audience. Getting Paddy to do this was something I massively struggled with, Paddy is just a friend helping me out and not a drama student so found filming quiet awkward and embarrassing in places and getting him to look straight down the lens was very difficult as he didn’t feel comfortable doing it. However, there wasn’t anyone else who was first of all willing to help and secondly looking the part. I used a variety of shots when filming, mainly being mid-shots and close ups but also over the shoulder shots such as when they were walking into the house and also establishing shots. Another convention we followed was the pace of the video. When editing I made sure that there were lots of shot changes which met the beat in the music. This was so crucial as if the shots cut different to the beat the video would look strange which is why it was so important the music met the image. On the other hand I also challenged the editing used in indie music videos. The main part being the four different coloured boxes of Paddy. Editing like that isn’t often found in indie music videos from the research I did. I believe it is more found in pop music, changing and flashing bright colours. However, I believe it works extremely well in my music video as it is firstly a break from the black and white, it stands out and is eye catching which is extremely important in a music video, it is also a factor which could give the video repeatability as it is quirky and due to its quirkiness is could become a talking point which is great promotion for the band and that is the ultimate goal of a music video; to promote the band. Finally it is also a way to show the personality of the band, which I have found to be very common in indie music. The bright changing colours show that the band aren’t boring and plain and have energy and are fun. So I have challenged the codes and conventions of editing but at the same time I have followed the convention of expressing the bands personality and giving a video a repeatability factor. I have also developed codes and conventions, for example the lead singer in a band is seen as the public face of the band and I have firstly followed that convention by giving Paddy the most screen time and the most close ups and having him centre stage, I have the developed this by making it more personal to the lead singer as at the beginning of the video you can see the brothers of the band practising and writing the song. It makes it more personal to the lead singer as the video is inside his house of him writing the hit song. The video then follows his journey of writing the song with his brother, to recording it at the recording studio and then performing it on a big stage. Performing the song on stage is a convention of an indie rock video however, I have developed it by showing the journey of how the song got on stage and this is something that I have never seen before. Overall, I have used many codes and conventions to ensure my video looks as professional as possible, such as casting, mise-en-scene, camera shots and the majority of the editing. I have also challenged the codes and conventions by using editing that isn’t usually found in indie rock but I feel it works very well. Finally I have also developed codes and conventions through the concept of my video, where most is just the band performing on stage; I have developed to show the story before that.
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