1. Evaluation

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

3. Conventions of Indie Genre In Music
Videos
• Appearance of the artist
• Lyrics of the song influences the narrative
• The editing fits in with the pace of the song
• The clothing is usually dark to compliment the negative mood
• Typical rock instruments are used, e.g. guitars, keyboards etc.
• Lip syncing to increase authenticity
• Staging as the main location

4. Conforming or Challenging?
The video conformed to the generic conventions as the artist was the main focus
throughout. The cuts were edited so that they fitted in with the pace of the song in order
to compliment the track and to also just simply make the video more eye-catching.
Most Indie music videos usually have a dull, greyish tone or are edited to create a sepia
effect. A black and white effect was used in some of the shots, where I manipulated the
brightness and contrast to achieve it. We challenged the conventions by not including
any instruments and not using a stage as the main location, with a band performing the
song. The reason for that choice was because it would not have that much of an impact
and did not suit the narrative. Minimal amount of performance shots were also used as I
felt that various captivating shots such us the artist in the white dress, were more
significant.

5. Shots that followed the generic conventions of an Indie music video

6. Shots that challenged the generic conventions of an Indie music video

7. The main intention to produce the music video was
to capture our target audience by creating an
engaging whilst applying the generic convention of
an indie/rock music video. To do this, we
researched various videos of that particular genre
and found that they had many elements in common
including long shot performance shots of the artists
singing their song.
One particular video of an Indie genre stood out;
The Shins – Simple Song as the artists used home
videos and clips of the past to reflect on the positive
moments of the past. To make this clear to the
audience a filter was used in the transactions to
produce an „old moving image‟ effect, which is
similar to the filter we selected for the beginning
part of our video in order to achieve that same
result.

8. Our ideas also came from other
genres such as Pop and Dubstep. One
main music video gave us Pink –
Sober, a certain scene caught our eye
which involved the artist being in a
complete white room and with this
we decided to incorporate a similar
style to our piece. I noticed the way
the artist moved her body; the ridged
stiff movements to keep the intensity
throughout the music video.

9. The beginning part of the music video features a 15
second, anecdote-like, mini movie. There isn‟t any
sound when this is being played in order for the
audience to have their full focus on what is being
shown. The „old movie‟ effect used was to illustrate
that this is in a different time period to the clips
where the artist seems to be in an irrational state.
The objective for this was for it to show the
difference between the person she was in the
past, to who she is now.
The scene of the artist in a subway tunnel followed
after the „happy‟ shots consists of the troubled
character staggering into a narrow setting. This long
shot and the horizontal and vertical lines on the wall
encourage this and the fact the entrance appears
small, represents her feelings. I like the end results
of these shots and I feel that the aims for this were
accomplished.

10. The use of repetitiveness of this shot
emphasizes the intensity and builds up the
tension as the audience cannot see her lip
syncing, provoking a sense of anxiety. The
black and white effect also provides a
classical effect whilst keeping in theme of the
negative mood. The shot is a constant
reminder for the audience of the characters‟
anguish. I feel that the aim for this was
successful, however it may have been better
if I had used close up shots of other features
as well.

11. The artist dressed in black
(connotes fear, mystery, death) is
being followed by characters in
masks, each presenting a different
emotion. Increasing the contrast
creates a clinical effect; as if she‟s
in a mental hospital. I wanted the
scene to look like she‟s
paranoid, schizophrenic and
suffering from hallucinations, and
I feel that this was achieved.
The contrast between the
long, clean, white dress against the
dirty surroundings makes it seem
as if she does not belong
here, however her mental state and
exaggerated make-up does the
opposite. This does follow the
genre conventions of an Indie
music video as they usually consist
of dark imagery in order to suit the
often negative lyrics.

12. Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin suggested that in all music video‟s, there is a relationship between
lyrics and visuals and how the lyrics are represented with images (either
illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). Our music video falls under all the first
category as the lyrics “Leave young thing alone” “Anytime she goes away” was
illustrated but in a more symbolic way. Her „going away‟ is a metaphor for how she is
feeling emotionally. “There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within
screens, mirrors, stages, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female
body.” This representation was not the case in our video, in fact it was more of the
opposite. The female in the video appears as a weak, insecure woman, not the typical
confident, sexual female that is usually portrayed in music videos.