Music videos can be experimental in creative genres as they are used as a promotional tool for the band. By looking in to the punk rock, hardcore and metal music, I wanted to explore the conventions of this genre as it is what I know best within the music media.
In mainstream media, the conventions of a music video often amplify the lyrics of the song through a narrative. The narrative can sometimes be ambiguous which is often present in the conventions of hardcore and metal music videos. Narrative is less common in this genre as there tends to be an emphasis on spectacle and performance instead. Similar to mainstream videos, my genre of music contains scenes and shots of the artists’ performance at a concert/gig. For the bands that I have based my video on, it is significant to mention that they do not have lots of money from either not being a signed band, or new to the signed industry with a company that isn’t very well known. This emphasises the fact that the quality of their music videos aren’t necessarily good due to old cameras and low budget. This subverts to the conventions of the mainstream media as many mainstream videos often have high budgets allowing them to have non naturalistic settings with effects such as CGI. They are able to have more of a variation of mise en scene and setting by simply able to fund it. This has connotations of wealthy artists as mainstream music is funded better due to a wider target audience. The punk rock and metal genres aren’t as well known as they used to be, therefore funding is lower unless they are a well established band due to clever promotional tools and hard work.
There has always been a ‘do it yourself’ ethic about the genre established in the 1970’s which is in contrast to the slick, alike look that had been common and popular at the time. Punk rock promotes the ideology of rebellion and individualism and freedom of this manufactured pop feeling. Ironically, by having this genre developing in the 21st century, this rebellious and ‘individual’ look is becoming more and more common, therefore not having the same effect as it once did.
With the mise en scene in my video, it conforms to the conventions of the genre due to shots of the band practicing and performing which is common in most punk rock music. Their priority and focus is the music that they create, therefore this is the best promotional tool to rely on as most of their money is made from the many gigs and concerts that they perform at. This is different to mainstream media as artists bring out other products to sell their name or band with books, perfumes etc. The colours used in my video conform to conventions of punk rock music as it includes many bright colours and edits emphasising the idea of punk rock which is colourful and upbeat. This is also reflected in the editing of the video with transitions that correspond to the music beat itself. The pace of the video runs with the video if there are slow parts as the video itself will slow down in motion. Also, I have used dissolves which are used for the transition of slower parts of the song. I have kept to the conventions of my genre by including more jump cuts as the speed of the music increases. I believe that my genre of music that I have used takes elements from all music genres and embraces them to create their own unique videos and music. In my video, I have included a range two main different settings to do both of the following things: meet the conventions of a low-budget punk rock video and to conform to mainstream music by including different settings.
I have been careful in my selection of characters so that I can portray the image of a rock band. The clothes that they wear exemplify this as two members wear different band t-shirts, jeans and vans which is the common look of hardcore music. Some members also have longer hair which also conforms to the conventions of this genre. The persona of the characters allows the audience to identify the band and have a connection with them. This is because they have a similar look in clothing showing resemblance and unity between the two.
In my feedback that I received from non-Media students, some found it hard to understand the concept of not having a strong and direct narrative in the music video. These feedback students were in year 8 and most listened to mainstream music. They are used to watching videos with strong narratives which contrasts to my video. I have not created a narrative that has to be understood as this is not common in low budget videos. The film is simply of a band practicing and performing on tour and having fun in-between. I wanted to create a humourous video as I believe that this is important for upcoming bands to promote their personalities in the video which I think I have established as I got lots of positive feedback on the comedy element to the video. I emphasised these ideas by using a variety of camera angles such as long, mid and close up shots. I used a tripod for a few pan and tracking shots which I think is important in any music video to establish a different impact and effect on the audience. I was unable to conform to some conventions such as creating an arc due to unable being to obviously fund a crane to create an extremely high shot looking down on the band. However, I challenged this convention by doing a small tilt underneath one of the members from below as I did a close up of his face looking down at the camera.
However, I did receive some feedback from people that had the same taste in music to my genre that I created a video for. They believed that the video did well to conform to the conventions of not having a narrative. In addition to this, they felt that the mise en scene and the ‘rough and ready’ feel was appropriate and deliberate.
I believed that I have developed the conventions of real media products through my ancillary tasks in particular. These promotional tools are media texts in themselves which create and develop the personal image of the band. I have conformed to the conventions of both mainstream media and the punk rock genre in my ancillary tasks by including both of the name of the artist and album. I have particularly made sure that I created the name of the band larger on both ancillary tasks to make sure that it would advertise the band more so that the target audience would be familiar with a new upcoming band. The images in the ancillary tasks themselves conform to the genre as it includes a graphic image of a person rather than the band itself. I have challenged and developed the conventions of the ancillary tasks by using different colours for both of the images. I have been careful to select my images to make sure that they still relate to the video.
I have used bright colours to conform to the conventions of punk rock music. This is because I think that it is important for the band to establish their genre to their target audience so that is recognisable to their audience as they would be familiar with this type of promotion.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?For the relation between my main product and ancillary texts, I wanted to emphasise the dissonance and unconventional connections within genres outside of mainstream music. It is important to promote an artist across a range of media platforms. I have done this by using two different images for my CD cover and advertisement that may not be as recognisable in the video itself. At a first glance, it appears to seem that there is no continuity. However, when looking in depth in to all three texts, you can see how they do relate. The ancillary texts have a direct relation by having the same character in both of the images; however, this isn’t as noticeable. In both images, it is clear to see that the same shoe is featured in them. This shows how the mise en scene for the ancillary tasks is the same as the clothing is used. The difference is that the advertisement is in bold colour whilst the CD cover is in black and white. I have done this deliberately to connote the different personalities that the band can denote which is common in this genre.
The idea of having the same mise en scene in all three of my products was important to show visual continuity and intertextuality. In the advertisement, there are images of shoes, a guitar, an amp and a person in clothing similar to what is used on the band members in the video. I included these elements to the ancillary tasks to denote a direct relationship between the music video and the album in which it is released on as well as the advertisement that promotes it.
I believe that continuity of the font of the advertisement and CD cover can be used to show an effective combination of my products. I have used the same font for both of these products to show a relationship between them. In addition to this, I was specific in choosing certain colours for the text as I thought that this was a key element that I could use to relate ancillary tasks with my video in another way. In my music video, there is a use of bright colours and flashing lights. This is reflected in my ancillary tasks by having bright and bold fonts and colours.
I think that it is important that I chose this music genre as I was able to subvert the conventions of mainstream media to research and show how music videos and promotional tools can be viewed in a different way. I kept to punk rock conventions so that it was successful in promotion amongst the target audience by creating products that this audience would understand and relate to.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?My audience feedback has allowed me to believe that I have met the requirements of the brief. The feedback from both the target audience and other people of different ages has shown that I have done well to create media products within the expectations and means of a punk rock genre.
To look at the specifics of my feedback, the students of year 8 gave general feedback of how my video was ‘funny’ and ‘made the whole class laugh’. This is what I intended as I didn’t have a specific narrative. However, the younger audience did not understand this concept of not having a narrative. This is because usually they are the target audience for mainstream media as this is publicised more than the genre that I had chosen. I have learnt that it may have been effective if I had included a slight narrative so that I would have been able to broaden by target audience. This would help with promoting music of this genre if it appealed to people that it is not originally intended for.
Another key thing mentioned by in my audience feedback is that they liked the transitions between the different scenes as there were 'good effects' and it was 'creative'. I learnt from this that I did well to develop the technical aspect to the video transition and camera angles. Another feedback writer said how it was 'original' what I had created and that it 'fitted well with the music' due to the jump cuts that were linked to the upbeat points of the song.
After I showed my audience the video, I then showed them the ancillary tasks. The general message I got from the feedback was that it 'linked well' due to the 'colours used in both the video and the ancillary tasks'. One person mentioned in specific the link they noticed between the colour of the font on the ancillary tasks and 'the changing colour flash' at the beginning of the video. I learnt that the colour of the ancillary tasks that I had created was significant as this was the key thing mentioned by the audience when they looked for the relationship between them and the video.
One key thing I have learnt from my feedback is that the ancillary tasks are an effective promotional tool as it was clear for the audience to realise that the pieces linked together due to the colours, text and mise en scene.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?Using new media technologies allowed me to develop all elements of my coursework for A2 like researching, planning, construction and evaluation. Like my AS Media coursework, I used the basic media technologies such as the computer and a DSLR camera which then allowed me to develop my skills on photo editing software such as Photoshop. I developed these skills further in my A2 coursework as I had learnt how to use this software due to experimenting with effects. Within the space of a year, I have developed my photo taking skills with my DSLR by experimenting with different scenery. Another basic media technology I used was the scanner so I was able to scan in images of the storyboard that I had created in the planning element to my coursework.
However, for this A2 coursework there were many different technologies that I used that I didn't use last year. I spent a lot more time this year on the internet researching different music videos along with what other people's opinions were of different genres and what were the expectations of these. The use of the internet was key in all four elements to my coursework as I developed my research skills which allowed me to find out more information to include in my evaluation. It also helped with more ideas with the actual construction of my music video and ancillary tasks. The online video site 'YouTube' helped me specifically with ideas for the construction of my video, planning and research. This was due to being able to see different ideas which allowed me to incorporate them with my own.
There are two key media technologies that I used this year which I didn't last year which were necessities with my coursework this year. I used a video camera which I hadn't used much in the past. I used a friend's 'FlipCam' which I had previously used to film short, quick clips. It was easy to use as I was able to zoom at a pace that I wanted and it was easy to hold which didn't give the effect of a shaky hand in my video itself. It helped with being able to store a lot of short clips as I was then able to incorporate them together to create the video. There is a FlipCam editing software built in to the camera which helped me greatly with the construction side to my video as I was able to edit and delete any unwanted footage.
To construct the video as a final piece I used Windows Movie Maker. As I had problems with using the Apple Mac software when I was planning ideas with my video, I thought that it would be better to use Movie Maker as it was straight forward and I was used to this operating software.
