Coursework Evaluation // Q.1-"In What Ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?" [Music Video]

[VIEW MY MUSIC VIDEO HERE]

My music video makes wide use of generic conventions: using challenging, and developing the conventions of the genre.

Some of the technology featured in the video.

The genre of my music video is in many ways a reflection of the Dance and electronic genre of my artist. The Dance and Electronic genre is most obviously reflected in the prominent use of props centring on technology, such as the iPad character and the laptop at the start. One convention of the Dance/Electronic genre is the use of props relating to the genre of science fiction as well as other aspects of the genre.Examples of this include use of aliens, robots and technology in the mise en scene of their music videos, for example with daft Punk's music video for 'Harder Better Faster Stronger'. This helps the music video to appeal to fans of the science fiction genre, and signpost some of the other aspects of the video. This immediately helps the audience to understand the music video better, as well as helping to promote the artist and track. However, the sci-fi elements do not necessarily dominate the mise en scene of the music video, which also utilises genre conventions from romantic comedy. As well as by conforming to traditional romantic comedy narrative, the video uses romantic cliches (such as the rose petal scene) and use of lighting, composition and mise en scene of the genre to communicate the genre. An additional comedy trope I have referenced is that of the comically tragic hero, the type of which has been immortalised by characters such as Charlie Chaplin and Truman Burbank. My main character is a tragic hero in that he initially appears to the audience as comically foolish and unconventional, but later becomes more and more heroic and endearing. The main character also possesses many similarities to the character of Truman Burbank, who also lives in a world of fantasy. The effect of the use of these genres is to attract their respective audiences and help provide audience pleasures. The ironic take on the 2 genres also helps to give the video a 'cool' edge, which will help to attract my target audience. This both uses and develops dance conventions, as unlike some other genres such as metal, Dance videos tend to be much more varied in their content, some consisting of dance/performance, some of more traditional narrative, and  some of more abstract montage and visuals.They more typically align with the tone or mood of the song, rather than genre, and the tone of the track I produced the video for was upbeat and funky, so I aimed to reflect this in my offbeat, but ultimately light music video.

The female character, as seen on the iPad

My music video conforms to many of the Another music video convention I used was the voyeuristic aspect, as Godwin states “[in music videos] there is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body” and this is reflected through the presentation of the female character through the screen of the iPad. Though it is an objectification of the female character, almost literally, it is an ironic take on the convention, as it makes the male character, and therefore the male gaze appear humorous or silly. Another Music video convention I used in accordance with Andrew Goodwin’s theory was the convention of the visuals reflecting the music and lyrics. Throughout the video, I made a concerted effort to match my cuts to the beat of the song, such as during the intro of the song, when I cut the sequence of the main character dressing himself to every second beat. This is a similar use of editing to the use of editing in Clipping's video for their song 'Story 2',  which emphasises the beat of the song in a similar way. The song, had very sparse lyrical content, but I did make a very light connection between the lyrics and visuals in my video. The song features a short vocal sample, with the words “Don’t let your problems get you down”, and I matched this with a shot of the main character walking down the stairs, looking downbeat. This is an another example of how I have used this genre characteristic to create a relationship between lyrics and visuals and structure my edit. This is also an audience pleasure as it forges synchronicity between the 2 aspects of the video, that only an attentive audience would notice, and so the audience feel complimented or satisfied when they notice it.

 

The main character's costume and his mood-board, made during pre-production. 

The costume of my characters is an aspect of my video that develops conventions of representations of young people. The costume of my main character could be described as eccentric, and this fits in with the typical representation of young people with their own strong styles, seen in subcultures such as the goth and mod subcultures. However, it is not a style that fits in with any typical, widely established subculture, so is developing and establishing a newer side to this representation. His style is also a slight reference to that of typically eccentric characters such as Doctor Who, though this is subtle.

The businessman sat next to the main character

This is pitched against the representation of the businessman in the park, who wears a suit, a typical representation of the more straight laced white male. By contrasting the two characters through costume, we already show the opposition the main character feels with the mainstream world. This is accentuated by the reaction of confusion and disgust from the businessman, showing how the main character’s delusional behaviour is an alienating force. But this encounter also constructs a critical representation of the businessman, as dismissive, cynical and conformist. The props of the businessman, a newspaper, contrast with the main characters prop of the iPad, showing perhaps how mainstream society, represented by the businessman, is trapped within tradition. In contrast, the bright shirt of the main character suggests confidence and desire to stand out, connoting a relatively strong and self-assured identity, unlike the initial reading of the main character as a comedy fool.

The narrative structure of my music video is a simple linear narrative, with the story of the video being shown in chronological order. I felt this was the best narrative structure to use as it fits in best with the genre conventions of the Romantic-Comedy, the genre I was using and developing in my video In addition, I felt that this best reflected the style and tone of the music, which was simple and conventional, and also its target audience. A more complicated or experimental narrative may have alienated the target audience, who are not in particular interested in niche/experimental texts.

2 references in the video.

I also used many characteristics of the general form of music video. One of Godwin’s Theories of music videos states “There are often intertextual references” and I use several of these in my music video, for example in the scene where the main character looks back to his bed to see the iPad character surrounded by rose petals, which is a reference to this scene from ‘American Beauty’. Another key reference is the ending of my video, which makes reference to the romantic cliché of the pinhole fade as the couple kiss. I had originally intended to end the video on a more ironic and downbeat note, but I feel that this was an appropriate ending that linked well with the genre I was using.

 

The Narnia Collection used as a prop in the video.

Another reference I made was the use of the book prop, during the birthday scene, n which I used a copy of the famous children’s fantasy novel ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’. I chose this book for the main character to give his made up lover as I feel it reflected his childlike understanding of the world, as he sees the girl on the screen with a suspension of disbelief similar to a child’s. In addition, it reflects the aspect of fantasy in the video, and mirrors the way the main character views the world as a fantasy.

Though there aren’t many direct references in my video, the ideas and themes were heavily influenced by the 2011 TV series 'Black mirror', which also deals with the effect that technology can have on society. However, the tone of my video is different, taking a much lighter approach with the theme.

In addition, many of the ideas were inspired by other romantic texts. For example, the idea of a man falling in love with a piece of technology was influenced heavily by the 2013 romantic drama 'Her', and deals with similar themes of confusion, loneliness and the social reception of the unconventional romance between the couple in my music video. As well as this, the ending was influenced by the film 'The Purple Rose of Cairo'  which has a similar plotline of an increasing obsession with a fantasy character, before that character crosses over into reality. These are not specifically referenced but were incredibly important sources I used and developed in the creation of my text.

The female Character taking charge.

The representations in my music video use, develop and challenge conventions of it’s genre. It is typical for the man to take the active role in courtship, and this is true for the majority of my music video. He conforms to the typical masculine stereotype of the leading member of the relationship, carrying her around, making the food for her and starting the relationship by downloading the file. This representation is developed/challenger however by the fact that the female part of the relationship isn’t (for most of the video) at all sentient. This suggests that the main male character cannot get a girlfriend out of traditional means, so becomes desperate in order to live up to that standard. This representation is also challenged by the ending of the video, in which the female character behind the screen becomes sentient. By changing in this way, she takes the dominant position within the relationship, and moves it towards its happy ending.

The video also uses and challenges throughout the typical convention and representation of the objectified woman. The female character is initially presented as passive and for solely aesthetic purposes, seeing as she is little more than an image to be viewed through a screen. I intended by doing this to satirise and question society’s tendency to objectify and belittle female characters by literally transforming her into an object and using that object as the focus of the main characters obsessions. By doing this I also aim to explore the extent to which objectification has pervaded our perception of women.

Another representation in the music video is that of young people having an obsession with technology. From the intro of the video in a dark room lit only by the computer screen to the transition of the screen from prop to actual character, we see a character in whose life technology dominates. This was a response to the issue of the increased use of and social effects of technology, a very recent issue. This was one part of the video that was directly informed by the inspiration I got from the ‘Black Mirror’ TV show.

My music video utilises the conventions of real media text in a variety of ways, as explained here. Overall though, I used the conventions of both the music video form and romantic comedy genre in order to attract an audience and maintain audience pleasure, in order that it may fulfil its purpose as promotional material for the unsigned band. This is in accordance with the theory of Nicholas Abercrombie, who argues ‘'genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre'. I have used genre in my production in order to inherit some of the Romantic comedy audience, but also to make the text easier to relate to and understand. Indeed, Derrida argued that ‘There is no genreless text’ and so the use of at least some genre characteristics was unavoidable.