Assessment

How far do your ideas for the music video conform to convention?

During research for our music video, I found that the generic codes and conventions that surround the Independent music genre or ‘Indie’ as its better known are mostly used to create realism for audiences and show musical talent, especially talent playing musical instruments.

After analyzing multiple music videos, I found that the settings are often outdoors, for example city centers, streets, parks. These stock settings are often established with young audiences from working class backgrounds. By this I mean that often young adolescents are found in streets or parks, making it easy for audiences to relate to the setting. Within our music video we are using a large park which follows a path down to small pond. I think that the low key setting will reinforce realism to the audiences, making the artist seem down to earth and genuine. The setting is very natural, suggesting that the artist holds real talent as Indie music doesn’t often contain voice effects or constructed beats its more guitar and drum based.
The artist is going to feature in the video wearing leggings, blazers, plain vests etc which is very simple yet a reflection of a young generations fashion at the moment. Often, Independent artists will create their own style which has generated to conform to a genre of its own, known as ‘Indie’ fashion sense. The artist will be iconic to the genre of music through the stereotypical categorization of people based on their clothes making it easier for audiences to associate the music of genre with the artist.

We decided to feature the solo female artist in the video using a narrative structure following a break up. We found in most independent videos the artist follows a linear narrative structure often facing an issue to do with the opposite sex or a night out. The disruption directly affects the artist however they always appear as the hero in the new equilibrium. We felt flashbacks were the most appropriate way to get across the break up, as they are also featured in a maroon 5 video, and it demonstrates the narrative clearly. We felt that the flashbacks should be in black and white as it shows the time difference better and also helps portray the artist’s emotions, which is important to push the narrative along.
The lighting of the video is going to be high key as it creates realism for audiences, and this is an important aspect of Indie music as it demonstrates ‘real’ music to fans. Indie music often features artists playing guitars giving them an edge. We felt that the best way to give our artist an edge would be to challenge stereotypical views of women being weak and vulnerable and make our artist a dominating and powerful woman, however with a cheeky side that most Independent artists seem to hold. They show this through smiles and winks. The camera angles most often used in the videos are close ups to really show emotion and facial expression and long shots to establish setting. Our video will contain multiple long shots to establish the path in the park but also close ups to portray the artist’s emotion. This is important because our choice of song and the narrative structure is about an emotional subject.

Lastly, some of the main iconography expected within an indie music video is alcohol, cigarettes and musical instruments. We felt it was hard to incorporate these with a female artist as you don’t often see the artist drinking or smoking but being surrounded by people doing it.

How have you constructed identity for your artist?

When constructing the identity for our music artist, Jordan and I felt that we wanted to challenge gender stereotypes and provide our artist with a female empowered edge. We felt that using a music website ‘MySpace’ to promote our artists single not only conformed to the Independent music genre better, but also allowed us to construct a profile for the musician with a profile image. On the profile image our artist is in a park, a stock setting for our young target audience, and she is leaning against a tree. There is greenery all around her suggesting she is free and independent with everything at her feet. The idea she is liberated makes her seem strong as she isn’t held down by any man. She is wearing a blazer and boots with a white vest. The casual nature of the clothing suggests she is very down to earth and fits in well with the Indie music genre as she makes her own fashion statement rather than follows. The blazer gives her a more dominant image as it is stereotypically warn by males. This challenges the preconceived ideas people may have about the image as its very natural and she could be seen as quite weak and girly. The camera shot is a long shot making her seem mysterious as the audience doesn’t feel as close to her because she’s distant. This reinforces her female empowerment as she isn’t open but withdrawn and this creates an enigma about her. Her facial expression is cheery and bubbly, suggesting that she has an upbeat personality which could be seen as a feminine trait.

When considering the music video, we decided to follow a multi strand narrative in which the artist links to all the separate events going on. This gives her dominance throughout the video, reinforcing her status to women audiences. We decided to use a variety of long shot to establish the setting of a street. However, there are parks and lots of greenery around linking back to the MySpace profile and furthering her female dominance as she is free. Furthermore we are going to use multiple close up shots to establish emotions and how the artist is feeling, however taking a twist on this to portray her emotions as quite sarcastic and genuinely not interested in her ex boyfriends games.
We are going to have women following her as she walks down the street, gradually joining her to unite. This idea gives her a bigger identity to audiences as she appears to be the leader, the strong woman who is empowered. Challenging gender stereotypes makes her more memorable and rebellious to audiences, especially younger viewers such as older teenagers as its something different to the norm. Also, the idea that no men appear in the video, yet the video is providing anchorage to the song about a relationship, makes the song that more powerful as the audience only sees it from women’s point of view.

Lastly, the album cover is also set outdoors in a park. However In the shot she is stood on her own playing a guitar. This challenges the gender roles of musicians as often guitarists have typically been male and instruments of the sort male dominated. The guitar suggests she has raw talent which she is going to show off without the help of anyone else as she is framed solo.
The lighting is high key to create realism which is important for our young target audience as they will take her seriously. The back of the album cover will be a mirror to the front cover to create fluency throughout and also looks quite quirky, making her seem fun. The colours are neutral, reinforcing her natural and more feminine side as we wanted to make her seem fun and free rather than strict and harsh. Her costume is a floral dress with a leather jacket and leather boots. This contrasts both sides to her, the appearance as being girly and fun but also a serious side in which she is powerful and not to be messed with. Overall she appears rebellious and appeals to modern audiences who don’t take the stereotypical male and female gender roles. Her body posture is dominating as she is stood with her feet apart, showing quite a masculine pose. However her costume and cheeky facial expression challenging the first dominating look to make her more approachable.

Deconstruct your products, video and print artefacts utilising theoretical concepts considering Narrative, Representation, Audience and Post Modernity

When constructing our album cover, we decided to feature the artist outside in greenery with natural elements such as trees and open land. We felt that by doing this we were reinforcing our feminist approach towards the songs by taking a woman outside of stock settings you would normally see her, such as at the home, and placing her in a setting of liberty. The wide space gives audiences a sense of freedom and choices automatically letting audiences know that the artist is represented as an independent woman. Her costume of a flowery dress with a leather jacket and boots gives her an edge that men may fear but women will look up to. She has elements of femininity about her because we did not want to conform to the stereotype that any women with power must be masculine and a bitch. Her floral dress makes her seem fun and bubbly, yet her iconic leather jacket makes audiences aware she hasn’t quite let her guard down. This challenges the ‘norm’ as it shows women who are powerful, are also beautiful. We felt this was a post modern approach to feminist views as it doesn’t involve trying to gain anything for women, they are independent and don’t have to run around trying to prove it. The Uses and Gratifications theory can be applied to the album cover as women who may not have the opportunity to become a single independent woman can gain something from watching and listening to the artist. They can get a sense of fulfillment from the music.
The camera shot is a long shot as we felt that the surroundings where important to the image and wanted to capture the artist in the setting so it’s easier to see she is being liberated. The copy is round and grey, making the cover seem more relaxed and fun because the song is very soothing and easy to chill out to so we felt the audience would be more attracted to this being young. The iconic guitar on the cover reinforces the powerful and independent artist as she not only looks good but is also musically talented. Defining her as a solo artist encourages the audience to want to be individual like herself as she is pictured as a hero to women. A proppian analysis of the text would show her as hero to women as she releases women from their stereotypical household duties and releases them from being reliant on men.
The video is a key part for providing anchorage to the lyrics of the song and by using an all female cast we felt this would really emphasize the narrative of the song. We used young women in the video to appeal to our young target audience, but also the problems within the song are more likely to be relevant to younger audiences over older. Yet again the costume of the artist is a floral dress with her iconic leather jacket to reflect her girly yet tough image. We felt it was important to create continuity between the album cover and the video as the cover promotes the single for the video. We used the same jacket in both to ensure this. We furthered our continuity by setting the video in an outside area, with lots of greenery. We start of with a long shot of the artist sat on steps, and gradually she walks along a path passing girls on the way and ending up in a green field with the girls following behind her. The journey becomes more and more scenic as she progresses suggesting to audiences that her freedom is becoming more and more liberated. The enigma throughout the video is where the girls who she passes on the journey go. This is established at the end in a long shot as we see the girls following the artist in the closing shot. This shows unity of the women, reinforcing the powerful message that women do not need men. The idea that these women are following her reinforces the element of her being a hero to women. Also, because the audience follow the artist while she is walking down one continuous path they feel like they are on this journey themselves, which is important for the Uses and Gratifications theory as the audience are provided with escapism. We use multiple close ups of the artists facial expression throughout to show her emotions, however where the audience expect her to feel sorrow or be upset she is smiling challenging the stereotype that women are emotional and weak.
Lastly, we decided to create a music MySpace profile for our artist so we were able to generate a persona surrounding the artist. We used images taken when the cast member playing the artist was out socializing to ensure that the young female audiences were able to relate to the artist. For example, we have a medium long shot of the artist in a pub smiling, which audiences haven’t seen on the album cover or within the music video. We felt that because we are appealing to our young, female target audience it is important to make them feel involved and like the artist is ‘one of them’ so by doing this we can establish a relationship with the audience. It will also make it easier for young girls to relate to the issues in the song if they feel they can trust the artist. It shows her softer side as we felt that she looked tough in the video and album cover so it was suggested we make sure audience see her ‘party’ side. We used a floral background on the profile to reinforce femininity but we used more masculine colours so she didn’t appear too girly. We created blogs for the artist to make her chatty and bubbly side clear to audiences and also to create as much realism as possible.