Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Monday, 6 February 2017
Question 1: In what ways does your media use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Question 1: In what ways does your media use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
INTRODUCTION
Our music video genre could be
described as alternative/indie. Due to the genre of the soundtrack being
hybridized, it is simultaneously a benefit as well as a setback as it creates
difficulty within conforming to certain conventions as each genre has its own
set of regulations, therefore as the genre is a hybrid – it can create great
difficulty to adapt to both. However, this also has its advantages since it
allows us to search within both genres when investigating the codes and
conventions of each, consequently being able to pick and choose as well as
adapt which ever conventions necessary to propel our artistic vision. Within
our post-modernist society, theorist Rick Altman presents the idea of a lack of
‘pure’ genre as its progressive and constantly changing. An example of a
hybridised genre music video is Telana’s “Gemini” video which is entirely
post-modern as it contains many references to the past and actual duplicated
footage from the 1950s. The production company ‘Calmatic’ created strong
encoded references to the 1970s combined with 1990s styling. Working with a
hybridized genre allowed us to experiment more freely and interlink varied
symbolic codes and technical codes within our abstract music video piece for
the song “forest chant” by Kensho. Through this we both conformed, developed
and subverted the genre conventions.
Within the alternative genre and
occasionally the indie/pop genre also, a linear narrative is typically set and
progressed throughout the music video, typically relating to Andrew Goodwin’s
theory through the established relationship between the visuals and the lyrics.
Within our music video we challenged this convention as we lacked in narrative
due to the video being entirely abstract and compacted with enigma. However, we
conformed to Goodwin’s music video convention in regards to the relationship
between lyrics and visuals. The entirety of the visuals show reference to the
conceptual lyrics reflecting illusions, hallucination and delusion.
In terms of symbolic codes, each
genre has its unique convention in regards to costume, make-up, setting
(location) and props. Most independent (indie) videos are shot at easily
assessable locations which are typically outdoors – in areas that are mainly
open to the general public. Both indie and alternative genre music videos are
generally set in several locations, which is due to the frequently low budgets
for example The 1975 music video for “robbers” was filmed in locations such as
a shop, cinema and a skate park. We entirely conformed to this convention as the
budget that we had for creating “forest chant” was almost non-existent
therefore we had to also result to using public spaces which were free for use
such as a forest in Norway, an abandoned building that we were granted access
to, the barbican centre conservatory and the green room studio within our sixth
form. The retro/vintage style is usually presented within most indie music
videos, especially when displaying the youth. An example of this is Hayley
Kiyoko’s music video for “girls like girls” which presents the characters in a
90s-style consisting of denim jackets, tattoo chokers and flannel shirts
connoting nostalgia, vitality and occasionally rebellion. This aura of
nostalgia is also encoded by the rosy,
pink filter placed on the footage within post-production. Subverting from this convention we styled the
protagonist in a simple grey sweatshirt in order to maintain a focus on the
artist himself and maintain the ethereal aura that surrounds him throughout the
music video. This aspect both conforms to Dyer’s “star theory” as well as
challenges it, as most mainstream artists attempt to create a brand identity,
in attempts to gain an iconography status mainly through their style, which
typically becomes quite elaborate, for example: Matty Healy from the 1975 band.
Instead, the artist that we present isn’t extravagant in terms of costume,
however he still maintains a sense of Dyer’s star theory through the
distinctive presentation of ethereality, never before seen within the indie
music video genre. Another aspect that we challenged was the convention of
performance and props of instruments within the music video. Within our video,
there was minimal performance as it contained only lip-syncing – which in
itself didn’t use a direct mode of address. However, we varied the performance
pieces by introducing the dancing scene which features a young black male,
creating a countertype by presenting contemporary style dancing. This
challenges hegemonic stereotypes of black males being solely involved in
street-dance. The inspiration for this scene arose from the video by Fyfe
entitled “for you” which also depicts contemporary dance combined with strobe
lights. During this scene, the dancer is topless, displaying a masculine and
muscular physique which challenges Laura Mulvey’s “male-gaze” theory, instead
reflecting the post-feminist theory of the “female-gaze” which implies that the
work is aimed at a heterosexual female audience or reflects female attitudes.
In terms of technical codes, the
most frequently used shots within the alternative and indie music videos are
close-ups which tend to be effective as they connote emotion and aids the
audience in establishing a relationship with the artist, which can be
referenced in Bumbler and Katz’s ‘uses and gratifications’ theory. Close-ups
also help in establishing the artist’s iconography. We conformed to this
convention by including multiple close-ups of the artist especially when he is
singing. Although, within our music video – the emotion isn’t shown as he is
seen to be distant and consumed within his mind and thought, which could evoke
empathy from the audience. An example of this can be seen within Scott Ross’s
production of Wet’s video “don’t want to be your girl.” Where the performer is framed within a
straight close-up shot but isn’t involved in direct eye-contact with the
audience/camera. This video acted as inspiration for our music video in other
aspects also. The video contains footage from various quality film stock such
as webcam, drone and a high definition camera. This impacted our video as
within post-production we added a filter to some of the shots that can be found
on Final Cut Pro titled “50s movie”. This effect adds grain to the footage and
transforms the coloured footage into monochrome. This alteration in colouring
is an abstract artistic effect we used as it keeps the footage innovative and
engaging for the audience. This can be seen as a development of the genre as
most indie videos aim to create realism therefore do not use many artistic
editing techniques. However, many videos use the black and white effect, or
extreme de-saturation of colour. An example of this is fka twigs’s music video
for “good to love” which is an abstract video filmed entirely in monochrome.
This convention is the complete opposite to mainstream pop music which uses
exaggerated highly saturated video in order to denote wealth and attract
attention. A convention of all genres is to have the music cut in response to
the pace of the music/beat which is either fast or slow through the use of time-mapping.
We conform to this convention as subverting would cause the video to be confusing
and almost chaotic making the video uncomfortable to watch. The strobe lights
that were used within the video work synchronously with the beat, therefore
amplifying the visuals which links once again with Andrew Goodwin’s theory. Within
the alternative/indie genre, P.O.V shots are frequently used as well as
tracking shots. we conformed to this convention by involving multiple tracking
shots as well as a P.O.V shot which represents the artist’s view of the forest
directly. Though, we also experimented with more interesting camera movement
such as a dolly tracking around an installation piece featuring a plant, a
ladder and some high-key lighting. This shot was inspired directly from the
video “Pusher” directed by Thomas Rhazi for the alternative band ‘Alt-j’. This camera movement is effective as it
allows the audience to view the piece as a three-dimensional object therefore
making the visuals more enticing.
Monday, 23 January 2017
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