Q1

Section 1:Music Video

How I’ve challenged, used, and developed the medium of music videos.

I decided to use the entire track of ‘Gather and Run’ to promote the artist (Natasha North). My use of whole track reflects a convention of the medium and achieves this purpose of advertisement.I also used the convention of using the visuals to amplify, illustrate, or contradict the lyrics (Goodwin).The length of the video is also a convention of the medium of music videos: it is around the 3-4 minute mark and continues for the same time as the track does. The music video almost always follows the same time length as the music, exceptions of this are ‘Alright’, ‘Runaway’, and ‘Blackstar’ among a few others. My production follows this.However, my production challenges the convention of using a chronological straight narrative structure, mine uses a montage like structure within aflashback meaning it is non-linear.

LocationsThe main generic convention of a music video created by a British artist, is using archetypal British locations and imagery. This is also a large part of my video where the different locations represent the different stages of the relationship. From the forest to the bleak beach and the riverbank/marshes. All of these locations are quintessentially archetypal British locations. However, this convention is challenged because we do not use wide shots or open establishing shots to show off these locations which therefore makes it less evident to the audience that these are British locations.Another convention I used is the convention of nature and freedom within the locations of indie folk songs. This convention can be seen in the lyrics of our song and in the imagery of almost every music video of the genre. This is symbolic ideological representation of the freedom and organic feel of the music is representing of the audience of young British ‘hippies’. Which is why we decided to use this choice of location to use the convention in our favour and further target an audience.

LightingI decided I would use the common yet small convention of lens flares as a lighting technique along with complete natural ambient lighting; adding more to my natural, raw atmosphere I have created in this video. Within the lighting of the film I have not challenged many conventions of the genre or the medium because I have used bright ambient light which creates hardly any shadow and ensures the brightness of the film in look and in theme. I decided to keep it light because I didn't want to get it mistaken for the conventions within the thriller and horror genres, where dark connotes death and darkness in theme.However, I have used chiaroscuro lighting within the minimum shadows I have to challenge the convention and add a sort of eery-ness to the scenes and make the audience uneasy and weary of the relationship, so that they know somethings wrong with it.

ActressesAn identity theory by Lucan suggests that as an audience member we see ourselves reflected within the media text, meaning that we can relate to the characters and even more so if we share specific traits, such as being female. Being able to identify with the age, gender or situational factors can help massively on the effect that the video has and also whether people watch it in the first place. This convention of audience relate-ability is something which I tried to achieve, developing the relationship between audience and the text to keep it engaging and to successfully promote the artist and track.In my production the characters and cast are both female and in a romantic relationship, the genre convention for this is to objectify and use the male gaze. However, I disagreed with this ideology and decided to challenge the conventions by instead portraying their relationship and actions with close ups to the eyes instead of using the actresses purely as ‘eye-candy’ and

SoundThe sound in my video was almost entirely from the song but with the ambient, location sounds quietly underneath the track, this again forms the atmosphere even more natural.Our track formed to all of the conventions and forms of the genre like using acoustics, a single soft female voice and using a British accent which is the strongest convention of British indie folk music.In our video we also used a convention of the medium which is editing the visuals to the beat and audio aspects of the track. This means while editing we had to try to edit the different shots to the song.

ColourIn my video we use colour to separate past and present, love and loneliness, and happiness and sadness. The colouring of sepia tone and warmth is a strong generic convention which we have developed to imply different emotions and reflect the feeling of our main character, this allows the audience to connect further to this character too. Relatability is a large part of this genre and is used to attract and target their audience.The colouring I have chosen for this production is a natural warm orange much like the colours of spring which is a season that is undoubtably connected to the indie-folk genre.

Narrative StructureIn my video I challenge the conventions by using a non-linear narrative structure. This is because I use a flashback within the story, this flashback depicts their relationship whereas the present day story is her alone. This creates a binary opposition between the two times. This also leaves it as an open text (Barthes) strongly hinting that maybe the flashback was not a memory but a dream/fictional story she has created to make her life seem less lonely.This type of structure is not used in the genre or even in most music videos. This separates our video from the norm.The convention of using Todorovs 3pt structure is also challenged in our video. We do not use the Equilibrium-disruption-solution. This is also a generic convention used by many music videos of the genre.