TASK 1 FORMS & CONVENTIONS

Kiss The Future – Click on image for video

Camera• When studying country music videos I found that when the main lyrics

are being sang there would be a close up on the singers face. I found this on most videos but the best example is on The Band Perry (country band). This is because when you have a close up you can see their mouth saying the words and the artist is looking straight at you (therefore you may feel a connection) All these things helps the audience remember the lyrics which is what the artist wants (so it will hook the audiences and get the them remembering the lyrics and therefore buy the song)

• We have copied the convention with our music video. We have got a close up of Fen looking directly into the camera at the main point of the song so that the audience will connect with her. They will also see the words coming from her mouth and hear them at the same time therefore will hopefully remember them. Country music is all about connecting with your fans and having similar interests and problems therefore we got Fen to look into the camera (like The Band Perry did) so that it’s like she is singing to her fans and sharing her feelings with them.

Camera

Tracking shot

The close up of the guitar emphasises the music and the chords. It again lets the audience hear the music as well as see being played, helping to make it stick in the audiences head.

The tracking shot helps introduce the artist and the band. It lets the audience take in all the members of the band and their role in it. The Two Shot does the same thing as well as showing the audience the relationship between the band members. This is important as it makes them appear as a solid unit and this allows the audience to warm to them. We see this Two Shot in most videos but here is one from Shovel & Rope’s music video. (Country Band)

Two Shot example from Kiss The Future

Editing • The normal conventions of editing a music video are to cut to the beat. You

want to cut the beat in order to complement the tempo and feel of the song. Editing a music video is different to editing a movie. When editing a movie you have to be aware of continuity as to maintain the realism of the world. With music videos you can adopt the use discontinuity editing (jump cuts instead of match on action) to create variety, excitement, high energy and fast movements. Country music videos tend to have quite a slow editing pace, whereas pop videos, for example are normally quicker (pop music has a faster pace then country).

• Country songs are full of emotion, therefore having slower editing allows the audience to take in the lyrics and enjoy them.

• We adopted the expected format for our music video, mimicking the widely used verse-chorus-verse template. Within the verse we had a narrative section and for the chorus we had our main artist Fen, lip synching. We did this because when the chorus is playing you want to see the lip-sync so you can watch the artist perform which is surely the point of a music video?.

Lighting/ColourThe lighting we used was very natural to emulate the artist. I found that most country videos use natural lighting to give the impression that country artists are organic (they don’t need artificial lighting which is normally used for pop artist to make them look perfect and beautiful) . Country music is about excepting who you are and not changing yourself to fit the norm. Using natural lighting enforces this because the artist looks real and genuine . The Band Perry also use natural lighting but the colours are very soft and a slightly washed out to give off a nice, calm and happy atmosphere. You can see from the pictures bellow that they both give off a warm atmospheres unlike Metal/R&B videos where the colours might make the artist look tough and angry. Country music videos often uses warm washed our colours to make the artist friendly and happy and that is what we have done with our video. We want our audiences to connect with Fen and feel comfortable when watching her videos and the colours let the audience know that her music is happy.

Props

• Country music videos often use retro/old looking instruments whereas pop videos, for example will use expensive, good looking instruments because pop artists want to seem expensive and new( and offer something their average consumer cannot afford). Country music normally consists of old looking instruments because they are about being themselves and not buying the latest things(significance put on the music and its content over the superficial). Country music is old fashioned and retro just like the props used in the music videos. In Taylor Swifts music video you can clearly see she has gone for the retro old fashioned props (instruments) therefore for our video we did the same in order to fit the country form.

Sets And Location • Country music videos is all about the outdoors, the countryside. Country

artists love being outside with the horses and in the barns dancing etc….Therefore most of the videos emulate this. Country music grew out of the poverty and hardship experienced by the working class in America. The music sprung up as a way of lifting morale and with the great depression in the pipelines in helped to bring people together. Given the physical nature of their work, usually centring around farm life and later working on the railways country music has stuck to its roots with nostalgia and remembrances of supposedly better times are the core elements of the country lifestyle. It is this nostalgia that the country audience is looking for and therefore in my music video I have tried to emulate this in the set and location by painting the backdrop of our set as a sky blue to create an outdoor atmosphere as well as filming a section of the shoot outdoors in a pastoral location, associated with the country image. Old Crow Medicine Show use the same method in their music video. Their whole music video is based outside to stick to the country music form and you can see from the picture bellow we have done the same thing. (clouds in both shots)

Website…• Country artists love to connect with their fans. Fans of country

music can easily relate to their favourite country artists lyrics because country singers are organic singers, they are true to themselves therefore have problems just like everyday people would have. We saw on Taylor Swifts website that she has an ‘About My Life’ page which tells her fans all about her (this allows her fans to get closer to her by small quirky common interests). All country musicians songs are about their personal experiences which audience members can then relate to. We attempted to mimic this convention within our website so that Fans can see relate to Fen and her life. Click on image below to open.

Album cover conventionsCountry artists album covers are meant to show the audience who they are. They don’t do a crazy colourful album cover which just looks exciting but doesn’t mean anything. Country singers album covers portray them as serious artists. Its about the music and the lyrics, not about the latest fashion trends or crazy haircuts. Most country album covers depict the artist with their instrument(normally guitar) to show that the music is the most important factor. Lori McKenna’s album is a typical country album cover. It shows just her and her guitar which lets us know its just about her and her music. We tried to copy this convention with our album except we have our artist looking into the camera. We have her looking into the camera so that the audience feel a connection.

Back Of AlbumThe back of an album cover lets you see all the different tracks on the album. We found that all the pictures on an album cover link together in some way(or it can link to one of the music videos) . We followed this convention by linking the back cover of the album links to the music video and the rest of the album. The back cover of the album is a close up on the guitar wood which we felt fitted nicely with the guitar on the front. We thought this would be a nice effect because it’s not that obvious at first but when you really look at you will realise it’s the wood from the guitar.We put petals on the around the track list for two reasons. Firstly it acts as a frame making the viewer drawn to the track list. Secondly the petals link to the flowers in the music video. I RAN OUT OF TIME HERE BUT INTEND ON PUTTING MORE……