The genre of our music video is indie-pop and shows a narrative, performance and concept. A narrative music video is the way a story is is told so that elements are structured and organised in such a way that it makes sense to the audience; a performance music video shows the artist performing-singing to the audience or performing on stage; and a concept music video is based around one idea or concept which will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what or who is on the screen. Therefore, our music video uses the forms and conventions of a music video. The narrative is shown through visuals such as when the bottle smashes on the ground, showing the meaning/story of the lyrics in the song, the frustration, anger and hurt from the artist. The video also shows other scenes where certain objects are used to show the narrative of the song:
The close-up shot of the artist walking on the glass contributes to telling the narrative, as it is showing that the glass is like her heart, broken into pieces as she has been hurt by the person who she loved. Also, she is overcoming that hurt by walking on it and moving forward with her life.
Our music video is performance based as well, with the artist singing to the audience. This is a typical convention of a music video where the artist is shown performing, which shows the 'star image':
The concept of the music video is also shown, some parts of the music video shows the artist but not the performance from her, and also parts of the music video where it does not show the artist at all or partly, to create the story of the song as if it were like a documentary. It is also based around one idea/concept that she has been hurt by someone who she loved, but then overcoming that:
This music video uses the conventions of a music video suggested by Goodwin, by matching the beat/sound of the music with the visuals shown, as in one part of our music video when a part of the music speeds up with a beat, we use very quick cuts that matches the pace and beat of the music exactly. Narrative and performance of the song is shown, the artist is shown singing and certain objects and scenes are shown to create the meaning and story of the song, and the feelings of the artist from the lyrics of the song. The focus of the artist also qualifies as 'star image' which shows the artist clearly, which therefore publicises them and their music, also close-up shots of her face are used so that she is clearly then well known. We developed the forms and conventions of a music video by showing a performance, narrative and a concept, by the use of different visuals of the artist and specific objects and location, however, we did not challenge the forms and conventions as we met the conventions of a music video.
An example of a music video which is all performance based is Kiesza-'Hideaway'
Mid-shots and long shots were used to show the artist performing to the audience, as it is a dance club song, there is dancing involved throughout the video. We used similar conventions for performance in our music video as we showed our artist singing directly to the camera just like in this music video. This also enabled the audience to see the artist's emotions more closely and showed 'star image' which made her a focus in the video:
Kodaline- 'All I want' is an example of a music video which shows the narrative of the song without the artist performing the song
The video shows the narrative of the song which is to not judge a book by its cover, everyone is beautiful in their own way as the video tells a story of a 'monster' looking for love. This music video used different people to show the narrative of the song, in particular, the person who looked like a monster. By showing the narrative of the song, a variety of shots were used such as mid-shots and close-up shots to show the story, and his facial expressions throughout the video. The use of shots showed what type of character he is and what happens in the end- that the girl falls for him. In a similar way, we did the same thing by showing the narrative of the song but by using different props, for example the letters being torn apart, the smashing of the bottle, the sparkler, smoking and the use of different facial expressions on the artist's face:
An example of a concept music video is Rudimental-'Waiting all night'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M97vR2V4vTs
This music video shows the true story of how a man who had an accident whilst biking, which resulted in him having one of his legs being amputated. The shots used are not specific type of shots as the music video is in the style of a documentary, there is no performance from the artist as it is just using the footage from the cameras recording what had happened. In our music video, we use some shots of the artist but with no performance, it is built around the concept of her break up and the hurt but towards the end of the music video, she begins to get stronger and her emotions are less hurt as they become more powerful. However, as the video is from real footage of what had happened, the shots are shaky, hand held and not steady like a music video, the shots are also not planned like a music video, so this goes against the forms and conventions of a music video, but still shows the concept clearly.
Forms and conventions of a music video depend on the genre of the music video. Here are the typical forms and conventions of different genres for music videos:
- Pop music video- Bright colours; fashion accessories; dancing; close-up shots of artist's face; happy; upbeat; performance
- Rock music video- Characters depicted as rebellious guys, confidence, stage performance, playing music; fast cuts
- Folk music video- Very few or no special effects; nature/natural setting; natural/warm lighting
- R&B music video- Minimal clothing on females; tattoos; jewellery; dancing (fast R&B)
Indie music video- Low budget; studios; cities; parks; tunnels; props; narrative and performance; close-up shots of the artist; cuts matching pace of music; stage performance; mid-shots of the artist; long shots to show the artist and/or the locations
An example of a music video with the same genre is Troye Sivan- 'Happy Little Pill'.
Our music video uses the same conventions of this music video, as it is performance based as well as narrative based. Similar shots used in this music video, such as close-up shots of the artist are used in our music video. In addition, the pace of the shots match the pace of the beat of the music, in which is also show in our music video.
The music video uses the convention of close-up shots of the artist- performance based, so does ours, therefore our music video conforms to the conventions and forms of an Indie music video.
The existing music video and our video both use certain props to show the narrative of the song, this then shows that we have used the conventions and forms, as it is very similar.
Other similarities include shots of different location, shots from different angles of the artist not singing, some visual effects edited of certain shots:
Jessie Ware-'You and I (Forever)' is a second example of an existing music video with the same genre.
The music video uses black and white effect as well as colour, where as our music video is black and white throughout. The music video is more narrative based than performance based, and contains a lot more people in the video for the concept of the video, therefore our music video challenges the conventions of this music video as we only have the artist shown in our music video, no colour, and many different types of shots are used, whereas in the existing music video, a lot of the same type of shots are used and uses only one location:
This music video and our music video both use mid-shots of the artist which conforms to the conventions of an Indie music video.
One other example of an existing music video with the same genre is The Neighbourhood-'Let it Go'
This music video is in black and white which is the same effect for our music video, however, it is all narrative based as no performance is shown. A number of close-up shots are used to show the character in the music video at the beginning which matches to the pace of the sound just like our music video does. As the sound builds up and begins to quicken, so does the type of shots and the it is a lot more darker:
In our music video, the pace of our shots also quicken as the beat changes, which shows that we used the forms and conventions of existing music videos for the same genre, which we did not challenge. 'Let it Go' uses many close-up shots to show the details of the character in the video, and one particular shot shows and extreme-close up shot of her eyes which shows the expression and emotion, which is similar in our music video as we showed an extreme close-up shot of her eye with tear falling to show the emotion:
The conventions which we used in our music video was to make sure it showed the genre of our music was indie, and to also match the song. The locations which we used was a subway, studio setting, and an alleyway to relate to the style of the song which gives the 'gritty' and 'urban' feeling to it as well as the isolation which relates to the meaning of the song in which it represents the artist's feelings. Overall, our music video uses and develops the forms and conventions of an indie style music video. By doing so, using close-up shots to show the artist performing as well as her facial expressions, to also show certain elements of the story such as the lighter, smashing the glass bottle which showed the narrative of the music video. We also used some long shots to show the artist and the location used to create the feeling and mood of the video to relate to the song. We developed the forms and conventions of the music video, as we as individuals decided what conventions to include in our music video. By researching what some music videos include to relate to the song, we did the same for ours in order to make sure that the conventions used related to the meaning and lyrics of the song. In addition, the equipment we used- DSLR cameras, was of high standard which allowed us to film the music video and make it look like a real music video which has a very high standard of quality. Therefore, this enabled us to make our music video look like a real existing music video of the genre of indie, in which we used and developed the forms and conventions of an existing indie music video.
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