Ellie Davis A2

For my A2 Media coursework I chose to make a music video and two contributing media texts. The brief is to produce a promotion package for the release of an album; this is to include a music promo video together with: a website homepage for the band and a magazine advert for a digipak (CD/DVD package). I work as part of a production team which included myself and Jade Horn, another Media Studies student.

The genre for my music video can be described as alternative/alternative dance, which furthermore makes it harder to identify the conventions as the bands and artists that come under this umbrella are constantly trying to break boundaries and in turn defy the conventions of a typical music videos seen within popular and chart music. These videos tend to take a completely different approach – this could be due to the bands artistic vision or low budgets within the independent record industries.

The music is often heard in underground clubs and targets more of niche, than a mass audience. Often it is not bursting with lyrical content but focusing on a repetitive nature with thrashy beats with the intention of being played in dj sets and danced to. The style of the bands is as the genres say- alternative.

For example in my chosen song, Crystal Castles- Baptism, band members are alternatively dressed, one member can be seen wearing a mask and on the lead singer the makeup is excessive, this is also seen in another alternative/electro video in the form of the XX video for Islands are dressed oddly to identify with the niche audiences, also reflected in another example of the Sleigh Bells video for Infinity Guitars, as they are walking through the streets they appear to be going against the grain of society in their dress style. In my music video I tried to emulate these things though costume and mise-en-scene. As a team we decided that the characters should be dressed a certain way and to determine this we borrowed ecliptically in order to create something new, for example the costumes we have used are a common theme in popular culture, accostiated with rock and roll an rebellious youth I feel the costume is a way to reflect back to the audience the culture they live in and their own lives and style. This can also been seen in other aspects of mise-en-scene, through the setting audiences can also identify with it, as like in the Infinity Guitars video band members can be seen walking through the average street of a built up area, similarly to this my video does not use a lavish set or obscure location (PHOTOS HERE). This could probably be put down to budget, Sleigh Bells in this case they are signed to the relatively unknown independent record label N.E.E.T (Not in Education Employment or Training). Although, a low budget can be a hindrance in the case of alternative music I feel that it is that home-grown, raw looking style that further adds to the appeal of the bands and in terms of marketing, it is a beyond helpful tool and if videos can be made at a prolific rate and uploaded to YouTube for free. This style of marketing is something deeply rooted in modern day music so I feel that my music video is a reflection of this style and genre in that respect.

In the videos I have analysed performance is a key factor, as the songs are often heard in clubs therefore making them faceless, this convention promotes their style and offers listeners and viewers a lifestyle and an ideology of the artists. Whether it be the chilled melancholic performance of the XX or the crystal Castles and Sleigh Bells hard hitting approach to appeal to the rebellious nature that they audience have or want to have. This is a convention I have found and chose to reject in my final music video outcome. Along with being a very difficult task to undergo (lip syncing) I feel that the narrative video is more suited to the alternative genre, furthermore within the lyrics of my chosen song there is a lot of content and meaning, moreover religious connotations which personally led me to think more of the imagery that could echo that rather than the performance of a band and/or artist.

I looked at the video for Arctic Monkeys – Suck it and See to establish what a finished narrative video should look like. From it I gathered a sense of heavy emphasis on the stylistic finish of the video, in Arctic Monkeys case it was almost cinematic but still the narrative was not entirely clear. This is a postmodern feature as the band are choosing style over substance, also keeping with the postmodern theme it is a simulacrum of signifiers from American culture. Moreover, to add to the stylish finish some of the shots are very artistic, something I feel we replicate as a team in the cinematography of our final video. Some shots are taken from strange angles not often seen within music videos such as high angle and we played around with zooms this was too like the example of Suck it and See to get artistic, almost abstract results. I also notice the array of shots used and locations, this is something I think we failed to do as our locations do not differ too much yet it works in a way because as a mise-en-scene verisimilitude is created.

With this likeness to reality comes a common ground between the product (the final text) and the audience. The premise for the video is meant to signify youth, rebellion and the alternative culture the song belongs to. Jade and I tried manufacturing this though the story of a fictitious religious cult, the reason we chose religion is because the song is entitled Baptism and the lyrics present a rejection of religious modes and ways. In this way it is complying to the structure of most narrative videos, like the Arctic Monkeys example of Suck it and See influence on the narrative is taken from the lyrical content (in Suck it and See the two leads can be seen on motorcycles and being explicit and in some respects seizing the day this is reflective on the lyrics of the chorus ‘Suck it and See you’ll never know’).

The songs and videos I looked all have a repetitive nature, this to me is a way to get the airplay in clubs which is obviously where the songs have their mass appeal. This is heard in my chosen song. In the entire example cutting to the beat is an unavoidable convention although me and jade played around with the idea and used a split screen edit to create new dimensions to the way the image compliments the sounds because of this we were able to use mainly jump cuts and fades to edit as we had stylistic shots and tricks in other areas. As the song is alternative, other aspects of editing often go against the grain of the regular music video, of the examples I have looked at within the alternative genre the videos are relatively dark in colour, and at an obvious contrast to the popular music videos often seen today. As a team we toyed around with the idea of colour which was difficult as all we had to work with on location was natural light, on this particular day it was extremely bright so the dark imagery I wanted to create (see initial ideas prezi) was not attainable, so after finding our feet with Adobe Premier we altered the colour and were able to conform to this particular convention.

With my main product (music video) and my ancillary texts (band homepage and advertisement for the release on a single) I think that they complement each other well. With the advert and homepage I believe that I have created a house style for the band. My choice of colours matches almost a gothic style - mainly the use of black and grey was to demonstrate a need not to be brash as the bands target audience would be a niche one.

I think the all over combination of the three texts works well. Because like I said the audience is a niche one and furthermore upon looking at the YouTube statistics for the song (crystal castles-baptism) I found that the audience was not only a young one but also the majority was male. Working with this demographic is what leads me to go for a simpler style. Also I did not want to steer too far away from the bands original identity because what crystal castles are known for is being very alternative and taking a completely different approach to any other band in the music industry but still gaining a degree of success. I felt this is why the video needed to be of strong artistic merit rather than just a typical popular music video. The colours within it are black and White therefore a link is made there to my ancillary texts and the colour choices within the video.

In order to create all of my final products I had to start with some research. All of it is on the whole on my blog, which I found useful as a hub for my thoughts and ideas, in particular when coming to creating the final product it was useful to have that to refer to. This all comes with the development of web 2.0 which was allowing me to actively import videos and pictures to posts creating not just an academic plan and research file but it was also visual, which moreover gives me a theme and image style right from the initial stages. Another tool I found useful was Prezi, I used this to make a collection of ideas presenting my influences for the final outcome of the video.

We shot the video footage on a Cannon camera. The cameras definition was reasonable high quality so when reviewing our shots before placing them on the Adobe Premier Timeline for our project most of them were in focus etc. One problem we did encounter was that our screen ratio was 4:3 instead of the standard 16:9 we were able to rectify it although it was a long process of re-scaling and rotating shots which makes me think that if I were to do this brief again I would be pedantic in checking my camera was on the correct settings and so on but overall this was the only real hiccup we had technologically.

In terms of audience feedback during the process as a team Jade and I were constantly asking others (particularly those of a similar demographic to those on the songs fan base) of their opinion as ultimately we were not going to be the consumers of the video so outsider opinion is key to the video being successful and giving viewers the gratification they want when choosing to view a music video which obviously if it is working as part of a promotional package it needs to be.

Post finishing the video I screened the video to six students at the college asking them to take note and to be frank about their opinions of the finished video. Overall comments were complimentary. Most commented on the editing style, which I think is something that is genre fitting as it is alternative so it does not surprise me that a group of young people appreciate it and like it one participant described it as ‘unique’ again aligning with the genre the song is a denominator of.

One of my initial worries when undertaking the task of making a purely narrative video was that audiences would not follow the plot. Admittedly it is obscure but luckily in two of the feedbacks I received the storyline was applauded and also pointed out as ‘clear’. Furthermore there was a lot of recognition of the religious iconography which for me was an important factor as the video is supposed to represent the song and its tone, it was vital that it was picked up on. Moreover in one case an audience member described it as rebellious which is something we were trying to establish.

A negative comment we received was the tone of the video was melancholic which I could see and was not sure if that was entirely what as a production group we were going for. This made me feel that if I were to do the whole process again I may have altered the overall feel of the video as music and their promotional releases are in the public domain to be enjoyed. In saying this I saw through my lyrical analysis that the songs meaning was serious and probably not something to be enjoyed in the way a song in the popular music charts would be.

To conclude, I feel that the music video and the promotional package as a whole were somewhat of a success. Furthermore what I feel audiences should of obtained from viewing it, they have and most enjoyed the style and approach of the product. Finally I feel that through this process I have progressed massively with my skills in new media technologies, especially the video editing programme Adobe Premier, in the beginning I had only used the programme briefly and after completing this brief my confidence in it has increased massively and I feel that I (as part of a team) have created something that has an air of professionalism that in turn would work as a music video in a promotional package.