Our music video for Arctic Monkey’s “Fluorescent Adolescent” incorporated the codes and conventions of already made media products throughout the video, poster and digipak. I knew it was incredibly important to use previously made conventions from the indie rock genre to be able to make a suitable music video for the audience, which would obviously fit within the genres style.
Cinematography
We used conventions of many music videos in our cinematography of the final piece. The style of our cinematography was purely bases upon our research products from established bands videos, most indie rock music videos use various shot throughout, however the not common are the close up and medium shots. These are typically used on individuals or to illustrate the band together. Close ups are also used on instruments and other cut aways, for example feet keeping the beat. We attempted to incorporate as many of these techniques into our music video as possible. The close up on individuals is used predominantly to capture facial expressions, showing passion and other emotions such as happiness and determination. These are vital aspects when making a music video as it emphasies the lyrics and/or put the lyrics into real life. Certain close up could also determine the bands appeal towards the audience, creating a vibe to the band. The medium shots allow both the drummer and singer to appear as one, creating a more solidified cohesive nature to the band. This breaks however when there are drum solos which then show individual talent. Furthermore, we mixed the camera movement throughout the performance aspect (On and off tripod) , giving the performance an edgy atmosphere which illustrates a sense of unpredictability and perhaps wildness about the song, which in fact coincides with the lyrics. Artists such as The Bulletproof Bomb and Catfish and the Bottlemen also use this technique to portray these conventions of edginess and unpredictability but also potential mystery within the narrative, which is then implied through the performance side. The static shots allow the performance to be built up in a smooth manner and don’t over complicate what’s happening. Getting the contrast right was important in making the performance. The off tripod also has strong connotations to the DIY feel. As many indie rock bands carry the DIY approach we decided to link the notion of DIY within ours.
Narrative
The narrative structure is obviously one of, if not, the most important conventions regards to music videos. The group and I decided upon a very clean, linear narrative, very common within our specific genre. Our narrative was based around a middle aged woman, who is frustrated and essentially bored with her tiresome lifestyle. The narrative then progresses onto her remembering she has a school reunion party coming up, she therefore decides to iron her dress, get her shoes and jewellery out, and then put her make up on and does her hair. The music video ends with her leaving the house. The linear narrative approach is the most obvious in this genre as the whole production is based around the music. Not the music video, however, having such an easy narrative is useful as the audience can easily follow the actions, while still maintain the level of engagement. This narrative clearly follows the structure set and reinforced by Todorov. He claims that all narratives have a equilibrium, disruption, recognition of disruption, attempt to mend disruption and finally a new equilibrium, making the narrative a 5 piece storyline. Our music video doesn’t have a defined new equilibrium; however you could argue that it’s her breaking the wall between her present and past self. We watched several music videos from several music video genres. As i’m more into rock and indie rock already, i found it relatively easy to pick up on simple narratives that could be the influence for our own one. However rock tends to be only performance with little effort the narrative. For example Green Day’s Longview music video’s narrative is portrayed through performance. You see the band singing about how life is for a teen aged boy through the way their house is, the condition and then these images are exaggerated through the use of the lyrics. The hardest part about the narrative was thinking of a linear narrative that worked with our lyrics so that the visuals weren’t random or had little association with what the song was about. We decided that the mise en scene of the video would be most important when portraying such an easy and free narrative.
Editing
Editing is also a pretty important aspect when creating music videos. The main editing technique we used was cross cutting back and forth between the narrative and performance throughout. The cross cutting adds a degree of pace and action that engages the audience from start to finish. This then allows us to vary the shots distance, length and what we show within a shot. At the beginning of the song, there are no lyrics, just an instrumental for around 30 seconds. This allowed us build the narrative to a suitable point before the song had actually started. The use of cross cutting was also used here to show the duo getting ready and the protagonist developing the narrative. The pace of shot here is relatively slow with each cut lasting around 3 seconds. As nothing much is occurring, the editing is very continuous, allowing the narrative to be built before lyrics are introduced. As the music builds up and the narrative and performance is both cross cutting, the pace of shot picks up, and so does the frequency of cross cutting. This further develops the video, reinforcing the vital role that cross cutting has within music videos. We, at first, found it very hard to get the right balance of performance and narrative as the typical split is 50:50. We didn’t want to cut out parts of the narrative, as that’s the part telling the story. We also had the whole song in performance too. Allowing u to use whatever part of the performance wherever. In rock and indie rock, it’s common to have a 70:30 split in favor of performance as I said before, the narrative isn’t as important in this genre. However, we played it safe with 50:50 and the balance worked out really well.
Mise en scene
Mise en scene is also another key component when making music videos. Thinking about key conventions with the indie rock genre includes examples such a instruments and specific clothing worn in the music video. These also allow for the bands image to be build up, also potentially creating iconic costumes. For example Angus Young’s school uniform when performing live and in music videos for ACDC. We did a lot of planning into this as creating a band image is important for the audience. We used Pinterest to assemble the style we were looking for, as well as props for the performance. We then talked to our actors, who already wore the majority of our ideas, for example overcoats and bomber jackets. Stereotypically, bands wear blues, browns and blacks when performing, these are heavy conventions used and allow for the band image to exemplify the genre. The Fratellis, Arctic Monkeys and Grizzly Bear all follow these connotations in their work. We also allowed the facial hair and hair of our actors to be whatever. We didn’t care if it wa clean or scruffy. Reinforcing the DIY style of the production. With the props, it was predominantly just instruments and a microphone. Many music video in our genre have the band playing in a “live performance” style which indicates raw talent and produced music. The instruments also provide a sense of realism, the band actually play the drums for example. In pop, it’s common for the performance to exclude the use of instruments as the video is purely just about the artist. We included the drums in as many cuts possible as it links to the notion of talent, struggle and determination. All 3 very common narratives within our genre. The ability to be able to play drum indicates a passion for the music that’s being produced, linked with the lead singer and his microphone completes the full circle that they want to be successful and developing their music.
Digipak and poster
My digipak and poster also includes a range of media conventions that are suitable within our genre. The majority of the pictures were taken with the studio we did our performance in, resulting in the same kind of appearance with both the video and digipak panels. However, i like this look as the same location and costumes allows the audience to relate to the video with relation to the digipak. Furthermore, the bands image is developed even more by using this technique. For my digipak, I put the drummer and singer together, making them come across as one. They both own the band and the responsibility and power is therefore split in 2. Having them come across as equal to each other is important and done very often within most genres. The audience will recognise the band based as a duo and not just by the lead singer. This further develops the relationship between the band members and could potentially illustrate their friendship is important to the bands image also. I also decided to have the text of the band bigger than the album name. People will be more interested in the band’s name than album name. Likewise, in the future other generations will relate to the music based upon the band’s name and album cover, opposed to the knowledge of album name. The colours for my digipak complement each other suitably with no real struggle to read. The gold also represents wealth and power, which implies a confident and edgy band personality. For my poster however, i decided to use a white coloured font. This exemplifies purity and passion. I decided to have different coloured text ass i felt it would look too golden if I included that colour into my poster as well as my digipak. The white i very abstract from the rest of the poster, promoting the band and album is a crucial element for the poster and the white captures the notion of that very effectively and subtly. As the key information is white, it allows for the text to stand out over the rest.