Evaluation - Oliver Cracknell

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For our Music video we felt that we had to keep to cetain conventions in order to make our product as successful as possible within the genre of folk/indie. We researched many of these when planning our video.
One of these was the necessity of including live shots of a band performance, this was in order to give the band an image and also to let the audience gain an insight into what the band look like so that they can relate to them.

We tried to incorporate a simplistic and improptu image into the live band shots by using basic instruments that were featured in the song, without focusing on the specifics such as guitar leads and cables. This was something which was featured in many indie music videos that we watched. I think that this is because traditional music instrument playing needs to be shown in the video however it needs to subvert from the stereotypical rock genre live playing in order to fit in the indie genre. It also adds a low budget feel to the video and makes the band seem fun without taking themselves too seriously, allowing the target audience to better relate to them.

Both of these shots are very similar, we felt that this strengthened the fact that the conventions we used were correct as an already successful indie band (bombay bicylcle club) have used the same conventions at a similar location as us and seem to be aiming for the same image that we were attempting.

Another common feature of indie bands is to try and play up and glamorize their roots, by adding a significantly urban quality to their locations and mise en scene. We tried to use this convention by filming some of our video outside a row of garages in the local village. We felt that this both complemented the simplistic live band shots whilst also making us look more local as opposed to genres such as pop, which would often take place in a lavish, expensive and very  over the top location. I feel that the indie genre will typically try to entertain an audience by focusing largely on the music and making their image a more subtle feature of the video.

As can be seen in this image, Bombay bicycle club also use a garage. This is a convention we tried to use as it can be used as an interesting background without looking typical and also making the urban image of the band seem apparent to an audience easily. However in our video, we could of perhaps used a wider range of garage colours that were available, and perhaps had one band member in front of each to make the image as eye-catching as possible.

Indie Music is often centered around a relationship, with the video trying to portray it. We tried to develop this genre by also focusing on a relationship, however in most music videos we researched the relationship is portrayed by actors rather than band  members in order to keep the narrative and band shots separate.

This is perhaps so that the audience will feel that the band does not have the common problems and will not associate drama and problems with them but will rather just listen to their music, without losing any sense of familiarity with them. However we tried to develop this convention by featuring a relationship between two band members in our video, This is because the meaning of our song is that a relationship within the band goes wrong, resulting in the female leaving and thus rejoining the band later.

This is not a common feature of relationships in music videos and would certainly never be seen in an established artist, which we were told before we included it. However we chose to develop this convention as our music video would be a first time video from a new band, meaning we have the liberty of portraying a unique image that is not constrained by previous audience expectations. This also means that we can be different from what is expected by typical genre conventions whilst still including them. This could result in increased publicity and attention from our audience and thus add to the success of the band.

The use of colour is yet another convention we tried to develop in our music video. As can be seen in some of laura marling's videos (a successful indie/folk artist) The use of colour is being used to represent a time flashback in the video's narrative. In her video some of the saturation has been decreased in order to produce an apparent Polaroid effect which adds a feeling of vintage to her videos whilst also making them seem sophisticated. We chose to develop this and reduce the saturation of all of our narrative shots within our music video so that they were black and white. Which, due to the plot of our narrative, was to make the shots seem sad in reference to an unhappy time. I feel that this was done well as it made the video more visually interesting and added a new dimension to how the final product looked, whilst separating the narrative from the shots of the band performing. However it could have been improved if we had chosen to leave some of the saturation present, which would of maintained a slight degree of colour, which would have alluded to a happy mood whilst still being symbolized in an unhappy way. However we did not want to completely subvert from this convention and chose to simply keep the narrative in black and white.

I feel that we challenged conventions of the indie genre immediately as we have a girl in a major role within the band. This is not a common feature of many indie bands. I feel that this sets our band apart from the stereotypical indie band and allows us to be diverse with our image. We tried to focus on the female member (Fiona) by utilising close ups as angles and including her on her own in certain situations throughout the narrative, such as when she is playing piano on her own. This could also give us a larger fan base, as typically a female is not common in a genre dominated by males and thus could make us seem different and more interesting to a prospective audience. Successful indie bands such as foals typically have a male lead singer and are comprised of all males, I feel that by focusing on what sets us apart from the rest, we were wise to subvert from this convention as it will gain us a larger amount of attention from our audience when combined with the relationship convention mentioned earlier.

Another convention we tried to challenge was the inclusion of a superimposing of the band onto a television screen. This is not typically found in the indie genre as it implies the the band have become famous and is being featured on a show. This can imply that the band thinks highly of themselves. However we tried to subvert from this convention of the genre and challenge it by using it in appropriate context

This is when the girl has left the band and is perhaps feeling bitter, after seeing the band on Television she turns it off and leaves the room. This helps to make the video more interesting to the viewer as it is a relatively complex technique to include in what had since looked like a simplistic low budget indie music video. The effect would usually be expected to be seen in a hip-hop or pop music video, however we felt that it worked for our genre so long as it was included in the right context and not just included thoughtlessly. We also found another example within our own genre (right) which supported our view that challenging the conventions of our genre was an appropriate choice in this instance.

2. How effective is the combination of the main product and ancillary texts?
























3. What did you learn from your audience feedback?

To begin with, we experimented with using projected images of hearts onto white blank canvasses in order to connote the relationship in the narrative. However We were told by people who viewed this as slightly stereotypical and far too cliche considering we were aiming to be quirky and subvert from what was expected of the indie/folk genre.

Having shown select members of our target audience the Video it was underlined to me that there were a few issues with how realistic the instrument playing looked, however this was a problem we had known existed from the start as on my part (guitar) I am left handed but only had access to a right handed guitar, so In order to strum in time with the song convincingly I had to hold the guitar the wrong way for which it was meant. We felt that this would be a compromise to maximise how convincing the video would be.

The drums were the second issue raised. For the most part they are in time however as Max is not a musician in real life, he struggled to stay in time with the song. Simply because he has never had to do it before. We did not believe this would be a major issue when filming as we filmed him doing in-time specific drum hits as and when we saw necessary, we also tried to crop certain shots that he was out of time in in order to make the video as convincing as possible. If done again we would possibly consider using actors rather than ourselves as this allows us to focus more on the filming and shot composition.

4. How Did you use Media Technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?