I think that the negatives of my video so far are that i'm missing some shots so it is not finished. Also some shots feel very long winded with nothing breaking them up, this is something I need to add to ensure fluidity and an interesting music video. I also feel like I have more shots of the female character and not as many as the male. Making the video look very one sided.
On the other hand, over all I am very happy with how my music video is going so far. I like how I have used outtakes from filming to make the video more sentimental and have more meaning due to the informality of it. I also really like how some shots worked out in time with the music for example 0.25-0.27 the shot lines up perfectly with the music. I also think that some of the pace between some of the cuts speeds up the video and keeps it interesting.
Due to timing I've had to change the plot of my music video, although most locations and inter textual references are the same the initial story line has changed.
Using the YouGov website I came to understand my target audience their interests, and what other music they may like. I also used Spotify to see the related artists to Ego Honey.
Nicola (Female Character)
Her character is somebody who can be seen as misunderstood due to her simply just being out with her friends, but she may be seen as someone who doesn't care for other people. Her relationship with Luke may be seen as toxic and no good due to it always breaking down and then picking itself back up again.
Nicolas character wears simple clothes that signify her age. I chose warm clothes due to the cold weather and autumnal colours to match the aesthetic of the surroundings. The colours complimenting the greens and oranges that are within the settings.
Luke (Male Character)
Luke's character could be perceived as over protective over his girlfriend. However their general relationship is great when it's good but terrible when it's bad.
Lukes character also wears simple clothes that signify his age. I asked them to wear different coloured jeans to show a difference between the two styles and separate the two of them in shots.
The video/lyrics/music to Figuring It Out by SWMRS uses anticipation and closure throughout.It follows the conventional verse/pre-chorus/chorus/verse/pre-chorus/chorus/verse/pre-chorus/chorus creating closure due to the audience being able to expect what is to happen next. However, the use of the solo could come as a surprise to audiences due to it coming between a chorus and verse. On the other hand, it could be expected due to it being a convention to the genre. The lyrics resist a rhyme scheme and instead uses broken and irregular rhyme creating a refusal to the closure and anticipation of the next lyric. However, the repetition of the chorus creates closure to the lyrics due to the repeated lyric (We're still figuring it out). The music follows a steady beat of 4/4. The regular time signature creates closure as does the strong beat. The video cuts to a lot of the beats also creating closure as the audience will begin to anticipate the next cut/the next event. Finally, the repetition of the bass riff also can become anticipated as it is regular and the same through most of the video.
Within my music video the tree is used as a framing device. It is the location that brings the two characters together and creates a place for them to go. The tree is used in the beginning of the music video and the end creating a circular narrative.
Within Stranger Things the use of tree's is used throughout the series, and ends up becoming a portal to take characters from one world to another. This being a significant location throughout the series.
Miracles From Heaven has a single significant tree within it. The tree heals the little girl of a 'incurable' disease. Within my music video the tree is part of what cures the two characters relationship.
School
The whole of The Breakfast Club is filmed within a school. The theme of being trapped is seen throughout which is what the male character feels when put in social situations such as school.
Within this scene from Stranger Things I see a lot of the female character within the character Nancy because even though she is now becoming increasingly popular she knows where her roots are.
Bedroom
A teenagers bedroom is a hideaway. By excluding the male character from the girls' and having him watch shows that he is possibly no longer part of her life. Me, Earl and The Dying Girl however uses the girls bedroom as a meeting place. This is somewhat like the tree within my music video.
Car
I wanted to add aspect of part of the ending being shot within the car. This would be to show differentiation within my shots and because it adds corruption to the video. Within R U Mine? other than the final performance section the whole video is filmed from within the car. I believe it's very nicely shot and interesting to watch therefore making me want to use a similar concept.
//UPDATE//
From the Arctic Monkeys video I am taking the aspect of being filmed within a car. This is because it seems quirky and an interesting aspect to explore. I also like the performance aspect from within it as it is very chaotic. Finally, I'm also going to take the use of the handheld camera in some parts of my music video.
Scott Pilgrim vs The world uses extreme close ups on the instruments which was a shot type I would like to use within my music video. It creates a intense and confusing shot which is seen throughout the genre.
Basket Case by Green Day is what gave me the idea to add in band members throughout the video. the concept was very interesting and seemed like it could be fun to try.
The concept for my music video follows a boy who has feelings for a girl he has been friends with since they were young. The female character is with someone else and the male character has been in love with the female ever since they begun being friends. The band joins in throughout the video, normally throughout the chorus. Throughout the female character begins to notice the male more and in the end they come together. The music video is a mixture of performance and narrative to give it a typical indie rock music video concept to it. I would describe my music video as a cross over video due to its linking between performance and narative.
How and why do genres use shared codes and characteristics?/How do music videos develop or challenge genre conventions?
Within the indie rock genre characteristics include being about image, this may be about the artist/band or the whole video, such as keeping a running theme throughout the video. This is seen through all of these videos. Within 'She Moves In Her Own Way' the image of the band is seen throughout as laid back and different. Where as within 'Bonfire' The Hunna looks to be a lot more grunge and although the video is very polished, the juxtaposition is very clear between the way the video is shot and the band.
Throughout 'Bonfire', 'She Moves In Her Own Way' and 'Someday' a convention is seen throughout which is the use of performance against narrative. Whereas in 'Snap Out Of It' Arctic Monkeys used a narrative story line, which goes against indie rock video conventions.
Other similarities throughout the music videos include things such as shots of the bands, and the use of handheld cameras. These characteristics make the videos seem more edgy, therefore suiting to the target audiences.
Gunther Kress said 'Genre is a kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purpose.' This gives evidence of reason as to why artists and bands have similar conventional videos and why there is a 'conventional' form at all.
How is genre used by institutions/media producers?
Genre is used by institutions and media producers in similar ways as they both have the same aims to sell the record to the specific target audiences the genre includes. For example, with these music videos the institutions and media producers would be trying to sell to young people who like indie rock.
Genre is also used to establish target audience for the institutions and media producers to be able to sell to. By understanding the target audience the institutions and media producers are able to understand the ways in which they can advertise and shape the artist.
When considering the artists above they may have been advertised very differently. Where a well-known band like Arctic Monkeys would be advertised globally, smaller bands like The Hunna were advertised more nationally. However due to dated bands like The Strokes were advertised through niche magazines such as NME to target their specific target audience.
How is genre used by audiences?
Genre is used by audiences mostly to categorise people and adding to their collective identity. In this day and age a lot of teenagers are finding themselves being categorised into fandoms (the fans of a particular person, team, fictional series, etc. regarding collectively as a community or subculture). This can be argued as a good or a bad thing. Micheal Maffesoli says that 'Today social existence is conducted through fragmented tribal groupings, organised around the catchwords, brand-names and sound bites of consumer culture.' This statement describes how the world is an audience of a consumer.
Within the indie rock genre, pejorative connotations are given to those who actively listen to the genre. These can include -
Generally aged 16-25
Mostly male
Actively goes to gigs
Believes music is very important
Wears skinny jeans, band t-shirts, checked shirts, Converse/Doc Martens
Likely to play an instrument, guitar/bass/drums
Likely to also enjoy indie films
Likely to be on social media sights such as Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram
Consume other media - active readers of music specific magazines such as NME, RockSound/Listen to radio stations such as Radio One or Kerrang!
These styles such as the fashion side of these connotations can be seen in these music videos.
Christine Gledhill says 'Genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre' although about television series' it can be taken on and considered for music videos also.
How are genres shifting and permeable?
Genres have always shifted and will carry on shifting. I think that there will always be the big genres that will forever split into smaller sub genres e.g. Rock/Pop Rock.
If considering indie rock, it was established in the UK and the US in the 1980's. The term 'indie' was used to describe the music produced on punk/post punk labels. However, by the end of the 90's indie rock had its own further sub genres showing again their has been a shift within the genre. It had also become mainstream after bands like Nirvana got into the charts.
Small additions such as the opening 'prologue' section giving the music video a more in depth story. and a few things moved around. I also decided to space out the additions of the band as it will not look so rushed.
The final decision for the music video was Drunken Fumbling by Ego Honey. I took aspects from other music videos such as 'R U Mine?' by Arctic Monkeys and 'Basket Case' by Green Day but i then also took aspects from films such as 'Scott Pilgrim vs The World'. This would give the video aspects of modern day and late 90's indie rock which would therefore fit the genre.
Within this idea, the characters of the music video would be:
Female - Love interest
Male - Females Boyfriend
Band - Made up of drums, electric guitar, acoustic and bass
The 'protagonist' Male - He is in love with the female and wants to be with her
The story:
It seems that the song is about a boy who has feelings for a girl but may have messed up with her in the past creating tension. She has later moved on and found herself someone else. However, the boy still loves her and wants her back. This therefore makes him write the song about her. He watches her throughout the song from the 'end of her street' (taking the lyric from the song). In the end the love interest and her boyfriend have an argument at a party and the only person that is there for her is the boy who has feelings for her. They then later rekindle their feelings and end up together. Ending in a cliche happily ever after. However, still keeping an aspect of seriousness due to the final shot being of the band playing and the female watching.
The music video 'This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race' by Fall Out Boy displays characteristics from Andrew Goodwin's ideas of conventions of music videos.
Firstly, it demonstrates genre characteristics, such as the use of a stage performance at the beginning and the end. This is used in other music videos matching the 'Pop Punk' genre such as Sum 41's 'In Too Deep'. Secondly, its lyrics and visuals contradict each other. Thirdly, there is a relationship between music and visuals, for example at 0.29 there is a cut between a producer and then to the band. Furthermore, Goodwin says that 'The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artists and the artist make develop motifs which recur across their work' this is prominent throughout Fall Out Boy's work. Within this particular music video this shot :
is from another one of their music videos. Throughout they also have recurring close ups of the band and those within it. Additionally, Goodwin also describes music videos to 'Frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body' this music video does both of those. The use of the cameras throughout the beginning sequence of the music video and then the use of the magazines also. Making the female body voyeuristic is also something done throughout in multiple scenes throughout the music video in shots such as 1:30 and 2:31. Finally, there is use of intertextual references used again from the bands earlier music videos such as the shot above and also the bassists costume of the black make-up around the eyes and the lead singers hat which became frequent throughout their later music videos.
Only Dating by Ded Rabbit was written in February.
The biggest strength of this track is that its lyrics tell a story that is very clear, this makes making a music video simpler as it gives you a basis to use.
This song fits the aesthetic of the British Indie Rock movement. The catchy riffs making it easy to remember,
Drunken Fumbling by Ego Honey was written in 2015, bringing aspects from indie rock artists such as Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks.
The biggest strength of this track is its lyrics which show a prominent story throughout the song about having feelings for someone who no longer has feelings for you.
I like the track a lot due to it's simple chord progression which turns a subject that is sad into somethinng fun and happy. The use of the acoustic guitar also gives it a raw feeling. The electric guitar playing the melody also contributes to this.
However, by slowing the chord progressions down on the lines 'Do you want to stay with me tonight?' and letting the chord ring out makes the song seem like a cry for help, expressing the desperateness of the feelings.
Andy Warhol
