Evaluation Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

According to Andrew Goodwin’s theory there are some key aspects that are usually included in music videos. These are: the star image, a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, the technical aspect, iconography and voyeurism. However, Goodwin also states that “particular music genres have their own music video style” and this seems to be more appropriate in analysing the content of my music video. “Cape Cod…” is a song by an Indie band called Vampire Weekend. Selecting an Indie track, we decided as a group, would allow us greater (potential) creativity than the average R&B track allows. This proved correct as we could contradict some of Goodwin’s theories for the sake of originality. For example, there is no “star image” in the music video because the band is not shown.

However, not including the band or “Star Image” was a conscious decision that we made because we wanted the music video to express a message rather than promote the band’s image. Through the use of a narrative structure, instead of a performance based one, we were able to engage the audience through a montage story about a girl who gets manipulated by a scientist who represents society.

There is a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals in the music video. We based the majority of our video on Synaesthesia. Before we started filming we listened to the lyrics and decided to interpret them ambitiously because the lyrics are ambiguous. The first line of the chorus, “Is your bed made?” was significant in our decision making because it stood out as a demand- a direct choice posed to the audience, for them to ultimately, decide something. We then interpreted the music to have a sunny, positive disposition which we then wanted to manipulate with a serious concept. So we came up with the idea of trying to expose the negative representation of women in the media and how this can affect young women in particular. Obviously, we heightened this concept to make it more dramatic and visually exciting to watch. This is a form of “Disjuncture” as the contradictory visuals seem to totally ignore the lyrics and this is to assert uniqueness to the music video and to convey a serious message about the unhealthy obsession by the media, to portray women a certain way in society, which can have negative impacts on many women trying to live up to these aesthetic expectations.

1

This is unlike the music videos of fellow indie band, Kings of Leon, who feature significantly in their music videos to promote their image to get more recognition from their growing fan base. Notably, Kings of Leon are more successful than Vampire Weekend and this may impact on them promoting a “Star Image” to the audience.

Voyeurism is included in many music videos. However, Indie music videos, in my opinion, seemingly have less references to voyeurism than most pop and R&B videos.

Supposedly, this is because Indie artists are more about the music than the money that female aesthetic value provides. Moreover, it is about the values of the band, and notably, Indie bands are known for their anti-establishment approach to the music industry. Most Indie bands share the view of dodging big labels for fear of being manipulated into something they’re not. So, with this attitude comes a different perspective on music, lyrics and ultimately, music videos. “Cape Cod…” definitely develops these conventions. Morally, our video attempts to avoid exploiting women for aesthetical value and instead explores, and consequently criticises, an aspect of society we are supposed to accept blindly.

From my audience research, for evaluation question 3, I have established that the TA would like to see this message being exposed, but, they also lack hope that the message would be listened to or as respected as it should be. I find this interesting as it seems some of the public have not conformed (as such) to the way media exploits women but have become desensitised to this exploitation because they’ve seen it everywhere, and for so long, to the point that some of the TA are indifferent in their response. Therefore, I believe “Cape Cod…” would be successful because it is emotive and thought-provoking. It is a music video which interacts with the audience, and from my Ethnography research, we seem culturally, as a collective, very passive as an audience. The TA need to be engaged with the media, and question it because they are tired by the repetitive way media conveys these stereotypical (non-) representations. And I think the music video has potential to engage with an audience intelligently, not just aesthetically or for profit. I think the music video will be understood and interpreted well by the TA. Goodwin’s theory suggests there is often a commodity in music videos; I argue that our commodity is our concept because that is what we want to sell to the audience.

Moving on, we used an array of technical aspects to make the music video appear as professional as possible. Unfortunately we had some technical difficulty in this area due to a fundamental error we made when filming with the green screen. However, visually, “Cape Cod…” still reflects the quirky and playful outcome we were hoping to achieve.

2

Like in the music video “Acceptable in the 80s” by Calvin Harris, we wanted the background to be bold bright colours.

However, because of the troubles we had with the green screen, it remained green. Instead, we used a contrast effect to bring out the vivacity of the visuals. I’ve picked out a few shots from the music video to discuss…

3

We used a slowed down close up shot when the music changed ¾ of the way through the video. This is to show a poignant moment within the music video. Goodwin states there should be close ups of the artist, so the audience can identify with them, however, in our video, it was necessary for the audience to relate to the turmoil the character is in, for the sake of the narrative.

This is a high angle panning shot demonstrated to reflect the wide variety of shots we used. We tried to be as creative as possible. And this shot is again, juxtaposed with the music, as it is a slower piece of music, and so we wanted to show a duration of time passing, as the girl is held prisoner in the cage.

This shot is used with the one above when the striking three beats are heard in the music. This creates a nice contrast and proves we have fully understood the rhythm of our music and have tailored the visuals around that understanding. In this shot the actress begins to panic. The shot is short and is played on one of the beats, so it makes it stand out and presents a visual moment of distress for the character; which I think is translated very well to the audience.

Overall, within “Cape Cod…” there is a suggestion of a story, but it’s not a proper narrative because of the visual relationship to the music, meaning the visuals cannot fully tell a completed story. The fast editing presents a finished product which is like a montage. I think this is really interesting to watch and

4

There are a range of different focus shots. This one is a medium-long shot. These are used when both the girl and the scientist are sharing the scene. Here we can see the higher status of the scientist contrasted with the lower status of the girl in the cage.

Then there is another close up of the same shot, as you can see the girl’s hand is on the cage door, and this happens at another beat within the music. We have used fast cutting and montage editing so that the narrative is fragmented and in a non-linear order. Possibly, this could tempt the viewer to want to see it again.

As for the chorus, the scientist sings these lines directly to the camera. The eye contact of the scientist to the audience, repeating the chorus, is a convention within music videos we wanted to include because it is important in engaging the audience.

One of the last scenes is the catwalk practice/photoshot of the character. Editing is fast here and there is a mixture of long shots and close-ups to provide the audience with a sense of urgency, as the climax of the music video is evident. The lighting effects imitate that of a real studio, making these shots look very professional.

For the last scene, we used an effect as she shouts “Stop!” which coincides nicely with the music actually stopping. The effect is like a channelling effect, making it seem like we are going back to reality when the character decides to rebel against everything being done to her. I believe this scene, with her running out, and the exposure of the music video as a studio, is a very original and emotive idea.

moreover, has a repeatability factor to it because the audience could miss elements in the fast editing, and so would want to watch it again. Also, the chorus is quite catchy and the scientist sings it each time and directly to the audience, so this is a valid repeatability factor too. Most Indie music videos are either performance based or follow the theme of disjuncture and make their own random visuals to that piece of music.

In conclusion,” Cape cod…” uses enough of the standard conventions of music videos to avoid criticism when challenging some of the more significant theories. “Cape cod…” develops the conventional performance based structure, making it into a narrative lead montage, though still including performances from the scientist and girl. It also uses technical aspects seen in other music videos such as pacing; cutting on the beats, using a variety of shots, using two distinct mise-en-scene’s (the “lab” and the “catwalk”), and creating a connection between the visuals and the music. Contrastingly, however, “Cape cod…” challenges the concepts of other music videos. In the Indie genre, it has become increasingly evident that music videos are for fun and they hardly contain any messages for the audience. Although I believe music videos are fun, and ours definitely attempts to incorporate that mood, we have a serious message to get across to the audience.

5

A more conventional performance based video is “The Pretender” by Foo Fighters.

“Fireflies” by Owl City is another example of a performance based video but with the added theme of disjuncture and originality. Not all the emphasis in this video is on the actual artist, he is just in the background on the keyboard.

Lastly, some indie music videos are just completely random and individual. They have no connection at all to the music but this is often the most common type of indie music video. To some degree, indie music videos can incorporate all or none of the standard elements of a music video, and get away with it.