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HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW DO THEY REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES?
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CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF INDIE POP MUSIC VIDEOS
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Codes and conventions are systems of signs which create meaning and are the generally accepted ways of doing something. They invite prediction, set up expectations and allow ways of navigating complex media texts. The patterns provided by codes and conventions in a text are cues for our understanding hence they hold a lot of importance while creating/producing a media text. The codes and conventions of music videos are the different techniques used to construct meaning in them. It can be conveyed through both technical (camera angles, different shots, sound, editing) and symbolic techniques (facial expressions, poses, mis en scene, symbolism).
We chose the genre Indie Pop for our music video after extensive research. Most Indie Pop videos are shot in low budget locations that have lowkey lighting such as an abandoned building, city streets etc. They usually have a narrative alongside performance which clarifies the meaning behind the video to the audience. Props and costumes are kept simple and casual in a way that they relate to the scene. The makeup portrays feelings as well as the characters social status. Dialogues may be used either in the beginning or the end of video to create a base for the storyline. Mostly establishing shots and long shots along with close ups are used in indie pop videos.
Our music video revolved around one character only which is rarely seen in indie pop music videos but we decided to keep just one character because we thought it will make more sense and convey a clearer message to the audience. I as the director, thought that the it would be more interesting for the audience to show how a male character deals with heartbreak as mostly in music videos revolving around this topic usually have a female character as the protagonist. In our society it is a stereotypical belief and a misconception that men are incapable of feeling human sentiment which in turn hinders their ability to accept that they are indeed rightfully subjected to said emotions.
We also kept in mind Andrew Goodwin’s theory that says ‘’Music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals and the song plus the artist. Relationships are built between these in the video, and the close-ups of the artists gives them the representation and publicity they require. Voyeurism is used to increase the video’s attractiveness, particularly to males”, which is why I, as a director, tried to use as many close up shots as possible.
I wanted to turn over a different page and present to the audience that men also feel heartbroken and men too can cry when they go through a hard time, which is why I decided that we’ll be casting a male protagonist. Since our video was aimed at a comparatively younger audience i.e. late teens to mid-twenties, it is also the age where humans tend to feel everything at its most intensity so, I think it was vital for me to show a different aspect of human emotions to them in order to let them know that men crying and feeling emotions is just as well-accepted as women.
The video revolved around the bad experiences faced by a character after going through a break up, it showed drug abuse as well as physical abuse. Mostly symbolism isn’t shown in Indie Pop music videos but I was very into the whole idea of creating meaning through something other than words or camera shots.
Showing a sensitive topic such as drug abuse was a little difficult so we decided to play around with some ideas until we could find the perfect one. In my own country, Pakistan, drug abuse has become a norm.
According to the report of Islamabad Senate Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics, around 8 million people in Pakistan are drug addicts while 700 people die every year in the country due to drugs intake. Drug addiction has become an epidemic in Pakistan. The number of drugs user is rising day by day. Usually, it is the youngsters who are the most affected by drugs and alcohol. Every individual, no matter where, has been affected by drugs and alcohol in some capacity or the other. Over 23 million people, mostly above 12 years of age, are drug addicts.
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While breaking the stereotype that men don’t cry or are incapable of feeling, we also kept a sense of verisimilitude in our video by showing that when people go through a hard time or face a traumatic experience they go to any limits in order to numb their pain and emotions and the best way in their opinion is by abusing drugs and alcohol as it changes their state of mind and they can be in a world of their own.
A different thing about our video is that there is this slightly shaky, fluid but smooth effect throughout many scenes which usually is not shown in music videos. I felt that that effect created meaning as the character was doing drugs and everything for him was unstable. Another aspect that we created a sense of symbolism was with the scenes that were shot with the projector. After the intake of different drugs, the drug user experiences hallucinations and we showed that by projecting different patterns on the character which displayed what was going on inside the mind of the character.
We also created symbolism through our props such as alcohol bottles, cigarettes, drugs, guns etc. All of these things portray a negative image onto the audience. Most Indie Pop videos do not touch on topics like drug abuse or even show drugs in their videos.
Goodwin talks about how the tempo, structure and the pace of the song is reflected in the visuals. The speed of the cuts, the movement of the camera and how these contrast between verses and choruses shows this. For example, a faster tempo will include faster cuts between shots. We commonly see slow paced editing due to the fact that the majority of indie songs are slower paced than a lot of others. However keeping this theory in mind and since the song we chose was not slow paced, during editing I made sure to follow the beat of the song and edit according to that so that the vibes match.
We kept the color scheme and lighting throughout the video very similar as we didn’t want to break the pattern. There is a use of red lighting which is also lowkey and consistent throughout the entire video. Following the codes and conventions of indie pop videos, we also used many close up shots so that the audience can clearly see the emotions of the character and they can form a relationship through the screen. We also used locations such as an abandoned building, a graveyard and an alleyway which are low budget locations.
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Our digipak was created in a way that it would be connected to the music video in terms of aesthetics. The same color schemes were used and in the website as well in order to create a connection in all three products. Which is why it was very important for us to do the photoshoots using the same lighting. Branding became easier for us by keeping the same distinctive design throughout all the products we made.
Indie covers usually break conventions of an album or single cover. Instead of having an image of the artist or band, indie artists like to use art as a way of promoting their identity and music. Using art as the main focus of their album is a way to emphasis their alternative style, which supports their genre of music. However, we decided to not follow this idea and go ahead with pictures of the band. We tried to create a sense of art by overlaying images on top of each other.
Most Indie Pop websites are kept simple and are easy to navigate. The websites are divided into different sections that share different parts of information. The main page usually has navigation tools on the top of the website. Mostly, the background colors have been kept really basic and there is use of a solid color so that the text is easily readable and it stands out. Images of the singer/band are used as well along with some merchandise. Keeping in mind these conventions we followed the style of indie pop websites and kept are website simple and minimalistic as everything else we created was too vibrant and complex. I wanted a space that was easy to use and evoked a sense of a calmness for the audience which is why we took a 180 degree turn from our music video and digipak and designed a minimalistic website.
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HOW DO THE ELEMENTS OF YOUR PRODUCTION WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A SENSE OF BRANDING?
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Cross media convergence is the merging of mass communication outlets – print, television, radio, the Internet along with portable and interactive technologies through various digital media platforms. We also produced three different products (Music video, Digipak, Website)
According to Kotler and Amstrong, ‘a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of these that identifies the maker or seller of a product, or services’. Branding is important because not only is it what makes a memorable impression on consumers but it allows customers and audiences to know what to expect from your brand. It is a way of distinguishing your brand from other competitors and clarifying what it is your brand offers that makes it the better choice.
All three products that we created play a helping hand in promoting each other. The brand identity of my artists is created through the different media texts I created. To have a more strong hold on understanding and creating my own brand identity I did some extensive research on already existing artists and projected it onto my own work.
House style also creates a sense of branding. The expression house style refers to the specific usage and editing conventions followed by editors to ensure stylistic consistency in a particular publication. Since a very important part of a brand is its logo, as it is recognized by the audience by it, I deemed it very important to make a logo for my own brand.
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I created this logo keeping in mind our target audience that ranged from teens to mid-twenties. Since that age is when kids are on their most rebellious stage I went ahead with a very anarchistic name and a font to go along with it when I made this logo. It also matched the vibe of the song that we chose. This logo is featured on the digipak as well as the website on the merchandise.
The images used on the digipak reflect the nature of the artists and also portrays some rebellion through the color scheme which we kept constant throughout the creation of all three products.
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This dark color palette symbolizes the sadness and grief that we tried to show in our video. The lighter shade was there to show a little contrast. By using different tools in photoshop in the adjustments panel such as hue and saturation we reached the desired results on the digipak and followed the color scheme we had stuck to in our music video. In Adobe premiere pro I edited the video and applied some LUT prefects onto the video as well to produce the desired outcome and we also made sure to use the right lighting in different scenes for it to create the desired effect.
After the production of all 3 products, the most important part was for them to reach the public, which will provide for our brand an audience and fan following which plays a vital role in the building of a musical band. Keeping in mind the target audience and also using information on the internet as well as my own knowledge since I also fall into this age group, I knew that the fastest and most reliable way for a anything to go viral is via social media. So I created a social media Instagram account for the BAND just like many other brands have.
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A well-defined social media strategy helps determine what to achieve in order to better connect with the audience. Every brand should be represented consistently across all social media networks via the posting of relevant, high-quality content. By following a brand on social media people stay connected to it and slowly become brand loyal. Another platform that we chose was YouTube, where we uploaded our music video. YouTube is a platform where almost all artists post their music as it is a worldwide platform and many people consistently use it.
We created an online store on our website in order to sell the band’s merchandise (t shirts, hoodies etc.), which would create customer loyalty as well. These above and below the line advertising techniques play a significant role in creating a sense of branding in all 3 products.
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HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS ENGAGE WITH THE AUDIENCE AND HOW WOULD THEY BE DISTRIBUTED AS REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
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A media text that the audience cannot understand or relate to or decode is a media text that will not be successful as stated by Stuart Hall that the audience is not passive but is active and they will be able to reject or accept any media text they consume so it was very important to me that our target audience are able to engage and relate to our media text. To ensure this we conducted some surveys to get into the mind of our audience and understand what they want to see or like to see in music video.
The target audience and demographic for my products was 18-25 year olds. We wanted to convey themes of loneliness and sadness and breaking points to our audience. We chose Universal Music Group as the distributor and record label.
The video I made used the Uses And Gratification Theory to attract its audience. The target audience I chose, stereotypically associated with the emotions that were shown in the video such as heartbreak and sadness as well as the fact that young human brains attach the feeling of peace with anything that numbs their feelings, such as drugs. Since the issue addressed in the video was the abuse of drugs and alcohol, this target audience, being the most common age group to consume such things, would be attracted to this topic shown in the video. The video would attract both genders but would lean more towards males as it is also shown in the video that boys can show emotions of sadness as well so it would be more appealing to young boys than young girls.
The music video will be distributed via YouTube mainly. YouTube is an increasingly popular website to upload videos on. It was chosen as the main way to distribute the video as it is widely used by the target audience we chose. According to our survey 80% of the people in this age group prefer YouTube over television. Additionally we have also decided to distributed the Digipak on various other medians such as Online media that include putting the album on Soundcloud, YouTube, Vimeo, and iTunes.
We also decided to sell the Digi-pack to music retailer stores in Pakistan such as Radio city, Illusions and One shop. We also created some social media platforms so that the audience can engage with the band, such as Instagram. Besides this we’d also air the video on television on channels such as MTV, Channel UFX, 4Music, 40 TV, Channel V, VIVA, Scuzz and so on, a wider demographic audience would be able to view the music video and it would get more exposure.
We have also created a website for the artists and the album which would help in distributing the whole package in one go from merchandise to concert tickets, to actually selling the album.
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HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION SKILLS DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THIS
PROJECT?
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Before opting for media studies as a subject for my a levels, I had no idea
how a music video is made and how much effort is put into the production
process as well as the post production.
The transition from still image to moving image was a drastic change for me
but it was very exciting. I figured out in my AS level coursework, how to operate
software such as photoshop and learned things about cameras and how they
work. But this time the work was much more strenuous but still interesting as
now. I had to make a transition from a still photograph to a moving image video.
For me personally, the whole process was amazing as I got to learn a lot of things I
didn’t know.
Starting from the pre-production, since I had no idea what goes into the
process of creating a music video, I did extensive research to know exactly what
to do and how to do it. I always had a vague idea about genres and types of music
videos but after the research I got to know exactly how to differentiate between
genres and what makes them distinct. I chose the genre of the music video
keeping in mind what I’m most interested in as if I created a video on a genre I
wasn’t interested in, I wouldn’t be able to make it leave an impact on the
audience watching it. So research played a huge role in this process. Search
engines such as google, social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube really
helped me in deciding what I wanted to do and helped me in many different
stages. I also carried out a survey through google docs in order to find out what
the audience wanted to see in a music video.
The research I carried out played a vital role in helping me figuring out what
codes and conventions to use in my video and taking inspiration. The different
camera shots and angles we studied about in AS level, I got to know when and
where to use them and what impact they created. The importance of locations
and lighting became very clear in front of me and I figured it out the dos and
don’ts of filmmaking.
After figuring out what song we wanted to make a video on, we decided
the storyline and sequence of scenes. After hours of discussion we finally landed
on something me and my team members agreed on and that was a storyline
based on some narrative and some performance.
During the filming process, I got to know a little part of the hardships faced
by a movie director. I tried to keep myself as professional as possible throughout
the process as well. I definitely got to know the impact of different angles, of
lighting and angles and how they play a huge role in creating a narrative in the
audience’s mind. Different camera settings such as ISO and aperture also hold a
lot of significance in this process. I also learned that the audio visual relationship
is VERY important while making a music video as it engages the audience and
captivates their attention.
Our school also carried out a trip to a media company here in Pakistan
called CITY42, where we met some professional video editors and they taught us
the basics of video editing and were quite a helping a hand in the whole process
of me learning how to edit a video. In my preliminary task I didn’t really know
what I was doing and I stuck with the basics that I knew already. But this time
around I wanted to create a worthy product so I experimented A LOT during the
editing part.
Since we didn’t have camera stabilizers to shoot with, I applied warp
stabilizer to most of the footage in order to make it look stable. I also color graded
the video and used many different transitions and effects such as cross dissolve.
The most fun part to edit was the scene in the starting of the video where I’ve
shown three of the same person in one shot. We shot those scenes separately
and I combined them in Adobe Premiere by using the motion controls in the
effect controls panel to manipulate the scale and position of the clips. And I also
got to learn how to use a green screen and how to apply the chroma key effect,
however, we ended up not using the green screen scenes and replaced them with
other scenes.
During this process I once again brushed up on my photoshop skills and I
can confidently say that they have gotten much better than they were in my AS
level. Website designing was also a fun part and the internet really played a
helping hand in this whole process because we took inspiration from the internet
and whenever we faced a difficulty we could easily google our way out of it.
By the end of this project, I can confidently say that I know much more than
I did before and I definitely gained some skills and knowledge. The most
important thing I think that I’ve learned from this process is how to work under
pressure efficiently, and I think as a filmmaker that’s very important to know. This
process really improved my production skills and also made me really excited and
passionate about filmmaking.
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