Reflection

 

The brief was to create an original. Innovative music video ranging from 3-5 minutes using an original soundtrack from an unsigned artist utiling the technical tools of camera, sound, mise en scene and editing. The reason for my choice in this indie pop genre is that I researched many music videos, and Indie pop stuck out, as many of the videos were low budget productions, which matched my circumstance. For example many of Ed Sheeran’s music videos are low budget productions for example Lego house music video. His music videos fit’s the type of genre as you can tell this by looking at his appearance, clothing and the style of editing. The editing of these videos are slow paced, other examples of artist using this type of genre are Jake Bugg and Two door cinema club.

 By researching this genre I was able to establish that my music video was an indie pop video, using the UN signed artist Chris Johnson’s song ‘never made time’. The video focuses on a man lamenting the breakdown of his relationship with his girlfriend and mentioning the pain and sorrow that is engulfing him. This is shown through moments of solitude and being alone with his thoughts and emotions.

 The genre of this music video could be identified as indie pop; this can be shown through the artist’s appearance by their clothing, which consists of casual clothing, including dark skinny jeans and jumpers. Another element of identifying the genre is through the camera angles and the positioning of the artist, many indie pop videos include the band and they all perform closely together and the main singer is positioned in the centre of the lens. My video goes against this convention, as it doesn’t film the band it only films the main artist.  David Buckingham would say, “genre is not simply given by the culture, rather, it is a constant process of negotiation and change”. Even though it is important to stay within the conventions of my genre, it is also important to recognise that things change through time as you have to stay on top with the constant change in technology and the audience needs.

 These elements of mise en scene show how the genre is meant to be perceived in the fan base of that genre. Another way you can tell my video is an indie pop genre is that most indie pop genres are low budget videos, so the main settings take place in public areas such as parks and woodland spaces. These locations create mysteries, which make the audience focus more on the performance.  By using all these iconic styles of the indie pop genre, I am making it easier for the audience to identify with my music video and its genre.

 The techniques I used to establish to make sure that I stayed with my chosen genre was the editing style, for example when editing I made sure that the video pace matched the audio pace, also I wanted it to be at a slow pace, as this is often used in indie pop music videos. Also I matched the transitions when there was a change in beat in the music. I used establishing shots to show the nature in the film, which my genre matches, as they are low budget films so tend to be filmed in public locations and are hand held style shots. The chorus shots were repeated, for example the opening of eyes at an extreme close up shot and the mid shot of the artist singing.

I used this repeatability to help the audience relate and remember the song lyrics and the artist.  There was many fade in and outs in my music video, to show the memories he was remembering. For example when the artist is standing on the bridge and there is another shot above it with a low opacity to get both shots in the same lens, this shows the connection with the two characters on screen.

The overall success of my music video and its genre is that the lyrics matched the visuals, so it was easy to understand what was going on which helped the audience relate and widen there cultural experience, as it showed elements of dance, so it wasn’t constricted to one audience.