Music Video
My media product is the video of 'Cops & Robbers (See below)
This song was written by the Hoosiers and is from thee hybrid genre Pop Rock. This genre takes influences from both Pop and Rock and merges them according to the likes of the individual artists. So in planning this I had to be aware of the existing conventions and choose how to either conform or challenge them. And decide how much Pop compared to Rock influences I'd use.
However, despite there are some aspects of rock in the music, the song does prominently follow a more Pop style.
In my video I think both aspects of this semi-hybrid song was adhered to, but was still true to the more influential pop genre conventions.
Back in September I looked into the typical conventions of Pop and Rock (among many other genres), and when planning my video I tried my best to think how
(Click here for both of the in depth research I did earlier this year for additional information)
Little details and conventions I considered when planning and filming where things such as costume, location, lighting and tone.
Pop rock usually blends both aspects of the parent genres according to the requirements of the song and narrative.
Unless it is somthing experimental like a song by Lady Gaga, these things typically tend to be quite ordinary and realistic. They help try and ground it in the real world. Lighting, location and costume are dependent on the story, and this is true with both genres. So this allowed me flexibility to tell any type of narrative and have conventions that matched.
Despite the old fashioned clothes and locations, in world, those would have been the norm in each time period. Shawn Mendes' 'Aftertaste' can show you how all three of these are played out in an attempt to bring you deeper into the story.
Normally both Pop and Rock have a solo singer whether it is the head of the band or a single artist like Shaun Mendes. My video adheres to this convention, only featuring one main character. I feel like this was a important factor and why I never really considered having a duet, audiences are used to being invested in a single lead character.
Like in Justin Bieber's 'What do you mean?'
It's typical for Pop music to only have a single performer as the 'Brand' of the artist is a vital selling point of the video. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift are well known and in a sense 'products' that are presented to the audience to encourage them to watch their work.
It is arguably more focused on the artist than the actual song.
Rock on the other hand is all about the performance and skill of the players. This is why rock stars are so commonly found in a band, the focus is on their work, skill and synergy.
Like in Green Day's 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'
Now it's not to say that this is always true, these are just general forms people may sometime associate these genres with. They shouldn't be taken to seriously but it's important to recognize what the general attitudes and expectations to certain genres are, so when deciding to either conform or challenge said conventions, you do so consciously.
And as stated before, the mixture of Pop rock means there are multiple conventions to be aware of, and in the decision I made, a single performer felt like a more natural choice, and seeing as there is only one distinct voice in my chosen song, it was an easy one to make.
This priority of narrative over performance was another resolution I came to when approaching Pop rock. Usually this genre features both, but I wanted to focus more on the narrative once the concept of the timeless struggle between Cops & Robbers became clear I felt including band footage could hinder the execution of that.
And the fact that due to our lack of resources filming band footage would be very difficult, but in the long scheme of things, not that important.
Like in most Pop videos, I continued with a predominantly narrative focus but still wanted to pay homage to the conventions of rock, that's one of the reasons the narrative has such a lose structure, like in many Pop rock videos, and a finale dance section imitating a Pop Rock version of a performance section.
The final, big, decision I made in regards to important conventions is something I wanted to deliberately go against.
Usually all music videos consist of fast jump cuts which go from scene to scene. These typical music videos usually consist of three or four individual narrative scenes, and sometimes a performance section where the artist sings directly to the audience. Ed Sheeran's song is an execlent example of this, particuallry 'Castle On The Hill'
However like I mentioned before, the complexity of the narrative was a concern of mine so as well as not including band footage I think prioritizing one single narrative in a chronological order through several time periods would be complex enough. And only after all of them do I feature a dance sequence and final scene.
This worked surprisingly well as I think the narrative follows smoothly and is extremely clever how it cuts from scene to scene while maintain it's pacing and momentum.
In this case going against one of the most typical conventions of any music video product actually turned out for the best.
Surprisingly, in my research in scene cuts and multiple narrative videos I was reminded of a music video I came across a few years ago. Carly Rae Jepsen's 'I Really Like You'. In planning and production it didn't influence my decision making but now looking back I can see a surprising amount of similarities.
Both feature a protagonist singing to the audience threw a number of different scenes, each with their own little micro narrative, which over all build up to make an over arching narrative, and a final dance sequence.
Now yes, there are a few differences between the two narratives, and the concepts are slightly different, Jepsen's is more of a comedy and is just a life in the day of Tom Hanks, where mine is a more serious lower class crime story. But it is quite good to see another music video, and a well produced, professional product challenge the existing conventions and I feel my video is another prevalent challenge and development of this idea.
Early on when I was thinking about storyboards and types of narratives I knew I wanted a story heavy video that ran well and came to a nice satisfying ending, which the modern day is in my opinion. So through this project I've tried very hard to maintain the execution of the narrative's concept as a top priority.
Digi- Pack & Magazine Article
(Click here for both of the in depth research I did earlier this year for additional information)
So like the conventions of Pop Rock Music Videos, I have covered Magazine and Digi-Pack conventions when I was researching the topic.
But unlike Music Videos, these conventions aren't that specific to any type of genre.
However, thee two main styles that can be identified is how abstract or not it will be. Either they both can consist of actual footage and stills of the band/ artist taken from the video or to have a more visual artist impression of the song.
The last major form I decided to approach, in this case decided to challenge it, by keeping the text and colour scheme rather light, in-keeping with the light heart and upbeat nature of the original song.
But most importantly my advert and digi-pack fulfill the necessary requirements to be classed as such and to promote the video.
I used the forms all adverts and packs use like the Title and Band Name; but I also included a fictional record company and reviews, a release date, copyright information and popular social networking sights.
All are vital aspects of the forms they work in.
