Question One.

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

Dora Nadine is generically a British Rock Band; aspects of my music video link to this certain genre but others also go against the normal conventions. It challenges certain conventions of reality and dreams.

The beginning stimulus for my music video was a poem by William Blake called "The marriage of Heaven and Hell". This is seen in our music video through the character of the girl, who is representing hell, and through the character of the male, who is representing heaven, being haunted by hell. The video is mainly focusing on the idea of the poem; that hell is dragging heaven down, and tormenting it.

I have used and developed William Blakes poem into a plot line for my music video. This shot illustrates that the girl (representing hell) is haunting and watching him, also the dissolve between him being in bed asleep, and her leaning over him, would signify to the audience that she haunts him in his dreams and is part of a big nightmare, questioning whether she is part of his reality of just an illusion of his dreams. From this poem, we have used the ideas discussed in it to create a starting point to our music video, and although the idea has altered slightly to the end product, I have developed this poem into a plot line. William Blake believed that everyone was born with a third eye; this eye was the eye of perception. He thought that we were all in chains because we could not accept our third eye, and therefore confined ourselves to the 5 senses "...there are things inside doors, outside of doors and in between doors"

By using this quote in my music video I have created the illusion that this man, is chained like William Blake said, and in those chains he is confined, however by accepting this girl into his life, when she is haunting him, he has opened up his third eye to see other things, whether it be evil (in this case the girl) or be it good (in himself) Blake said that the third eye acts as a "switch" which activates a higher state of conscious and also expands spiritual visions. This is linked to the male seeing the girl in his dreams; he has expanded his spiritual visions. These chains that we are trapped in are man-made in Blake’s eyes, therefore we are declining ourselves of the higher powers, and in other words he is suggesting that it is our own fault that we have isolated ourselves from this higher being and trapped ourselves to just the 5 senses rather than these spiritual visions. Blake says that if you can't imagine liberty (the third eye) then you will never be able to achieve the outcome. For example, in one of William Blake’s poems - "The chimney sweeper" it illustrates a difference between two people, one has achieved liberty and the other hasn’t. "Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; so if all do their duty they need not fear harm" - this illustrates that this person has accepted the third eye, and is content in doing so. He has achieved a higher power and therefore he can be happy in himself. However the second poem illustrates a difference - “And are gone to praise God and his priest and king, who make up a heaven of our misery" Suggesting that those who don't accept the third eye and liberty, project themselves to a life of misery. The dream like experiences that the male lead has undergone in my music video acts as a release for this liberty, allowing him to see the spiritual visions, and although they may haunt him, he is liberated from his man-made chains.

Costume

The genre of my artists is alternative rock. This has been highly influenced and developed through the years, starting mainly in the 1960's. It was then, that the rock genre really influenced fashion. It began with the Beatles who sported mop-top haircuts and flared jeans, tight t-shirts and psychedelic shades.

In my music video I used a very 1980's fashion approach in the costume and used the generic conventions of high street fashion; which would allow the audience to connect with the main singer.

This was the time period when drain-pipe trousers (skinny jeans) and plaid shirts were popular. In my original music video I was going to have the band performing as well as the nightmare scenes. The bands costume took on this approach dominantly.

Also my main lead took on a very alternative costume, relating to the popular fashion of today. Again in my raw footage he was wearing a shirt and black jeans much like the band members above. Most British rock bands nowadays wear a plain t shirt and either black or blue skinny jeans, which is what I wanted my artists to look like so that they linked to the genre of rock that is today. For example, a band - "Your Demise" which links to artist can be seen sporting a white top, snapback hat and black jeans which is linked closely to the fashion of my artists.

Photos of my artist (above)



Your Demise "The Kids We Used To Be" 

Lower Than Atlantis "Beech Like The Tree"

You can see the similarities in their clothing, and the way they represent themselves. Tattoos are a very important signifier in the rock genre nowadays, which is why I wanted a male who had tattoos down his arm like the one in the screenshot of Your Demise and Lower Than Atlantis (This was linked back to the early rock fashion I mentioned before with the craze of plaid shirts, using them as a consumer product of the genre of rock to allow others to see that you are part of that movement). They signify that you belong to a certain subculture, and young people these days have them to fit into that generic crowd. Tattoos use to belong to a more violent/ anti-social group of people, but nowadays it is more common to have them. Through generations it has become more relaxed to have tattoos and not be judged as a rebellious young teen. Therefore I wanted to go with the generic conventions of the genre of rock, choosing an artist who would fit into the stereotypical aspects of rock fashion.

The costume of the girl within the music video is very different from what the male is wearing, he is conveying casual costume whilst her fashion items have put across a certain message about the type of person she is and what part she plays within the music video. The top is custom made as we wanted it to have a certain symbol about it, so that the audience can get connotations from what she is wearing.  The "666" symbol as always been a identification of hell and Satan  This was very important as we wanted her to be seen as evil and part of hell, linked back to the poem.

 

Location

I have used the generic conventions of location within the genre in my music video.  I have two main locations within my music video - The artist’s home and the asylum in which we mostly see the girl in the background. In music videos such as Lower than Atlantis the audiences' attention is mainly focused towards the band and the performance aspect of the video, where as I have created a plot line rather than using the band performing for most of it. This would then challenge the conventions of the rock genre, in the fact that I have included no performance footage and have gone with a story line for the song instead.

For example, in the Lower than Atlantis video, they have only included performance footage for their whole video. This band is the same type of music that I have chosen for my band; therefore by not going along with the generic conventions of what that genre expects, I have challenged the location.

Within many music videos I have noticed that the colours included are normally washed away (below is examples of this)

While She Sleeps - Be(lie)ve

Architects - Follow The Water.

The mise-en-scene looks quite chaotic. The location seems to be corrupt and run down. This connotes to the audience that this band is displaying Britain as a broken place. It signifies to the audience that it is run by chaos and anarchy. Both examples use a colour filter (sepia) to get that washed away effect, however I did not want that on my music video. I wanted to create a contrast to the normal conventions of lighting and juxtapose it with bright colours.

This goes against the normal conventions of the genre, by creating bright settings throughout the music video rather than making it washed out and darkening. Although I have used a black and white colour effect on the images of the girl, this is also quite bright in the sense that the white is a very harsh contrast to the grey tones which it is mixed with. Creating the illusion of delusions. Bright lights confuse people and make it harder to see, which is the effect I wanted to create for the audience so they feel slightly disorientated, like the male lead.

Architects - Follow The Water

Dora Nadine - Stay Young.

These two shots are very similar, with both artists being in the same genre of music. However there is a difference that the Architects music video again uses the sepia filter to add a darker lighting to the video, whereas my shot seems to be a lot brighter on the artist. My music video holds quite a dark plot and has a lot of negative connotations, but I didn't want to make the lighting dark as I think it would be too heavy on the audience and also creates a contrast for the audience, adding to the dystopian effect of the video. 

  

The asylum in which the girl is mainly filmed in has a very direct link to the insanity of the girl and the boy, and whether she is really there of just part of his illusion. The asylum, in which I filmed at, has been closed down for a long time and boarded up. This would add to the message that Britain is falling apart and run down. The boarded windows and smashed glasses everywhere signifies to the audience that maybe the place has been left to rot. This would connote a bigger picture in the end, that this would be the end product if we all stopped caring. A link to this can be made to a While She Sleeps video - Crows. You can see in the background that there is a broken building where they are performing.

I choose my location for the girl because I wanted to send a message to the audience that like the location she is set in, her mind is also broken. This links to mental illness which can be seen in both characters throughout the video. With the example of While She Sleeps, you can see that this genre connotes that Britain is a broken place; therefore I have followed the conventions of this genre by also suggesting this with the run down asylum.

Gender

In my music video I have challeneged the generic conventions of gender in music videos. Generically, most females are portrayed as weak and the dependent ones on males. Within the rock genre, it is mainly a male audience, and male artists that contribute.

Within the NME covers you can see the majority of artists displayed are male and only a few minority covers have a female model has the main focus. Even then Amy Winehouse is objectified to a sexual representation of herself with the minimal clothing and the revealing shot of her as the cover.

Within this Beyoncé music video, she is surrounded by males, and is seen to be more of an object to the men rather than a human being. She is wearing minimal clothing and wearing a lot of makeup. This is the expected generic stereotypical representation of women in the music industry. I wanted to go against this and challenge this convention. Also within my genre, you don't see many females within the music videos. It’s dominated by males. However I wanted to the female in control and switch the roles around. I don't think the music videos are taken as seriously within this type of representation. Therefore by putting the female in a higher position, it creates a stronger message to the audience.

 However I have included a female within my music video, featuring just as much as the male artist. I have switched the roles around for the genders. Normally in my plot line the male would have been haunting and tormenting the female, leaving the male in control. I have chosen to switch this around and use the female as the controlling and manipulative one. The girl acts as a misogynist representation of females within my music video, and making it easier for my audience to identify with the male rather than the female.  I have challenged the conventions as I wanted it too stand out to the audience that the female is in fact the one that has all the power in the music video. For example if you look at the presentation of most women in the music industry they are used as sex objects and not really considered valuable. They are mainly seen in music videos with minimal clothing; whereas I have dressed my lead girl in androgynous clothing which would allow the audience to see her as a more masculine woman.

Goodwins Theory

The first principal in Goodwin's Theory is that there is a link between music and visuals. I have stuck with this in my music video. The beginning of the song has a fast beat therefore I wanted to make the start fast also within the visuals to capture the audience, hence why  I have had quick shots between the boy distressed and the girl in his nightmare. I have kept the running theme of quick shots throughout to link to the fast pace of the beat of the song. I think this was important as it would create a connection between the song and visuals on screen.

Also within music videos there are a lot of mirrors that are used to create illusions or reflections. I have also incorporated this within my music video, with the boy looking at his reflection in the mirror. The notion of looking is throughout the music video, but not in a direct manner. I have dissolved the girl over the top of a shot of the boy, which may suggest to the audience that he is either thinking about her or imagining her.

As the male in my music video is the main artist of the song, I have used a lot of close ups within the video. This is suggested by Goodwin an influence by the record label to advertise the artist to the target audience, henceforth the use of close up shots and the direct focus on the singer. For example the record label would want the girl to be in the background of the main singer as she is not as important to the audience as he is. Therefore by dissolving her over the top of the male a lot of the time, I am suggesting that she is a part of the male, and is only seen with him the majority of the time and not on her own. If she is seen on her own it is only for a few seconds and there are not a lot of close ups on her, when compared to the close ups of the male.

Print Productions
I have used the generic conventions of the print productions by using the 4 panel design for my digipack.

I did not want to use any more panels as I think that would have overcomplicated the design. However for my magazine advert I wanted to focus soley on the artist as this would be using the influence of the record label to advertise the band. For example Music Adverts like Kerrang Music! feature their artist as the focus for the advert as they will attract the audience and act as the poster boy for the band, so the audience can identify the music with someone.