CONVENTIONS

CAMERA

Close Ups Tracking/Panning shots

Close-ups are very typical in music videos, and are often used to see each band members’ faces, or of the musical instruments being played. The close up off bands faces’ is to build up recognition for the band members and act as sort of ‘beauty shots’ for them. And the close ups also are used to see the musicians hands playing the instruments, which highlights their skill in the video. This appeals to our target audiences, as they appreciate the skill involved in playing the instruments.

Tracking shots are crucial in music videos, as it adds movement and excitement to the video. We used tracking and panning shots to match our camera work and band to the pace and style of the track, which ultimately makes it more exciting, as music videos are usually of limited form which can be boring. Nothing But Thieves is a band who we took inspiration from, as they successfully use these tracking shots. We also used it to move from one band member to another, which helps to emphasize the relationship between each band member.

EDITING

Discontinuity editing Rhythmic editing

Discontinuity editing is typical is in music videos, as it creates visual appeal and interest for the video. In our video, we used two time lapses, fast motion and slow motion to make our video more appealing and elaborative and interesting. This is because music videos can be quite restricted in terms of duration and narrative, so they are necessary. One example in a real video is One Republic when they use slow motion in their cutaways.

Rhythmic editing is a typical convention of music videos, as it allows the editing to match the pace and style of the track. We used this in 0ur video to make it again more interesting and appealing to watch. We see this used in Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, and it is very effective in it. This was a leading factor in the creative decision when putting in our video.

COSTUME

• The main convention in alternative rock bands is the dark costumes that they wear. This is typical because it matches the style and tone of the band, and gives a very anti-authoritarian attitude for the band. Here it is seen in Catfish and the Bottlemens’ video Kathleen, which we used as inspiration for our video. We also had our guitarist wear a Guns & Roses t shirt, as this was to help impress the target audience as it shows the band has a passion for music. We also made it clear that each member had long, elaborative hair, as again this is a common convention for rock band members. This is because it expresses their wild and fearless attitudes as a whole.

PERFORMANCE

Passionate/Exciting Performance Direct AddressHaving the band perform the song in an exciting and passionate way, is a vital convention of music videos. This is because if the video has limited components to it, such as just the band playing, it would be quite boring and visually unappealing, so a performance is absolutely necessary. A good example to look at is American Idiot by Green Day. Despite them having a cool paint explosion scenario, their performance is also exciting and fun, which is exciting to watch. We included these passionate feelings into our video, as we just had the band playing so we needed something more. In our video, we see our guitarist jumping around and our singer moving around lots and waving his arms around, which is very similar to Green Day’s video. This made our video more exciting and visually appealing to watch, and without the performance would have been less interesting to watch.

Direct address is a common convention used in music videos, as it allows the audience to feel connected to the band and also to build a reputation and recognition for the band. Here is an example of it used in The Pretender by The Foo Fighters. In The Pretender, it was very successful as it allows the audience to feel intimate and involved with the singer, in which they would never normally feel/see when watching at a concert or on a radio. As a result of the successful use in that video, we wanted to apply it and use it in our music video, to try and gain the same successfulness on our video. In my opinion, the use of direct address in our video was successful. It allowed the audience to feel an intimate bond to the band that they could not be able too have before, and manages to build a reputation for our band.

SETS AND LOCATIONS

We wanted to use a multi-story car park for our music video as it gives a rough and tough attitude and feeling towards the band. This gives the impression that the band is tough, and that they aren’t messing around and that they are serious. We also used dark colors and a dark blue gradient in the video, as it fits the tone and style of the track. If we used bright colors, it would give the track a pop vibe which would definitely not fit with the band. We see this present in Trip Switch by Nothing But Thieves. They use dark colors, and the environment is very intimidating and is very tough. This is similar to our video, and its used to give the band a tough impression, which again is a leading factor in our creative decision making.

• DARK COLOUR/ATMOSPHERE – TOUGH, NIGHT TIME – FITS IN THE TONE AND STYLE OF TRACK AS BRIGHT COLOURS WOULDN’T FIT WITH IT

PROPS

We used traditional band instruments as our props, and we showed them off in our vide, having a guitar and a drum set. This is because they are vita l conventions of rock band videos. This means we are able to appeal to our target audience who are musicians as the band can show off their skills, in which the audience appreciates. The instruments used a traditional, and if we didn't ’t use them it would not fit in with the genre and the style of alternative rock which we have chosen.

WEBSITE

• After researching other bands’ websites, we realized that the most common convention used is dark colors. As a result, we used very dark colors for our website as it seemed to fit best with the convention of bands. We also created similar layouts of the menu and logos. The menu and layout seemed to be very simple, which could be to make it easier and simpler to use for the audiences. As a result we did the same, having the logo under the menu, and the example of another band had it on the left.

WEBSITE 2

• Again with the website, we had to put a gallery in a pictures of the band is a very typical convention for rock bands. We took photos of the band and put in on our website and we looked at other websites for inspiration and to see if we neeed any particular pictures. Pictures of the band members were most common, so we chose to take the majority of the pictures of the band members.

DIGIPAK

• Common conventions on the digipak we found was that it is dominantly dark colors and has a very mysterious and unusual vibe to it. As a result, we used black, brown and grey colors with a little bit of white to counter it. We also had the bands’ shadows on the moon, which is quite mysterious and unusual in itself. In the real example,the digipak of Nothing But thieves, dark colors are also used and the main picture is very blurry and one cannot really make out what the picture is. We have linked the digipak to the video and website, as they are all dark colors and have a dark atmosphere which we found to be a vital convention for alternative rock bands.