Evaluation Question 1

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

My main product was a music video I created for the Australian psychedelic-rock band Tame Impala's song "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" from their 2012 album "Lonerism".
 I have completed a full textual analysis of my product in which the answers to many of the questions in relation to conventions of real media products can be found:



My product both uses and challenges the conventions of regular and psychedelic music videos. Some particular conventions that my product uses include on the beat editing, repeated mise-en-scene,  lip syncing, elements of conventional narrative and visual effects.

Probably the first obvious use of a generic convention of music videos is the use of  beat editing is in my opening sequence. I used the premier pro fade to black transition to switch between shots on the four bass beats in the opening seconds of the song.  I thought this was appropriate as it introduces the narrative situation of the boy and the girl before  the main part of the songs and the main part of the video. When this transition is used quickly it creates a blinking effect which I thought was effect in the way it shows the boy and girl being together as this could create connotations of dreaming or of time going fast “like the blink of an eye”. The on the beat editing also is effective immediately after this sequence in how it the video explodes into backwards slow-motion when the song “drops”, letting the audience know that this is the main part of the video. This use of on the beat editing is an example of sychronisation between the song and the video. Other moments that have a similar effect are during the last part of the song in which the psychedelic effects of the video intensify as the song comes to a climax and at the end of the song when the last clip fades away as the music fades. These are both again examples of on the beat editing and song song synchronisation which are a fairly vital and heavily used convention of music videos.

My Video uses three main repeated mise-en-scenes, which is another convention of music videos; the street, the wooded area and the bedroom.  I used the street and the bedroom to try and promote the idea of the contrast of a psychedelic video and song set in a very ordinary location which I planned from the start The street was a particularly effective mise-en-scene as it allows the audience to clearly make out the  performance of the actors compared to the ordinary life of the public around them. It was also very effective in highlighting the isolation of the main character compared to that of the people around him, especially in the shot of him standing still whilst the rest of the world passes him by in fast motion. This in a way could also be seen as a development of conventions as it is taking the traditional concept of a psychedelic video and applying it a modern day setting. However at the same time I did use the wooded area filming location to re-enforce some classic psychedelic mise-en-scene to show how the video still sticks to the roots of the genre. The calm and open wooded area creates a major juxtaposition when compared to the busy street of the previous mise-en-scene creating an effective metaphor for the characters isolation and loneliness. I found the use of natural settings such as a wood/forest or a desert a typical convention of other psychedelic music videos in my research.Two particular videos that I found in my research that use these natural settings are "Follow You Down" by Allah La's and "Expectation" by Tame Impala. This use of similar setting in other videos particularly shows how I have used the conventions of real media products in my project.  
 

The most generically psychedelic convention I used was the heavy use of visual effects I created in the editing process. I particularly used the polarize and replicate effects to create classic trippy 60's psychedelic effects. I used a lot of effects because I used quite an every-day mise-en-scene with the street and the bedroom. This helped to promote my idea of psychedelia in a very normal and everyday background, however it required quite a heavy use of these effects to reflect this idea in mise-en-scenes that are not traditionally associated with psychedelia. Details of each effect and how I used them can be found in my textual analysis which I posted above. However I feel that this use of effects is a very good indication of how my video has used the codes and conventions of real psychedelic music videos.

My ancillary texts include a number of codes of conventions in the way they are set out. There are some very generic features on both of these products which are highlighted in these LIIAR analysis presentations:
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My Magazine Advert

As demonstrated in these presentations, both ancillary texts use codes and conventions such as displaying the record lable logo. They also follow some individual conventions. For example my digipak uses a bar code and small print on the back, along with conventional design features such as the artist name and album title on the spine of the cover. My magazine advert also follows its own individual conventions such as the layout; with the artist name serving as the mast-head of the page and in the way it advertises the particular formats of the album available as well as an available retailer of the product; shown through the amazon logo. The way my ancillary texts use and follow their own codes and conventions shows how my product as a whole is follows the conventions of real media products

My Digipak

A real magazine advert using similar codes and conventions to mine

One way in which I developed conventions was through the use of one of my main editing techniques: putting the clips in reverse. I came up with the idea of using reverse filming after seeing the video to "F.E.A.R." by Ian Brown, which also uses reverse filming throughout the whole video. This therefore shows a development of conventions as it shows me taking inspiration from one idea but changing it to fit my video which only uses reverse filming in some parts rather than through the whole video. This is also an example of my video as a post-modern text as it uses intertextual referencing and as an example of Michael Shore's recycling of styles theory as it uses the reverse feature made famous by the 2001 Ian Brown video. It therefore shows the development of conventions because I took an idea from one video and applied it to the concepts within my own more modern product

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Another way in which my product could be seen as developing and also challenging the conventions of psychedelic conventions is through the main design on the digipak cover. I took the idea of taking inspiration/pastiching other classic psych albums from the way Kula Shaker's "K" references The Beatles's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with the multiple card board cut out characters and Tame Impala's use of the Droste effect on their "Innerspeaker" album referencing Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma".There is a deeper analysis and explanation of these references in my ancillary text research blog post. I used this idea to come up with my design by borrowing the idea of an image of a clock from the cover of Cream's "Disraeli Gears" and using it as the main focus on my cover. I used this particular album as Kevin Parker; who wrote the song I am using, cited this particular album as a major influence so I therefore thought it would also make sense to use this album for inspiration in terms of artwork. This method of design therefore relies on the uses and gratications audience theory, relying on the audience's knowledge of music to work out what the clock signifies. I believe this shows the development of conventions as I used the technique of referencing/pastiching that I found in other psychedelic album covers and brought it into a more modern context, while not directly using the same original image but using an image of the same object.

Sgt.Peppers Cardboard cutout characters

K's Blue characters which can be seen as a reference to Sgt.Pepper's

Ummagumma uses the endless mirror Droste Effect 

Innerspeaker's use of the Droste effect can be seen as a reference to Ummagumma

Cream's Disraeli Gears, with the clock in the bottom left corner

My Digipak cover, using a clock to subtly reference Disraeli gears

One way in which I challenged the conventions of regular music videos was through the way in which I created a video that was abstract in nature but also contained elements of narrative; shown through the appearance of the girl character, at the beginning and end of the video. Whilst most videos either follow an abstract or narrative path mine is a hybrid. Whilst video is mainly abstract with elements of narrative, the narrative elements that there is would be called a story rather than a plot if you were to apply the narrative theory of Tim O'Sulivan as the narrative can only be interpreted from the few scenes with the girl character that are presented along with what the audience infers; which therefore also supports the uses and gratifications audience theory.  My video contains elements of performance shown through the actors lip syncing (but not including any sort of band performance) but also elements of acting, meaning it is neither what Sven Carlson would call a performance clip or a narrative clip. I used this personal performance style as I thought it best suited the theme of isolation and the aesthetic of the song and video rather than using the more generic band performance shots found in other videos. I created a hybrid video in terms of narrative and performance as I felt that this mix up of different music video styles fitted well with the psychedelic genre and  I also found that other videos such as Allah La's "Follow You Down" (posted above) do the same thing; mixing performance, abstract film and narrative. This creation of a hybrid style of video therefore shows me challenging the normal conventions of music videos.

Perhaps another way in which my video challenges conventions of real music videos is it's rejection of some common media theories. One media theory this video rejects is Tessa Perkins stereotype theory. Whilst my song is part of the psychedelic genre, the characters within my video do not fit this stereotype. Expected stereotypical characters may have long haired, wear bright colours and 60's/70's style "Hippy" clothing. However I instead decided to use costume more associated with the broader ranging indie genre, to help promote my ideology of psychedelia in an everyday environment as it is quite uncommon to see someone dressed in a stereotypical psychedelic fashion.

Another common theory that this text rejects is Richard Dyer's star theory. This theory is not applicable to this text as it is not made clear if the performer in the video is actually the musical artist, therefore the lip-syncing scenes, therefore rendering the star theory irrelevant. However the genre of the song does not lend itself to the star theory either as it is not a widely accessible genre like pop and is catered to a niche audience.