Question 1 – A2 from Elise Gallichan on Vimeo.
For my music video I decided to base my coursework on the indie music genre using the band Bastille and their song good grief to demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of the genre and explore the different conventions found within it. Through my initial research, I paid particular attention to these forms and conventions examining the different ways In which they are presented in indie media texts, using sites such as YouTube to uncover exactly what made up the indie music videos of different bands who followed the genre such as Last Dinosaurs, Hippocampus, and the Jungle Giants to name a few. For example, each one of these 3 artists had a leading male performer, which led me to believe that a male lead in my own music video would be of typical convention. of course some of these music videos also included female characters within them, such as in the Jungle Giants’ music video for their song ‘she looks like a Riot’ While some of the artists such as hippocampus and the last dinosaurs didn’t feature any female characters within their music videos, this at at least gave me the option to explore these 2 conventions within my own coursework as I noticed for the most part the singers in the music videos who could also double as the actors were mostly always male with females acting in musical roles or at least simple supporting characters.
For my locations, linking back to my research on bands such as Panic at the Disco, I was able to showcase one of my videos locations, a church, as being conventional of the indie genre, the example coming from their video ‘I write sins not tragedies.’ However, my alternative location, I beach, felt significantly less conventional due to connotations the location holds, a place of fun and sunshine, themes not commonly explored in the genre. Nonetheless due to ‘Good Grief’s’ upbeat tempo, I felt as if the location fit well within the music video despite perhaps conventionally challenging what the target audience might expect from the genre, basic plain backgrounds such as in Hippocampus’ music video for ‘Violet’ or the modern and somewhat industrial setting of Last Dinosaurs’ ‘Apollo’ music video.
Again, with my props and costumes, I felt that whilst I did stick with the traditional grungy aesthetic of the roses and lighters and champagne bottle as well as my actor’s suit and my actresses’ clothing, I felt as if these props were reflections of the genre, but somewhat difficult to pinpoint in other media texts. My props were more or less featured with the lyrics and tone of my music video in mind, either serving as literal or metaphorical representations of the themes and lyrics within my coursework with a much more broadened artistic standpoint in mind. The costumes too, were more or less featured as to fit exactly with the message of the music video’s lyrics, the most notable example coming from the actor’s suit. However, with this example, I would be able to link this back to a convention of the indie genre in which the singer and actors in Panic at the Disco’s I write sins not tragedies video can be seen wearing suits in the church.
Elise Gallichan A2 Media 