Kodaline are similar to Lady Gaga in the sense that they have their own genre. With alternative rock bands, an audience would typically expect to see a live performance music video, however, Kodaline challenge this form and mainly create videos highlighting an issue through a narrative. For example, in ‘All I Want’ the audience follow a linear narrative of a man with a facial disfigurement and what he has to go through every day. I think this is an extremely effective style of video and therefore wanted to use conventions of Kodaline’s videos within my own.
Although I have not follow such as socially challenging storyline as this, I still wanted to create a sense of sympathy for the character and portray a high level of emotion through the narrative. The circulate narrative of my music video highlights the life of both a male and female performer who were dancing partners in the 1950s. The end scene ties the video together as we see an older lady sat within a modern day household watching her and her partner’s dance routine back on the television. The indexical sign of the photo frame next to her is what informs the audience of their past relationship. This relates to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of the six elements that all music videos have; one of which being that all visuals illustrate the lyrics: "a love like this won’t last forever".
In terms of representation, I wanted to create the running themes of love and nostalgia within my music video. To do so, I had to focus heavily on Saussure’s theory of signs. My main focus within the planning stages was the mise-en-scene elements to ensure it demonstrated my intention of reflecting the 1950s. Firstly, the iconic signs of their costume; I dressed the male in a shirt, with pinned trousers, braces and a bow tie. Similarly, the female was dressed in a navy, white polka-dot dress with character shoes; costume will work as signifier informing the audience of the time period. Moreover, in order to further the theme of love and nostalgia, I got the female to wear red lipstick with a clear explication of this through the close ups of the application. Symbolically, it is purely red lipstick however the connotations of the colour red would create an indexical sign of love and lust which audience’s would notice based upon their own cultural reference points.
During the editing process, I decided to edit some footage so it would play backwards. For example, at the very beginning as the female is tying up her dressing gown, when it cuts back to this shot, it is now backwards. Although this would be hard for an audience member to notice at first glance, it subliminally informs them of the idea of turning back time reflecting the narrative. Furthermore, nostalgia was not only represented through the circular narrative but also through the ongoing theme of photographs within my music video, digipak and poster. Within my music video, the photograph at the end is the most essential sign to ensure audience’s understanding of the video. The images used for my digipak and poster also reflects nostalgia and the 1950s era as they are all in the form of a Polaroid. This suggests the idea of memories and looking back on the past as Polaroid’s are not so widely used in today’s society.
Goodwin also stated that within a music video, the music and visuals must intertwine one another; as I decided to use an acoustic version of the song, both the harmonics and the voice are much slower and create a calming, soft atmosphere. Whilst filming, in order for the visuals to fit with the music, I used slow, flowing movements with minimal movement; this effect was created successfully using the Shouldermount. This way, all of the shots aren’t static but still do not act as a distraction from the visuals. Similarly, during editing I slowed each clip of footage down by 50% which again made the video look very smooth and fitted with the pace of the music perfectly. Slow motion used in the same way can also be seen in Kodaline’s video ‘High Hopes’- the effect of slow motion within this video allows an audience to look more closely at certain shots that the director deemed to be the most effective. For example, the bride running down the hill towards the male’s car at the very beginning.
Another element of Goodwin’s theory I choose to utilise is the idea that due to the high demands of the music industry, there is often a strong need or demand for lots of close ups. However, within the industry, close ups tend to be used to sexualise popular females such as Rihanna, Jessie J and Ellie Goulding. Although, I have used many close ups I have challenged the idea of using them to sexualise the actors and instead, work as a way of highlighting certain signs that I want the audience to notice more such as elements of their clothing like a bow tie. The close ups also will allow audience’s to identify with the actors which will create a greater emotional response when the narrative becomes clear. Audience would be able to feel like they have a gained a personal relationship with them as stated within the Uses and Gratifications theory. This mirrors the effect integral to the music video ‘Why’ by Annie Lennox which was my main inspiration.
My music video adheres to the hegemonic norm of heterosexual partnerships. The main reason I decided to stick with the norm is due to the fact that typically you see a male and female dance partner rather than single sex, especially within this sort of dancing. This is something expected of society and this industry and therefore may challenge audience if I were to subvert this. Although, some may say the industry now has very little boundaries with the extremes or differences that artists now go to within their music videos, therefore, if I were to challenge this norm it may not have been questioned with the generation of my target audience as it may be expected. Furthermore, I also used this hegemonic norm due to the time period of which my music video was set in; during the 1950s, homosexuality wasn’t necessarily as heard of and socially acceptable as it is today and was most definitely frowned upon. Because of this, I decided it was essential for me to attempt to recreate the time period as precisely and anachronistically as possible.
My video conforms to the conventions of a circular narrative in the sense that the audience is exposed to seeing the older lady in the modern day at the beginning, it then goes back to the 1950’s to show the performance of the male and female then back to the older lady. My music video also demonstrates a restrictive narrative as at the beginning, the audience would be unaware of why there is a shot of an older lady until the end answering the enigma posed as part of Barthes hermeneutic code. I also intended for my video to show elements of an episodic narrative as the action does not necessarily happen in one big chunk and through the editing, I decided to cut footage and go back to certain shots. For example, when the female is doing her makeup, it cuts between different sections so we see snippets of her getting ready- similarly with the male. One real example of this would again be ‘All I Want’ by Kodaline as the camera is stable in the car but it cuts between different moments to ensure the audience is engaged and stimulates a visual interest.
Magazine Advert
My advert conforms to the typical conventions of a poster in many ways; I decided to keep it quite basic sticking to the house style of Polaroid’s with this being the main item within the page and something you’re instantly drawn to. Surrounding the Polaroid image, I have used large font sticking to the brand guidelines stating the band’s name and album name which is essential on a poster. The use of the same font throughout will allow easy recognition for an audience member and therefore will allow fans to instantly notice who the advert is trying to promote. Another typical convention I have used within my poster is quotes and ratings from well known-established music magazines such as Q and NME, this will attract audiences to listen to the album as highly respected companies within the industry have been extremely positive about the album and would recommend it. Using quotes such as ‘The perfect album’ makes it seem like it is the best that you can get and that you must listen to it. This suggests ‘The Hyperdermic Needle Theory’ in the sense that audiences are injected with the media and persuaded to consume it.
Digipak
Similarly to my magazine advert, my digipak also conforms to the typical conventions of them. Again, it links together the idea of polaroids as every image is of one; I decided to take the photos outside hanging on a tree relating to the theme of nostalgia and memories being in the past. The de-saturated effect makes it seem more authentic and vintage from the 1950s. This ties both the print and moving image work together and there are clear similarities between them. The back cover lists of all the track names in an imaginative way as the song titles are written on the bottom of all the Polaroid’s. This makes it look appealing to the eye and also different from other Digipak’s so in this respect, I have challenged the typical convention of just listing the track names.
Overall, I think all my print and moving image work either use or challenge the conventions of real life media texts which all work collaboratively in order to make them look as realistic as possible.
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