Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Due to the difficulties in identifying the generic roots of our track  I interviewed the artist in order to find out his influences.For instance, a particular inspiration of his is the American band 'Beirut' who primarily focus on folk music/indie folk, however it has also been argued that Beirut fits into the 'world music genre'. Thus, suggesting that our artist Billy Lubach's inspiration is of a hybrid genre, as the band's tracks encompass various styles of music. 

                                             Here is an example of one of Beirut's tracks 'Elephant Gun'. The fact that this music has a dream like quality is talked about by the artist himself Zach Condon who admits to representing the video 'Elephant Gun' as a "a nostalgia for something that never happened to me - things I've seen in old movies" This was therefore an inspiration to our own music video, as after watching 'Antiques' the audience are left unaware as to whether the events were merely the performer experiencing a dream or an illusion, as shown in our own music video where the ending where the performer wakes up suggests that she may have simply been experiencing a dream.

Another inspiration of our artist which after researching into allowed me to identify the generic roots of our track is the indie folk- pop duo called 'Kings of Convenience' who are primarily known for their "intricate and subtle guitar melodies"

Therefore, Billy Lubach (the artist for our music video) was influenced by bands of this particular style, thus suggesting that the style in which our artist has been influenced by must be interpreted in our own music video.  In relation to the genre of our own music video, this suggests that our genre is also a hybrid genre, a folk/acoustic genre. Therefore, after identifying the genre of our artist it is important to identify the demographic to which my music video and print productions are aimed at, them being 16- 25 year olds. This is due to the frequent intertextual references to the novel Alice in Wonderland which is commonly known by a younger generation as well as an older one too. 

Although finding our artists's inspirations is vital in identifying the genre of the track, it is also important to include how our music video is highly influenced by silent film and Carrol's "Alice in Wonderland". The reasons behind these particular influences is due to how after listening to our track it reminded us of a suitable soundtrack for a silent film. Therefore, in relation to the question on whether we used,developed, challenged foms of conventions of real media products, I would argue that we in fact used and developed the conventions of a silent film, thus suggesting due to the difficulties of defining the genre we focused heavily on the narrative of the music video representing a silent film style. In relation to genre theory the fact that we have almost defined our track as 'genreless' contradicts a theorist called Jaques Derrida who stated that
'a text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without...a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text'

In reference to Gunther Kress who defines a genre as "A kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes" I developed generic conventions by transporting my audience out of their familiar comfort zone. For instance, throughout my music video intertextual references are displayed throughout to get the audience thinking instead of merely displaying generic conventions of a music video. Furthermore, I relied heavily on a narrative to promote our artist Billy Lubach instead of including him in the production so that the audience focus on the track and the story of the music video rather than the image of the artist.

LOCATION

Due to the difficulties of pin pointing the genre I used and developed a music video which is inspired by silent film and Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". Therefore, the location we needed was one which would reflect the 'wonderland' style as well as fitting in with the style of music. As previously stated above the artist of our music video Billy Lubach explained his influences (Beirut, Kings of Convenience, King Creosote), this leads me to discuss whether our music video uses, develops or challenges locations of the artists above. In order to achieve this I will compare our location to locations shown in for example Beirut's music videos. Our music video features several locations, the first being a Victorian garden called The Plantation Gardens which was a perfect location to use in order to develop the theme of escape.

 A Victorian cabinet maker named Henry Trevor transformed a chalk quarry into a magical garden which was discovered again around 16 years ago. The theme of blurred boundaries between illusion and reality is therefore represented in the location, meaning that the location links with the narrative of our music video. Due to the fact that locations are used to reflect character's inner world or beliefs it is important for the location to represent how the performer of our music video is feeling, the magical gardens representing the dream like illusion she may be experiencing.



This is a photograph of the garden in 1897.














The gardens after being reconstructed. 













 In reference to the idea that the location reflects the theme of escape, this links in with Blulmer and Katz developments on Lasswell's theory (that media texts have several functions for individuals and society), as they stated that an audience may use a music video as a diversion, by watching the video they can escape from any every day problems and routine, a form of escapism.  Therefore, the intertextual reference to Alice in Wonderland is straight away referenced via the location, as the tranquil and  fairy-tale sunken garden looks like the wonderland Alice falls into.

 It is also named as "the secret garden", therefore the connotations surrounding this aesthetically pleasing environment link closely to the narrative and theme of my music video. For instance, in our music video the performer wakes up to this mysterious looking garden where she is being followed by a masked man.Thus, suggesting that the mise-en-scene corresponds with what is going on in the music video. Also, due to the garden being like a secret treasure hidden in a city centre, it represents the story of the music video, its almost as if entering into the location transported the performer into another time or world.

Location of the beginning of the music video- "The secret gardens"

 It is plausible to suggest that this chosen location and the narrative behind the music video intertextually references to "Tom's Midnight Garden" by Phillipa Pearce, this is a fantasy novel, every night the clock strikes 13 and Tom enters in to the Victorian era grounds escaping from reality. The use of binary opposites is displayed in this as he is transported from the urban concrete world of reality into a magical garden which connotes freedom, a sense of escapism from the harsh reality he is facing. 

This particular clip of the film rendition of the novel "Tom's Midnight Garden" directed by Willard Carroll shows the scene where Tom enters the magical garden. The reasons behind this media text linking to our music video is due to the contrast in the two locations Tom is in, the bleak reality and the beautiful gardens he enters into. This is also made evident in our music video where the performer begins in the scenic Plantation   gardens and ends up in an urban location, the gardens reflecting an illusion or a dream like state she is in and the urban city reflecting the reality.

 Therefore, we have used forms and conventions of real media products in our own music video as the time shift style which is portrayed in this novel is also reflected in our own music video via the locations. For instance, in the beginning of the music video the mise-en-scene reflects aspects of a silent film, whereas when the performer moves into location of the second part of the music video the shots appear darker and portray a bleak location, suggesting that the performer is disorientated by reality, the reality being the modern era she has entered into. Henceforward, both the gardens which are representing the past and the urban city representing the contemporary society are intertextual references to "Tom's Midnight Garden".

This print screen shows both the locations featured in 'Toms Midnight Garden', the past and the present.

On the left is a print screen of the urban city the perfomer finds herself in and the left is the magical gardens she begins in.

Conventions of using time shift

The conventions of time shift are displayed in both 'Tom's Midnight Garden' and  'Life on Mars'. In the second part of the music video where the performer enters into the reality of modern day life, I used forms and conventions of real media products, for instance the theme of time shift is reflected in the location of the second part of the music video, the modern era.

The reasons behind this linking with the clip from 'Life On Mars' is due to the bleakness of the shots both representing the harsh reality of modern day life where both the performer from my music video and the protagonist from 'Life On Mars want to escape from. I have therefore used forms and conventions of real media products relating to the theme of moving from one era to another.

 This intertextually references to the ending of 'Life On Mars' where the same theme of time travel is represented, the protagonist Sam Tyler jumps off the top of a car park of a  21st century police headquarters in an attempt to escape from the bleak reality of the modern society and enter into the dilapidated world of 1972 where he had found companionship. The reasons behind this linking with my music video is due to the fact that the performer in 'Antiques' travelling from one time era to another. Furthermore, the character in our music video also references to Sam Tyler from 'Life on Mars' as he is trying to escape from reality just like her. As, in the ending of our music video after waking up from the reality the performer begins to drink from the "drink me" bottle to either sedate herself so she can return to her dreams or so that she can return to the reality she was previously in, the open ending therefore leaves this conclusion to the audiences imagination. However, if her drinking the red liquid was to escape from the reality this intertextually references to when Sam Tyler leaps from the car park transporting himself from the present back to the past, thus, meaning that I used conventions of using a time shift in my music video.

                                     

Furthermore, in relation to the second location which reflects the modern society I could also argue that I have developed location choice compared to locations of similar artists music videos. Due to the importance of looking into the artist of our track's influences, Beirut's music videos were of the utmost importance when considering similar artists. Therefore, their video 'Postcards From Italy'  which reflects a nostalgic quality which although displays similar themes (for example the possibility of everything being a dream or an illusion or merely just a memory of events in the past) it differs slightly to my music video in terms of location. For instance, in my music video instead of shooting the whole video in the 'magical' gardens referencing to a  I decided to include to contrast the 'wonderland' to a bleaker not so wonderful place, that being the harsh reality of modern day life. Whereas, in the music video 'Postcards From Italy' the video primarily represents a nostalgic positive view on memories via the consistently brightly coloured shots.

However, to some extent I  use forms and conventions of real media products via my choice of location as to represent the dream or illusion the performer is experiencing the first part of the music video is featured in a aesthetically pleasing colourful mise-en-scene.  As throughout the music video  by Beirut there are vibrant slightly blurred shots suggesting that the events are memories.

Print screens from my music video "Antiques" - evidence for the link between the location in this music video and Beirut's

Print screen from 'Postcards From Italy'

When watching this music video I came across another link between the mise-en-scene in the video by Beirut and to my own music video. For instance, a major inspiration for my music video was to silent film and to the first ever colour film which is represented via the beginning and ending of the music video, as shown here: 

 The first image is a print screen of one of the shots from the first ever colour film made. This shot links in with in the print screen below of one of sections of the music video by Beirut, as it is a brightly coloured shot featuring parrots. This therefore suggests that Beirut is influenced by old film, this is also represented by the vivid colours in each shot as it may be another reference to the first ever colour film.

Narrative structure

 When considering whether my media product used, developed or challenged narrative structure of real media products, I would argue that it develops them due to it's circular narrative and short film style to it. Our music video uses a circular narrative with the first shot showing the performer sitting around the table:

First of all, I used the telescopic effect to open and to conclude the music video meaning that the beginning shot is almost a mirror image of the final shot. The black and white effect is also only shown in the first and last shot providing further evidence for the circular narrative.













Both screen shots from the beginning of the music video and the end correspond as the mise-en-scene is exactly the same. The only contrast is the fact that the performer falls asleep in the first shot and is about to wake up in the second.

















When researching into whether our music video uses, develops or challenges narrative structure of real media products it is important to identify the fact that music videos can be generally described as 'a tangled ball' which references to Roland  Barthes narrative theory.He stated that 'A text is like a tangled ball of thread with needs to be unpicked so we can separate the colours'. This basically means that a text such as a music video offers a number of interpretations for the performers journey. This suggests that audiences are becoming more used to complex structures.

Several music videos display a non-linear narrative, for instance this music video by Beirut - 'Elephant Gun'.This particular music video gives evidence of a music video being referred to as 'a tangled ball' as there is no narrative structure to the video as it focuses on the performance of the artist as well as quick shots of the artist in a different location as well as the performers around him dancing.

Beyonce's music video 'Run The World (Girls)' also shows evidence of a music video which could be described as 'a tangled ball' due to its non-linear structure.The reasons behind the music video lacking a linear narrative is due to the fact that as music videos are a sophisticated form of advertising the main focus is to heavily promote the artist, hence why this music video includes many close ups of the artist. Thus, linking to Goodwin's theory that 'the demands of the record label include close ups of the artist'. Therefore in relation to my music video, it is plausible to suggest that  due to the circular narrative and short film nature of the music video it develops forms and conventions of real media products, as it differs from the slim narrative and quick snap shots of heightened reality displayed Beyonce's music video as well as this video by One Direction - Kiss You. 

In comparison to the music videos shown above which primarily focus on promoting the artist instead of telling a story the focus in my music video, "Antiques" is mainly on marketing the artist's track so that the audience will develop an association with the artist Billy Lubach and the magical  silent film style story. Furthermore, one could also argue that our music video develops forms and conventions of real media products as the artist of the track isn't actually shown in the music video, thus suggesting that promoting the artist's music is more important then promoting his image. Due to the artist not being heavily promoted or even shown in our music video may mean that "Antiques" in fact challenges forms and conventions of a narrative structure of a music video

 Nevertheless, when looking into media theory, for instance Tzetvan Todorov's theory that every music video has three phases. This may lead to the conclusion that actually when making our music video I have used forms and conventions of music videos. The three stages that Tzetvan Todorov stated our shown in music videos are a beginning with equilibrium, then something happens to create disequilibrium which is then resolved in some way to create a new equilibrium. The beginning of our music video shows the performer sitting around the table merely playing with a toy, however as soon as she falls asleep after drinking disequilibrium occurs as she is suddenly running away from a random masked men and finding herself in a new world. However, the ending of the music video suggests that the disequilibrium has been resolved as she is back to her familiar surroundings, her drinking from the 'drink me' bottle may be an attempt of hers to create a new equilibrium.


Costume
As our music video is heavily inspired by silent film as well as conventions of time shift, the contrast between illusion and reality, I used forms and conventions of costume from real media products.

Print screen of the performer in the gingham style dress, the first
costume of my music video.

..Intertextually references to..

Dorothy - Wizard of Oz- The gingham style dress which the performer wears in my music video intertextually references to the costume of Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz'. The reasons behind this choice of costume is due to it's iconic style which links to the idea of escaping into a new extraordinary world. As shown in 'The Wizard of Oz' where Dorothy gets transported into a new magical world in which she tries to escape from, just like the performer in our music video when entering into the modern world. Therefore, I used forms and conventions of costume from real media products which have inspired the theme of our music video such as 'The Wizard of Oz'.

The sparkles on the shoes that the performer wears in the music video also intertextually reference to the shoes that Dorothy wears in 'The Wizard of Oz' connoting a sense of imagination and wonderland.

Also the particular style of costume shown in the music video also references to 'Alice in Wonderland' and links to these tennial drawings of Alice. Due to Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' being a major inspiration to the theme and narrative of our music video I have used forms and conventions of this style.



Second costume: When the performer transports from one era to the other (the magical gardens to the urban landscape) the costumes change from a vintage style dress reflecting the 'wonderland' theme to a leather jacket and dark leggings.Thus, reflecting contemporary fashion, the leather jacket and purple leggings resembling what you would find when walking into a high street shop such as Topshop. In relation to our target audience, having the performer wear a costume that reflects popular culture is somewhat appealing as it may lead them to identify with the character. Therefore, I used a generic costume in the second part of the video as it is a modern high street style.

Intertextuality 
There are many intertextual references displayed in our music video "Antiques" them being primarily from Lewis Carroll's novel 'Alice in Wonderland', several aspects of mise-en-scene reflect this reference. For instance, the narrative of our music video, the performer gets lost in a new world which is the secret garden, everything seeming fascinating to her. This links to Alice in Wonderland as, finds herself in this magical place 'the wonderland' and cant seem to escape from it. Our idea of our main character being followed and taunted by the masked man contrasts with the narrative of Carroll's novel, instead of following the rabbit like Alice our performer is trying to get away from him. Throughout our music video there are other explicit links to 'Alice in Wonderland', an example is the use of props in the video, them being primarily featured in the opening of the music video.

 An example is the pack of playing cards which are laid out on the red table referencing to the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and her servants.

Furthermore, the infamous 'drink me' bottle featured in the ending of our music video is blatant intertextual reference to Alice in Wonderland where Alice sees a bottle labelled 'Drink me' and after drinking she starts to change size.

Further links to Alice in wonderland are shown in the second part of the music video where the performer is entering the modern world. This sign is in the urban location of the video and  is promoting a club called 'Wonderland'. This links the reality with the illusion as in Alice in Wonderland the magical place she enters into is called  'Wonderland'.

The masked creature who is shown to be following the protagonist
of the music video references to the bunny rabbit in
Alice in Wonderland who Alice follows which then leads her to
the wonderland. Whereas in our music video, the bunny rabbit
is leading the performer out of the magical gardens and into the
bleak urban landscape.

Therefore the consistent references to Alice in Wonderland show that the overall theme of our music video has been inspired by Carroll's novel, thus indicating that I have used forms and conventions of real media products.


To some extent, it could be argued that our music video is in a sense related to the music video by Leftfield - Afrika Shox.

The reasons behind this link is due to the protagonist of the music video being shown as completely isolated and cut off from society being the misfit of the mise-en-scene throughout the music video.Therefore, when the performer of our music video enters the modern world she looks isolated and confused as to what kind of world she has entered into. There is also a sense of confusion in Afrika Shox as his body language and facial expressions suggest that he has arrived into a strange new world. The print screens of the shots from Afrika Shox and my music video both show how the facial expressions on both performers reflect the confusion they are feeling. Furthermore, the bleak, dark quality of the shots in the urban landscape in both videos represent the lack of opportunities and bleak future of the society they have entered into.

Another music video which intertextually references to our own, is the music video 'Rabbit Heart' by Florence and the Machine. By looking at this video it can therefore be argued that I have used forms and conventions of real media products in terms of including intertextual references. Also, due to this artist's genre being to some extent similar to our own it shows that I have used forms and conventions of music videos of a similar genre.

The overall style of the music video references to the style of our own, with it's use of intertextual references and genre of the artist. First of all the vintage style costume the artist is wearing similar to the vintage gingham style dress that the performer in our music video is wearing, thus appealing to a niche audience. The fact that their are aspects of the Alice in Wonderland theme in 'Rabbit Heart' links closely to our music video, another example of how Rabbit Heart is linking to Alice in wonderland is made evident in the scene where the cast of the video are shown sitting behind a big feasting table with food and drink. It can therefore be suggested that this links to the Mad Hatter's tea party in Alice in Wonderland which gives the video a dream like quality which also arises when reading Carroll's novel. Further intertextual references which link to my own music video is the fact that after watching Rabbit Heart it leaves you with a question of whether the whole thing was merely an illusion or a wonderful reality? This theme of the confusion between illusion and reality is also made evident in my music video.

Lighting 

Throughout our music video ambient lighting was used which basically refers to available light in an environment, natural lighting. This is due to the fact that the locations in the music video are all outside meaning that no artificial lighting was needed. It was important to reflect the notion of moving between illusion and reality in our media product, so I made sure that when editing the shots representing the illusion and the shots representing the reality were contrasted.


                                                       THE ILLUSION/DREAM :

                                                           THE REALITY:

I used  forms and conventions of real media products as I edited the shots from the second part of the music video so they were dull and almost black and white to reflect reality, whereas the shots which were representing a dream or an illusion were edited to look as vibrant as possible, reflecting a nostalgic quality. In reference to real media products that represent illusion and reality via the lighting, the period drama 'North and South' represents the contrast perfectly. The first two images are of the dream like location -  South represented as a breathtaking, beautiful place to live in, leaving it with dream like feel, it's resembles a location that you can only dream about living in.

Whereas, the bleakness of Victorian England's industrial north is represented in this shot as the lighting has made the shot dull and bleak, representing a place with a lack of opportunities and hope.


Representation

It is plausible to suggest that our media product has challenged the conventional representations of gender as the female performer is shown as the dominant character as she seems to be in control of the events taking place, due to the masked man following her rather than her trying to find him. We are therefore challenging the usual representation of women in the music industry. As shown in the music video below.

Due to the objectification of female performers being prominent in many music videos, for example  in the music video 'Pound The Alarm' by Nicki Minaj. I would argue that I have challenged this convention of music videos due to the fact that my music video does not include voyeuristic shots of the female body -for example the performer. This also challenges Goodwin's theory as he stated that a music video includes: "There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body"








To some extent, my music video represents aspects of British culture due to the many intertextual references to the iconic English writer Lewis Carroll, as his novel Alice in Wonderland was continually referenced to throughout my music video. I have therefore used conventional representations of Britishness due to being inspired by a famous British writer. As I have reflected an important part of British culture in my music video I am appealing to my target audience who may be familiar with Alice in Wonderland, thus leading them to pick up the intertextual references shown throughout the music video.




Transitions
I used generic conventions of music videos by including fast paced cuts as they the story to be told at the pace of the music with various images/shots to keep the audience engaged. In order to incorporate quick cuts into my music video I included cross dissolves so that the video would run smoothly and so that each shot could fade into the next shot.

Example from my music video.

Example from a real media product - Music video by Florence and The Machine- Rabbit Heart 

Thus, leading to the conclusion that I used forms and conventions from real media products in relation to generic transitions of music videos.

Camera angles/movement 
Due to our main inspiration being to silent films it was important to reflect this influence when deciding which camera angles to choose. Thus, leading us to include a telescopic effect to open the music video due to this being a recurring motif shown in silent films. This is made evident in the print screen of the opening to the silent film by Mary Pickford 'The Poor Little Rich Girl'.

Image of the opening to our music video.

As well as using forms and conventions of media products such as silent film
which have inspired our music video, this print screen of Beirut's music video 'Elephant
Gun' suggests that we have also used forms and conventions from music videos
of a similar genre to our own. As the opening to 'Elephant Gun' also intertextually
references to generic silent film openings.

Due to the many close ups of the performer in our music video I have conformed to Goodwin's theory as he stated that music videos have 5 key features in them, the one I utilized in our music video being :   "The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups...". 

 I also conformed to Goodwin's point about intertextual references being commonly shown in music videos, therefore in order to highlight the intertextual references I made sure to include many close ups of them.

Print productions
Instead of including a conventional 4 panel layout for the digipak, I challenged this layout by having a 5 panel digipak. I also created a digipak with a unique style as it looks like a picture book due to each panel telling the story of the music video. I  therefore challenged the conventions of main stream album cover art by relying on a strong narrative as the story of our music video is referenced in the digipak.

Panel 1 -  As the overall style of our music video was heavily influenced by silent films it was important to add a cinematic theme to the digipak. The reasons behind the red curtains referencing to old silent films is due to the fact that throughout the time when silent films would be showing the cinemas would have bright red curtains covering the screen before the film was played.  Therefore, I used forms and conventions of real media products such as silent films when constructing my digipak. Furthermore, to reference to the silent movie style of the music video the background behind the curtains will to some extent reflect a circular shape which therefore references to how silent movies would begin, and to how our own music video began. 

Panoramic image of panel 2, 3 and 4 -
Panels 2,3 and 4 continue the story of the digipak, panel 2 representing the events from the 'magical garden's leading contrasting with panel 4 which represents the performers journey through the modern society. Panel 3 is therefore the glue that holds the story together, the events that occurred at the table leading to the journey the performer went on. 

Panel 5 -
This panel concludes the digipak as well as concluding the story as the last scene of the music video
includes the protagonist taking a sip from the infamous 'drink me' bottle, this ambigious ending aims to fire
the audiences imagination. The whole digipak therefore references the importance of narrative in the iconic story of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Therefore, the digipak gives evidence of the fact that our aim isn't to just promote the artist but to also provide a story. A unique story that the audience can associate the artist Billy Lubach with.

Magazine Advert  
Due to the music video being centered around the female character it was important to include a photograph of her on the advert as to effectively promote the artist the audience need to be able to see the advert and instantly think of the artists tracks. As, after watching the music video and then seeing the magazine advert the audience will therefore remember the track by looking at the image as the performer is consistently focused on throughout the music video.

To conclude, I developed the generic conventions of a digipak by including a 5 panel layout as well as the fact that the digipak is almost like a picture book telling the story of the music video suggesting that the track 'Antiques' is almost like a soundtrack to a film. 

'Alternative Worlds'
I developed the concept of alternative worlds in my music video via costume, lighting, and via the intertextual references shown throughout as explained previously. The locations being the most important feature of the music video to portray the two different worlds, the connotations of the Plantation Gardens linked perfectly with the overall theme of our music video - a magical garden that our main character is transported to in her dreams.