Evaluation Task 1

PERFORMANCE/PROPS

In terms of symbolic conventions present in our product, the fact that our entire video was a performance shows the existence of a music video convention being upheld. It is common for an alternative-rock music video to have the band members performing with their instruments as shown in the still below from the Nickleback video ‘Someday’. Nickleback aren’t the exact same band genre as The Eels, but they can still be compared because they are both part of the larger rock genre, and therefore have similar conventions.

              

As you can see in the Nickelback video still, each of the band members are playing their instruments together in a studio which is conventional in such music videos. Our video upholds this convention in the sense that our entire video is based around this element of the band members performing. The performance in the video mimics a live performance and shows the audience that they are serious about their music. Audiences and fans will be impressed when viewing this video because it displays their talents which encourage them to watch the band live.This means increased revenues from tour and concert sales, which is why we decided to uphold this convention. This also ties in with Dyer’s theory of absence and presence. Because the viewers of the video watch them perform so well in the video, they are likely to want to watch them live to consume more of the band because of the absence in their lives.

The conventional presence of four band members will help the audience identify this video as those that would be found in a similar music genre and therefore encourage fans of the altern-rock genre to watch this video because of their interest in this area. We chose to have four band members so as to make it seem like a regular conventional band which also makes the point of them being serious about their music. It shows that they know the norms and follow them adequately in order to sell records.

The conventional positioning of the band members in a music video is for the lead singer to be in the front, the pianist and guitarist to his right and left side and the drummer at the back. In our video, we challenged this convention by not having these band members in the expected positions. Instead, they move around without any fixed position, unlike regular bands and an example of this is again the Nickleback picture.

Also, another convention found in music videos is that the lead singer gets the larger amount of screen time in comparison to the other band members because he/she is considered to be the more important performer and is the main voice of the band. Single shots of the other band members playing their instrument do exist in videos, however to a very small amount. In our video, we challenge this convention: we gave our other band members more screen time than one would normally expect to find in a video. This is possibly because our video has no narrative element and solely focuses on the performance. This again portrays a band image based on the talents of these performers, which is upheld by giving them more screen time. However, whilst the other band members have more screen time, ultimately, the lead singer is most seen and is the more dominant performer in this video because of that. This is where the convention of giving the lead performer more screen time is upheld. This shows that in spite of them being a band, he is still the dominant one and is after all the band’s voice. We chose to conform to this convention because it is important for the audience to like him and his voice which is representative of the brand image of the entire band.

In terms of costume, we aimed for a ‘geek chic’ sort of look where our band members wore chinos and tees in neutral shades such as whites and nudes. This is unconventional for a rock band – they are usually more rockstar-like, however ours are nerdier looking. This is a look we aimed for - our target audiences are meant to be of a similar sort and would possibly dress like them. This will help fans identify with them and want to purchase their music because of this common interest. This increases record sales and is why we chose to have this look.

So in terms of mise-en-scene, we uphold the common convention of having four band members each playing their own instrument however at the same time we challenge this representation by not giving them fixed positions.

EDITING

In terms of editing, the most common style found in music videos, especially fast-paced rock ones is fast and snappy editing on the beat. The editing style in most music videos is very visible and stylistic, unlike films or TV dramas where the cuts are meant to be invisible.  As you can see from the above video of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ video, the editing style is conventional (to music videos in general), and each shot is no longer than a few seconds. Our video, being an altern-rock one maintains this convention and every shot is matched to the pace of the song to emphasise its tempo. It draws attention to the rhythms and beats of the song, helping to showcase the record. Having said that, to maintain repeatability and keep the audience entertained, we used a slightly unusual editing style by portraying multiple band members in different size scales within the same frame.

The lyrics are closely synched with the singer to mimic a live performance, which again, is conventional. This helps sell records because it encourages viewers to watch them live based on their singing talents. Having said that, the editing in our video is what creates the main theme of our product and is what makes it original. As we know, our performers have no fixed position in our video and it is the way we’ve edited it is to bring about this style. This is what challenges the conventions and makes our video unusual. Had we not done this, our audience would not be able to differentiate our band image from another one. There aren’t a lot of videos where there are different sized shots of band members mixed with each other in the same frame. The unusual editing style is what makes it stand out and is the kind that will be remembered, therefore making our band distinctive to others.

Digipak & Poster

In terms of our CD panels, we carry forward the ‘geek chic’ style by maintaining the monochrome theme throughout the digipak. The first panel is a picture of various magazines, which adds to our geek chic persona since fans of the band are those who would like to read magazines such as the ones in the panel.

In the second panel, we have the credits and a blurry image of the four band members. This is conventional since most albums have the picture of the band on them so that audiences can spot them easily in shops, etc. It helps create that brand image as well, connecting the faces of the band to their music and the ancillary texts (poster, advert, digipak, etc.). However, we wanted to maintain a certain amount of mystery for the band by following Dyer's principles of absense which is why we decided to blurr out the the image. Because you cannot see the characters properly, our viewers may be encouraged to watch the music video and even see them perform live, to get that sense of presence of the band in their lives.

Our poster conforms to the conventions as well. There are 3 fonts, the name of the band is the largest, the structure is balanced with half of it being the bands’ album’s front cover and the second half with information about it. We carefully followed all the rules of a poster so that audiences can identify with it and link it to the brand image of the band without any distractions.