IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS
Introduction
The media product I have produced is a Dubstep artist called INFLUX. Dubstep is a relatively new genre, that has become extremely popular in the club and rave scene in the UK, in the last 5 years. For my artist, I have produced a Music Video, a Website, and an Album Cover, each of which follows the conventions of real artists that I have researched, like that of Chase and Status, Nero and Skrillex. However, my artist challenges the conventions of a real dubstep product through artist identity that I have developed. Typically, the genre promotes the song and not the artist, meaning that a song is more likely to be recognised, than the name or the image of the artist producing it. I wanted to break this convention, and so I created a unique image and artist persona through the characters of Red, Black and Cassie, in order to make my product stand apart from the rest of the genre.
Andrew Goodwin
Through reading Andrew Goodwin's theory of music videos, I have done a textual analysis of my music video using the following key areas:
1. Genre Characteristics
Our media product is of the dubstep genre, and our music video features many of the conventions and characteristics already in place. There is very fast paced editing, cutting to the beat, and rapidly cutting to create a strobe-like effect, reflecting the environment in which the music would usually be played (1:22-1:50). There is also use of speed changes, with a lot of slow motion being used and shots being sped up, particularly in the narrative sequence. Many of the shots are handheld, and shot at jaunted angles, creating a slightly edgy, urban feel to the video, which is common in many dubstep videos.
2. Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals
There is disjuncture between the lyrics and the visuals, as the lyrics 'Promises, and it feels there all so wasted on myself', bear no correlation to the visuals of the music video. Our music video is a performance of the band, and a narrative sequence that follows a suppressed teacher that succumbs to the abandonment of the music.
3. Relationship between Music and Visuals
In contrast though, there is a strong relationship between the music and the visuals, as the visuals illustrate the beat and rhythm of the music, and amplify the changes in pace and emphasise the drops. When the music is of a slower pace, the visuals are cut slower, using more slow-mo, but as the music builds up and drops, the visuals reflect this, either through faster cutting, or more action within the shot. A unique sequence of editing is during the bridge (2:52-2:58) where the dancing of Cassie is overlayed with strobe shots of the DJ's. This creates an almost trance-like effect, and amplifies the music.
4. Close-Ups of the artist and Star Image Motifs
The video features numerous close-ups and beauty shots of each member of the band, which subsequently shows the bands motif - the masks and headphones. There are many beauty shots of Cassie, the lead singer, as she performs the vocals and is the driving force behind the video, whilst the close-ups of the two DJ's emphasises the enigma of the masks and their hidden identities. This challenges the conventions of dubstep videos, as it is uncommon to see an artist in the music video, and there is therefore a lack of beauty shots. However, seeing a motif is very common, such as Modestep and the yellow face.
5. Reference to the Notion of Looking
There is a definite reference to the notion of looking in the narrative, as the DJ's come to collect Cassie and take her away, and they watch her release from suppressed teacher.
6. Intertextual References
Our video has a few intertextual references, mainly at the beginning of the narrative sequence. When the students jump up and begin dancing, there is a backwards track, and we were inspired to do this by the music video for 'Everybody Get Up' by Five.
7. Performance, Narrative or Concept?
The video is a mixture of performance and narrative. The video cuts between both, with the link being Cassie, who is the lead singer in the performance, and the teacher in the narrative. The narrative feeds into the performance at the end of the video, because the DJ's come to collect her and take her to the performance that we've been seeing.
Carol Vernallis
(Click to Enlarge)
Carol Vernalis' theory centres around 4 key concept area tthat all relate to the way the music video is constructed. This allows for an analysis of our music video, and how it uses or challenegs conventions.
Overall, our music video follows the conventions of editing, and camerawork and framing - there are many quick cuts and creative editing, using speed and warping the footage. However, our music video challenges the conventions of narrative, as pur video features a lot of performance, and it is what drives the music video, which is uncommon for the dubstep genre.
(For the following answers, the audio is supported by the images below)
Our Music Video
Music Video by mdcassidy
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| Skrillex - Equniox (left), DJ Fresh - Louder (right) |
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| Daft Punk (left) and Nero (right) |
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| Red |
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| Black |
The masks of Red and Black hide their identities, yet still create a cool and unique image.
Modestep's 'Feel Good', was a large source of inspiration. This video features both performance and narrative, with the performance feeding into the narrative at the end of the video, similarly to our video. They also use a lot of movement in their camerawork, with many people moving with the camera (1:16), a convention of dubstep videos and something featured in our video (2:01).
This video also features a very clear motif, of the masked face with the cross eyes, seen at the very beginning of the video (0:12), and on one of the characters (3:03). This is similar to our music video and the masks that the DJ's wear, but in comparison to other music videos, this is unusual and so challenges the conventions already in place.
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| Our final timeline from Premiere Pro - showing points of fast paced editing and shots with effects (click to enlarge) |
Our Website
Website by mdcassidy
- When considering the three websites, they all have large banners with the artist name, and have a navigation bar just beneath, to allow for easy navigation through the website.
- All three feature similar page titles:
- News/Home
- Videos
- Music
- Gallery
- Events/Shows
- However, only Chase and Status and our website have a 'Shop/Store' page.
- Our website is also the only one to have a competition.
- This shows how we used and developed the conventions of existing websites to create our own product.
- However, our website challenges the conventions of existing websites because it has a 'Bio' page. On this page is information about each member of the group, as well as an individual gallery. This is unusual because the genre of dubstep does not usually promote the artist, it promotes the music, making our website unique.
- Again, our website uses conventions when considering the UKF Bass Culture poster (above left) as this was seen on both the Chase and Status and Nero websites.
- However, dubstep/drum and bass artists do not usually perform together, again making our artist unique and challenging conventions (above right).
Our Album
Album by mdcassidy
Conclusion
Like many artists of the genre, our website is the hub of our campaign; it is where all the news and updates are posted, where our new music is announced, and where you can find out about the band. Our music video also follows many conventions of real media products, as there is disjuncture between the lyrics and visuals, but the music amplifies the music through camerawork and editing. However our album cover breaks many conventions, as it features our artist on every page section of the cover, because we have created a unique band image which is unlike any other real dubstep artist before us.
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