Conventions and the form of a media product hold the key to appealing the audience. Because of this, a lot of research has to be put in to ensure everything was done for a reason and to make sure it appeals to the target audience of a product as well as those outside of that demographic. A main convention of a music video is, generally, to have members of the band in the video performing or featuring somewhat in the narrative. We decided to use this convention because it fitted in nicely with conventions from the rock/indie genre. Also, we did not particularly want to make our video abstract so we decided on a more appealing and straightforward performance/narrative video which holds less risks when it comes to captivating an audience.
One convention that the music video challenges is age. Because the video is aimed at a 16-24 demographic we put in solely people from this category in to our music video. This helps with identification- this is present in the Uses and Gratifications theory. It also creates a bond between our audience and the product as it can be seen to relate to each other.
In the rock/indie genre there are quite a few conventions that are ever-present in these types of videos. One that we decided to challenge was performing on a stage or at a concert. The story in the video is more intimate and personal and a grand performance wouldn’t have been appropriate. This, again, leads back to the aforementioned identification. We also made sure as a group we paid close attention to the clothing of the lead singer because he would be the one conveying the song to the audience. Ergo, we set apart the lead actor who represented a certain type of person (possibly hovering around the BCD demographic) and the clothing suited that. Quick shots were prevalent throughout, as were the playing of instruments. We included these because it went well with the pace and tempo of the song as well as being aesthetically pleasing to our audience. Check the directors' commentary for more on our conventions.
Digipaks are an important tool to attract the audience and are effectively used as a marketing ploy in their own right. Whilst most genres stick with bright colours we went down the rock/indie route and stuck to our conventions by using striking, darker colours such as purple. The lead singer is only featured on the reverse cover of our digipak but we have a very simplistic front cover to garner some attention from someone looking at this on the shelves. The lack of clutter helps when creating an album cover and this also gives the band some brand identification so the audience have knowledge of the band in a recognisable way. The normal conventions are on the album, such as four panes, a barcode and the list of tracks. We did, however, drop the idea of a house style (as shown by the audience feedback post).
Adverts are designed to be pleasing to the eye and our advert challenges and develops certain conventions. One definite convention challenges would be the use of bright colours because we felt that reflecting the song rather than the genre would be more apt and this is evidenced by the neon lettering. The band isn’t used again but we went for the idea of the advert looking like an advert for a concert so it is slightly more abstract than your traditional poster that features the artist.
The indie genre’s main objective is to be different from the mainstream and this is what we have set out to accomplish and what we hopefully have achieved. However, we have kept a sizeable chunk of conventions to maintain the core nucleus of an audience. Having said that, we haven’t adapted any conventions from any other genres so it may be harder to appeal to other fans.
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