Evaluation Question 1

I present many conventions from the metal and rock genre in my music video, to appeal to my specific target audience. The whole video is centred around live performance, which is in itself a convention as it is used in many rock or metal videos to influence the audience to see the band in live performance, as the video itself is merely a marketing tool. This live performance is achieved in the video through the use of extreme lighting, close ups, equipment, and crowd shots. The lighting changes, sometimes it is red in tone, sometimes a white light flashes, and either way, it gives the impression of anger or frustration. This fits with the rebellious, angry conventions associated with the rock/metal genre. The flashing light and also the tones of red are similarly presented in Biffy Clyro’s video ‘The golden rule’, and it presents a heated, almost sinister tone. I have included close-ups in my video, especially of the lead singer, which helps to give the band a specific identity to help the target audience feel more intimate with the music.

This particular effect is also used in the foo fighter’s video ‘The pretender’; giving many close ups of Dave Grohl so that the viewer associates the band with a particular image. This video also has lots of close-up equipment shots, which I have drawn from, and this is a very conventional entity of the genre. The close ups of the equipment highlight the feel of a live performance, and in turn makes the audience want to see this equipment being played to them live. The crowd shots in my video have a similar effect to that of the equipment close ups, and also present a positive image of the band because the crowds seem to enjoy this live performance. It creates ‘hype’.

Another convention of the rock/metal genre is gothic imagery, and I have presented this in my music video through the main location I filmed in. The building has an old, religious, church type feel to it, as the stage in the middle is surrounded by stone pillars. This fits in with the convention of music as a form of ritual and religion, which is particularly depicted in the metal genre. This image is also presented in Enter Shikari’s video for ‘Quelle Surprise’ as the location for their music video is the crypt of St Mary Magdalene church (west London). Other locations in my video include shots of a power station which denotes political conflict since the recent military operations – all over fuels. Goodwin’s theory on the convention of music video talks about the link between the visuals and the lyrics, which I have definitely included. The lyrics are about greed and war and fuels. These ideas are all rebellious and

strongly opinionated, fitting the rebellious nature of the rock and metal genres. This anger at the

government, and the will to rebel against it, is not uncommon in the genre. In the song ‘arguing with thermometers’ Enter Shikari compare the government to drug addicts, saying that they ‘commit crimes’ to‘secure their next hit’. This ridicules the decisions made by the government, and puts them in a dark light, which is similarly done in the lyrics for ‘BNRF’, such as ‘innocence to kill’ which suggests the government is corrupting the innocent, especially when linked to oil and competition for fuels as it is.

My video relates to Goodwins theory and coincides with it in many ways making it very conventional in terms of music videos as well as genre. My music video has many characteristics that fit in with his theory, such as the link between music and visuals as well as lyrics and visuals. An example of this in my video is when the lyrics in the track are "innocents to kill, their fuels to keep", the visuals link with shots of flames connoting fuels, anger and violence. The concept of fuels being significant (being in the lyrics) is further depicted in the power station shots. I found that all of the

music videos by big, popular bands in the genre, that I researched all coincided with Goodwins theory, there wer

e a lot of close ups of the lead vocalist and many

other links between sound and visuals. For instance in the Enter Shikari video - Quelle Suprize, it features many close ups, live performance style shots and reminiscently (of the genre) mise-en-scene. The shots are cut in time with the music helping the visuals fit the music and the mise-en-scene of the shots creates very similar connotations to that of the lyrics – a bleak depiction of an exaggerated almost apocalyptic, self destructive world (when taken to the extreme).

I have used crowd shots within my music video, this is a convention of the genre of rock. I believe that these

shots are incredibly important for a sense of authenticity.

The crowd shots also link the band to their audience and present a relationship, an atmosphere, something that helps the viewer relate directly to the band and their music. Rehearsal shots in the video instill a further sense of personal relationship between the fans and the band.

In my video the rehearsal shots are in black and white (linking in style to my digipak) making them a clearly significant part in terms of relation to the audience. These rehearsal shots add another dimension to the narrative of the video in this sense of personal interaction.