Music Video
To answer this question effectively it is important that I compare my product to existing media pieces that worked as inspiration for the creation of my piece, thus allowing me to address whether I adhered or subverted the typical conventions of the genre I aimed to target. First and foremost, my video is a recreation and stylistic representation of the 'Britpop' indie sub-genre, a genre that was essentially created by The Stone Roses. I felt as if I adhered to the genre, given the nature of my project as an anniversary project for The Stone Roses, as this is suggested through key genre conventions in the music video. This is primarily evident in the overarching narrative of my music video in that it loosely follows the protagonist on a spiritual journey of sorts to essentially become the band; this narrative was created as it appeared to place a much heavier emphasis on the music rather than a narrative-driven video, thus a subversion to the pop-genre. This emphasis on the music is reflected in multiple live performance shots and close-ups featuring the protagonist playing the guitar; these ideas were mainly based on common conventions found within this genre as through my research I found most Britpop videos would feature live performance in the majority of the video, as evident in the following.
The Stone Roses - One Love
The Smiths - This Charming Man
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
Oasis - Supersonic
The images above, taken from existing Britpop music videos, display my interest and inspiration in involving live performance footage in the video as this appeared to be a common trope in the genre; primarily due to the small budgets of independent record labels and their lack of resources in creating a narrative-driven contemporary video; but rather a showcase of the bands to allow the audience to connect with them as real people rather than superstars. In creating my piece, this was a theme that I was attempting to encapsulate as it reflected the true Britpop genre, appealed to the audience and suggested a sense of nostalgic authenticity to my product. The images below show my use of live footage as an adherence to the genre:
The second image also showcases my use of superimposition as a primary editing tool within my video, again, as an adherence to genre; this primitive editing technique was largely commonplace in a majority of late 80s/early 90s British music videos, primarily the indie genre. This effect, accompanied with slow-motion, was often used in videos similar to mine to simulate a psychedelic effect to appeal to the 'Madchester' rave scene. During my research I found that this was a common editing technique used not only in The Stone Roses' music videos, but also in bands such as The Smiths and Happy Mondays; thus, in order to create an authentic recreation of the genre I adhered to the trope and included a multitude of superimposed/slow-motion shots to appeal to the audience that were fans during the release of the Roses' eponymous debut LP. During feedback sessions with varying target audience members, they noted the effectiveness of the superimposition as an appropriate stylistic choice in terms of creating a nostalgic effect on the older audience members, whilst creating an interesting new visual effect for the young adult members of the audience. The superimposed shots I drew inspiration from can be seen below:
The images above show a range of superimposition use in the indie genre; the first of which inspired me to use the editing effect to place multiple version of my protagonist in the same running shot to enable a sense of progression of time and skill. My adherence to this convention is shown below:
Additionally, the use of the 'paint bucket' effect, found in Adobe Photoshop CS6, was employed to somewhat emulate the expressionist Pollock influence found within The Stone Roses' promotional material and their album covers; after feedback sessions, audience members the psychedelic effect it had and thus its relation to the roots of British music and The Stone Roses' music. This adherence to the The Stone Roses' thematic style further implicates the nostalgic effect of the video as a callback to the time of release of their previous material. The use of this effect was used a Cross-media convergence theme as the album cover and advertisement poster feature a piece of Pollock artwork, created by myself, using the same citrus yellow colour scheme, thus linking all three projects. The decision to include this citrus yellow in the colour scheme primarily came from the inspiration from the 'lemon' as a symbol for the band that the audience can connect to each product, both video and ancillary.
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| An example of the paint bucket effect used on the guitar |
The linear nature of my narrative is an adherence to the indie genre, as explained previously, but is yet a subversion of the modern music video; more often than not contemporary music videos will showcase an intricate narrative, usually based on the music, and thus represents the artist as the star. This idea links to Richard Dyer's 'Star Theory', suggesting that celebrities are manufactured by their record labels/institutions for their own financial gain; their image is to create an emotional response from the audience so that they can buy their records and essentially become a household name to increase their brand identity. My project sought to subvert this theory as I felt that the nature of the theory did not appeal to the genre and opposed the idea of independent music and its effect on fans; this subversion was manufactured through my use of a very ordinary protagonist who relates to the band, the audience can thus empathize and relate to the average protagonist looking up to the band as they are most likely doing the same. Furthermore, I felt as if the use of the average protagonist added a self-referential element to the video in that the main character expressed a feeling most Britpop fans can relate to and thus carry out themselves. The narrative itself can perhaps show some adherence to Propp's Narrative theory, this can be suggested through the fact that, despite only having one character, the protagonist may act as the hero of the story as he takes a personal journey to reach what is referred to as 'the magical helper'; in this case the helper would be The Stone Roses themselves as they are the main encouragement for the protagonist to progress. The prize could perhaps be the guitar as a tool in which the protagonist can lead himself to his goal of becoming the band; although, it must be noted that Propp's theory has 8 roles to fill so my video somewhat adheres to some of the roles theorized, perhaps subverting the necessity for the other roles. Additionally, the primitive nature of effects used (Superimposition, Slow-mo and paint bucket) further suggest the 'Indie' genre as a culture in that music videos are often made with little budget to provide a 'grounded' element to it, further adhering to the genre's conventions.
Digipak Cover
The digipak I created somewhat subverted the typical conventions of the indie genre, yet adhered to conventions found within The Stone Roses' subculture. Firstly, the most notable challenge of conventions found within this ancillary product is the minimalist design I decided to take for the cover; this style was primarily chosen to subvert the expressionist art style Roses fans are use to in the band's discography and promotional material. Furthermore, I felt as if the the minimalist aspect brought a modern edge to the band given the contemporary Indie style; this can be seen in Arctic Monkey's 'AM', during my research of this album I found that the art style within the album cover and its poster was very minimalist and monotone, thus inspiring a simple, conceptual design and limited color palette. Additionally, my research into minimalism allowed me to explore different experimental designs, created to implicate a clear message about the band; Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' for example was an album that I researched and the cover is a white brick wall with a removable sticker, thus implicating the central theme of the album. The Beatles' 'The White Album' was also an album I looked into and it contained a blank white cover with the band's name embossed onto the front; the blank cover was made to directly contrast the vivid nature of their previous album, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band', and implicate the experimental nature of the album. Through my research into various minimalist albums I took various inspirations for my cover; one of which being my decision to include a black border surrounding a blank canvas with three lemons positioned centrally. The reason for this was to emphasize the significance of the lemon's symbolism in the band's culture and act as an cross-media convergence logo that can be found in each product. Furthermore, the minimalist aspect was also inspired by the the current Stone Roses promotional material, as it often shows a sole lemon on a blank background, thus creating hype around its symbolism. The typography used, 'Grotesque No. 9', adheres to real media texts as it is a similar block design to that of The Stone Roses other material, suggesting an empathized authenticity to the project, whilst further adding to the nostalgic element of the style. Furthermore, the black border acts a subtle reference to both their albums and single, as a majority contained a similar design. The symbolism of the three lemons suggests that not only is it their third full release but also acts as an nostalgic aspect for the 30th anniversary of their first single, 'Sally Cinnamon'.
The front cover for my digipak primarily subverts the typical conventions for the indie genre, and Britpop sub-genre, as through my research this was often found to be expressionistic as seen in the Roses' previous material. However, it can be suggested that there is some adherence to the contemporary indie genre through the use of minimalism; ti would appear that more and more bands are beginning to determine their own particular art style, seen in Arctic Monkeys' 'AM', thus appealing to the modern day indie genre. I feel as if my decision to subvert the typical conventions as the feedback I received was generally positive in reference to the digipak, giving it a 'professional, clean' look and I felt as if it brought the band into the modern music scene, whilst still appealing to older fans.
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| Modern example of minimalism found in contemporary indie music: Arctic Monkeys - AM |
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| Current 'The Stone Roses' advertisement material |
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| Result of my minimalist cover |
Inside Cover
The inside cover for my digipak features a strong adherence to the genre through the use of expressionist art; this custom made Pollock artwork acts as a callback to the The Stone Roses previous art-style, whilst also indicating the subversion of the conventions found within the genre and the move to minimalism. The yellow colour palette is again featured primarily as as a vehicle for the brand's promotion and expansion as the color and lemon symbol can be associated with the band.
Advert Poster
The advertisement poster for the release of The Stone Roses' third album, appears to strongly adhere to the indie genre and its typical conventions; below is an image of the final poster.
Most notably, the color palette of Yellow/White/Black is continued on this poster to create a strong theme between the products, thus linking them thematically and stylistically. Additionally, the poster includes the typical reviews you would find on a poster; however, the reviewers were chosen as each have a link to the reviewing and feedback of music from the indie label; 'Q' magazine for example is a monthly music magazine that includes features on all the latest music from the indie/alternative scene. Once again, the use of the lemons as a primary symbol on the ancillary and main product can be seen to take center stage to link all the pieces and create an associative symbol for the band to promote themselves with. However, the choice to layer my Pollock-inspired artwork on top of it was used to allow an appeal for older fans of the band, whilst maintaining the minimalist, contemporary style I was aiming for. This suggests both an adherence and subversion to genre, given that modern indie bands will often feature themselves on the poster to allow the audience to create an personal connection with the band; yet the adherence comes from the idea that, as I researched into older posters, the poster would often feature a key symbol to build hype for the fans. Below are poster I used for inspiration in terms of adherence and subversion to the genre.
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