1b – Representation

I am going to discuss representation in relation to my advanced portfolio which was a music video to the Little Comet’s song ‘One night in October’.

The type of genre that our band fits into is the indie genre. We chose to have a band with mixed sexes to appeal to everyone in our target audience of individuals aged between 16 and 24. Before getting the band together it was important to research what other indie bands look and act like so that our band would fit in with them and can be compared to them. We looked at bands such as The Drums, The Kooks, The Vaccines, Arctic Monkeys and Friendly Fires. We specifically looked at these band’s styles and we found that all look like they fit in this particular music genre. Our band consists of 3 teenagers; two boys and a girl. We wanted our band to be easy to identify so we chose to dress them like other indie bands and also act like them. We considered Richard Dyer’s ‘phenomenon of consumption’ theory who proposed that a star is an image. Not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials. We applied this theory as we slightly mocked the genre because we took the image and appearance so far that it was clear that the band were indie. Part of Dyer’s theory involved the aspect of emotional affinity. I feel that our band expresses this successfully. As they create an emotional bond with the audience by making eye contact and directly looking at the camera.

We wanted our band to be recognised for their style and personalities to appeal to an audience of a similar age and we feel that the video was a success because the audience could relate to the lyrics that the band address directly to them throughout. Self identification was also important to consider as popular style for genre currently revolves around simpler ideas. This is why we chose to base our video just on a simple band performance as we wanted to audience to just focus on the band themselves. We felt that the simpler the video was, the easier it was to represent the band and their individual styles. We styled their clothes accordingly to the indie genre and dressed them in clothes such as ray bans, ankle socks, chinos, shirts, t-shirts, bright colours, patterns and jewellery. For the representations to be realistic, it was important to look at idolised stars so that we could imitate elements and particular conventions. We both focused on our inspirations from indie bands and focused on features such as their styles, attitudes and how they express their emotions and personalities. We found that most bands are very laid back and enjoy having fun because the songs are generally quite uplifting. Another one of our aims was for our band to be role models and to be recognised for their unique style. This way they would appeal to everyone and reach a wider audience. The way our band act in the video has an element of humour as they show that they have a good reputation but can also break rules as well.

Projection was another element to consider but this was another level and did not really apply to our band as the indie genre is generally quite relaxed so projection was not a key issue. We chose a very simple set design which was the same throughout the whole video and only had the instruments for props. We shot the video in our school’s drama studio which was perfect because of the plain background and professional lighting equipment. The lighting that we used was artificial and diegetic. We used the spotlights that pointed towards each of the band members making it clear that the focus is just on them. The space was very confined but this is what we were hoping to achieve as we didn’t want the audience to be distracted by any other surroundings. If the location where the video was shot was too big, the video would not be as successful. Acting was also important because we found that from our draft video, the band members did not look enthusiastic enough and the audience lost interest because they didn’t look like they were having fun which didn’t match the tempo of the song.

It was important to make the band’s style fit the song choice otherwise they would not look realistic when being compared to other artists in the current music industry. Their personality and humorous acting enhances this positive atmosphere and the band members all interact with each other which shows how much they enjoy performing.  By addressing the lyrics of the song directly to the camera, it involves the audience more so that they can relate to it. We also used framing and blocking by editing each of the band members into the video when introducing them at the start of the video. We faded the shot in with the kit in and then edited each band member in when the song started.

When editing the video we used cutaways, we synced the music onto the timeline, used cross cuts, parallel editing, transitions, cropped clips accurately to the correct time on the storyboard, put each individual clip in the correct order, adjusted the brightness and contrast of each clip and ensured that there was a mix of long and short clips. We found that the tempo of the music drove our editing as we made changes that we didn’t necessarily plan on making at the start of the process. The genre is reflected in the mise en scene, themes included, performance and editing. The camera work also impacts meaning. For example the movement, angle and shot distance all enhance the representation of the band. We also repeated some shots that we thought were successful but may not have been that recognisable to the audience after seeing it only once. This was effective because it created an interesting contrast and mixed the type of camera angles we used up. We adjusted the brightness and contrast of each clip to increase the quality and make it look more realistic. The framework of the video is attached to the song and ends within the structure so the video is therefore self contained. We used low key lighting, fading at the start and end of the video and our set dressing involved just the band and their instruments. For the framing we created a contrast by moving the band members around physically but also through editing.

I feel that the representation of our band was an overall success as they do look like any other indie band which was our aim. This was helped by editing, mise en scene and our background knowledge of what indie artists do and look like.