Mood board

In order to gain inspiration for my music video I comprised a mood board of images and themes that will help me to gather the sense and direction I want to take for my video. The mood board shows pictures of loneliness and depression which are themes i wanted to target in my video. The board centres around an ordinary living room setting which I intend to use as the main backdrop to my video. I also included pictures of long exposure photography to suggest a sense of the movement of time which will also be an important theme in my video.

Chosen Song and Permission from the Band

After brainstorming ideas for each song and looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each, I decided on 'Pepper Tea' by 'Bellevue Days'. I felt that the flow and consistency of the song would aid in developing a motif and building a narrative which could be refined during later planning. The next step was to contact the band and ask for permission to use their song for my video. I contacted them through Facebook as their profile indicated that replies are often received within an hour. As promise the reply was swift and brought good news as the band allowed me to go ahead and use their song, as seen bellow.

Evaluating Potential Music

After listening to various podcasts from the website 'Best of British Unsigned' I selected these three songs to research further as potential choices for my music video.

Title: Orange
Artist: North Atlas
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Genre: Alternative Rock/Electronic Rock
Influences: Biffy Clyro, Nine Inch Nails
Advantages: Clear lyrics to amplify action of video, steady beat gives song movement and directionality
Disadvantages: Repetitive prohibiting narrative growth, heavy beat may distract
Brainstorm Buzzwords: Party, dancing, live action, aggressive, dark mise-en-scene

Title: Pepper Tea
Artist: Bellevue Days
Location: Croydon, England
Genre: Alternative Rock
Influences: Brand New, The Xcerts, Modest Mouse
Advantages: Layers to develop narrative, clear lyrics for amplification, beats build and drop which may aid action
Disadvantages: Slow beat not best for live action, repeat lyrics often 


Title: F.A.C.E
Artist: Lowki
Location: London, England
Genre: Elecronic
Influences: London Grammar, The XX
Advantages: Smooth sound allows more options, allows focus on movement and quality of shots
Disadvantages: Slow beat prohibits movement of action, no clear lyrical theme to amplify 

Researching Unsigned British Music

In order to find a suitable song for my music video I searched the criteria into google. When I had searched for unsigned British bands I came across the website called 'Best of British Unsigned Music'. 

The website produces a podcast every week with unsigned British artists, also providing a map with artists geographical location on which you can click and find out more about a specific band. After listening to some podcast I had discovered some artist i would be suitable and proceeded to research them further.

Genre and Music Videos

Genre by definition is a specific style or category within a wider grouping which shares similar characteristics. Therefore, genre is a grouping of the same codes and characteristics, something which can be utilised by particular institutions and media productions in a number of beneficial ways. Christine Gledhill suggests 'Genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes within a genre'. In other words, media companies use certain characteristics and codes when producing content in order to target a specific genre audience.

    

For example, Modest Mouse’ video for ‘King Rat’ uses a dark mise-en-scene with various shades of blue in order to connote to this motif which is constantly referenced in the alternative rock genre in which it belongs. This video also uses amplification of the beat as movement falls with it, something also seen in ‘Take a Walk’ by Passion Pit as the ball acts as a physical marker for the movement and pace of the music. Therefore, another example of genre characteristics being used to suggest genre in music videos. Media institutions aim to use certain genre characteristics in order to narrow the target audience, allowing to include as much target audience based content as possible. Nicolas Abercrombie says ‘Television producers set out to exploit genre conventions’ as this allows marketing to a narrow audience. Targeting specific audiences by knowing their consumption makes it easier to market specific merchandise, other artists and attach the band to specific festivals or other promotional events in order to widen profits and further the artist. However, Abercrombie goes on to suggest ‘The boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable’ which can be seen through Passion Pits use of a bright mise-en-scene in ‘Take a Walk’ (often seen in pop videos), which does not support the usually darker tone mise-en-scene as seen in ‘King Rat’, a characteristic of the alternative rock genre of which they both belong. Supporting Abercrombie’s idea and suggesting that institutions may be shifting from the ridged rules of genre in order to target a wider audience.

Genre is used by audiences similarly to how institutions used genre by from a consumer viewpoint. Genre can be used by audiences to connect to a specific subculture with the genre of music may be associated with. This allows for consumption of music in various ways in which suits the subculture. As Gunther Kress suggests genre is 'a kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a (frequently repeated) social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes' which suggest that an audience’s consumption of music is affected by genre. One example of this is the attendance for genre specific festivals. Festivals such as Download are aimed at the Metal and Hard Rock genre, so attendees can expect a certain subculture associated with this genre to be present, on the other hand Glastonbury is a festival aimed at a mainstream pop audience which will also attract a subculture of its own. As well as being of social benefit, festivals are also an opportunity for consumers to discover other band of the same genre and purchase merchandise for the genre. Therefore, genre can be used by audiences to consume music in a particular way that a-lines with their interests, highlighting the importance of genre and subculture within an audience’s consumption. 

       

However, John Hartley suggest ‘Genres are ideological closure; they limit the meaning potential of a given text.’ Which may suggest genre is harmful for the creative medium. Animal’s ‘House of the Rising Son’, Procol Harum’s ‘Whiter Sade of Pale’ and Moody Blues’ ‘Knights in White Satin’ are all genre related videos from the 1960s, each genre specific characteristics such as performance and the overuse of perfectly choreographed band members in the background. As some characteristics such as performance are used today, some have stayed firmly in the 60s and are now era specific. Therefore, genre characteristics may have some room to evolve and influence/be influenced as we can see from looking at both era of videos. This influences may be from pop culture such as important issues facing a generation, change in social ideologies and views and even simply modernisation which genre must and will adapt to in order to remain relevant and reflective of its audience.