1. Q1) In what ways does
your media product use,
develop or challenge
forms and conventions
of real media product
By Sonam Dhillon

2.  We did several weeks of research before we worked on our main
product and we gained valuable knowledge on the indie genre.
 We noticed from several videos of arcade fire, artic monkeys that
indie tend to have a mix between performance, narrative and
concept based videos instead of focusing on one so we decide to
infuse the three together.
 Artic Monkeys – Fluorescent Adolescent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma9I9VBKPiw&ob=av2e
 Arcade Fire – Ready To Start
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oI27uSzxNQ

3.  The clothing is generally casual from indie bands
however as shown in the previous videos costumes
are also included, this shows it is not a compulsory
convention of the genre as the situation could
determine what clothes to wear.
 Indie clothing is often retro, simple shirt and jeans
however different artist may vary.

4.  An example of the costume used in the music video
by arctic monkeys, this follows the concept of the
video and song and shows a particularly dress sense
is not necessarily required.

5.  Casual clothing while the band is performing. This
image is from the video link of arcade fire, there music
video is them performing there concert, they wear the
same clothes through out and because there
performance has no theme, they wear there natural
indie clothes and follow the conventions set, this is how
they would dress everyday.

6.  We noticed most indie music is not mainstream and are funded
independently therefore it is clear that the quality does not match that of pop
music.
 We followed this convention in our video to give our main product a similar
aspect, we made the video interesting yet feel low budgeted instead of
expensive special effects and transitions, we focused more on the dynamic
shots and camera angles to give our video that wow factor. There are no
special effects but simple transitions from one scene to the next.
 Another example of an indie music video which proves this point is The
Smiths – Panic which uses simple yet eye catching techniques to grasp the
audiences attention.
 The Smiths – Panic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AlH2oYedfk

7.  We decide to also include humor into our video as
most indie videos tend to not take themselves
seriously despite the topic raised in the song being
serious.
 Though this contradicts itself its an entertaining factor
when viewing it from an audiences perspective.
 The Smiths – Panic, Artic Monkeys – Fluorescent
Adolescent and Arcade Fire music video all have no
serious storyline and have a comic feel to them.

8.  We did challenge this indie convention with our
digipack as we tried to follow the theme of the album
“stranded” and although our main product (music
video) followed the storyline we did it in a amusing
way, however you can still understand the mood of the
main character despite the audience laughing in the
video and this is made clearer in the inside of the

9.  Despite making our front cover challenge the music
video, it did not challenge other front covers of indie
bands. For example our front cover expresses how
this person is feeling, which is stranded and alone
therefore his tense body language, this is an example
of a digipack which has the same idea. It shows
sinister with the facial expression and red background
colour which represent blood, death and lust.

10.  This is also clear in our magazine advert which follows
the same idea of the front cover. This shows a fox with
sad facial expressions and the eyes represent the
temperament of this animal.

11.  Although our magazine advert features an animal, it has the
same conventions as this example of noel callaghers high flying
birds. It gives the website and informs the audience it’s the no1
album at the moment, with brief quotes from interviews about it.
We chose to challenge that and not include quotes as we wanted
to use the space to focus more in bold that it’s the number one
album and that it includes the hit single “down in the mouth,” if
people are aware that it contains this song they may be
interested to hear the rest.

12. Conclusion
 We used and developed most of the indie genres conventions but
we also contradicted certain aspects we felt would make ours
stand out. For example the nature of the video and the way in
which it was shot is similar to an indie video, we used narrative,
concept and performance however we tried to challenge
following just one and infuse all three into one video. This was an
effective way of getting our point across and received positive
feedback. We also followed conventions such as the humor
shown in the indie music video but decided to make our title
“stranded” more clearer in the digipack rather than make this the
same as the video. We also followed the conventions with indie
clothing which is often casual, most characters including the lead
guitarist of the band wear shirts, jackets, trainers however we
went against this with the lead singer and actor as he's shown
being fired from work, this needs to come across as more formal.