The above mis en scene elements denote various alcoholic products (bottle of vodka, beer cans etc) which signify that the male protagonist is an alcoholic. Notably, the fact the fact he is looking at a picture inform the audience that the betrayal of his lover is the reason for his alcoholism – my male protagonist is an individual who feels lost without his love and is drinking to escape his problems.The notion of being lost in society and therefore lacking an identity is another key genre characteristic of alternative rock music videos.
I also further developed the concept of extreme emotion by incorporating various psychological elements into my music video such as a dream sequence, supposed delusions and flash backs, all of which illustrate that the male protagonist is haunted by his memories. I felt the combination of the above psychological elements would give the audience an insight into the psychological conflict of my protagonist, thus legitimising his extremity of emotion as depicted by the screen shots below.
The above facial expressions represent an amalgamation of anger, desperation and anguish, emotions that are characteristic of the alternative rock genre and therefore comply with Andrew Goodwin’s belief that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
Whilst my music video conforms to the generic conventions of extreme emotion and individuality, one could argue that my music video also challenges the generic conventions of alternative rock by its exploration of love as seen below.
As previously discussed, alternative rock music videos typically direct their frustrations towards a political matter, rather than a personal conflict, where a sense of individuality is often displayed by the artists boldly criticising society.
My music video further challenges the generic conventions of alternative rock music by adopting a narrative approach where no performance based elements are apparent. My research highlighted that the majority of alternative rock music videos were either entirely performance based or concept based. However, my audience research highlighted that, 50% of my participants felt that the narratives in alternative rock music videos either lacking or were not effectively communicated thus illustrating that alternative rock audiences would appreciate a narrative based video.
As a result I decided to create a narrative based video which retained the symbolism present in concept based alternative rock music videos thus disregarding and ultimately challenging the generic conventions of this genre. In my opinion, I further challenged the generic convention of the genre by employing a sophisticated non-linear narrative which incorporated postmodern narrative devises such as a dream sequence, flashbacks and psychological delusions. In order to effectively communicate my narrative to my audience, I decided to use colour to separate the different narrative transitions in my music video.
The screen shots below depict the present, the past (flashback), the dream sequence and the delusional thoughts of my male protagonist respectively.
Furthermore, I also developed the principles of subjectivity, a key concept in postmodern media texts, where it is recognised that audiences are not given an objective account of the truth, but rather, a subjective portrait of events. In my music video, I decided to incorporate the concept of subjectivity, by not only including my male protagonist's psychological delusions, which blurs the line between imagination and "reality", but also by representing my male protagonist as an alcoholic. I purposely decided to portray my male protagonist in the above manner, where my intensions were to create a suspicion in the minds of my viewers, as to whether a relationship existed at all, or whether it is all a fabrication of my male protagonist's drunken imagination?
I believe Goodwin’s ideologies regarding music video production provide a good insight into what constitutes a real media product. Notably, my music video conforms to Goodwin’s belief that music videos should demonstrate a relationship between the lyrics and the corresponding visuals. As I interpreted the lyrics of the song to be about a failed relationship, I incorporated various mis en scene elements that are associated with romance such as photos, a rose and a fireplace.
Screen shots illustrating a more specific insight into the relationship between the lyrics and the
subsequent visuals of the music video can be seen below.
When the lyrics “I smell you on my clothes” are delivered, the male protagonist sniffs his shirt and rips it off in anger.
When the lyrics “You can let me go” are delivered, the music video displays a delusional thought of the male protagonist in which he is hugging the female protagonist. The music video then cuts to the male protagonist, who is seen hugging thin air and soon realises it was all in his mind – his memories of the female protagonist will not “let him go” – thus showing a contradictory relationship between the lyrics and the corresponding visuals – ultimately adding to the psychological nature of my music video.
My music video also demonstrates a relationship between the music of the song and the subsequent visuals of my music video, further supporting Goodwin’s ideology meaning that my music video draws parallels with real life media products. For example, during the breakdown of the song, where an electric guitar becomes a more prominent feature, which ultimately leads to the instrumental of the song adopting a faster pace, the editing of my music video is also increased. As this instrumental change signifies the climax of the song, I decided it would be appropriate to have this instrumental change to also represent the climax of my protagonist’s psychological torment. I achieved this by employing fast cuts, jump cuts and more anguished shots of my protagonist as well as increasing the frequency of the shots connoting the protagonist’s delusional thoughts during the above described instrumental change.
Although, my artist does not belong to a major label, he still faces the demands of the music industry where he needs to optimise his exposure to the public. In order to both fulfil my artist’s need for exposure and capture the full intensity of the anguished facial expressions, present in my music video, I have incorporated various close ups of my artist (see above screen shots which denote anguish at the beginning of the post).
My artist appreciated the defined visual style of my music video and its symbolic nature. I can only assume that he will continue developing the above elements in his subsequent videos so that he can become an identifiable brand. It is clear that my artist will need to develop reoccurring motifs throughout his work in order to establish himself as a unique and appealing brand, which should ultimately optimise his profitability, as suggested by Goodwin.
Goodwin also proposed that music videos often reference the notion of looking. My music video conforms to this ideology, where my male protagonist is seen looking at photos and a poster of the “Joker” as seen the screen shot below.
Notably, the concept of looking is further explored in the fast cuts denoting the "Joker", during the breakdown of my music video, where one could argue that the "Joker" is watching and enjoying the sight of the male protagonist's declining mental state (see screen shots used to highlight the presence of inter-textual references).
My protagonists also feels that he is being watched and mocked by the female protagonist and her new lover as seen below.
Furthermore, the fact that my music video contains inter-textual references means it conforms to Goodwin’s identified conventions of music video. For example: my music video incorporates various inter-textual references to the “Joker”, which are symbolically used to highlight my protagonist’s declining psychological health, especially during the breakdown of the song (see screen shots below).
Other inter-textual references in my music video allude to the rock genre as seen in the screen shot below.
These posters pay homage to the rock genre and therefore help the audience identify the genre of my music video.
Although, Goodwin proposed that music videos often include a voyeuristic treatment of the female body, I chose not to conform to this principle as I felt it was not appropriate when considering the lyrical content of my music video. I also believe that this sexist treatment of women may needlessly alienate any potential female viewers.
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