Evaluation - Question One

Question One: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Hardcore music is a sub-genre that has a combination of several different genres. Punk, rap and metal are infused into one genre to make the sound of hardcore. There are several different codes and conventions within the genre which makes the music what it is. The hardcore music genre is an upcoming genre and it is getting more popular.

The sub-genre of hardcore has its own branches of sub-genres, such as; pop punk, post hardcore and metal core. Hardcore music has been taken on by many local bands such as; Demoraliser, Odessa, Martyr Defiled and The Departed. The majority of hardcore bands now have started out in smaller venues such as the Lamp and Ringside and have worked their way up from the bottom to achieve a higher status.

The dominance throughout the smaller shows is easily visible because of the appearance of the band members. The band members are usually stereotyped to have tattoo's (Frankie Palmeri from Emmure) and also have a certain stage presence of themselves. The essence of the band members when on stage performing is arrogant and cocky which is like the genre of rap. 

Hardcore isn't only from England some of the bands are from North America, South America, Australia and even Asian countries and these bands are starting to show a promising upcoming. Deez Nuts are one of the Australian hardcore bands and like most bands they have their own distinctive sound. The front man JJ Peters was previously in a band called ‘I Killed A Prom Queen’ then left to form his own band with his distinctive assets like rap style vocals and low bass solos.

Music videos contain different camera shots which are the conventions throughout a music video. Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and also mid shots. These shots are used to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, the close ups are used not only to show emotions but they also reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist which is also known as lip syncing. Throughout my music video I used various shots such as long shots, close ups and also mid shots. I did this to have a range of different of effects which the shots would have given me. I also started to challenge the camera shot conventions for a music video. The convention which I challenged was the artist was lip syncing. This is because I didn’t want my music video to use the usual conventions because I wanted my music video to be different to the usual music videos throughout the genre of music I chose. The long shots were generally used in my music video when either of the actors was walking away. This is because it would have created a sense of betrayal because it usually included one of the actors walking away from the other actor. There was one shot which was the male actor walking away and it was a long shot. I did this so it looked like the actor was smaller than he was because of the lyrics “well I should have treated you as a fucking cockroach”. The reason why I chose to do a long shot is because I wanted to relate the music video to the lyrics as much as I could and I thought that the long shot worked well against the lyrics.

Throughout music videos the movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or the band. The camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots. Throughout my music video I challenged the camera movement conventions. This is because the genre of music the band Demoraliser belongs to is to be known as heavy and always fast paced. One of my shots in my music video is of the camera following the male actor whilst he was walking. When I filmed this shot I decided not to use a tracking device or a tripod because I liked the effect it created when I walked with the camera behind him.  This effect made it look unstable which can be related to my chosen song because some people feel unstable after they have been two stepping, in mosh pits or been at a local gig in general.

The mise-en-scene of music videos refers to the arrangement of performers and the props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video. The mise-en-scene puts importance on the representation of something. The mise-en-scene throughout my music video portrays the genre of music and also how the band members dress. The image shows the way that someone who listens to the hardcore genre looks. The clothing usually consists of wearing band merchandise (for example, t-shirts). They usually wear skinny jeans/three quarter jeans with trainers such as Vans, New Balance and Nike Airs. In my music video the male actor wore a Dead Harts t-shirt, a denim jacket, a burgundy beanie hat, black skinny jeans and some Nike trainers.  


The editing techniques throughout music videos vary from video to video. Jump cuts are the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts. Throughout my music video I used several different editing techniques in my music video. I used fading so it flowed to the next shot fluently. I also used jump cuts quite a lot throughout my music video. This is because I wanted my music video to look like it belonged to the genre of music. The jump cuts enabled me to create a look which made it like other videos which are in the genre of music because of the type of music. 

Some music videos are black and white which helps emphasize a particular mood and some videos have artificial lightning which put the artist in an enhanced look. In my music video I didn't use any artificial lighting, all of it was natural lightning. This is because I filmed my music video outside during the day so all of the lightning was natural. I have also got some shots throughout my music video which are black and white. I did this so it mixed the video up a bit and so it also looked quite jumpy. 

Sound in a music video is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson - Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film. In my music video I only have the song. I think this was enough and didn't need any other sound throughout my video because of the heaviness of the song I chose, other noises would sound like they do not belong there. I also could not think of any other noises/sounds I could have put with my music video. 

Props are vital in aiding to add to the scene and also they create significance on particular objects or people. In my video with it been filmed out I did not really need any props. The only props that I used was tobacco and the mobile phone. The male actor used the tobacco throughout the making of the music video because the story line of the video made him feel upset because of how he treated the girl so he used to smoke to calm himself down. The mobile phone was used for the girl. The mobile phone was only in one shot of the music video and that was when she got a text message saying "I'm always watching you". I may not have used a lot of props but I like the way my video has worked.