M1 - Justifying my Content

Genre -
The song I chose to cover in my music video is an indie-rock song. Indie-rock songs tend to be more upbeat and include some hidden meanings behind the lyrics. Therefore to film a successful music video I will have to identify the hidden meaning behind the lyrics of my chosen song, Damage Done by the Sea Girls, and try hint to this in my music video.
Indie-rock songs are typically performance and narrative pieces performed in abstract locations so that the band can show off their energy to the viewers/fans. They also tend to contain colours that represent the theme or mood of the song and are filmed using a variety of shot types.

Themes of the Song -
Here is a quote directly from the lead singer of the Sea Girls who wrote the song I am covering in my music video:

"Damage Done is about young love and moving on. The night before the song was written I recognised that a part of my past was amazing, a bit flawed and broken all at the same time. I wanted to try to be at peace with it, and to realise that better things are to come rather than holding onto the past. I sort of told myself I'm singing to no one if I'm not thinking of the future"

From this and reading the lyrics I think it is obvious to identify the themes of this song:
   - Young love and moving on ( And you only wanted me )
   - Forgetting the past ( Who needs memories? )
   - Not being able to change damage that has happened ( The damage is damage is done )
   - Feeling alone ( Talking to myself again )

My Visuals -
I have tried to reflect the themes and meanings I picked up on in the story go my song lyrics, and portray them successfully in the visuals of my music video. I have tried to reflect the theme of young love and moving on in my music video by having a female actor pose the part of an ex-love interest throughout my music video, so that it appears like the lead singer and the ex-love interest are talking about their past love.
I will try to achieve this by introducing the ex-love interest on lyrics such as "Took it all last night", assuming a reference to each others love that they took. Then seeing the lead singer, sing the line "and there's no, going back", only to cut to the ex-love interest again when the lyrics say "Who needs memories?". I also plan to film the 1st Bridge where the lyrics are "Talking to myself again" four times, in a way where it appears like the ex-love interest character is talking to herself again.

I also plan to use a variety of colours, such as red, blue, yellow and purple, in my music video to reflect the upbeat overtone of the song and the points of the lyrics which have more energy and can be reflected by a change in colour.

Conventions -
For my music video I plan to conform to the conventions of an indie-rock video therefore I will be using my research of genre conventions to aid the process of filming and producing my music video.

Indie-rock videos tend to be quite low budget, and to film my music video I don't have any finance so therefore I am already conforming to this convention. They also tend to be filmed in simple locations as the video is focused on the artist and the music they play rather than anything else, therefore my plan to film in a shed fits this convention of using a simple, easily accessible location.

Indie-rock videos also tend to be performance videos with narrative segments inter-cut throughout the video. For my music video I plan to conform to this convention by having the main part of my music video be a live performance and intercut narrative scenes that link directly to the lyrics at that time.

I also plan to use typical camera shots seen in indie-rock music videos which involves a lot of establishing shots of the whole band, close ups of instruments and band members; and low angle shots of the artist. I strong convention in indie-rock music videos is the camera being hand held in order to create a greater sense that it's 'real' and almost as if the audience is watching live instead of through a screen; therefore I plan to shoot the majority of the performance segment of my music video using a handheld camera stabiliser so that there is still that 'real' feel to my video.

I also plan to try create some iconography of the band in my music video, so all the band members will be wearing Hawaiian shirts, as creating iconography is a convention of the genre.

The final convention of indie-rock music videos I will try to conform to is in the post-production stage where clips are cut on the beat. This is because cutting on the beat makes the video easier to watch for viewers as it is what your brain expects to happen, making it more comfortable to watch.

Metaphors and symbols -
I would like to include an object as the metaphor inn my music video, however I have not quite worked out howe to do this yet. I thought to include a clip of a guitar being smashed which would represent the love between the lead singer and his ex-love interest however this is all dependant on if I can find an old or cheap guitar to smash. The guitar would be a metaphor for love as when it is smashed the energy of the song lyrics and visuals would increase showing that love creates a lot of energy and powerful emotion when it is broken, however when the song comes to an end, I plan to show the guitar being in pieces on the floor, which is to be representative of the fact with work you could put the guitar back together - the same as love.

How my Ideas are Suited -
My ideas are suited for the genre as I have done extensive research into the genre of the song I chose, indie-rock, and the conventions this genre; therefore I know what ideas and themes are suited for the genre. My ideas are suited to the genre as they involve visuals that are directly imagined whilst researching and looking at the conventions of a indie-rock video.

My target audience is people between the age of 16 and 22 who are interested in the indie music genre. My ideas are suited to the target audience as I have covered an indie song in my music video, there are also no childish themes in the video that may deter viewers over the age of 16. My music video is also cut on the beat which means that its is comfortable to watch, which my target audience would prefer and younger audiences may not be too bothered about. Finally my music video will involve lots of energy and bright colours which will keep my target audience interested and attentive to my music video as things are constantly changing a new features are being added.

Technical Justification -
I will make sure that once I have completed my media product and am happy with the final result I will export it in the highest file quality possible, an Apple ProRes 422 file, this means both the visual and audio media is in the highest possible quality; this means I can send it to the client in this file format so it is immediately ready for broadcast in HD quality.