3. Close Up
It’s conventional in rock music videos to have a shot of the artist playing their instruments. We used it
in our music video because we feel that the guitar would be a good icon for Jack as his music does use
acoustic guitars either with or without other instruments on top. We used this at the beginning of the
video because we found that this was conventional of a lot of rock videos in many of the sub genres.
We started this shot as the song starts which we found in a lot of videos.
Example: Learn My Lesson, Young Guns
The third shot in this video is of the
drummer. This happens at the same
point that the drums start in the song,
which is similar to what we did with
Jack and his guitar.
4. Mid Shot
We used the mid shot because it shows Jack playing his guitar which is conventional of
rock music videos which can be used to help show that the sound is real, not computer
generated. As our video was mainly performance based, this was a very important shot for
us and we used it throughout the video. By using this shot it helps to identify the artist
with a certain instrument.
Example: Talk You Down, The
Script
There are several cuts back to
mid shots of each member
playing their instruments.
5. Wide Shot (Narrative)
Although we focused on performance we did have some other shots to break it up and
keep the audience watching. Like in movies, its common for music videos to have a wide
shot of extreme long shot of the location, whether it be for the narrative or where the
artists are performing. This was close to the beginning of the video, and establishes the
video’s location.
Example: Crossfire, Brandon Flowers
This wide shot establishes a location for
the video and helps give the audience
an idea of what’s going on.
6. Close Up 2
Another convention of music videos is to have a close up of the artist. This shot can be seen in
music videos from all genres. This gives artist recognition, which for new artists is especially
important. We followed convention by having Jack lip-sync the song during this shot. This was
another shot that we came back to throughout the video.
Example: Misery, The Maine
This video’s main focus is on the lead
singer ands gives a face for the
audience to remember. As in our
video, he is lip syncing to the song,
another convention of all music
videos.
7. Mid Shot 2
This was another mid shot we used as part of the narrative to the video. We decided to have his
guitar in the shot because we wanted the audience to start recognising it and associating it with
Jack. This was also why we had the guitar as the picture for inside the digipak. Even by just having
the guitar in shot connotes rock or a sub genre of rock despite
him not playing. Example: Weight of the World,
Young Guns
As part of the narrative they have
shots of them waiting at a train
station with their instruments
which connotes rock, because we
can see the guitars.
8. Long Shot
The same premise was used for this shot. Although he isn’t playing, having the guitar in shot
would make the guitar an icon of him and connote genre, without the audience knowing too
much about the artist. A shot like this isn’t a widely used convention, but can be seen used in
music videos of this genre.
9. My music video and...
• Genre
• Rock - soft rock/indie
• Narrative
• Audience
• Representation
10. Genre
• The video is a soft rock or indie video.
• This is shown through the performance and
representation of the artist.
11. Soft Rock/indie elements
• Jack’s guitar connotes his genre to the
audience even if they haven’t heard the song
• The simplicity of the video – there’s no SFX’s
or laser lights that are so common in pop/RnB
videos
• Shots of Jack playing his guitar and close ups
of him singing
12. Narrative
• Focuses on performance which is more
common in rock videos.
• Interweaves some narrative elements, a
convention of all music videos.
13. Audience
• The primary audience is young people from
about 16. There is a similar demographic for
artists of this genre already, for example Ed
Sheeran.
14. Representation: Ancillary Products
• We stuck to the conventions of
digipaks and adverts through the
representation of Jack.
• We included his guitar in the
image to connote genre.
• His isolation shows that he is a
solo artist and also connotes that
his music is simple, like the image
– it doesn’t have a lot going on in
terms of electronic sound. This is
why we chose to do the image
outside, because of the natural
aspects of the location and the
natural aspects of his music.
