How we used Conventions of Real Media Texts in Our A Level Production

Form:

Conforming - Film opening

Challenging - Music Video

-Long in duration shots -Wide Shots -Establishing Setting - Titles  Examples: Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)

Music videos (Vernallis) -didn’t break the rules of continuity editing -didn’t feature ‘foregrounded’ cuts   One Shots -Bright colours -plain backgrounds -Lots of quirky props -Bright/noteworthy costumes  -Mise en scene providing the progression -Narrative within shot -Frames within frames -Artist's movement driving shot movement Examples: Taylor Swift, We are Never Ever Getting back together (Declan Whitebloom, 2012)

Narrative:
Film Opening conformed to Todorov, Levi-Strauss


Music Video also used Todorov, Propp but didn't use music video narratives like Vernallis as much


Genre:


Coming of age genre

• Young protagonist
• Quirky best friend
• Best friend as love interest
• Transitional stage of life
• Seeking independence/self discovery

But

• no high school setting
• no quirky family
• parents as challenging the protagonist's choices

Indie Pop

• retro style
• investigating ideas of traditional femininity

Representation:

Typical coming of age drama protagonists -male -troubled -nerd/popular -awkward/misfit/looking for place to fit in Examples: Charlie in ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’, Sutter in ‘The Spectacular Now’	Lila -female -troubled -not defined in those terms, not in high school setting so less focus on those stereotypes and marks of status -awkward, quirky, likeable, relatable
Typical Female Pop Stars -Other indie stars less polished, elements of masculinity in their dress like Gabrielle Aplin’s leather jacket -Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze   Recent Indie stars in the Top 40 are also usually male like Ben Howard, Bastille	Ava -Conforms to retro style but is sophisticated and in control, sauve and chic -More feminine that other indie artists -Ava not sexualised, skirts are mid thigh length

Style:
Indie Style
Film Opening conformed:

1. Birds
2. Sunrise shots/natural lighting
3. Birds
4. Travelling
5. Photography/photos
6. notebooks/writing
7. Handheld camera
8. Gentle/mellow guitar music

Music video was limited in its conformity:

1. Our video is a lot more bright and cheery than most indie music videos but this serves to heighten its satirical nature
   
   
2. Our music video is less gritty and uses less realism than many indie videos, but this can be a convention when producing videos for a track with an ideological message such as Lily Allen's 'The Fear' whichtake place in a doll-house style mansion filled with giant presents and balloons to connote the fakery and greed of celebrity culture
3. Ava's image is far more feminine than many other female British indie artists, conforming more in this respect to American indie artists like She and Him 
4. incorporated a retro feel into their artist identity through their dress sense and iconography such as tea/rockabilly dresses