Essay Question

Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to Genre.

I think that genre is very apparent in my A2 coursework as this was vital to equip my audience with my music video. I am hoping to analyse my video to show how genre has been shown and created throughout my blog. I will discuss this whilst including theorists such as Grant, Mittell,Altman, McQuail and Goodwin. The song in which my coursework is about is from a song by Maximo Park called 'Apply Some Pressure'.

The overall genre I think that went with my music video was rock however if I was to go into more depth, I would say that it is more likely to be fitted into indie/rock. My reasonings for this is because I do not think the music is as aggressive as stereotypical rock, ie 'Sweet Child Of Mine'. I do however think that this song is more agressive than your average pop song, especially as the band are shown playing their instruments through the majority of the music video. This reflects Grant's belief that within genres there can be some 'recognisable characteristics'. With the band playing the instruments, the audience could think of this as being in the rock genre, however within the music video, there is a narrative perspective which is not vacant in the rock genre. This therefore helps support the sub genre of Indie. The jump shots in my music video are also fast and make a bold jump back and forth from the narrative to the performance episode of the video. This also supports Grant's theory as this is another recognisable characteristics throughout rock/indie music videos. I noticed this at the beginning of my research and knew from the beginning that this was something I definitely had to incorporate into the video.

An editing technique in which I added (double speed) of the lead singer, really helped to give a message to the audience. By using this technique, it made the lead singer look 'jumpy' or 'on edge' so to speak. This went with the lyrics of the song in which the audience may be able to relate to, due to the pressures.  This could also appeal to the audience as how they wish to react to the pressures (erupt etc.). By listening to this song, they may be deflating their chances in wanting to behave in this certain way. Also by using the double speed technique to make the lead singer look on edge, this can also how be people respond to pressure, become fidgety and so forth. This once again mirrors Mittell's beliefs that industries use genre to sell products. By the song being labelled as rock/indie, it is made clear that the emotion that has been used in this video, is the type of emotion the genre will be associated with. When creating the music video, I had this type of genre and emotion in mind and therefore decided to use connotations of pressures and emotion to use with the red coloured ties and the black shirts.

The audience's reaction towards my music video is the most important as this will be a big imapact towards the band, and the genre in which I was trying to portray.McQuail's gratifications are a big impact in the video as this is how the audience would respond or could relate to the music video. I think that the entertainment gratification is important to the music video as I feel that this video would give the audience the feeling of escapism. My reasonings for this is because by the emotion that is shown through my production (stress, pressure,furstration etc.), the audience may feel quite relieved as this relates to the intergration and social interaction gratification. The audience will therefore not feel the need to take their fustration out on anyone as the song itself gives the audience a sense of belonging since the band may appear to know how the audience feels. McQuail's information gratification, may also be seen in the video as the original band may have created this song in the first place to vent the pressures in another way than being agressive. This is why I have tried to interpretate some pressures in my video, ie, the match being set on fire.

Furthermore, my music video also reflects Goodwin's belief of how post modern texts should look.I decided to have a live band performing while I created the production as I feel that this fits the genre well. I have added thought beats into my work by creating short and consistent jump cuts when the beat of the drum occurs. To make sure that my video supports the indie genre, I have also added meat shots of the band members, specifically, the lead singer as this is to support the typical conventions of the genre.

As my production gradually come to the end Bordwell's belief that 'any theme may appear in any genre' is made clear as the theme for my music video is noticed as representing pressure. The fast edited shots I have used throughout, helps give the feeling that something is boiling and will eventually irrupt. With the jump shots  being fast, it can make it hard for the audience to focus on one thing. The colours shown throughout the music video (red and black), help show the audience the anger and frustration behind the song. The film burns used helps show pressure that is gradually building up and when the match is shown it is similar to the pressure of the pan as it is building up and eventually irrupts towards the end of the performance.

I will also write about, Bordwell as he says 'any theme may appear in genre'. I will then write about the pressure, fustration and possibly anger shown through fast edited shots, the colours shown in the video and costumes, as well as the pan boiling.