Indie-electro music video conventions- Poni Hoax: Antibodies

When considering concepts for our indie-electro music video, I felt that it was important to explore the typical genre conventions further by using a case study of an indie-electro music video, as those within the indie genre are so varied to suit the unique style of the artist, and so often therefore break the expected conventions for a music video and by furthering my research, I can make more informed decisions on aspects within my own music video.
Andrew Goodwins theory of conventions of a music video are that:
-Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
-There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
-There is a relationship between music and visuals
-The demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close up shots of the artists to develop a motif style
-There are often inter-textual references
-There is a frequent reference to the notion of looking
-There if often vouyeristic treatment of the female body

However, this music video has only a tenuous link to some of the expected criteria, and therefore breaks the expected convention of a music video, but as my research has shown, it also however conforms to the expected criteria within the indie-electro music video conventions.

The music video itself begins with a brief tight shot of a large floating bubble, which is the opening enigma to hook the audiences attention. It then hard cuts to a steady sequence of close up shots of a naked woman, and it briefly pans up and down following her movement. This makes the audience begin to assume that this is going to be a vouyeristic portrayal of her as a woman, by exposing her naked, and with the movement of the camera following her, it begins to feel like we as the audience are, as Laura Mulvey identifies 'The Male Gaze.'  However, these shots are still enigmatic, as the audience want to know, who she is, where she is, and why she is there, as very little is revealed at the start of the music video due to the tight camera shots and the out of focus shots used at 0.14. It then almost disorientates the audience by cutting back to the image of the floating bubble, and the audience are aware that the two are in very different locations, due to the heavy cold blue focus of the shot of the bubble, and the natural warming soft colours used within the shots of the woman. It is at this point that the audience begin to question whether it is a mere parallel narrative, or if the bubble has a deeper meaning, and is a metaphorical representation of the woman, or indeed her situation.

The music video then again hard cuts to a shot of the woman unwrapping something (yet again another enigma) and the audience discover that she is infact un-wrapping a pregnancy test. This completely throws the audience, and completely alters the entire tone of the music video from here on in. The beat and lyrics kick in, and the music video takes full swing, conforming to one of Goodwins conventions (there is a relationship between music and visuals) as it cuts to the beat, and the song becomes more intense along with the visual shots. It also makes the audience re-evaluate their initial assumption that the display of the woman was voyeuristic, and it now seems as if all of the shots of the woman, with her head in her hands, and her tensing feet, and the following of her movement was to represent her distress. It also makes the audience re-evaluate her representation by being naked, changing it to one of her being viewed as innocent and vulnerable, and therefore makes her position seem that much more threatening to the audience. However, before the audience can discover more, they are almost teased as it again cuts to the shot of the alone floating bubble, which the audience now assume is a symbol of the woman in her vulnerable and fragile position. This shot however lasts for a brief two seconds before it returns to a shallow tight focus shot of the woman, which both fully reveals her face to the audience, showing the sorrow and hurt that is portrayed through her eyes, and her sense of entrapment by 

the tight close up camera shot. It then cuts from this momentary one second tight shot, to a long shot of her in what the audience can assume is either a hotel room, or her or somebody else's home. By using this long shot of her taking the pregnancy test and exposing her surroundings, it suddenly makes the situation seem more real, and frightening for the character, as the first 20 seconds of shots are almost entirely spent on establishing a personal understanding of the character and the audience already feel as if they are building a bond with her through the use of small close ups, to then show her far away and isolated the audience are almost shut out from her life they were briefly let into.

It again cuts to the shot of the travelling bubble, and the audience sense that it is on a journey and the audience begin to feel a sense of hope that it may escape, like the woman. However, it also uses a long shot of the bubble and exposes that the bubble is in what we can assume, is an airport lounge. It is a space which should be familiar and almost normal to the audience, but it is represented as eerie due to its vast emptiness which should be bustling with people, and its cold blue colour scheme. It can also be perceived that it is the woman's total isolation and feeling of loneliness, that no one is prepared to help her or come to her aid, and she is trapped within something that should be freeing, like the location of the airport. This location could perhaps be another symbol for the hopes that the woman had for her sexual encounter which initiated this situation, as she may have believed it would be a form of escapism or an exciting romantic encounter, but it has only made her more trapped and alone than before.

Another shot completely manages to instantly connect the two storylines, by showing a long of the woman overlooking an airport, where we have just seen the bubble trapped inside. It also clarify's the woman's location and the audience can be certain that she is supposed to be in a hotel close to the airport. This amplify's her loneliness, as even the hotel room does not belong to her. A focus pull is used and she becomes out of focus as the audience are drawn into the sight of the plane preparing for take off, as if her thoughts are focused on the longing to escape somewhere, whilst she is so trapped within her position. It again brings about the question as to why she is in a hotel room.

The shots then again fast cut to the pace of the quickened beat, and a series of blurred images are shown, which slowly become more in focus, and the audience can eventually decipher that the blurred image is of cavier. This could simply be used to inform the audience of her status and wealth, or more importantly, it could be a link to the potential baby that she is carrying. However, when she is seen to be eating and savoring the fish eggs, it shows her to be ruthless, and her determinism to rid herself of any problem, portraying to the audience the sense that she would do the same with any potential child.
The other out of focus images become clear, and it is clear that the shots are that of a fish out of water. The shots again quickly cut, and focus on showing the fish as it battles in such a circumstance, by showing close ups of its troubled breathing and gills. The audience are likely to just assume at this point that the fish is again a symbol of the woman within her difficult situation, which is supported by the cut to the shot of the woman writhing in a similar way to the fish. However, the next shot actually reveals her holding the fish, watching it struggle in a rather sadistic manner. She toys with the fish as if deciding whether to grant it its life or not (another metophore for the decision she has to potentially make.) During this time, shots of the pregnancy test are again shown, but due to the angle of the shot, the audience are unable to read the results, which further keeps the audience engaged as they want to find out what the result is. However, the audience can assume by the lady's actions, that the test result was pregnant.

A close up shot of a needle is then shown gleaming between the woman's hands as she reaches towards the fish, further building upon this slightly 'evil' representation of this woman, however she merely caresses it. It again represents her as powerful, by being able to end someone else's life, and it makes the audience on edge about both of her decisions (whether she will end both the fishes, or the potential childs life.)

The cuts pace again quicken, cutting from the shots of the bubble within the airport lounge, the woman's body, the fish and the needle. The pace slows down only to reveal a needle piercing through something (it is again yet unclear to the audience.) However, it then shows the woman piercing her own neck, and it again cuts to the shot of the needle piercing the previously unknown material, and the audience assume that her body was the previously unknown object that was pierced by the needle. The shots then become out of focus, and we are only able to see 
the woman writhing in pain, and it again quickly cuts to the bubble as the last shot of the video. The shot lingers on the desolate luggage collection point and the bubble disappears with only the empty airport luggage lounge on display. By ending it on this shot, it leaves the audience with the conclusion that she disposed of the problem herself, by the large needle that the previous shots focused around, and so the bubble when it disappears, both fills the audience with relief that she is no longer trapped, but also with sorrow at how the last shot of the desolate airport lingers and nothing appears out of place, but the audience have just followed the bubble/woman's journey and within a few moments it seems as if the bubble/woman was never there at all.

Narrative structure
The narrative structure of this music video is that of an ambiguous and impressionist narrative. It relies heavily upon the audiences own personal interpretation to make sense of the images and symbols they are shown, unlike many music videos which follow a clear linear narrative. This is often a style used within music video's as it relies upon the audience extracting their own meaning from the video, which makes the video appear as if it is personally reaching out to its audience, as often the audiences own interpretation is one by which they can relate to. It is also commonly used within this genre to keep the audience engaged, as to what the possible shots could mean which is normally a conclusion only reached by watching the entirety of the music video. It is also however a parallel narrative, sometimes defined as a 'Double Journey' as the storyline of the music video follows the journey of both the woman and the bubble, and initially the two seem completely unrelated, but as the story goes own, it becomes clear that the bubble is a symbol of the woman, and the location of the two scenes, are linked.

Editing

The editing used within the music video again heavily conforms to the conventions of the indie-electro genre, as it sticks to hard cuts to cut between shots. This is often used to try to convey the sense of realism of the story that is not portrayed by using other techniques such as cross fades. However, it does subvert from this idea of trying to convey realism, by quickening the pace at which the shots are cut at, so that the pace matches the tone of the video, and helps build the feeling of intensity that the character is feeling, which does therefore also add to the sense of realism as the fast paced shots portray her sense of panic well to the audience. It does not heavily rely upon the editing of the video, but of the content within the shots to appeal to its audience.

Lighting

The lighting within the shots as previously mentioned contrast between the two scenes. The scenes within the hotel use subtle artificial lighting as if again to put across the mundane sense of realism, however the shots within the airport lounge are dimly lit, and the shots all appear cold due to the subtle blueness of the shot, which is gained by placing a blue screen over the light. These two contrasting environment's help accentuate the characters feelings, by showing a seemingly warm environment, and then cutting to a shot which appears cold, visually represents her feelings of sorrow and loneliness.

Camera shots

The shot types used within the music video are all again used to help portray her feelings of entrapment, by using mainly tight shots and close ups to emphasise her feeling of claustrophobia, and so that the audience can relate to the characters distress. The angle of the camera of which it was shot from constantly changes, to appear as if the audience are watching her and the story from every angle, again adding to the sense of entrapment that the character must feel, and it makes the audience feel a sense of guilt as if they are partially responsible.

The camera movement is again used to make the shots flow better and appear less rigid and therefore more realistic, as the frequent uses of camera pans acts as the audiences own vision, and engages and engulfs them into the story so that they again feel a strong emotional response from the video, making it more effective.

In relation to Goodwin's theory of conventions of music videos

Although this music video does not conform to many of the typical conventions of a music video, it does conform to a few.

The music video does:



-Demonstrate genre characteristics (Through the use of a strong narrative, the narrative type itself,  and the lighting)
-There is a relationship between music and visuals ( It is cut to the beat, when the pace of the song becomes more intense so does the style of editing)
-There if often voyeuristic treatment of the female body (Although debateable as to whether the nudity of the woman in the music video is voyeuristic)



Genre conventions as identified and supported by this case study:

- The importance for a strong 'original' narrative.

- The narrative content is often more meaningful or unexpected than other music videos within other genres.

- The editing is simple and heavily relies on cutting to the beat and hard cuts.

- The artist is often not portrayed within the video itself, relying less upon the artist image and more upon the music itself.