Following the conventions
The band performance in our music video is completely based on the codes and conventions of the western Pop Rock music, it was shot in a completely western Pop Rock mese-en-scene
Artists' makeover:
Leather jacket, beard, casual makeup and hairstyles with casual clothes.
Setting:
Music studio
studio lights
Lights:
Expressions:
Intense expressions (of the vocalists) and casual behavior of the artists: like professional pop rock artists). Band members are shown being engaged with their music performance completely (like most of the Po rock artists in their music videos-Maroon 5 is a very good example of this).
Camera Work:
Close ups and Mid shots of the artists (to make them prominent and create a star image) and the music instruments (to make the music genre prominent).
Digipak
Our "Digipak" follows the codes and conventions of the pop rock music CD packs. The main image on our Digipak is the picture of the dress that the protagonist's crush wears on her wedding in the music video, and there's a photo of the band inside of the case-many pop rock bands like maroon 5 use the images from their music videos on their album digipaks. All the digipak key components are there on my digipak: Band and album name, record label, barcode, track list, copyright etc.
Website
Our "Website" also follows the codes and conventions of the music websites with different pages for music, media, band, tours etc and a proper layout for the music websites (which is used by most of the music artists' websites). Same colour palette is used for both digipak and website (cool colours-because cool colours represent the cool and calm nature of pop rock genre).
Challenging the conventions
The narrative/story that is being shown in the music video (which has no link with the band performance) breaks and challenges the conventions of the western pop rock music videos as the mise-en-scene is totally based upon the eastern/Pakistani culture, there is no relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, and the video is very slow paced with slow cuts (although most of the pop rock music videos are fast paced). Most of the actors are in eastern makeover, portraying the eastern-Pakistani culture.
Representation of social groups
Two different Pakistani/brown social groups are being represented in our music video-upper middle adults (rich) and low class kid (poor), they can also been seen as the binary opposites. The protagonist represents labour class children of Pakistan-he is wearing cheap clothes throughout the music video, and is seen serving the rich people, he seems to be sad, complexed, depressed, and oppressed by the society throughout the music video. People who represent the upper middle class adults are shown in expensive clothes and jewellery, they are shown being served by the low class boy, they seem happy, confident, and satisfied.
Representation of social issue
A very common social issue of the eastern society is shown in our music video (poor ones being oppressed). Poor people usually can not speak their heart and mind and they usually end up giving up on their goals, or the society doesn't let them/allow them to be successful because they do not have enough money to achieve their target, they even have to get their feelings hurt sometimes, because they are not allowed to dream of anything big by the society (this is shown by the love story of a young poor guy for a rich girl who can never be a part of his life, he doesn't even have guts to express his feelings, and he ends up getting married to a rich guy who meets her standards).
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By Tasbyha Amaan
