Audience Research

The majority of the people I surveyed were Male, but there are still a fair amount of females who took part. They were all of the same age around 16-24 because that was the age range for my target audience. This means that I'll be able to achieve results from an audience that will regularly watch music videos. 

There was a mixed review of the type of music that they listened to. Seven people said they listened to indie music. This is good because they relate to my survey better. 

Most people said they would expect to see the artist in a music video, a lot of the rest said they wouldn't always expect it. This information suggests that I should include the artist in the music video. 

Most people here thought that whether you have a narrative or not should depend on the song. The rest of the results were split evenly between yes and no, possibly implying that my music video doesn't have to have a narrative to be successful. 

These results made it clear that it doesn't really matter if the music video relates to the song, this may suggest a disjunction video may work. 

These results suggest that the video should give more meaning to the song, so it means we could create a deeper concept for the song portrayed in the video, or amplify the meaning further. 

Most people think that artists should get a lot of close ups. 

Magazine Adverts

Album Covers

Conventions of an Indie Rock Video

General Fiasco - Ever So Shy

Bombay Bicycle Club - Beg

Location
The whole music video is set in a city area. The colour blue is emphasised in this video, and the director has used the sky to highlight this. As the band are already quite well established, they don't appear in the video at all. The video just follows these two dancers around the city. In some ways this is conventional of indie rock as their videos often include the city.  But this video is unconventional in the way it has no white/black canvas rooms for the band performances.


Clothing
As blue seems to be a concept of this video, the clothing of the two dancers are both mostly blue. What they wear is quite trendy and smart, similar to what current indie bands would wear. As the music video progresses the two dancers remove parts of their clothing at a time. This could be to show that they are really putting effort into their dance. This is conventional as most indie bands wear smart casual clothing at the moment, even though these two dancers aren't part of the band, they do represent band in this video, including the way they dress.



Cinematography
The cinematography for the video changes throughout the video. Most of the shots are handheld and it is as though someone is literally following these two dancers around the city. The handheld camera also suggest that the video is cheaply made which implies the band's 'indie' elements. The cinematography is also used to highlight the dance moves, by focusing on there limbs that are doing most of the work. As there are no shots of the bands whatsoever they have not followed the conventions of a typical indie rock video.

Editing
The music video is edited in a disjunctive style, it mostly doesn't cut to the beat of the music. The band have already established themselves so they can do this. The band also doesn't appear the music video at all and the video has nothing to do with the lyrics. This is unconventional as usually indie rock videos has amplified editing where they try to expand on the meaning of the lyrics.

Friendly Fires - Kiss of Life

 

In this mood board I have piled together some images that truly represent indie rock music videos. This mood board shows the emphasis of white in the titles, often their music videos will include this as well, for example the band will perform in just a white room. The white also represents simplicity, which is apparent across all indie music videos. This also highlights the importance of performance in music videos. If a band isn't well established, their music video will have a strong focus on performing.

Band/Song Ideas

Two Door Cinema Club - Do you want it all?
SBTRKT - Hold On
SBTRK - Never Never

Andrew Goodwin - Theory 2

Illustration
Illustration music videos are typically very simple. The edits cut to the beat of the music and what the lyrics describe in the song, is usually what happens in the music video itself. There will also be a lot of shots of the band/artist on the screen performing the song, or being a part of the narrative. Generally these videos are used to establish new artists.

In this video 'Hawaiian Air - Friendly Fires' a lot of the lyrics are being described by the music video.

Amplification
In an amplification video, the director will make the video amplify the meaning of the lyrics. He won't just use the lyrics to describe what's going on, he will use the lyrics to give further meaning to the video. In amplification videos, the edits cut both on the beat with music and off the beat of the music. When it cuts off the beat, it is used to amplify the meaning of the lyrics with the video. Often the video will have a narrative that the band take part it.



In 'Ready to Fall - Rise Against' the lyrics meaning are amplified in the video by the use of shots of destruction/pollution of the planet. The songs is going against pollution and the video amplifies this meaning.

Disjunction
In a disjunction music video, the images on the screen do not match the lyrics to the song in anyway. A disjunction music video is usually based around a concept. Often artists who have a disjunction video, are already well established because they do not usually appear in the video. Typically in a disjunction video, the music will cut off the beat.



In 'Beg - Bombay Bicycle Club' the video has nothing to do with the lyrics. The video is just two men dancing around a town. Often the edits cut off the beat and it is all about how the men dance to the music.

Carol Vernallis - Theory 3

Music Vidoes have a multiplicity of incomplete sometimes obscure paths, whereas films have single clear paths through the film world.



in this clip of Lana Del Rey - National Anthem it shows a series of clips, together with no meaning, but slightly related. The viewer is unsure of where this is going to lead. This clips also shows how the order of shots are unconventional. Shifts are more freely between shots, there is no typical shot order.



Pop videos often draw us away from the narrative by foregrounding other structures and elements (e.g. music, star)

Visual Hooks create continuity. Non continuous shots linked by a single feature - unified by figure shape, colour and setting.
Sometimes all elements are equal, sometimes one is dominant and others subordinate.
In this clip, the colours are similar throughout, even though different settings are used, the same camera filter is also used.

Bordwell and Thompson

Conventions of a Music Video

Low Budget Ideas

In this music video there are many low budget ideas

• They have simple (unbranded) outfits, that are fashionable and cheap. 
• They have used a simple room as a location, but have used lighting to make it seem quite slick. 
• The bright lights they have used make the video seem professional and well made.
• By dressing the artists in similar clothes they have created an effective boy band persona. 
• Using clever cinematography and editing they have made the video seem very professional even though it is incredibly simple.

• In this music video they have used lighting to create dynamic silhouette effects. 
• By waving a piece of fabric around they have created interesting lighting for the video.
• They have used simple editing effects such as black and white, re-winding and fast forwarding to create interesting visuals.
• The fast editing and use of close ups makes the video very eerie and creepy which fits in with the music very nicely.