Our chosen genre

Chosen artist: Andrea Storm Kaden

Song: Ink Settles In

Genre: Indie/acoustic Pop

Indie Pop is a genre that doesn't seem to have a stereotypical style of music video, most likely because the sound of the music is not stereotypical; it is such a vast genre. Some of the videos of the genre are similar to a regular pop video (mix of narrative and performance, perhaps a lot of elaborate costumes and set), while other are of a disjunctive or impressionist style that are very strange and perhaps irrelevant to the lyrics.

Features of this genre:

Performance of the band/artist- Sometimes they are seen in a mock live concert or gig. If this is the case, lots of shots of audience members will be seen showing them having fun. They are often looking up to the artist on stage to give an idea of them being god-like. The artist is not actually performing live; they will be miming the lyrics to the song. Other typical shots for this part of the video will close-ups on the face of the singer, or extreme close-ups on their mouth. There will be close ups on instruments being played as well. Sometimes they are not performing at a concert; they are just seen in different locations miming the words to the song. They will normally film the performer(s) miming the whole song in a variety of places then edit them so it jumps from one to another. Mumford and Sons' 'I Will Wait' is a good example of this convention:

A narrative inspired by some or all of the lyrics- Typically, indie pop videos will alternate between shots of the band performing and a narrative based on the lyrics. For example many of them are based on stories of romance. Therefore we would see sequences showing how the couple met and lots of their good memories together. Another popular theme for this genre is heartbreak, thus we might see a couple arguing and maybe someone crying. The narrative would normally just be shown in extracts to get the overall idea of the story. The video for 'This Ain't a Love Song' by Scouting for Girls shows parts of different stories occurring at an airport.

 

Different sets and costumes/make up- In many upbeat pop videos, particularly those with a female pop star, there will be a lot of locations that the whole song was filmed in and these will be cut up so it stays interesting for the viewer. This is the same for the costumes; they are sometimes very flamboyant and there may be a lot of them.  This is 'I am Not a Robot' by Marina and the Diamonds, which shows the performer in a few different sets with different extravagant makeup on in each one.

 

 

 

The performer wears mainstream and fashionable clothing – This is similar to the convention above. It is about how the pop stars themselves are wearing mainstream clothes that will appeal to the masses. The fans will see their stylish clothes and want to dress the same as them. This links in with product placement and consumerism which are seen in pop videos to give the idea that it is important to buy lots of glamorous and expensive items, and paying for ‘brands’. In this video, Lana Del Rey wears two glamorous white dresses and trendy denim jeans with a white jacket.

Disjunctive style - While some indie pop videos will involve typical performance and narrative, others will show events that appear to be completely random and irrelevant to the lyrics. Despite not being relevant to the lyrics, the nature of the video tends to fit with the atmosphere of the song. This is 'Somebody that I Used to Know' by Gotye which follows the convention.

 

Teenage appeal- Although this convention is mostly for typical Pop videos, a lot of Indie Pop videos have the same idea. This is because teenagers are the target market that is very likely to watch the most music videos. They appeal to this age by including issues that teenagers might have experienced themselves so that they can relate to it. For example a number of Pop videos include issues like worrying what others think of you, stress, relationships, trying to fit in, eating disorders and even self-harm.