Genre of Music Video- Basics

The subgenre of music videoas we have chosen for our project is Indie. The conventions that are within the Indie music video are generally based heavily on the performance of the band at gigs and festivals, they also show a lot of focus on the fans having a good time hoping that it rub off on the audience at home, however we intend to break this general rule. They would dress in a very quirky fashion and show off their skills as talented musicians with the majority of the focus being on the main singer, this is seen with many artists such as 'Vampire Weekend' and 'Arctic Monkeys'. The pace of the editing would fit the pace of the music and the content of the lyrics has a strong basis on what the video is generally about. What also is quite common is showing the whole band in the studio working together giving them a better reputation.




Vampire Weekends 'A Punk' uses an array of typical indie conventions. All of the band members are wearing very recognisable indie clothing, the clothes they wear are very bright colours. Mise on scene is very quirky as it shows the band dressed in hats and scarfs but this is all in keeping with the bands already quirky music. The lighting of the video is high key however the cinematography breaks the conventions as the camera stays motionless with the band member running towards camera. However the main focus does stay on the lead singer with him running up to the camera when singing the verses of the song. The editing of the video is also quite quirky, with the occasional jump cut and the speeding up of their actions make their movements very jolty, this is paralell with the music.

Biffy Clyro's 'The Captain' is very different to Vampire Weekends 'A Punk' in many ways. For a start the main focus all the way through the video is Simon Neil (lead vocal). There are many extreme close ups of his face so that the audience build a bond with the lead singer. There is a range of different type shots running throughout the video on the lead singer so that the audience dont take it in all at once and are tempted to keep watching it over and over again. The costume is very relevant to the songs and so is the setting. The song is called 'The Captain' and so the video is is shooted on a pirate ship with everyone dressed as pirates. The lighting goes very dark when they shoot the band playing their intruments together giving a sense of togetherness and likeability to the band. The lip syncing is also very effective and works very well.  The lead singer has scenes were he is being whipped with no top on, this would appeal very much to the female audience of the band. The editing of the video is quite fast, no so fast that the video becomes blurred and hard to watch but fast enough to keep the audience interested, it has also been editted some white flashes to make it look like the ship is being hit by lightning whilst the band is playing. All this is very typical of the indie music genre.

Minus the Bears 'Knights' is very unconventional and breaks every from of editing rule used by the vast majority of modern day indie musicians. The editing is mirrored images of themselves. This is very inventive and experimental and appeals to myself a lot, although it may not get the same reaction on everyone. It does however create lots of debate, people would talk about the video creating a buzz around it, it would be well known for both its popularity and unpopularity, still in essence making it popular as people are talking about it. The video still sticks to the conventional rule that the main focus being the band perfroming. The variety of shots used, mainly medium, close up and extreme close up makes the editing very interesting and the audience will not get everything on the first viewing. The tracking shot running through the street is also very interesting as the shots are not just reversed onto each other but also are rotated and quickend up.

Callan Wheatcroft