4. A common convention of Indie-folk/rock genre is an establishing shot at the beginning of
most videos. They are conventionally set outside and in rural places. My music video’s
opening scene was a slow pan up from the ground to a sun flare over the top of the house
(which is later used in the ending scenes). Mumford and Sons used a small pan that shows
a desert (another naturist cinematic). From this, it can be said my music video adopted and
used the common conventions for an opening scene based on the cinematography. The
next shot was another pan of a hedge, with a sun flare through the top, which expands on
the natural feel of the music video. From the very beginning the audience can understand
what type of music they will be listening to, (relaxed, emotional and natural).
What is more, the title of the music video and the name of the artist is displayed in the
centre of both opening scenes. This is common for a few genres, however as most indie-
folk artists are independent, it is important for their name to be displayed to become well
known.
This second screen grab was from a song called Agape , by Bears Den. Bears Den are
another independent folk-rock band whom produce similar songs to Jeremey loops.
The opening scene to their music video is a slow pan of the sea, using the same
conventions as Mumford and sons and many other indie-folk bands.
Opening Sequence
5. From this, It can be said that I have used and developed the common convention of an establishing shot, using
natural settings and cinematography to present a scene of nature. The importance of this is that it is most common
for an indie rock artist to use a nature establishing shot as it shows their closeness to nature. It also linked to purity
and freedom.
The natural theme is common throughout the music video/genre so it is important that I inform the audience of
the themes at the beginning of the video so that they can fully appreciate and understand the other conventions
that follow.
What is more, the same camera technique (compared to various before stated indie-folk genre songs) was used for
my opening shot, a slow pan wide angle shot, as this creates a good establishing shot and can include a lot of
detail about the setting/location (which ill be discussed in the following slides).
7. Setting/location
My music video is based in the New Forest. Most of the B-roll shots are taken outside, with shots of landscapes and horses. This convention links with the
beginning scene as It is also nature orientated. The horse shots are specifically relevant as it shows the artists views and links with nature. The horse connects
the artist to wildlife, which in itself a common convention of folk songs. Many folk bands sing about wildlife, as they are passionate about the environment
(almost hippie-like).The Folk genre has a common setting, outdoors - in the forest, by the sea etc. As it Is normal for a folk rock artist to sing about nature etc.
There is a slow pan from the grass upwards to the horse, and a focus pull to make the horse the
main attraction – again focussing on wildlife. This camera technique tells the audience what is
important in the frame and although the forest setting is important, the horse should be the main
attraction.
As stated before, Indie-folk use settings such as fields, or places with trees trying to connect with
nature without the issues of everyday life. They are often in remote places with no one else
around. An example of this is “The Paper Kites – Bloom” an indie folk band whose choice of setting
is very similar to the one I used in my video.
I later included a graveyard scene (shot from the outside of the graveyard and not in it itself to be
as respectful as possible) which gave contrast to the life and freedom of the forest/naturistic
scenes. This was to make the audience feel more emotions for the character, and to really involve
them into the narrative of the music video. A grave yard was the perfect place to achieve this
drastic change, which mirrors the characters emotions.
8. From this it can be said I have used common conventions for the setting and
location of my music video, with most of the performance based aspect of the
video being in the forest, and then scenes of the narrative at the New Forest.
This convention connects with the props, an acoustic guitar as that too gives off
a natural vibe.
Not only did I conform to the media convention of an Indie-Folk music video, I
developed the setting convention by using a graveyard to reflect and gives a
diverse range of locations drastically different in mood and emotions. The use
of the graveyard scene was in parallel to the narrative aspect where the
audience finds out his girlfriend died, making the links easier to understand and
making it feel more real.
10. The costume I used for my character for the majority of the narrative section of my music video was a hospital gown which
represented his mental state. It allowed the audience to understand he has been heavily effected by his girlfriends departure, to the
fact he needs help. He later removes his hospital gown and throws it in the bin, when he returns to his home. This is significant as it
represents he has finally accepted her departure and is ready to move on.
He is then wearing his casual clothes, jeans and a black jumper. The colour black still represents grief however it is a step in the
right direction as he is accepting his loss.
The performance aspect of my music has the artist dressed in an over flannel shirt and jeans. This outfit is very “indie” and is a
common look for indie – folk artist to wear when performing. For instance in the picture below, Jeremy loops (the artist of the song
I am using) is wearing conventional clothes for the genre, an over-shirt, glasses and comfortable trousers/jeans. It is normal for
artists like this to wear. This style clothing and hence I adopted that convection.
Props and costume
What is more, the indie-folk genre artist often play the instruments in
their song (unlike pop etc). Hence an acoustic guitar is often shown
in many of the songs in this genre, below are a few examples.
From this you can see how I have conformed to the common
conventions of indie-folk music videos and has challenged it through
the use of the hospital gown.
Jeremy Loops – Down South
The Lumineers - Ho Hey
Mumford and sons
Bears Den
12. Camera work and Editing
Throughout my music video, I chose to edit the video to the beat of the music, and make the cuts and
transitions link to the visuals. An example of this is the ending of my music video where Angus, the
performer strums the guitar as the music begins, creating a link between narrative and visuals. The
video linked to the left is “The Lumineers – Ho Hey and 1:00-1:10 shows a light bulb smashing to the
beat the music. This convention is common in almost any genre music video, however it is important as
it shows thought has gone into editing and engages the audience.
Many shots in my music were long pans, either up, down or horizontally. These panning shots are commonly used in this genre, as it represents
and links with the smooth music, keeping the audience engaged with the b-roll that is shot. What is more, every shot is hand held and a tripod
was not used at all during the video. The hand-held camera work is a common convection is this style music video as it portrays a more realistic
view to the audience and connects with them on a deeper level.
This video – Mumford & Sons – Little lion man was also filmed using hand held camera work, and the pans and
movement was all done by hand, giving a more natural feel. I incorperated this convention in my video to try an
make it as realistic and natural as possible. I also wanted to reduce the number of still frames in comparison to
my preliminary task, as I believe It makes the video more interesting to watch.
14. As explained before, my music video is a performance/narrative based video which was decided on by the style of the song. The
songs lyrics were very important in determining whether to do a performance, narrative or conceptual video and the fact the lyrics
tell a story, the best choice would be to go with narrative. I wanted to include the artist in the video (as he is an independent artist
and so his image needs to be shown) and I believe the best way to do this, was to make the video part performance as well. Jeremy
loops often performs in his own songs, so I thought it only fitting for my video to do the same.
Style of your music video
Again, the convention of the artist holding an acoustic guitar is present In the “The Lumineers –
Angela however it also shows this band conforming to the convention of performance/narrative
in this genre.
Because of the common convention to include narrative and performance in the same video and
that Jeremey Loops himself adopts this style, I decided I would conform to this convention and
produce a performance/narrative video that links together (My character removing his clothes at
the end, sitting down and being the same the person playing the guitar and performing) in my
music video.
Andrew Goodwin's 5 aspect of a music video can be applied here as it follows some of the conventions he discusses. The artist has
a very distinct and unique voice, which is focussed o in the music, so it is important I linked the music to the video. What Is more
the star image principal can be applied here as being an independent artist, e needs to create a persona for himself, that people
will like and hence buy his work. The video is promoted through illustration, as it illustrates the lyrics and connects them to visuals,
as appose to over the top effects or amplification. What is more, I conformed to common conventions like the use of camera work
(hand held), lighting and colour (sunny/summer) , setting and the pace of editing for the beat of the music is similar.
16. The narrative of my music video goes as follows. The actor – Angus Smith (who also plays the artist) used to have a girlfriend who'd
he spent a lot of time and experiences with. For unseen reasons she passed away and the video is about how he copes with his loss.
The part where his girlfriend dies is shown through the graveyard scene, where he lowers the picture of the two of them and
reveals the graveyard, creating a reason to why he is so distraught. The hospital gown represents how he has gone “insane” over
the loss, and shows the difficulty he has in moving on. I also enforced the idea that he has extreme issues with moving on, for the
non-verbal-communication the actor portrays, with is an emotionless face. The actor is shown to be wondering around aimlessly,
representing how he is lost without her with him. I tried to make this as obvious as possible, so when he finally takes of the gown
and goes home, you can infer he is finally getting over it and accepting.
The setting was important to narrative of the video, as I needed a place without distractions and found a quite road in Ringwood
that was straight that he could just walk down. I also went to Burley to film him wondering through the forest and finding a horse.
The significance of the horse was that he tried to stroke it, showing that he still has some emotion in him, and is not completely un-
reachable.
After the gown is removed and the location changed back to his house, you can understand he is free from the emotionless pit he
once was in, and the picture is there to remind him of all the goo times they had. It was placed into a picture frame to insinuate
how it is forever, and not just a piece of paper he caries around.
I tried to link the narrative to the lyrics in some sections “Just wanna tell you that I swear I'm fine
And I don't lose my mind anymore.” these lyrics linked with the hospital gown and emotionless face, as he lost his mind over the
death of his girlfriend.
The performance section does not help in telling the story, but tells the audience the style of the song and what to expect.
Story and how this is told during the video
18. The artist is portrayed in the performance sections of the music video, through his actions and appearance.
His appearance is one that is common with indie-folk artists, wearing an over shirt and tee-shirt, jeans and holding a guitar. This
portrays him carefree, natural and mellow, all words that can be associated and describe artists of this genre. The artist is shown to
play guitar, giving a representation of him being talented, and completely original.
Therefore I think that my music video completely conforms to indie-folk genre more specifically the artist Jeremy loops as he is
often shown in his music videos in a similar fashion.
The artist can also be portrayed thorugh the style of the music, as it is quite upbeat in the areas where he is shown performing,
mirroring his personality. Whereas the song only gets slower when the narrative sections are visable.
How the artist is portrayed
20. I used a small amount of special effects in my music video as I wanted to conform to the common conventions of a indie-folk and
special effects would remove the natural feel I was going for.
I did however slow down numerous clips by shooting in 100fps and slowing the lip down in after effects using a plugin called
“twixtor”. This plugin allowed me to slow down the clips to a high quality, so they were no jittery or un-smooth. My intentions for
slowing down the clips were to make the narrative feel more emotional, and to represent how the character is going through this
phase and the long time he is spent like this, and feeling this way. It further represents the feeling of timelessness that occurs after
losing someone you love so dearly.
Special Effects
I also added a title over the beginning opening scene on after effects, this was a relatively
easy effect, but was crucial to tell the audience who and what they are listening to.
The colour corrects on my music video where done through after effects. They were filmed in
profile, which shot a very non-saturated clip which allowed me to add more vibrant colours in
post production using a LUT I created. These are pre-sets you add to clips in post production
to keep the colour correction even throughout the video. This made the video look more
connected and not just a load of clips put after each other. I believe doing colour corrections
this way made the performance aspect of the video better, as it made the location look more
summery even thought it was filmed in January.
Filmed in January. Colour added
post production using LUTs
Twixtor pluginStep 1 to
adding
LUTS:
Add
lumetri
color
effect to
footage.
Step 2 to
adding
LUTS:
Click on
effect in
the effect
panel.
Step 3 to adding
LUTS: Browse
“Input LUT” and
find your LUT
file (.cube)
Click add.
