1. C O N V E N T I O N S O F
I N D I E R O C K G E N R E
B Y A M Y C R O U C H

2. I N D I E R O C K - G E N R E
• Indie rock is Indie rock is a sub-genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the
United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres .a sub-genre of alternative
rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely
diverse, with sub-genres .
• The term indie rock, which comes from "independent," describes the small and relatively low-budget
labels on which it is released and the do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved. Although
distribution deals are often struck with major corporate companies, these labels and the bands they host
have attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds, emotions and subjects of
limited appeal to large, mainstream audiences.
• The influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, post-
punk and country. The terms "alternative rock" and "indie rock" were used interchangeably in the 1980s,
but after many alternative bands followed Nirvana into the mainstream in the early 1990s, "indie rock"
began to be used to describe those bands, working in a variety of styles, that did not pursue or achieve
commercial success

3. C O N V E N T I O N S O F I N D I E R O C K
• Costume – From our research into the indie music genre we have found that typically they characters tend
to wear very laid back, casual clothing which, tend to be of dark colours. For example, black skinny jeans,
hats and black suits.
• Position in the frame - Typically the lead singer is positioned in the centre and towards the front ,
because this is the person the audience will recognise the most. Most people in the indie rock genre are
in bands and are usually shown performing closely together to promote themselves.
• Facial Expressions and gestures – Their facials expressions tend to be minimal, keeping them plain and
quite serious at times. You rarely seem them smiling in their indie rock videos because we don’t associate
this with their genre of music.
• Props – The bands instruments are a very important prop as pretty much all indie rock bands use: guitar,
drums, vocalist and bassist because these are what they use to create the intended sound that they want
in their music. However, not all music videos use these as, some bands tend to stick to narrative in their
music video. A good example of band that do this would be the Arctic Monkeys who don’t tend to appear in
their music videos very often.

4. C O N V E N T I O N S O F I N D I E R O C K
• Camera shots – Close ups of lead singers are very common in indie rock music videos so we can associate
the band with their music and so we can see their facial expressions.
• Setting – The setting tends to be more urban than rural in indie rock music videos. Backstreets are
common settings in their music videos, as this goes with their sound and intended look.
• Editing – Straight cuts are extremely common in the indie rock genre and are used repeatedly. They do
this because it goes with the fast pace of their music and so gives flow to the video. This could also
suggest that their lives are quick paced as indie bands are known as always being on the road. Also a large
majority of indie rock music videos tend to be black and white to set the ‘indie’ theme to the video