The document discusses the genres, forms, and conventions used in indie/rock music videos and how the media production adheres to or challenges these conventions. It specifically addresses elements like genre, performance footage, implications of drugs/alcohol, narratives, mise-en-scene, styling, representation of the band, and editing. For the media production, it incorporates many conventions like performance footage and implications of drugs/alcohol but adds more of a narrative and focuses on a relationship between a couple to make it more accessible to a wider audience. The production aims to represent the genre appropriately while telling its own story.

1. In what ways does your media
production us, develop, or
challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?

2. Genre
The genre of the music for my video is
Indie/Rock.
The main forms and conventions for this music
genre are:
• Performance footage
• Implications of drugs and alcohol
• No real narrative or obvious storyline
• A relationship between a boy and girl

3. Performance Footage
‘Little Black Submarine’ – The Black Keys

4. Performance Footage

5. Implications of drugs and alcohol
‘Chocolate’ – The 1975

6. Implications of drugs and alcohol

7. No real narrative or obvious
storyline
‘Luna’ – Bombay Bicycle Club

8. No real narrative or obvious
storyline

9. A relationship between a boy and
girl
‘Naïve’ – The Kooks

10. A relationship between a boy and
girl

11. Genre for my video
I tended to stick to the forms and conventions of my genre, as my video includes:
•Performance footage
•Implication of drugs/alcohol
•A relationship between a couple
•However, I made the storyline more obvious in my video so it could appeal to more people
than just my target audience, which is young adults. I included snippets of a story about a
couple, but didn't make it an actual story throughout the video, as I wanted the audience to
be able to make their own interpretations and conclusions about the couple and what
happened before and after the video, leaving it open for them and therefore making it more
likely that the video will be shared or talked about. Also, I wanted my video to be accessible
for more people than just my target audience, as I believe that the lyrics and message of the
song can be relatable to people of most ages, so I wanted people to be able to watch my
music video and believe it to relatable and realistic.
•I mainly got this idea from the tagline of the film '500 Days Of Summer' which is “this is not
a love story; it is a story about love”, which suggests that there may not necessarily be a
happy ending for the couple, but it is a true story and a relatable and realistic one, which
makes it more accessible to people.

13. Narrative
• In the videos I have researched, they don’t
have an actual plot or narrative – the videos
are made up of what are seen as ‘random’
images.
• Some videos don’t show the band, whereas
some do. I used performance footage so the
rest of the clips would fit together better.

14. ‘Handshake’ – Two Door Cinema
Club
‘You’re Not Good Enough’ – Blood Orange
‘Coyotes’ – Modest Mouse
‘Vessel’ – Dan Mangan + Blacksmith
‘What’s It In For?’ – Avi Buffalo

15. Narrative in my video
• I decided to have a loose narrative in my video
so that it would appeal to more people than
just my target audience.
• I used the loose narrative of a relationship
between a couple, mixed with shots of a
beach to break up the narrative a little and
allow it to fit with the conventions of my
genre.

17. Mise-en-scene
• In music videos of the same genre as mine,
the mise-en-scene tends to be quite simple
and plain, almost bare.
• This is usually done as a metaphor, to imply
that the couple have nothing left, as most
songs in my genre are written about a
relationship which has broken down.

18. ‘One For The Road’ – Arctic Monkeys
‘A-Punk’ – Vampire Weekend
‘Love Illumination’ – Franz Ferdinand
‘Things We Lost In The Fire’ - Bastille
‘Fiction’ – The XX

19. Mise-en-scene in my video
• I tried to keep the mise-en-scene in my video
to a minimum e.g. the shots of the band on
the stage all had a plain backdrop.
• I wanted to keep all of the shots quite simple
to fit with my magazine advert and digipack,
so I filmed them all where I knew there
wouldn't be people walking around and
where there wasn't much going on in the
background.

21. Styling
• The typical styling of people in indie music
videos is either:
- Some sort of denim or leather jacket, a plain top,
and jeans
- Vintage clothes
- Or more ‘artistic’ outfits

22. denim or leather jacket, a plain
top, and jeans
‘Girls’ – The 1975
‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High’
– Arctic Monkeys

23. Vintage clothes
‘Electric Feel’ – MGMT

24. More ‘artistic’ outfits
‘Spaceman’ – The Killers
‘Spectrum’ – Florence and the Machine

25. Styling in my video
• I made sure the people in my video wore
more plain clothes so it fit with the
conventions of the genre.
• Everyone in the video wore jeans, with
mainly dark tops, with the exception of a few
clips where I made the actors where whiter
tops to contrast with the dark backgrounds.

27. Representation of Band
The representation of bands in indie/rock music
videos is that they smoke a lot, take drugs, and
drink a lot of alcohol. The background for a lot of
performance footage in this genre of music tends
to be on either a stage, or in some sort of
abandoned or derelict building, to create the effect
that they have nothing left, because the lyrics of
the song tend to imply a lost love. A perfect
example of this is the video for 'Sweater Weather'
by The Neighbourhood.

28. ‘Robbers’ – The 1975 ‘French Montana’ – The Neighbourhood
‘Child of the Moon’ – The Rolling Stones
‘Yes, I Was Drunk’ – Twin Atlantic
‘West Coast’ – Lana Del Rey

29. Representation of my Band
• I didn’t want to represent my band in a
particular way, as I wanted to make sure the
main focus of the video was the song itself,
rather than promoting the band.
• This is why I didn’t show my band in a
negative light, with them drinking or smoking
etc., and simply just showed them singing
along to their song.

30. Editing
The editing for Indie music videos can be either
over-the-top (large scale) or very subtle (small
scale) and the clips haven't been edited much at
all.
Small scale editing sometimes includes filters,
coloured effects, or small changes to a small
part of the clip.
Large scale editing sometimes includes large
changes to the background, or special effects
which are emphasised on screen.

31. Large Scale Editing
‘Shades Of Cool’ – Lana Del Rey
‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High’ – Arctic
Monkeys
'Down' – The Kooks
'Tesselate' – Alt J
'Sweater Weather' – The Neighbourhood
'Time To Pretend' – MGMT

32. Small Scale Editing
'Something Good Can Work' – Two
Door Cinema Club
'Down' – The Kooks
'Shades of Cool' – Lana Del Rey
'Carry Me' – Bombay Bicycle Club

33. Editing my Video
• I didn’t use any large-scale editing because I didn’t
have access to the software or technology I would
need.
• The small-scale editing I used was a greyscale filter,
and I changed the contrast of the clips so they
would stand out more.
• I did, however, use a transition between some of
the performance clips, so the clips fade into each
other. I got this inspiration for the One Direction
video for ‘You and I’.