Mise-en-scene, costumes, props, and live performances are important elements of indie rock music videos to portray narratives and focus on the artist. Typical settings for these low-budget videos are studios, cities, parks and underground environments. It has become popular to include narratives between live performances to give meaning and allow audiences to relate to the song lyrics. Effective editing, camera shots, sound design and special effects help immerse audiences in the retro, casual aesthetic common to the indie rock genre.

1. Jack Williams

2. • Mise-en-scene is a very important factor in the indie rock
genre as it helps to portray the narrative much better.
Indie artists often have a retro, casual look which can be
created through their costumes and also their hair,
makeup and tattoos etc. There could also be additional
actors in the music video, they would have to portray the
part through their appearance and also the way they act.
Costumes would give different people different identities
making it easier to understand the music video. Props
are also a very important part to ensure that the music
video looks realistic. For the typical Indie Rock genre, the
key props would usually consist of instruments like
guitars, drums, amps etc.

3. • Indie Rock music videos are known to be quite low
budget, the main settings of the typical video are either in
studios, cities, parks and underground environments etc.
These are places that can be accessed easily and cheap
to use. The setting is kept simple because it is common
for Indie Rock music videos to focus mainly on the
artist/performance.

4. • It is common for Indie Rock genre videos to include live
performance as it is a way to focus on the main artist,
showing them doing what they really enjoy. It is very
typical in this genre to focus on the actual talents of the
artist and the camera shots of the artist would promote
the star. In recent years, it has been really popular to
include narrative in-between the performance to give
more meaning to the music video. It helps the audience
to relate the song more.

5. • It has been increasingly popular to include a narrative in
the music video as it helps to tell a story which the
audience could relate to. Usually the narrative would link
in well with the song and the lyrics which leaves room for
more imagination. This would make the music video
stand out more. Narrative has become really popular
because it holds peoples attention better compared to a
music video of just live performance. It makes it a lot
more interesting as there are more of a variety of shots
used.

6. • For a music video, sound is a very important aspect,
especially during the live performances where the
audience can directly hear the instruments being played.
If the music video adapts a narrative it might have
diegetic sounds to make the scene look realistic. The
diegetic sounds might be much clearer and louder at the
beginning before the vocals start and at the end also,
when the vocals end. Effects could be added to the
sound earlier to fade it or increase its volume to convey
emotions.

7. • The most typical camera shots used in the Indie Rock
genre music video would be close up shots as it
introduces the star and it helps to advertise the star/stars.
Close up shots highlights the artist’s talents when they
are singing and it also shows their passion and emotion.
Crane shots are also popular when filming live
performances as it allows different angles. Long and wide
shots are used as establishing shots to set the scene of
the narrative in the music video.

8. • Editing is very important to make the music video
interesting. Most Indie Rock Genre videos would have
special effects to either make it run smoothly or to create
an effect that makes the audience feel as if they are in
the music video. Shots are usually cut either fast or slow
to reflect the pace/beat of the song. Effects are usually
added over the top of the video to create an old and worn
like video. The black and white effect is also very popular
as it makes the video very old fashioned giving it a
classical and sad feeling.