The document discusses conventions used in indie rock music videos. It analyzes conventions seen in other indie rock music videos related to set design, performance, lighting, camera work, costumes, and editing. The document describes how the music video being evaluated incorporates these conventions, such as using a minimalistic set design, angled camera shots, and natural costumes, to develop the image of an authentic indie rock band focused on the music rather than their appearance.

1. EVALUATION
TASK 1
Media Conventions in our Music Video

2. What are conventions?
■ A convention is an arrangement of codes and traditional rules which dictate the
way that something is usually done.
■ These norms are often widely acknowledged within regular culture, and help
audiences instantly recognise the genre of certain products.
■ All forms of media conform to conventions when creating products in order to
comply with what an audience expects to see.
■ In relation to music videos, conventions are often based around things like
camera work, editing, set design and cast.
■ The genre of our band was indie-rock which therefore meant that we were
searching for conventions within that bracket of the music industry.

3. Indie-Rock as a genre
■ Indie-rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in
the 1980s. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the college rock.
■ Genre of music, nicknamed after the independent labels which support lesser-
known bands. Typically, the independent labels allow more "musical freedom",
which results in a truer, less cookie-cutter sound that mainstream listeners do
not immediately identify with. Indie rock draws inspiration from bands such as
the Beatles, The Velvet Underground, and Radiohead.
■ Many indie rock bands are characterized by the use of unique or less-popular
instruments. Subjectively (since music is subjective), indie rock cd’s typically
sound less "perfect" than mainstream music, which typically grabs the attention
of indie rock enthusiasts.

4. Music video
Set Design
We chose our sets in order to give our band
a platform to show their characteristics as
well as to help with the narrative. This meant
that our sets were very important to the video
so the first shot we used was of one of our
sets.
Using an alternative set like a wood is a
physical representation of the band’s choice
to make alternative or “indie” music as
opposed to making pop songs and
mainstream music.

5. Music Video
Set Design
We used a minimalistic set design because it
develops the conventions of an indie-rock video.
Indie-rock bands about the music, not about the
way they look in their video.
The connotations within the video that suggest
the band are down-to-earth people. This is a
convention of indie-rock and they are ”normal”
just like their fans.
This is further explored through the performance
element of the symbolic conventions.

6. Music Video
Performance
Our performance style for our music video not
only is similar to that in the “Use Somebody”
video, but it also links in with Dyers star theory,
that a star should be both relatable for their fans.
The way our lead singer and the band perform
suggest that they are just normal people.
Our lead singer often moves around the other
band members and shares moments with them
as they perform the song. This shows that their
relationship isn’t constructed by their manager or
producer – their friendship is real.
Much like Kings of Leon, the performance mainly
comes through the instruments rather that the
singer which develops the convention that indie-
rock bands are “about the music” and not about
the fame and fortune of being talented in the
public eye.

7. Music Video
Performance
In The 1975’s video for “Chocolate” the lead
singer mainly sings to the camera. This gives a
sense that he is singing to the audience, which
not only makes their songs more relatable, but it
makes the band more likeable in general.
We tried to replicate this in our video because
they are a new band, and therefore need the
largest audience possible in order to gain more
recognition and popularity in the music industry.

8. Music Video
Lighting
In filming, we tried to make blue and pink
washes a motif throughout the video. We
chose these colours because stereotypically,
pink appeals to females and blue appeals to
males. This therefore means that our chosen
colour scheme appeals to both sexes and
eventually will widen their audience.
We used projections over the band to stimulate
the idea of the wild lights at a gig, to induce
excitement in the viewers and to add a quirky
edge to video that would set it apart from other
videos in the indie-rock genre.

9. Music Video
Lighting
Our use of shadows within the video was
very stylistic. We did this by doing
backlighting the whole band, rather than
just using a darkly lit studio and/or editing
the colours in post-preduction. Therefore
we developped this common convection
and gave our video a much more natural
effect.
We also challenged this convention further,
by using the whole band rather than just
the lead singer. This promoted a more
unified band as opposed to a clear
leader/follower feel.
I felt that this reflected that our band was
being advertised as new rather than pre-
existing, thereby showing them all as equal
in their band but also equal to their
audience and fans.

10. Music Video
Camera Work
We tried to be very expressive with our shot
composition to instil the fact that the band is
indie-rock and therefore not mainstream.
We used oddly-angled shots to add depth to
the video, as well as to make it more
interesting to watch.
The way we chose to film helped us to stay
within the lines of an indie-rock music video
This is because we stayed away from basic
shots - like a wide shot looking straight forward
– as much as possible.

11. Music Video
Camera Work
We often angled our wide shots in different
ways to make it more interesting to view as
well as mirroring the excitement of the
video.
An example of this is having a wide shot on
the camera but pointing it towards the left
as the boys climbed the fallen tree. This
way of shooting is also seen in The 1975’s
video for their song “Chocolate” as they use
a wide shot to show the band in a car
through its windscreen.
We chose to film like this because it
develops the individual way an indie-rock
group would approach their music videos.
Our angled shooting style differs from
generic pop videos and allowed us to be a

12. Music Video
Costume, Hair and Makeup
Although we spent a lot of time deliberating over
the costumes and the overall style we wanted to
achieve, we wanted their costumes to look
effortless – like the band had rolled out of bed
and put on the first items of clothing they saw.
We wanted this unclean, rebellious look to
conform to the convention that indie-rock bands
care more about the music they create, rather
than their styling.

13. Music Video
Costume, Hair and Makeup
In general, our costumes were heavily
influenced by rock music. This is because
rock is often seen as a rebellious music
genre, and the main theme of our entire
shoot was rebelling against society.
From looking at ”Chocolate”, we developed
this costumes theme to be “lost boys”
because the band had decided to rejects
society’s idea of good fashion sense and do
their own thing.
Furthermore, we wanted the boys to look
grubby, but comfortable because in general
that’s what artists in indie-rock bands look
like, in my opinion. For example, they don’t
iron their shirts or have multiple rips in their
jeans.

14. Music Video
Editing
Editing is a crucial stage to any music video as
it is when all the ideas for styling and narrative
come together.
In order for our editing to be successful, we
needed to cut the clips to the beat of the song.
Not only would this add an element of
excitement, but it would match the pace of the
song and therefore not lose the happiness and
lack of authority the song suggests and what
we wanted to portray with our video.
Like “Use Somebody”, we colour graded our
video in post-production so that it would have a
vintage feel. We did this because we wanted
the viewers to realise that the band’s music is
authentic and created for a real purpose as
opposed to creating a new song to gain more

15. Music Video
Editing
We challenged the conventions of a basic music
video by having an equal amount of shots of each
band member within the edited video. We
showed each artist playing their instrument in the
first set, and then showed them all equally
messing about in the second set. This defiance of
a convention showed that not only are our band
really good friends, but that again, they are more
about the music than making up appearanced for
the sake of their fans.
This style of editing promoted every band
member as opposed to just the lead singer and
gave the gave the video a more wholesome feel
overall.