My Music Video - Genre

In the endeavour to gain a better understanding of this genre of music - so as to be able to create a more informed, professional standard music video - I watched various music videos from within this genre, helping familiarise myself with some of the most common conventions.

Example Music Videos of the Genre

The music video for the song "Backslider" by Wild Belle features the band's vocalist standing/singing/dancing in front of a screen which has various artistic images projected onto it. As I mention in my previous post, this is a similar concept to what I have decided on for my own music video.
The 'old film' style is one that seems to crop up fairly regularly within the alternative genre - specifically with female singers - for example, it's also used frequently by Lana Del Rey, in videos for songs such as 'National Anthem', 'Young and Beautiful', and *'Summertime Sadness'.

*(This particular video is very similar to my proposed concept, with Del Rey exploring a love through point of view footage and implied memories. The use of projections and 'old camera' footage is a very stylised effect, and is almost exactly the type of effect that I have in mind for my own video.)

Certainly from videos such as these I can predict that my concept will work, as it fits very well with these pre-existing media products.

The music video for the song "Kamikaze" by MØ  (which is technically not indie, but pop - however, the relevance of this is that MØ is a female singer with fans similar to Briggs, and therefore what appeals to audiences in her videos is likely the same as what will appeal to fans of Briggs,) is typical of videos produced by artists in the pop genre.
It features a semi-apocalyptic, rundown mise-en-scene, lots of young adults wearing grungey urban clothing, and purposefully shaken hi-def quality shots.

MØ also receives star treatment, performs in the video, and utilises looking to 'connect' with her audience.

Codes & Conventions

While certain elements of this genre - such as looking, star treatment, performance (both artists sing) - are common features of all music videos, regardless of genre, I have noted that there are certain themes and ideas that seem to be more prominent within the broad confines of the 'alternative' genre. 

The themes of such videos often deal with 'young adult' issues, exploring things like being 'different' or rebelling against societal expectations. 

While in some ways videos within this genre are artistic expressions designed to explore the 'realness' of being human, they're also very much just a way of crafting a new identity of sorts for the millennial generation. 

Certain common features of videos in this genre:

• Abandoned places, devoid of other people - empty buildings, forests, deserts
• Unfocused style of filming
• A mix of performance and 'story acting'
• Manipulation of light
• Colour themes - e.g. red to connote love, blood, pain etc.
• Unusual clothing, make-up - makes a statement
• Symbolic object - again, designed to make a statement 
• Story lines involving love, fights, rebellion, 'contemplative' scenes, death, surreal scenes