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

Music Video Analysis - 6.) "National Anthem" by Lana Del Rey

Music Video Analysis - 5.) "Take Me To Church" by Hozier

Music Video Analysis - 4.) "Elephants" by Warpaint

Music Video Analysis - 3.) "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots

With the release of the film Suicide Squad (David Ayer, 2016) came the spectacular accompanying soundtrack for the film. The song "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots was the film's lead single; the music video that was released for this song is - while similar to other music videos by the band - very much a promotional point for the film (as too were the music videos of the other songs on the soundtrack, such as "Purple Lamborghini" by Skrillex and Rick Ross.)

In terms of the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics, there is a strong significant theme of societal outcasts, heathens, and sinners. The prison setting provides a perfect environment to find such people, while also linking to the prison Belle Reve from the film.

Locations & Mise-en-scene

The opening shot is an aerial view of some unidentifiable and isolated backwoods marshlands, which links to the location of the prison in the film.

The next shot is a long shot of a thick concrete wall with barbed wire at the top, which we take to be the wall of a prison. The wall also has a macabre piece of artwork on it; A skeleton is pictured clinging to bars and the words "Welcome To Belle Reve", "Till Death Do Us Part", and "Special Security Barracks" which link to the prison in the film and also denotes the situation to the audience.

Intertextuality

The song for this music video was featured in the recently released film "Suicide Squad" and so this music video has heavy links to the film. For example, the location for the video is a high-security prison, like the one we meet our protagonists in in the film. More significant however is the fact that clips of the main characters in the movie are also interjected into this video; the clips chosen are from the early scenes of the movie when the characters are all still incarcerated. By having such clear links between both products, they can have a symbiotic relationship, meaning the success of one helps to feed the success of the other.

Performance Style

Like most videos, this one also features a performance by the band's two members. Josh Dun is seen singing throughout the video, but about half-way through his prison jumpsuit is stripped off revealing a yellow jacket suit as he steps onto a small stage within the prison to perform for the inmates who arrive to be the audience.




Narrative

The narrative of the video seems linear, although the editing suggests a few jumps in time. While the ending is cyclical to the beginning (with Josh Dun compliant to the surrounding heavily armed guards,) the ending is left fairly open. The intended reading is that we assume Dun remains imprisoned at the end, but his exact fate is left open to interpretation, as is the narrative enigma surrounding his reason for incarceration into a maximum security prison.




Star Treatment

The band's singer Josh Dun is repeatedly focused on throughout the video, making him the central thread to the story. While the band's drummer (and original member) Tyler Joseph is also featured, he is only seen playing his drums. Dun on the other hand behaves as his role of prisoner but then switches out to perform.




Audience
The target audience of this music video is the fans of the Suicide Squad movie, but also fans of the band. Throughout this video the two band members are featured heavily, and they perform for the other prison inmates (who in this case represent the fans of the band.)

Music Video Analysis - 2.) "Hold On (The Break)" by Walk off the Earth

This music video  produced in 2016 by Laminate Productions, and directed by Chris Stacey and Gianni Luminati. The video was shot at LOVE NAIL TREE in Los Angeles, California, and uses a crane to get high shots and to be able to move smoothly up/down and side-to-side in front of the band, who can be seen singing while hanging from metal frame for the majority of the video. The band members clinging to the metal frame relates to the title and lyrics of the song "Hold On", and act as a literal portrayal of the song's message.

The opening shot of the video shows the name of the band and the title of the concept of the video, 'written' onto the brick wall. The rise-en-scene feels almost industrial, but not quite (possible because of the wooden ceiling and coloring of the writing, making the rise-en-scene look a little rustic.)

The camera then pans down to show the band standing beneath a metal frame, which they proceed to climb up and hang from as the music fades in. 

There is audience address as the band members look directly into the camera, which serves to make us feel connected to them, as if they're talking to us personally. The audience of a video such as this is going to be fans of the band or of the indie genre, typically teenagers/young adults. 

The camera slowly zooms in to capture close-ups of the band members, showing their singing and co-ordinated 'dance' moves.

There is an element of humor to the video when at the end (even after the credits - something unusual of a music video) one band member is still hanging. The song is long since finished and the rest of the band members are sat looking at him, confused about what to do. The remaining hanger hasn't said a word the entire video an simply stares straight ahead, seemingly able to "Hold On" indefinitely. 

Music Video Analysis - 1.) "Summer Vibe" by Walk off the Earth

This music video produced in 2012 is a simplistic, low budget production typical of an indie band. It features the members of 'Walk off the Earth' live recording the song "Summer Vibe" on Hamilton beach, Ontario, Canada with the ocean serving as the background. The live recording follows the words and overall theme of the song itself.
The footage varies in focus, while the exposure is sometimes too bright, giving a glowing, almost burnt out effect to the band. The shot types generally vary between static shots of the whole band, close-ups of the main members, and shaky handheld panning shots which convey a very amateur sense of camerawork. There's a blur transition between all the shots that furthers this sense of casualness. Overall, the visual's and production seem very low quality, but the relaxed nature of the song and the band makes this feel appropriate, especially regarding the genre.

This is the opening shot of the video. The dark colour of the pebbles and the water might've connoted the build up to a forest setting or darker vibe etc. but the inclusion of a coconut with a yellow cocktail umbrella brings in themes of summer/caribbean, bringing in a lighter feeling to the video.

The title of the video then appears in the lower left corner. Its vibrant colour is eye catching, and couples nicely with the pale yellow umbrella to further brighten the composition of the image, and bring in the light, summery feeling. The capitalized block font is juvenile and appropriate to the genre.

The second shot of the video shows a blonde labrador dog, dashing into the waves after some object thrown by its owner (whose shadow we can see in the lower left corner.) In this shot the exposure makes the colors far brighter than the first, with the sand now seeming beige and the water bright blue. The quality of this shot resembles that of a home video, helping to establish the casual yet personal feeling of this music video.

This is the third shot of the video, and it features the band set up with their recording equipment and instruments, against the backdrop of the ocean. This establishing shot shows us the subjects of the video, making it clear to the audience that we're about to watch a performance.


The audience of a video such as this is going to be fans of the indie genre and of this band specifically. Due to the age of the band members the age of the audience is likely to be teenagers and young adults, while the predominantly female vocals mean a female audience is more likely.