Our chosen genre for our music video...

What is a genre?

Genre is "a recurring type or category of text, defined by structural and thematic criteria"- David Huff

Our chosen genre:

In our group we have decided to choose a song that fits under the genre "indie rock"; and this is because we all like the idea of what the music video that we would create would include.

An indie rock music video tends to be low budget, when it comes to the setting most indie rock music videos tend to be in urban areas where producers capture shots of the city, studios and/or parks. As well as this, the music videos create a sense of mystery; this would be fun to try and create as well as experiment with in our own.

In terms of mise-en-scene, we are going to have to include a 'retro look'. A retro look is an imitation of a style or fashion from the recent past, and we think this would be good to include in our music video because we want it to seem vintage in some aspects. This can be seen through costumes worn which would also create a sense of identity. Most music videos include additional back-up dancers however they are normally used for performance videos if an artist or group are choreographing a dance. Furthermore props such as instruments which are heard in the backing track are shown to create a sense of realism.

The main camera angles used in our chosen genre videos tend to be close ups which would be used to highlight the artists talents, as well as showing their passion and emotion. Crane shots, long and wide shots and high angles are also commonly used too, to show the location, the general overview and/or to make one seems smaller/weaker/more vulnerable.

Editing is a main priority when creating the music video. We will hopefully try to use fast/slow cuts which would reflect the pace and beat of the track. As well as this we are possibly thinking of using the black and white effect (monochrome) to also enhance and promote that vintage look. When we are editing, our goal is to try and make the audience feel like they are in the music video too; this would have to be accompanied by hand held cameras...possibly. Like Coldplay's 'Magic'.

Moreover when using sound we may use diegetic sound as well as using non-diegetic; this could be used to show the conveying of emotions.

What type of music video would "indie rock" fall under?

According to Andrew Goodwin's definition of a music video, our type of genre would be categorised into two of the three; performance and narrative. A performance would include either a live coverage of them in a concert or it could be a dance performance. This can be shown in Maroon 5's 'Sunday Morning' music video.

However like this video, it also includes part narrative; which is commonly used in performance videos too and this is because it breaks it up. This can be shown in Hozier's 'Someone New'.

 Narrative videos are used to tell a story - and artists commonly use the lyrics to help create the narrative. Furthermore, it also allows the ,music video to stand out from other music videos. This can been viewed in Swound!'s 'In my head'.