Research into chosen Music Genre

The music genre myself and the group have chosen is indie and alternative pop/rock. I feel as a group we would work well with a song that gives off a calm feeling, however having an upbeat tempo. Generally the Indie rock genre is described as the small and relatively low-budget labels, however distributing deals are often incorporated with major corporate companies which often target a mainstream audience. I was inspired to follow this genre within our music video, as we hope to make it original and different in comparison to the original Apple Tree music video by Nina Nesbitt. Myself and my team wanted to make it narrative based, with a hint of performance. I felt that it's a challenge but attainable, however I would have felt uncomfortable following a mainstream genre, due to the high budget productions, it would be difficult to live up to in terms of a good performance.

The music video I wish to analyse is ‘Shake it Out’ by Florence and the Machine. I feel that this is a good choice of artist, as she also follows the indie/alternative pop codes and conventions within most of her music. Predominantly indie pop bands are male with one main singer supported by instrumental players that are often not seen within music videos, as it is seen as a distraction to the music itself. A common factor in which most indie pop music videos have is a mix between narrative and performance; showing the audience the story behind the lyrics which often incorporate a relationship or a different form of love. The mise en scene holds a particular significance in order to portray the setting of the video which is commonly abstract and in natural lighting to highlight the narrative itself. The camera shots used show a lot of heavy focus upon the artist and their performance, rather than on the narrative which often they are not included in so that no significance and credit to the artist is lost within the music video. This camera work is often used in the genre alternative rock, often with some artists featuring in the narrative as well as the performance, if they feel the song has too much personal significance and meaning that actors would not be able to play the role justice. The target audience within this genre enjoy watching the performer play a form of instrument to connote the idea of the genre being so independent. Indie and alternative pop/rock is an extremely hard audience to target as it all began with the artists being male dominant, making the audience female dominant. However since the 1980’s the genre had developed vastly.

When analysing ‘Shake it Out’ I first looked at the mise en scene within the music video. Welch is seen wearing a gold sophisticated dress whilst walking down the stairs whilst surrounded by orange walls. The choice of clothing promotes the event and the type of people that attend; the appearance connotes that they are a part of upper class with individual wealth. The colour gold evokes the feeling of prestige and symbolises high quality. The colour orange however represents fascination, attraction and success which are known to stimulate mental

activity, as it attracts attention, exposing and highlighting someone’s most important features. The fact that she is surrounded by a mixture of a low and high key orange wall which in fact matches the colour of her hair suggests to an audience that she plays a strong role within the video. In the following shot Welch is then seen in a close up shot from a low angle in high key natural lighting, which connects to common codes and conventions of this genre. This again highlights the importance of her role, making sure that the audience’s attention is not swayed by any other characters, as well as making it clear that the close ups are for her individual performance which link with common codes and conventions of pop and alternative pop/rock. The fact that her hair is so bright the audience are more likely to be draw to the colour, as it is so often seen as attractive to the eye which results in attracting the opposite sex, therefore broadening her target audience. Next I studied the positioning of characters. The

shot I looked at portrays Welch lightly sitting at a high level table, with two men either side on lower level chairs, clearly portraying the narrative giving the audience a better understanding of the lyrics meaning. The way in which she is seen at a higher level connotes to an audience that she holds higher authority within this love circle. Welch is seen as the decider of the predicament she has been put in on which man she chooses, as the two men seem to both be in love with her by the way they both look up to Welch, almost as if they’d fall at her feet. The setting of the video being in an art-deco mansion again promotes the authority of people that attended and the theme that followed being a masquerade ball. The dress code itself

being sophisticated and elegant for the women in long quality dresses and men looking smart in bow tucks, but all together creating the mysterious atmosphere with the use of masks which hide their individual identity, and the surroundings within individual rooms, such as antiques and high quality furnishing promotes their wealth and the willingness to make it a good party.

Following from mise en scene, I then analysed camera shots. One of the shots I looked at was a close up on Welch’s face under high key natural lighting. This almost exposes her with the effect of a spotlight; however no fault is to be seen even besides her natural appearance of limited makeup. Close up shots and the fact she is the focus follows the typical indie codes and conventions, due to heavy focus on the artist and the performance and not detracting this by including her instrumental band members. This enables her to tell a personal story portraying true meaning which an audience can then emotionally connect to, as she continues to perform with such passion. Another camera shot I looked at was a long focus shot positioned at a low angle of Welch coming gracefully down the stairs, with a mysterious man waiting at the

bottom looking up. This creates confusion for the audience as
      they are unsure of whom the mystery man is as he awaits in a mask. This shot also relates to the codes and conventions as the audience have an understanding of the love triangle that Welch sits in which is a common narrative for this genre. It keeps the audience anxious as they wish to find out if she had made a choice, therefore maintaining viewers as they continue to watch.

When analysing editing styles in ‘Shake it Out’ I particularly         noticed the vast amount of jump cuts. The jump cuts involve Welch having a good time with guests, traveling person to

      person, to then switching to the common shot where she is alone in between two men either dancing or sitting down. This 

      connotes to the 

      audience that she almost wants to escape the predicament of choosing between the two men and just enjoying herself, however she is constantly being drawn back to what’s in her mind; the choice.

      This holds significance due to it being part of the love triangle, a common narrative within the 
      codes and conventions of the indie genre. Another editing style used within the subject of the love triangle is slow editing. Slow editing is shown when she looks from right to left between each of the men. The slow editing is interpreted by the audience that Welch is struggling to choose as she has feeling for both. As a result the audience begin to sympathise for the tough decision that is needed to be made.

     The video itself starts calm and slow, with a relaxing atmosphere and as the song develops it
      changes to more of an up-tempo tune, following the narrative and creating the party atmosphere that occurs. The upbeat music connects to how Welch may be feeling which I would describe as ‘crazy’ from the enjoyment of the party, as well as the difficulty of choosing between the two men which is clearly shown as a difficult situation. This relates to the

love story narrative and the typical codes and conventions within the Indie genre; love is never simple. Towards the end it becomes very performance based which highlights Welch’s talent as she maintains a high key note, and not at any point is the focus taken away from her due to her instrumental band members not be a
      part of the video.

Welch is represented as a pure and honest woman that through the narrative is portrayed as someone worth fighting for. She is an artist that is naturally beautiful and stands out within a crowd
      from the colour of her hair. She herself is dominant within the video which at times can become confusing on whether she is performing or playing the role in the narrative, however clothing
      change and camera shots help to differentiate the two. When relating it to Goodwin’s theory the lyrics match the performance metaphorically, for example when she sings ‘” I can never leave the past behind, I can see no way, I can see no way, I’m always dragging that horse around, our love is pastured, such a mournful sound, Tonight I’m gonna bury that horse in the ground”’. Within this section it is interpreted as one of the men plays the role of the ‘horse’ which is clearly a past relationship, however she moves on to a new man but cannot let go of her past, therefore they both fight for her. This makes her seem like an indecisive, but loving character that doesn’t like to let go of her past as it holds memories.

Researching into my chosen music genre enabled me to have a greater understanding of the typical codes and conventions in terms of camera shots, mise en scene and editing styles. This information will assist me when I come to produce my own music video with my group, as I now have guidelines to follow, reducing the risk of me going on a tangent and not producing an indie or alternative pop/rock music video. The main codes and conventions I wish to take and use within my video is basing the narrative on a love story, and having the same percentage of narrative to performance as Florence and the Machine has used within 'Stand it Out'. The use to camera shots like close ups to differentiate the performance and narrative I think will be vital, something that a lot of thought on my groups behalf will have to go into. With my group understanding more about the genre as well as me, we are able to mix view points and possibly find out more information than we did individually which gives us an even further understanding.