Iconography

Iconography of INDIE- our target audience
DEFINITION: Symbolic representation, especially the conventional meanings attached to an image or images.To start of with I thought it was best if I do a brainstorm of everything I can think of which links to the indie genre, this will help me with the narrative of my music video and bringing in the correct conventions. I looked at the mise-en-scene, fashion, music, emotions which is shown in both diagrams.

On bubblr.com I created a spider diagram which links together important aspects I found in my brainstorm below.

Brainstorm of ideas associated with INDIE.

LOCATIONS

Camden Town- Well known for its quirkyness and indie scenceters, with many piercing shops, bars and clubs. A very typical place "indie" people would hang out and night or in the day with the busy market.

Mise-en-scene

"The Indie Scenester still likes to be ahead of the game when it comes to discovering new music. They still can’t quite shake off the skinny jeans though"- http://www.uktribes.com/

The mood board below gives a great insight into the mise-en-scene of Indie artists and bands. As you can see the clothing they wear is skinny jeans and overall tight clothing which is in fact a very stereotypical representation of indie people.

Lyrical Analysis of Bloc Party Flux

I decided to analyse our chosen song and its lyrics, however I did have some difficulity due to its strange and not clear words. Conversely, I believe it is how you interpret it and the sense what builds than what it actually says. Additionally, the picture that is built up is a relationship crisis from in my opinion a male's perspective. "State of flux" is a time of change and we notice this when the lyrics go back to the past and reflecting on the situation. I believe this shows the mental state of the male and the despair he is feeling. I get an image of DESPAIR and LONELINESS from the lyrics and possible anger that has been built up.

Shortlist of songs

As a group, we came together and put forth our ideas on the songs we wanted to shortlist. We realized it was very hard to find a song that wasn't too mainstream and also correlated with our indie rock genre. We went on youtube, listened to older songs, found typical indie songs and discussed the type of song we wanted. We wanted an indie yet upbeat electro song so we could use strobe lighting and our narrative would work greatly with this.

Bloc party- FluxFoals- Olympic AirwaysThe drums- Lets go surfingI blame coco- CaesarThe script- Rusty HaloChase and status- End creditsThe script- NothingFoals- BallonsOK Go- Here it goes again

After much discussion, we showed the possibilities to our teacher. She was not very fond of our second choice which

was the Foals Olympic airways. However, after explaining our planning for Bloc party Flux she agreed it could

work quite well. So, FINALLY after much planning and looking we have found our song!!

The next step is to analysis the lyrics and place together our narrative.

More conventions...

BLACK AND WHITE

When looking at the Indie Rock genre, most music video's seem to be placed partly or entirely in black and white. So, why is this? Some argue that it is to enhance the atmosphere and reflect on the mood that is generated from the artist or the narrative. In my opinion black and white music videos do give the proffesionalism and conventions of an indie music video and this could be an idea for our overall video. I have looked into depth at videos that use the colour contrast.

One video that we have gained much inspiration from is A team by Ed Sheeran, the narrative is about a woman prositute begging on the streets of London and her day to day routine showing despair, struggles and lonliness. Similar atributes to the ideas put forth in our project. However there is no performance based scenes in this video which is a main priority for us, furthermore the pace of the music is quite slow and acoustic like whereas we intend ours on being fast full of energy.

Another video that has caught our attention is Example- Changed the way you kissed me. This is however set in a club scene with the live band, which would be unrealistic for us due to the many restrictions however we can still gain inspiration from this.

Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwins theory- Example Stay awake.

View more documents from jansen13.

When planning and shooting our video we will have to consider each of these entirely to ensure our product is reminiscent of music videos today and that it too looks professional.

Music analysis- The script

Analysis of The Script

Before the worst video
The script follow the indie rock genre, which we are doing therefore I thought it was a good idea to analyse one of their videos in order to help with the planning of ours.
I am very fond of the video Before the Worst as it conveys a great performance with fantastic lighting throughout and overlays. The script- Before the worst due to its performance and narrative based video. This is definitely what we wish to achieve in our music video and the similar genres reflect this. The video starts with the lead singer simply walking through the backstage of the 02 and joining the rest of his band on the stage with an empty audiences, instantly this creates a tense atmosphere

ANALYSIS OF THE SCRIPT- NOTHING
The music video I wanted to analysize was Nothing by the script, it has a very similar narrative to what we hoped to achieve and the genre is the same therefore would help us greatly in planning our video. The lyrics are very much conventional and clear to interpret which I shall demonstrate throughout.

The scripts house style is very much similar to all the video's they have produced. Most of their videos are located in a busy town or city with the lead vocalist Danny O'Donoghue walking through crowds with a narrative as well as a performance from the band. 'Nothing' is based in Camden town London, this is the part of London we were very interested in shooting our video at, it has a very quirky style to it and well known for shooting INDIE music videos. The video initiates with an underwater shot which works very well with the pace of the music. The close up of the lead singer shows he is in a club/bar with his two band mates, the focus pull blurs the primary coloured artifical lighting in the background however has great effect. From just a few seconds in we are able to grasp the narrative, the lyrics and visuals definitely help us with this. However, there are various close ups and medium close ups of the glass filled with alcohol and the singer drinking constantly. The narrative is very much about an average guy that has recently split from girlfriend and under the influence of alcohol to block his despair, lonliness and possible regret.

The lighting throughout is made up of ambient and occasional uses of artifical, reflecting from the outside street lamps, police vechiles and flashing signs in Camden. This is what we hope to do in our video as it gives a very surreal atmopshere which clearly portays to the audience. Their is also a performance in the video this entitles Danny walking down the street singing at the camera as well as the band members playing in a very dark room and close ups of the guitar and drums being played. It is very clever how the underwater scene is filmed, the editing reflects well with the pace of the music. Furthermore, it demonstates the delusional state of the male and the risk taking attempt he has undergone in order to see his Ex partner, we are introduced to this female with overlays of her underwater.

Mise-en-scene- The band members are wearing very dark clothing which is stereoptypical to their genre, this is leather jackets, skinny jeans and baggy tops. The location also corrolates greatly with the genre as mentioned before.

"They say a few drinks will help you to forget her".

"Cause' Im shouting your name all over town!"

This is a very iconic part in camden which is used greatly to demonstrate the despair of the male, it shows his alone and his physical state before he jumps off the bridge.

"Am I better off dead
Am I better off a quitter
They say I'm better off now
Than I ever was with her
As they take me to my local down the street
I'm smiling but I'm dying trying not to drag my feet

They say a few drinks will help you to forget her
But after one too many I know that I'm never
Only they can see where this is gonna end
But they all think I'm crazy but to me it's perfect sense

And my mates are all there trying to calm me down
'Cause I'm shouting your name all over town
I'm swearing if i go there now
I can change your mind turn it all around

And I know that I'm drunk but I'll say the words
And she'll listen this time even though their slurred
Dialed her number and confess to her
I'm still in love but all i heard was nothing

So I stumble there, along the railings and the fences
I know if I'm face to face that she'll come to her senses
Every drunk step i take leads me to her door
If she sees how much I'm hurting
She'll take me back for sure

And my mates are all there trying to calm me down
'Cause I'm shouting your name all over town
I'm swearing if i go there now
I can change your mind turn it all around

And I know that I'm drunk but I'll say the words
And she'll listen this time even though their slurred
Dialed her number and confess to her
I'm still in love but all i heard was nothing

She said nothing
Oh I wanted words but all I heard was nothing
Oh I got nothing
Nothing
I got nothing
Nothing
Oh I wanted words but all I heard was nothing

Oh sometimes love is intoxicating
Oh you're coming down your hands are shaking
When you realise there's no one waiting

Am I better off dead
Am I better off a quitter
They say I'm better off now
Than I ever was with her

And my mates are all there trying to calm me down
'Cause I'm shouting your name all over town
I'm swearing if i go there now
I can change your mind turn it all around

And I know that I'm drunk but I'll say the words
And she'll listen this time even though their slurred
Dialed her number and confess to her
I'm still in love but all i heard was nothing

She said nothing
Oh I wanted words but all I heard was nothing
Oh I got nothing
Nothing
I got nothing
Nothing
Oh I wanted words but all I heard was nothing
Oh I got nothing
I got nothing
I got nothing

Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/the-script-lyrics-nothing-xgpg92d#ixzz1Z33GGPhG

This is a very important medium shot within the video as this is the first time we are introduced to the girl he is talking about, it pieces together the video which we will need to achieve in our music video.

Looking at this music video what have we gained?

When analysizing The scripts' new video I absolutely loved the location of it, set in Camden with low key lighting and busy traffic around them, I believe it really worked well with their genre and the narrative was clear, illustrated by the lyrics and visuals.

I would very much like to reenact the scene with him on the bridge as I think it really worked well seeing a long shot of the male protagonist.

The location is definitely the key in this video and as a group we shall discuss Camden as a potential filming place.

Close ups...

This related to Andre Goodwin's theory

"Emphasis on 'looking'- The 'male gaze' is often used to attract a male audience. The male gaze is a focus on presenting things that appeal to men. This often means a voyeuristic view of, and an objectification, of women. The emphasis on looking also includes the artist looking directly into the camera helping the audience connect with the artist". This is shown in the image I made in photo shop above. The artists are gazing at the camera in a close up shot which captivates their facial expression and connection them to the audience with there distinct glare.

lights conventions in a music video

Before choosing our song we decided to look at music videos and the convention of lighting. We saw that extreme artificial lighting is mostly used to enhance the atmosphere and indicate the shift from chorus and instrumental beat. This can be used in many genres.


Lighting is an extremely important factor to any types of music videos, however the lighting changes depending on which one. For example, lighting is used greatly in pop videos to enforce brightness and happiness, sometimes in a club atmopshere. However artificial lighting is also used greatly in indie music videos to enhance the urban scene for exaple or the state of lonliness. This is done via strobe lighting or reflection from instrumentals,



The Horrors- Still life


From end to beginning this video uses lighting greatly. With its constant cross dissolves and changing atmosphere it brings a very futuristic feel to the video. This video falls under the indie genre and the close ups of the artist empahsize this. Despite the ever changing colours, it is a very misty and hazey use of primary colours which shows its uniquiness and individuality.




Lights- Ellie goulding


This video is extremely graphic and uses technology greatly throughout. The cross dissolves are also used with many close ups of the artists. The shot that particuarlly catches my attention is the one in the bottom right, its a mid shot of the cross dissolve and it makes a purpled tint to the shot which also shows the darkness behind the shot. Furthermore, I am very fond of the spotlight which enhances the shadow of the artist- this is simple yet very effective.






All of the lights- Kayne West, Rihanna.


This music video is very well known for its great uses of flashing lights and vibrant use of primary colours. This is however a pop video and its conventions show this. A lot of dancing is involved and close ups of the artist- which is very different from the genre of indie.

Let's get started...

So, before getting started and going off the tangent with our enthusiasm we need to know what exactly the "Indie genre" is? It's fair enough us assuming what it is, however we need to know for certain so we can identify our target audience and also have the correct song choice, mise-en-scene and editing.

You have, Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Dance, Indie Folk, Indie Electronic...
These are all very different platforms with totally different audience. For example the people listening to indie pop will definitely be different to those listening to indie folk. The term "Indie" seems to be a cool alternative to "Independence" which brings us back to the period of the 1980's when this was very much believed upon. Nowadays Indie has become pretty mainstream which is quite ironic due to the terminology behind it, however we do not class it as mainstream as it still holds its Independence. When thinking of an indie music video, the first thing that came to the groups mind was:

De saturation of film
Dim lighting
Loneliness
Struggles
Regret
Pace of editing- Quickening in surreal atmospheres
Blurred and soft focus
Streets at midnight
Slow motion
Smoke- Hazy atmosphere
Wipe pan of action shots
Urban scene incorporated- Graffiti
Cross dissolves- reflecting historic, present or future
Close ups
Male artists- Skinny jeans, tattoos, long hair, smoking
Vulnerable girl
Bands- Guitar solo's, drum and bass
Notion of looking (Goodwin's theory)
Relationship between lyric and visuals

Pitch- Initial meeting

To begin, we had the task to assign ourselves into groups of which we would work in towards making our music video and overall A2 coursework. My group consists of Vicky Gordon, Emily Fry and voke oyeye of whom I know very well therefore is an advantage because I am aware of the music genres they particularly like and have an interest in. In our first meeting we discussed what genre we like listening to and the types of songs we could use in our music video, before any decision is made we will shortlist the music songs we believe could work in our video. As well as discussing songs we also looked briefly into music video's and visualized ourselves with the conventions- We did this via youtube and wrote down the video's we looked at so we can go back to them when researching.

We wrote down approximately 34 song choices that came to mind when thinking of the music genre- INDIE. However, with the indie genre we appreciate there are many different genres within this title and therefore decided to look into this before finalizing any songs. The genre is one of the most important aspects as we need to know this very well in order to reach our target audience- Who will be the buyers and viewers and therefore determine the success of the video.