Conventions of Indie Music
Videos
Camera
In a lot
of indie music videos, there are a lot of medium shots, this is often to show
the artists whilst they are playing their instruments, however this can also be
used to see the costume of the characters, and the props they’re using/holding.
Close ups
are also very common in the genre. They show us the emotion with the character;
they’re also used commonly whilst someone’s singing. Extreme close ups are also
used to show us more detail in the video, an eye crying, for example.
Pans are
often used to show the setting of the music videos narrative. It shows the
audience the location, which can be essential to the narrative. Pans are also
used whilst filming the live parts of the video, panning to show all of the
band playing, and also panning around the audience.
Mise-En-Scene
The
setting for indie music videos tends to be easily accessed and low budgeted.
For example they’re often partly filmed during the artists concert, they’re
often filmed in cities, woods, etc.
The indie
genre in general tends to have a specific look, in which shows throughout the
video, with the artists wearing the generic clothes, and also sometime the
characters. The artists and characters also wear minimal makeup, which reflects
the genre accurately.
Props are
also used throughout all videos, the most common, but are always seen are,
instruments (e.g. microphones, guitars, pianos, etc.). This establishes who’s
the artist in the video. However, props are also used to help ensure the scenes
look realistic.
Live
Performance
It’s also
common for indie music videos to include live performance, it’s low budget, but
also the basis for what the artist believes in, and what most indie artists
most enjoy. This focuses on the talent of the artist, which would hopefully
‘sell’ them, and bring a bigger audience to the band.
Narrative
There is
nearly always a disjunctive narrative in indie music videos. The narrative is
usually interesting and holds the attention of the audience.
Editing
The
editing in indie music videos seems to all have some kind of effect added over
the top of the video. These are usually black and white, or other techniques,
which make the video, look older
Editing
also very commonly matches the pace of the song and the narrative. The pace of
the song is usually slow, so in a lot of indie music videos there’s a lot of
slow motion, and less cuts than what would be seen in a faster video. However,
indie music video editing also takes the narrative into account, the pace
changing to what’s happening in the narrative.
