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MUSIC VIDEO GENRE CONVENTIONSHarry Lawtey

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INDIE ROCK• Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in

the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. It is heavily linked to bands such as Artic Monkeys and Oasis, who are popularised by their working class background, dedication to the ‘music’, and loyalty to their respective record labels. They are commonly made up entirely of male members but are a far cry from the ‘boy band’ genre made iconic by the likes of Westlife, or in modern times. They like to be seen to write their own music and have a different view on commercial success.

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IMAGE

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RESEARCH – offical websites, music videos ect.

The official websites of these types of bands often inclu7de dark, ominous colour schemes and minimalistic layouts. They are not designed to appear ‘in your face’, they are simply to explore the heritage of the band and advertise tour dates.

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CONVENTIONS• Conventions of indie Rock music videos include live

performance, which is either theatrically constructed or taken from genuine footage. This further emphasises their interest in the music and shows that they are music artists at core, as opposed to commercial figureheads for a record label. There is often a dark and black colour scheme. Also, the lead singer of such bands is commonly recognised for their confidence and bravado e.g. Alex Turner, Noel Gallagher. If the band are in fact featured at all, these characters are likely to lead the narrative of the video with other members of the band taking the back seat. The bands are often seen to be doing anarchic, ‘cool’ things such as smoking to contribute to their cult image.

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JAZZ/SYNTHPOP• Jazz is a genre of music that originated in African-

American communities during the late 19th and early 20th century. Jazz spans a range of music from ragtime to the present day—a period of over 100 years—and has proved to be very difficult to define.

• Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. The genre has received criticism for alleged lack of emotion and musicianship; prominent artists have spoken out against detractors who believed that synthesizers themselves composed and played the songs.

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IMAGE (SYNTHPOP)• Musicians who work with synthesisers often have very diverse images and

there is no real set trend. This is because it is not a genre of music that uses image as a key marketing tool. This means the artist can have a wide range of looks. This genre of music has a colossal fan base in the 21st century but the majority of regular listeners don’t’ even know what the musician actually looks like.

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IMAGE (JAZZ)• The iconic Jazz image is appropriate to the time in which

it was first discovered as a genre, by people such as Frank Sinatra. This includes slick, formal where that wouldn’t look out of place at the events at which they performed.

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RESEARCH; Wil.i.Am• Wil.i.Am is one of the few sucessful musicians that our

operating in this hybrid genre today, as he has roots in both styles despite making his name with synthesised dance tracks. Unsurprisingly, Wil.i.Am’s image is key to his reputation. I did some research looking at his website. His too has a minimalist style and is heavily reliant on graphic design features. This goes some way in reinforcing his ‘other-worldly’ persona.

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CONVENTIONS• As their our very few legitimate jazz videos for us to watch we

focussed mainly on synthpop/house/electronic music videos for inspiration. Live performance is a very common convention of these kinds of videos as people are interested to see the skill of the DJ. Much like with the indie rock videos, if this is not real footage then live performance will often be recreated in a studio environment. Visual elements include lights, smoke, dancing. They generally are not too narratively lead and mostly don’t actually include too many shots of the musician. The pace and tempo of the video is likely to heavily coincide with that of the track so the visual climax occurs with the ‘drop’ of the song to give a more effective viewing experience. For our video we would wish to apply all these expected features but create diversity by also including some archetypal features of the jazz genre such as costume and authentic dancing. This juxtaposition creates something that is unique and interesting.