Assessment of research and how it will influence my planning.

• Indie Rock is a hybrid genre that originated in the UK in the 1980’s. It formed from alternative rock and it is very diverse. This is due to there being various aspects that make the genre up. There are many subgenres which has over time changed what it means to be a part of the Indie Rock genre. This is why Artists, their music and how they present themselves can be completely different than others in the genre. For example the band the 1975 are renounced for having a rough, edgy heavy sound where as Neko Case is softer, more polished and lighter in songs that gives almost an acoustic or folky vibe. These differences could also be partly due to the changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet; today it is used as a tool for music promotion and has allowed a number of Indie Rock bands to achieve mainstream commercial success, which would not have been possible otherwise. Because of this when I present my new artist I will use the internet as part of my marketing in order to sell the artist and gain popularity.

Brief History

Genre• First, let’s talk about genre and music videos. Throughout the

research stage it became clear that there are patterns of elements that make up the indie rock genre. A big part of this was narrative and media language, but not necessarily the sound or the type of Artist. It’s important to note that this follows Gunther Kress’ theory of genre as he stated genre is a text that derives its form from the structure of frequently repeated social occasions. However, David Buckingham argues that it is not simply given by the culture it is a constant process of negotiation and change. As there is such variety of sound within the genre, they are both valid and recognisable points.

MUSIC VIDEOS:STOCK SETTINGS• From the research I underwent it showed that a domestic setting was a common convention of the genre. This could be

used to connote isolation between the characters and the rest of the outside world. And also be used to build a connection between character and audience as it allows for more details to be known about them as individuals on a truer scale because the characters have the privilege of privacy and therefore are open to how they really behave. This is fairly common within couple based storylines as it allows the audience to be a part of their world and understand the connection or lack thereof between characters.

• As well as this, other isolated areas such as streets, parks and alleyways proved popular, as again it shows the characters segregated from the rest of the world, which connotes the idea of being alone, this links to the target audience as many that listen to the indie rock genre feel outcasted and a lack of sense of belonging. Throughout the majority of the videos I looked at, there was a strong sense of isolation, which has only been so significant due to identification found from the stereotypical target audience and what their expectations are within these videos.

• Similarly, there was also a presence of bars or gigs. This links to the idea that I found about music being a way of expression to the target audience as well as the artists themselves and therefore is very significant as it is somewhere and something that everybody that surrounds themselves with the genre can connect with.

• There is also the idea of a nocturnal setting as it conforms to stereotypes about young people sleeping all day and staying up all night – it links to the idea of rebellion that surrounds the genre. But it also references that sense of isolation once more as young people find their idea of belonging within each other, away from the rest of the world.

• There can also be a stage where either the Artist or band performs with their instruments or a more subtle, softer performance where the Artist lip syncs the lyrics to the song which enables a connection between Artist and audience.

STOCK CHARACTERS• Again there is an idea of a couple or lovers present within music videos, this is quite significant as many themes

found in these music videos can be driven of a couple’s relationship. For example, they either love one another, which has all the connotations of romance and passion, or they could fight, this may lead to violence, then could break up which may lead to loneliness or have something keeps them apart like a jealous ex or death. It also links back to the idea of isolation as it is almost as if it is the couple and their lives against the world.

• This can link to Propp’s theory of narrative as There is usually the ‘hero’ who goes on a journey of self-discovery or has the music video focusing on them. This character is usually male and female counterparts are usually secondary in the story.

• There can also be a ‘princess’ who often appears weaker and more vulnerable than the male, she can also be promiscuous or sometimes appears to challenge those stereotypes of women and seems out of reach for the hero because she is just average, works and has no desire to be out of control.

• The main character is often framed in isolation again promoting the idea of being outcasted or being on a journey of self discovery. More often than not, the character appears to be outcasted by society and therefore enables the audience to connect with them and establish more positive connotations to the character as they can sympathise with them if, for example they are troubled.

• The artist or band often appear in the music videos as well, following Steve Archer's narrative theory as the Artist often integrates them into the story. This also helps the way in which the Artist is represented and can even help to establish a brand identity. As my target audience have specified how it helps them to connect with the artist and the music as a whole, I will integrate this

ICONGOGRAPHY• Throughout various music videos in the genre there are multiple conventions that are evident this include drugs,

cigarettes and alcohol. Which is significant as they are stereotypical attributes of the target audience therefore helping to make the videos that more relatable for them. Another thing that was common and in fact appealed to my target audience was the use of instruments.

THEMES• In all different types of music videos within the genre, whether it’s a heavier sound or a more acoustic song, one

thing remains the same. The theme of love and relationships. This links into story based narratives, and allows the audience to identify with it as it is so common within everyday life. However, different videos convey different messages about the theme; some link into violence, fighting or breaking up in way that shows how the problems are internal. And some videos use violence or death and loss to again show the struggles that the relationship or more personally, the characters have endured and therefore helping to create a sense of identification with the audience as it is common in everyday life for individuals to go through hardships, especially as a teenager and young adult. Again, anchoring a sense of belonging for the target audience.

• The use of violence or injury is used for as an escapism for the target audience as well as to entertain and keep the videos intriguing so that the audience can connect further to it. This is clear as although there are exceptions and it’s a stereotype, the vast majority of the target audience do not participate in the type of violence shown in the videos such as gun crime and knife crime. The injury aspect however, could come from a fight breaking out, which is not uncommon amongst the target audience and could actually appeal to target audience as it through the interviews I’ve conducted it’s clear that it’s an expectation. Death and loss has also proven to be an expectation, this is another thing I’ll have to consider when planning my music video.

CAMERA SHOTS AND MOVEMENTS• Two shots are important to note throughout the genre as couple based storylines have proven so popular. They are used to help

establish relationships between characters and although it’s largely used for couples there are examples of where it’s used just to show a relationship more intimately by isolating the characters from everything else.

• Handheld camera movements are often used to connote a chaotic atmosphere through promoting panic of when the characters are trying to get away, however when this is edited to the camera being situated behind the characters whilst they’re on screen, the framing is significant as it acts an almost a suggestion that the audience are following them on their journey through the video. It also could connote separation between the character and everything else, as if they are trying to hide away from the outer world. This reinforces the idea of isolation, it’s also quite engaging for the audience as they feel as can be a part of the story through following them.

• Close ups have also been proven to be important as is helps to add emphasis on a certain character, object or idea. When performed on a character, it allows the audience to better see their facial expressions and to understand how they’re feeling so they can connect with them more easily. It also pulls on focus on things essential to the storyline.

• Extreme close ups do a similar job in emphasises the characters the character’s emotions as through the various videos I looked at extreme close ups tended to be on the face and other body parts rather than objects. But also, when analysing performance videos the extreme close ups tended to have focus on the instruments, demonstrating how sometimes the main focus is the music that’s being produced rather than a storyline.

• Long shots tend to reinforce a sense of isolation by helping to establish settings, when edited with the main character it really helps to connote that sense of being alone. As well as this, they are used to introduce bands and Artists in performance videos.

• Just as tilts are used for a similar purpose, they help to introduce characters as the audience are able to see more of their body language and costumes therefore aiding them to judge how the character is.

• Pans and arcs are used to reveal details about the characters surroundings usually again placing them in an isolated setting to put the majority of focus on them, where they are and who may not may not be there.

• Finally, medium close ups and medium shots are probably the most common shots throughout the genre, particularly when the Artists are singing into the camera. It reflects how it is their song and provides the audience with partial details of their surroundings and how they can integrate within the storyline without pulling too much focus on themselves. It’s also more a realistic camera shot as it’s simplistic and shows the audience enough for them to follow the storyline.

EDITING• This can lead onto editing and how straight cuts are so significant within these videos as it promotes

verisimilitude as it often highlights the social realism within a vast amount of the videos.• Shot reverse shots proved popular, especially within couple based storylines. They are often framed

together or edited from being alone to being together which highlights the importance of their relationship within the storyline, allowing the audience to connect to the idea more easily.

• However, within these couple based storylines it’s often portrayed that the man in the relationship is the protagonist where as the female is his secondary. This can been seen through the rarity of the woman being shot alone unless from the male’s pov. This of course, linking back to Laura Mulvey’s gender theory as it’s suggestive of the man’s domination over females in terms of important and significance. However doesn’t completely follow as although there is a presence of the idea of the male gaze where women are seen as sex objects, a lot of these videos reject that and just encourage how the man’s journey more important than the woman’s as they are largely seen as the prime focus.

• Protagonists can be seen to be edited alone and with their surroundings further anchoring the key theme of isolation throughout the various music videos. Because it’s proven to be a selling point in the videos and a expectation of my target audience I’m inclined to include some sort of storyline with a male protagonist that is often isolated so the audience can connect with his character more acceptingly

MISE EN SCENE• Body language and facial expressions are key within the music videos as it anchor already established ideas. I found that

storylines tended to show some sort of hardship, whether that be of a character going on a journey or a struggle of a relationship, the use of facial expressions reflect the mood. Happiness has also been conveyed as well as anger etc.

• The costume is significant because there doesn’t tend to be very flashy or glamorous attires, it’s far more basic with the use of black skinny or ripped jeans, plain hoodies and t-shirts becoming a recurring theme. This reflects the attitude of a more care free lifestyle as it demonstrate a lack of effort but also can reflect the idea of being a bit through the dark clothing and large boots seen so frequently. Again, helping to establish a connection to the audience as it was a very key expectation.

• Make up has been used, particularly on women, to create some bold looks which helps to anchor the rough and heavy ideologies many of the videos have, however in more softer acoustic sounding indie rock music videos, the makeup is kept very minimal which is significant as I believe it connotes realism in how the characters behave in everyday life. As well as this, sometimes the makeup appears to be running or is messy giving a rough look to the character again promoting them going through hardship.

• Various props can be seen in all different types of videos within the genre that include cigarettes predominately, and as underage smoking and smoking in general are such a big stereotype for the target audience, it’s used to anchor the idea of relatability whilst reflecting the lifestyle of the youth. Other common props include alcohol and drugs which reinforce these ideas. Along with this, instruments were used to reinforce the important of music.

• Finally, the lighting was a huge factor, a large amount the videos had low key because of the nocturnal settings and it can promote mystery and hiding away, another common stereotype within the genre. However I also found that there was an overwhelming amount of transitional lighting from high key to low key as the videos progressed and more details are known about the storylines, particularly when the videos become darker in tone such as if a death was going to occur, almost foreshadowing of what’s to come.

NARRATIVE• This can link to narrative theories that could be applied to the videos. Reasoning behind looking into narratives was to gain a

better understanding of the structure of these videos, character types and so forth and how that correlates to the target audience expectations.

• The theories I applied to all videos I analysed include Propp’s theory of characters, Todorov’s theory of the 5 stages in a storyline and Strauss’ theory of binary opposites. Todorov’s theory has been represented as throughout story based narratives the majority follow the structure of starting with an equilibrium which then later moves on to a disruption however a lot of the videos reject this idea as well as often storylines are left with questions still unanswered and no state of the new equilibrium that finishes of a story. This links to Barthes enigma code. Enigmas tend to be very common within these videos especially within videos surrounding death and loss, a portion of the time, unbeknownst to characters that they are in fact dead. As the video goes on smaller mysteries and enigmas are created until the big reveal where the videos come together. Binary opposites were also evident throughout, life vs. death, good vs. bad, night vs. day and black vs. white. Audience are able to clear contrasts and this is constant in both chronological and non chronological narratives. Chronological narratives are simple to follow and easy to connect with and proved popular in performance based videos where as non chronological order tends to provide the audience with more details about the storyline, giving flashbacks and flash forwards enabling them to engage with it. These types of videos included more of a range of colour change such as using a black and white filter to establish a different setting than present day and reinforce how the time has passed.

• Again Propp's character theory is evident and to just reiterate can be seen when the protagonist or the ‘hero’ goes on journey of some sort as like the ‘princess’ plays a secondary role, being more vulnerable weak or just boringly average. There can also be a ‘villain’ who is usually male and has the role of being involved in the disruption of the equilibrium by either trying to break couple up or being the reason for somebody’s pain. They are often used to keep the storyline interesting and unpredictable.

• As well as this Steve Archer’s theory of narrative and performance is relatively common, by integrating the Artist or maybe even just the lead singer of the band it really helps to establish a brand and for the audience to gain a familiarity with the artist themselves. Another way the artist helps establish familiarity is by performance, playing instruments or at the very least lip syncing. As I’m creating a completely new Artist this might be something I look into in order to generate a fan base whilst keeping a focus on the music aspect relatively easily.

AUDIENCE• In order to gain knowledge of my audience’s expectations and what appeals to them

I conducted various research methods including a questionnaire, a focus group and multiple interviews to gain perspective. My target audience is aged 17+ and in all the videos all the interviewees said how they expected the narrative cross cut between story and performance or have the artist integrated within the storyline somehow, hence the 'mixture.' This was reinforced by the focus group and questionnaire I carried out as pretty much all participants stated how they prefer a mixture or story based narrative. The interviewees also mentioned how they believed setting was important also particularly to give a sense of isolation. This is significant as it promotes stereotypes that I had already found out. Because of this, I'll use both ideas in order to adhere to the expectations of the audience. Some of the other expectations I found my target audience included: Instruments; drinking; isolated areas, such as a beach; themes of love, violence and death; black and white backgrounds as well as a performance from the band. Again, these being important conventions to note.

PROMOTIONAL PACKAGE• As I’m going to create a promotional package to promote the

music video and Artist I thought it would be key to research album artwork and posters that promote other Artists within the genre as well as find out the expectations of the target audience so I could figure out how to best appeal to them in order to encourage sales. I asked what their expectations were and their answers included: the artist's name; their logo; songs included on the album; a photograph of the artist or memorable artwork that promotes the album, almost like a brand identity. When asked what’s appeals about Digi packs and posters a large portion look for something eye catching and interesting whilst remaining simple and not over the top. I’ll consider this when creating my promotional package.

Jake Bugg• I went on to reinforce the ideas by analysing a few album covers and posters within the genre. The front

cover is basic as it focuses solely on the artist. The natural colouring of the picture has been taken out and been replaced with neutral colours, the buildings in the background have been blurred, giving the impression that the Artist is very raw and the album itself is simple and there isn't any shock surprises, just him as an artist singing. His name in black block captials and underlined gives emphasis that he is a singer-songwriter and that he has a large responsibility in making the album possible as he sings, writes and plays instruments. This is conventional within the genre as there is a certain emphasis on the music. On the back cover the guitar that is set down next to him standing anchors this also and gives the impression that the album once again has nothing flashy, but instead just about music, another convention of the genre. The colour scheme is stereotypical of Independent music as it almost gives the audience a sense of an underground vibe, vintage sounding and as well as being raw and edgy. The white text against the black clothing and the brown sephia colour background contrasts and puts an impact on the artist again putting focus on him as does the website at the bottom of the album. The poster is very similar to his album in that it is the same picture on the front of the CD. It also has the browny sephia colour which again gives a vintage and raw impression, which is conventional of the genre. However it is no longer a medium close up on his face but a medium shot, this still gives a certain amount of focus on him as an artist which is emphasised by the contrast in grey vs the brown. He is holding a cigarette another convention in the indie - rock genre. The text is simple and straight to the point, which makes it easy to remember for the audience. There’s a pattern throughout the different texts and the similarities help to create a brand identity, something the target audience was appealing as it helped making the texts memorable.

The 1975• Alongside this, the band the 1975’s self titled album has low key lighting, which anchors the

idea of Indie – Rock as it is stereotypical to the genre. The white light that outlines the speakers also anchor the idea of Indie – Rock as it is stereotypical for artists of this genre to be focused on their music, shown by speakers. As well as this on the front cover, highlighting the band’s name emphasises exactly who they are without getting in your face. It’s simple yet effective. It’s very interesting in the fact that there are not any band members on the front cover or back cover. This creates not only an enigma to those being first introduced to the band, but also anchors ideologies about those who create Indie – Rock and how they want to present themselves in a raw way and for their love for, and the music itself to overpower everything else about the band. Another thing that is interesting between the two print pieces of text is that there symmetrical in colour scheme, font style and the background image. By doing this, it almost creates a trademark for the band and gets more recognition as by being so similar it is easily recognisable as the same album for the band. The fact that the colour scheme is black and white is significant as it again anchors the idea of Indie – Rock as it is conventional within the genre as it connotes a sense of isolation, being on the outer edge, being different. The poster uses the same image as the front cover of the album again linking to that sense of brand identity.

Arctic Monkeys• And for a final example, The Arctic Monkeys album AM. It is a very simple design, which

seems to follow what the all the album’s have in common, therefore it is a stereotype of the genre meaning that the album conforms to these ideas. As well as this, the CD covers are in black and white, which was also found to be common in the genre. The covers also have the band’s logo on it, an expectation of the target audience and also provides recognition for who the band are as fans of the band would be familiar with the brand name. The band members are once again on the cover, this could link to the fact the band aren’t flashy, and once again puts the focus onto the music rather than the band members. The image in white is interesting because of its own connotations in that the movement of the waves is created by sound, which reiterates focus on the music. The picture also acts as a trademark because it was produced in aid of releasing the album. It has been in many music videos promoting the album. And then the poster like the advertisements before it follow a similar style as the album that it's promoting. Which helps to make the album memorable and better known the more people that see it. There is a real sense of brand identity within the genre and as it has worked so well for these artists and bands previously, it’s something I’m inclined to do when creating my own promotional package.

How will the research influence decision making?

• As it’s an expectation and common convention within the genre when I plan my music video and promotional package I will most likely have it centred on my Artist. I’ll include a mixture of a story based narrative as well as performance so my audience can get a familiarity with the Artist, who they are and how they wish to represent themselves. In terms of the storyline within the video I will try to incorporate the protagonist going on a journey of some sort whilst including a relationship as this was such a common theme throughout the genre. I might include the idea of death and loss in some way as that seemed to be interesting and engaging as it provided chances for enigmas. The idea of enigmas is very significant so if I were to do this, I might have to do a big reveal towards the end of my video as seen in Kodaline’s high hopes and Jake Bugg’s Seen It All for maximum impact. The theme of isolation is also very considerable as it would help the audience to connect with characters through a sense of identification and relatability. And finally, when it comes to creating Digi packs and adverts brand identity whilst keeping it simplistic will be key. I’m unsure if I will edit pictures taken or whether I’ll create a logo from scratch as both have proven to be successful. I might be influenced by a softer more acoustic song rather than a particularly edgy heavy sound because it may be easier to portray the darker themes more subtly whilst allowing the target audience to completely connect with the video, promotional package and artist.