Take A Bow - Prelim

Indie Genre Conventions

Some conventions of the indie genre that I have noticed is that they are typically narrative videos, as shown in this post.

In terms of mise-en-scene, the locations typically seem to be rural locations, with high-key lighting as shown below:

The cinematography also seems to include a variety of shots but in most of the music videos I have seen, they are handheld and include lots of close ups with a shallow depth of field as shown below: 

Indie Artist research - Shura

Shura is an English electropop/indie pop artist. Her latest album is also her debut album Nothing's Real and was released in July 2016. She is signed to the Universal Music Publishing Group, which is a major label. I think her brand is more underground as it sounds different to most of the music in the pop charts.

Indie Artist Research - Halsey

Halsey is a 21 year old singer-songwriter from the USA. She is signed to the Astralwerks/Capitol record label, which is owned by the Universal Music Group. I think her brand is designed for fairly wide appeal as she began as a more underground style artist with the release of her EP Room 93 in 2014 but the music from her debut album Badlands, released in 2015, has more mass appeal.

Indie Artist Research - The 1975

The 1975 are an English indie rock/pop band who released their self titled debut album in 2013 and their second album I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it in 2016 to top the UK and US album charts. They were originally signed to Dirty Hit, who still license their music, but through major label Polydor. They aren't designed to have mass appeal as their music doesn't have much of a genre to it but the variety in their music attracts a lot of listeners.

Indie Artist Research - Troye Sivan

Troye Sivan is an Australian singer-songwriter who gained part of his success through his popular YouTube channel. He is currently signed to Capitol Records, which is owned by major label Universal. His latest album is Blue Neighborhood which is also his debut album. He has mass appeal through his established YouTube personality and advocacy for the LGBT community, as well as the pop style of his music.

Indie Pop Music Videos Research

The genre of music I have chosen for my music video is indie so I have been looking at indie music videos, particularly indie pop as that is the sub genre I enjoy the most. Here are some of them.

The above video is a narrative video.

This video is a performance video and I really like the use of lighting in it.

This video by the same artist is a contrast to the last one as it is a narrative that takes a dark turn at the end.

This is a narrative video and a lot of the shots are close ups and handheld.

What I have noticed with a lot of the music videos from this genre is that most of them are narrative videos, and some have elements of performance in them like a "character" in the video lip syncing. They also typically seem to have handheld cinematography with lots of close up shots and a dark twist in the story.