Indie Music video Research.

After conducting research into music videos as a whole, I have decided to conduct research into my chosen genre.

Oasis: Wonderwall


This is a performance video by oasis, but at the same time is quite disjunctive. Whilst we see that editing is in time with music, and the band are performing as they should, often we see completely unrelated clips of circus performers. The video is intriguing as it is a song about a loved one, and yet we never see who they are, or get any idea of characterisation. I feel that this is an effective way to create curiosity within those who truly listen to the song whilst watching the video, and may be a valuable technique to adopt for myself.

Andrew Goodwin argued that a relationship between the music and visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying, or contradicting the music, is a key convention within music videos. Although these features are held by the fact its a performance video, it is also interesting to note that the images and clips of circus performers are completely unrelated to the song or the representations held within the lyrics.

Bombay Bicyle Club: Evening / Morning



This Video Begins by being very disjunctive. However, it turns into more and more into a performance video as it plays through. The use of the panda suit in this video is interesting as it creates an interesting / unusual vibe that I am very interested in using within my video. By using an unrelated costume / character, a disjunctive essence is created whilst still being able to have a narrative or performance video.
Andrew Goodwin stated that multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist is an extremely important aspect of a music video, and this is clearly evident in this video as the main vocalist is the central protagonist being chased. We also see that "Genre related style and iconography is present" (Goodwin). This is evidenced through the fashion of the characters. Not only this but the actual shot types used for the performance elements of the video are very common within the indie genre. For example, long shots are used so that the whole band can be included, representing that they are united. Also, close ups are used of each member of the band so that the other members are not forgotten behind the centralisation of the main vocalist.

Ok Go : This Too Shall Pass



This video took an extremely large amount of time to plan. The whole video occurs within one take which is very unusual to see within a music video, let alone an Indie video. Indie videos seem to be disjunctive, and whilst this video follows the trend, it does not include the fast paced editing often seen within music videos. This video is far too difficult to replicate within my own production, but elements may be able to be used, such as the used of editing. For example, with my video, I may use far less cuts then I previously anticipated to give a flowing, continuous production.

It is difficult to take any kind of representations of social groups from this video, as it does not include any characters except the band. However, even the band are dressed from head to toe in plain white outfits, so any kind of genre based fashion is removed. Also, without the lyrics being sang by one artist in particular, this denies us the opportunity to be able to use Goodwin's theory of multiple close ups of the main artist or vocalist. The only kind of representation present within the video is the individualism of each member of the band. The way this is shown is through the use of colour at the very end as each member is covered in a different colour of paint.

From the research I have conducted, I have found many useful elements that I may include within my video. Often we see that Indie videos are disjunctive, with an element of performance. Also the use of editing can be seen to be different to that used for other genres, often including fast paced editing of unrelated images to create a confused, messy result. Whilst this wasn't seen in Ok Go's Video, the use of only 1 shot made it even more entropic then quick cuts.