Genre

The genre of my music video is of an indie/alternative rock genre. Firth proposes that music

videos can be characterised by three broad typologies including performance, narrative and

conceptual. My music video fits into the narrative typology as it presents a sequence of

events demonstrating a love story which is the most common narrative mode in music

video. Schwichtenberg suggests that action in the story is dominated by males who do

things and females who passively react. This is relevant to my own video as the protagonist

is played by a male. The music video also demonstrates genre characteristics of an

indie/alternative rock music video such as the use of a low budget setting such as the city

which can be easily accessed. The setting is simple because as it’s an indie/rock music video,

the performance should be focused on more. There is also a relationship between lyrics and

visuals as the narrative is illustrative of the meaning of the song. This is part of Goodwin’s

music video analysis ‘Dancing in the disfraction factory’.

Mis-en-scene is an important factor in the indie rock genre as it helps to portray the

narrative much better. Indie artists often have a retro look which can be created through

their costumes and also their make-up. In my music video, the actors would be clothed in

casual retro clothing to follow the conventions of a typical indie-rock music video.

The narrative used in an indie-rock genre is another important factor as it helps to tell a

story which the audience could relate to. In this case, the audience of my video would see

some aspects of the video that they could possibly relate to including heartbreak. Usually

the narrative would link in well with the lyrics which leave room for more imagination.