research into chosen music genre

Why is the indie genre a good choice for myself?

Personally, the indie genre is a good choice for me, as it can be a lot more expressive than other genres. Particularly in indie music videos, there is a lot of room for ambiguity as conventionally the artist will make a narrative based video, which allows the audience to interpret the meaning of it in their own way. The flexibility of the genre in context to making a music video means that you are not constrained to adhering to strict conventions; for instance, within the dance genre, you have to include dancing, drinking and provocative images, as well as fast pace cuts in the editing for the audience to recognize it is a dance music video. However, with the indie genre, you have the freedom to choose any style of video, whether it be concept, performance or narrative, and within these styles, you can make the video about anything you wish. The indie genre is arguably a lot more artistic than other genres, which is personally appealing ; they tend to put more thought and creativity into their music videos as indie artists like to sharply focus more upon the relationship between the visuals and lyrics/music to create real meaning for the audience. In addition, as the genre tends to rely more on traditional instruments such as the piano or a guitar, rather than computer synthesized sounds, the videos instantaneously become a lot more natural and personal which I find more appealing when watching a music video.

A similar artist to Gabrielle Aplin, my chosen artist, is Nina Nesbitt. The Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist's music video for her song "Stay Out" closely follows the codes and conventions of the indie genre. The establishing shot of the video shows the artist with her instrument - a typical convention of the genre. This shot automatically signifies the genre of the video, alongside the use of a cobbled street town for the setting of the video. It is conventional of the indie genre to use quite small towns to set their videos as they connote intimacy, which is typically featured in the songs. In addition, the indie genre conventionally stick to low-budget videos where the setting is somehow easily accessible as there is more emphasis placed upon the meaning of the lyrics. Furthermore, the location is actually in Scotland as Nina Nesbitt herself is Scottish and therefore setting the video in her home-town makes it a lot more personal and authentic. Goodwin's theory suggests that there are typical genre characteristics in a music video, which "Stay Out" conforms too; however, there are also aspects that are part of the genre iconography. The use of a guitar is iconic of the indie (acoustic) genre and therefore as soon as the audience see the instrument they will know what to expect in the music video if they have never listened to or watched a Nina Nesbitt song. The audience of Nina Nesbitt will be largely females around the age of 16-25.


Moreover, there is iconography of a Scottish theme throughout the video: the location is an obvious pointer; however there is a shot of a shop window selling kilts which shows part of the Scottish culture. 
There are also quite a few wide shots which are used to illustrate the setting, and through this we see different parts of a Scottish town that is presumably the social hub for teenagers. However, some of the shots we see of the landscape are actually point of view or eye-line match shots. This makes the video more personal as the audience are only seeing what the artist is looking at and therefore there is more focus on what the artist regards as important to her.

In the first screenshot, we can see the costume that Nina Nesbitt is wearing - ripped jeans and a leather jacket - which is quite conventional as her style is quite alternative, just as the genre is. However, her costume also represents the target audience age group: teenagers. Nina Nesbitt herself is only twenty-one years of age so her costume reflects what other people her age wear, and therefore her target audience will find her more appealing as they see familiarity in trends. Furthermore, props such as instruments are conventionally used in indie music videos as the artist likes to make their video look more realistic and convey that they are actually the ones playing the instruments heard in the music.

This medium close up and other the shoulder shot of the artist holding the photographs again reflects the fashion/costume style chosen within the video; Nina is wearing a lot of bracelets and rings which is a conventional costume of the indie genre. A lot of the target audience would see this and want to aspire to it as  due to their age they can relate to her fashion style. In addition, we can see that the two friends on either side of Nina are both wearing leather jackets, as is Nina, subliminally conveying to the audience the ideology that leather jackets are a highly fashionable piece of clothing.

In addition, near the start of the video, there are a few shots put together where Nina is putting on her make-up, as are her friends in the background, which is something familiar to the majority of the audience, as they are teenage girls. The amount of make-up Nina is wearing is not actually conventional of the genre as most female indie artists stick to looking more natural. However, as the video has a very specific target audience (teenagers), the conventions have been changed slightly to appeal to the target audience as a lot of teenagers stereo-typically wear a lot of make-up. 

Conventionally in indie music videos, filters are applied to add emotional effect. In some cases, black and white filters are used to make the audience feel the sad connotations within the lyrics, but on occasion, brighter filters are used. Here, an old movie style filter has been edited into the video, similar to one you may see on Instagram. This again shows how much influence Nina Nesbitt has over her teenage audience as they are obviously frequent uses of social media. Therefore, they will recognize the filter as it is similar to the one that they and their friends use and they will find the video more appealing. In addition, the setting of this shot is at a fish and chips shop which is relevant to the target audience as genuinely on a night out, teenagers "stay out" and often go into food stores. 
With the exception of using filters, it is conventional of the indie genre to avoid using special effects of any kind; a lot of the editing is minimalist in order to create a natural and verisimilitude-like feel to the video so that the audience actually feel more like they are a part of the video, a part of the artists' life. Therefore, continuity editing is used throughout the video as it allows a smooth transition between one shot and another and make the video feel more realistic. Keeping the video more focused on the meaning behind the lyrics means that the audience learn more about the artist rather than concepts the artist has produced. In this case, the audience, who are similar, perhaps slightly younger, in age to Nina Nesbitt will see this video which portrays her as just as ordinary person who does similar things with her friends as the audience do and therefore the video automatically seems more personal and genuine.

The facial expressions used throughout the video reflect the genre of the music video; indie songs are conventionally more upbeat and therefore the characters generally look quite happy. The facial expressions of Nina Nesbitt are highlighted the most throughout the video as the ideology that teenagers are supposed to be carefree is being strongly put across. When the audience watch her video, they will aspire to live as she does as they see how much fun Nina is having with her friends and therefore will want the same thing in their own lives.

Goodwin suggests that there are different styles of a music video, and the style chosen for "Stay Out" is both narrative and performance. There is a narrative of showing what Nina and her friends get up to when they "stay out", however there are also parts of the video where we see Nina standing in the street on her own playing her guitar and singing. These shots are equally as important as they isolate the artist from everything around them and allow the audience to focus more on solely the artist. In addition, these parts of the video feature close up shots of Nina which connotes intimacy and therefore the audience feel more of a part of the video.

Using two difference the audience feel like they are connecting to the artist more as you are being presented with two different sides of Nina; the one on her own and the one you see with her friends. There is a strong ideology coming through the video of that teenagers are just meant to have fun and enjoy their youth; this adheres to the stereotype already established about teenagers.

The other female indie artist I looked at is the English singer-songwriter Birdy. Her cover of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" features an extremely popular music video. The music uses an exceedingly dull and monotone color scheme throughout which reflects the sadness of the lyrics. Goodwin states that there is a relationship between the music and the visuals, which this music video conforms to. The use of low-key lighting throughout the majority of the video has been purposefully selected to match the "skinny love" between two people; a love that is skinny is one that is doomed to fail. The depressing mood of the video strongly contrasts with Nina Nesbitt's "Stay Out" as "Skinny Love" takes the polar-opposite route of indie genre conventions.


The video starts with an establishing shot of a dusty glass globe, which signifies it is an important object for the narrative of the music video; the majority of the lighting used has been placed behind the globe to fully emphasis its significance. The concluding shot of the video is actually the exact same as the establishing shot except it is in reverse. This connotes an idea that perhaps the lyrics have a deeper meaning of the artist wishing to go back in time and rekindle the love that once was - an extremely stereotypical idea of love stories.

This close up of Birdy's foot as she plays the piano is significant to the genre as it is very conventional of indie music videos to include the artist playing an instrument, particularly a piano or guitar. The fact that Birdy is shown playing the piano herself makes the video seem more realistic and authentic as the audience can see that she is talented and well-established within the indie genre.

In addition to the dark color scheme, there are also a lot of mid-shots of the artist; however, these shots have been taken from behind Birdy. The excessive use of low-key lighting in these types of shots connotes an almost ghost-like figure of the artist. Furthermore, the use of an abandoned house as the setting for the 

video adds to the idea of withering away and no longer feeling alive as just as everything in the house is dying, as it the artist. However, there are parts of the video where more high-key lighting is used. The natural lighting used in this shot here juxtaposes with the predominant darkness of the music video. This lighting connotes hopefulness of the future and perhaps there is a glimmer of something more. However, it is also suggestive that outside is bright, natural and full of life, whereas inside the house the artist is slowly drifting away from reality. 

This shot here also links with the idea of life and moving forward as in this scene, Birdy shuts some curtains which are open and exposing the natural light and world outside. When the darkness fills the room, the last of the light shines on the object of a prince which is of course a stereotypical stock character of fairy tale love stories. This suggests that the artist is shutting out all light and hope on anything to do with love. It is conventional of the indie genre to make use of out imagery, as Birdy's music video does here. Another point in the video when imagery is used is when Birdy steps over shards of a broken mirror; there are reference to objects in the lyrics which are shown in the visuals (this conforms to Goodwin's theory of there being a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics) and therefore creates surrealism as the song is about love, yet these broken pieces signify the opposite.

The costume that Birdy is wearing in the video is quite interesting: she has adorned a simple white dress which has strong connotations of a wedding - which evidently never occurred. However, the color white also connotes purity and innocence which is significant to the lyrics as the love between two people dwindled away and never occurred. There is also a lot of ambiguity and mystery attached to the lyrics as we do not actually know what occurred between these two people. This is conventional of the indie genre as there is often a lot of room for interpretation. 

The video conforms to Goodwin's theory of there being a specific style to a music video; in this case, Birdy has chosen a narrative and performance based one. The narrative style is actually very fitting for this video as although there are no shots of any other characters such as the partner that Birdy is singing about, we see the story being unfolded nonetheless. In addition, solely focusing on Birdy makes the story a lot more personal as it is purely from her point of view and therefore the audience feel more connected to the artist. The audience would be predominantly females around the age of 16-25. 

Another aspect of Goodwin's theory is that there are a lot of close ups of the artist; here, we do see quite a few close up shots of Birdy singing. Here, we can see that unlike another of Goodwin's theory that there voyeuristic treatment of the female body, Birdy is represented as quite plain and ordinary. She is not wearing a lot of make-up at all which strongly suggests that her main focus is not on herself but rather presenting her music. This idea is further backed by the fact that a lot of shots of her are taken from behind, not in front, so we cannot see her face. The use of close up shots are also useful in creating a connection between the artist and the audience as the audience feel more directly linked to the artist.

Throughout the video there is an ongoing theme of simplicity; even the editing adheres simply to using continuity editing and not much else more. The use of an abandoned house as a location means there is no need for special effects or green screens as the setting is very limited. In addition, the artist has specifically chosen to stick with continuity editing as it creates verisimilitude and therefore the audience will feel like what the artist is singing about is actually real.

My research on my chosen genre will help with planning my music video as I am now more aware of the intricate details behind the codes and conventions of the indie genre. I now understand different paths I can take in terms of narrative as these two videos I analyzed have two completely different emotions behind them: one positive and one negative. Therefore, I can adopt this to my own video as I am doing "Salvation" by Gabrielle Aplin which has both a mixture of positive and negative connotations. The use of different filters in the "Stay Out" video is extremely appealing and I think I could somehow use that in my music video - perhaps by using a black and white filter. In addition, I also like the moodiness of the lighting in the "Skinny Love" video as my music video would be more interesting if I altered the lighting throughout the video. Finally, looking at the different costumes worn in both videos has been very helpful as I now have a rough idea of what the audience of the indie genre would expect.