The music video for The XX's song "Islands" is primarily a performance-based video that focuses on the band singing and dancers moving to the music. It emphasizes repetition through continuous zooming shots that match the repetitive lyrics and beat. While it deviates from using close-ups of instruments, the focus on performance still establishes the band's indie genre. The relationship between the music and visuals is largely amplifying, with the dancers' moves and changing shots synchronizing with shifts in the music.

1. Louise Fisher - 6081

2. William Goodwin identified 7 key ideas that we should look for to
identify, he said:
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance
in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band.)
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. (either
illustrative, amplifying and contradicting.)
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. (either
illustrative, amplifying and contradicting.)
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups
of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their
work (a visual style.)
5. There is frequent reference to notion of looking (screens within
screen, telescopes, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic (sexual) treatment of
the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other
music videos etc.)
7. Whether the video is primarily performance based, narrative based or
concept based and how elements of each is used in it.

3. The XX are an English Indie band – their music conveys this by using genre characteristics normally
associated with indie music. Goodwin states that each genre has a particular characteristic that
help make it a genre, in this case , it is most common for Indie music to usually use a performance
element in their music videos and close ups/shots of band members to establish the band’s image.
The music video for ‘Islands’ is a largely performance based which helps to clarify the band’s genre
as indie. The use of the Dolly Zoom throughout the music video is repeated several times which
establishes the setting of the music video and the mood of the music, it also allows the audience to
see the dancers as well as band singing along to the song. Mise-en-scene such as a dim room with
bright lights is used to add a dramatic effect which helps to engage the audience as well as keeps in
time with the rhythm of the music, this is done create a connection between the music and visuals.
Unlike other popular indie music videos ,close ups of instruments are not uses because in the video
the band aren’t playing their instruments, they are just posing in the video with the vocal singer
singing the words. It is important for indie bands to be seen with their instruments because it
shows the audience that part of their skill is playing good music live which would persuade the
audience to go to their gigs. However, even though The XX deviate from this typical characteristic
in their music video the main vocalist is still singing along with the song which still sells their band
as an indie band.

4. According to Goodwin there is a relationship between lyrics and
visuals within a music video which is either
illustrative, amplifying or contradictive.
However in the music video for ‘Islands’ the relationship
between visuals and lyrics are mostly contradicting because
they shown little relationship. However the lyrics in the music
video are extremely repetitive which is emphasised by the
continuous repetitiveness of the camera shot, the dolly zoom
used throughout the video.
It can be argued that one particular part of the lyrics in the song
‘Islands’ is illustrative because the vocalist sings “so now I’ll
never explore” at the end of every verse, it is clear that the
director of the music video has picked up upon this repeated
line which is a reason for limiting the use of shots and not using
a variation of different camera angles and movements – it is
emphasising the fact that she can ‘never explore’, this
highlights that the singer is always in the same situation and
can never discover new things.

5. Goodwin also stated that there should be a relationship between music and visuals, either
illustrative, amplifying or contradictive. In the music video it is clear to see a very strong
relationship between the music and the visuals.
Firstly there are a lot of dancers in the music video whose moves are quick and sharp which
match the speed and beat of the music. Their moves are repeated several times throughout
the music video in sync with the repetitiveness of the beat of the music. All of the visuals
onscreen are very harmonized and in time which really suits the music well and helps to keep
the audience connected to both the music and visuals at once.
However when the tempo and beat of the music begin to change so do the facial expressions
and poses of the dancers and band members, this is shown particularly at the end of the
music video when the music completely changes and the audience are left with a girl dancing
alone in a burning room. This is done to break up the repetitiveness of the lyrics and music to
make both the music and visuals more attention-grabbing for the audience.

6. Goodwin’s theory states that the record label will
include the need for lots of close ups of the artist
in order to introduce the band to the audience.
The music video for ‘Islands’ uses no close ups
, there is only one continuous zooming shot
which is repeated over and over again
throughout the entire music video.
The reason why the director of this music video
has gone against this need for close ups to
establish their visual style is because The XX’s
style is already defined as quite dark and
simplistic with little focus on the band’s physical
appearance but more on the dramatic lighting in
one dim room which seems to match the dual
vocalist’s monotonous voices well.

7. There is no reference to notion of looking or voyeuristic treatment of the female body
in this music video , especially because of the vocalists is a female herself and by
having voyeuristic behaviours in their music video could push away and alienate a
large proportion of the female fans that listen to their music.
To back this up, I have gathered evidence from the statistics on YouTube which shows
what age group and gender the music video is most popular with:
Top demographics
Female, 13-17 years
Female, 18-24 years
Male, 25-34 years
The XX are a band who have established their style by focusing upon their unique
sounds which are particularly emphasized by the dramatic lighting in their music
videos rather than having voyeuristic behaviour or frequent reference to notion of
looking.

8. There is no intertextual reference to films, TV
programmes or other music videos in the
video ‘Islands’. The main reason for this could
be the fact that the band want the audience
to be completely focused on their own song
and music which is made apparent because
the logo of the band is printed everywhere on
the walls in the visuals for the music
video, this helps to emphasize their
individuality as a unique band.
This is also quite a key principle of indie
music, to not have these intertextual
references. This helps to show the audience
that this band are essentially true to their
roots and they’re trying not to be
mainstream.

9. The music video is primarily performance based
which is a typical characteristic of indie music.
The reason for this is because all indie bands
want to show their audience that their main skills
are being able to play live music really well which
will make it easier for them to sell tickets when
they are on tour. The performance in the music
video really lights up the screen, especially with
mise-en-scene, the lighting is particularly
effective in this case because it sets a calm
atmosphere for the audience. All of the elements
used for the mise-en-scene are utilised to their
full potential to grab the attention of their
audience – this is why the band The XX have
been so successful in such a short space of
time, ever since they released their debut album
in August 2009.