1. 1
MUSIC VIDEO GENRE
CONVENTIONS
Harry Lawtey

2. 2
INDIE ROCK
• Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in
the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely
diverse. The term "indie rock" became associated with the
bands and genres that remained dedicated to their
independent status. It is heavily linked to bands such as
Artic Monkeys and Oasis, who are popularised by their
working class background, dedication to the ‘music’, and
loyalty to their respective record labels. They are
commonly made up entirely of male members but are a
far cry from the ‘boy band’ genre made iconic by the likes
of Westlife, or in modern times. They like to be seen to
write their own music and have a different view on
commercial success.

3. 3
IMAGE

4. 4
RESEARCH – offical websites, music
videos ect.
The official websites
of these types of
bands often inclu7de
dark, ominous colour
schemes and
minimalistic layouts.
They are not
designed to appear
‘in your face’, they are
simply to explore the
heritage of the band
and advertise tour
dates.

5. 5
CONVENTIONS
• Conventions of indie Rock music videos include live
performance, which is either theatrically constructed or
taken from genuine footage. This further emphasises their
interest in the music and shows that they are music artists
at core, as opposed to commercial figureheads for a
record label. There is often a dark and black colour
scheme. Also, the lead singer of such bands is commonly
recognised for their confidence and bravado e.g. Alex
Turner, Noel Gallagher. If the band are in fact featured at
all, these characters are likely to lead the narrative of the
video with other members of the band taking the back
seat. The bands are often seen to be doing anarchic,
‘cool’ things such as smoking to contribute to their cult
image.

6. 6
JAZZ/SYNTHPOP
• Jazz is a genre of music that originated in African-
American communities during the late 19th and early 20th
century. Jazz spans a range of music from ragtime to the
present day—a period of over 100 years—and has
proved to be very difficult to define.
• Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became
prominent in the 1980s, features the synthesizer as the
dominant musical instrument. The genre has received
criticism for alleged lack of emotion and musicianship;
prominent artists have spoken out against detractors who
believed that synthesizers themselves composed and
played the songs.

7. 7
IMAGE (SYNTHPOP)
• Musicians who work with synthesisers often have very diverse images and
there is no real set trend. This is because it is not a genre of music that uses
image as a key marketing tool. This means the artist can have a wide range
of looks. This genre of music has a colossal fan base in the 21st century but
the majority of regular listeners don’t’ even know what the musician actually
looks like.

8. 8
IMAGE (JAZZ)
• The iconic Jazz image is appropriate to the time in which
it was first discovered as a genre, by people such as
Frank Sinatra. This includes slick, formal where that
wouldn’t look out of place at the events at which they
performed.

9. 9
RESEARCH; Wil.i.Am
• Wil.i.Am is one of the few sucessful musicians that our
operating in this hybrid genre today, as he has roots in both
styles despite making his name with synthesised dance tracks.
Unsurprisingly, Wil.i.Am’s image is key to his reputation. I did
some research looking at his website. His too has a minimalist
style and is heavily reliant on graphic design features. This
goes some way in reinforcing his ‘other-worldly’ persona.

10. 10
CONVENTIONS
• As their our very few legitimate jazz videos for us to watch we
focussed mainly on synthpop/house/electronic music videos for
inspiration. Live performance is a very common convention of
these kinds of videos as people are interested to see the skill
of the DJ. Much like with the indie rock videos, if this is not real
footage then live performance will often be recreated in a
studio environment. Visual elements include lights, smoke,
dancing. They generally are not too narratively lead and mostly
don’t actually include too many shots of the musician. The
pace and tempo of the video is likely to heavily coincide with
that of the track so the visual climax occurs with the ‘drop’ of
the song to give a more effective viewing experience. For our
video we would wish to apply all these expected features but
create diversity by also including some archetypal features of
the jazz genre such as costume and authentic dancing. This
juxtaposition creates something that is unique and interesting.