Conventionally, people of the indie genre wear dark coloured clothes. They will usually wear black, the boys will usually wear skinny jeans and dark coloured, sometimes band t-shirts, whereas the girls will wear either the same as the boys or tight dresses, crop tops and ripped denim shorts and baggy checked shirts. Their hair will be quite messy and the girls will wear dark coloured make up such as dark red, purple or black lipsticks and thick black eyeliner. In indie genre music videos, the props usually used include the bands instruments such as guitars, drums and microphones. Other props may include sunglasses and beanies.
Concept 1 - Narrative Summary: The concept of the video is that a girl meets a boy and the boy is really shy. They end up together. The longer they are together, the more his confidence builds. He ends up becoming everything she thought he'd never be, cheating on her etc. She confronts him about it, and it finally hits him what he's doen. She kicks him out. When the lyric is 'Now everything you own is falling from the sky in pieces' his things are being thrown out with him. The video then fast forwards in time when the lyric is 'I'll find you another time, I'll love you, another time' and she bumps into him. He has changed, he's not as shy as he used to be but he's not overly confident either. They end up together again because they're ready to try again. She believes it will be different this time.
Concept 2 - Narrative Summary: There is a girl who doesn't really have any friends, no one ever gives her a chance, she is depressed. She ends up at a party, sits on a couch and everyone just ignores her and the party goes on around her (fast forward effect). She gets up and goes out onto the balcony and sits on the edge of the balcony. She has given up and she is fantasising about what it would be like to jump. She gets ready to jump when a boy notices her and comes outside to stop her. He brings her back inside and they endup spending all night together, just talking and getting to know each other. She feels like someone finally cares. They become really close and their friendship develops throughout the video. They spend new year together at a party and when it is the second chorus and it says 'explosions..' there are fireworks as they are going into the new year and he kisses her. She has loved him from the start and thinks that that was him showing that he loves her too, but then she sees him kissing someone else. She leaves the party and goes home. He notices she's gone and goes round to her house. She's not there and he is worried that she has gone back to her old ways. He runs to the balcony where they met, as fast as he can. He looks up as he gets to the building and see her there, sitting on the edge of the balcony. He runs upstairs and on the last chorus where the lyric is 'explosions..' that is when he explodes through the door. She is not on the edge of the balcony anymore so he thinks she's jumped and so he breaks down in tears. He turns around and see her in the corner of the balcony, she couldn't jump. He just grabs her and holds her and kisses her and there is a close up on his face and he says 'I love you, don't ever do that to, don't ever leave me'.
Concept 3 - Narrative Summary: Boy and girl in a relationship. Girl is a musician. The boy doesn't have a job so she pays for every thing they do. They're out one day and someone from a modelling agency notices him and he ends up becoming a model. He soon becomes quite well known and his fame goes to his head. He used to go to all her gigs and then one day he just stopped. She hardly ever saw him anymore and when she did see him he'd act as though he didn't know her. He always went out with other girls and she put up with it for a while but finally she cracked. She confronted him, kicked him out the house. He broke down in tears, realised what he'd done but it was too late. Although she hated him for what he did, she will always love him and she hopes he can change and that one day they will be able to be together again.
Indie
pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom
in the mid-1980s, with its roots in Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard
Records label in the early 80’s, bands such as Josef K and Orange Juice, and
the dominant UK independent band of the mid 80’s The Smiths. It was inspired by
punk’s DIY ethic and ideologies. It differs from indie rock in that it is more
melodic, less abrasive and relatively angst-free. The
birth of indie pop can be traced back to small shop-based record labels such as
London’s Rough Trade Records and
Glasgow’s Postcard Records.
Macklemore is a pop/hip-hop artist. Conventionally, an artist like this would have songs about girls, that doesn't really have a meaning, and their video would feature a lot of girls. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis break this convention and go against the stereotype in that their song and their video has a very strong message about gay and lesbian rights. A lot of hip-hop artists can be quite homophobic so an artist of this genre doing a song about equality and same-sex marriages is quite unusual.
Use of cinematography:
Many close ups are used throughout the video to show the emotion of the characters in the video. Because this is a song and video with a strong message, it is important to get the characters emotions across to the audience so that the audience can relate to the character or at least understand what the character is going through.
Deconstruct the text in relation to connotations:
The video, spanning decades, depicts the life of the main character and the same-sex partner with whom he falls in love, including the social conflicts which befall them in relation to their sexual orientation, their eventual marriage, and their final parting in old age. Throughout the video, it shows different kinds of love for example to love between a mother and child, love within a friendship and the love between a couple. This is to show that there are many kinds of love in the world, and that people should accept that, everyone should be allowed to love who they want to love without it being a big issue. At the beginning of the video, there is a close up of the mother and baby holding hands, showing that they love each other unconditionally. This is carried on at the end when the man is on his death bed, holding the hand of his partner, showing that they love each other unconditionally, no matter what anyone says about same-sex marriages, they will always love each other.
How is narrative developed:
The video shows the mans life from the day he was born to the day he died and all the struggles he faced throughout. His past is reflected in his future. At the beginning he is a happy, care free child, at the end he is a happy, care free man.
How does text appeal to the audience:
The text appeals to the audience because a lot of people want same-sex marriage to be legalised. It is appealing because people like that it shows all those that don't really understand same-sex relationships, how hard life can be because they are not accepted in society, and it shows how stupid it is that it is not accepted so it has the ability to change people's opinions on these sorts of issues. It also shows that if someone who is from a rap/hip-hop type of background, who conventionally can be homophobic and sexist, can sing about and support same-sex marriages, then there is no reason why everyone can't accept it too. If a music video has a love story type of narrative in the video, usually it will be a love story between a boy and a girl. This video is unconventional in that way in that it is a love story between a boy and a boy. This may be what appeals to the audience as it's different to every other music video, and that if it's been accepted in the music industry, it may soon be accepted in society.
Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?
Conventions of Genre:
The Arctic Monkeys are an indie band and conventionally music videos in the indie genre have many shots of the band playing their instruments and the videos are usually quite simplistic. This music video is quite unconventional in that there aren't any shots of the band playing their instruments, unlike in their other music videos, there is more of a story in this video that links directly to the lyrics of the song. Use of cinematography:
Many close ups of Alex Turner are used as he is the main character in this video. It is to show the audience his emotions and how they develop throughout the video. When he is walking down the street, some long shots are used to show that he is stumbling down the street. When he is knocking on the girls door, a back track is used, going into the girls actual house to show he has got the wrong house and to go into the girls life and see how she feels about him. The camera also moves up towards her, showing that she is the dominant one, she has a hold on him. Use of editing:
As the song is called 'Why'd you only call me when you're high?' Alex Turner is presented as the one that is 'high'. Because of this, edits are used to create the illusion that he is hallusinanting. The clock moves quickly and starts to droop, and his face looks like it is dropping when he looks at himself in the mirror. His phone goes underneathe his skin at one point during the video. This could connote to him trying to stop himself from texting this girl, trying to resist. Deconstruct the text in relation to connotations:
The video starts with the band in a pub. Alex seems distant from his friends as he keeps texting a girl called Stephanie, askings if shes up etc. Alex is presented as 'high' in this music video to link back to the song title; 'Why'd you only call me when you're high?' When the clock is drooping, when it says its 10 past 10, it looks as though the clock is smiling at him, which could mean that this is a good time, only good things can happen at this time. When the clock says its 20 to 4, it looks as though the clock is frowning at him, saying that this is a bad time, only bad things will happen at this time. Throughout the video, Alex is hallucinating, thinking he can see the girl he is texting flirting with lots of other men. This could connote that the girl is always on his mind. It could also mean that he is getting paranoid, because he is high, so he keeps thinking that the girl he likes is with all these other men. It seems as though this girl is his girlfriend and that he really cares for her, however at the end of the video, the audience sees that their 'relationship' is one sided as the girl looks at her phone, sees all these messages and just ignores them. Alex is also saved on her phone as 'Alex Band Guy' which shows that she just thinks of him as some guy from a band, who only calls her when he's high. Alex is dressed in black throughout the whole video and wearing a leather jacket to represent him being the antagonist. It represents danger and rebellion. How is narrative developed:
The narrative is developed by showing shots of a clock and the hands on that clock moving quickly to show that time is passing by quickly. All the shots are done either down a street or in a pub. The narrative is also developed by showing the texts he is sending as they have the time on it. It is to show what he is doing and how he is feeling throughout the night. How does text appeal to the audience:
The audience can relate to this text as most people have either sent a drunk text or recieved one and that is what the video and the song is trying to portray.
This song is a portrayal of a break up. This song could be about a relationship that has been on the rocks for a while. The man disappears one night. The man came home the next day 'trembling like he'd seen a ghost' saying nothing happened with the girl he was with the night before and the woman 'gave in'and believed what he was saying. He then wants to break up with her because 'he lacks the things she needs the most'; he can't give her what she wants, the relationship is dead.'Where have you been'- where has the woman been? Why didn't she see this coming? Instead of dealing with all the problems in the relationship 'he wasted all that sweetness to run and hide', he went and found someone else. All the woman has done is'poured her heart'into the relationship but he 'never tried'. He then realised what he has done and has an 'explosion' of love for the woman, he 'needs somebody'but the woman is 'afraid because it will never be the same'she can't trust him after what he's done. The night he was cheating, the woman was waiting up for him, he 'left her soul bleeding in the dark, so he could be king'by doing something to bring him temporary happiness. He made up the rules to their relationship, but they were 'untold'to the woman, he thought it was okay to hurt her. She 'lost her faith'in trying to make the relationship work. There were nights were he treated the woman right, 'his intentions were gold'but that didn't last forever,'the mountains will shake'they are still going to argue, the relationship still wasn't working. He then starts to feel remorse for what he has done, 'his body starts to sink'. The night he cheated, the woman was 'the last thing on his mind'but she knew what he had done before he told her because she 'knows him better than he thinks'. She 'gave him warning' that if he were to do anything like that, she would throw him out, so she does. She throws his things out of the house, 'everything he owns is falling from the sky in pieces'along with their relationship. Now they both have to stand back and 'watch them fall' and try to figure out where it all went wrong. They both have issues to work out but she 'hopes he'll find piece of mind'. Maybe one day she'll 'find him another time, she'll love him another time' but for now they need to be on their own.
