Award Winning Indie-Rock Music Videos

LORDE - Royals 

Award Show: MTV VMAs 2014
Award: Best Rock

In Lorde's video, it follows the basic narrative of the song; about their life being so mundane and basic.The first shot is an establishing shot which is circular as it is also at the very end but reversed, showing how their life repeats itself.

There a several shots of just her against a plain background lip syncing but everyone is different: either from different angles or distances making the video more interesting.

There is an awkward long shot near the end of the song at 2:18 that lasts for 26 seconds while she makes awkward eye contact with the camera. I've called this 'awkward' because it was very awkward to watch being used to the quick editing beforehand. However, we liked this idea and many use it in our video but maybe not for so long.

30 SECONDS TO MARS - Up in the Air

Award Show: MTV VMAs 2013

Award: Best Rock

At the beginning of the video we see the musicians dramatically walking towards their instrument, matching the tempo and tone of the introduction- setting a mood for the audience.

Differing from Lorde's, the shot changes with the beat, sometimes staying on the same shot for two counts at a time.

When the chorus is played "I wrap my hands so tight around your neck with love", the actor/ess in the  shot it miming the words and acting out the action of placing their hands around their neck. This is the only time where the video directly imitates the song.

COLDPLAY - Paradise

Award Show: MTV VMAs 2012

Award: Rock

The music video has a comedic value with the main character dressed as an elephant, escaping from a zoo and running around London. 

The chorus turns the video into a lyric video with the character holding up pieces of cardboard with lyrics on it as the song plays that line or phrase. We may want to use this technique during our verses. 

Like the 30 Seconds to Mars video, the shots change with the beat of the music. This seems to be a current occurrence sue to the genre having such a definite beat and rhythm. 

The video is also illustrative of the music, talking about escaping to a 'paradise'. We plan to take this approach quite literally in our music video.