History of the genre: Indie Rock

Research the history of music videos for your chosen genre. Look at at least five music videos from 10 years ago to the present and comment on how the videos (and product) have developed.

MTV or 'music television' was launched in 1981 was the first real station to produce music videos or live performances (beside Top of the Pops). In 1984, MTV launched the first music video awards show - later named the VMAs.

Indie rock or alternative rock originated in the 1980s in the UK and USA and has many sub-genres such as punk rock, pop rock and punk rock. The term indie-rock comes from 'independent', describing the small and relatively low budget labels with a do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists- with a very 'filmed in your parents garage' feel and lyrically, a defiant, nonchalant attitude.  The genre indie-rock only hit mainstream in the 1990s with one of the most well known bands - Nirvana.


1980s INDIE-ROCK



NIRVANA - although a more punk rock band, in the 1980s, they were set under the genre of indie rock, due to the genre being so new. Comparing to Kate Nash however, they seem world apart. The lyrics although, have a very similar, meaningful and poetic base to them.
Comparing 'Smells like Teen Spirit' son the right, to Kate Nash's 'Mouthwash', this music video has a much more grunge feel, showing that the genre is diverse. The quality of the music video filmed over 20 years ago has a dirty sheen over it due to it's age. Although we don't want to use a basement as our main location, we want to have the same layout the band has- with several band members in a triangular format.

GREEN DAY's 1990 album 'Dookie' was said to have change music forever by defining indie-rock in the 90s.  The music video to 'Basket Case' would be classed as a that of a punk rock band, but again, the genre has changed and developed over the years, becoming more 'soft'. A common occurrence is also that the genre centres around a band more than an individual artist.
Green Day's music video has an electric vibe and uses numerous, interesting angles on close ups on the lead singer as well as other band members. This is typical of indie-rock music videos and is something we intend on using throughout our video.



1990s INDIE-ROCK

OASIS' released their single 'Wonderwall' has a very aged theme. Although released in 1995, has a very 70s theme; especially with the cutting of the frame to look like an old TV set. The use of turning the shot on a pivot gives the sense of confusion which fits in quite well with the lyrics of our song and would be affective.








2000s INDIE-ROCK

THE FRATELLIS' 2006 single 'Chelsea Dagger' is what I would call a classic indie-rock music video. With the alternative theme of vintage burlesque and shots of the band playing, however, it doesn't have that low budget feel which shows the genres progression into the 21st century. Having only three scenes: the burlesque stage, changing room and spotlight does throw the video back because it produces a narrative which is common feature of indie rock videos that has stayed throughout the genre's development.






MGMT's 'Kids' was released in 2009 and is a
clear opposite to what the genre would have been described as 10, 20 years ago. The music video, dramatic makeup and costume (costing a lot) is used to create the monsters. This contrasts with the typical indie-rock music video of being very instrumental and band based, however, there are shots of the band but they are dressed in very 'silver' outfits - not typical of the 'baggy t-shirt and jeans' genre.

Storyboarding Mouthwash

In today's lesson, we started to make notes on the storyboard/plot line of our music video with animation and shot types in mind. 

Contacting Fiction Records

Yay!

Music Video Song Choice

Kate Nash - Mouthwash

Grenre: Indie rock

Label: Fiction

released 1st oct 2007, is the 3rd single off album 'Made of Bricks'

What we liked about this song was that we had a broad spectrum of opportunities to work with. With the lyrics not telling a particular story, we don't have to stick with portraying a narrative- this will also work well with the wacky vibe of the artist and song. Because of this, we are free to use new techniques such as animation. 

We also had a lip singer in mind: she matches the sound of the song very well. We also wanted to use a secondary person as a piano/keyboard player to add an extra dimension. The song was written by a British singer and produced by a British production company, perfect as we don't have the budget to film in Los Angeles to fit the feel of the song.

Lyrics:

                                                                    "Mouthwash"

This is my face
Covered in freckles
With the occasional spot
And some veins

This is my body
Covered in skin
And not all of it
You can see

And, this, is my mind
It goes over and over
The same old lines

And, this, is my brain
It's torturous analytical thoughts
Make me go insane

And I use mouthwash
Sometimes I floss
I got a family
And I drink cups of tea

I've got nostalgic pavements
I've got familiar faces
I've got a mixed-up memory
And I've got favourite places

And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright

This is my face
I've got a thousand opinions
And not the time to explain

And this is my body
And no matter how you try and disable it
Yes I'll still be here

And, this, is my mind
And although you try to infringe
You cannot confine

And, this, is my brain
And even if you try and hold me back
There's nothing that you can gain

'Cause I use mouthwash
Sometimes I floss
I've got a family
And I drink cups of tea

I've got nostalgic pavements
I've got familiar faces
I've got a mixed-up memory
And I've got favourite places

I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright
And I'm singing "oh oh" on a Friday night
And I hope everything's gonna be alright
Oh oh oh oh oh oh:

Good other A2 Music Videos

• quality
• professional like feel - mature 
• shots are framed perfectly
• edited with beat in mind
• follows conventions
• story line matches theme of song

• minimalistic - modern, very popular at the moment
• follows an emotionally stimulating story line, not linked to the lyrics however
• media integration (Tv)

Possible Artist Choices for our Music Video

Eliza Doolittle - Skinny Genes

Kate Nash - Foundations

Kate Nash - Mouthwash

What I Have Learnt from my Lip Syncing Task:

Digital Technology /Post - production

I learnt that several problems come with using a green screen. For example, if the natural lighting varies throughout the room, this can have a disastrous effect when applying the green screen effects later when editing due to the green either being lighter than the whole green sheet and being ignored by the computer or the sun making me look paler, therefore I sink into the background when edited. Therefore, people of darker skin would stand out against the background when edited.

Image 1

 Creating distance when filming with a green screen is difficult as you have to fit the whole green sheet into frame otherwise walls, lights etc, are not edited out easily. Because of this, we had to (poorly) film the shots with back up dancers and Snoop Dogg separately, then edit them together later. It would have been much easier to have some sort of green room to use.  

Creases in the sheet or clothing also create a dark shadow, ignored by the green screen. We had problems with this. (See image 1) 

Image 2

If clothes worn while filming were close to green (such as blue or yellow) they would not be picked up. (See image 2). To recreate the music video, we had to copy the key features of it. This music video was all in black and white. We did this by exporting out video in colour, and without the picture on picture, which we added on in a new project after exporting it. To download the original ‘Drop it like it’s hot’ music video, we had to use an online YouTube to video converter. We did the same for the music and then edited both so they would start 23 seconds in.

Creativity

Our props included ice cubes (made ourselves); a glass that was as similar to that in the music video as possible, several snapbacks, clothing changes such as t-shirts, hoodies and polo shirts; and a beard drawn on with black eyeliner.

Research and Planning

I made a detailed story board of every shot and its time in order to make editing much simpler. Whilst editing, I also referred back to the original music video very often to check that my music video flowed as well as the original.

Using Conventions

Image 3

I found the dance moves by Snoop Dogg and the backup dancers represented the lyrics in the song. For example, the lyric ‘park it like it’s hot’ the dancers and snoop dog can be seen ‘reversing a car’. There were several close up shots of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell William’s face with a harsh facial expression, common of the genre. We had to study these to recreate it ourselves. By recreating Snoop Dogg's signature facial hair with eyeliner, wearing snap backs, hoodies and baggy t-shirts, we represented the RnB/rap genre well.

Image 4

There were several shots over the 30 seconds: framing of these shots also varied greatly which added to the pace of the rap song due to the quick cross cutting, matching well with the songs tempo. When artists break the 4th wall (which is common with mean expressions such as (See image 3), it pushes the idea of a 'badman' rap image paired with the ostentatious bragging of large boats and 'bling'. (See image 4)