Conventions Of Indie Music Videos

Camera shots and movement

Most music videos tend to use a lot of long shots close ups and mid shots. This is to link the song to the artist and the emotions of the song and the location, it is also to introduce the characters to the audience. close ups are also used to create emphasis on what the artist is singing and to show that they are singing.

Commonly used shots are things like full length shots, this is to show the setting of the video , also to give a good view of the artist in and their outfits. This is important because a lot of artist are seen as style icons to their fans. It also needs to portray the meanings of the video and the reasoning for it
The movement of the camera is to reflect what the artist is feeling through how fast it is moving and the way, including tilts, pans and tracking shots
The shots should move with the beat of the video.
Crane shots are used very often when the music videos are of live performance so that they can gain a good view of the band and have them from many different angles
Tilts and pans are also used to make the setting clear and can go left or right and can get a full set to view the location

Mise-en-scene

This includes a lot of things within the music video, the costume, props, lighting and where the person is stood are just a few examples, this is used mainly along with iconography to give meaning to what they are wearing and what they are doing. For example if a person was wearing dark clothes in a dark place, you would assume they where sad or alone, but if they are in a well lit area wearing bright clothes you would assume they where happy. A good example of this is Arctic Monkeys – why’d you only call me when you’re high

In this song is about a man who is after a girl but she is ignoring him, during the video Alex (the singer) is walking around drunk walking to the girls house but isn't having much look and keeps strange hallucinations, during the video, which is sad/mellow song, he is dressed in all black in the video and is walking the streets at night. The mise-en-scene of the video shows the emotion and style of the song.

Sound

Most music videos have just the sound of the video in them, but some may have some diegetic where the music stops and the the sound from the video is playing. In other cases like Michael Jacksons thriller video it was turned into a short film where it had actors talking before i climaxed to the song playing.
Also the video may have a story line so may jump in and out of the song to the video.

Also it could be at the beginning of the video where there is some talking or a introduction to the song.
Other things could also be distorted sound, fade in or fade out.


location

Normally in indie music videos, there is a norm where videos are shot. Things like forests, driving round in cars or in the desert. Places like this are normally used because it links with the music, the music is different and so is the location of the videos

For Example,