Research Of The Indie Genre

The indie genre powerpoint from Owen Lawton

Demographics Of The Indie Genre

Analysis Of Music Videos- Video 3: Conor Maynard- R U Crazy

For the first 32 seconds of the 'R U Crazy' music video Conor is seen with a band behind him looking like a typical music video. It allows the audience to understand who the main star is as well as promoting his star image. As well as this it gives the music video a different kind of genre included as the instruments that are used wouldn't usually be used in a 'pop' type of video. This makes it overall more of an 'indie' type song. At 0:18 Conor faces the camera with a red light shining over him. The red connotes love which also links with the video. After that we see lights on the ceiling which helps to set the scene and see the contrast between the two places.


Thought beats are shown in the first part of the video. When the beat first drops and Conor says 'R U Crazy' the camera shakes as if there has been a real drop.

Throughout the video it changes between Conor singing the song in the hallway and the event he is singing about happening. This helps the audience to picture what he is singing about and connect with the lyrics.




The cuts between the parts where the couple are arguing are much quicker to show the tension between them both as they argue.








As the video continues there are close up shots of Conor. This helps to portray his star image whilst keeping the attention on him. It allows the audience to see him singing the song, he also keeps eye contact with the camera keeping direct address with the audience.


The use of the female throughout the video also links with the male gaze theory. She is seen in different outfits some of which are figure hugging and therefore will interest the male gender especially.

Analysis Of Music Videos- Video 2: The Neighbourhood- R.I.P to my youth

The video starts with the frontman (Jesse Rutherford) lay in what looks like a wooden coffin in order to relate the video to the title of the song R.I.P to my youth. The bands logo then appears on the screen to tell the audience that that symbol represents the band. The camera then cuts to the frontman from a birds eye view to confirm that he is lay in a coffin, also the name of an artist (Hype Williams) who is also in the video appears on the screen to show that he will make an appearance within the video. At 0:18 the bands name finally appears on the screen, before cutting to a bass drum to create thought beats this continues from 0:22 and continues to appear throughout the entire video.

At 0:32 the drummer of the Neighbourhood is fully shown on camera to create star image, this continues at 0:39 when a guitar is shown to be playing along with the music.

Both band members have also been shown on camera topless and are both covered in tattoos, this could be to try and show the audience that tattoos are seen as being 'cool'.

At 0:59 the bassist is finally shown playing along to the song. At this point all of the band members have been shown during the video in order of importance, showing the frontman first then the drummer, guitarist and finally bassist. Vevo can also be seen in the bottom right hand corner, this is shown as the video was made by the well known music company showing that The Neighbourhood are a well established band.

Finally the whole band is shown together at 1:54 to bring the video together for the audience. From 1:55-3:30 the video transitions more towards a live video of them playing rather than a video with a story

Analysis Of Music Videos- Video 1: Arctic Monkeys- R U Mine?

Arctic Monkeys- R U Mine?






Structure of the song : Intro, Verse 1, Chorus 1, Verse 2, Chorus 2, Break, Solo, Verse 3, Final Chorus.

The video starts with a radio presenter introducing a brand new song, this is made clear by the mise-en-scene of a huge microphone prop placed in front of the presenters face. Video effects are also used during the video as it is all set in black and white which refers to Andrew Goodwin's theory that music videos tend to use certain characteristics to show the genre of the song. Therefore the black and white effects shows the audience that the genre is most likely going to be rock/indie comparing the video to other musicians such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles. The screen then fades to the inside of a car which seems to be being recorded through a handheld camera due to the shakiness and the diegetic sound of rustling as the camera is moved around, this could be to show the audience that the band doesn't want to spend a lot of money on making a professional music video. The camera is then turned by hand to reveal two of the band members: Alex Turner (singer) and Matt Helders (drummer) before cutting back to the radio presenter who then introduces the song. This could have been used to inform the audience that the song they are about to listen to is by the artists using the handheld camera in the car.

At 0:23 the song begins to play and the two band members are shown pretending to drum along with the song creating thought beats, this continues through most of the video until 1:12.

The two band members are also shown wearing sunglasses throughout the whole music video however the camera shows outside of the car and it seems to be set at night. Therefore the sunglasses are being worn to create star image.

At 1:06 the lead singer/guitarist Alex Turner is shown to be combing/slicking his hair back to show the audience a rockabilly theme, again to show that the genre of music is rock/indie. 

One of the band members (Matt Helders) is also shown with a pair of drumsticks in his hand making it obvious for the audience that he is the drummer within the band.

At 2:07 the bassist (Nick O'Malley) is shown in the back of the vehicle miming to the song to perhaps show the audience that he sings that part of the song. He is also sat with two women which brings in the male gaze theory and to send a message to men that if you lead the rock star life you get attention from women.

At 3:12 of the song the full band is shown outside playing their instruments to finally make it clear to the audience who does what within the band, however guitarist (Jamie Cooke) is shown on a TV screen as he was not present for the video.

Finally at 3:29 the arctic monkeys logo appears in the bottom right hand corner of the screen to show the audience what band they have just listened to in order to create a bigger fan base.