1. Genre Conventions

2. Indie Folk
The genre that the song ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.’ is from
is indie folk. Popular bands and artists of the genre
are Ben Howard, Bon Iver, Nick Cave and The
Lumineers. Indie folk originated in the 90s and
stemmed from indie rock. It involves a softer, more
acoustic sound with instruments such as acoustic
guitars and light percussion in place of electric
instruments and heavy sound. Lyrically, indie folk
music is very poetic and a lot more complex in
comparison to rock or pop music.

3. Video conventions
The general concepts of indie folk music videos are
based around unconventional narratives that stray
from the typical love story or inspirational video.
Sometimes they are abstract and so are an artistic
representation of the song rather than made to
explain the story behind it. This is interesting
because abstract videos are another form of
expression that allow the audience to see inside the
creative mind of the artist rather than just watch a
visual regurgitation of the song’s story.

4. I looked at three videos in my textual analysis:
• Bon Iver – Towers
• John Mayer – Queen of California
• The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
The last video, ‘Lonely Boy’ was more indie rock
than indie folk, but I did this so that I could
compare the genres.

5. Comparing the videos
When looking at all three videos, I noticed that the indie
folk videos had more of a muted colour scheme and slow,
gentle pace to the editing to match the song. In ‘Towers’,
everything is very steady and soft whilst in ‘Queen of
California’, Mayer walks throughout the scenes slowly and
includes performance aspects that are laidback and easy
going. The video by The Black Keys perfectly reflects the
change of pace and tone in comparison to the indie folk
videos, as it is much more upbeat and humorous. There is
no editing because the video is all done in one take but
there is a lot going on in the frame that is kept consistent
throughout the song.

6. How I will use these conventions
When making the music video for my chosen song,
I’m going to do include as many of the conventions
as possible. My chosen idea is an offbeat narrative
that is quirky and still expressive of the lyrics and
message of the song. Although indie rock and folk
music videos tend not to have lip-sync and not all of
them have performance aspects, I’m going to try
and include them so that I have general conventions
in my work. This will allow the video to appeal to a
mass audience rather than just a niche audience
who like indie rock or folk music.