Conventions, Form and Genre.

Conventions, Form and Genre

After watching various music videos by Arctic Monkeys and other indie/rock artists such as Radiohead, The Cribs and The Kills we have a strong knowledge of the form and conventions of our choice of genre. Generally Indie/Rock can get away with anything but what you would notice in most videos is a performance element, whether it’s the band playing or a singer singing such as in the Arctic Monkeys ‘Brianstorm’ video where they play the song and have dancers around them. There is also sometimes a narrative that follows the lyrics as there is often some meaning or story in the song. Conceptual ideas are also sometimes used when the lyrics do not follow an obvious narrative as we have shown in video examples previously.

 General conventions of the music video form are based mainly on the way they are filmed. Shot lengths are usually very quick lasting between 2-3 seconds which keeps the audience entertained.  Images, even in conceptual videos usually relate somehow to the meaning, theme or lyrics of the song although it may not be particularly obvious. An example of this is in Coldplays video for The Scientist which is a slow reverse of a car crash. This doesn’t appear like it relates at all to the song but a lyric stating ‘I’m going back to the start’ fits with the slow return to the car before it crashes.

- Rebecca.