The conventions of genre: Between (Indie music videos) Marcus ‘I was Broken’ and Florence ‘What the water gave me’.

The Convention of Genre

Introduction
At first I looked at the conventions of two indie music videos. One is an emotive music video by Marc Foster, called ‘I Was Broken’.  It was a simple black-and-white video, that primarily featured naturist shots of the open skies, plants, and animal life, with a head shot of just Marc Foster in what appeared to be denim top. I have no previous knowledge of who Marc Foster was, however the attraction to the video was the use of Kirsten Stewart, who is best known for her character as “Bella” in Twilight, the vampire movie. This has captured millions of young viewers and grossed millions of dollars.  I was interested to continue to watch the video as I wanted to see her performance, in what was her first music video.  I am confident I am not alone in doing this and suspect that was the pure reason for using this particular Hollywood star.  The objective would be to engage younger viewers such as myself who would possibly not ordinarily watch or listen.

In addition to my analysis of indie music videos, that I will compare 'I Was Broken' to  'What the water gave me' by Florence and The Machine.

  

Cinematography

As I pointed out in the start the shot used to capture Marcus Foster is a head shot, this was the opening shot at the start of the video a disgruntled Marcus Foster stares into the camera face on. This is used to create a personal contact with audience. The camera shows from his head to his shoulder, however Marcus is leaning back and forth into the camera and the reason I would probably not call it a close-up entirely. I would not consider this to be a close-up the reason is the fact the camera leaves no space above his head and with the movements made, at times we lose his shoulders.
In comparison to way the camera angled to Kirsten is a medium long shot. In those shots would see her look into her empty space lost, alone and almost remorseful. The medium long shot enables you to see her movement from the top of her head down to her waist, in order to see her movement about her space. While at the same time a close-up of her pretty face is an emphasis of emotion of her regret and loss, as an audience take not of the significance behind the shot. The director would have added these shots to medium long shots for more emotional effect.

Lighting

The lighting in this video was varied in where they used natural or artificial lighting. For example the naturist shots captured an element of natural lighting, although it is captured in black and white impeccable and obviously photogenic face, though so blown-out by the lighting that her skin is practically indistinguishable from the background,   this did serve as a nice counterpoint to Marcus Foster's constant squinting and wincing.

The lighting exhibited in Florence and Machine in the video is natural, because there are scenes of Florence outdoor performance has a lot of bright sunshine over her and the band. I feel the lighting matches the excitement and expressive emotion evoked in the emotion in her performance. Unlike the sunshine featured in one of Marcus’s video instead in black and white and is a different feel to the sunlight in Florence’s video. The use of black and white strikes a depressing loss of spirit and joy to his videos use of lighting.

Editing

At one point in the video, there is a merging of Kirsten’s face over the top of Marc’s face, suggesting that she’ll never be easily relieved from his memories. The editing of the two of them together suggests there is a strong bond between them. Does this make it more of a conceptual video?

The images portray a sensuality and calmness, influenced by the style of music being very melodic whereas, most of the time it would fade in and out of the shots of Kirsten and Marc. There was a shot looking at grass, where in the opening verse he says “My head is off the ground”, making a significant, reference to the lyrics.

 I like the gentle use of editing in-between performance shots and imagery, an example of this were the shots of landscapes, flowers, elements of sunlight and natures creatures.

This method of imagery is known as montage, when a collection of images are interlinked after one another. I think the use if naturalistic forms reinforces the feeling of freedom, and you are led to believe he is finally restored back into normality.

Mise-en-scene

It was a simple black-and-white video, that primarily featured naturist shots of the open skies, plants, and animal life, with a head shot of just Marc Foster in what appeared to be denim top. While Kirsten Stewart wore a white vest which of which we could only see through the use of medium long shots. In the florence and machine video share the same simplicity in the nature of her cloting is very oridnary, one particular outfit in white, which had a nice flow to it while she papraded up and down in the performance sequence. I think the white would reflect the bright balance set in her enviromnet shed by the bright sunlight.

Moreover the props seen in florence and the machine video had been located in a studio, Abbey studio where some of the greatest artists have made music there, this could represent a significant menaing to the artist influences or greatest inspirations. then there were the scenes outdoor in the sun on a stage.Marcus Foster- I Was Broken. Conventions of genre.

Form

Both videos compile the use of performance and conceptual in different ways, such as the emotion behind their individual performances. For example, Marcus is completely distraught and portraying an emotive performance in the lyrics of his song demonstrating an evident broken soul in seen in the execution of his performance. In contrast to a more exuberant and joyful sing and dance expressed by Florence both in and out of the studio. This is evident in the scene of Florence on a platform stage singing into a mic in total domination over the freedom of her body and soul.

The second form both indie music video share a conceptual

But Marcus deviates into the third that is the narrative

Cultural references and intertextuality

Both music videos make powerful references to other inspirations such as the characterisation only involve Marcus and Kirsten demonstrates strong reference to Adam and Eve. I say this because the editing between naturist shots and shots of their environment are empty and shots the only shots of human life is the both and then, which makes a strong similarity to the of the first relationship in the creation of the world is so lonely and centred on the two of them.

A second intertextual reference is the adoption of a van on set to create wind between Kirsten locks, I thought this made for an dramatic effect and familiar use in Indian movies. In my slide show photos I noted the notoriety of wind generated for females in Indian movies, this shows a distinct moment a man recognises a beautiful women that basically takes their breathe away. This is what Marcus portrays Kirsten to be once so beautiful to him, but difficult to let go.

Whereas Florence makes a cultural reference the prestigious Abbey Road Studios sign at the end of the video, this represents an honorary embrace by Florence in the choice of location resonates with her highly. It symbolises the international legends recording bands like The Beatles.

Conclusion

Analysing both music videos was incredbly interesting how the music at times can be the music that motivates the vision of the viedo, but i saw style take center stage in the visual maniuolation to still capture natural emotions such as creativity and joy in Florene and Machine video, while Marc is capturing the disance between his former girlfriend and the saddness if its end all relateble emotions, but the each used special effects to reate intrgue. what the water gave me was in a stlye of a geometric dial that some of the shots were duplicated. I Was Broken would play footage over eachother that would dissolve and fade between the Marc and Kirsten in the video.

I learned that filming is the first important stage of it final product, but the imporatnace of cinematographer its sequence that we watch a music video is as inmprtant as taking the imagery and tranforming it into an original form that can resonate differently to other videos.