Research into chosen music genre - Miss Georgiou

Indie is a music genre that includes bands that have been funded independently by an independent record company for the artists. Normally these indie artists are males or male bands with some bands that have a female singer or a feature of a well known singer. However our group have decided that a solo male indie artist singer would be the best direction to go as we would only require one person as the artist. The artist that we have chosen is Jake Bugg therefore I need to pick artists that are similar are Bob Dylan and Hozier. 

The first artist I'll be talking about that are similar to Jake Bugg is Bob Dylan who most likely inspired Jake Bugg to start his career in the music industry. In this video subterranean homesick blues made by Bob Dylan, the audience can see Dylan standing with some big cue cards that match the lyrics to the song as he keeps dropping them in time with the lyrics. This was one of the very first music videos created and some other artists believe this to be one of the greatest songs to be made. There are some codes and conventions from the indie genre used in this video, for one the audience see the artist throughout the song showing the audience that it is his song, this is effective because it lets his audience know that he's around as well as the fact that he's able to be in the music video for his audience, this makes the video more personal for his audience as they think he's in the video just for them. Another convention in the video is that there is a relationship with the visuals as well as the music the reason behind this is because it gives the song visuals which may be better understood with the use of the music video. One last convention in the music video is that there's a story behind the lyrics, it may be a music video but the lyrics play a more important part to the music video than other videos, this helps create a deeper meaning for the song that the audience try and find out.

Mise-en-scene is used very effectively throughout this video, firstly iconography is used to tell the story of the song through the use of cue cards that Dylan is handling that contain some of the important lyrics as well as some cards that don't match the songs lyrics at all, the reason he has only some lyrics on the cue cards is because he's trying to emphasize the points that he was making in the song, for example there is a lyric "try hard, get barred, get back, ride rail, get jailed, jump bail, join the army if you fail" which is implying the difficulty of getting jobs back in those times, people would ride trains to look for jobs round america, if they were caught they were sent to prison so joining the army seemed to be the route to go to because jobs were hard to come by. The setting of the video almost ties in with the song's name "subterranean", as you can clearly see the background shows a building having construction work done on it, this is seen as a stereotype because in these more urban areas, it's quite common to see building work going, this suggests that this is all ordinary or that the lyrics of the video is just another ordinary story of someone that lives in this area. Another good use of mise-en-scene is the costume of the man in the background that is clearly a rabbis, as the audience can see that the man is wearing robes and has a very bushy beard which is a common stereotype associated with Jewish people, the reason for the rabbi even being there is either a nod that Bob Dylan is Jewish or that when he found that religion it influenced him and his music a lot. The last element of mise-en-scene is the lighting and colour of the video, firstly it's black and white due to the fact that cameras hadn't been made to see colours yet but the lighting is quite bright symbolizing that it's day time where Dylan is, almost further suggesting the story that the man is struggling to find a job so has to make drugs or ride trains even more normal as it happens every other day in this subterranean life. There are only two uses of cinematography used in this entire video as the video is done in only one shot. First there is a zoom out at the beginning of a doorway to where in the frame the audience can see Bob Dylan as well as the rabbi in the background, this is implying that one of the many stories Dylan sings about in the songs lyrics is down that alley way or doorway as the lyrics mention "you better duck down the alleyway" probably saying hide from someone or something. The next use of cinematography in this video is the two shot of Bob Dylan and the rabbi, they don't look at each other or speak at all to each other but it is trying to suggest there is a relationship between Dylan and the rabbi, that being that they're both Jewish and possibly have dealt with the hardships of this subterranean lifestyle. As the whole video is done with only one shot there isn't much at all to talk about in terms of editing but there is a possibility that they may have had to slow down or speed up Dylan while he drops the cue cards, this is so that the cards match the lyrics of the song which further emphasizes the importance of the lyrics for audiences which makes them look up what the song is about and what Dylan is trying to get across in this video and what he's trying to say. 

The target audience seem to be more in the range of 25-50 range depending on the music the audience like, Dylan here is talking about jobs drying up in America and what some people had to resort to doing just to make some money, including drugs(making them), train riding to other places in America or joining the army, so american audiences related to it at the time but as in recent years jobs having are going at an alarming rate, people can still relate to this songs theme. Dylan is presented in a way that makes him come across as rebellious, instead of performing the song he uses cue cards with the words on it almost like subtitles, almost refusing to perform for the video, some of the cards he shows also show this when he starts talking about the government and being careful around people that wear trench coats as they're watching the audience which is a stereotype of people that work for the government. The style of the video is concept based as he warns the audience about the government and those types of people as well as the people who struggled to get jobs in those times. Goodwins theory is also used in the video, for example, as i have clearly identified before, there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals to further emphasize the importance of the lyrics in the song. Another element in this video that is part of goodwins theory is the need for lots of close ups of the artist which can better get an image of the artist for the audience to relate to the hair that Dylan has is iconic and had throughout most of his career.

The next artist that is similar to Jake Bugg that I will discuss is Hozier "Take me to church". The song is about a gay couple as well as an angry group of men that don't like them and want to know what is a certain box that is so important, the contents of the box is left as a secret but you can imagine it's important as one of gay couple try and bury it and padlock a chain around the box for good measure. The song has some conventions of the indie genre as well, one being that the video shows a relationship between two people and video pretty much follows them throughout. The video also has a very strong and hard hitting message about today's society and what people accept and what they don't accept, this is important because there are still homophobic people that just don't like gay people at all, this video is trying to get across that this isn't right and that we're all human and we should all be respected and equal to one another. One last convention is that the video has a narrative as well, this is so the audience can remember the video and what it was trying to get across to them.

Mise-en-scene is used effectively in this song as well, there is much more to talk about in terms of content for this video, iconography is the most important as it involves the biggest plot device, the box with its contents kept a mystery apart from only two people which are gay, someone saw them walking who lead the march of the angry people walking towards one of couple's house, this symbolizes the contents of the box is something to do with their relationship, they keep it a safe secret as with their relationship, both understand how important it is that no one gets the box or what's inside as the angry homophobe at the end is screaming at them holding the box trying to get it open but the gay man refuses to tell him, therefore it's safe to assume the contents of the box could mean an actual metaphor for their relationship. The main setting of the video is a forest as the audience see the angry group of men walking through one while one of the gay people runs through a forest to get to his lovers house, the forest is used as a way to suggest the pre historic nature of the angry homophobes, they live in the past and refuse to accept people for who they are so the forest ignites their aggressive and violent nature that they have, this is also suggested with iconography with a flare and a molotov cocktail symbolizing that aggressive nature. The costumes of people are kept different so that it's easier to distinguish between the characters, even though there are few of them, the angry group of people attacking the gay couple wear nearly identical clothing as well as masks to keep their identities secret, the clothing is used to show that these people are exactly the same as each other even their beliefs over gays is implied through their clothing which is that they hate them. Finally the colour is again black and white but this is used to further the messages of the video, the black and white also suggests the pre historic nature of the angry men and to show the contrast of the two groups, the angry men and the gay couple, the lighting is used effectively as well as it's only really dark towards the end of the video, it's always dark when the angry people are in the shot but bright when the gay couple are on screen together, further implying that contrast between the two groups. Cinematography is also key in this video, one example is when the audience first see the angry group walking through the forest there is a low angle shot of the leader who saw them earlier, this low angle shot is used to connote the threat that these people bring to the gay couple and that they think they're higher than them because of their beliefs. There is a tracking shot of one of the gay people running and the camera is looking at him from a profile perspective, this is used to show that we're following him which can be further connoted into meaning that we agree with his belief that anyone can have anyone they wish no matter the differences. Editing is used very well in this video as well, there is a use of linking shots where the audience see the angry group and then it changes to the gay couple walking past a transmission tower, this shows what the angry homophobes are after and this makes it more dramatic for the audience because they know the gay couple are in trouble even though the gay couple might not which furthers the suspense for the audience. Another editing technique that is used is faced past editing as one of the couple packs his belongings from his house to try and quickly find his boyfriend, this portrays that the gay person is scared for his boyfriends life and is panicking that he may so the editing complements that very well.

The target audience for this music video would probably be people around the ages of 16-30 year old people as the themes of the video are mature made for mature audiences in hopes that the video will change them or that they will agree with what the video is trying portray. The artist isn't in the video but the video represents him in a way that makes him seem accepting of all people no matter who they are as he let them use his song for the video, so the video shows he supports equality. The style of this video is concept based and narrative based, the concept of this video is to show that people who are prejudiced against gay people are wrong have very dated beliefs on the world and society, the narrative is used to support the concept as it is about a gay couple who get caught up with the wrong people. Goodwin's theory again ties in with this song as his elements are used for this video as well, there is a relationship between the music and the visuals, this can be seen when the music goes into the chorus and the visuals become quick and editing becomes faster paced to complement the music and to make some moments more suspenseful than others, this is where the man is trying to pack his belongings while the angry men march through the forest. Another example of Goodwin's theory is that this demonstrates genre characteristics like having the video talk about a strong message that needs more attention even in today's society.

In conclusion, analyzing these two videos will be beneficial to the planning of my video as it helps me understand the genre's characteristics i will have to undertake as well as the different visuals that will further class my music video as a conventional indie music video. Some inspirations have come to mind that i would like to implement in the video and that is the concept based video with something that people can still relate to and to show the artist on screen as this will increase the popularity of the artists image.