The Neighbourhood in Their Video ‘Sweater Weather’, Which Shows the Band Together

Star Image - The star image of our band is conventional of the indie rock genre. The indie rock star image is designed to look as if it had not been constructed giving our actors a unique selling point and individuality, which in itself– like the music video– is an advert for the advert because of the potential audience reach. In this sense we have conformed to this convention of the indie rock genre. We were inspired by the image of The Neighbourhood in their video ‘Sweater Weather’, which shows the band together. We have recreated this image through the acting, camera angles, proxemics and props such as the old car and round retro glasses. We have also followed conventions of the star image concept, for The Neighbourhood - Sweater Weather example our stars are both ordinary and extraordinary; their costumes are normal and can be worn by the audience, whereas they are perceived to be the ideal friend group, and are enviable because of their musical suc- cess. Editing - Taking inspiration from this music video, ‘The City’, we wanted to use this idea because the images overlaid look retro and visually engaging. While the overlay technique is not typically conventional of the indie rock genre, we have seen it used in recent contemporary videos. By overlaying two image, we have created a sense that the two images are connect- ed– with performance over narrative showing how they intertwine, creating another layer of meaning. This symbolic code represents the story of the characters interests, and the relation between the lyrics and the narrative. We used other features, typical of music videos in general, such as the graphic matches (jacket to vinyl, and toy car to real car), to make our video look original and different. Our fast paced edit- The 1975 - The City ing reflects the pace of the video, being another one of the five key elements of a music video in Good- win’s theory, making it more comfortable to watch. Images - To create an ‘indie rock’ vibe, we used images of typically indie rock props, which our target audience are able to directly relate to. These symbolic object or props included a vinyl, an old TV, a vintage fan, a shelf of old books among others. The context of the combina- tion of images is representative of the indie rock genre as a whole. This mise-en-scene adds value to the video as an indie rock text. Conventionally, indie rock artists have formulated a retro look, which we have recreated through props and costumes. We used close-ups, similar to the shots in The Neighbourhood’s ‘Sweater Weather’. This is not a convention of all music videos, so we hoped The Neighbourhood - to directly relate to our target audience. While conven- Sweater Weather tional indie rock props may usually include instruments, we decided not to use them, as this made our audience focus more on the narrative rather than performance. This showed what our band was trying to convey through their lyrics, rather than a façade of performance. Performance - We wanted to recreate the performance of an indie rock band, without the instru- mental performance. Conventionally, music videos shows artists singing directly to the camera. The lip syncing of our characters shows our artist’s aloof attitude yet intense passion for their music. Using performance in the video makes it more realistic according to Goodwin’s theory. They mostly sing direct to the camera, making a special connection with the audience through direct address, creating an emphatic response. At times, there is no con- The 1975 - Girls nection with the camera, which shows that they are focused on the song. It is common for indie rock artists to show a live performance, so we decided to oppose this convention, giving our video a more intense feeling, making the audience relate to the lyrics of the song, and focus more on the illustrative narrative. Narrative features - Our narrative uses a female (subject of photography), similar to Swim Deep’s ‘Honey’ video, conventional of the indie rock genre. A common theme of indie rock videos, and we felt that it would add to the intense feeling an seriousness of our video. This narrative feature makes our video memorable, and may spark conflicting views about the girl being photographed. This idea references the a Vogue Italia shoot by Steven Meisel, which celebrates the extraordinary fe- Swim Deep - Honey male body, and depicts the creativity and passion behind Vince’ interest in photography. Our illustrative story line references its lyrics, referring to the ‘disposition’ of the four characters. Colour- We used a black and white filter to add a retro and vintage look. The use of a black and white filter is often used in indie videos, and is a symbolic code of the individuality of the band; lack of a full range of colours so that there is more focus on the music, rather than the advances in the capa- bilities of technology. It sets the exciting yet reflec- tive mood of the video, giving it a nostalgic vibe. I really like the use of black and white in The 1975’s video, and until very recently they had never used colour in their videos. The image that is created is classical and old look, which is popular and trend- ing with the indie rock audience currently. The idea of using something out of the norm is conven- The 1975 - The City tionally indie rock, and we felt it was important to follow this convention, as it is a key part of convey- ing a preferred audience reading. Camera - Influenced by this indie music video, we took the use of interesting and different camera angles and used them in our video. We feel this adds value to the video, making it visually interesting and varied. While striving to make a video visually interesting is conventional of most music videos, we wanted to make our angles extra ordinary and distinctively memorable, and did this by using POV angles with each of our characters, as well as shots from unusual angles, such as from the bot- tom side and on top of a car. The angle choice is a technical code, which sells the audience the idea of the video. This alternative presentation of footage Passion Pit—Take a Walk could be viewed as conventionally indie, as the genre aims to be as different from the ordinary as possible. Narrative themes - The aim of our narrative themes is for our target audience to relate to our band, encoding the ideology that our band are in- dependent in controlling their music. We used a cinematic and retro look, and linked between our lyrics to tell an illustrative narrative, giving meaning to our lyrics. This approach is by many indie rock artists, explaining what their lyrics mean. We fulfilled this convention this by using a black and white filter, and filming with angles that do not always reveal the whole scene. Themes include re- bellion and individuality, shown through smoking and littering, and the currency of ‘cool’. We used idea from videos of The Neighbourhood and The The Neighbourhood - Sweater Weather 1975 for this idea, as they also use the idea of creating role models for their target audience of young and individualistic teenagers. Setting - Our music video uses rural and nat- ural places for four out of five of our narrative settings. This shows a raw and different per- spective from the modern and popular music video. I was inspired by the setting in this music video because of how much I was focused on the story, rather than on the setting around. The settings each have connotations of going back to roots, and have an old and alternative feel. This relates back to indie videos being The Funeral Suits– All Those typically low budget because of financial re- Friendly People straints. These settings are simple because of the preferred focus on the artists, making them out of them norm, directly relating to conventions of the indie rock genre. Costume - Costume in the video is imperative to create an identity for our band, setting them aside from everyone else. The 1975 have a par- ticular style, which we took note of when de- signing our costumes. The monochrome colours (and black and white filter effect) and ‘roughed up’ image of our band represents the indie rock idea of rebelling against main- stream fashion trends. Each member wears The 1975 - The City different clothes, showing their individuality within their genre– representative of their individuality within their friendship group. This style is iconic of the genre, and we have used this to portray the individual image of our band. .

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