Genre

Genre

Genre is the different categories that certain types of media are split up into and in this case it stands for the different types of categories that music are split up into such as a pop genre or a rock genre. The song we have chosen is called ‘Animals’ by an artist named KYKO. The genre of music that KYKO associates himself with is Indie pop and Indie Pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the1980s. It is a sub-genre of Indie Rock and the music is a lot calmer within the lyrics and the tone of the music used and is described as a less rough sub-genre to Indie Rock.

The Indie Pop genre has a softer side to it and the lyrical content usually consists of a sense of depressing nature from the love and heartbreak nature of the music and lyrics used. The lyrical content is more aimed at everyday people that they experience in their lives and is a very popular genre of music because of this as people can relate to the lyrics and really get into the songs that the Indie Pop genre produce because they can relate themselves to the situations within the lyrics. When watching a music promo in the Indie Pop genre the typical expectations are a storyline that link to the lyrics and tend to be more narrative rather than performance based which is an example of amplification and we will include this into our music promo by adhering the conventions of Indie Pop.

With Indie Pop the main vocalist gets all the attention, we found this when doing our research as they will always be the main actor within the music promo and always made to be the leader of the band. We will include these conventions in our music promo when creating our band image with the music poster and also adhere these conventions in the music video with the main vocalist taking a leading role. An inspiration our artist took was from Bastille and they are very similar in style.

The image above is of the band ‘Bastille’, the band that are an inspiration for KYKO and his music. The lead singer is on the far right and is portrayed in the foreground, where-as the other band members are seen to be behind him in the background. This portrays the conventions of Indie Pop and what the audience expect to see. The lead vocalist taking a leading role and is the most important aspect. The lead vocalist being in the foreground and getting most of the attention creates a sense of authority and the power the vocalist has over the other band members and this is seen in most Indie Pop groups. The reasoning behind this is because of the audience that follow Indie Pop. Indie Pop is known for the lyrical content to attract it’s audience and listen to the words to relate to them and coming from the main vocalist the audience will be focused on him and his emotions portrayed through facial expression within the music promo and music posters, this helps create messages about the band style and lyrical meanings.

Ideology means a range of different beliefs or ideas a group or person has over a specific topic. Ideology is important in music because it can helps bands/artists understand what people expect to see within their genre as genre is always changing through the audience and producers dictating this change. Within this genre the lyrics are important to the audience because they are always meaningful and give the audience a chance to relate to them. If the audience feel connected then the band/artist know they are doing well so the song writing part of this genre is crucial for attracting audience members. Also from the research we have been doing we feel the narrative within the music promo is important to attract audiences for this genre. We feel the use of body posture and gesture and also facial expressions help attract audiences. This is because audience members can relate to the feelings of the band through the way they portray the lyrics through body language and expressions to help create meaning and add emphasis to the meaningful lyrics.

The target audience is important to Indie Pop because of the lyrical content being a driving force to attract a larger audience. The target audience tends to be around 16-28 years old as the lyrical content reflects the lives of people that age and refers to the depressing or problems people of that age come across in everyday life, with the ugly side of love being a common factor for the target audience to relate to and appeals to both genders because it relates to both genders and is appealing to listen to from time to time. The typical audience member would be an older student and who will be having relationships and having a high work load with school or college work and problems can mount up and become stressful. This is where Indie Pop is useful as the calming nature of the music helps people escape from their troubles and relate to the music as a way to escape or even offer advice through the lyrical content.  

Camerawork

 

The camerawork within the ‘Flaws’ music promo there are a lot of close ups used which is a good technique and a conventions for the Indie Pop genre as it gives the audience a chance to get a closer look at the main artist. The other convention that I touched on earlier is also present here as the main vocalist is taking the leading role and shows his importance to band image and attracting audiences over the other band members.

Editing

The editing in this song is used effectively to cut to the beat of the song which is effective as it provides continuity throughout the music promo. The editing is rather slow paced which is typical of this genre because of the slow tempo that is associated with this genre and the editing is used to reflect the mood of slow and calming influence to help the audience understand and relate to the lyrics and music promo as the song goes on.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene within this music promo is effective and also effective for the audience. The song is about flaws that people have and the use of make-up for this music promo is important as it makes the girls look as though they have flaws from the make-up or they look different. The main singer doesn’t let these flaws bother him and this is effective as our audience can watch this and they know no matter what flaws they have they will be accepted from a person like him. This is important for attracting members for their audience as it creates the impression that the lead vocalist is the good guy and will accept anybody, no matter what they look like.

Narrative/Performance

 

The narrative and performance is also effective within this music promo as from the image above we can see the main artist singing in an everyday location for the general public. The watching audience that look normal have gathered to watch and creates a sense of normality around the band and portrays to the audience that they are normal and the audience can relate to the band from this normality.