edited: HOW DO GUITAR-POP MUSIC VIDEOS USE GENRE CHARACTERISTICS AND CONVENTIONS?

HOW DO GUITAR-POP MUSIC VIDEOS USE GENRE CHARACTERISTICS AND CONVENTIONS?

Many guitar-pop videos are known for being low budget, but as it is becoming a more apparent genre, this doesn't seem to be the case. 

When looking at bands like The Last Shadow Puppets and Foster The People, it is evident that there is a much higher budget and a wider availability of locations and resources to make the videos seem to have a much higher budget, making the videos seem much more glossy and mainstream.

When you look at the video for ‘Someday’ by The Strokes, although it was made before the others, it is a much more conventional style of guitar-pop video. It is much more dimly lit and have a seemingly much lower budget.  The colouring of the video makes it much less glossy and can create connotations of a much more dark reality, especially as it was made much earlier than the others.  

A lot of generic guitar-pop videos are set in locations that are also of a low budget. This doesn't seem to be the case with many of the newer videos as they're much more glossy and high budget but, if you look at the video for 'Someday' it is clear there are some much more conventional settings. This looks like a much lower budget as it is set in a pub that looks like it has been filmed in a hand held  manner that creates a much more 'rustic' look.

Mise on scene is a huge part of the story telling aspect of many guitar-pop music videos. Using mise on scene helps to create a narrative in many videos of this genre. For example, looking at the video for 'Aviation,' the video create a story that doesn't directly link with the song itself. Using an isolated location, cold lighting and creating character profile, a completely different narrative is created. Similarly, in the video for ‘Someday’ the mise en scene creates a persona for the band and can create something for people who follow the band to relate to.

It is very common in guitar-pop music videos to see an element of performance. For example, in all 3 videos, each band shows elements of performance alongside a narrative or a performance of another type. Looking at the video for ‘Best friend,’ it’s almost a 50/50 split between the bands performance and the narrative. Similarly, in the video for ‘Aviation,’ the narrative is much more prominent but there are elements of performance that form part of the narrative in itself.

Typically, in an guitar-pop music video there are close ups and flattering shots of the band members. For example, in ‘Aviation,’ although the band members are in a situation that doesn’t exactly make them seem dominant, they’re shot in a way that allows them to still seem in control of the edit and the video itself.

 APPLYING ANDREW GOODWIN'S THEORY

All 3 of these videos covey characteristics and conventions of the genre, but don’t necessarily have links between the video and the lyrics. For example, all 3 songs don’t really link to the videos but if you look into it in a much more in depth sense, you can see some more subtle links.

The video for ‘Aviation’ is a video that has multiple intertextual references In the sense that all of the recent videos for the album ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’ link in the sense that they tell the story of a wedding that went wrong.

APPLYING ANDREW GOODWIN'S THEORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS

GRAPEVINE FIRES

The music video of 'Grapevine fires' by Death Cab For Cutie demonstrates many of the conventions that are part of Andrew Goodwin's music video frame work.

Straight away, there is clearly a strong link between the lyrics of the song and the story that is told by the visuals of the video. This helps to create a strong link and tell a story. This creates an emotional and almost 'dark' representation that comes from the lyrics of the song that creates a starting ground for the video itself. When watching the video, lyrics like 'before we all burn' are repeated whilst images of fire and objects catching fire appear. 

The music video itself correlates with the music in the sense that the video cuts almost perfectly to the beat of the song. This creates a relationship between the music and the imagery which in turn creates a much more effective video. Similarly, the type of image we see changes with the music. For example, at the beginning of the video we see 1 person who is looking for another, as the song goes on, we begin to meet more and more characters which intensifies the video. Also, as the music increases in tempo, the video takes a darker and more intense twist. This is where we see one of the female characters catching fire.

Looking at other music videos by Death Cab For Cutie, it is evident that there is a similar style that follows through their music videos. For example, the video for 'Good Help (Is Hard To Find)' shows similar characteristics in the sense that it is created in the same way. It uses similar 2D drawings and the same typeface that is seen in Grapevine Fires. This establishes a type of motif in their music videos. 

.The notion of looking is extremely dominant in this video in the sense that the story is mainly based on stories being told by picture frames would could be seen as using 'screens.' The use of these photo frames to tell a story creates a strong link between the visuals, the music and the lyrics which helps to reinforces parts of Andrew Goodwin's theory in the sense that it creates the relationships that are shown as part of it. 
In a way you could say there is a sense of the voyeuristic treatment of women as the only character we see 'die' is female. We see the male characters as much more heroic than the female ones as one male character is seen searching for 2 other characters and another that has to build up the courage of what is left after the fire.

In conclusion, Andrew Goodwin's theory can be applied to the video for 'Grapevine Fires' in the majority of the elements and conventions that comply with it.