Genre Case study- Florence and the Machine Ship to Wreck-EDITED

Genre is how musicians and films are categorised, it also helps to target a specific audience as they know what they are looking for and what to expect. The word genre literally means 'a style or category of art, music and film'. Genre's are picked due to certain characteristics of the music or film that have been predetermined years before from the musicians predecessors.
Florence and The machine- Ship to Wreck is a prime example of  an indie pop music video surrounded by artists such as Lana Del Ray, this indie pop band has been around since 2007 and originated in London, England whilst they are classed as the indie pop subculture they are also associated with indie rock, chamber pop and art rock. Similarly, they are also compared to artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Dev Hynes and the The Big Pink because of the common beginning year and where they originated from although their genres are different such as Dizzee Rascal who is classed as a Rapper/ singer songwriter, these artists are all classed as being very similar due to fan bases and their origination. Ship to wreck is from Florence and the machine's third album and it was released on the 9th April 2015. The song originally premiered on Huw Stephens show on radio 1 and the music video was released a few days later on the 13th April 2015.  The music video for the song is part of a wider narrative from 2 predecessor music videos from their previous albums. Indie originates in the 1980s from Scottish post punk bands in the UK and has predecessors such a Josef k and Orange Juice.  The word indie used to mean independent but gradually over time it has changed to mean outsider/ underground and also not mainstream. This is through the many subcultures and genres of music being produced with pop music being the most mainstream.



A convention that this music video uses which is a primary feature in the majority of indie pop music videos is the performance aspect of the video although Indie pop video do generally have a narrative they also incorporate a performance element within the video. An example of this is at  0:59 in which there is an ellipsis that carries on the narrative but florence is now performing instead of acting this draws the audience's attention to the main artist instead of the narrative and her surroundings The video ship to wreck also has a linear narrative which means that the story is in chronological order but it also allows for the performance to be intertwined within it. To emphasise this they use a close up of the artists which Goodwin claims is a convention of all music videos as the record label want to have frequent close ups of the artist to sell to the ever growing music industry. By having a performance element within the video it brings another element and allows for the audience to understand the artist but also to see if they are a new fan who the artists actually are. By using the close ups of the artists it develops who they are but also enhances the narrative or performance aspect of the video even if the audience's attention is drawn to the artist it makes them watch for longer as they realise that although there is a narrative it can be combined with a performance element whether that be intertwined with the narrative or completely set apart it involves the audience. By having a performance element in the music video it also allows for the audience to experience what the band/singer would be like live which is a form of marketing as the record label are essentially selling the band members to today's societal judgement. Although in most cases the performance and the narrative are intertwined this generally helps to enhance the narrative and involve the audience a lot more. Not all videos feature a narrative some are purely performance based such a James bay's music video for if you ever want to be in love. This video is entirely performance based which allows for the audience to see the vibe at a gig/live event but it also enables the artist to show off their talent and have the audience's full attention instead of having them distracted by a linear narrative which although wouldn't stop him from showing off his talent it would avert the audience's attention greatly henceforth hindering him in becoming more successful.

Generally, indie pop music videos are low budget because a majority of indie artists are not mainstream henceforth  they don't have as much  need for an expensive, lavish music video. Although there are some indie pop artists that are slightly more mainstream like florence and the machine but still not entirely relevant in today's younger generation even their videos are not as high budget as more mainstream artists such as Taylor swift who can afford to have fx in her videos such as Bad Blood. Florence and the machine's video for ship to wreck is not the biggest budget music video which is shown through the use of diegetic lighting and the lack of digitalised effects but by using the diegetic lighting it makes the video more natural and realistic which would appeal to an audience as it makes the band relatable.By florence and the machine having a relatively low budget music video it allows them to conform to the conventions of their genre which makes them more definable but slightly less recognisable instantaneously as the majority of indie pop music videos conform to this stereotypical convention.



After searching, another convention of the indie pop genre is during editing a filter is likely to be put over the music video or just selective parts of the video. In ship to wreck a slight filter is put on the video to make it seem slightly more retro but also to make the video look fazed and almost old. This is done to help create imagery for the video but also to allow for the time of the video to be set as well as letting the audience use their imagination of the context of the video or the meanings behind it. By adding a filter in the editing it helps to create a odd atmosphere which is slightly negative, this reflects the metaphorical meaning of the lyrics and the audience can experience this.An example of this si ellie goulding's 'your song' which uses a filter to define that they are memories which makes it easier for the audience. Another feature of editing is the type of cuts that are used in the video stereotypically indie pop uses cuts to reflect the tempo of the music. This is something that florence and the machine ship to wreck challenges as this video is more continuous and almost like pov shots but following her around instead of seeing what she is seeing. The effect of this is a smoother,better continuity video which allows for easier watching and is almost like a day in the life style video.

A convention that Florence and the machine's video does conform to is the use of location and how stereotypically they are dark and are streets or houses or cities. Ship to wreck does conform to this by using the streets but it also challenges it by having the majority of it in a house which could be a convention of another genre they are apart of. By using a house it could be seen to represent family and demonstrate how the lyrics are saying did they build everything that they have just to destroy it and abuse it. Normally, a house is a symbol for unity and family but the lyrics describe somebody who has a habit of wrecking things as well as this undermining the security which comes from a house it almost seems like this is set up by the character that Florence is portraying.

Lastly, camerawork plays a big  part in being a convention of indie pop music videos this is generally close ups of the artist which could be something that the record label demands but there are also a use of tilt shots and pan shots. The music video Ship to wreck tries to challenge this convention whilst it does use mid shots a close ups the camera is constantly roaming and is never stationary which is part of the reason there are limited cuts throughout the video. An example of a close up of the main artist is at 0:55 which meets the demand of the record label but also helps to sell the song and the band to a wider audience.

All of this incorporated together creates a definitive genre that helps to categorise musicians to help target their audiences and help find similar artists.

The pitch- EDITED as of 18/01/17

The video features a girl who is thrown into a social party full of mis-happenings and accidents surrounded by stereotypical people and Americanised clichés.

The characters will be shown as being Americanised through their fashion sense but also as we have taken slight influences from different films such as 'the Breakfast Club' and 'Mean Girls'. Although these aren't direct references there are influences shown. But our characters aren't designed  to be americanised instead the events that happen are again taken from films that as a group we have all seen.
Our Narrative doesn't explicitly link to the lyrics of the song but we have inferred meanings of items that relate to our song. Our song is about alcoholism and drug taking therefor we have tried to raise awareness through events that happen in our music video of the problems with taking these. Through the inferred meanings it allows for our narrative to link to the lyrics even if it is not directly.

We are going to include lip syncing in our music video although we had not originally planned to include as we felt performance did not fit with the music that we chose but we have eventually decided to include snippets of the actor playing the lead singer lip-syncing to the song. We realise that this will be one of the hardest parts of our editing as the lip sync has to be exactly to the words of the song and timing of the song. But we later added in the lip-syncing as it adds more depth to our music video  and also allows for another character to be introduced.

Prezi Moodboard for our music video

Applying Andrew Goodwins theory to two music videos - EDITED as of 18/01/17

Andrew Goodwin's theory is made up of 6 key statements which help to understand music videos better but also it enable us to break down music videos so when we write about them we can establish them and write about them in greater detail.




The first music video in which I think Andrew Goodwin's theory can be applied to is Taylor Swift's Bad Blood as this music video demonstrates most of the characteristics that are involved within his theory. This music video genre is pop like the actual song which means that the song and the video reflects certain expectations of the genre which can be thoroughly shown throughout the music video. An example of this is that the song is very performance based due to the background mainly being CGI which helps to create and allow for the music video to have a somewhat story. Another convention of the pop genre is that the main focus of the music video is on the lead singer the whole video, an example of this is the thumbnail of the music video as it is an extreme close up of the lead singer. This ensures that the audience knows who the singer is but it is also something that they expect from the artist as it is another way of marketing her and making her the focus of her music videos and albums even if, like this song it is a collaboration  she is made to be the primary focus. This demonstrates Goodwin's first characteristic in his theory which is that Music videos demonstrate Genre characteristics. This video displays stereotypical conventions of a pop music video which an audience expects  such as the examples mentioned above.

Another convention of Andrew Goodwin's theory that Taylor swift's music video features is that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The link in this video isn't necessarily obvious but it is more metaphorical as the lyrics don't physically match up to the visuals but the visuals do represent the lyrics in a metaphorical sense. An example of this is the lyrics' now we've got bad blood' This is meant as a sense of anger but also to reflect an opposition which is shown by having the two opposing almost like teams which seems to display anger towards eachother. The focus is on the two leaders which is shown by the use of extreme close ups and close ups, it seems to be a strict rivalry which is obviously acting. The acting also reflects the lyrics but subconsciously as at the beginning of the video it can be seen that selena Gomez and taylor swift's characters are arguing which demonstrates the 'bad blood' between them. The music video amplifys the lyrics even if it isn't in the most obvious way and is meant in a slight metaphorical meaning.

The last aspect of Goodwin's theory that applies to Taylor swift's Bad Blood music video is that the Record label have a need to include lots of close ups of the artist in question and that the artist develops a recurring motif that is used throughout their music videos. This can be seen in the bad blood music video by the frequent use of close ups and extreme closeups of taylor swift but also the other singer that is involved which is selena Gomez. But it does lack a frequent amount of the featured rapper Kendrick lamar who is only briefly shown throughout the whole video even though his lyrics are featured a fair amount in the song. A motif that taylor siwft has developed in her videos is that she always seems to have some type of famous person like selena Gomez featured in the videos even if they aren't actually featured within the song. This produces more of an audience for Taylor swift wwhihc means more views and more people watching the video because Selena Gomez's fan base will be watching as she is featured and Taylor swift's fan base will watch as it is a Taylor swift song. By having more famous people in a music video it produces a bigger buzzabout the artist and the record label but also the song which means that more people will watch the video  which means a bigger audience.


The second music video that I chose that Incorporates Goodwins theory is Heathens by Twenty one Pilots which demonstrates quite a few statements of Goodwin's Theory.


The first Statement of Goodwin's that can be applied is that the music video demonstrates the stereotypical genre conventions of an alternative group music video. This is shown in the music video as it is highly performance based which is shown by having the lead singer almost serenading the camera but not completely but as it is also a music video for a film it also features clips from a film as this builds a buzz about the film and also for the duo which introduces a wider audience to both. Another stereotypical genre convention that this music video demonstrates is the location it is based in, as it is a grungy prison which is something that the audience expects from this type of genre as it is quite desolate and prison's are generally quite isolated from society. This produces an eery setting for the music video it also makes it appear to be more tense for the audience which relates to the song and the film it is promoting. The location also represents a certain moral ambiguity within the music video and the characters that are within it. Lastly, the genre convention that this film represents is the lighting that is used and the slight filter put over it to make it appear grungier and helps to enhance the type of location. The lighting appears to be diegetic as it has fairly low key lighting which adds to the ambiance but the music video does probably have some non diegetic key lighting on the main singer so that they are the overall focus of the music video to make the audience watch the video.

Secondly, the Heathens music video applies The lyrics relating to the visuals but only slightly as most of the lyrics don't seem to relate to the visuals but the brief clips of the film that are incorporated within the music video do slightly relate to the lyrics only because they apply to the film characters that are featured within the music video but apart from those one worded lyrics the music video seems to be aimed more at the film that it is promoting slightly  and less at the song that is being performed in the video. This makes the video seem more illustrative then it does actually enhancing the song.

Thirdly, Another Goodwin statement that applies to the Heathens music video is the record label will need lots of close ups of the artista and that the artist may develop recurring motifs throughout their work. This can be seen at 0:23 where the audience get to see the lead singer for the first time this is exhibited by using a close up of the lead singer which uses key lighting and leaving the rest of the background in darkness. A recurring motif that generally features in twenty one pilots videos is the drummer wears red face paint which relates to their recent album but this motif is not featured in this music video as it is promotion for a film.

The last statement of Goodwin's theory that can be applied to the heathens music video as it is promotion for a film is a lot of the time there is inter-textual reference within the music video. In the Heathens music video there is clips featured from the film 'suicide squad' as the song is used to promote the film but also to create buzz about the film and to concoct a bigger audience as the people who like the duo will most probably be the sort of person who would enjoy the film. An example of a clip being shown to create a buzz is displayed at 2:06 which features the character Harley Quinn.

These 2 videos both display a variety of Goodwin's statements within his theory by using location and different camera shots.