Narrative of Indie Rock Music videos

Indie rock music videos are similar to that of pop music, with there being shots and edits surrounding the main singer/ band which generally show off the talent of an artist. The reason that the narrative is different with indie rock music, is the fact that it switches from artist to story line in an even balance, continuing to tell an in depth story mainly of struggle or hardship all the while including snippets of the artist from multiple angles to show off their talent.

The majority of indie rock music videos are up for interpretation, due to the fact that many of them have different meanings as well as have rather unclear definitions so it is up to an audience to create that meaning whether it is through Dyer's star theory or other such methods. The hermeneutic code from Barthes theory is commonly used to create enigma, due to the fact that it doesn't reveal all of the facts at once, so this draws the audience in to watch the rest of the music video, gaining attention from the public. This can be seen by Imagine Dragons -It's time as there is a box towards the end which leaves the enigma as to what the item in the box is as it glows, so it is up to the audience to decide what the meaning of the box is.

These indie rock music videos typically have a Todorovian narrative which states that the story line goes from there being equilibrium to an action which causes disorder and or upset and then by the end of the whole video it is back where it was a the start with there being equilibrium.This can be seen in The Killer's music video- Human, due to the fact that it starts with cowboys walking in their neighborhood, to them being in a fight with a gang of women and then finally it goes to a peaceful death of the main character which shows a Todorovian narrative.I would like to as a group follow this theory, due to the fact that it could create a gripping story line, as well as this I think that it would be best to keep the narrative similar to that of the stereotypical indie rock video as it would appeal more to the key demographic of indie rock music. As well as this, I would also like to use the hermeneutic code.


Typically there is a lack of Levi strauss (binary opposition) within indie rock music, the plight that a protagonist must go is generally self induced and is the root of all the problems. Sometimes there can be binary opposition which is generally male vs female or vice versa. This can be the quest for love or a lost love of such. This is due to the fact that the main theme that indie rock music revolves around is heartbreak and lost love so this would have to be the focus of videos An example of this could be seen in 'Why'd you only call me when you're high.' by The Arctic Monkeys as Alex the main protagonist has binary opposition with the people that he meets on the way home. I think that with my group we will  include binary opposition due to the fact that it would be beneficial to link it to the overall indie rock genre through this and to show a deeper meaning to the music video with the binary opposition only being present due to the heartbreak.