Our Genre

Indie Folk

Indie Folk emerged during the 21st century when artists from indie rock began merging through the use of folk to influence them.

Indie- The short form of 'independence' or 'independent' and may refer to games, music and television. Their clothes may include retro themed fashion or tight dark clothes for the males, however females would use bright colours within their retro themes.

Folk- Includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th century folk revival. A consistent definition of folk music is elusive.


Indie Folk- Hybridises the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. 

Examples

• Ben Howard

This music video shows typical conventions of the indie folk genre and has mid shots of the sunset and establishing shots of the location which we want to use in our piece. The tone of this song is peaceful and relaxing which is contributed to by the acoustic guitar in the background, another typical convention of indie folk.

• Of Monsters and Men

On the other hand this video has a different take on indie folk as it is filmed in a slightly cartoon sense. It illustrates an unrealistic narrative and is not correlating the visuals with the lyrics. However, the acoustic guitar is also played in this song representing it as a common instrument used in this genre.

Features

Typical Instruments- Acoustic Guitars, piano, drums, violin and banjo

Clothing- They tend to be laid back people with a relaxed attitude about them. Their clothing type tends to be cool and fresh yet worn a lot to create a sense of realism. 

Conventions

• Shadows
• Heavy Lighting- Mainly low key with high key elements included
• Close up shots of the artist as well as the instruments
• A black and white filter is often used to help portray the emotions
• Camera tilting
• Establishing shots to represent the location