Conventions of the Alternative Rock Genre

There are a number of Key Conventions to be found in the "Alt Rock Genre". To figure this out I will look at a couple of Alt Rock Music videos to look for similarities.

"Linkin Park - Castle of Glass".

Straight of the Bat the story is essentially one about a child being told that his father has died in the war. The scene then show one of the singers standing in a room that slowly turns into water, revealing a solid and clean plain area where the band is playing. The rest is of military action and how the boy avenges his father and becomes the bearer of bad news in another mans death. Certain aspects need to be ignored, for example the Game footage should be ignored as the band was simply played a large fee to add the footage to promote the game.

Notable Points

Desert/Ethereal Plain of Play

- The Scene in which the band plays is one that is quite empty, it also emphasises how they are simply narrators to a story that doesn't involve them.

-The story played out on screen is one that is quite noticeable and topical, it is no way vague what is going on.

-The Setting in the video is in a sense abnormal, the environment is incredibly peculiar as it appears they are singing on different plain.

-The Clothing Worn By the Band is quite casual but not too much, some of the band even wears nice jackets and is very well kept, I think this still makes them seem relatable in their casual gear.

-The Facial Lighting is kept so that their faces are quite dark, giving their topic quite a sombre tone to act on.

The drummer tends to stay at the back in his own space.

- There are a large number of Group Shots here as well as smaller group shots, for example the beginning of the bands entrance fully is an entire groups shot, but sometimes we can just see the guitar players and the singers. The Drummer interestingly enough maintains his own space at all times at least staying at the back of the scene.


Nickelback - Savin' Me

To get a full scope on how the industry has acted in previous years I will look at this Alt Rock video from 2005, If their are any similarities it should help me to pick up on any long lasting conventions.

The story on this one is quite interesting, it's essentially the story of a man who can see when people will die through a digital display over their heads and the panic it ensues when he see people either close to death or reducing their life span through certain actions.

Notable Points

A sombre or sad topic is covered

- It shares some notable similarities with the Linkin Park video, the scene is quite sombre in a panicked sense, their is a clear cut story and it is quite interesting, it also deals with death as a concept.

The Band Doesn't Need Instruments to tell the story.

-There is also some form of resolution at the end, or at least a repeat of the beginning, similar in each of these.

- There is a key difference between these two in that their isn't a band shown in this one, at least they don't play instruments which suggests that the story is crucial in Alt Rock