Audiences and Institutions for the Alternative Rock Genre

Alternative rock consists of many various sub genres, such as:

• Grunge





• Britpop





• Gothic Rock





• Punk Rock

Although all these have existed in the 1980's they did not reach the hight of their popularity until the 1990's.

In the 1980's, rock artists recorded on Independent record labels and used college radio and word of mouth to promote themselves. Within recent times, up and coming bands have been able to use peer-peer sites to share their music, such as YouTube, MySpace and Twitter to gain recognition in the underground scene in the UK and across the world. I will be therefore be posting my completed version of Stage Exits music video on YouTube to promote the video with their specific target audiences.

Alternative rock has been recognised as rejection to the commercialism of mainstream culture.

Many bands during the 1980's played in small clubs. For example The Beetles used to play in their basement and performed to crowds. I have taken this into consideration whilst planning and shooting my music video as I have stuck to the forms and conventions of rock videos being shot in empty places but the space in which I filmed was in a small area, therefore this will be considered acceptable by the Audiences and Institutions for the video.

The lyrics from rock songs tend to address social concern like drug use and depression. By using these lyrics they will be able to connect with an audience which are also using drugs or depressed. Although in the song which I have produced a video for do not address these concerns I shall consider using the social issue in other media areas such as the CD artwork on the cover or the website.

Many trends have tooken place with the Alternative Rock Genre. Below are just some of the most popular that I will address:

Gothic Rock - late 1970's/ early 80's was post-punk. The representation of the sub genre was that of a dark and gloomy underground from of rock. Lyrics often addressed:

• Romanticism





• Morbidity





• Religious Symbolism





• and Supernatural Mysticism

As the band I filmed had a punk feeling to it I decided that I would concentrate on said genre to see what I could include in the video.

I firstly, found that within the Punk Rock genre which was popular in the 70's, punk rockers produced there own recordings of songs. I felt this was a great form and convention when making my music video as I filmed with hand held camera it would never get a well polished look like with cameras used to film bands in the mainstream because this would fit in great with the genre as this would be able to target the audience.

Youthfull rebellion and outrages styles of clothing was connected to the Punk Rockers. I have chosen to use these audience and Institutions in the range of media I am using by portaying these images such as fashion and rebellion in the artwork for the album cover and music video to attract the audience who would purchase the bands CD.