Bon Iver - Calgary

Cinematography	Mise en scene	Editing	Sound
-Depth of field to show a state of confusion, the unknown. -Handheld camera, shakiness shows imperfections and uncertainty. -Close ups on the woman’s body to show natural beauty. - Tracking and pans to show a journey, also prolongs the edits -Longshot of the man and woman, they meet in the middle. -Extreme close ups of trees and nature. -High angle shots showing vulnerability and how small we are within nature. -Tilts to prolong the shot and give a sense of movement.	- Woman and man in white to symbolise purity and that they are protagonists. - Dark or natural lighting to reinforce the natural vibe. -Set in woodland and swamps, again showing the nature and how basic and animalistic we are. -Alice in wonderland style setting, resembling the girl’s love story to be like a fairy tale. -Girl is bare foot and walking through mud, again reinforces that we as humans are stripped bare, we don’t need material items. -Fire, conventional of the genre as it is a natural element. The fire shows the heat between the male and female and could resemble their love growing like the flames. -A bear is in a shot; this again shows nature and our relation to animals, primal instincts.	- Slow edits, matching the beat of the song set a calm and peaceful mood. - Continuity editing, linear to tell a clear narrative. -very long period of time between shots to show time is moving slowly and reinforces continuity. -Quicker edits when the woman finds the man, resembling a heartbeat getting faster. -Screen turns to black and white, conventional of the genre, also reflects the narrative that life is made clearer when you find the right person. -Fade between shots to show how the shots flow into each other, gives a sense of slowness as well.	- Not many instruments, mainly voice and acoustic guitar, conventional of the genre. -Non Diegetic sound, not a performance narrative.

This music video conforms greatly to the conventions of the genre ‘indie folk’ and of formal conventions that are seen in most music videos. There are lots of close ups on the woman and her body, this reinforces the idea of voyeurism and Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze that women are there to be looked at by males and for women to envy. In the sense of the narrative, the close ups are to show the natural and plain beauty of the woman. There are very slow edits, it reflects the sense of time and also the peaceful mood of the song, this is also reinforced with the use of many pans, tilts and tracks which last longer than still shots and keep the attention of the viewer for longer. The edits then get faster as the beat gets faster or the story in the narrative comes to a climax. It could also connote the woman’s heartbeat getting faster when she sees the male, reinforcing the love story narrative.

The woman and man are both wearing white in the video; this connotes purity and shows that they are both protagonists. The woman in the video is not wearing any shoes to show that humans don’t need material items, we only need nature. This is conventional of the genre as it refers to nature a lot in their music videos and also shows the lack of interest in money and materialistic things, Indie Folk artists like to concentrate purely on the music, not the not the fame or media attention that comes with successful song writing. The sound is non-diegetic and there is not a performance in the narrative, this draws the focus to the story instead of the performer or artist which isn’t conventional for genres such as pop, however it is seen more in the indie genre. This helps the audience to understand the true meaning behind the lyrics. There is a long shot of the man and woman on side profile and they walk together to meet in the middle, this is a formal convention as it is seen in many genres and also many forms. It gives a sense of equality between the couple.

The video is set in woodland which is extremely conventional of the genre as it usually includes nature. The fire is also conventional of the genre as it is a natural element and reflects the narrative with the idea that their love resembles the growing flames. The video is edited to black and white; this gives the video an artistic and contemporary look and is used a lot in the indie genre, specifically indie rock.