Styles and Conventions of Music Videos

Genre Video

There are many types of genres in the music industry all ranging from rock to country. Everyone has their own taste in music therefore there has to be all these different types so that it would fit the purpose towards each individual. Each artist has their own specific genre as well in which they try to keep to at all times but sometimes mixes it up over their career. I am using "Disclosure-White Noise" as my example because it is a genre of music that i am very familiar with. They have a house/electronic genre to all their music. The beats are very 'live' which makes it have a sudden urge to get people into it. House music is a recent popular genre as it is modern and takes the interest of many young people which seem to lead the rest or the population. At the beginning of this video, for the first 15 seconds the beat is exactly the same. Then at 00:16 the beat changes to a more uplifted vibe in which different tones are being introduced which builds an introduction for the song. Then at 00:32 there is lyrical speech being introduced which adds emphasis to the song as it doesn't intend to be just beats throughout the whole thing. If no lyrics were in this song then it wouldn't be very popular. As it is a house genre, the voice has been edited to sound almost electrical to fit in with the genre as well as the beat. At 01:04 the beat changes to a more suttle style which is a build up for the drop in which the beat will be at its strongest point. As this genre is a common style now, making more songs like this would be ideal as it would appeal to the majority of people. The audience would interact more as they are familiar with the style which would be chosen so they would know how to react to it. This would be a good genre to take into consideration as it would highly appeal to a lot of people.

Genre Subverting Video

A genre subverting video is where the music video itself doesn't match the genre of song. It is when there are some irrelevant aspects that have no connection between each other what so ever. The artist may stick to a specific genre throughout their career but then change up their music videos to fit in with what it relevant and interesting to recent viewers. "Taylor Swift" is a highly known artist to do this. She is mainly a country singer as it is in her background but the music videos she now produces are on a different scale to her genre. "22" is a recent song of hers in which you can strongly hear the country genre of it but the video isn't directly aimed to it. Her performance throughout the video keeps to the same line as being modern and to not interact with the country vibe in which her song actually portrays. Throughout the whole video, all of the clothes that each person are wearing are completely modern and what aver person would commonly wear. You can see that this is different to a country scenario as if the video was to follow the song, the clothes would be more country like having a cow boy hat or boots etc. At 01:12 the scenery is at a beach in which a country song would often be done at a deserted area or in a local country side. As it is at a beach, this shows that it is trying to be more modern and interact with other known music videos to fit it. Then at 02:23 they look like they are getting ready to go out to a party. This is different to the genre as the style that they dress themselves up as is the complete opposite to what a country music video would have. To the audience, this is showing that she is still interacting with her song ways by keeping to the country genre but it is also showing that she is keeping up with modern videos so she changes the visual side to her career. To consider this into a music video would be quite good as it mixes things up a little in which many people dont do and it will make you stand out as an individual.

Performance

A performance video is where the artist would be performing in front a an audience. This would then be pre recorded and submerged into the music video as a whole. It isn't just the artist performing to an audience but the artist could be performing as he were to be performing to an audience by doing it straight to the camera. This gives it that performing effect and has a form of interaction between audience and artist. "Red Hot Chili Peppers-The Adventures of Raindance Maggie" is a complete performance video. It takes place in a local residential area on top of a building in front of a live audience. All footage that is in this music video was recorded through their performance. Their performance is very enthusiastic from start to finish. This is what makes it a good example of a performing video. As their performance doesn't decrease, neither would the attention of their audience. Right from the beginning of the music video there is the birds eye view of them doing the intro counts to the start of the song then at 00:04 as the beat drops into the song, there is a cut to the front of them in which you can see then beginning their song. Through this stage, there are also 'Graphics' which tell you their location and the date of when they performed this song. at 00:10 there is a visual of the lead singer doing some 'dance' movement to the microphone to show that the song is about to start. By showing this, makes it clear that is is a performance video as he will be doing it to get the attention of all the viewers that are present. Then at 00:25 there is imagery from the audience. This is to show the reactions of the audience to give a more realistic vibe in the music video. All three of these time examples occur very quickly right at the start of the video yet only the first and second carry on throughout. Performance videos are a good way to interact with the audience. It gets them involved and shows reactions which would be a good thing to use as it will be more relatable.

Narrative

 A narrative music video is a music video in which a story is being told throughout the whole thing. It has a simple yet understanding effect in which the audience can get the understatement of what is going along in the video. The song is usually interwoven with the story as the tempo and genre of the song would reflect on how the story line would turn out. "Ed Sheeran-Lego House" is a good example of a narrative music video as it is a story of an obsessed fan trying to follow the life of the artist. As the video progresses the story line does too. It starts of with a casual approach but then the meaning of the story is gradually shown throughout the performance. At 00:17 is when you first realize that 'Ed' isn't going to be the main actor in the video. Usually the main actor is shown first thing so that you know who the story is about in which this video is doing. Throughout the video 'Rupert Grint' is lip-synching with the original song. This is reflecting what is said as it is coming from a different person so the song originally isn't about 'Ed' but someone else. Then at 02:25 'Rupert' enters the stage impersonating 'Ed'. As it is an impersonation, you can get a rough image of what the whole song is about. This adds character to his video as it is something different in which not many artists have done. Normally the artist is interacted with the whole music video but at 03:30 is the only time you see 'Ed' appear in the video for the first time and only for a few seconds. Narrative music videos are usually very popular towards its audience as they can often relate to the story which is being told for example a breakup or a death of a family member. This would be a good style to go for as relating to an audience is a smart and realistic way to show views of something that people aren't always ready to admit to.

Pastiche

A Pastiche music video is a music video that relates to a movie. It may only have some components that have trace from it or the whole music video could be a complete reenactment of the movie just with a lyrical song over the top of it. Although it may just be the artist acting as a character from a movie, it could also be scenes from a movie embedded into the music video. "Iggy Azalea-Fancy" is near enough a complete remake of the film 'Clueless'. Every aspect is a certain match up to the movie just with a few adjustments to make it more modern and fit Iggy's appearance. At 00:05 it starts off straight away with her picking out her outfit for the day. This is also a part of the film with occurs right at the beginning of the film. The outfit that she chooses is also the exact same outfit in clueless just adjusted to the way she wanted it. Then at 00:40 it goes to 'Charlie xcx' feature. This is when they are all sat around a table eating lunch together. Again, this is an exact re enactment of what occurs in the film just with a modern look to it yet keeping the same kind of styled clothing. At 01:11 there is another re enactment scene of when she is in the car with her two friends. This also occurs in the original film/ Throughout the music video, every little detail is to fit the same story lie of the movie. This is just to show the audience an original movie can be made into a modern style to fit a song. It would be a good style to look into as it would ne easy to do and it would be reasonably popular as it would get people to know the theme of it.
Interpretive

Interpretive music videos have imagery of what has been said. This is a way of showing the viewer what is happening instead of them just hearing it. It makes relevance to the song as it links up the imagery in a way which it will be trying to portray as either just a song or to the artist them self. "Katy Perry-Firework" is a highly meaningful song that is relatable to many people. It is about being yourself and not worrying about anything else and also to stand up for what you believe in. Throughout the music video, although there is mainly one interpretive moment that shows up through out the whole thing, there are a couple of other moments which are there yet it is hard to notice unless you actually look at the video in depth. At 00:20 as she says 'drifting through the wind' you can see that there is wind because of her dress. It blows to one side to show that there is wind which will make relevance to the song. Then at 01:05 when she says 'come and show them what you're worth' the boy is getting ready to stand up for to his dad. This is a strong point that start of the video as it is the first thing that you see that will make you relate to the video. Then at 03:16 there are fireworks shooting across the sky as she said 'as they shoot across they sky'. These were possibly the most unlikely parts that wouldn't be as noticeable as an interpretive moment in the video. Yet the most common one is whenever she says 'Firework' there is a high chance that you would see some sort of fireworks in the video. This type of music video is good as it can show a relation between the viewer and what is actually being said/done. It would be a good one to take in to consideration as it would get more peoples attention by the relativeness.

Impressionist

Impressionist music videos are videos that match the beat and tempo of a song. If it was a slow song then the acting or imagery in the music video would be slow, gentle and will flow as a whole. If it is a fast beat song then the imagery in it would be completely different as there would be a lot of movement and meaningful feelings to it which would be easily spotted through the video. "Daft Punk-Around the World" keeps to this throughout the whole video. It is a very upbeat song so the movements reflect that very clearly. There is not one point in the video which comes away from it which is really good as some can slack off towards the end. All the moves are repetitive which makes it easier but there are different groups doing different things. At 00:26 there are a group of girls that look like they are in swim wear. As they go up the stairs, they do it in time with the beat to make it look as if the rhythm is planned from their movement. Then at 00:57 when the speech comes in there are astronauts starting to move. They have a different rhythm to the others as they are going in time with the lyrics and not the beat. These two different groups of people are used effectively through out the music video. All of the other dancers are like the girls but have there own set routine yet it is still to the beat and not the lyrics. As they are done together, you can see the different atmosphere between them which is connected to the song so you can see in in the song as well as the dancers. This is a good style as it makes sense to have a video match the beat and lyrics instead of going way off track and have say a slow song but with rock dancers in it.

Abstract

An abstract video is a video in which doesn't make much sense at all. The song could have relative actions to it by the lyrics but the video would have a complete different path. It is mostly a video to show an artistic view of something other than sticking to the same old have relations to the song theme as the majority of other music videos do. "Breach-Jack" has to most definitely be one of the most odd videos I have ever seen. It has no relevance to the lyrics of the song at all. The genre is a house type song so the actions match it but the visual look to is does not. At 00:21 there is a man combing hair on a speaker for no apparent reason. This is just to make it look weird and have an effect that will make you want to watch the rest of the music video to see whether the rest of the video is weird. Then at 00:30 there is a women singing over the lyrics of the song then it changes to her with hair covering her face. The hair is an opposite to the original self by covering the features with no hair with it and having bald spots where there should be hair. Once again this has no relativeness to the lyrics what so ever. At 01:29 there is a male and female having a sort of dance off between each other but they keep changing by the different amounts of hair they have on their body. This video makes no sense at all and has no relativeness to the song what so ever. Although it doesn't relate, the video is amusing so it will want the audience want to watch it as it is a video that isn't often done. his would be a good style to use as it will definitely catch the viewers attention.

Parody

A parody music video is a remake of an original song from a known artist. It is when an amateur will take the song into their own perspective and make it their own. They will either do a remake of the video and keep the lyrics but just change the style how the perform or they will change the lyrics completely but keep the same beat. "Kesha-Die Young Parody(The Midnight Beast)" is just one of their many parody music videos. Right from the beginning you can see clearly that it is a parody as he starts to play the guitar and then stops as he plays a not wrong. then at 00:04 there is a quotation about 'Dying young'. Straight away you can see that it will be a parody because the quotation goes directly against 'Kesha's' original lyric about dying young. Then at 00:12 as he starts to sing the song, they are complete different lyrics to her original song. This is to make an original amateur version of the song to make it more relatable or appealing to the audience. Then as 00:51 is the introduction to one of them dressing up as 'Kesha'. This is a common thing in most parody music videos as it add extra humour to the video. Sometimes they do it to make fun of their look so they make them look worse than they originally are or they do it to add an extra part to the video. Parody music videos are all very much similar to one another. People usually watch them to see a downgrade version of what people actually think about the music. This is a good way to relate to the audience as it can be something that the audience think of it but just wont personally say or do something about it themselves.

Referencing

Referencing music videos are when an artist will include some footage from a movie into their music video. The song being sang is originally from the movie but then will be turned into a soundtrack so it will be heard and seen all over individually rather than just hearing and seeing it in the film. "Demi Lovato-Let It Go" is her own version of the song originally done by 'Indina Menzel'. Her video is a mixture of her and takes from the movie. The takes from the movie are the exact parts as it would completely be in time with the music video as a whole. The first part you see a take from the movie is at 00:14. This has a visual scene to the lyrics as what is said is seen and then it has a lead up to the mountains but then it goes back to 'Demi' herself. At 00:51 there is another take from the movie but the lyrics don't match to the scene of the movie. It is all about relation to different parts throughout the film. Throughout the whole music video, the takes go backwards and forwards from 'Demi' and the movie. This is because the song she has chosen is the most popular and meaningful song of the whole movie. As the song progresses, so does each scene from the movie. It catches the audiences attention as it is a relation to a movie and the scenes in the music video come directly from the movie other than having a re enactment of them. This would be a good style to have as it is quite simple yet effective to getting the audience to want to watch it which would make it a popular video.

Animation

An animated video consists of having animations either at some point of the video or throughout the whole thing. It is either lots of images taken and then submerged together and sped up to fit the song or it is computer edited and then added to pre recorded footage to make it look as if say the artist is interacting with the animations. "Gorillaz-Feel Good Inc" is a good example of this as the whole video is mainly animation although there is a part where there is an animation with the band shown in it. The whole music video is just an animation of them singing the song instead of doing it themselves to make it look more different to the viewers. Straight from the beginning you can tell that it is going to be an animation video from the bridge which then follows through to a building high up in the skyline. Then at 00:16 you are able to see that the characters in the music are all animated from the room full of them and then it goes to the main character which will be performing throughout the music video. At 00:23 it even shows that the musical instruments are being animated into the synchronisation of the song to add more effect to it. Then at 01:45 is when you see then band interact into the music video themselves. Even though they suddenly come into the video, they have kept it as an animation by adding effect to the way they are being seen to the audience. This style of music video is very different to any other style as it is a completely animated video with only a short time of the actual artists being involved. Even when they are being involved, it is still sticking to animation where as another artist would like to keep it more simple and modern by having them or actors in their videos to make them more relatable. It would be a good idea as it is a unique way to show what type of artist you are and be able to connect with the audience in a different way.