Conventions of Genres

Cruise - Florida Georgia Line, is my favourite video because:

• Quirky and happy music.
• I relate this to when i go on holiday because we tend to go to Florida a lot and this country rock music is all we listen to.
• The blue skies, sunlight and intense heat all make you feel like you're there and like you want to be somewhere like that.

Music Genre Conventions

Rap:

Rap videos tend to contain lots of gesturing and shots of the actual artist rapping, as this shows the skill of what they are doing, showing off their talent to the audience of the music video.

Classical:

Calssical music tends to involve a lot of instrument use and shots of the insruments being used or played in a certain way, due to the high use of classical and 'rich' instruments usually involved in this genre of music.

Pop:

Pop tend to have a fair amount of everyday things happening that tell a story or portray different lifestyles, as this is easy for the audience to relate to and enjoy seeing because it is something they do, therefore they can reference what they are seeing with themselves. They also tend to be set in fairly rich areas with lots of slow motion images of good looking people walking around or of them having fun.

Dance:

Always seem to involve goo-looking people doing synchronised dances with little clothes on.

Soul:

Always fairly old fashioned and smart with people wearing suite and singing alone on a dark stage.

Indie:

Have a lot of shots of the band, usually fairly quirky music with old fashioned settings.

Electronic:

Lots of strobe lighting effects and chaotic editing with people dressed up and dancing around in front of a colourful and extreme background or in a chaotic setting.

Beautiful – Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell

Setting: The setting is conventional for this genre of music. It is a typical rich looking scenery with bright blue skies and fascinating landscapes.

Lighting: The lighting in this shot is fairly bright and highlights the weather being nice.

Props: The bike shows the wealth of the area due to the fact that the bike is fairly ‘cool’ in modern day society and fairly expensive-looking.

Costume: The boy is dressed very casually and the fact that he has his top off shows the culture of the area and also the climate that they are used to living in. The climate is fairly hot and the fact that the setting is a coastal area portrays the rich environment and expensive area.

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             Setting: The setting is very cultural and the colours are very easily recognised as Brazilian, highlighting to the audience where they are.

             Lighting: Again, the lighting is quite bright and it’s obviously a sunny day, which usually indicates a fairly expensive and nice area.

 

Props: The sunglasses, the expensive-looking watches and the necklaces that Snoop Dogg is wearing highlight the genre of music which conventionally looks at everyday life and is usually set in fairly rich and unique places.

Costume: The costume that both people are wearing is fairly basic and casual-looking (typical middle-class casual-wear).

I Write Sins Not Tragedies – Panic at the Disco

Setting: In this shot, it is hard to tell much about the setting.

             Lighting: This show is fairly light and highlights half of the man’s face, possibly portraying that the man has a dark side due to the other side of his face being in shadow which could foreshadow the concept of the video.

              Props: There aren’t any props in this shot.

 

Costume:  The ma’s costume is fairly exaggerated and unusual. He is wearing a white glove, a cowboy hat and what looks to be a fairly smart red jacket, pointing out that this video may be fairly comical or strange due to the unconventional costume.

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Setting:  Set in a church which is usually a quiet and peaceful place, yet in this shit, there is a strange sort of fancy dress party happening.

Lighting: The lighting in this picture is fairly light, which highlights the white made-up faces of many of the people shown in the image. Also, the brightness symbolises the casual and party mood, fitting in with the story of the music video.

Props: There are a lot of props in this video but the key one has to be the cane that the main man in red is holding, which he uses for a lot of threatening gestures and in order to exaggerate his movements to the audience.

Costume: Costume is a big thing in this shot as it is the main component of this shot and the music video in general, due to the exotic outfits and unusual clothing that people are wearing.

General Conventions of a Music Promo

Camera Work

•  Close-ups of instruments/peformers.
• Shots to show that the band can perform by cloe-ups of them singing or playing instruments, highlighting their skills (musicianship).
• Movement creates interest
• Lots of different perspective shots, showing the audience as well as showing the band.
• Performance to the camera, selling the idea of going to gigs and seeing the bands perform live.

Narrative/Performance

•  Often strong link to the lyrics in the narrative of the video.
• Bands are more performance based (Live gigs) whereas solo artists are more likely to have glamorous videos.
• Narrative of video leads to repeatability, people want to watch it more than once.
• Narratives are often quite complicated meaning that repetitive viewing of it means you may see something different every time, making it memorable.
• Intertextual references to add interest and make the audience feel like they are 'in the know', therefore they understand the story/concept whereas some people may not.
• Don't use traditional narrative so therefore there is not necessarily as start, middle or an end.
• Some artists create concept albums where each song in the album adds up to create a story and paint a picture for the audience.

Editing/Editing Effects

• Cuts between shots, sticking to the beat of the song, giving fluency, pace and interest.
• Genre of the song dictates the pace of the editing, e.g heavy metal - chaotic pacing.
• Clever special and visual editing effects very common in modern music promos.
• Use of green screen, making videos cheaper to produce due to no need for location filming.

Mise en scene

• Instruments (Mimed) showing that they're credible performers and gives sense of realism.
• Location tends to match the lyrics and genre of music.
• Stereotypical representations of setting.
• Costumes link to genre (Pop = Glamorous, Indie = Run-down and casual)  
• High key lighting, lots of unnatural lighting for effect and highlighting key performers and scenes.

The History of the Music Video

1964: The Introduction to Music Videos

Music Videos first became an established way of marketing music in 1964 when the Beatles produced their first major motion picture film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ to accompany their album. The film was cheaply produced but at the time, nobody had ever seen a musical film accompanying an artist’s album before and this inspired other artist’s to use music videos when producing their songs in order to attract a wider audience and add a visual concept to music.

This video clearly shows the effect that ‘The Beatles’ had on people at the time , especially teenage women. The chaos of this opening scene of their film portrays the lifestyle they were living and how they couldn’t go anywhere without people screaming and running after them hoping to catch at least a glimpse of this world renown group of men.

1965: Bob Dylan

 Bob Dylan (Born 1941) was a fairly well-known artist in 1965 when he sang for the first time, a song called Subterranean Homesick Blues. With this song, he also brought out a music video to go with it. Again, music videos were fairly new at this time and so, like the Beatles, it was a cheap and easy production. This music video was one of the first proper music promo's to come out. Although inspired by the Beatles with their musical film accompanying their album, this video was actually played with this one particular song and only lasted around 2 minutes, making it one of the first proper music videos shown with the same concept as in modern times.

 

1967: Strawberry Fields Forever:

The Beatles took the promo to new heights with their ground breaking film for ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ in 1967.  The promo used techniques borrowed from underground and avant garde film, such as reversed film effects, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and rhythmic editing. Created at the height of the psychedelic music period, this landmark film is among the very first purpose-made concept video that attempts to "illustrate" the song in an artful manner, rather than just creating a film of an idealized performance.

1968: Manfred Mann and the Monkees:

Manfred Mann were a British pop group that were regularly in the charts throughout the late 60's and early 70's. This video of them performing their hit single, 'The Mighty Quinn', shows them performing on a very popular televison show that had the highest ratings of any show of televison in 1969, 'Top of the Pops'. This show was based solely on music, where bands and single artists would perform their music live to an audience or have music videos played in their abscence instead. Performances on Top of the Pops were highly sought after due to the huge increase in sales and popularity for the bands that such a massive show brought with it. This video is the actual music video for the song, with actual live footage of them performing 'The Mighty Quinn' on stage at one of the 'Top of the Pops' shows in 1968.

At this time, music videos were becoming increasingly popular as famous groups like 'The Monkees' and 'The Rolling Stones' began to produce some of their own to accompany their songs. The Monkees in particular were big in the USA at this time with their own versions of music videos using wacky comedy and chaotic concepts in their videos.

1970: Queen:

In the 70's, there is no doubt as to who were the biggest band around, Queen. Nobody had really evere seen a band quite like this, with their pop/rock fusion music making them the biggest stadium band ever by 1980. Recognisable anthems that are still known and heard fairly regularly today like 'We Will Rock You' and 'We are the Champions' were both found on their 'News of the World' album in 1977. Queen also had a huge impact on the music video side too with their hit single ;Bohemian Rhapsody, which people still say was the first ever pop music promo. Their use of advanced editing and camera effects, providing a stepping stone towards the modern world of music videos.

 

1981: MTV:

In 1981, music videos were now used by almost every artist throughout the UK and USA. Mike Nesmith (The Monkees) then had an idea that changed the face of music, by introducing the first promo-based cable television programme, Music Televison (MTV). This was quickly noticed by artists as a way of advertising their music on a larger scale, and also meant that music videos were on constant show, causing a massive increase in the sales of music due to the idea of songs containing a story that can be seen because of the visual aspect of the music video.

1983: Thriller:

A song by one of the most inspired and outstanding pop music artists to have ever lived. Thriller by Michael Jackson was MTV's first world premiere video and also stands today as the world's most watched music video, seen by over 4 billion people throughout the world. This 14 minute video, costing around £500'000 was like nothing nobody has ever seen before. Unlike in the 60's, there was nothing simple about this video, with it's amazing choreography, make-up work, different sets and a massive aray of actors and dancers, it's easy to see why this music promo was voted as the most influential pop promo of all time every year until 1992. It was also listed by the Guiness Book of World Records in 2006 as the most successful muwsic video of all times, selling over 9 million copies. This music video is definitely a key point in the hsitory of music video's, astounding people all over the world when it premiered on the 2nd of December 1983, watched live on MTV by  14.7 million people.

1984: Duran Duran:

This introeduction of a promo-based televison programme meant that production budgets went through the roof, with artists paying more and more money to produce music videos to accompany their songs. Duran Duran's 'Wild Boys' cost a whopping $1 million to produce, making it the most expensive music video ever produced! This was then played on MTV and was then certified as a double platinum record in the USA, reaching number 2 in the Billboard Top 100 Hits of all time in 1985.

1987: MTV Europe and VH1:

MTV Europe and VH1 launched in 1987, allowing for a greater diversity of music genres and cultures. More genres of music became famous, like rap, country and alternative music instead of the usual 'main genres' like rock and pop.

The Present:

The convergence of many types of media all combined into one programme or device is one of the biggest things for the music industry to have ever happened. Music has become so popular since the introduction of things like Spotify and ITunes, and the availability of music on music video-specific television channels, mobiles and internet sites like Youtube and Vevo.




Also, many of the music promo-based television channels are genre spcific in order to cater for speciftic niche audiences including channels like MTV Classic, for people who enjoy listening to classical music, and FloMusic for people who like country and indie music.



To summarise, music promo's in recent years are so much more advanced in almost every aspect in comparison with they way they used to be produced. Music videos nowadays have more advanced camerawork, more tehcnical editing and clever effects as well as intertextual references from other sources and a wider range of music genres and amazing lighting and costumes. Also, modern music videos always seem to have story behind them, usually matching the lyrics and it would be said that a music video without a concept is unconventional in comparison with the 20th century when most music videos were just low cost, simple videos that advertise the band and add a visual enjoyment to music.

Street Spirit (Fade Out) – Radiohead

·       Mise en scene

Costume:

The costume in the video is smart and casual. The main character that we see is dressed in a shirt and jeans, which is fairly conventional for a man of his age who is likely to have a job where smart/casual office wear is the appropriate dress code for work.

The child in the video is dressed in a fairly rugged way, portraying that he may have a fairly deprived childhood where he does not have much and cannot afford good quality clothing.

 

We do not see much of the other people in the video but what we do see of them, it is clear that they are all dressed quite like the lead man, in a fairly smart/casual manner.

Lighting:

The lighting throughout this video is fairly dreary and is pretty much in black and white, giving the video a depressive feel and again symbolising that idea of death and unhappiness.

Props:

The only integral prop in the video is the chair, although in my opinion, it does not seem to have much of a symbolic reference to anything within the video.

Setting:

The setting is clearly a caravan/trailer site. The setting is fairly unconventional and is not that typical as a place to set music videos. The setting does indicate that the people in the video do not have much as they do not live in a proper house, therefore they may not have much to lose if any of them die.

·       Camera

This mid-shot of the caravan with the man falling from it indicates life within one shot as it symbolises the way in which you start from the top (birth) and gradually make your way down to the bottom where hitting the floor means symbolises death.

This low-angle shot shows a tree that looks to be reaching up to the stars, possibly symbolising the idea of climbing the tree to reach heaven (death).

 

This shot shows Radiohead’s lead singer standing away from the rest of the group, possibly portraying his sense of loneliness. Also, the shot shows the man smiling, which could highlight to the audience that he is at peace with himself and the idea of ‘fading out’.

This shot is my favourite of the whole video as in my opinion, it shows the idea of death being chained up, just out of reach of you since you were a child, indicating that one day, it will be let off its chain and it will come and get you.

This shot shows the man being blown back by some unknown force and him trying to resist it, indicating that he is trying to fight against this unknown force. This unknown force trying to push him backwards could be death, highlighting to the audiencen that he is fighting to survive.

This mid-shot of the man smashing the glass windows surrounding him. This could possibly indicate that he is trying to break free of the fragile walls that surround him and escape death.

This final shot of the video highlights to the audience that his life is coming to an end and that he is trying to offer himself to God and reach heaven. This is also shown by the lighting in this picture as the light is shining on him in particular, making him stand out against the black background of the night sky.

 

 

·       Sound

I do not particularly like this song as I think that the lyrics are fairly boring. Also, I do not like the atmosphere of the song because in my opinion it is too dreary and dull, giving depressive feel. The chorus is only 5 words and I believe that songs are catchier when they have a full chorus instead of just a few words as this makes the chorus stand out whereas in this song, it is quite difficult to tell the chorus apart from the verse at first due to the fact that the music pace does not tend to quicken and the man’s tone of voice pretty much remains the same throughout.

·       Editing

The pace of the editing is fairly slow throughout, with almost every part of the first 2 minutes involving shots that have been slowed down to indicate depression and that the man is losing his battle for survival. The pace quickens nearer the end, sending out a chaotic feel, highlighting that the man has accepted death and is recalling his life in a desperate attempt to be at peace with himself.

·       Narrative

The narrative is portrayed mainly through the lyrics as the video is fairly hard to understand. The lyrics talk of ‘fading out’ indicating the idea of death. This is backed up by the man falling off of the top of the caravan in the video.

Intertextuality

References (visual, mise en scene, camerawork, etc) to other media texts e.g. TV, film, adverts etc…

Idea/image borrowed and repackaged from other texts.

Can be used for humorous or serious effect.

Privileges part of the audience (in on the joke) but text can still be understood by others unaware of intertextual references.

John Stuart believes that the music promo ‘incorporates, raids and reconstructs’, therefore incorporating other texts, raid them and use them to their advantage, and reconstruct them to make them their own whilst still keeping to the same concept.

Julie Kristeva ‘any text is the absorption and transformation of another’.

Intertextuality in Californication – Red Hot Chilli Peppers:

The video (left) starts with this winged horse  (Pegasus) coming out of a blue sky background, which refers to the TriStar production company’s international film ident (right). This intertextual reference is used to foreshadow what is going to happen in the music video due to the upcoming extravagant use of references to different films through the happenings of the music video.

This video game concept that refers to different famous films through the use of intertextual references is very clever. In this image, the game-style video clip is referring to the mine cart scene in ‘Indiana Jones’s Temple of Doom’. This is a fairly famous scene in the movie world and the lyrics of the song go on to talk about coming to the end of the line, fitting in with the happenings of the music video in reference to what is going to happen next in this particular scene.

This scene in the music video has an intertextual reference to the film ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, a film produced in Hollywood in California. This link to where the film was produced could link to the title of the song ‘Californication’ and may be the reason why there is a reference to this particular film within the music video.

This clip of the music video is referring to the ‘Star Trek’ franchise judging by the images on screen. Also, this is highlighted by the lyrics which at the time say ‘Space may be the final frontier’, portraying that intertextual link to Star Trek too.

 

To summarise, this song is talking about the idea of the world becoming plastic and made-up, simiar to the stereotypical view of Califronia being the ‘movie star’ and ‘plastic’ life of fame and fortune. This song portrays this through the use of video game graphics in order to make intertextual links to films that are fake and unrealistic, symbolising that idea of ‘fake’ life in modern day society.

La La La - Naughty Boy Feat. Sam Smith Analysis

La La La – Naughty Boy (Feat. Sam Smith)

 

·      Mise en scene

 

Costume:

The costume of the 3 actors in this shot is very different according to each character. The costume of the child is fairly colourful and conventional for a child of his age.  The costume is also very odd when looking at the setting of the video because the boy is wearing a fur-lined jacket, trousers and a hat in what looks to be a fairly arid and hot climate, indicating to the audience that the child may be different from other children who would not dress like this in hot climates. This could also indicate that the child is wearing whatever he can get his hands on, showing him to be living a deprived childhood and being an underclass citizen.

The man on the right is dressed in some sort of fancy dress costume which masks his identity from the public who may have teased him because of his job and the way in which he went about doing his job of directing traffic.

The other man is dressed in a fairly dull way in comparison with the other two. His clothes are quite dark and dirty, showing that he is also a lower class citizen who is seen as not playing much of a role within society.

This shot highlights that these 3 people do not fit the normalities of society, fitting in with the storyline of them being outcasts and having to band together in order to survive and defeat higher powers (El Tio).

 

Lighting:

 

The lighting throughout this video is fairly bright, mainly because the bulk of the video is set outside. The only places where the lighting drops and becomes darkened is at the beginning when the child is being shouted at, in the gym when the man is providing the  music for the dance class, and at the end when the boy is making offerings to the statue within the cave. This fading of the lighting in all of these cases indicates where evil is present. In the first scene, the evil is the man who is showing aggression towards the child. The gym scene where the woman shouts at the man when he turns the music off, and also in the final scene within the cave where the demonic statue is there, indicating to the audience the bad people and moments throughout the journey of the child in the video.

 

Props:

 

The heart is a key prop in this video as it symbolises the man from the gym getting his life back and being free. The heart is then put in the man’s chest pocket, right above where the heart should be, indicating that the street vendor is giving the man his freedom back.

Another prop in this video is the television. The television has the words ‘Hotel Cabana’ on the screen, advertising Naughty Boy’s album and therefore marketing the rest of Naughty Boy’s products and encouraging the audience to buy them. Also, the TV itself is on its side and is unconventional as it is in the middle of the desert alongside a deserted train site, showing that the area used to be civilized until something happened which caused people to move away, foreshadowing the danger that the child is soon to come up against.

·       Narritive

The video tells the story of a child that got abused in his household (the deaf boy from the Bolivian legend) who receives a dog from a man on the street (lion in the Wizard of Oz). He then visits a gymnasium where a dance class is happening. There is a man in there who looks unhappy and dirty. He is holding the radio for the women who are doing their dance class. He sees the boy as the music reaches its chorus. The boy puts his fingers in his ears, like at the beginning when the man is shouting at him in an aggressive manner. The man then turns off the music and does the same imitation to the woman who begins to shout at him because the music has turned off. The man leaves with the boy and a bit further down the road, the child buys a heart from a street vendor who puts it in the chest pocket of the dirty man, symbolising the man getting his life back. The child and the man then turn to see a man in a costume directing traffic by dancing on the divide in the middle of the road. The song then reaches the chorus again and the boy again puts his fingers in his ears, the costumed man follows suit and begins to follow the boy, the dog and the ragged man from the gym.

 The two men and the dog accompany him out into the desert where there is a long shot of them walking along a retired train track symbolising their long journey to reach their destination. A side view of the 3 people and the dog walking along the tracks then shows a television just in front of them on its side. The TV is showing the words ‘Hotel Cabana’ which is the name of Naughty Boy’s new album, a clever way of advertising the artist’s product. The trio and the dog then stop and sit around a campfire while the boy and the dog sleep as the music quietens down in anticipation of the final chorus and the climax of the song.

They then visit a mine in the desert where the two men and the dog leave the boy alone with a statue of a demon. The boy then offers the heart to the demon and begins to worship him using the symbol that he had been using since the start of the video (fingers in his ears). The final shot of the music video shows the two men and the dog leaving the mine behind them, showing peacefulness and serenity as if they can move on with their lives without any further problems.

This video relates to a Bolivian legend about a deaf child who is abused by his family and runs away from home. The boy has a special talent for seeing people’s troubles inside his head and has a special scream that saves people and helps them escape their troubles. An evil demon called El Tio was said to have killed people of the local town because they did not worship him. The legend states that anybody who could hear the demon would come under his control but because the boy is deaf, he cannot hear the demon and he visits the site where El Tio resides in order to use his scream to overcome the voice of the demon and protect people from further suffering caused by the demon.

 

·       Camera

Lots of high-angle shots of the child at the start, showing that he is more vulnerable than the aggressive man and also giving the audience an insight into the story from the man’s point of view.  

 

When the man in the gym is first seen, it shows a close-up of his face and his clear fear of leaving because of the women who are dancing. The man looks over to the women and the camera pans round and zooms in on the faces of all the women, who all have expressions of concentration on their faces and all look quite scary due to their excessive use of make-up and stern looks.

A low-angle shot of the heart that the boy buys, shows him looking up at it, indicating that the heart is fairly important. This shot if followed by a jump cut of the boy looking up at the heart in awe.

This shot highlights the long journey ahead of them and how far they have come when you see the endless deserts and hills behind them considering that only 2 shots ago they were in the middle of a bustling city or town.

 

The child in this close-up shot, is shown to be crying and considering he has come such a long way, this shows his vulnerability and highlights to the audience that he is still only a young child, even though he has come so far.

 

This shot shows the child on his knees in front of the statue of a demon. This shot particularly relates to the Bolivian Legend about the deaf child and El Tio (the demon). This shot is particularly effective as it shows the end of the child’s journey and the camera gradually backs away as the song fades to show that the boy is not going to be coming back. 

 

·       Editing

The editing throughout this music video mainly consists of a lot of  jump cuts between different shots and in some cases, like when the boy meets both people that will accompany him on his journey, the camera pans round from the boy to the two people to reveal to the audience what the boy is looking at in a more simple way.

·       Sound

I like the music for this video as it is very catchy even though the song is about a fairly depressing event. The chorus is easy enough to remember and the title of the song is played in the chorus, making it more memorable as it has unique lyrics although most would not understand what is happening as the story of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is used to hide the true meaning of the song. The timing of the music in contrast with the video is also very good because the chorus always plays at key events of the child’s journey, highlighting to the audience the most important sections of the video.