Genre

In class we worked on genre. Here is what I learnt and how I shall use it on the music video that I shall be making.

What is Genre?

The type / style / catergory / streotypes / story / conventions of a product.

Why do we feel we should place texts into genres?
This helps give an artist guidelines depending on their video / music.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
This would be the artist / companies (producer / manager) / creative media producers (these people would be influenced by other artists) / marketing.

Are 'genres' objective catergories that are out there in the world?
NO! They're created by people.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
Creators / producers - This then leads on to the question why would they want to create a 'genre' text? This would be because it makes it easier to create a product; in other words they would have guidelines to follow to attract target audience.

Crictis + analysts - This gives them a guideline of what a music genre should contain.

Audiences - They use text for different ideas which leads on to the audiences expectation. By this they know what there getting and also where to get it from.

So - why do people like them?

Some theorists say that:

Deborah Knight - Satisfaction of having expectations fulfilled.

Steve Neale - "repetition and difference", enjoyment from the subtle deviations and innovations of what is expected.

David Chandler - Interpretive comunity - using tastes to create collective identity.

Steve Neale, John Fiske, Tom Ryall (and others) - Oraganises texts and meanings (Johnathan Culler said genre is a "contract between creator and viewer to make meanings operative").

How institutions use genre?

• They use them as roles for successful films, band, magazines etc. This speeds up creative process.
• It is a good way to market new texts to audiences.
• It is a reliable structure within which innovation can 'safely occur' without risking profits.

Here is a video of different music genres.

 

For my main music video I shall take genre into great consideration as if I can notice which genre I use then I can follow the guidelines for the genre.

'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys'

In media we watched a documentary called 'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys' and it is about a woman called Nel Hedayat who investigates the questinable world of music videos and meets the girls who dream of being in them. We then made a table of what we found out. Here is what I found out and I put it into a Prezi presentation to make it more interesting.

'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys' on Prezi

Radical Feminism vs Post-Feminism

What is Radical Feminism and Post-Feminism ??

Radical Feminism is a current way of looking within feminism that keeps their attention on the theory of patriachy as a system of power. This means that it organises society into complicated relationships based on true-false statements that male supremacy has the exercise of authority, cruelity or unjst manner to women. They aim to challenge and overthrow patriachy by going against standard gender roles and oppression of women.

Post-Feminism is a term which is not very well explained. However, they belive that the sexism struggle has been partially resolved by men and women having more equality.

Similiarities

• They both believe that women (throughout history) have been dominated by men - thus meaning they has always been a sign of inequality.
• The Male Gaze is when the audience, or viewer, is put into the postion of a heterosexual male. In other words the audience gets a romantic or sexual attraction or behaviour between persons of opposite gender, in this case we are men looking at women in this way.

Differences
Radical Feminism

• Militant approach - This is when activists change must be forced.
• They wish to challenge and overthrow patriachy.
• Patriarchal culture exploited womens sexuality. This is when women are 'victimised' by male desires - objectified and dehumanised. Men are encouraged to see women this way.

Post-Feminism

• Not as militant - celebrate victoriesas they think we live in a more equal society.
• In a more equal society women are in control of their own sexuality (not 'victims').
• Men do not have the same desires, which were forced on women.This means mens desires have weaken men, meaning that women can exploit this.

How will this affect my descions when planning my own music video?
When doing my own music video I shall have to make sure that we look into feminism more as this shall affect the outcome of the music video.

Innovative Music Videos + Sven E Carlsson Music Theory

Innovative Music Videos is the opportunity to experiment with technology visuals, narrative and audience - artist image (i.e. videos which deliberately break with conventions). This means:

• Audiences are open to risk as they don't need to pay for it.
• It targets the 'underground audience'.
• The videos are usually short so it is easier to take risks.

Top three intelligent Music Video conventions (if for some reason the arrows in the presentation don't look right click here)

Top three intelligent music video conventions on Prezi

Here are examples for each:       
 

Commercial Exhibitionist

Nicki Minaj - Starships is an example of a Commercial Exhibitionist as she is selling herself by wearing swimwear throughout the video. (Sorry for big space but I can't seem to fix it).
   

Televised Bard

  

Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends is an great example of a Televised Bard as during this video we have the artist telling a love story during the video.

Electronic Shaman  

 

Katy Perry - California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg is an Electronic Shaman because the worls is seen as magical.

All of these examples relate to Sven E Carlsson Music Theory. In his theory he also believed that binary opposites drive the narration of the video forward, for example a black and white theme. Music videos, fall into two main groups this is what Carlsson believed. The two main groups are:

• Performance Clips - This is when the music video mainly shows either the artist (or artists) either singing or/and dancing. The performance can be of three types - Song performance, Dance performance and Instrumental performance. An example of this is Rihanna - Rude Boy this is because the audience can see her dancing and singing in the music video.
• Conceptual Clips - This is when the music video shows something else during it's duration it is usually with artistic ambitions. Kids - MGMT is an example of this as there is monsters created and a lot of artistic ambitions when the child in the video watches the TV screen.

This then follows onto the three pure forms of visual tradition in music videos. These are the top three intelligent music video conventions seen at the beginning of this post.

There are many other interesting facts about music videos such as:

Voyeurism - Is pleasure from looking at other people often in state of undress or sexual activity. An example of this would be Uniting Nations - Out Of Touch because there are girls who are in a state of undress. Also, they are playing strip poker with a guy.

Archetype - Is the original copy which is then copied.



Andrew Goodwin Theory

Here is Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos.

Andrew goodwin from Isaac Harvey

Formal Conventions of a Music Video

Here are formal conventions of a music video:

Depends on the Genre
Many conventions of a music video vary depending on genre of music. However, the majority of music videos apply to general conventions. For example in a R&B music video the men would usually be topless as they usually want to target young teenage girls. However, in a Heavy Metal they are lots of quick camera movement to give the video lots of energy.

Artists Performance
Most music videos have an artist performing in them whether acting or on stage. One of the purposes of a music video is to raise awareness of the artist. It is beneficial and also helps the artist to provide the audience with real and believable performance.

Lip Syncing
This is very important as it links the images to the sound. If there is singing it is vital in these types of music videos.

Visualizing the Lyrics
What is shown in the video should relate to the lyrics. For example Pink - So What is about her ex-husband and how she is better off without him. The lyrics in this song are related to what is happening in the video.

Pace of Editing

Depending on the tempo, the editing will be seen to be either long or short. For example Italobrothers - Stamp on the Ground has a fast and upbeat tempo. This means that shots are short and there are quick cuts.

Italo Brothers - Stamp On The Ground on MUZU.TV.

 

Mise-en-scene

This is very important as it should match the mood of the song. For example, if a song was sad and depressing, the music video would not have lots of bright colours, bright lights, smiling faces and other joyful features.

 

A example of mise-en-scene used in a sad music video would be Bone Thugs N Harmony - Crossroads. This is because during the video they are in a funeral and also there is a death.



 

A example of mise-en-scene used in a upbeat music video would be Girls' Generation (SNSD) - Gee. This is the total opposite of the video before as in this video it has bright colour backgrounds, mixture of colour clothes and happy faces.

 

How will this affect the descions when planning the music video?
When I do the music video I would need to make sure that the formal conventions are followed. This would be making sure that the music video is properly made. Also by following these conventions it makes it easier as it can be seen as a guide to be followed.



Preliminary Project 2 - Music Genre

For our second Preliminary Project we had to produce first verse and chrous of a new music video for an existing song and artist following the stylistic convention of a different music genre. Our genre we were given was Gangsta Rap and we had to use this genre for the song Duran Duran - Girls on Film. So we researched different conventions of a Gangsta Rap. We identified them in different marketing products for a number of artists (more than three!).

(There is a link to each music video either embedded on this post or there will be a link on the music video name. Also, some of the videos may have some explicit language.)

Convention 1
Stylish Cars

Example 1
Artist: Dr. Dre
Song: Kush ft. Snoop Dogg, Akon
Where did you spot conventions: There is a nice looking car in the beginning as Snoop Dogg exits the car.

Example 2
Artist: Snoop Dogg
Song: Nuthin But A G Thang
Where did you spot conventions: During the video there are cars which are using hydraulics.

Example 3
Artist: T.I.
Song: What You Know
Where did you spot conventions: T.I. driving down the road in a Bentley.

Why do audiences like stylish cars in these videos?
Audiences like this as most of the cars are quite expensive by this it makes people more interested in the videos as it shows they have loads of money. This makes audiences get aspired by them.#

Convention 2
Dominating figures (police, teachers, government)

Example 1
Artist: C-Murder
Song: Down 4 my N's
Where did you spot conventions: Police cars are going after the music artists during parts of the video.

Example 2

Artist: Chamillionaire 

Song: Ridin Dirty

Where did you spot conventions: Throughout the video there are police officers who look like they are targetting the rappers.

Example 3
Artists: Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
Song: Road To The Riches
Where did you spot conventions: Rappers are in court with the police and a judge in a courtroom.

Why do audiences like to see dominating figures such as police, government or teachers in these music videos?
Audiences seem to like this because they maybe in the same situation as the rappers as they were growing up. Audiences could also have the same view as the rappers, for example, a rapper may feel that the police are corrupt and bad meaning the audience would feel the same way. This would link into the theorist Deborah Knight, she states that you get 'satisfaction of having expectations fulfilled'.

Convention 3
Scantily Clad Women

Example 1
Artist: Eminem
Song: Superman
Where did you spot conventions: In the video there is a woman who is flirting and taunting sexually with Eminem.

Example 2
Artist: Ludacris
Song: Area Codes
Where did you spot conventions: There are women throughout the video dancing wearing not much clothes.

Example 3

Artist: Snoop Dogg

Song: Boom ft. T-Pain

Where did you spot conventions: As Snoop Dogg is rapping there are girls in the club who are dancing near him. 

Why do audiences like to see scantily clad women in these music videos?

Audiences like to see this as it makes the music artist look cool and popular. Men especially watching them want to be like the artist. This resembles to their lifestyle therefore audience gets aspired by the artists.

Preliminary Project 1

For our Preliminary Task we had to remake an allocated sequence from a classic music video (first verse and chorus), shot-for-shot using toys. This was feedback we got after showing it to the class.

Good points:
Editing - Matched the shots and pace of track was good.
Resourceful - Costumes were put together well.
Shots steady - Attention to detail.
Excellent lighting. 

Improvement
Maybe could of been controlled by strings etc.

While doing the production we used some of the 5R's. 

Here are some of the R's that we used.

Resourceful bringing in props that were added to the original props we were given, dressing the characters.
Resilient - Banners with backgrounds didn't stop us from going on 'stuck to it'.
Reasoning - We made careful decisions with shots and props.
Responsible - Each person held a job and all jobs were successfully done. Everyone met deadlines.
Readiness - Everyone was ready to do something for the team.

Innovative Music Videos - The xx

The xx - Islands is an example of an Innovative Music Video.

Here are some conventions which are followed and are broken in this music video.

Deborah Holdstein - Music Theorist

Deborah Holdstein is a music theorist; here is what she has to say.

Three striking qualities of a star in music videos:

·         The seer/prophet

·         Political commentator/narrator

·         Mediator of social conflict.

Videos seem to divide into two categories: those with allegedly explicit political themes and those which revive the traditional U.S. film musical.

Videos are used to bring fans closer to the performer. Holdstein says performers can sometimes wear outfits on stage which are the same as in their videos, so the fans feel like they are familiar with them. 

Celebrities such as Lady Gaga do this to familiarise with the audience. 

The audience like this as it makes them feel like they know the performer better, as they look the same as they looked in the music video.

Fantasy themes are based entirely on performance. Holdstein states that this format puts ‘the group or star in a mythical, medieval, exotic or surrealistic series of images or locations’

An example of this is would be from Katy Perry - California gurls. This is because it is in a place where it is not real life. 

The audience appreciate this because they are more likely to be interested as it takes them away from real life.

Music videos give fans a chance to see what the artist is like, whereas before they only got an idea about the artist by going to see them, or from album covers and pictures.

The audience like this because it gives them a chance to get to know the artist without having to see them in real life or having to spend lots of money.

Holdstein says that nowadays ‘The video image is quicker and more powerful.’

Michael Jackson - Beat It

 

Holdstein: “Is Jackson portrayed as a fantasy” a political commentator or as a mediator of social conflict?

During the song it addresses racism and social class. “They told him don’t you ever come around here, don’t wanna see your face, you better disappear”.

It doesn’t need words, it had faces, gestures, emphasis and a narrative one could easily follow without “beat it” on the soundtrack.

Jackson the mediator has become a surreal “fantasy” figure involved yet detached from the action he seems to resolve.

Music Videos

What is a Music Video?

 

A music video or song video is a short film incorporating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.

 

Different types of Music Videos

Performance Based Video

These types of music videos feature the artist/band/group performing the song through most if not all of the video. By doing it this way it is probably the easiest to do on a budget provided you can get a suitable location for filming. An example of this would be Adelitas Way - Invincible (Performance Version).

Narrative Based Video

A narrative based music video generally contains footage that attempts to tell a story throughout the video. Usually it involves actors, the story is occasionally linked to the lyrical content of the song, but this isn’t always the case. This sort of music video has a habit of being popular for a song that’s featured in a movie and you will often see scenes cut into the music video. An example of this type of music video would be High School Musical 2 - What Time Is It.

Concept Based Video

This is a style of music video that is based around a particular concept or idea. These types of videos are likely to be fairly unusual or use a specific editing or filming method. A music video which would show this would be Christina Aguilera – Dynamite.