style and conventions for music videos

genre video

There are many different music genres such as Hip Pop,  RNB and many more. Each of these genres will use different  elements/conventions in their music videos including clothes, setting, cast ethnicity, etc which will make them recognisable as music videos for that particular genre of music.  I am going to talk about Hip Pop/ Rap genre  music videos My example is notorious B.i.g video  Juicy,  In this  video you will see the cast wearing flashy jewellery and driving expensive cars the women are  wearing very little  you can see this at 3:33. The setting shows a typical hip hop life style and is set in the hood and in nice big crib you can see this at 2:44. the narrative is about his rags to riches life story which is typical of this genre of music videos. at the beginning  he is in the hood. 








Genre subverting video's go  against the codes and conventions of any genre music video,  for example a hip pop song has young people but if they going against it they will have old people.
  An example of  a genre subverting video is Eminem's We made you. it goes against the hip pop genre as it looks like a country music video at 0.13 when a woman is dancing in front of an American car with chickens and haystacks she is wearing denim shorts and a cowboy hat. at 1.40 we see someone dressed up in a polar bear costume this looks strange and not at all something you would expect to see on a hip hop video.  If I was to go against the I would use bits from this video such as the restaurant screen and to have country dressing in hip pop video. 



















surreal/ abstract  
Surreal and abstract music videos are weird and have elements of surprise. Many music artist has surreal and abstract  music videos. An artist who makes this type of video is Basement Jaxx 's song  Where's Your Head At. I dchoose this one because they put faces on the monkeys and it is really weird and memorable as well. you can see the artist face on the monkey at 1:21.

















performance

A performance music video is not live but it is recorded as if it is live, performance means that the artist performing in front of the camera and proper in the camera face.  Jessie J's Bang Bang song is an example of performance because in the video at 0:59 she looks at the camera when she is singing and dancing. The dressing in the video is very flashy.





















narrative
Narrative means a clear story line to a song and the story line develops in the song. The artist that I know that has Narrative in there song is Bruno Mars's song Gorilla. In the video at 0:25 there is a bit of narrative the girl talking in the dressing room about Bruno mars and that another girl is looking at him. The narrative in this video is very good because it relates to the song. 

















animation
In today's society many artists have music videos with animations. for example Method man's song the pit has animation all the way though the video this style works for this video as it is very violent and they can get away with this by using animation.
this is shown at 1:59 when  the zombies are blown 
to bits. The institution has chosen this style of music video because of the violent content.
 In this video they have animated the artist to look like the real artists this is seen at (1.48) you can see the Method Man  character.  The institution has used this because the audience will love lots of violence and the music because it rap the most of people love rap music.  


















impressionist 
impressionist means the visual matches the mood of the song, so if it is a sad music it will have to sad visual. I Got A Feeling by Black eye peace matches the mood of the song because it show that they are having a good time and they very happy and energetic, it does  have a bit of performance but i think it is  an impressionist music video. In the video at 4:17  the cast is seen at party dancing round the pool  and jumping into the pool. 












interpretive

Interpretive means the visual matches the lyrics. for example R kelly trapped in the closet. it is about him trapped in the closet and wakes up in the bed and sees a women and she kisses him, everything dose matches with the lyrics. in the video at 0:34 he says he wakes up because of the sun an as he is saying that you can see the sun rising and shining though the window.














Referring


Referring is when a music video gets joined  with  movies  This usually happens because artist makes a soundtrack for the movies. During the music video Scenes  of the movies are included in it. 
for example Tonight Alive - The Edge  from amazing spider man2. at the beginning of the song it shows where the movies is set then then songs starts, every time Jenna Mcdougall sings a verse a scene from the movie is shown. you can see spider man  flying the air at 0:17 and that is clip form the movie.







homage 


some artist use their music videos to show respect to another text that they like it can be noticed by the audience or encourage them to engage with the original text as well. for example Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson the video pays homage to the costumes and scenery used in scene of  the film The Band Wagon. you can see this at 0:36 as michale jackson is wearing the same suit that the man from the band wagon wore.










parody 

parody means it makes fun out of another media text. for example the Rihanna song whats my name there was parody video and two people trying to be like drake and Rihanna and changing the words of the song. for example at 0:02 instead of saying oh nana what's my name they oh nana what,s that smell.

The purpose of music videos

Artists make music video's for a number of reasons which are listed below.

Promote new music releases

Record labels may release music videos to promote their artist or the artist new single by putting it on YouTube. Music videos can also make the artists popularity go higher all over the world, an example of this is Meghan Trainor all about that  bass which made her first single she has made  go to number 1







To create a visual representation of an artist



Visual Representation allows artist to be seen while not actually performing. the artist also has music videos to show the audience what they are all about Kendrick Lamar he made new music video last week the song is called I he got 1,860,246 views on YouTube. In this video Kendrick Lamar talks about his childhood and how he became to be a music artist today. In the video at 1:20 he talks about his career as a rapper 

Extend the play ability and provide additional income from the song

Micheal Jackson is now dead but his music video got lots of hits. 
the play ability is good because it keeps the artist in the public eyes and the music sales going. it also allows for DVD collection releases. 


Synergy -

When an artist puts their music together with another institution for example as part of the soundtrack for a film or TV show.The purpose of this is to help them promote their music and the film or media platform. An example of this synergy is Alicia Keys  and Kendrick Lamar - It's On Again from The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  In the video  at 1:47 they show a shot from the movie. It does not only promte the artist it also promotes the movie. the reason of this is to appeal wider audience.  

To be a form of art in itself

Music videos is also a from of art in itself because it is very memorable even more than the actual song. For example Bjork's "Triumph of a heart"is memorable because of the cat standing in jeans and t-shirt. this shows the audience that if you watch this music video you all ways will remember the cat standing and looking at the girl drive of in the car.

'Evaluating Music Video Outlets'

  

Music Video Outlets

The outlets that artists use to distribute music videos are Social Media, Mainstream TV, music channels, Direct CD and special Edition CD or DVD releases, Streaming websites, and Artist's Websites.

Social media

One of the outlets for music videos is social media sites some of the different social media are Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Beat100, and My Space etc. Twitter is one of the places artist can post their music videos and users can like and comment on the videos giving the artist feedback. The bad thing about artists posting music videos on social networking sites is that they do not get paid for the views; however it is good because it helps the artist reach a wider audience.  This is a good way to promote the video from the audience’s point of view as they get to see the video for free but is not so good for the artist and record label.

This way of distributing music is probably best for unknown artists that are unsigned to a record label as it is free and reaches a wide audience but not so good for an established artist like Dr Dre who has lots of money to spend on promoting their music and has the backing of a record label.

                         

                                                                                 

Mainstream TV

Mainstream TV includes BBC, Sky1, ITV, channel 4, and channel 5. The good thing about mainstream TV is that artists can advertise themselves more because the majority of the public watch TV. One of the shows that have music videos is 4music which was on channel 4 on Saturdays. The good thing about mainstream TV is that it gives the artist to advertise themselves as well as the music. For example, chat shows focus on their career rather than just their music. The bad thing for the artist is that there is an equal chance for bad publicity, which could hurt the record sales.

Downloads (legal & illegal)

There are two different ways of downloading music videos and they are legal and illegal. Legal download is good because if the audience want to download music videos from their favorite artist they can just go on ITunes and download it, but it is also bad because you as the audience might have to pay a lot of money to get the music video. By downloading from ITunes it is good for the artist because they can make money from people who download their music video because the more people that view and download the videos the more money the institution will make. The bad thing for the artist is that if  the audience don't buy and download the music video then they will get less money and  publicity of the music video. For example 2Pac has a music video on ITunes that I have downloaded. Even though it is not good to download illegally, but the good thing about it is that you can do for free, and the bad thing about it is you can go to prison for illegal downloading and you can also get fined.  there is no advantage for music video artist because they will lose money.

artist's websites

All music artist have a website where they put music videos and to promote the business and update their fans. Queen Latifah is an artist  who puts music videos on her website, it is a good thing for the artist to have a website so they can advertise they music by putting music videos so they can interact with their fans, also they make a lot of money to have music videos on their websites, sometimes they just put small clips on which are free to view and then you have to buy the full version. I don't think that there is any disadvantage for the artist putting music video on their website. The advantage for the audience is that they can view their favourite artist music video by going the artist's websites. another advantage for the audience is they can buy the artists full videos from the website.

Streaming websites 
a streaming website is a where you can watch things online. YouTube is a streaming website where you can watch music video for free and that is a good thing for the audience because they do not have to pay to watch music videos it is also instant. the disadvantage for the audience is that they can not all ways find the original music by the artist and they need to have access to the internet. the advantage for the artist is they make money from people watching the videos because the more views they get the more money and it reaches a huge audience all over the world. 

music channels

music channels are channels that only play music videos, such as AKA, MTV HITS, and Kiss. the advantage for the audience is that they can watch music videos with out searching for a artist music video and as they usually focus on one genre they will find all of their favourite music in one place, but  a disadvantage for the audience is that  they can not choose what artist's music video they want to watch and when it comes on. the advantage for the artist is that every time their music video is played the artist receives payments through royalties the disadvantage for the artist is that that will get less view because they might swear in their videos. the advantage for the music channel is that they get money for putting music videos on their channel through adverts and the amount views they get. the record label are not in control what gets played on the show.








Direct CD/Special Edition CD/DVD Releases

Direct CD/ special edition CD/DVD releases is where music artist put their classics hits of videos on a DVD. the good thing about having music videos on CD/DVD for the audience is that they watch it on DVD player or on PC/laptops. the bad thing for the audience is that it is to expensive to buy, also it my get damaged. the good thing for the artist is that they make money from selling CD/DVD with their music video, but it is bad for the artist because their have to spend a lot  of money to make CD/DVD with their music videos from their album. Eminem has music videos on DVD and you watch his music videos.