Genre Conventions “Music Video”

Andrew Goodwin in Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) identified the following features of music videos:

·         There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals

·         There is a relationship between the music and the visuals

·         Particular music genre may have their own music video style and iconography

·         There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close ups of the main artist/vocalist

·         The artist may develop their own star iconography

·         There is likely to be reference to voyeurism

·         There are likely to be intersexual references

Whereas, the Pete Fraser stated that:

·         LYRISC – Established a general mood, key lines may only play part in the visuals.

·         MUSIC – Tempo of the track drives the editing.

·         GENRE – Reflected through mise en scene, themes, performance, editing and cinematography.

·         CINEMATOGRAPHY – Camera may move to accompany performance, or circle them, to create a drama. Lots of close ups to create viewer intimacy and emphasize voice.

·         EDITING – Generically fast-paced, but slow-paced could be used to establish mood.

·         INTERTEXTUALITY – “Music video as incorporating, raiding and reconstructing” (John Stewart). Music videos often incorporate what a viewer will be familiar with.

·         NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE – Suggest storyline, and offer fragmented, non-linear narrative. These leave an audience with a desire to re-watch the video clip.

The conventions for music videos depend on their genre:

·       Rock/Metal - The hue of the videos are usually quite dark, but with high contrast levels, to give the video an overall dark and edgy tone. The music videos are usually incredibly performance based, shots covering the whole band playing, yet focusing mainly on the front vocalist. Narrative music videos are also used; however I would say it is very likely that a narrative video would also show many shots of the band performing. The story lines are usually dark, to match the dark sound of the music, and dark meaning of the lyrics. The performance it's self usually has a dark and 'scary' tone to it, the performers are usually dressed in completely in black, appearing as stereotypical rock/metal listeners/performers with multiple piercings, dark makeup, and a dark and edgy demeanour. The editing is usually snappy and fast paced, to match the normally fast tempo of rock/metal songs.

·       Pop - Music videos that belong to the genre of pop are usually extremely performance based, with the singer, or band lip syncing throughout the song, as well as performing via dancing or in a narrative story that reflects the meaning of the lyrics. The overall tone and hue of the video will be very bright, with the artist wearing bright trendy mainstream clothing. If the lyrics are or a more sad nature, the overall tone of the video may be brought down a little, but will still be quite bright. In pop music videos the main artists are almost always present in their music video in some shape of form. Pop music videos are usually fun and light hearted to appeal to a younger audience.

·       R&B - This genre of music video usually has a light tone to it; the hue is usually bright similar to pop videos. Typically the video will involve the artist in a narrative setting or simply performing in a setting such as a nightclub, mansion, beach etc. There are usually dancers present, to reflect the sound of the music. The clothing is usually revealing on women, and shows the wealth of the artist, with lavish jewellery and expensive cars. The narrative of the story usually reflects the lyrics of the song, and like pop videos usually the artist will lip sync throughout the video. Again similar to pop music videos RnB videos have a good, positive, light-hearted feeling to them.

·       Indie - This genre of music videos has a huge variety of conventions; the hue can be dark, bright or black and white depending on the tone of the lyrics. Indie music videos are also split generously between being solely narrative, and performance based, sometimes the artists do not even feature in the music video for their songs. However Indie music videos can be performance based either featuring the entire band, or simply featuring the main vocalist. Narrative music videos in the Indie genre are typically quite arty, and symbolic, rather than spelling out exactly what the lyrics say.