Style and Coventions of a Music Video

Style and Conventions of a Music Video

A music video expresses the Genre by using conventions (Cliche). Conventions are used throughout music videos depending on the Genre of the song. For example a rap/hip hop video would have Expensive Cars, Money, Alcohol, Gold Chains ect. A video example for Conventions for a Hip Hop genre which will include Alcohol, Women, Dancing is shown by the video B.I.G - Big Poppa where all these conventions are embedded to portray the Genre. On the other hand if the Genre was to be Country it will include Guitars and the country fields to correlate wot the Genre. The video below uses all the conventions which are clichéd for that particular Genre. Biggie Smalls here makes the rap video very stereotypical by making it have a club with women. This is shown at 0:28 where he is sitting on the seat laid back and relaxed next to a woman. He also has alochol with him which stereotypes teh rap genre about Drugs, Money, Women ect. As Biggie Smalls is a rapper he has to stereotype the genre for the viewer so they like what they see. At 1:04 you see the people waving money around like its nothing. This is what stereotypes the rap genre because its full of rich people with gold chains to illustrate that they are living life with freedom and wealth.

There a 4 point which can be explored within the Styles and Conventions of a Music video and they are:
- The types of styles for Music Videos
- Narrative
- Animation
- Intertextuality

Types of Styles of Music Videos:

There are many style types for a music video which Include performances, Concerts & Live.

 Performances shows the artist performing on a stage without an audience because it is not live. It's done for the cameras so an artist can get across him singing/rapping without the use of a studio. The performances are often shown on TV on mainstream channels such as BBC 1, 2 ect. The performances show what it would look as if it was to be live but there is no audience and the sound quality is crisp. The performances gives a perspective as if it was to be live but the performances are memorized as a routine and it engages the viewer to go to a Live Performance or a Concert where the artist can be viewed. The performance shown will be energetic and has continuous dance routines which the audience will enjoy. This will help the artist sell more Tour Tickets because people will get a glimpse on what the performance would look like as if it was to be live. An example of this is Beyonce - Love on Top which shows Beyonce performing a dance routine for a music video. At 0:11 you can see that everyone is starting the routine without her so she can join in after as part of the routine. This straight away indicates that it is a performance. She maybe recording for the song and for an upcoming performance at the same time.  The fact that Beyonce at the end of the video at 3:10 acts like if it was to be a rehearsal shows that this can be the same for a Live Performance on her tours. This make it more realistic that they were performing for the camera and that this can be put to real use on live tours.  This engages the audience to watch her videos and also persuades them into buying tour tickets. This helps Beyonce earn more revenue from the sales she gets for her tour. The video also shows costume changes which would initially be done in a Live performance. This gives the audience/fans a view of what would happen if it was to be a live Performance. Also at 3:12 we can see the cameras as if it were to be  live performance which beyonce has shown in this video this makes the audience feel the realism rather than it being a music video that is crazy and all over the place.

(As Live) Live performances have an audience viewing the performance of the artist who will be performing live in front of the audience. This gives the fans/audiences a chance to see the actual artist in real life. The Live performance also engages the audience where the artist asks them to sing along with a song that is being played through the speakers. The live performances are there for the artist to engage with the audience and see how many fans they have. The Live Performances will also help the Artist get revenue because of the amount of fans he has and due to the fact that he/she has advertises the concert online via adverts | Their Website | On TV using adverts | Posters ect. By the artists interacting with the audience by giving autographs and performing live they can Guarantee that for their next concert they can get more people to come because people will be recording the concert and posting online for other people who did not get the chance to go to the concert. Tinie Tempah here does a live performance of Written in the Stars. At 0:55 we can see that the person is actually part of the crowd (Well most of the video), this indicates that it was a live performance and with the amateurish camera angle we know it is from the audience because everyone is jumping and singing along with the song itself. The videos shows how he interacts with the audience by pointing the microphone towards the audience so they can finish of the lyrics to the verse, this is shown at 1:16 where he lets go of the microphone and the audience finish off the lyric to the song he is singing to. He also has a freestyle routine because it was live if it was to be a concert there would be a routine and not a freestyle performance. This is also shown at 1:16 because he is letting people finish of the lyric and you would not see this in a performance routine because they will not have time to implement and it is shown for aesthetic reasons only.

Narrative:

A narrative Music video usually shows a story to go along with the lyrics of the video. This tells a story to the audience maybe about the artist's childhood or a completely random story to match the lyrics. With the use of a story line this will help the viewer be engaged throughout the whole of the music video. A good example of this is Stan by Eminem. It takes about a massive fan who wanted to be just like Eminem. The lyrics start where the person in the video starts writing a letter to Eminem. The whole story is told through the use of letters to Eminem and to match the lyrics the video shows exactly whats being said. For example he says "I'm in the car right now, doing 90 on the freeway" and with correlation, on the video it shows Dido driving the car down a freeway where he will die which is shown at 5:15. The fact that Eminem makes the story correlate with the song makes it flow much better and look better overall. The story tells the perspective of Eminem and his biggest fan Dido. The story line shows Dido's girlfriend being pregnant which the lyrics includes and shows a clip of his girlfriend which is shown at 1:09. This shows that he has a bigger heart for Eminem that his girlfriend who is pregnant. This hsows that Dido was a dedicated fan fro eminem himself.

Animation:

A music video that usually includes animation makes the video more appealing to the audience. The animated videos doesn't necessarily have to be animated via the computer it can also be Stop animation. This invites different audiences to view the artist's's video. Here I will be using Kanye West - Good Life where animation has been successfully used and looks very appealing. These types of music videos are unique and brings new ideas into the video industry. For example when a video such as this becomes very popular other artists may use this animation effect to portray their videos. The animation used her can refer to children because it is cartoon like and entertaining. An example of this is showb at 0:58 where the lyrics are synced with the animation that is popping up. All the words are motion ainmated make it flow better with the song itself.The lyrics pop up via the use of the animation to make it such that it looks like a lyrics video. With the use of animation in his video the audience is pulled into the video and it makes the audience want to watch more of the video. Something at 0:31 teenagers will like because it refers to them, Kanye is trying to experiment with the types of stlye he can use in music video and he has not failed to impress with an animation type video.

                                                

Intertexuality (Parody):

The intertextuality in music videos as parody is when another person (does not necessarily have to be an artist)/artist mocks the original video of an artist to make it humorous and entertaining. The lyrics are different that mocks the artist which can be insulting or "Just for fun". A very good example of pastiche as parody is "Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball PARODY" - which had gone viral on Youtube with over 12 Million views. As mentioned before the lyrics are fully altered to mock the artist, make it funny and make it very entertaining for the viewers. The artist who makes the parody uses similar shots within the video to make it correlate with the original music video. For example at the start of the video we see the artist that dresses up like Miley and has a sad face.

The picture above shows the correlation the artist has made from the original music video to mock the original artist. The video that the artist has made literally mirrors the Music video that Miley Cyrus has created. The fact that the male is wearing make-up engages the audience becuase it is not what people see every day. Mostly on youtube parody videos get very high views due to the fact that it is very entertaining. 

Intertexuality (Pastiche) :

This is where one media text refers to another. Artists such as Ashanti and Madonna have used this Intertextuality within their videos. Many artists have done this to show what they like or maybe keep it as a memory within their videos. Ashanti has used this within her video maybe because it was her favorite film or she wanted it to correlate with the music video title. She has used a scene from Good Fellas the movie within her music video called "Foolish". The clip from Good fellas shows mixed emotions where she loves him and then she wants to kill him. This shows a very strong scene in the film. On the other hand Ashanti shows this by embedding in within her music video Foolish. She has used this because she has mutual feelings toards the scene in Good Fellas. 

Impressionist music videos:

This is where the music video matches the tempo of the music video but does not really match the lyrics of the video itself. For this example I will be using Kanye West - All of the lights because it is mostly an impressionist video. The start of the video there is a little girl who is alone and is walking towards the apartments on the roads which is shown at 0:21. This part of the video was purposly shown in Black and White because they wanted to make the video pop out when the chorus "All of the lights" came in and make the video all bright and fascinating. The use of the black and white indicates that it maybe was a memory in the past and also has a miserable and moody feeling towards the music video. But as the video progresses the video matches the title of the song which is "All of the lights". The use of the Black and White beginning brings enigma towards the video and makes the audience think why Kanye West has deliberately done this. The use of violins at the start of the video matches the black and white scene of the lonely girl but then changes the mood as if it was to be a mood swing to a more colourful and happy mood.

Interpretative Music videos: 

Here the music video takes into consideration the lyrics of the music video. The lyrics are directly shown in the music video to show it as a story. This type of music video is less preferred but when a Major artist does it people tend to copy it but this style will become saturated too quickly. Eminem chose to do this style but he made it more entertaining and not cliched. People may think this is the easy way out of music videos but it can be entertaining when animation is used along with the video itself. The video Fast Lane exactly describes what was said above. The lyrics are shown on the video and translated into movement by Eminem and Royce Da 59. The actions here tell a story which makes the music video flow. This is shown at 1:25 where the song flows with what is shown on the video itself which makes the song have a less serious side to it.

Surrealism:
Surrealism is when the artist would use imaginary things that may occur in dreams or cannot exist. The use of this technique may portray their interests. Here Katy Perry has used this technique to construct a music video. The use of surrealism adds an aspect of mystery and makes is visually appealing. Katy Perry - E.T uses this amazing technique to portray her music video. At 1:48 you can see that we dont see that everyday and she has gone through the trouble of making it seem unique and wired to look at. This also has an artistic feel to it because she is dressed up as an extra terrestrial character who does not exist. Artists use this type of surrealsim in their pieces because things like this does not exist and can only be imagined. Aliens / Extra terrestrial characters do not exist unless their is proof.