Research into music genres

A music genre is a category which identifies pieces of music through the collective set of conventions they follow. For example, a song which falls under the pop genre would generally consist of lyrics about love or relationships, the music videos within the genre are usually performance based and may represent the artist as being happy and content with life and also shows them wearing fashionable clothes which are of bright colours to further connote the positive vibe which they are portraying. Although many music videos follow the characteristics and conventions of their genre, sometimes conventions may be challenged or developed, for example a pop music video may have an element of narrative all the way through rather than performance.

In order to further my knowledge in music genre, I chose to analyse 3 music videos which all belonged to different genres.

Over - Drake. 
The song Over belongs to the hip-hop/rap genre and was the first single released from his Thank Me Later album in 2010. Drake is first introduced in the music video through a close up of him sitting on his bed. The camera shot begins to show Drake looking down but then show Drake opening his eyes and looking directly into the camera as it pans upwards. This camera shot follows the conventions of the genre as hip-hop/rap is used to express the artists emotions about issues within life such as friends/family/success and troubles they have experience and even triumphs. As well as following the conventions of hip-hop/rap, this camera shot also allows Drake to instantly build a relationship with his target audience which ranges from the ages of 13-28 as they can see how he is feeling and want to know his story and why he is feeling that way.

The next camera shot, which displays the conventions of hip-hop/rap whilst building a relationship with the audience, is a low angle. This camera shot displays drake dancing whilst also showing editing style of his facial duplicating in the background of him. This camera shot conforms to the conventions of hip-hop/rap as within the music video this camera shot shows him dancing without routine. Unlike music video that belong to the pop genre, hip-hop/rap and rap music videos do not choose to have routine dancing within their music video as it may come across cheesy and too happy especially within rap songs where the artist, like Drake is trying to portray his emotions. Drake simply dances along with the rhythmic beat and flow of his rap, this helps build a relationship with the audience as they begin to understand what Drake is like as an artists and connotes to them that he loves music as he is dancing along with it. This may appeal to the audience also as following Goodwin’s theory they will see the relationship between the music, lyrics and visuals. The relationship between the music and visuals may stimulate their mind to also make them want to get up and dance along to the beat whilst the relationship between the lyrics and visuals may make them understand more about Drake as an artist and how he is feeling. 

As well as connoting Drakes emotions, this camera shot also portrays Drake lifestyle as the audience can see what he is wearing, again this is following the conventions of hip-hop/rap as generally artists are shown wearing stylish clothes as their talent has allowed them to becomes famous and live this lifestyle. This would relate to the target audience as they would aspire to also wear stylish clothes and live a wealthy lifestyle like Drake does as when the beat gets faster they can see he becomes happy with his career when he raps about his lifestyle throughout the song.  This camera shot also displays editing techniques; throughout the music video editing techniques are used to duplicate the images used of Drake. In some cases the images double in time with the beat, which follows Goodwin’s theory of visuals sharing a relationship with the music and also matches the fast paces beat and therefore follows conventions. This editing technique also helps build a relationship with his target audience as it connoted to them that Drake intends to become something special and grow within the music industry as the editing technique emphasises him and his talents. The audience may then become a fan as they know there is much more music to come and look forward to his next single release. 

This editing technique may fall under fast paced editing as the images of drake appear in time with the fast paced beat. Other fast paced editing is also used within the music video when Drake is sitting in his room and flashing lights and images of his city appear behind him. This fast paced editing again may excite the audience as it matches the visuals and also portrays his fast paces lifestyle to the audience.

The next editing style I used throughout the music video is fade, this technique falls under transitions and is applied when the producer wants one shot to fade out as another shot fades in. Within Drakes music video for over, this transition is applied where he changed location, the editing technique allows the music video seem more professional as the transition allows the shots to flow rather than using straight cuts throughout which may make the music video seem jumpy without editing. The fade shows that Drake is talking about another stage in his life and may even imply that he is reminiscing about the past while talking about the present stage in his life. This is important as it shows the audience the main points in his life and helps them understand more about his life and character which therefore helps them build a more personal, in depth relationship with him as an artist. 

Throughout the music video there are lots of elements of mise-en-scene, which follow the conventions of hip-hop/rap whilst appealing to the target audience.

The audience are first introduced to Drake sitting in his bedroom surrounded my lamps. This location and iconography are very domestic and personal, as the audience would see this as Drakes personal space where he chills out and thinks about his life, relating to the song as Drake sits on his bed and reflect on his success so far through rapping. This location and iconography relates to the target audience as they can relate to this personally space as they would have one of their own and build a closer relationship with him as he is letting them into his space and telling them about his life.

The lighting used within this clip is very low key, as the background has no lighting however lights are placed above Drake to draw the audience’s attention to him. This lighting helps highlight the artist to the audience leading them to focus on just him and nothing else which may lead them to notice his facial expressions and listen to his lyrics in more detail, thus building a closer relationship as they are not distracted by anything else. This low key lighting is especially conventional to the rap genre as generally, rap songs are used to portray emotion and usually this emotion is negative therefore this lighting is successful in relating to the genre when Drake is rapping about the negative things in his life. However when Drake begins to rap about more positive things like being himself “oh, yeah that’s right I’m doing me, I’m doing me, I’m living life right now man” the lighting gets brighter to help connote the more positive side of Drakes success. 

|

Colour tints are also used within Drakes music video. Red tints are used as an overlay for Drakes music video. The red tints allow the audience to remain entertained and keep there attention on the music video as the colors are changing however the colour red also connotes Drakes low mood and how he is angry about the new people in his life who are only his friend because he is famous “who the f*** are ya’ll”Again this relates to rap genre as it portrays Drakes emotions which rap lyrics are supposed to do.

Within the music video, Drake did not particularly dress up, he is just seen wearing tracksuits and jackets by the audience throughout. This shows the audience that fame has not changed Drake as he is still down to earth and wearing normal clothes rather than fancy expensive clothes to show off all his money, this could make Drake appeal to the audience more as they may feel like he is still an ordinary person which follows paradox 1 of star dyers theory. This clothing is also conventional to hip-hop/rap as many artists have nothing before fame and start of wearing these kinds of clothes. 

Towards the end of the music video a shallow focus shows a women dancing wearing provocative clothing and also shows another women with nice hair and make-up and wearing expensive jewelry. The positioning of the first women behind Drake shows that she is a small part of his life as she is only seen in the background. The provocative clothing suggests that Drake may use the women a little bit for her body as the distance between them portrays a lustful relationship with no feelings involved. The next woman is shown in more detail through a close-up. I feel that this close-up portrays the women as having a bigger part within Drake life and possibly being more a love interest who he has a close connections with, this is because the women is portrayed in more detail, she is very pretty and looks classier than the other women and wears expensive jewelry rather than skimpy clothing. Both women may connote a love triangle that Drake is stuck in and contrast his difficulty between choosing lust or love. The voyeuristic treatment of the first women follows Goodwin’s theory which as he said most successful music videos portray women in this way to attract a wider audience. I feel this would attract the male gender more who would think highly of Drake for having beautiful women in his life and having to pick between two. The women within this music video follow the conventions of hip-hop/rap as generally a woman helps show success in life which is what an artist wants to portray.

The next music video I will evaluate is Flo-rida ‘Club can’t handle me’. This song belongs to the dance genre therefore I will be analysing what conventions it followed or challenged and how it related to its target audience.

This music video contains many camera shots which are conventional to the dance genre and also help build a relationship with the artist. The first camera shot which I identified fulfilling this purpose was a mid shot of Flo-rida surrounded by people partying. This camera shot portrays to the audience the emotions of Flo-rida which are very positive as he is smiling whilst dancing with his friends. This follows the conventions of dance as the genre is all about connoting positive vibes and people having a good time with friends. This camera shot would appeal to the audience as they would see how much fun Flo-rida is having and want to party with him or join in and start dancing along with the music.

 The second camera shot I felt was conventional to the dance genre was a high angle of the club. This camera shot shows what the club looks like from above and portrays the club in a positive way as the party goers are seen with their hands in the air, dancing together and having a good time. This again follows the conventions of dance as everyone is having a good time and will create a buzz within the audiences mind and make them feel like they want to go to a party. 

Both camera shots also show the location of the party which is an element of mise-en-scene. The location, which is a club is very conventional to the dance genre as dance music is mostly played in clubs and at party's or festivals where people will want to drink, dance and enjoy themselves.

Next, i looked at the editing techniques used within the music video. Throughout most of the music video, fast paced editing was used. Fast paces editing can consists of many styles. The styles which where used within this music video where straight cuts and also the retiming of shots (making them faster). Straight cuts are used where shots change angles of people partying in the club and shots showing people dancing are retimed in order to match the beat. Both editing styles combined helped the music video match the beat of the song, this follows one point of Goodwin's theory which states that the music should match the visuals. As the dance genre is fast paced, this was very conventional as the music and visuals where consistent with each other  These editing styles may have had an effect on the audience and would have made them feel the buzz of the crowd which would lead them to want to go out and party as the visuals and music working together engaged them into the beat of the music. 

Although fast editing was used and is very conventional to dance, slow editing was also used. Techniques for slow editing include transitions such as fade and also retiming of shots(making them slower). fades where used for transitions when the music slowed down and the camera shot changed to a different location and slowing down shots was evident in shots where the music slowed down for example when champagne was opened and spraying everywhere. These editing techniques may not sound conventional to the dance genre however this type of editing can still work within dance music videos. This is because editing techniques such as slowing downs shots can help the audience notice something they may not have within fast paced editing such as the significance of popping champagne which shows they have lots of money or the facial expressions on people face which connote the positive vibes of dance. Fades can also slow the music video down and make sure it is not too jumpy and quick for then audience to understand. Therefore helping the audience understand the music video through slow paced editing and also enjoy and engage through fast paced editing. 

Mise-en-scene consists of elements which can also hep a music video more conventional to its genre. The locations of a club, which has already been mentioned was conventional throughout as it was consistently used and consistently portrayed positive vibes of the people having fun. A DJ who featured in the song was also seen within the music video. This is very conventional to the dance genre as the DJ's are the people who produce the music for the song. 

Iconography was also used within the music video. A long shot of two lamboghinhi's where used at the beginning of the music video, another long shot was also shown of Flo-rida getting out of his car and throwing money in the air and also within the party scenes of the music video mid shots showed the audiences images of champagne and expensive alcohol. All 3 parts of this iconography help portray Flo-rida's lifestyle and how successful he is. This may entertain the audience as they would enjoy seeing this luxury life style and want to live it. Showing off a luxury lifestyle is not directly conventional to dance as the main aim within a majority of dance music videos is to show people having a good time with their friends, and brands are not focused on much. However positive vibes are still portrayed through the use of material objects as it shows how Flo-rida chooses to enjoy his life. 

                                                                        

Throughout the music video the lighting consisted of a contrast between low key lighting and bright lights/ strobe lighting. The bright lights consisted of bright colours like pink which are conventional to dance as these colours are very bright and bold and connote being happy and enjoying yourself.  The strobe lighting is also conventional as it is typically seen in locations where dance music is played such as clubs and festivals. The lighting used would help the audience understand the narrative more and engage into it more as the locations becomes more realistic to them. The bright lights will also keep them entertained and focused on the music video rather than getting bored and turning the music video off.

The final element of mise-en-scene which is seen within the music video is costume/hair and make-up. This means the image of the artist. Flo-rida is wearing a stylish jacket, expensive sunglasses and a gold chain. This again portrays Flo-rida's lifestyle and how he is enjoying his success and causes the audience to admire his success within the music industry. 

The next music I will be analysing is 'wings' by little mix. Little are a pop group which consists of four young adult female band members. As the music genre they produce songs to is pop, the music video should appeal to a wider audience as pop is a very mainstream genre.

The music video begins with a close up of each member edited into a split screen (x4). Both the camera shot and editing style used within this opening of the music video is conventional to the pop genre as the close-ups portray each band member to be happy as they begin to perform to the camera and also shows then to be very stylish and pretty as they have nice make up and hair. The close-ups also show some vibrant colour in the background behind the girls which the audience see when each girl take their turn in performing to the camera individually. Within the pop genre it is very common that artists are portrays as happy and content with life and also it is common that bright positive colour are used to support these representations. The camera shots allow the audience to see these happy emotions whilst the editing technique helps inform the audience that the girls are a group but at the same time all individual. This helps the audience build up a relationship with each member which leads to then understanding the group more, it also engages then into the music video and may refelct the positive moods to them.

Another camera shot used which I will be talking about is an extreme long shot. There are various long shots throughout the music video, most of them portray the girls as a group rather than separately. This particular shot however shows the audience more as it is a much wider frame. The extremes long shot includes the girl group with backing dancers in what looks like a large empty room where a party would be thrown. However the girls and backing dancers are simply performing a dance routine to the camera, the setting is quite dark however there is lots of lighting which highlight the girls and their performances. Although the setting is not as bright as other camera shots within the music video such as mid shots, I feel this camera shot is still very conventional as it portrays the girls all together as a band practising their dance which is very conventional to the dance genre as generally it consists of routines rather than I dependant dancing.

After the split screen editing style, each camera shot was enlarged one by one to introduce each member to the audience. Within these camera shots, there was more editing used. One editing technique which was used was fast paced editing. This included a ripple effect in the image of the girls and also a distorted effect where the image of the girl would jump around. This fast editing is effective in appealing to the audience as the visuals match the music which may engage them with beat by stimulating their visual and hearing senses, helping then to enjoy the music more. This point follows Goodwin's theory which states that within most successful music videos, the visuals share a relationship with the music. The fast paced editing also holds he audiences attentions and fulfils the purpose to entertain then as the images are constantly changing therefor the audience want to keep watching.

                                       

Next I will look at specific elements within the camera shots and editing techniques used which are called mise-en-scene. These elements are more detailed ways of appealing to a certain target audience and following the conventions of a music genre as it what is noticed most by the audience as a consumer would not really recognise a certain camera shot however they may notice element a within these camera shots such as setting, lightning, appearances, facial/body language and positions if characters, and may also be affected by these elements.

The first element of mise-en-scene are the setting and iconography used. Throughout the music video there is only two settings. The first setting is not very identifiable as it is simply the girls dancing in rooms with various backgrounds, each group member has a different colourful background and when they come together this background turns simply to low key lighting with lots of editing effects over such as lighting making the setting unknown. Although an unknown setting is unconventional to the pop genre as pop videos are very mainstream and recognisable by a wide audience, the colours of the backgrounds are conventional as they portray positive vibes e.g. a yellow background with a flower print connotes happiness. The next setting used, as mentioned earlier is a large room which looks like it used to be a factory but is now used for party's. This setting consists of low key lighting contrasted with bright lights to give the location a positive connotation of party's. The room also consists of a large wall in the middle which has the british flag on it. This is used to show the audience that the girl group are british and make the british audience proud to have successful girl groups in their culture. This may also help relate to audience from other counties as the british flag is admired as it is associated with the queen and London etc (tourist attractions) therefor audiences from other countries may be attracted to watch more of the girl group through media sites such as youtube as they like the fact that they are british. chairs are also used within this setting however do not have much significance to the genre or audience as they are simply used for the girls dance routine. 

                                      

The next element I noticed within the music video is lighting and colour. Camera shots show the girls dancing in an area where there is very low key lighting. This lighting is contrasted with very bright lighting such as strobes going across or flickers of bright light. Although low key lighting is not very conventional to the pop genre as generally it connotes bad moods, the bright lights have contrasted with them enough to create a setting which connotes positive vibes as the lighting reflects what would be a police setting such as a party where pop music would be played. This lighting will appeal to the older half of the (mainly) female target audience which ranges from to the ages of 8-18. The reason for this is that the older half if the audience (14-18) will be beginning to go to party's where this type if lighting is seen therefor they will enjoy seeing how artists who they like act in a similar setting with the same type of lighting.

The colours throughout the music video are very bright and vibrant. Colours such as pink, aqua, green, yellows and whites are used as a background for the artists when they are performing to the camera individually. These colours suggest that the artists are very positive and happy with the life as they connote very positive vibes. The colours and patterns also make the music video more interesting as there is lots for the audience to notice and take in. These colours would appeal to the younger half of the audience (8-14) as these colours are targeted to then throughout the audience.

The appearance of the girl group is also very conventional to pop and successful in appealing to their target audience. Firstly the girls hair and makeup looks very stylish however not too dramatic leading the audience to think they could have done it by themselves. This may make the teen girls within their target audience want to get advice of the girls on how to do hair and makeup and gain inspiration from their idols. This point would also follow paradox 1 of Dyers star theory which states that artists appear ordinary whilst being extra ordinary to the audience making them more appealing. Secondly, the girls outfits are also very stylish and fashionable as they are following mainstream trends such as high waisted shorts, aztec print, floral prints, checks, hats, bows, belly tops and football jerseys. Again, very bright colours and patterns are used throughout the girls outfits which would make then appeal to girls as they would appreciate fashion and want to experiment with colours and patterns. It is very common for the appearance of pop artists to follow the trends as generally they are trying to appeal to a wider mainstream audience.

                                     

                                      

Another convention of pop is that artists show positive and happy emotions to show that they are content with life. This is followed throughout the music video as the girls are constantly smiling and having a good time together as seen when they are dancing and laughing together showing their friendship and the bond they have through being a girl band.


Through my analyses of various music videos and their genres, I have discovered that technical elements such as artist representations, editing techniques and cinematography vary within different genres in order for the music video to follow the conventions of its genre and appeal to its target audience.

For example, it is conventional for a rap/hip-hop music video to focus on the lyrics, as usually they are written by the artists and have a meaning to the artist’s life in order to tell a story and engage the audience. Therefor Drakes music video used a variety of camera shots such as close up and mid-shots to show his body language and facial expressions in order portray to the audience the emotion behind his lyrics. Mise-en-scene also matches the focus of the music video as darker colours and settings are used to reflect Drake’s mood and lyrics within the music video. Editing styles also help to connote the meaning of lyrics as fades are used in order to reflect back on Drakes life along with fast editing to form a relationship with the music and visuals. This helps the music video appeal to the target audience as they focus more on Drakes subtle performance and understand his emotions, which lead them to relate to his emotions and understand more about his life.

Unlike rap/hip-hop, the dance genre focuses more on portraying lifestyle and materialistic objects, which make people happy in order to entertain the audiene. For example, Flo-ridas ‘Club cant handle me’ uses long shots to show off his expensive cars and high angles to display him and his friends having a good time at a glamorous party with champagne and pretty women. The editing styles also relate to the life style as throughout the music video, fast editing is used to portray the fast paced lifestyle. Flo-ridas representation also displays this as the camera shot show him being happy and enjoying life which follows the conventions of portraying positive vibes in the settings where dance music is played. This focus on materialistic objects and the fun, fast paced lifestyle of going out partying all the time relates to the audience as they will relate the lifestyle with the music and want to go out and party and experience the lifestyle they admire within the music video.

Pop music also aims to portray a positive vibe within the music videos however they do not focus as much on materialistic objects so they can entertain a wider audience. This is evident in ‘wings’ by Little Mix. Camera shots such as long shots and close-ups show the group performing to the camera, as dancing and singing is associated with being happy, these shots are successful in portraying the group as being happy and content with life which is conventional to pop. Fast editing also adds excitement to the music video, which again connotes positive vibes. The artists representation is also positive, even though the group are singing about getting let down they do not show any negative emotion and begin to sing about not letting anybody bring them down. All this positivity is connoted within pop music videos as they aim to appeal to a wide target audience and therefore portray positive emotions, which everyone can relate to, and also that can make their audience happy by making them excited when watching their music video.

Through analysing music videos from a variety of genres I have gained some inspiration and ideas for my own music video.

I enjoyed the element of Drake telling a story and engaging with his audience as I feel this is important in forming a loyal fan base as fans want to know about their artists as well as watch them perform. I also feel that this element would be suitable for my own music video as the artists I will be portraying will be new to the music industry therefor I feel it would be beneficial to tell the audience something about them so the audience have something to think about and can begin to build a relationship with the artist by understanding them more. Although I liked the element of telling a story, the low key lighting portraying negative moods all the way through did not appeal to me as it put a downer on the song which I wanted to enjoy. For this reason I enjoyed Little Mix’s music video as the group looked like they where enjoying performing to the camera as wanted to entertain their audience through their passion for music. Bright colours where also used to reflect their positive moods which was refreshing after Drakes music video which was full of low key lighting. Although I enjoyed this music video and feel it is important to portray positive vibes in order to keep the audience entertained, I also feel it got a bit cheesy and repetitive towards the end. Overall, I enjoyed Flo-ridas music video the most as it consisted of bright colours, which connoted positive vibes, however avoided being cheesy as these colours where contrasted with low-key lighting in the club setting. I also enjoyed the club setting and feel it would appeal to the target audience I am aiming to appeal to of teenagers. Although I liked this music video, I feel that the representation of his glamorous lifestyle was over powering. Personally, I enjoy watching artists who are still slightly down to earth and do not take things for granted. Therefor within my own music video I think I will aim to choose a song, which belongs to the dance genre. I will then follow most of the conventions of dance by using similar lighting to Flo-ridas music video and portraying a fun lifestyle of going out partying however I like the idea of portraying a meaningful concept and building an emotional relationship between the artist and audience through using a narrative.