Music Video Genre

Conventions of Music Genres

INDIE: 

• Normally black and white with random bits of scenery that has been coloured in. 
• Can show a story, but mostly not. Generally just the singers coming close to the camera and singing.  

(Two Door Cinema Club - SUN)

This a perfect example of an indie music video. The conventions of this are the use of dull colours such as black and white. But it usually has the odd splash of colours, which is shown in the screenshot lower from the music video

(Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work.)

In that it is mainly dull and bland, but it also has a coloured panel behind the band to show a contrast and make it stand out. This changes the focal point of the music video to the panel or 

HIP HOP:

• Mostly uses girls and portrays them as sexual objects to make the male singer look manlier and more, 'hip'.
• There is generally bling, expensive cars and girls in bikini's. This is to show the wealth of the singers and how they are interested in females. 

(Jay-Z Big Pimpin')

In this example there are the prime example of Hip Hop genre conventions. Females, used to attract the male audience. Also lots of references to wealth, pouring away what could be a very expensive bottle of champagne. 

(Kanye West Diamonds from Sierra Leone)
Flash car in the background. Kanye West is wearing expensive glasses. Both of these show his wealth and make the audience want to be him.







POP:

• Bright flashing colours, to make it seem warmer and happier.
• Filters over the screen, distorts the image.
• Out of the ordinary story telling videos.

(Ellie Goulding Goodness Gracious) 

Here you can see the use of bright colours. All around her are blue and pinks, making it seem happier and more joyful. Also Ellie Goulding's face is very joyful which adds to the happy feeling of the music video.

(Katy Perry Roar)

In this you can tell that this story is not very normal, she is crawling along the jungle floor. There is a story line to this video, which makes the audience want to get to the end to see what happens, therefor making them want to buy the track.








ROCK:

• Usually shows the musicians playing their respective instruments.
• Dark and dusky effects (smoke) and dark lighting.

(Arctic Monkeys Brianstorm)

Use of smoke which distorts the view and adds an effect of darkness. This makes it seem more 'grungy' which appeals to the audience of the music itself. Also, the musicians are visible throughout the video, showing off their talents while playing their instruments.

(Guns n Roses Sweet Child O' Mine)

The black and white filter reinfoces the dark theme behind rock music videos. This also appeals to the stereotypical Rock genre fan base, which are those who prefer the darker side of life, lack of colours and very monotone.

Music Video Directors

Music Directors

Hype Williams

Hype Williams began directing music videos in 1991 with his debut being BWP - "We Want Money" he then followed with Main Source - "Just Hanging Out" finishing his 1991 directing. From that year on he started directing more and more music videos. In 1995 he directed a huge 33 music videos, all successful. Hype Williams was influenced by Basquait and Keith Haring, his words were, "I wanted to be the Basquait and Keith Haring of the streets"

A signature style used by Williams throuought the vast majority of his videos was the Fisheye lens which distorted the camera view around the central focus. For example, this was used in the music video Gimme Some More. This was used to give the effect of making the audience feel as though it was from their point of view. Another signature style he used in the majority of his music video's was having shots in a widescreen ratio, while a second shot is cut in either to the side or below. For example, the music video, "Diamonds on My Neck" uses this split screen effect through the whole video. This creates an illusion effect and makes you try to focus on two parts of the screen, making you focus on it more. It also allows the video to be more dynamic and multi-dimensional and atmospheric instead of having single camera angles. One of his more recent signature techniques is combining a centre camera focus on the artists chest and upward with a solid colour background and fading off to a different colour when it comes to the edges and corners. As displayed in the music video Gold Digger. This is to give the effect of illumination of the background and foreground subject.

Hype Williams generally stayed with the music genre of Hip-Hop throughout all his music video directions. The conventions of hip-hop is mainly girls and expensive jewelry, this is reflected in a large majority of his music videos so Williams follows the hip-hop vibe. An example of a music video of which he follows the hip-hop conventions is Kanye West - Diamonds From Sierra Leone, in this there are lots of references to expensive things like cars and designer clothing.

He mostly works with artists that base their music on rap or RnB. Meaning he is seen as a "specialist" in those genres of music. A more recent artist that he works with regularly is Busta Rhymes. He specialises in the rap genre, so Williams can work with his music video and use the generic conventions that appear in that genre.

Music videos that Hype Williams directs can be easily distinguished due to their signature filming techniques. For example, the over use of fisheye lens or where the shot is at a widescreen ratio, where the screen has 3 sections either on the side of each other or the top. The final way that his videos are different from others is the use of contrasted background colours, merging two colours, making the focal point more noticeable.

22. Risk Assessment Ident

26. Revised Proposal and Planning

Shot List

13. Interview and Analysis Ben Davis

QUESTIONS

1) What is your favorite genre of television show and why?

2) What do you think about the current E4 indents?

3) Do you think Eefer is a good way to express the channel?

4) Do you like the colour scheme E4 use in their idents, why or why not?

5) Is there anything E4 can do to improve their current ident?


ANSWERS

1) "I prefer the comedy genre, this is because I find it entertains me the most of all the genre's, also E4 have a very wide range of comedy shows so there is always something on that is funny and easy to watch"

2) "It's good in terms of entertainment and filling in a quick 15 seconds, but it doesn't show enough information, like what is coming up next and later on. I like the fact that it is very random and funny at the same time"

3) "Eefer is good because he is a very different way to advertise the channel, he is very unique and entertaining, which sums up the entire channel itself."

4) "I think the colour scheme fits the channel well, purple is generally a multi gender colour so it appeals to both male and female which broadens the horizon of their fan base"

5) "The current E4 ident is very good in entertaining the viewers but it needs more informing aspects, like showing the different programmes they broadcast, or just changing the type of ident so it isn't the same every time."


ANALYSIS OF ANSWERS

1) Analyzing this I can see that the genre like is comedy, this research can be applied to the ident by making it funny, this will attract more viewers and keep them watching and talking about E4 as a channel.

2) To address this answer I could incorporate some sort of voice over in the ident to explain what programmes are coming up in the next few hours.  Or I could have a text coming up on one of the sides saying what is coming up.

3) With this answer it is evident that people like the E4 mascot Eefer so including him in the idents will ensure that the fan base of him stays, and even increases this will make people talk about the channel spreading the word of the programmes, therefore making people watch E4.

4) The colour scheme of E4 is purple. This has been said to be a great colour because of its multi gender appeal. This means that I will keep the main colour as purple, but to increase the popularity I could add some other colours that will enhance the look of the ident.

5) Once again the viewers think that more informing content is needed in the ident, which seems to be an issue the E4 idents seem to have. To implement more I need to again have either a voice over or text overlaying the ident.

12. Questionnaires + Analysis

This shows that out of the 10 people that completed the survey, 80% of them female, and the others male. This shows that there are lots of programmes that appeal to females and not so many that appeal to the male audience.









This shows that the majority of viewers are in the age range of 18 to 24, this is our primary target audience. The second most is the age group of 45 to 54, closely followed by 25 to 34 and then last 35 to 44. This shows that the majority of viewers are middle aged.










The most of the people watch television moderately often, and very often. There is nobody who doesn't watch it so that shows that everyone watches television.

This shows that most people dont care what there is in an ident, as long as it is entertaining. However, some people want to know upcoming shows, which could be shown via idents.











The current E4 ident as a whole is liked by the majority of the viewers. However, we want everyone to like the ident. To achieve this we could make it more informative by including what programmes are coming up next.

Students mostly watch E4, this shows how our company is suitable for those who like comedic shows and entertainment for ages 16 - 34.

Five of the viewers asked to complete the survey was White British, three were Black British, one was Black Caribbean and 1 was Asian.

With this pie chart I can see that not many people watch E4 at 3pm to 5pm, this means that is a safer time to show the less popular programmes. Most people watch the channel at 9pm to 11pm, this is the best time to put the most popular shows on.






I will use all of this research to help me create my ident, by looking at the results as a collective I can see that the ident should have an overall theme of comedy and appeal to both genders, mainly female. Also, judging by the age range that watch E4 the most, i will make my ident have quite immature comedy, seeing as the age group that watch it the most are 18-24, so they are not quite fully matured yet.

Music Video Recipe

BTEC MEDIA WORK TASK 6/9/13 BEN DAVIS

70’s Music videos are generally just being filmed while on stage with tacky special effects. There are lots of pan and zoom shots of the lead singer and the other members of the bands. There is lots of duo singing through one microphone.

This is one of David Bowie's music videos. It mainly consists of Bowie singing and others with big hair and flair jeans. The set is just a stage and a dance floor where the audience are dancing to the music.

80's Music videos tend to me a mixture of the singers on stage and a story being told whilst the singer is singing. They began to experiment and started using more special effects than the previous decade. However, there is still the cheesy smile and dancing.

However, in this Michael Jackson music video it tells more of a story than just watching him sing, which was quite revolutionary for the 80's.

90's Music videos became more and more abstract, using different methods of filming and coincidentally making the videos as memorable as the song itself. Most of the 90's music videos had a story behind it. There was alot of new rap appearing in the music industry too, meaning there was a lot of generic rap conventions in the videos. Things like expensive cars, clothing and jewelry, attractive females wearing revealing clothing. This allured the male audience and was one of the main changes to music videos in the 90's.

Screenshot of Gangsta's Paradise, this song does lots of pan shots around the main singer and others in the music video. The lighting in this music video creates a darker atmosphere, which reflects the gangster theme.

In the 2000's there was a lot more story telling involved, for example, Britney Spears Baby One More Time is a very story telling music video. Costume and story-line became a priority in the music industry, as it seemed that the music videos were beginning to make the song more popular. So by giving the song a story-line and adding a video to portray it the sales of each song went up.

In the 2010 decade music videos are a lot more abstract, using different methods of filming for various strange effects. For example, the Katy Perry music video, Roar. The video is filmed from the perspective of the viewer, so it makes the view feel immersed in the experience of the video. Another example of a video being abstract is Naughty Boy song La La La. Lots of the shots are filmed as though they are from one of the characters first person perspective.

My Recipe

• I will need to have the lead singer singing in it, this is because for the past 60 years there has always been the singer as the focal point of the video. For example, in the 70's there was singers like Bowie who starred in all of his own music videos. In the 80's Michael Jackson was in his music videos, and so on. This will make the video have a main focus and the audience will have somebody to 'idolise'
• Needs a narrative to make the video more entertaining, this will make the video have more structure, so it will be easier to film and much more organised and entertaining. Also the story will need to have an abstract story, which will be more entertaining for the audience and get more views and sales.
• I will need to have an underlying theme that is conveyed throughout the music video, it should be linked to what is being said in the song.
• Although its going to have a storyline, I will try to make it as abstract as possible, this will make the audience want to know what is going on, and also much more memorable for them, therefore increasing the revenue the music video produces.
• There will be a large amount of dance within the music video, this is due to the fact that dance has played a huge part in music videos since the very beginning of them.
• There will be mild sexual referencing, this is something that have been used for the majority of music video history and is there primarily to open up the male audience range, thus increasing the revenue the music video will make.

180 Degree Rule and Rule of Thirds Analysis

The 180 Degree Rule is a basic filmmaker guideline on the on-screen positioning of the characters in the scene. There is an imaginary line, called the axis, this is where the actors would stand. By doing this, no matter where the camera is on that arc, the first character will always be frame right of the second character. This is important for the film maker because they can then portray different sides of a story in the same scene. An example of this is Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings films, where Gollum has a conversation with himself. The use of the 180 degree rule in this scene helps the director show Gollums different characteristics, so when he is playing the good Gollum he faces left, and when he is the bad gollum he faces right.

Rule of Thirds is where there is a 3 x 3 grid over an image. This has 9 equal squares which help to place the certain aspects of the image. For example, in a scene where two characters are speaking, they don't necessarily have to be in the same take as each other. What the film maker would do is film the characters at different times, but have on on the far side of the left grid, and the other on the far side of the right grid. On the right is a landscape shot of a tree. The grid shows how the camera has taken the image and made the tree and the other main parts of the image fit into the 9 squares. The significance of using the Rule of Thirds is really shown when it comes to close ups of someones face. When taking a close up shot of a face, people use the rule of thirds to make sure that the face is proportionate to the shot, and that certain facial features are in the right part of the grid. For example, someones nose would normally be within the centre of the grid, and if that is the case then the shot is most likely centre.

2. E4 Style Guide

Single or Multi-Camera Technique analysis

Ok Go - This Too Shall Pass

In this music video Ok Go used single camera techniques for the whole video. Also, they only needed to have one take to get the whole video, which means that there was next to no editing work to be done on the video, only to add the music over the top. The video is very complex as lots of things are happening in rapid succession, all leading onto a further reaction.

Wu-Tang Clan - Gravel Pit

This music video uses multi-camera techniques to get full effect of the surroundings. There would be a lot of editing involved, this is because it is set in 2,000,000BC so they added things like dinosaurs and other prehistoric aspects. The video is six minutes long, so thats another reason there would be lots of editing. The multi camera techniques benefit this music video because it makes it more dynamic and entertaining.
 

Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine

This music video displays the use of single camera techniques. Only one camera is used thorough the whole video, being passed around the band in the car. This means they only used one take for the entire video, however they had a black and white filter on it, therefore there had to be some editing on the video. The use of single camera techniques is effective here as it shows a dynamic view of the car and is entertaining.

32. History of BBC and Channel 4 Idents

History of BBC

1964 - This is the first BBC ident, it consisted a globe rotating on a white background. The caption used to be BBC T.V but they changed it in 1964.

1966 - This ident now had a watch strap theme, where the globe was in the middle of a strip, which appeared to be a watch strap. The caption changed to BBC 1

1969 - This is the first colour ident that was introduced to BBC. A blue and black mechanical globe rotated, and behind it a curved mirror made up the ident image.

1972 - Pretty much the same as the 1969 BBC ident, however, the caption was now italic and rounded.

1978 -  The theme of the globe rotating with a backboard of a 2D map of  remained but the colour scheme changed to yellow and blue, it was added using electronics and the caption was bold.

1981 - Yet another colour change was introduced, but the theme stayed the same. Green became yellow, and the font of BBC 1 changed to a double line.

1985 - In 1985 the BBC ident changed significantly, calling it COW, which meant, Computer Originated World, it was the first time BBC had abandoned the use of mechanical object for their ident.

1991 - The COW globe was changed to a new on-screen image designed by Lambie-Nairn. The design was a swirling world of shadows and reflections.

1997 - The new style of BBC ONE ident was a hot air balloon which was a globe. It was filmed flying over 10 different British locations.

2002 - This BBC ident is rather revolutionary in terms of the fact that it isnt a globe, but a gymnast doing a set of moves with some silk.

2013 - This is the newest type of ident for BBC one, with a new theme of circles and strange things making them, in this particular example, it is hippos swimming around and then forming a circle.

History of Channel 4 Idents

1999 - This was the start of a new ident era for Channel 4. With the orange background and the signature 4 with the specific font. There were other idents that were the same but with different backgrounds, such as a Red road, Cyan water, Purple trees, Red pulse and Red.

2002 - This was the signature ident for the 2002 Channel 4 idents. Containing a roaring dinosaur over a green background. The font of the 4 stayed the same as before.

2008 - This ident comes away from the generic style of ident, focusing more on the animated side of it, with the town of Springfield in the background with the number 4 moulded onto it.

2012 - This ident is one of the most recent idents. It contains what appears to be a large 4, which mirrors the surrounding skyscrapers that forms from separate pieces coming together over the ident.

By Ben Davis