2. Rock
Genre
In the majority of Rock music
videos and songs we find a lot of
the same conventions. Things like
the same sort of clothing, and
props and locations are the same.
I have been researching into the
music genre of Rock, and this
mind map is going to be showing
some of the key conventions we
find in an average rock song, and
music video. I am interested into
looking into the genre of Rock
because I have not looked into it
before, therefore it is testing my
skills and I am able to explore
different genres.
When watching music videos under
the category of rock we can see some
things that run throughout different
music videos of the same genre. Some
of the same things we find in Rock is;
that they are all mainly performance
videos.
Most of the time in rock music videos
we see their songs as being quite
aggressive, and it comes across this
way through the use of mise-en-
scene, as we can tell by their use of
body language.
Rock musicians and bands are often
located in typical places like on top
of roof’s, stages, and carparks.
Their songs are sometimes mostly
about sex, drugs, and alcohol.
In most of their music videos we can
see that the atmosphere is mainly
dark and dull, and it also entails a
dark content.
We can see that through the use of
mise-en-scene that they all wear
similar clothing like leather jackets,
ripped jeans and all have long hair.
Their music is very loud, and can be
sometimes classed as heavy metal.
They often use low key lighting or
sometimes natural lighting to get the full
grunge effect. This ties in well with the
types of locations, as they are most of the
time dangerous, and abandoned.
Some of their songs sing about their
range against authority, love ballads
and anger.
3. I have been looking at some different rock bands and artists,
and the ‘Ace of Spades’ is my first pick to analyse. This is the
first print screen showing one of the key conventions we find
in Rock genre styles of music videos. This music videos is not
an official music video, but it is a video of them performing.
They key convention shown in this is the use of props, being
the microphone and the guitars and drums. I am going to be
picking out specific examples throughout the music video of
what I think are key conventions of the music video, and how
it makes that specific music video that certain genre.
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades: Analysis
This print screen shows one of the key conventions
that I have established in my mind map; which is the
persona and looks about the actual artists
themselves. In this image we can see that the band
members all share similar haircuts, which could be
reinforcing the idea of because they are a Rock band
they all need the same hair cut, to give them that star
image and effect when people look at them. Also the
lighting in this image is dull, again reflecting on
some of the key conventions. Also we can see the
location of it being on a stage.
We can see through the use
of props that they are again
living up to their genre of
music, with it being rock. The
music itself is fast, loud and
sounds aggressive. They are
wearing black clothing and
we can see the dark
background, with some
srtificial lighting, but most of
it is dark and dull.
4. AC/DC - Rock or Bust: Analysis
From this video of AC/DC
we can see that they also
fulfil the typical
conventions of the Rock
genre, even from first
glance. They are set up on
a stage, and are
performing to the
surrounding audience.
Even from 20 seconds into
the performance we have
already heard what kind of
music we will be expected
to hear from them, as it it
loud, sound aggressive
and shouty. Even though
the setting is a concert we
can see the dark
atmosphere surrounding
them and the dull lighting.
Their songs sing about
sex, drugs and alcohol a
lot, again living up to their
expectations of what we
would find in an average
music video for the genre
of rock. We can see the use
of props, which is shown
the mise-en-scene, as we
can see the use of drums,
guitars and microphones -
which all connotes to the
idea of it being loud and
kind of like heavy metal.
Through the music video
we get a sense of the
bands fashion taste, which
is typically the leather
jacket, and ripped jeans
look, to fulfil their
conventions.
Although this setting is not staged, and it has been filmed
from some sort of concert we can still get the feel that it is a
rock band because of them being on a stage.
5. Bon Jovi - It’s My Life: Analysis
Bon Jovi are a popular Rock band,
who are very popular in the charts. I
am going to be looking at their song -
‘It’s My Life’. I think this song shows
them as a group and what they do.
We can see this through the many
angles and shots that they are a rock
band, and this music video fulfils
different conventions of the rock
genre. Firstly, the location of the
video is on a stage, but at the same
time we see a narrative going on in
the background; we see a young boy
wanting to go and watch the band
close by, and then we see snippets of
the band performing. This shows
what they actually do in real life;
showing that they are a typical rock
band.
Throughout the video we see what
kind of fans Bon Jovi attract, which
is mainly middle aged people and
young adults. We can tell that from
the first glance the band could be
rebellious types of people as their
music is loud and they do not seem
to care about how loud it is, also they
don’t really have a set uniform in
comparison to someone like Katy
Perry who always has a pristine outfit
to wear. They all have long-ish hair,
which again implies the conventions
of the rock genre.
