q1a

1. Q1b: How did you use, develop or challenge genre conventions in your music
video?
On Soundcloud, the artist has uploaded the track ‘f e v e r’ under the tag #electronic.
Although I would agree with him, I do think this is quite a broad genre to categorise the
track and would describe the genre to belong more to Indie R&B also referred to as
Alternative R&B. What brings me to this conclusion is because of the distinct features in
the song such the driven synth melodies, echo-laden production and lyrical content.
Interestingly, I have found an online music forum where music fans have critiqued ‘Eyes
Like Switzerlands’ (ELS) music and found some information that will support my reasoning
for classifying him this genre. First of all, the title of the thread involves comparing ELS to
‘The Weeknd’ (who is renowned for popularising Alt. R&B in his early career). Most users
agreed in the closeness in sound to The Weekend, and one user called him ‘Alternative
R&B’. Therefore, I will classify our music video as Alternative R&B.
(Forum- http://www.kanyetothe.com/forum/index.php?topic=4362809.0)
Prominent artists within this genre are The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, FKA Twigs, Jhene Aiko
and Miguel. Alternative R&B origins come from Contemporary R&B, Indie rock, Hip-Hop,
and Electronic music. I would argue our chosen track ‘f e v e r’ uses more of an Electronic
sound than Hip-Hop or Indie Rock.
Alternative R&B is seen as a relatively new genre which broke into the mainstream around
2010. This generally means listeners tend to be quite young (teens and young adults), and
artists within this genre will try to appeal to them in various ways.
One way we develop codes and conventions of R&B music videos is through costume.
Typically men in R&B videos will be very fashion forward for example baggy jeans showing
off their designer boxers. Similarly, in our music video we had shots that focused on our
protagonists costume and him getting dressed to go out. Our character wears skinny
jeans, a hoodie and denim jacket. This is generally quite casual-wear for our supposed
target audience, which highlights the idea of a ‘youthful genre’. Another costume
convention is through the use of jewellery which tends to be more subtle than the use of it
in Hip-Hop (for example weighty gold chains and rings). In our music video, our main
character wears a thin silver necklace and a various rings which therefore develops the
convention of wearing low-key jewellery as seen in many R&B music videos.
(Our video) (Miguel- Coffee) (ZAYN - Pillowtalk)

2. On the other hand, we do break certain conventions of R&B music videos. A common
theme that stands out is that they are often sexual (showing males and females with little
clothing and often have provocative dancing), and such music videos will often make use
of the voyeuristic treatment of the female body (Goodwin). Our video does not conform to
this convention in any way, mainly because we felt the song would not fit with these kind of
visuals and also the lyrics do not contain any sensual meanings. In a way, by not having
this feature helped us put more focus on the song and narrative of the story we were
telling. Many R&B videos however do tend to have a grey tone to add to the mysterious
and sexual atmosphere. I believe our video does make use of this to create a more fitting
aesthetic for the music. For example, the intro is bright and clean, then the colour pallet
turns darker when it goes black and white and ends in a dim underground setting. We
therefore tried to take advantage of changing the colour and how this could affect the
mood of the video because we knew this was common in Alternative R&B.
In fact, black and white tends to be a common feature in Alternative R&B. I would argue
that its use is likely to help express emotion in songs by putting emphasise on facial
expressions. Alternative R&B tends to be more personal and slower than contemporary
R&B, and the use of black and white in our video helps reflect these themes.
When researching music videos, I found that it is very
common for R&B videos to have visuals that are illustrative
of the music. The shots will mainly cut on the kick drum
because it is the hardest hitting sound in the music- this
creates a stronger relationship between the visuals and
music (Goodwin). This can be seen in music videos within
the genre such as in ‘King of the Fall’ (The Weeknd) and
‘The Worst’ (Jhené Aiko). Because of this, when editing, I
ensured the shots synced with the music, which was used to heighten focus on the song
and help the viewer feel the music more.
Another convention our music video challenges from the R&B genre, is the fact that we
have a narrative-based music video rather than performance. Since R&B is known for its
distinctively smooth and lush vocal arrangements it is often a feature of the music video to
involve the artist lip-syncing to accentuate this feature of the music. The reason we didn't
go for this idea was simply because we felt the story we had come up with fit the song
better and therefore lip-syncing was not necessary. This does however, have limitations
because it creates confusion as to who the artist is- raising questions such as ‘is the
protagonist/actor the singer or is the singer someone else not in the music video?’. This
may be detrimental from an advertising point-of-view, but on the other hand, other artists in
the Alternative R&B genre such as The Weeknd, and FKA Twigs rose to their success from
being an enigmatic and mysterious figure who had little information on them in the onset of
their careers. (FKA Twigs even stated ‘When I first released music, no one knew what I
looked like’). This in way could be seen as a convention of the genre- the artists don’t seek
mainstream appeal (they are alternative) and therefore gain cult followings that may grow
from an enigmatic presence and sometimes reach mainstream appeal. Subsequently, it
could be argued that by not having the artist in our music video, develops this concept of
the genre.

3. Overall, it is difficult to distinctly classify our music video’s genre- today ‘the boundaries
between genres is shifting and becoming more permeable’ (Abercrombie), meaning, like
many new artists, it is unlikely Eyes Like Switzerland can be fit into one genre alone. The
disadvantage of this is for directors who will find this change difficult when producing music
videos for artists, can no longer replicate the conventions of a particular genre. This is
because ‘genre is a practical device that help to produce consistently and
efficiently’ (Gledhill).