By Kaylee Heckford

1. GENRE
CONVENTIONS
IN MUSIC
VIDEOS
BY KAYLEE HECKFORD

2. A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of
music as belonging to group of conventions or codes. The proliferation of
popular music in the 20th century has led to over 1,200 definable subgenres
of music which means a lot of these conventions overlap. There are many
common conventions that help define what an audience expects to see
when watching a video from a particular band. Popular music is designed for
mass distribution to large and often socio-culturally varied groups of
listeners, so music labels try and encourage their artists to fit into certain
preconceived conventions in order to make it easier for the audience to
identify and purchase music. Knowing the genre of a music video helps a
director clearly define a style that the band will be happy with and the
audience can recognise. Audiences become familiar with codes and
conventions of a genre, it provides a structure they are familiar with and can
easily understand. I will discuss 4 main genres of music; Pop, Hip-Hop,
Rock and Dance but due to audiences becoming more diverse in their music
tastes, these conventions will often overlap.

3. Pop music is usually quite fast paced with cuts and
edits in time with the beat. A lot of fast and colourful
images are seen within pop music videos, normally
with some form of choreography that tells the story
of the lyrics. They tend to follow a straight forward
narrative where the video acts out what the song is
describing. Pop videos focus on iconography as the
star is the centre and the artists are normally
presented in a seductive way to attract people to the
videos. There are a lot of close-ups of the performer
and male gaze is often used to encourage the
audience to look at the artist to draw their attention.
Pop artists are normally dressed in bright,
fashionable clothing and the videos are often
interspersed with long shots of lavish settings to
demonstrate their wealth, resulting in members of the
audience idolising them and wanting to have their
lifestyle. Pop videos tend to be aimed at teenagers so
a lot of the themes used involve love, sex and parties.
Product placement is often used within these videos
as such a wide variety of people will watch them so
advertisers will benefit from it. Using product
placement draws more publicity to a product so if it
appears in a popular music video by an artist
members of the audience look up to and want to be
like, they are more likely to want to purchase this
product to feel closer to the artist.
POP
Taylor Swift
The Wanted

4. In this genre of music video, the artist
normally uses direct address in a staged and
unnatural setting rather than having a
narrative or performing on stage. Many low
angles and close ups are used which makes
the artist appear to be powerful over the
audience. They tend to be wearing lots of
expensive jewellery, urban clothing and are
often surrounded by women wearing
provocative outfits to attract a male audience.
This shows off their prestige and wealth
which would encourage the audience to want
to be like them. Slow songs usually include
slow cuts and more sepia tones and effects,
whereas fast songs typically use fast cuts and
bright colours. The main themes tend to be
darker with cars, money, women and violence.
HIP-HOP
Puff Daddy
50 Cent
Puff Daddy
Puff Daddy
50 Cent
Puff Daddy

5. Rock music videos differ greatly as there are many
subgenres within it. Overall, rock songs tend to follow a live
performance style or have an imaginative story that doesn’t
always follow the lyrics but reflects the atmosphere of the
song. With these types of videos, it is like the audience is
being taken on a journey with the band and can get to know
the members on a more personal level which creates a bind
between the artist and the audience. There are a range of
editing techniques used in rock videos including slow shots
and fast cuts. The camera angles tend to be quite edgy and
the symbolism is normally quite dark. Dance routines are
not usually present within rock videos as any performance
of the band will usually be them playing their instruments in
front of the crowd and they often show a some kind of
performance of the band performing even if it is more of a
narrative video. The artists wear what is associated with
their sub-genres which normally involve tattoos, piercings,
dark clothing, different hair colours or styles which is
reflected in the target audience.
ROCK
Nirvana
AC/DC

6. DANCE
Daft Punk
Aphex Twin
In dance music videos, cuts and transitions are
usually fast paced and fit in with the music.
The videos tend to involve bright colours or a
very abstract story line. They don’t tend to
focus on the DJ unless they are showing them
at a live gig in which case they are shown in
front of the crowd with long shots used to
show audiences having fun. Narrative dance
videos they tend to follow a story that matches
the pace of the music and relates to the theme.
This genre of music videos are the biggest
users of concept videos due to the abstract
sounds and beats that fit well with this style.
They use a lot of pop conventions as they’re
often tend to be guest vocalists and feature in
pop songs. The themes of these videos centre
around dancing and having a good time and
also employs a lot of animated videos.