Style and Conventions of Music Videos and Post Modern Styles Task 2B

Style and Conventions of Music Videos and Post Modern Styles

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

 Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. Performance in rock videos, Choreography in Indie and Pop music videos)



 Andrew Goodwin's theory suggests that music videos within a specific genre will  demonstrate certain characteristics, most modern music videos typically demonstrate genre characteristics. This can be done to amplify and convey meaning within the video. However, the main reason why it is done is to sell the image of the artist and promote the music, which sells more to the audience.


This is an example of a music video that demonstrates it's genre conventions. Hip Hop music videos tend to have the artist performing. They also tend to include low angles. These are particularly used in Hip Hop videos to make audience believe that the artist has a high status. , Hip Hop music videos also include the artist wearing designer clothing or mainstream brands. This is clearly highlighted in this music video as the clothing of the artists are modern and mainstream. Because of this, it is easy for the audience to identify it as a hip hop video which is a way of promotion for the artist.

 A Relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).

Goodwin's theory also suggests that some music videos create a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The purpose of this is to amplify the music video. The video below is an example of this. In this video, Jessie J is talking about money, this is later visualized  and showed in the video at (1:00) where dollar notes can be seen growing on a tree. The purpose of this is that it gives a sense of hyper reality.

 Relationship between the music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).

This is when there is a relationship between the music and the visuals. This is particularly done to emphasize the concept of the music video or to visualize a deeper/hidden meaning.  Conceptual videos tend to use this method. The video below is an example of this.

Frequency reference to notions of looking and voyeuristic 

Notions of looking is a way of looking through something or something that is related to the idea of looking. The video below is an example of a music video that includes voyeurism because women are sexualised in this music video as they are wearing provocative clothing. Because of this it appeals to the nature and theme of the song.

Demands of record labels for close-ups

Most artists that are signed with major labels demand close ups. The reason why they do this is because they want the audience to know that the artist has that star image. The purpose of this is so that the audience can identify them more which appeals more and 'sells'.

0.  In-concert music video
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2. The purpose of in-concert music videos  is to sell concert tickets. These types of music videos tend to encourage fans to buy tickets as they will want to have the full experience that is shown in the video. This is an example of in concert and as-live footage. As you can see it consists of the artist preforming on stage just as if it was a live performance. The people who watch this video and be encouraged to by concert ticket as they will want to watch it live.

0. (Arctic Monkey- do i wanna know)

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0. B) interpretive 
   
   
   A music video may also be interpretive which describes a relationship between the lyrics and the on screen visuals. There are two types of interpretive music videos.  illustrative is one. This is when the on screen visuals demonstrate the actual lyrics of the song. Interpretive is the other.This means something that looks like something else, but has a different meaning. Interpretive music videos are normally ambiguous and encourage the audience to make their own interpretation of what they think the music video is about. This video is a example of an interpretive music video as the video does not have a clear meaning  This means that the audience has to interpret their own meaning on the video as it isn’t made clear where she is or why she is there.

(Foster the people- call it what you want)

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   D) Impressionist (Conceptual)
   
   Another type of music video is known as impressionist or conceptual. This is basically when the purpose of the music video is to create meaning. This meaning doesn't tend to relate to the song and a lot of the time it consists of montage used to create meaning. An example of a music video that does this is Sia's elastic heart, which despite being about her relationships, consists of a little girl being pursued by a older man. Both of these characters are suppose to represent the two different sides of the singer and she tends to use this approach in most of her music videos.
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   E) Referencing (Intextuality)
   
   Intextuality or referencing, in terms of a music vide, is when the music video referencing to another piece of media as a base for the video. An example of a music video that uses this is Robbie Williams' 'You know me.' This makes constant reference to the book and film, 'Alice in Wonderland.' This is by the fact that the entire video is a dream and he is dressed up as the rabbit from the film. This is a good way of selling another product. People will see the video and wonder about the original product which will allure them into watching it.
   
    
   
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10. Post modern styles
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14. PASTICHE
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16. A pastiche music video is a video that imitates or copies features such as techniques, themes and styles of another original music video. This music video is an example of a pastiche music video. This video is called "You Always find me". This video uses a 80s themed party, with retro clothing, in a modern environment. This video is made interesting as the two guys travel from kitchen to kitchen through cupboards, through fridges and using draws as a stairway up to the next kitchen. Also toward the end of the video the artists appear to be dancing on the kitchen ceiling. This also gives the video more appeal and makes it unique.
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8. ANIMATION 
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13.  Animated music videos are videos that are animated to tell a story. These types of videos can be CGI animated (Computer Generated Images) or 2D animated.  In most animated music videos,  footage is not used. The narrative for a animated music video can be linear or non- linear. The purpose of a animated music video  is to convey a special message. One example of an animated music video is "Rock Mafia- Fly or Die". This music video uses a combination of 2D and CGI animation to complement the song and tell a story. It does not use any actually real footage.This video can also be seen as a conceptual music video. Conceptual music videos can include both performance and narrative aspects. Usually, conceptual videos are based around a surreal, poetic idea. This idea usually grabs the audience’s attention and draws them in. Songs within the indie genre tend to use a mixture of bright and dark colours in their music videos. The fact that both bright and dark colours such as black, red, orange and blue are used in the video, shows that this is a convention of indie music videos. The lyrics of the song relate to the visuals in the video. The video and song are telling the same story. The story is that a village has been attacked and raided by an evil Dictator/tyrant. The dictator and his army have taken control and destroyed most of the village.

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6. NARRATIVE
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8. A narrative music video is a video that tells a story. The audience will often follow the story whilst listening to the song. The narrative can be linear or non- linear. The purpose of a narrative music video is to convey a message. Narrative music videos differ to interpretive music videos, in that the narrative does not need to follow the lyrics of the song. The music video below is an example of a narrative video. As you can see the video is telling a story about a young couple that are going through a breakup. 
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0. (Calvin Harris- Bounce)

1. HYPER-REALITY (Surrealism)
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3.  Videos that incorporate hyper- reality are videos that use unconventional images that the audience does not anticipate. These types of videos include the distortion and over exaggeration of certain situations and notions. Hyper- realism is used in most music videos. The idea behind these videos is to immerse the viewers in a unrealistic world. Videos that use hyper- reality are often memorable to the audience. The video above is an example of a hyper-reality video.
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11. PARODY
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13. A parody music video is a video that is created with the intention to be humorous. This is often done by exaggerating features of the original video or changing features such as the lyrics. Parodies are often an imitative work and can be created to mock, comment on, or trivialize the original music video. The music video below,"DRAKE- HEADLINES parody" is an example of a parody music video. In this music video, the appearance of the original artist and the lyrics of the song are being mocked. in the video it clearly shows the lyrics at the bottom. The purpose of parody music videos is to create a comedic effect. Videos that include comedic and humorous aspects often go viral. This is one reason why some artists create parody music videos.
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8. Performance 
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10. A performance music video is a video that features the artist or group singing (lip syncing) The purpose of this kind of music video is to give the audience and fans a in-concert experience.Some artists use footage from their real live performance rather than a staged one. The Audience and fans  generally enjoy these music videos as they want to see the artist playing the song rather than just hearing it. One example of a performance music video is "The weeknd- losers".
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9. Homage and Allusion 
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11. Homage music videos are often created by artists, to pay respect to another artist, music video style or film and TV series that has influenced them. This reference can be noticed by the audience and can encourage them to engage with the original video. One music video that has homage elements is Michael Jackson's  Smooth Criminal. The music video pays homage to the costumes and scenery used in a scene in the film The Band Wagon  (Minnelli, 1953).
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14. (Michael Jackson- Smooth Criminal)
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0. (The Band Wagon film ,1953)

Another example, of a homage music video is logic- super Mario world. In this video, Logic pays tribute to Nintendo, Super Mario and Satoru Iwata, the creator of some of Nintendo's iconic video games. An allusion is when references are used in a music video, such as when it refers to a person, place, an historic event that happened in the past or present. It could be fairly obvious or discreet but either way, many music videos feature allusions.