Research: GENRE- Conventions of music videos

A typical conventions of this video-
Typical Locations- This music video is all shot on one location which happens to be in a studio. This is because shooting in a studio makes it cheaper and more easier to plan a story board since it would be all shot in one location instead of shot outdoors where it would involve planning to have all the team and equipment in different settings. In Lady Gaga's Bad Romance music video, we see that the settings of each scene are different because the video is trying to make it look interesting and not boring since it shot all in one location which is in a studio.

Typical Characters- In the video, it is obvious who portrays the protagonist, and that would be Lady Gaga because she is the main character and the main artist of this song.

Typical Mise-en-scene (Iconography) - This always depends on the genre of music but if you have seen Lady Gaga's style and individuality from other pop stars, but it is almost similar to artists like Michael Jackson who love to portray their brand image by wearing outrageous outfits and brilliant performances with their dancers and their movement on camera.

Lady Gaga's clothing is white and high fashion. The white is supposed to be emphasising purity and cleanliness of her character she is playing. Her costumes have a unique style about them by the detail with diamonds, metal and fur to catch the audience's attention because Lady Gaga is well known for her bizzare outfits. Lady Gaga also wears red to symbolyse love, red is often used in music videos because most songs are about love and heart break such as Rihanna's song 'Only girl in the world'


The men in this video are wearing black because it is supposed to represent a darkness in their characters or they could be seen as the bad guys in this video who buy women for money. Black clothing also indicates theres a bit of rock theme in the air and maybe a sense of evil as well. Lady Gaga wears white just like her dancers but her outfit particularly has an accessory to make sure that the audience knows who is the main character in this video. Female artists wear white to show innocence and purity because those factors are carried forward when a woman wears a wedding dress. Lady Gaga performance is strong and bold but also presents the male gaze since we see her posing naked in dark lighting. Laura Mulvey came up with the term 'Male Gaze' in 1975 and referred to it as 'Visual pleasure in Narrative Cinemas' Many female artists do this so they can portray a male audience as well as female audience. This is because Females can be seen as objects and there for the pleasure of men; to be looked at. A fragmentation of curves, boobs, bum and legs draws in a male audience. Female Pop artists use dancers and include themselves to dance as well such as other Pop artists like Beyonce and Katy Perry it is a typical factor for a Pop genre.
  
The setting of the music is shot in a studio which is another typical convention. The setting is white and can be used as a backdrop to make the artist stand out more.

Typical Narratives- In Lady Gaga's video, her song is about Bad Romance which is an alternative narrative but at the end of the video evil still never prevails and that love always concures when we see that the bad guy is dead and Lady Gaga has won her freedom.

Typical Media Language:

• Cinematography- Close ups are often used in music videos to portray the main character and focus all the attention on the star artist. Medium to long shots are used to show the dancers in pop videos which is seen often such as Beyonce's song 'Rule the world (Girls)'
• Lighting- The lighting is high key but this could be because since everything is white, the light is bouncing off and making the light more vibrant and brighter in the studio. High Key lighting is used because most pop music video dont want to look depressing and dull, they want to make them look bright and exciting for the viewers eyes. In this video the lighting is also low key and dark to emphasise there is a dark side to this video and that Lady Gaga is trapped in darkness.
• Editing- The editing is fast paced because the tempo of the song is upbeat song so the editing needs to match the pace of the song. Often pop videos would be fast paced because it is music for people to dance to, which often include dancers in the actual musis video itself. This is another typical convention of a music video.

Typical Conventions of this music video-
Typical Locations- This is a typical location because like the last video, it is all shot in a studio because it cheaper and more easier to film in one location. The difference with this video is that all setting is digital which means that the studio was a huge green screen room. This made the video interesting to watch and the setting suited the song and its genre by looking futuristic and urban.

Typical Characters- In this music video, the genre is grime and British Hip Hop which has developed from  R&B and you can see they look similar by their dress code and colour scheme i.e. Sunglasses. Tinie Tempah and Labrinth are the main characters because they both sing this song and no one else is involved since they want the camera to focus all for attention on them.

Typical Mise-en-scene (Iconography)- This will always depend on what type of music genre that will come across the audience when they watch this video. In this video, it is displaying a Grime and British Hip Hop genre because the music is new and urban and it is in the charts. Rapping is involved which shows that it has developed from R&B. The clothing they wear is dark because like other male R&B artists they wear dark clothing such as leather jackers, expensive branded clothing and the most important accessory is a pair of sunglasses so the men can look sexy and cool to their women audience. 
 <<<Usher
The colour scheme is mainly black, white and grey but Grime artists have more of unique style by dressing more urban and stylish. Tinie Tempah wear glasses and sunglasses like Buddy Holly which is the opposite of R&B style and both artists in the video wear tighter clothes unlike R&B artist wear baggier clothes. The artist haircut are a clean cut and they look well groomed which another typical factor in this Grime music video. 
  Tinie Tempah's and Buddy Holly's glasses and Tinie Tempah's tight fitted clothing instead of baggy clothing. 
  Chris Brown's baggy clothing
In this video the artist jump up and down and use hand gestures as they sing because it is a typical thing for R&B artists to do and this is where the similarities occur between Grime and R&B artists. The artists swagger to the camera up close where their face or hands are in the full view of the camera, this is typical because the artist wants the audience full attention and look more important.

Typical Narratives-  In R&B and Grime music videos, they do not usually have a narrative in it because the videos don't focus on narrative but mainly focus on advertising their artist and their music. They make videos showing the artist having fun and getting all the girls and splashing out the money they have such as having expensive cars and branded clothing.

Typical Media Language:

• Cinematography- In R&B music videos, the camera focuses on the artist and no one else because they want to make them center of attention. The camera is shot at a low angle because its to make the artist look big and  important for their audience. This angle also gives out a sex appeal for men by making them look cool and smooth for the camera. Medium camera shots are presented to show their body language to the camera and to its audience. The artists bounce up and down and use hand movements in front of the camera, this is to forward their body language by looking more confident.

• Lighting- The lighting is bright and not dark or dull unless they were in a club such as R&B music videos for example, Usher - DJ got us fallin' in Love. The lighting is bright because the green screen needs to have bright lighting for the background effects to work. Other music videos have used green screening for the entire music video such as JLS- Eyes wide shut. Also another reason why the lighting is bright because the artists cant be in shadows or a dark light since it would not be selling their brand image and the light makes them look more clear and eye catching to their audience. This is typical lighting for a music video.

• Editing- In this video editing has been used quite frequently mainly because they have used green screening and want to make their visual effects more interesting since it is shot all on one location. The visual effects are matched to the beat of the song and the pace of the song. It is almost like you are watching the sound of the music perform in the visual effects. The pace of editing is fast which is typical because Grime and R&B songs are not slow paced songs so their videos will not be slow as well. 

Just to let you know this is not the original video because the original did not have the embed code so I found this video however it display lyrics at the bottom. 


Typical Location- The typical location would be in a studio but in this video the studio looks larger than other music shoots since the setting is different and a lot of long shots are presented in this music video. In Rock music videos there always seems to be a narrative and they really concentrate on how the location should be set out so it goes with their song. In this location, Rock videos show more detail and complexibily, by showing the land of the dead in this video and away from civilisation.

Typical Characters- The typical characters of this video is the band members but the camera usually focuses on the lead singer. Other typicals characters are used in rock music videos such as the extras to fufil the narrative or actors to fufil the story line. In this video you have the dying father which is the actor and the extras as people walking in the black parade. Other rock videos have used actors to fulfill their story lines such as Green Day - 'Wake me up when september ends'


Typical Mise-en scene- A Rock music video is typical for wearing dark colours such as white, black, grey and even red. This is so they represent their music genre and make it clear what type of genre music they are. Green Day and KISS.
  << KISS
In this video, My Chemical Romance wear marching band outfits because it suits well with the song as it is about a parade. But it is typical for a rock band to emphasise their song choice by the outfits they wear and also it creates a brand image for them, just like KISS and Green Day. My Chemical Romance wear black, white, grey and red but now MCR have changed their brand image to more of a pop art style because times have changed and by doing this it would be making them a new brand image and more appealing to different types of audiences such as Indie based audiences.

The setting is typical because you would expect the setting to be dark and gloomy to suit the music genre which happens to be rock. During the parade you see that everything around it has been destroyed and the ashes are flying around in the air so that could contributes why the video is dustie and smokie. All the extras are dressed like the walking dead and the part of the parade. The video is about death and you see this when the father passes away in his hospital night wear, surrounded by nurses and doctors and you can sense death in the video and the lyrics give it away too. The setting is also in a hospital and the walls fall down as soon as he passes away and enters the afterlife where the band and the parade are playing in the destroyed wreckage. In my personal opinion the destroyed wreckage made the band and the extras stand out, this is so the audience focuses their attention on the main characters in this video. Other rock videos have used settings that look spaced out and the space looks empty around the members of the band such as 'Green Day- Boulevard of broken dreams' 

I've noticed a lot that in Rock music video when they are shooting their scenes, they go back and forth to the band and maybe the narrative whilst they sing, this could be because the band usually focuses on quality of the music video so it entertains the audience. The band acts crazy and wild when they play their instruments because Rock bands are known for acting wild and enthusiastic about their music since their songs are not slow, they are faced paced.


Typical Narrative- The narrative in this rock video is that they always seem to have a storyline or actors to fulfil their lyrics and be true to the song. In this video it is about when the father passes away and they get actors to fulfil the story line.

Typical Media Language-

• Cinematography- In this video, the camera shots are medium so they display the band member's body language since they are rock out whilst playing their music instruments and it makes the video more exciting rather than them just standing there and making no effort to impress their audience. This is another typical factor of cinematography for Rock music videos. Close up shots are presented in this video because a close up shot gives the audience that connection between the singer and the audience, this gives the audience the emotion of the band members, such as the lead singer's expression on his face and it looks angry and determined but this is how the band wants to come across for it's audience. The camera angle is a high angle and is looking down upon the band, this signals that the camera is looking down on the subject and the point of focus often gets "swallowed up" by the setting. High angle shots are usually used in film to make the moment more dramatic and I think that this is what the camera wanted to do, because the lead singer is still giving eye contract to the camera so you feel the sense of attachment with the lead singer. It could also suggest that it makes the figure or object seem vulnerable or powerless since the father's passed away. 

• Lighting- In this music video, the lighting is dark because rock bands do not want to show in their music videos a happy side and this would be influenced by the type of lighting. In the video the lighting is low key, this signals that rock bands would rather show more of depressing side in their music video because it reflects their brand image.  
• Editing- The editing in the music video is different from most genres because in the music videos the editing are concentrated more because you can see the time and effort that goes into this video. They use editing to make the footage of the film look old and faded which suggest it is in the past since the father has passed away and entering the afterlife. In the video they use a tunnel effect to open the video with, by fading in and fading out during the video which makes it look old and vintage. 

Typical Location- The typical location of this video would be in a studio since it easier to film and also cheaper as well. In Taylor Swifts videos we see that most of them are studio based but she uses different types of settings to enhance her brand image, which is suppose to be teenage life in southern America. She does use location shots to emphasize her narrative and since she her music country and pop which is different from Lady Gaga's version of pop but this could be due to her age; with her being so young and only a teenager.

Typical Characters- The typical characters are the princess, the hero and the villain, this is because in Taylor Swift video she usually sings about love in teenage life andh gives off an typical girl image in high school life. The video is almost like teen film where eventually the teenage girl gets her teenage sweet heart and this is where the typical characters enter in this music video and her brand image. Taylor is the hero because in the video she likes a boy but already has a girlfriend so her achievement would be when she and the boy are together as a couple and she has finally won her man. The villain is the girlfriend who dislikes her when Taylor becomes close to her boyfriend. The princess seems to be the boy because Taylor seems to rescue him from his horrible relationship with his current girlfriend and then he can be happy when Taylor and him are together at last.


Example of typical characters in teen movie, when at the end all the problems go away and the couple can finally be together. (Mean Girls)

Typical Mise-en-scene- The typical setting that influnces the clothing and colour sceem is that it is set in American and it is also set in high school, this is when teenagers start having feelings for that 'special somebody' It is also when Love starts to blossom. The setting is a typical american setting, by having an american high school, with american football, cheerleading, marching bands and proms.
    Typical American High School
Taylor Swift wears all sorts of clothes at the start because she is trying to be something she's not instead of being herself, this is so she can get her man. She also wears her marching band outfit because it suggests that she is the 'geek' whereas the boy is a jock and this also suggest there could be a clash of popularity status where the 'geeks' and 'jocks' don't mix and would never go out with each other in the future. Also Taylor Swift dresses up as the girlfriend, which suggests that this what she see through her point of view when girls are popular but they dont have a nice attitude to go with it. Taylor Swifts acts like a 'geek' because we believe that she once was and other artists like to show how their life once was in their music videos so this gives the audience a connection. She even dresses like one by wearing big glasses and even being dressed in her marching band outfit which is suggested to be unpopular to other people.

Taylor Swifts acts like a girl in love and whilst watching her you begin to see that the music video has a narrative and Taylor Swift is trying to be part of that as the main character which reflects her personality and her brand image, by not looking over the top unlike other pop artists. The video is almost like a fairytale when she goes to the dance in a long white dress and everyone stares at her and then she wins her man, it makes you think it's like a Cinderella story and its a happy ending. In this video you notice that the clothing are not dull or boring colours but that is because in teen films, we don't see a dull side to american teen films since it wouldn't be attracting the audience by not looking depressing. They use bright blue and white as the school colour for the marching band, cheerleading and the football outfits to give out that American feeling to their audience by including colours from the American flag and also that typical american high school has been brought out towards to the audience.

Typical Narrative- The narrative is typical because it is about love and it still carries out the same typical ending where Taylor Swift and the boy finally get together in the end, this happens in many teen films and pop videos like hers for example but it depends on how brand image since she is so young; you would imagine a girl her age to be loved up. The typical narrative is that love always prevails over evil, or love always concurs.

Typical Media Language- 

• Cinematography- The camera shots are medium and close up shots, because they want to show the audience Taylor body language as well as her emotions she presents. This is to show that she is a shy and not very confident girl in this video which appears on camera but this is part of the storyline and it's also most like a drama with the acting in the entire video; the body language needs to look believable to the audience. Also the camera is her own eyes when she is looking at the boy, this shot is a point of view shot and this suggest she wants the audience to see it through her eyes.
• Lighting- The lighting in this video is high key but it typical because in teen flicks and pop videos, the lighting is not dull, they want to make it bright and exciting for the audience so they see all the acting clearly. It is also to represent their brand image of the artist, for example dull lighting might suggest their brand image is rock whereas bright lighting suggest that it is pop or country. 
• Editing- The editing is basic in this video mainly because they are focusing on the narrative and they want to make it look like a story for the audience. The shots go back and forth to the boy and Taylor Swift to show two slides to the story this called Chronological editing which is continuity and seamless editing. Since the editing is slow paced unlike other videos, there is time for a narrative to be put in. This is typical editing when the video is displaying more of a narrative side than the usual pop videos. 

Aimee