Diversity of music videos

Diversity of music videos

A diverse music video is effective as the artists stand out from other music videos and catches the target audiences attention. A diverse music video allows the record label and the artist the freedom to be as creative as they want through various mise-en-scene elements as well as the narrative, performance and concept of the music video.
One artist that is known in particular for her diverse image is Lady Gaga. She is one of the most shocking artists within the music industry as she wears the most unusual costumes. One of which features a meat costume. This connotes to the audience the artists characteristics as her personality is portrayed through her work. Lady Gaga displays a recurring motif through her work which is shown through the media as well as her music videos. One music video of the artist  has created that is diverse is 'telephone' featuring Beyonce. Locations in the video consist of a prison in which the narrative goes on to inform the audience that the artist poisons and kills people. This subverts a generic pop music video as it shows the artist to be bad and dangerous. She is also see to be wearing costumes that displayed voyeuristic treatment of the females body. This portrays her diverse image and values as rebellious to the audience.

What makes music videos unique:

• Different settings 
• Costume and Make-up
• Props
• Characteristics
• Themes/concepts
• Mise-en-scene
• Censorship

Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry are both directors who are known for making diverse music videos. They both subvert stereotypical genre characteristics and create unique videos that differ from other mainstream music videos. None of the music videos they have created conform to the generic conventions of a music video. Chris Cunningham is a british director who is known for directing Madonna's song 'Frozen' and for directing 'Windowlicker' by Aphlex Twin.

Chris Cunningham - 'Frozen' by Madonna

                                                                           

The music video appears to be more Gothic opposed to a pop music video due to the dark colours that are used. Not only does the video consist of dull colours but Madonna is seen to be wearing a long black dress with black hair. This subverts the conventions of a pop music video making it diverse. A contrast between the colours are shown as her skin is pale white like she is 'frozen' compared to her black costume. The music video also displays conventions of a horror through location and editing techniques. It video is set in a middle of the desert in which she transforms in animals such as birds.  This shows diversity as no other pop music video does this.   This music video is unrealistic and subverts from the conventional costumes you would expect to see in a pop music video and therefore it is considered to be diverse.  

The music conforms to Goodwin's theory as there is evidence of demands of the record label of close ups of the artist. This is seen to be evident in the music video as close up camera shots are used throughout the music video. This is effective as it enables the audience to see the artists facial expressions and therefore the audience are able to build up a relationship. There is further evidence of Goodwin's theory in the music video as there was a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. When the artist sings 'Love is a bird, she needs to fly' the artist is seen to transform in to a number of birds. This is symbolic that you cant hide from love which suggests she feels the person is doing.This is seen as unique and unrealistic subverting from the stereotypical conventions of a pop music video.

In the video i would say that 90% is performance based and 10% is narrative based. This is because even though there is no themes in the video Madonna transforms into different types of animals such as birds or even a dog which is the only illustrations of narrative within the music video. The majority of the music video consisted of the artist looking directly into the camera performing the song.

Through mise-en-scene features such as make up, Madonna is represented as being frozen relating to the title of the song. This is due to the connotations of her being pale white. She is also represented to be very Gothic through her costume. Her hair, clothes, jewelry etc are all black with is conventional to goths.The colours are effective in contributing to a dark eerie atmosphere highlighting that the artists emotions of being sad and depressed. Also the artists representation is shown through slow paced editing which further coincides that she is frozen.

Chris Cunningham - 'Windowlicker' by Aphex Twin

Cunningham created a short story as the music video lasts for 10 minutes long. The music video is dance/techno music genre however it shows thriller/ horror characteristics. The music video has been edited to place men's faces on women's bodies. This is bizarre and unusual making the music video diverse. This could be seen as disturbing to some viewers and therefore it may limit the target audience.


The music video shows evidence of one of Goodwin's points as there was a link between the music and the visuals through editing. In the middle of the video a guy got out of a limousine and started dancing with an umbrella which was parallel to the beat of the music. Camera shots alternated coinciding with the beat of the music creating a continuous flow. There is also evidence of voyeuristic treatment of the females body. Even though the the characters consist of men having female bodies, they women are seen to be wearing revealing clothing. One scene that feature in the music video is the dominant male character is performing on the beach with a group of females dressed in bikinis. This therefore is effective in broadening there target audience as it attracts a larger male target audience. Due to the music video being disturbing and diverse the range of audience is very limited.


The structure of the video was 100% narrative based. The music video has a beginning where the two men arguing in the car, It then goes on to show a man get out of a  limousine and starts dancing with two other women. In the middle of the music video it feature the man and two women in the back of the limousine driving to the beach. At the end of the music video a scene is shown when the group of people arrive at a beach. This consists of the dominant male dancing with a group of women. This isn't considered as a performance as the male is not the artist, and the song doesn't have any lyrics to sing to. Therefore there is no representation of the artist in this music video as the artist doesn't appear.

The second diverse director is Gondry. He is a  french director who is known for creative diverse abstract music videos. He directed a music video for Kylie Minogue 'Come into my world' as well as 'Hardest Button to push' by The White Stripes.  In both music videos he subverts the generic conventions of the music genres therefore making them diverse standing out from other mainstream music videos.

Michael Gondry- 'Come into my world' by Kylie Minogue 

The music video is set in Paris where you see Kylie Minogue walking around the streets. This is unconventional to the pop gender as usually the artists are shown to have a glamour life style instead of  'the girl next door'. Through mise-en-scene elements such as costume the artists images portrays her to be ordinary. Therefore the music video conforms to Dyers Star theory. The narrative of the music video consists of the artist continuously walking around the same path in which a new version of the artist would enter her world; this relates to the title of the song. Each time the artist goes around the loop something different would change in the background. This is seen as diverse as it is unusual to see more that one version of the artist performing in the music video and therefore subverts from the stereotypical pop convention. It also shows that the music resembles an independent music video.

There is evidence of Goodwin's theory as there is a link between the lyrics and the visuals in the music video. When Kylie sings 'come into my world' another Kylie would enter the screen repeating the walk she just did. Also something else would double in the screen such as a ladder. This technique continues throughout the video. There is also further evidence of the demands of the record label. When performing there was close up camera shots showing the artist singing to the lyrics of the song. This is effective as it enable to audience to see the artists facial expressions allowing them to build up a relationship with the artist.

I would say that 80% of the music video is performance based and only 20% is narrative based. This is because throughout the video Kylie is walking around the streets of Paris singing her song whilst directly looking at the camera. The narrative is evident as each time a new Kylie enters something would change in the back group. An example would be there was more than one person shouting from the window or a additional ladder was added to the scene.

The artist has been represented as 'the girl next door' through her costume and props. Kylie is seen to be wearing casual clothes such as jeans and a top. She is also seen to be picking  up her dry cleaning like an ordinary person. This is unconventional in a pop video and therefore makes it diverse.


Michael Gondry- 'The hardest button to button' by The white stripes

Gundry created a alternative rock video which consisted of the artist playing the drums and guitar around the streets and even in a train station. This subverts the conventions of a rock genre video as usually they are seen to be playing at a gig rather than a deserted location. However the artists are seen to be wearing black and red which are both colour that are conventional to the rock music genre.


There is evidence of Goodwin's theory in this music video as there is a correlation between the music and visuals. Each time there is a beat another instrument would appear next to the previous one until there is a line of them down the street or at the station. This is effective as the camera shots would alternate parallel to the beat of the song. The music video consists of straight cuts creating a edgy jumpy video. This shows are correlations between the music and the visual as each time the beat changed it coincided with the straight cuts.

I would say that the music video is 100% performance based as there is no story to the video its just the artist playing the instruments though out video however just in different deserted locations. Therefore the audience are only able to build a relationship through the performance based as there is no narrative or concept to the video. This is diverse from other music videos which usually consist of 60% performance and 40% narrative based.

The artist is seen to be wearing a typical 'rock' outfit. They were seen to be wearing jeans and tops that consisted of the colours black and red. These are generic conventions in the rock genre.

• How do the music videos conform/ not conform to generic conventions?

Neither of the Cunningham's music videos conform to the generic conventions. In 'Frozen' by Madonna, she subverts typical pop conventions such as showing her to have a glamours pop style lifestyle or wearing fashionable clothing. Instead her music video is diverse as it appears to be Gothic and almost horror related. In the second music video 'windowlicker' by Aphex Twin, they also show diversity through editing. They transform women to have men's faces which is unusual and thriller/horror like. 

Neither of Gondrys music videos conformed to the generic conventions of their music genre. In Kyle Minogues music video 'Come into my world' she was represented as an ordinary person who had an ordinary lifestyle. This subverts the pop conventions as she isn't seen to be glamorous. In the other music video 'hardest button to button' by the White Stripes, they were seen to be performing in deserted locations. This also subverts generic conventions of a rock video as they are usually seen to be performing at a gig.

• What are the positives and negative aspects?

The positives to having a diverse music videos is that it makes it memorable. The video stands out from all the others as they are so different. It also allows the directors and artists more freedom and creativity to do what they want instead of having to follow the convention of the music genre. A diverse music video attracts the target audience as it makes them intrigued to watch it. The negatives to a diverse music video however, is that the target audience may think that it is bizarre and therefore lose fans. It also prevents the audience from building up a relationship with the artist and there for there is no connection.

This research will assist me in planning my music video as I have decided to create a music  video that conforms to the stereotypical conventions of  the pop music genre. This is because I felt that by having a diverse music video, it restricted your target audience a great deal and due to disturbing concepts (such as men faces on women's bodies) the music video may not be appropriate for all aged target audiences therefore further restricting it.