Research- Genre Characterstics

What is it about the different music video that allows you to identify the Genre?

Every song and video belongs to a certain genre, each video has that certain characteristic which is mostly ever found in that genre, the characteristics helps identify which of the genres the music belongs to, which supports Goodwin’s theory and statement ‘music videos often reflect their genre through the use of specific characteristics which makes them conventional’.

What is Genre?

Genre is a specific type of music, film, or writing. Your favourite literary genre might be science fiction, and your favourite film genre might be horror. In music, genre refers to musical style such as jazz, salsa or rock. Examples are rock music, indie music, rap music, hip hop, trap, RnB, underground rap, jazz music, house music, gospel music, classical music and lots more, which are known as mainstream

Now in the modern day it has been popular to  combine two different music genres together, this is called hybrid genres which Is when a blend between two or more different genres. such as Jazz and Finish folk from Vartinna, the deep forest project where the vocal from west Africa where fused in with sounds from the western parts of the world.  

As well as mainstream music there is also niche music, which is the sounds that may not be listened to by a large crowd, but rather a small group of people. A mainstream Genre would have to be pop which is designed to please and entertain the mass media, meaning the large population. whereas the niche genres such as indie rock and etc, is mostly there to satisfy the true fans of the artist and those who truly enjoy and listen to that sort of music.

Rock Music-   Everdescence, Bring me back to life

Mise En Scene - Dark Clothing, leather clothing, dark makeup 

Depressing - the scenery is monochrome

Passive Aggressive

Strong - the music holds a strong beat, also the excessive use of guitars.

Dark Lighting

Male dominated

Target audience would be 18 + they enjoy listening to loud music.

Indie Music – Passenger, Let her go

Mise En Scene - simple clothing, very relatable not over the top, casual jeans and a top

Very Low key lighting - Calm relaxed atmosphere

Simple - Low budget, suburban locations

Mainly performance and slight narrative here and there

It can be very intimate - The artist cares about wanting to build a relationship with the audience rather than showcasing his wealth.

The target audience of an indie genre is mostly 16+ young people and young adults, who enjoy slow heartfelt music.

 

Underground rap- Devling, London City

Mise En Scene - low budget clothing, very urban fashion ( tracksuit)

Busy, urban  setting - showcasing the street lifestyle

Low budget

Notion of looking when it comes to girls- the girls are always in the picture dancing or in the background.

Pop Music - 5 seconds of summer, she looks so perfect

Mise En Scene - modern places
High tempo
Fast/ sometimes slow - when the song Is emotional unlike rock etc, the beat is more likely to be slow than fast
Repetitive - the themes are repetitive (romance, heartbreak)
Notion of looking for both girls and boys
Performance based
Cheesy lyrics

RnB- Rita Ora- Body on me

Mise En Scene
Modern sexual costume, showing the woman’s assets
Skin showing, notion of looking
Teasing the audience (during the chorus as she has just a British flag on her and nothing else on)
Sexual lyrics ('I just want to feel your body on me')
Performance and Mostly Narrative based
Intimate setting ( their houses)
Mixture of low key lighting and high key lighting

The audience reaction

Each individual has their own reaction to a specific genre, they react differently towards different kind of genres all because of their feelings towards it whether positive or negative. Younger audiences may like the pop, hip hop and RnB culture more just because of the fact that it’s more up to beat, pleasant to the ears, high tempo which will help reflect the mind of young adults and teenagers. Whereas older audiences may like softer and slower music still enjoyable and relaxing such as country music, jazz or even classical.

In conclusion

Looking at the different genre types and characteristics has given me an insight on what I would like to do for my video, and the characteristics that should be included that will help me with my video. I personally have decided to go for the pop genre, because that is what I am the most comfortable with. I have decided to create a pop video with a pop soundtrack I want the main artist to be female,  I am deciding to follow the pop conventions and I have decided to be performance and narrative based, but also I want to be able to create a bond between the audience and the artist by following some of the conventions in the indie genre. I will try and make the atmosphere more intimate. Overall I believe that the researching about the different music genres has allowed me to gain an understanding on the different types of genres and the fuse of genders that will make a video effective and enjoyable.