Video Conventions- Music Genres

Conventions of Different Music Genres

I have found some music videos from several different genres, and watched them myself as well as shown them to other people, in order to identify the typical conventions of music videos in some of these genres. The music videos I chose are listed below, with links to each of them. I asked some people, after watching videos I chose for each of the genres, 'What do you see as the conventions of different genres in music videos?', and I have written some of the feedback they gave below.

Pop:
One Direction- 'Kiss You'



Katy Perry- 'Roar'



First, we looked at pop music videos, for this we watched One Direction-'Kiss You', and Katy Perry-'Roar'. The song by Katy Perry is considered 'Power Pop', and although they are considered different types of Pop, we still found similar conventions. In general, the feedback was that Pop music videos contained very unrealistic concepts, e.g. taking a selfie with a monkey. Also, people said that Pop music videos were very overacted and 'cheesy', perhaps wearing costumes, as opposed to normal clothing, and with lots of props. In terms of the lighting, in most pop videos it is usually very bright and colourful, with artificial looking lighting.

Rock: 
Panic at the Disco- 'This is Gospel'

Oasis- 'Wonderwall'

Next, we looked at Rock music, watching Panic at the disco-'This is Gospel', and Oasis-'Wonderwall'. Again, within this genre the two songs are fairly different, with the Panic at the disco considered to be 'Alternative Rock'. In rock videos, people said that there was a lot more focus on the main singer rather than a band or on other actors in the video. As well as this, the videos contained a lot of black and white shots, and generally dull or dark lighting. The clothing in these videos was fairly casual and not over the top, as well as this they generally told some kind of story of love, or of someone's life spiraling out of control.

R&B: 
Rihanna- 'Umbrella'

Estelle- 'American Boy'

For R&B music, we watched Rihanna-'Umbrella', and Estelle-'American Boy'. People gave feedback for these music videos that they were generally very choreography based, involving a lot of dancing from the main artist, with everything else being fairly simple. The costumes in these videos were very classy and with quite large jewellery, and often very intricate hair and makeup. The costumes and the set were usually black and white, perhaps with a hint of gold or silver. Most of the time, these videos were very fast paced, with several costume changes throughout the video.


Country:
Taylor Swift- 'Fifteen'

Lady Antebellum- 'Need You Now'


The next videos we watched were Country songs, and they were Taylor Swift-'Fifteen', and Lady Antebellum-'Need You Now'. Both of these videos have a similar sound to them, and also contained lots of similar conventions, although the stories they were telling were very different. In both of these videos, the clips often had filters over them to change the lighting, making it look fairly vintage. The clothing was always very simple and casual, looking quite elegant. Country videos are often very narrative based and also they were quite slow paced.


Hip Hop: 
Outkast- 'Hey Ya'

Cee Lo Green- 'Forget You'

Finally, we watched Hip Hop videos, the two we watched were Outkast-'Hey Ya', and Cee lo Green-'Forget You'. The two songs tell very different stories, although have a similar vibe to them, and have fairly similar videos. The feedback for Hip Hop videos was that they had a lot more people in them than other genres, so there was less focus on the artist, and there was focus on actors in the video as well. They are generally very upbeat and happy videos, even if the topic they are singing about isn't very happy. The colours in these videos are very bright and the videos contained editing aspects like text on the screen. As well as this there are usually several costume changes in a hip hop video, usually when the artist is changing into a different character in the video, or simply to make it look more interesting, they are also very fast paced videos.