Genre case study

How and why do genres use shared codes and characteristics?

A musical genre can be defined as a conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared set of conventions. Examples of ways that genres can be identified is through instrumentation, musical structure, BPM (beats-per-minute), rhythm and lyrics- to name a few. 

The reason why genres may exist is in order to benefit one of two types of people. The first is the audience:

If genres didn't exist it would be very difficult for people to find music of their taste because bands/artists would not be labelled into categories for people to easily find. Genres therefore can help people find new music. Today with the internet, there are many websites catered for this (last.fm for example) which have a 'similar artists' feature allowing users to browse through bands/artists that are all similar to one another.

By being able to this means more music can be found more easily- that otherwise, may not be if music genres did not exist.

Musical genres also benefit audience because they create different cultures/scenes around them. Stereotypically, fans of heavy metal for example, will wear different clothes (leather jackets/band merchandise) to a hip-hop fan (urban streetwear/snapback caps). This is beneficial to the audience as it makes them feel accepted and more part of a group of people with similar tastes. On the other hand, there is a drawback in that it can create an intolerance to other music genres/sub-cultures, and for this reason can deter people from listening to certain types of music. This drawback can be linked to a quote by Christine Gledhill who said that 'Genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used to seeing programmes (or songs) within a genre'. What Gledhill means by this is that genres have created a stable audience who are used to hearing the same type of music, so as a result, there is a resistance to listening to other genres.

The other group of people the existence of genres is likely to benefit are institutions/producers. 

Christina Gledhil also said that ''Differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to... This made it easier to standardise and stabilise production'.

As mentioned before, a musical genre is a selection of songs that share musical features. This is beneficial to producers because it allows the replication of a style- they know what features need to be present in a song/album because these musical features are what define the style. A music producer mixing a dance song will be different to a producer mixing heavy metal song. Dance songs may aim to have emphasis on the drum beat and heavy metal songs will want to emphasise the guitars or vocals. Or music producers will aim to have mainstream pop songs mastered so that they sound good out of any sound system- car, club, earphones or computer speakers, whereas for a producer mastering a less mainstream, genre such as sub-genres of metal will have less need to be well mastered because the audience is much smaller. This supposedly comes down to economic benefit to the institutions, (or record labels), because they all want to be profitable so this is why so many of them are in mainstream music- the record labels go where the money is. Nicholas Abercrombie says that economic factors may account for the continuation of a profitable genre. 'Television producers set out to exploit genre conventions... it makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economies of scale". 


Upon researching different music videos for this essay, it is clear that music videos differ largely on the genre of music. I will analyse 4 music videos of two different genres to identify ways in which they reinforce or oppose genre conventions.

Rock

Here is a Prezi I made outlining some conventions of rock music videos:



1. Lonely The Brave - Victory Line

This music video tells a short story in the form of an animation. I believe it opposes rock music video conventions due to its lack of performance of the band. The band may have done this to be more unique and memorable, because people are more likely to remember something they don't see often. Animations for music videos can be seen in a wide range of genres, for example, 'Korn - Freak On A Leash' is alternative metal, 'Of Monsters And Men - Little Talks' is folk-rock and 'Kanye West - Heartless' is hip-hop. All these music videos are animated so could therefore be argued that animated music videos may not be that common, but are typical of all genres, even rock. 

2. The Killers - Mr. Brightside

This song by The Killers in my opinion is quite similar sounding to Victory Line in terms of guitar tones and energy, but offers a very different music video. I believe Mr. Brightside reinforces conventions of rock music videos. One reason is that it has a band performance which is very common in this genre. It also has a narrative which the band members are part of. Lots of close-ups of the lead singer (who is wearing eye-liner) so viewers can recognise him. However, the bands costume differs from conventional rock bands from how they are in suits and look very smart.


Hip-Hop


Here is a Prezi I made outlining some conventions of rock music videos:




3. A$AP Mob - Yamborghini High

I would argue this both reinforces and opposes codes and conventions of hip-hop music video. It reinforces codes from the way it is a performance-based music video, which is most common within the genre. Another way is through the use of guns (4:19) which makes them seem more rebellious- also commonly seen within hip-hop music videos. Flashy, expensive cars were used and were one of the main aspects of the video. This was used to show that the group had lots of money thus making their lifestyle seem more desirable. It also features young attractive women.

One way I would argue it opposes conventions of hip-hop music videos, is through the use of editing. First of all, it is in technicolor which creates a bright, happy, psychedelic aura. Which, in my opinion juxtaposes the aggressive, energetic feel of the song. The editing also includes glitchy, pixilated effects which also gives it a psychedelic nature. It is possible this effect could have been used to stimulate the effects of drugs such as LSD, which would therefore be conventional of hip-hop music videos due to drug-taking being a big part of the culture.

4. Future - Low Life

Lastly, the music video for Low Life seems to fit hip-hop music video conventions quite strongly. The genre is trap, which is a popular sub-genre of hip-hop. It is a performance-based music video, with no narrative, and features drugs and attractive women, which makes the video more conventional. At 3:15, they drive a distinctive pimped out muscle car making them more eccentric and showing they have money and status- and that this is their lifestyle and what is normal to them. It also uses quite a lot of low-angle camera-shots to insinuate the artists status and power. The editing used is conventional because the cuts are in time with songs beat. This is important because the beat is a key feature of hip-hop and drives the energy of the song, so when the cuts are in time with the drums, it really heightens the flow of the song.


In conclusion, in writing this post I have learnt a lot about what genre is, and how is this effects the mise en scene, camera and editing of music videos, therefore need to determine more how the genre of the song 'f e v e r' by BlackBird will affect these aspects of our music video project.

Evidence of contacting the artist

Goodwin's theory 1

The music video “King Of The Fall” by R&B singer The Weeknd, demonstrates a number of characteristics and conventions that can be understood using Andrew Goodwin’s framework.

King Of The Fall is Alternative R&B track. The fast-tempo track features a bright ethereal pad (which plays throughout) melodious strong vocals, and a low-key but mellow drum pattern.
First of all, this music video demonstrates genre characteristics from Hip-Hop and R&B from the use of drugs. This can be seen at 1:00 of a man inhaling smoke from a pipe/bong. This is feature was likely implemented so that the target audience can related more to culture surrounding this genre. Another way this video demonstrates genre characteristics is by having shots of people dancing (e.g. at 1:47). Hip-Hop is common to played at clubs therefore dancing was likely used in this video to appeal to younger people who go to these specific clubs and encourage them to dance.

The visuals are clearly illustrative of the music. The shots will mainly cut on the kick drum because it is the hardest hitting sound in the song- this creates a stronger relationship between the visuals and music. At the end of the hook (at 1:13) the music resolves into another verse- at this point, the cuts speed up in time with the music and go back into the same rhythm as before. However, it can be argued that the visuals are not illustrative of the music from how it is a fast tempo song juxtaposed with a slow-motion video- so it therefore contradicts the energy of song.

The visuals are also illustrative of the lyrics. For example at 0:13, the lyrics are 'Bout to leave the crib with a couple of my pirates' (pirates meaning another term for crew). When these lyrics are said, there is a shot of The Weeknd with two people following behind him.

Another example would be at at 0:48, when he says 'I've got a girl home...' and it then cuts to girl lying in a bed.

Throughout the entire music video, there is a common notion of looking, more specifically of young women looking back at the camera. At 0:55-0:57, there is a good example of this happening. A tracking shot of The Weeknd is used where he walks into a room and is looking just beyond the eye of the camera- the video then cuts to a shot of two blonde girls staring back at the camera- this creates a sense they were looking at singer.

There are many close up shots of The Weeknd and every shot is in slow motion. This aids the demand of the record label as it strengthens his image and recognisability to the people watching. Being recognisable is a key importance for a record label as they want singers who are unique and different than everyone else.

Researching possible songs

My first task of researching for my music video is choosing a suitable song. I found this very difficult because it needs to fit a certain criteria to be acceptable for its use. The band or artist needs to be British and unsigned. The song needs to have clear structure/sections, lyrics, and a change in mood/feel. Lastly, it needs to be a good quality sound recording. As a result, it took me a long time to find a suitable song, especially due to the common occurrence of finding many unsigned British bands with good songs- but are let down by having bad quality sound recordings. My task was to therefore find these small exceptions of those who have good songs and quality recordings.
I will be working on this music video project with Hammad, and these are the songs we found.

Song 1: B l a c k B i r d - f e v e r

Black Bird is a solo artist and producer from Manchester and is unsigned. His song 'f e v e r' is an Alternative R&B track that fuses elements of pop, soul and electronic music. There are clear sections of a verse and chorus with changes of intensity- e.g. from how the drums fall out and come back near the end section. The song has lyrics which I believe can be visualised into a music video.

Song 2: tbyalx - Pressure U

Pressure U is a Downtempo/Chillwave song made by a British duo called 'tbyalx'. There is not much information about them so I assume they are unsigned. The song is well very produced and sounds industry standard to me. The song has clear sections and changes in mood and energy such as the slow ambient verse which turns into a bass heavy hook with a fast paced drum beat. The lyrics- which are sung by a female vocalist giving it a less agressive/more chilled out feel, I think are about a relationship. This gives us a starting concept idea.

As of this present moment we cannot decide between these two songs, and will give it some more thought and research into any other possible songs.

Music Video - Recreation task

As a class we were given the task to recreate a music video of our choice- we chose 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' by The Verve. Finding a suitable music video that was replicable with the time, cameras, costume, location, and equipment available to us became our greatest challenge. However, once we had all agreed on a video, we made a Facebook group chat so we could plan on where to shoot, when to meet and what people should bring with them. We filmed on two different days and managed to get about half of the original music video recreated.
I think the task overall was helpful because as a class we watched many different music videos over a range of different genres which gave us a good insight into the time and effort that is needed to make music videos. We also had practical work in operating the camera, and editing the music video which I found helpful because it improved my skills in each area.