Asessment: Essay practice

How far do your groups’ ideas for the music video conform to the music genre?

Every genre of music usually follows different codes and conventions because of the different audiences it attracts. During the analysis of the music videos for the dance/hardcore music genre I and my group found a variety of different codes and conventions; some which we found to be successful and others not so. Therefore during feedback sessions we agreed on the successful conventions and decided to use some of these to try and replicate the good quality of the video and also attract the particular audience we wanted to reach.
One of the first conventions we discovered during research was stock settings which were used in nearly all the videos we analysed. These stock settings were firstly a club setting secondly a bedroom setting, both portrayed different messages to the audiences and were used for specific reasons. The club setting relates to the music genre dance/hardcore because most dance music is played commercially in clubs in the evening, it contrasts to genres such as rock which are more commonly played live by a band and therefore in music videos they would be more likely to use this as a stock setting. Using a setting which relates to the music genre is effective because it also means the target audience will be able to relate to it and therefore this will improve the whole quality of the music video. However as a group we realised we could not use this setting because we have no budget and therefore attempting to replicate this setting would decrease the videos quality and overall would portray a cheaper, bad quality feel to the audience, so we decided not to follow this convention. Nevertheless the other stock setting used is a bedroom and luckily this is easier to replicate. The bedroom setting is usually used whilst the main characters are getting ready and it is also very relatable to the audience. Using a bedroom setting would give our music video a storyline and therefore would help the video flow better, meaning as a group we could follow Todorovs theory beginning with an equilibrium and finish using a conclusion. This would give the music video more structure and generally improve quality of the piece. So we decided to use the bedroom as a setting in our media and also follow a storyline – another convention within our music genre – to give the music video more organisation.
Another convention we found used frequently in our music videos during analysis was the Female dancers/ singers were portrayed overtly sexualized, wearing provocative outfits and shown in extreme close ups. We decided we will use a female protagonist as a main character frame her in extreme close ups so that audience members can read her emotions easily and follow the storyline without difficulty. However we wont overly sexualise the female protagonist because during questionnaire research we found our target audience was more likely to be female than male and overly sexualising the female character would not appeal to the mass female audience, some audience members would even be put off by it and therefore less likely to follow the video and storyline. However we would dress the female protagonist in club wear as it is a common outfit choice for the dance/hardcore genre and the makeup style we will use on the character will be flattering so she is portrayed to the target audience in a glamorous way, giving the character a sense of purpose in the storyline.
During analysis of the males represented in the music videos, we found them to be portrayed as permissive and in control of most situations. The male character was also usually shown in a better light than the female character and given more freedom. Although this is a typical representation of the male gender and is frequently used in films, TV dramas and soaps, we decided to not give the male gender any more status than the female character as we wanted our video to be empowering to women and follow a positive message, not a derogative one for women. Also not following this particular convention would mean our video is more likely to stand out and remain unique, meaning more audiences may watch it and this may make our video more popular overall.
The last convention we found which was used frequently in the dance/hardcore videos we found the videos glamorised life in contrast to normal everyday reality. We found this to be effective in the music videos as it made the videos more exciting for the audience and gave the video a better quality. The music videos did this in a variety of different ways, using glamorous settings and expensive cars which had connotations of great luxury. Although we could not glamorise the video in the same standard we will attempt to glamorise the storyline and video as much as possible by using expensive props and alluring actors to attempt to make the video better quality. Overall I think as a group we picked the most effective codes and conventions used and also the better aspects of the dance/hardcore genre in contrast to more derogatory codes, which we decided not to use as they were not necessary. Hopefully this will give our music video a unique feel and will also appeal to our target audience.

I am attempting to summerise my groups decisions as this will help me during coursework and also improve my essay writing skills.