Music genres

Right from the start of this project I have had a good idea of the kinds of artists I might do for my music video, not specifically one artist but the style of music. The music genres I would like to do are pop which includes chart music because I am a big fan of the songs, hip hop and contemporary R&B. These genres appeal to me because they are the styles of music I tend to listen to so I can relate to them the most and I think I will find these the easiest genres to do because of this.


The conventions of pop include:

• Lyrics tend to be based around love or relationships
• Artists express the unity associated with teens because they are the main target audience  
• Pop music tends to follow current trends rather than being independent and making something new and unique
• The song usually follows a verse-chorus-verse structure and uses hook lines which are catchy
• Promotion of pop songs are via radio stations and radio stations- they are well known because they get played a lot so they stick in the audiences head
• Songs usually include beats that are dance-orientated

http://www.slideshare.net/zahraaliyah64/conventions-of-pop-music

The conventions of hip hop include:

•  Includes rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is usually quite catchy for their target audience to remember
•  Nearly always has a specific meaning/moral in the song
• The video is usually performance based featuring the artist a lot in the video and this is often the main focus
• Location tends to be in clubs or in a party like atmosphere with dancing scenes
• Expensive clothes and cars used with recognisable brands
• Use of attractive women, seen as the sexual object

The conventions of R&B music include:

• Sexual videos that usually fit with the lyrics
• Mostly the artists in R&B videos are African Americans as they founded this genre
•  Break dancing or hip hop is usually featured
• Fast paced music often with a defined beat or repeated part of the song

These genres are the ones that I am focussing on at the moment, because they are fairly popular so it would be easy to have a mass target audience, they're all quite current genres and modern so people will know about them, and the songs from these genres tend to be catchy and stick in people's heads which is an advantage. Also, as mentioned previoiusly, these three genres are the types of music I tend to listen to most, especially the charts music because it's very modern and up beat and the songs are always catchy. It would be easier to do a genre that I am familiar with and listen to a lot because then I know the kinds of songs I could do and think up some ideas.

I am likely to do a song either from the pop genre or hip hop, although R&B and hip hop are quite similar anyway. Videos that fall into these categories include 'Mirrors' by Justin Timberlake and 'Live it up' by Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull.

This video by well known artist Jennifer Lopez is the typical pop/ hip hop music video. There is lots of focus on the artist herself with her sunglasses on at the beginning of the video looking glamerous. There are lots of props used to big up her wealth including Swarovski to make her look posh and expensive. Then when Pitbull starts in the video, the atmosphere changes from in a posh, built up place to out on the beach so you get this summer vibe and a lot of videos use this where the artists wear little clothing. Pitbull has lots of girls around him to bring out his flirty side and this is often featured in videos with lots of girls to create a sexual environment. Jennifer is wearing slightly abstract clothes so that she stands out and looks different, but she can pull the outfits off. This is very much a performance based video where the focus is on the artist and it involves her dancing and singing which is a feature of pop/ hip hop videos.



This is a good example of a hip hop style artist but the video goes against the conventions in some ways compared to what you would usually expect for this genre. However, approximately 30 seconds into the video there is a scene where they are playing poole in a pub which is quite stereotypical of this kind of video because they tend to use these sorts of settings to demonstrate the alcohol and partying atmosphere. The video is very much related to the lyrics, in that there is use of the mirror and reflections and through the whole idea of this mirror it tells a story through both the video and the lyrics. There's the use of attractive girls used but they aren't portrayed in a sexual way and dancing like in the video above, but one of the women is in her bra which men may like so they don't try to portray her in this way because she's upset but she is still seen as pretty and attractive still. 

Mackelmore is an artist that would be really good to make a video for because he is a hip hop artitst and a rapper and his music is very modern and popular. His videos are really original and creative and because of this he has a mass audience. This is shown in the video 'Thrift Shop'.

At the beginning, you know that the video is going to be slightly strange because of the outfits they are wearing and it's all a bit of a weird scene, but because it's different, people find it funny and enjoy it. Macklemore is fun and makes good music so I think this would be a good artist to use, because making the video for an aritst like him would be really fun. In the video it has the typical scene where Macklemore is partying in a club which is very stereotypical for hip hop videos and usually rappers are black but macklemore isn't so it's quite funny to see him rapping but it works well. I like things that are slightly abstract and involve originality which Macklemore and his videos are, however the only problem is that it would be quite a hard video to create in some parts, e.g. the car scene and in the club. 

Another of Macklemore's videos is 'Can't hold us' which again is a bit strange, and doesn't really have much relation to the song or lyrics but sometimes this is more effective. This video would be quite hard to create as it involves helicopters and other things that it wouldn't be physically possible to film, but this is the type of artist that I will choose to do a video for because it's the style of music I listen to so I will have more familiarity with these artists and therefore the videos as well.

Beyonce is another artist that I would be quite interested in doing or someone similar because everyone enjoys her music and she is very well known and famous. Her videos usually involve some sort of dancing because that's what she likes to do and her videos are very much performance based of her singing and the focus is on her and her figure when she's dancing. This is shown in her video 'Single ladies'. The video is very much related to the lyrics, because it's all about being single, and this is reinforced through the costumes the ladies are wearing- they are trying to attract attention for the male gaze and they will enjoy watching it due to their lack of clothing and sassy atmosphere that's created. The video is all dancing, so it would be quite easy to video, and it's quite a simple video too so this makes it easier as well. Sometimes the simpler videos are more effective so this would be quite a good idea.