Applying Genre to my Music Video

An introduction to GENRE

' Genre' is a critical tool that helps us study texts and audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements.

David Chanler (2001) - the word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'type'

The term is widely used in literary theory, media theory to refer to a distinctive type of 'text'

Steve Neale (1980) declares that "genres are instances of repetition and difference" it is essential for genre to deviate occasionally in order to attract and engage audiences

Andrew Goodwin - Genre Category Amplification
It is closely related to disjuncture, but amplification is just an enhancement of a concept while still retaining a link to it, this technique works brilliantly in marketing and a band in question.

What genre is your music?
Pop

Which generic conventions have you applied?
E.g.
- Extreme close-up of artist's lips whilst lip syncing
- Repetition of chorus shots to enhance 'repeatability'
- Unusual camera shots and angles
- First person mode of address directly engaging the viewer through the camera
- Star Image
- Mise-en-scene e.g. 1950s props and costume/inspired by pop artists such as Christina Aguilera and pin-up
- Locations -> inside and outside
-  Camera angles and shot-types e.g. prolific use of mid-shots to make artist more recognisable and lip-syncing distinguishable
- Post-editing e.g. black and white/increased saturation and decreased brightness/fade out/speed up/fast cuts in the chorus and slow cuts in the verses
- Lighting e.g. Halo effect/key lighting

Genres are recognisable through the repeated use of generic codes and conventions

Tom Ryall suggests that the types of conventions found in genres might be group within the following categories

Iconographies (symbolic forms associated with the genre)

Symbolic use of bright colours is an ocnography that is dominanted by the pop genre. For example I replicated this in my music video through the dominant form of red, in the mise-en-scene and subtly in the locations e.g. the sofas. This gave a bright red hue that was enhanced by the saturation in post-editing.

The mise-en-scene of an unusual costume, in this case the 1950s style that is non-conformist to modern day trends, presents the artist in an unusual and recognisable way. This is also a technique to enable her to gain attention for the audience. With the pop music being dominanted by a majority of female audiences it is important not to off put the audience but instead draw them in.

Narrative: (structure - closed)

My music video narrative is closed as the ending is resolved throught the use of a fade out to signify it has finished. There would be no sequels to the video so therefore it is closed.

Representations: (characters/stereotypes)

The artist conforms to stereotypes such as that women are objectified by the dominant male perspective, as theorised by Laura Mulvey.

Ideologies: (beliefs and ideas of the 'ideal' concept, themes)

The lyrics 'Living Dead' is illustrated through the use of two contrasting themes. The first theme is "Living" where the artist is indoors and the bright red hues suggest that she is in a state of equlibrium (as theorised by Barthes). Whereas the second theme of "Death" is represented through the use of a black dress, in contrast to 'Living's red dress, and the darkness of the night time when she is sat outside. The use of a cigarette in the "Death" sequence connotes this ideology that smoking is a cause of death which is only done when alive. The negotiated reading can argued that these two parallels therefore indicate that materialistic things, such as her costume etc which indicate her glamorous lifestyle, do not substitute for a happy life.

By extension the use of the cigarette also reinforces the dominant ideology that smoking is glamorous or fashionable.

Which of the above codes/conventions does your coursework use and how?

Genres and Audiences
If we recognise the genre of a text it enables the audience to feel at home and gain  enjoyment from "spotting the conventions and repetition" and making comparison with other texts of the same genre.

However if a text deviates from the conventions it can confuse the audience. At the same tiem we enjoy seeing the rules broken, providing the producer encoding the text does not go 'too far'.

We are more advanced than audiences of the past simply because we've seen more films than anyone in the history of media, so we expect genres to be played with.

What conventions would your audience enjoy spotting in the text?

Use of mise-en-scene/cuts/lip-syncing - these are the most dominant and easily recognisabe

Genre offers audiences a structure or framework enabling us to feel secure in our knowledge.