Research into chosen music genre

Within this post i will talkk about the chosen music genre which we will create a music video of. I will explain why we have chosen this genre and what we will apply to the video by researching about the genre and its conventions. I will also talk bout 2 different artists that are similar to Calvin Harris and the dance genre. I will analyse one of their videos each and talk about the codes and conventions within them and the style, and apply Goodwins theory. I will analyse the artist her/himself and also their audience.

Our group has all decided we will be doing a dance video. The dance genre is enjoyed by everyone in the group, and we know a good deal of the music and the videos within the genre. The Dance genre interests me a lot as it is my favorite genre and I love its music. The videos also interest me, as they usually include beautiful women or a interesting narrative. Beautiful women are usually shown within dance videos, usually taking part in a dance which is another convention; a performance. Voyeurism is usually displayed within the videos too, which is the notion of looking at women, shown in Benny Benassi's videos and Flo Ridas for example. The narratives within the dance videos has inspired use to produce a narrative on a dance song from Calvin Harris. Calvin Harris displays the conventions of Dance in his videos thoroughly, he uses Voyeurism, performances and narratives. The two artists that I will analyse in this post which are from the dance genre will be Kid Cudi and David Guetta.

First Artist; Kid Cudi

The artists i have chosen to analyse are similar to Calvin Harris and the genre we chose to use in our video. One artist I have chosen to analyse is Kid Cudi. His music is similar to Calvin Harris's as its dance music, and his videos also relate, for example Goodwins theory of Voyeurism of women is both displayed in their videos. The other artist I will analyse is Jennifer Lopez. Jennifer also creates dance music and dance videos, hers also relates to the genre as she uses a performance (usually herself) within her videos which is a convention of the genre.

The first video i will analyse from my chosen artist is Kid Kud is video called 'Day 'n' Night'. Within this video we see Kid Cudi playing the role of a shop customer assistant, and temporary manager as his manager has left him with the responsibility for the night. Kid Cudi then seems to consume a drug, as he comes in from going out of the fire exit coughing and there is smoke coming out of his mouth. This then becomes apparent later as he starts to see attractive women appear in the shop, and this is the Notion of looking theory I was talking about earlier. I will analyse the video through Camera Framing, Editing and Misenscene.

At the start of the video we see a establishing shot of the store where he video is filmed, shortly after we are shown a medium two-shot of Cudi and the store manager arguing, the manager is telling Cudi off as if he is the antagonist in the video, she then gives him the keys and the managerial position for the night and tells him its his "last chance" and he cant "mess it up". The manager is telling us that Cudi could be unreliable and unprofessional in his job, and she is treating him like an infant. She has power of him and the props also show this as Cudi is holding a mop, and she is wearing a 'manager' badge. Cudi is shown as the employee here and is being contradicted by his manager. This can relate to the target audience as they would find themselves in this situation often, or at least once regularly, as they are young and inexperienced, or even mischievous. The job he is doing can also relate to what the audience does also, a customer assistant, or moping floors in supermarkets is common for the audience, something they can relate to. The target audience would be teens to young adults (14 to 25), mostly aimed at the male genre as women and voyeurism is displayed a lot in the video.

The codes and conventions for this music video which is a dance video would be apparent to be a performance mainly however it is merged with short narrative. The performance is carried out by Cudi himself, dancing and rapping to the lyrics with women in lingerie in the shop where he is working, this scene cuts back and forth to the narrative, involving both performance and narrative which are both filmed in the same place which is the setting of the video which is the shop. A performance in a dance video like dancing or singing or combined for example is a convention of the genre's , music videos, and this makes it recognisable that it is a dance video. The performances of the video as I said are from kid Cudi however women in lingerie dancing seductively are seen mostly in the video, and notions of looking or voyeurism is used (Goodwins Theory) when Cudi looks at a girl he likes in a magazine, then appears in front of him, and when he clicks the pen and makes the women's clothes disappear leaving them with their underwear only.

Throughout the video the editing style is kept quite fast. Editing styles in dance videos are usually fast paced editing, to accompany the fast tempo of the music, and this relation between visuals and music in part of Goodwins theory which is seen in this music video. There are little pieces of slow motion editing, which is used to emphasise the view of the women, for example when the police woman enters the shop. However fast cuts between shots are mainly used and cuts which fast forward the action is used which is called an ellipsis, like when the police woman strips and dances in front of Cudi her dance is segmented and cut to fast forward the action, which accompanies the fast music again. The whole fast theme can relate to the audience too, young people who live fast without taking proper care of them serfs like drinking and taking drugs, which this video promotes.

The artist, Kid Cudi has a negative representation in the video. He is represented as a untrustworthy and unreliable person. He is seen to consume drugs, most probably marigiuanna in the video. Sleeping at work and not doing his job properly makes him look nihilistic, not caring, not doing his job for a purpose. The only thing that he shows interest in is drugs and women in the video, dancing with women and being attracted to them. He could be seen as a stereotype of the target audience of the video, young men not being serious about things, women are the most important things to them and are not involved in any work, also drinking and doing drugs can relate to young men, as displayed in the video.

Second Artist; Michael Gray

The video that I will analyse for Michael Gray will be his new video featuring 'Roll Deep' called, Cant 'Wait for The Weekend'. This song is from his older version called 'The Weekend'. I will talk about the codes and conventions of this music video. I will be looking at Camera Framing, Editing and Misenscene.

Firstly this music video is aimed at the full time working audience, which would be from the ages of 18 to 30 from both genres, in particular people who would work in an office. The video is aimed at this audience as it relates to the audience because the video has scenes which do relate. The conventions of this music video are everything to do with partying and having a good time, it emphasises this idea and makes it look like people are just look forward too 'The Weekend'. This idea of working and waiting for the weekend is emphasised in this video.

As I said this video promotes the idea of working for weekend and how important and anticipated the weekend is. An example of this would be the zoom in medium shot of a clock on the wall in the workplace, the shot shows the clock ticking down to 6 oclock, which is the finishing time of this workplace. The sound also enforces this idea, there is an emphasised dietetic sound of a clock ticking, and nothing else, this connotes the waiting for the weekend idea, as they workers wait for the clock to count down to the time that they can go and party. Also when the song starts to play we hear the lyrics; 'I cant wait for the week to wizz by, I'm stuck in a dead end job working full time' this also backs up the idea of people waiting for the weekend, and it relates back to the target audience as they would be waiting for the weekend too as I said this video is aimed at them as they would have a similar job too. And 'I cant wait for the weekend' I played thoroughly throughout the video, this enforces the idea of the target audience being exited for the weekend and living for the party, this is what dance audiences wait for and this video relates to the audience and it can connect to them, and this is a convention of the genre.

The main camera shots in this video would be camera shots which include people, mainly women, and this connotes the idea of voyeurism which conforms to Goodwins theory again as he said in music videos there are notions of looking at women, and this is a code and convention to dance music as almost every video contains women performing. A common camera shot used in the video would have to be close up expression shots on peoples faces throughout the video, this is done to show the happy expressions of smiling laughing and having dun as this is a convention of dance music, having fun and enjoying life, and close up expression shots are conventional in dance videos.

The editing styles of the video are also conventional, as parts in the song where the beat is fast we see fast cutting, this conforms to Goodwins theory of the visuals relating to the music. Also it is a convention of the genre, the genre has a whole fast theme to it, the music is usually fast tempo, the editing styles are fast and this connotes the theme of 'living fast' and enjoying life while you are young, and this relates back to the audience as they would be living life fast and be making sure they are having a good time by partying at the weekends like this song and video promotes.

Misenscene consists of setting, costume, actors, lighting and props. And in this video the misenscene is used to reflect the them of the dance genre to be happy, party and enjoy life, as this is a convention of dance music. To start I will talk about the stetting and lighting, at the start of the video the setting is in a workplace where lighting is artificial, and colours are dull, like greys and blacks, however when the music starts when works finished, it switches to a scene where it is a sunny day with natural lighting where people are partying by a swimming pool and a large house. The cut from the bad and depressing office setting to the natural pool party setting can connote that when the weekend begins, its fun and life is good, and this relates to the idea of dance conventions to be living a happy life and partying as the setting and lighting is much more appealing and it reflects a vibrant atmosphere. The costumes of the video change when the music starts, at the star of the video Michael Gray is in the office and the costumes here are formal and boring, reflecting work, when the music starts and the 'weekend begins' we see casual clothing that would be worn to a party, and this reflects partying and the conventions of dance music again.

The artist Michael Gray has a neutral representation in this video, as he is not seen talking in the video, as he does the beat for the song and not the vocals, but we can see that he is influenced by women, as we usually see a few around him, as the scene in the office, his is sitting at the end of the table which has about 5 good looking women sitting around, this could connote that he is a 'lady's man' and outgoing. I have said that he has a neutral representation as it is neither good or bad, he is just having a good time at the party in the video, as he is the DJ he is on the turntable, and he likes the company of women.

The style of the music video would be mainly performance based, as the artists are rapping/singing along to the lyrics in the video, and we see women dancing and people dancing at the party, however it has a concept to it, and that is to 'work for the weekend' basically living for that time where we can party and "let go" as I have explained earlier.

Summary

By looking at other artists that create music dedicated to our chosen genre of Dance, I have learnt the codes and conventions of the genre and these would be used in our video to make it conform to the conventions in the genre. Things like fast paces editing at times, notions of looking at women and night life would have to be included in our video to represent the dance genre. The dance genre usually has performances in its videos, so we would have to make a performance in our video too. Therefore the research into our chosen genre has helped me us with the making/planning of our video.