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Upon looking at Stormzy's 'Big for your boots' music video and looking and multiple others from the grime genre, I have noticed a few codes and conventions for music videos of this genre. Firstly, Stromzy adheres to the codes and conventions of grime music as he chooses stereotypical English locations to film his music video. Settings like a pub, a backstreet and a kebab shop all feature in the production and these locations link to the grime genre because artists usually choose to film from their working class childhood towns to show where it all started. Another grime artist uses this technique is Kano where his working class upbringing contradicts the successful artist he is today. Another clear code and convention of this genre is clothing. Grime artists usually appear in branded tracksuits or casual clothing. This is evident in Stormzy's music video where he can be seen wearing Adidas clothing, a crucial part of his own brand.
Alternative:
Blossoms' 'Charmlemagne' music video features many codes and conventions for alternative music videos. Firstly, the bands image is an important part of the video as they are all wearing black and similar styles of clothing. This allows the audience to identify with them a lot easier. Also, I found that camera movement is a crucial part of alternative music videos as the genre is unlike an other. In the video that I analysed, the camera rotates, tilts and is off-tripod adding to the edgy feel that alternative music has. Finally, after looking at similar videos from this genre I noticed that the lead singer lip syncs the song and that this is the main performance with little narrative featuring. The lip syncing also mostly happens in slow motion adding an extra element to the video.
Pop:
Listening to lots of pop songs and watching a lot of their music videos, I already had some idea about the codes and conventions that feature in these kinds of music videos. One convention that also appeared in Omi's 'Cheerleader' video was high key lighting, created by the sun over the beach. High key lighting usually features in pop videos as they are happy, uplifting songs with no explicit lyrics etc. Also, a party atmosphere is created at the end of the video when it turns dark to keep the video interesting. I have also noticed that a lot more effort has been put into this video than the Blossoms one as pop music videos are as important as the song. Alternative music focuses more on the song itself and exotic locations are often chosen for pop videos.
EDM/Dance:
Dance music often has a very quick tempo so consequently there has to be lots of cuts in a short space of time. This is evident in the music video from Martin Jensen which I analysed where cuts occur on the beat of the music. Another element of dance music videos is significant is the location used. Dance music videos are generally set in a club or large room and no where else which allows us to focus on the dancing in the room. A specific narrative is also a crucial code and convention of a music video of this genre. For example, in this video a geek like character learns to dance to try and get a girl and the whole music video is constructed around this narrative.
What I have learnt:
This task has allowed me to realise that codes and conventions differ in a music video depending on what genre it originates from. For example, narratives are a crucial part in popular and dance music videos because they are constantly trying to be improved all the time. However, there is a lack of invention and creativity in alternative music videos because the song itself holds a lot more importance. By also looking at all four micro elements, I have looked at each music video in all ways which has helped me notice elements that work well and commonly feature in music videos and what doesn't.
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