Genre

Genre is a style or category of art, music or literature. In the music industry, different genre will appeal to different type of audience. The main genres of music are rock, indie, pop, hip hop and RnB. Regarding music videos, these different types of genres follow conventions to portray their style and star image.

Indie Music Videos

Most indie music videos are performance based and do not amplify the lyrics of the song into the narrative. This way the video focuses on the passion of the band/artist focuses on what they want to do, and keeps the focus to the song. This is very typical in the indie/rock genre as the genre is more focused on the music, and music videos advertises the identity of the band/artist. After researching indie music videos I have noticed that current indie music videos are mixed, and part performance and part narrative. Indie music is becoming increasingly popular and is open to a wider audience. Indie music videos are now unique and interesting, mostly focusing on social realism subject narratives, or psychedelic hallucination like performance.

Pop Music Videos

Pop music is a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular''. There fore pop music videos are music videos which advertise pop songs and artists. Pop music videos usually feature both a performance and narrative. The artist making the music video usually has a high enough budget to pay for special effects and professional equipment, in order to create a successful music video. The main focus of a pop music video is always the artist as this is a main convention of pop music videos. The artist is usually styled to fit a certain star image. For example, a famous pop artist that focuses on their star image is Lady Gaga. In everyone of her videos, the artist is shown wearing extravagant clothing, connoting wealth and style. A typical convention of pop music videos involves professional choreography, involving other dancers. This is so the song becomes more and more popular, for example songs such as 'cha cha slide', the 'macarana' and 'gangnam style' all feature a certain dance routine in the music video to gain familiarity.

Rock Music Videos

Rock music videos usually feature a full live performance. Through out the 80's famous bands such as Guns 'n' Roses and White snake, made music videos which featured a full live performance. Rock stars which also shown wearing glamorous clothing, topless with long hair, to fulfil the typical conventions and star image of a rock star. In current music videos, there has been no change, and many music videos are based on performance with little narrative. We tend to see this in the rock genre it focuses on the band playing their instruments and the front man singing. Videos are usually focused on the band, the visuals and lyrics do not match, however the video is edited in time with the music so they compliment each other.

R'n'B / Hip Hop Music Videos

Like pop music, RnB and Hip Hop have become increasingly popular, and share the same conventions in terms of music videos. Star image is significant to RnB artists, as they are usually shown wearing stylish designer clothing, including diamond jewellery, and gold chains. Women in this type of genre are usually shown wearing limited amounts of clothing, tight fitting and revealing their figure. Mulvey argues that, in mainstream cinema, the male gaze typically takes precedence over the female gaze, reflecting an underlying power asymmetryThe music video is closely related to the artist, and features performance and narrative, in which the artist takes part in. In terms of mise-en-scene, artists are usually shown in an extravagant setting to connote their wealth and fancy lifestyle.