Research: Music videos genres

What is a music genre?
In the music industry there are many different music genres in which a song or a video follows. Music genres are categories in which a song/video will be placed into depending on the conventions of the genre. For example, fast pace up beat music will relate to the Rock music genre. In addition, there are many different genre of music which fall into one which then creates a sub genre.
 
List of different music genres in the industry:

• Rock
• Jazz
• Musical
• POP
• R&B
• Country
• Gospel
• Soul
• Classical
• Hip-Hop
• Blues
• Cultral
• Alternative
• Indie
• Rap

examples of music genres
 
Pop
The type of music video has to have the characteristics of the genre it belongs to. The ‘Pop’ genre for instance aims to appeal to the general audience rather than a particular sub-culture or ideology. An emphasis on recording, production and technology over live performance. Moreover, a tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments. These are some of the factors that determine the characteristics of the ‘Pop’ genre. 

Rihanna's music video is a performance based music video and it uses the use of lighting to emphasise this as there are a lot of bright flashing colours used to reinforce a club night. This done to entice the audience to want to watch more. The club locations which are used in a lot of Rihanna's pop videos are used in order to create a sense of normality for the audience as they themselves could go to a night club and party like her. This allows them to be able to relate more to the video as they are locations which are used in their lives. This music video follows the conventions of a music video as the editing is in time with the fast pace song, along with the visuals make the video visually stylish to the audience.
 
Rap
In rap videos generally artists prefer to show realism which is the difference between hiphop and rap. They mainly show conventional iconography such as drugs, money and women to relate to their hardcore lyric. 



wiz khalifa for example likes to show his hometown. In this video they use a urban location. This is effective as it helps build to their gangster imagine. The visuals in the music video are also very effective as it matches the beat of the song. This allows it to have a greater effect upon the audience. Furthermore, with the video being a narrative based this allows it to create entertainment for the audience. 

Rock
Indie rock bands and any other type of rock band would usually use a lot of performance in their music videos and less narrative because a lot of these artists play music for their themselves and not the industry. This is unlike the majority of pop artists that are treated like a product specifically to make money through sells of electronic music to a big target audience.

Foo Fighter’s All My Life video is almost completely performance apart from the a few establishing shots at the start. They have managed to maintain video excitement by using a fisheye lens on the camera and changing the back drop on stage

The importance of following generic conventions in music videos.

It is essential to follow generic conventions in music video. The reasons are as follows:

• To satisfy and please the target audience. The target audience of the specific genre expects a conventional music video that they can relate to. If generic conventions are not used then the target audience could be lost.
• By following the generic conventions, the music video could appeal to a larger audience which would enhance the fan base and therefore would have a larger target audience.
• Could make the music video more popular. There would be an increase in the number of views on the internet such as on YouTube or social networking websites.
• A successful music video that follows the generic conventions demonstrates the prestige of the industry. It would make sure that they make money and profits from the music video.

conclusion
This research of identifying and analysing some of the conventions of each music genre has helped me with the planning stage of this music video. This is because I now know what kind of micro-elements and concepts make up a genre and also how to make the music video relate to the genre whilst appealing to the target audience. I believe I'm a lot confident now in identifying a music video then matching them to the genre of music they are from.