Genre in Music Videos

Music videos like any other media are entirely different depending on the genre they are trying to represent.

I will list some of the differences in how genre is represented and what conventions are used and manipulated in order to give different effects.

Rock:

This is an example of a rock music video by Black Veil Brides. The general conventions for rock music videos include; mid shots of the lead singer with the band in the foreground, a desolate location, dark or grungy costume/makeup and the band generally has lots of tattoos which further enhances the grunge look. There are also other elements that will be regularly included but these are subject to change depending on the artist rather than the genre. For instance, Black Veil Brides often include a detailed narrative in their music videos which follows Todrov's theory of narrative. Most rock music videos tend to be purely performance based rather than narrative, because this allows the audience to focus more on the band and the song itself rather than the story that's been created specifically for the video.

Indie/alternative:

This is an example of an indie/alternative music video by Lana Del Rey. Indie music videos are generally very art focused and have a lot of stylisation that is akin to the artist and unique to them. In comparison to a rock video, indie videos are generally a hybrid mix of narrative and performance, with the artist playing a role (usually the main) in the narrative. In typical Lana Del Rey style, this video has an old fashioned/retro hue and is slightly blurry, giving it that old home video feel to it. This contrasts the hig quality professionally edited style Black Veil Brides use. The location is also strikingly different to that of the rock music video it's set in Lana Del Rey's home and ties directly into the lyrics of "High by the Beach" with the coast being directly below her house. Costume, again is very different depending on the artist rather than specific to the whole genre, with Del Rey having a completely different image to Hudson Taylor- but typically they look very hipster/grunge not the type of clothes that you would expect to find on the high street- this adds to their indie image.

Overall it's clear to see that genre plays a somewhat pivotal role in changing the conventions of a music video, but ultimately it depends more on the specific artist and what they personally chose to stylise like. A Bring me the Horizon video will be radically different to a Black Veil Brides video, sharing only a few common themes, such as costume and setting but the style, wheather it's narrative based or performance based will be entirely different.