Genre Conventions

For this conventions research I have watched many music videos from various bands/artists of this genre, for example 'The Stone Roses', 'Arctic Monkeys' and 'Oasis'.
The genre my music video will be is alternative rock/indie. Within the genre there are specific conventions of which are included in music videos. The stand out convention is band performance, this is something that may be difficult for me to achieve, however it is a convention I would like to include within my own music video.
With Arctic monkeys I have noticed that unconventionally they do not use much performance within their videos, however they do feature rather strange narratives. But they do have a moral to their narratives. I would also like my music video to have a narrative so ideally I will include both a narrative and performance.
Unconventionally, most of The Stone Roses videos are filmed live, therefore they do not consist of the basic 'lip-syncing' as Ian Brown is actually singing the song. This adds an element of reality to the videos, which most do not have. One thing I have noticed, with Ian Brown, the lead singer of The Stone Roses, is that in the majority of their music videos he wears the same t-shirt. A plain white t-shirt with burning money around the top.This reiterates The Stone Roses' ideology that money doesn't mean everything. Furthermore, to back this up, he is quoted in several interviews "that's not (money) what its about though is it?" so it is clear that he doesn't care about the money he earns, but just the music he creates. Ian Brown is an iconic example of an artist of whom demonstrates that the music and the audience are far more important than the money and institutions.

What makes a good music video?

In my opinion I think that a fast tempo and high levels of energy make a good music video. My favourite type of music video is when it has a very deep narrative, but is also artist based at the same time. The best example of this being the 'Oasis- Stand By Me' music video. The video was a reworking of a famous series of adverts for the newspaper 'The Guardian' entitled 'The Whole Picture'. The adverts showed people appearing to be taking part in criminal acts, only for it to be revealed they were actually helping someone else. For example, a rough looking skinhead rushes at a business man, it appears that the man is attempting to mug him. A man also appears to be trying to break into his car. However, the 'whole picture' reveals that the bald man is in fact trying to warn him of the apparent breaking into of his car, only to find out that the so called "thief" is actually helping the businessman open his stuck car door. In the music video this is also the case, in a few examples. A store appears to be being burgled with its window smashed and people are taking away the electrical goods from inside. However, it is revealed that the victim of the motorcycle accident flew through the window and was buried under the electrical goods. In another example, a dodgy looking character appears to be running away from policemen in what looks like the kidnapping of a little girl. However in this case he was actually saving the little girls life by removing her from the vehicles path so that she wasn't ran over.

The Notorious B.I.G- Juicy

This music video I did enjoy watching, a conventional hip-hop/rap music video. Reflecting on what his life used to be like and comparing it to his life of luxury that he lived when the video was made. I like these types of videos because the locations in which they are shot are usually really nice; which they are in this case. The binary opposites of rich vs poor contrasts really effectively in this video. For example when a shot of a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn is used and then it cuts to a pool  party. The video is artist based and does include the conventional lip sync. I also liked the fact that the video didn't drag out before/after the song and got straight to the action.

Aerosmith- Love In An Elevator

This music video by Aerosmith I found to be rather exciting and definitely caught my eye, it stood out from the rest. Even though it is artist based, it also has a narrative. And despite some artist based videos being quite boring due to their simplicity, this one was not. This is because the band are extremely enthusiastic when performing, and I believe audiences thrive on that enthusiasm. In my opinion this music video is very interesting and unique. However, I found it also quite repetitive and very cheesy at times.

Bob Marley- Is This Love

I enjoyed this video and this too was also hard to pick fault with, the only one being it's simplicity. Bob Marley has done something that many artists do not when creating a music video, this is adding a hidden message. He has promoted equality using dancing and positivity throughout the video, as well as singing about togetherness in the song itself. To send this message he included a range of different ethnic minorities in the video. I also thought that the on screen atmosphere was very happy and along with the relaxing music it influences the audience to feel same way.

Pharrell Williams- Happy

This music video I could not simply pick fault with. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. I liked the video because it transfers the happy vibe from within it to the audience, not only by the music, but by what is on screen too. I enjoy watching artist based videos and this is one of my favourite examples. It is bright, vibrant and unique. I also liked the fact that they were many locations used in the video and that the public were involved. Just watching the video and seeing all the dancing and seeing the atmosphere on screen was enough to bring a smile to the audiences faces and make them want to get up and dance too.

The Stone Roses- I Wanna Be Adored

Despite the song being one of my favourites of all time. The music video did not really catch my eye, this was as I found it too simple for my liking. However, they are a few things about the video that I do like. Such as the way it is unusual and conforms to conventions of the bands other music video's. I like the fact that the video is artist based and that the scenery was nice. It also included some nice slow motion shots of the band in action when performing in the deserted location; this added a relaxed vibe to the video. If I were to remake their video I would cut out the start, this is because I found it very boring as it took a while to get to the music.

5 Music Videos

For my planning and research, I watched 5 music videos of different genres, and wrote what I liked and disliked about them. This has helped me in deciding some of the things I would like to include in my music video.