Genre

Genre is the way the media is constructed as well as what’s in the media text, as well as adapting the codes and conventions of other texts within that genre so the media lives up to those expectations. Media, such as music promos sometimes have a crossover of genres as they are showing similar conventions that fit genres, a ‘sub-genre’ or sometimes a hybrid.
Producers want to give a pattern for the construction of a music promo so the features are recognisable for the audience, e.g. Indie music promos are strange and differently set compared to pop which is all lively and exciting with lots of colours. The audience already have a set idea of what makes up different genres within music and film. For the music promo that I have chosen, the genre that I’m re-creating a music video to with my group is Indie. Indie music is a mixture of pop, jazz, rock, blues and some types of poetry. Indie is short for Independent as it is unique and has its own specific audience. Indie music was created in the 1950s-60s but wasn’t known by many. With its niche audience, indie bands weren’t usually signed therefore was ‘underground’ meaning they used to play in small venues and in their garages etc; unknown to many. Indie bands didn’t used to make a lot of money as they weren’t signed to a big producer therefore they would create their own music and sound and then make themselves the money. Indie bands usually prefer not to be known by lots, as they can keep themselves to themselves and then practice in their small locations to get better and then get known. With indie bands playing at small venues they used to have their own CD’s to gain the audience as then the independent band would get bigger.
Most indie bands when they have a hybrid will link with the Rock genre. Some of the most popular indie bands are the:

Artic Monkeys
The strokes
The Stone Roses
Oasis
Blur
Coldplay
The Killers
The Kooks
The Black Keys
Kaiser Chiefs (picture)

The general audience of the indie genre are males aged 15-24 year olds. This is because they have a similar costume and the indie bands lifestyles may relate to the male audience therefore the things the indie band will do, will be what the male would typically do. Indie tracks are mainly narrative based therefore they discuss relationships and how life works by in a male way therefore men will be able to relate more. An indie band will either have a narrative based video (typically) meaning the male audiences will be attracted to this video as they may be able to relate to the male breakdowns and life experiences as they are of a similar age etc. A performance based video will attract the audience’s attention as the artist may express how they are feeling about their situations etc, which the male could relate to easier than a woman singing as it would be more emotional compared to an indie band where the male would say it relating to men better. However in modern society anyone listen s to any type of music as there are so many unique people and that this genre of music fits into everyone’s life one way or another through the lyrics or the emotion that the band portrays.

Typically the lyrics in an indie song are very personal and can explain someone’s mainly the artists past experiences.  Although, it can go another way, for example can be upbeat and very unique. This genre can be very mixed therefore having large audiences which would have interests in very different types of music, e.g. to the heart or upbeat and unique.  The music style for an indie band is either very open or closed area, such as in a room or in a field. An indie track follows the structure of two verses and two choruses which is easy for their target audience to follow.

The indie genre tries to give an emotional feel to their songs for the audience to believe that it is important that they can be different to everyone else and that there is no normal, they portray this through their sense of style and their song lyrics. Although the indie genre wants to be different they still need to follow the conventions and give their audience something interesting to listen to with being honest.                                               

Music Video Vox Pops

Vox Pops Analysis

We had to make a vox pop video for our task so we can get some audience feedback from what they think about the music they listen to and what would interest them in watching our music video. We asked six questions overall and asked a range of different people, including their age, gender, their psychographics and demographics so we could get representative results.

The first question we asked was ‘What is your favourite genre of music?’ As we are doing an indie/alternative band we need to find out what others are attracted to so we could involve other genres into our conventions so the song would interest others, however will not change the genre we are doing as it would ruin the indie/alternative theme. The results we got from the six people we asked, the answers were:

Techno
Pop/Alternative
Jazz
Rock/Pop
Funk Rock
Alternative

Secondly, we asked what the audience expects to see in a music video. The answers from the vox pops were:
A performance that fits the narrative so it isn’t a disjuncture video. The video follows illustration as it is easier to understand and more interesting to watch.  Two other people stated that they like to see the band playing to see their passion for the music as well as the message that they are sending whilst singing the song. Others said they like the music to be fast paced; as we are covering an indie/ alternative band t is typically confusing which is a common convention of the music video therefore it keeps them interested. Finally, another person said they liked to follow a good performance/narrative, we spoke to them outside of the vox pop and they said it made the music promo feel more realistic to watch as well as follow.

Alternatively, we asked the audience what makes a music video enjoyable for them to watch. The answers were in the same group by it being good for them to see what they hear, again following a illustrative performance, also I helped if the people in the video were ‘easy on the eye’ to one person who answered and it makes it more interesting and keeps their attention more. An intriguing story or a passionate message is another answer that we had, so it makes the audience think and then they will have something to follow but also makes it more memorable; although it does need to be easily understood so it can benefit all ages of their audience. Another answer was for the audience to see the artist play as they can relate to them more and for the rhythm to be understood better, e.g. they can see their emotions etc.

Next, we asked a question about what would the audience’s most memorable video and why that was. We got the answers of:
-A cover of daft punk as the face painting made it interesting
- Club Tropicana -The music video gave her memories of holidays
- Radiohead, ‘Just -The storyline made them want to watch it repeatedly
-The Killers Mr Brightside as it was dramatic
-Red Hot Chilli Peppers music-Bastille’s videos as they are unique and interesting than other particular artists.   

Furthermore, we asked a fifth question ‘Do you look for performance or narrative in a music video?’ From this there was one person who answered performance as they feel they enjoy watching the artist more, compared to none who specifically said the narrative and the other five people stated they liked to see both in a music video as they could relate to what the artist was saying as well as seeing it being acted out. We will include both, narrative and performance in our music video as it keeps our target audience interested as well as fitting both categories by having an equal balance.

Finally, we asked where people find music videos and where do they watch them. Mainly everyone said YouTube as it can be easily accessed as well as being able to watch the music video as well as listen to it compared to some music so they can only listen to them. Another website we had recommended was called ‘Band Camp’. Spotify and the music channels on television were also popular so people could view them with easy access and see/listen to them again and again.

As a group we found doing the vox pop and interviews useful so we could get peoples opinion on things and see from the different types of people we asked; age, gender etc, what the same thing that they liked was and what was different.  In our music video we want to stick to the conventions of a typical indie/alternative video however include a 50/50 performance/narrative based music promo so we can see the emotions of the artist as well as see the meaning through the music video. From the song we are doing ‘It Matters’ by ‘Not My Day’ they are a lively band so we want to create something happy and joyful for our audience to watch but also something interesting and unexpected as this will make the video more memorable and fit our target audience of the indie/alternative range compared to focusing on the pop genre, although still making it entertaining for all types of people to watch.

'Not My Day' Audience Profile

Preliminary Task - Imagine Dragons Radioactive

Imagine Dragons - Poster

Band Biography - Not My Day

‘Not My Day’

Band Biography

‘Not My Day’ is an unsigned band from Oxford in the UK who I found on Unsigned.com. The indie band has four members:

Adam Cook - Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist

Ben Cook - Lead guitarist and backing vocalist

Dan Cahill - Drums

Jason 'JB' Grain - Bass

‘Not My Day’ are influenced by many popular artists and successful bands, such as ‘The Beatles’, ‘Muse’, ‘Radiohead’, ‘Embrace’ and ‘Oasis’. They find these bands influential as they like the style of their music and that they are popular bands as they are different from typical musicians. As they are an upcoming unsigned band, they only have a niche audience therefore the ones who follow them know about their social network where they tell people where they are going and where they are playing. 661 people follow them on Twitter as well as 178 people following them on Facebook. As they are a limited band they want to get as known as much as possible; MySpace is the first social network where I found them, on their posted are a few of their songs, covers as well as social updates of what they are doing. ‘Not My Day’ is being found by people daily, a new film that is being released called ‘The Butterfly Tattoo’ have asked the band if they can use two of their songs, of which songs hasn’t been released yet however this breakthrough could make the band twice as successful.

Genre
I found the band on Unsigned.com under the Indie/Rock heading. The song we are using is called ‘It Matters’. The reason behind choosing this song was because it is fast paced, upbeat and would be fun to make a music video to because the song has good energy. All of the band can be heard within this song, the lead and backing vocalists, bass, guitar and drums. I wanted to listen to the song in more depth to see if it follows the conventions of a typical song layout. ‘It Matters’ obeys the regular structure being chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, extended bridge and then the final chorus. Adam Cook has the lead vocals therefore he is heard for the majority of the track unless it is the beginning of the chorus when Ben Cook, the backing vocalist, is heard too.

Audience of ‘Not My Day’There was no specific audience mentioned on Unsigned.com or anything about the band on there, however researching through their social media pages ‘Not My Day’ are a middle aged band who mainly do live gigs/shows, features within other artists gigs as well as having live performances. From the picture, which is on their Facebook and most of their other social media pages, most of their followers are mainly females from the ages of 20 – 26 years of age as the lyrics in their songs relate more to the females than what they do males. Even though ‘It Matters’ is edged more to the female audience, males seem to follow them on their social networks and have an interest in them therefore they are a mixed gender audience, although some songs are aimed at one specific type of audience.

Why did we choose this band?This band have a unique style to their music that they produce therefore it will be a fun experience to use their music to complete our task. The songs that they do, especially ‘It Matters’ has a meaning to it so it would be good to turn that meaning into a narrative in our music promo; as well as the rhythm is cheerful and a good energy to themselves as a band.

We have emailed the band to see if it is possible to use their music and for their permission, a copy of the email is below:

 

 

 

 

History Through Time

Over time the conventions of the music video have become apparent in every video. There are many more conventions than in the lists shown above however all of these conventions are important for the music promo as they have continued in most videos from 1964 to 1986, playing a significant part in the promo. Over time, music videos have got a lot more expensive to make and most have a narrative that they will follow. Whilst the Male Gaze theory was portrayed in the later videos such as Duran Duran’s video ‘Rio’ it has continued but also shows the representation of women differently. A lot more technology and equipment is being used to create these videos, such as settings, locations, costumes etc, so the band can portray a narrative with their music promo so it becomes more memorable building a mass audience, such as ‘Thriller’ by Michal Jackson. Music videos today are released, mainly with a music video therefore seen to be a natural way of releasing a new song; in them being most of these conventions when the music promo started, present in videos showing how they have played a substantial part of creating a music video and how they haven’t changed through time.