Media Theorist, Steve Neale believes that "genre requires repetition and difference" in order to work. Neale stresses that you have to stay within certain boundaries before repitition and difference become confusing for the audience and also keeping out of the 'boring' category. These concerns can cause the audience to lose a lot of interest or become disorientated. Likewise, too much difference can steer away from the genre entirely, again causing bewilderment for the audience. This is why Steve says it is essential to get the absolute perfect balance between repetition and difference. If there is no balance recognition for the audience becomes stressful and difficult, therefore I will show three music videos that execute Steve Neales theory correctly:
Start with Beyonce's - 'Countdown'
Beyonce is an artist who swims in and out of genres frequently. Partcularly pop, r'n'b and hip hop. She's a versatile artist who can pull off many styles. In her video 'Countdown' we already recognise the song to be of 'pop' critera as it is upbeat, quirky and catchy.
It's clear that this is a popular video as it has over 50 million views and 196 thousand likes on Youtube. Like Steve Neale says this video is repetitive with the lyrics e.g. the chorus it's also repetitive with the way in with the song and lyrics flow, the structure of the lyrics usually start with "Me and my boo boo...". Not only do the lyrics find themselves repeated but the video is done in a very clever, artist way and kudos goes to the editor of this video! You'll see through the video that there are multiple close up shots in the same outfit, same hat and same make up method infront of the same back drop but what makes it clever and different is the colours change at a fast pace. Although she is in the same style of outfit it subltly differs through the rapid change of colour pallet.
Mise-en-scene isn't the only other thing that you'll find yourself noticing yet loving, but also her dancing and the way the editor has put together the video. There's a lot of use of cutting shots up and putting them together along side each other and Beyonce is inside doing the same dance sequence - what makes this bearable is the way in which everything is put together with the beat of the music. It follows the rhythm much like in Andrew Goodwin's theory. (Prepare for photo bombard)
These are only a few on many shots where repetition is used in artistic ways, here have some more:
I think what makes this video so unique yet repetitive is the editing skills used. If there wasn't so much editing it would look like any old pop music video with a catchy tune.
Following with - Lady Gaga - 'Applause'
Lady Gaga is no stranger to being different. Some people may say she was born this way (Very bad pun, I know.) Her music videos since debuting in 2008 with her hit song 'Just Dance'she has always brought something a little quirky to the pop scene. Not only are her music videos exciting, and somewhat refreshing, but also her choice of attire. Does anyone remember her cold meat number?
So, I've chosen to pick her latest song 'Applause'. Once again, she has without fail brought us a post-modern fuelled anthem. Now lets look at some of the things that Steve would consider repetitive. Of course a Lady Gaga video would be nothing without her impulsive dance sequences, and crazy outfits. In this we see a lot of interpretive dancing with her and several over people. And of course the signature 'applause' clap movement, and not to forget pop genre convention, massive amounts of lip syncing.
But what about this is different from any of her other videos or anyone else's for that matter? It's clear there isn't the typical bright, boyant, vibrant colours used only meer hints but, I think it goes without saying that Gaga is all about entertaining the audience and her entertainer personality pulls this is beyond expectations. There are no expectations with Gaga other than it's going to be a little bit kooky. To keep the audience interested, in the first 25 seconds I counted at least 20 different shots. There's so much variety of camera angles it's almost hard to keep up but it doesn't half keep your eyes glued to the screen
A bit recognizable trait for pop music is studio location and synthetic lighting which in both Gaga and Beyonce's video en tale.
Finishing with Fall Out Boy - 'The Take Over, The Breaks Over'
Let's finish off with something other than pop videos. A old favourite of mine - Fall Out Boy. According to Wikipedia they are a 'pop-rock', 'alternative rock' and 'pop-punk' genre. Some typical conventions for Rock are the most obvious, group camera shops, instruments and skinny jeans. Steve Neale's theory is present in this video as there are many repetitive shots of the band playing together (long shops, establishing shots) and plenty of close ups of instruments and artists. What makes this different that just your bog-standard rock band video is the introduction and the random activities that occur during the video.
It's shot in black and white and the editor has colour picked certain objects to drawn the audiences attention to it. This monochrome effect also reflects the dog's vision, as canines are supposed to be colour blind. There's lots of little connotations to dogs such as the main singer being dressed as a giant steak, he's also seen with a cat mask on, other dogs walking around, post men and fire hydrates. I like how it is repetitive enough for us to understand and identify that the band and genre is rock through the mise-en-scene and props. But unlike many rock genre videos this is shot in a studio set up instead of say, a abandoned building, or in a concert. There's also a lot of dancing in this video compared to other rock artists to tend to stick to quite basic movements.
Something that I found really interesting and unique from other rock music videos is the honesty they put into this one. They included fans comments about they 'changing' and being different from their roots. I think this is quite a bold move for a band of this genre to include in their videos as this relates back to rock bands being more emotionally connected to their fans through concerts and the like.
No comments:
Post a Comment