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Parody
Parody is the idea of an imitation of a specific style from an artist or a genre is deliberately exaggerated for a comic effect. Parody is known as imitative work that is created to create mock, comment on or trivialise a piece of original work. This includes the subject, the author, style or some other type of target.

Parody is usually humorous, satiric or has an ironic imitation. Back in the day, Parody music videos were not very popular because an artist doesn’t want choose this technique to promote his/hers music. However, it is becoming more and more popular by the day and has been very popular amongst their target audiences.

Parody music videos are mainly used to ‘take the mick’ out of the original subject matter of the song. Many artist have found fame through parody music videos, such as the YouTube Sam Golback and Katrina Stuart. By using humour in a music video, an audience member can get a different type of enjoyment from it. These type of music videos are used for a comic effect and helps to execute the production well. Using this style can be a good way to get material noticed on social media, such as YouTube. If someone searches for the original song, then the parody will then come up as well/ People also may be interested in viewing parodies because it is fun and interesting and if they also enjoy the artist original work.

Sam Golback and Katrina Stuart used the song ‘take a look at my boyfriend’. This is an example of a parody video. As you can see from the video, the parody music video focuses on what the boyfriend is doing. The chorus is about the girl feeling proud of her boyfriend and what he does, but in this parody he is doing things that a girl wouldn’t really find attractive, such as picking of the nose. The video is very successful as it features both the youtubers, and other youtubers who are very popular, such as Colby Brook. What also makes this video interesting is that both are dressed up as teenagers and acting stupid and funny, by making faces at each other and dancing. Normally, you would see this type of parody from these type of youtbers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsbIz_HR_es

Pastiche/homage

Pastiche is the idea of an artist imitates somebody else’s style. This is usually light-hearted and done with respect for the person who is being imitated. It is the idea of a music video is imitating the style of work of one or more artist has done. Pastiche is very different from parody, because it celebrates, rather than ridicules the work it emulates.

Pastiche is a good way of a band honouring their musical inspirations and showing it to their audiences. It is a very respectful way of creating references to other pieces of work and having fun with the idea. Pastiche is also the idea of a music video that copies features such as techniques, themes and styles of the original music video. Both have very small differences but have huge similarities. They are different, but thought as the same.

For example, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is very uncommon, because it shows numerous dissimilar styles that are imitated in the song, all mixed together to make one piece of music. It shows how as a band that they respect other types of music and want to add them in their own songs and styles of work.

Homage is the idea of when an artist honours another video, film, pop culture reference or any type of media text by reconstructing foundations of the video, but not stealing it completely.  Artist will copy certain elements of the video, making sure they do no mimicked the original text. This is a great way to connect with your audience because if they know the original text, then they will feel in the loop and enjoy the video even more. This can also be humorous and an interesting video to watch, but only if they are re-creating a classic video.

Some artist use their music videos to pay respect to another text that has influenced them. This is noticed by the audience and will help and encourage them to engage with the original text as well.

For example, The Wanted’s ‘Walks like Rihanna’. In this specific video, they parody a variety of famous and iconic boy band music videos. They do this to try and create a bond with the people who have seen the original iconic videos. They also do this to respect their idols as they are a boy band and must have used classic examples as inspiration for their career. The video recognises the old bands and plays a tribute towards their work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97v9Z9qMI-4

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Influence of Commercial

Influence of commercials is the idea of having a recent music video that helps to increase the resemblance of advertising. It follows a variety of similar codes and conventions. Product placement is also used throughout the commercials and it helps to sell a package to the audience.

Depending on the style/narrative, the music videos are used to help to influence the world of advertising and commercialism. This is the idea of having an allusion. Allusion is the idea of when a reference to a person is an existing text, place or event. It can be made within a music video. Sometimes is may be very obvious, but can also be extremely discreet. Using this technique can also be used for parody purposes. Most music videos are used to be seen as an advertisement for a specific way of life.

Music videos helps to raise awareness. The video will be viewed and seen if the advert has been advertised well. If the overall advert is good, the audience will become interested in it. The audience will become excited about the product. The influence it has is that the image of the song and the artist is helping to promote a product or a brand. This will help the audience to lead to watching the official video and potentially buying the song/product. Advertising for music videos has been used in the past. For example, Ella Henderson collabed with Batiste dry shampoo to help promote their hair product. Batiste also used celebrity endorsement to help promote their product. Ella’s song was also featured in the advert while she was promoting the hair product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umWDVck2WcE

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Interpretative

Interpretive music videos are the idea of the video is being interpreted by an audience in many ways. Each person in the audience can see a video in a different way and understand a different meaning that records to their mentality. The director allows the audience to interpret the video through the imagery.

There is a difference between an audience’s interpretations and a productions interpretation. An audience’s interpretation is the idea of the audience analysing and interpreting the video. An audience will watch a music video and take their own meaning and emotion from it, depending on their opinions and knowledge. The music video doesn’t have to set a meaning or a morale, but the audience will interpret whatever they think. This is an ideal way to create a debate between the fan base and the developer. It will create a deep complexity in the video. This can be considered as art and therefore the audience could feel connected if they must think for themselves about the meaning of the video, the intentions and the beliefs of the artist.

A productions interpretation is the idea of the music video having the lyrics directly reflecting on what is happening on the screen. Throughout a song, if a lyric is said, it would usually be acted out on the screen. This is usually done in specific music videos, videos that usually do not have a narrative. This can be effective if the song either lacks deep meaning or is cheerful or doesn’t have a specific set meaning to it. This type of technique often happens in rap, comedy music and some pop videos. For example, Taylor Swifts ‘Blank Space’. The lyrics ‘omg look at his face, you look like my next mistake’ shows a close up of the male actor the lyrics is relating to. The entire song is about her falling out of love with a specific person and trying to hurt and break him.

Impressionist/Surrealist

An impressionist is the idea of having a strong focus on the visuals, which creates meaning. Throughout music videos, there may be a variety of shots and footage which helps to link to the theme. This can also cause the audience to leave with an impression. Sometimes it tends to have different diverse and multiple messages, which necessarily do not need to have a narrative. Surrealist is very similar to impressionist. The music videos are very abstract and may not have any relation with the music itself. The surreal music videos contain artificial, unreal or superstitious elements in it. It gives a very dream-like effect to the audience.

Most directors do attempt to create a surreal video. They do this because it helps the audience to appeal to the senses and leave an impression of the music video. This technique helps to create an interest for the video. This will then help to make some profit. This can also enhance and support the artists album and their personality. For example, if it was a happy, lifted video, it would reflect on the artist for being a happy person.

An example of a surreal music video is Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’. The entire video is presented in a backwards order. The story does appear to be in a chronological order, but the lead singer Chris Martin lip syncs the song in reverse. To create this technique, he had to learn to mouth the words backwards to achieve the desired effect. The video is surreal because the story does appeal to be told chronologically, but it is in reverse. It leaves a lasting impression of the video. This shows that Coldplay are creative and have an interesting band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB-RcX5DS5A

An impressionist music video tries and represent true life through their scenes. They make them try to seem realistic, but with a twist. It can be very effective and look good, but only if it has been edited and done well. This is a technique used by bands who put a lot of effort into their work and music. For example, Daft Punks ‘da Funk’. The music video shows a normal day in the life of an urban prison in New York. The character throughout the video is a dog dressed in human clothes, rather than a human.

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In-concert and ‘as Live’ footage

Music videos tend to use tour footage or a live performance as their music video. It appears usually at the end of an album campaign. It has a sense of finality to the album and it helps to encourage audiences to buy into the artist as a live act.

This type of style is very common in music videos. In concert videos is the idea of the director puts together a music video from one or more live shows. The clips from the concerts or gigs are edited together and are usually put to a professionally recorded version of the song. The audio will sometimes actually be from the live performance, the directors tend not to use this type of technique.

For example, Justin Biebers ‘All around the world’ ft. Ludacris uses the in concert and ‘as live’ style. The song was from his 2013 album ‘Believe’. The music video shows him singing the same song in different destinations from his tour. Each destination is shown from their own famous landmarks, for example to know where is he the landmark would be shown i.e. Big Ben (London). The music video represents the overall tour. The song is about travelling all around the world, and using this type of style, the video represents Bieber being on tour and visiting all around the world. It shows different live footages from different destinations. Different dances are used throughout. The fans are also filmed during the tour. From singing and screaming in the arena’s to following Bieber in his car, banging on the windows calling his name. Some of the video uses audio, such as the audience screaming and Bieber singing, but most of it is pre-recorded. The director has put together a professional recorded version and combined all the shots from is tour while singing the song into one video. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OmliBRZUxnk/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEXCPYBEIoBSFryq4qpAwkIARUAAIhCGAE=&rs=AOn4CLAhg-H2bYdudWKBziI6nWZhlSI6kQ

There is a huge range of camera angles that are used and shown throughout the video. The camera shots want to be able to capture all the action (multi camera). The camera work and editing often will reflect from the pace of the music and the energy of the performance. The artist is the focus but often there are plenty of shots of the audience too. The fans of Bieber can see other fans on the screen in the video and can feel a sense of camaraderie. Live videos will often be experimental in the camera work.

Animation (Stop Motion, Digital)
Animation are used by specific artist. Typically, indie artist. They collaborate with animators as a type of synergy. This is the idea of an interaction or a cooperation of two or more organisations and agents that help to produce a combined effect which is greater than the sum of their separate effects. The idea of this technique helps to lower the budget. It is sometimes used by a gimmick.

The music videos that are animated usually have either animated film or cartoons. There is a soundtrack playing in the background as well. These types of videos do not usually have to show anything real to the audience. despite the song is being produced by the original artist. These specific animations in the videos are designed by using different software’s. These videos are typically cheap as they are entirely digital.

Bands typically use animation in their music videos helps to add sense of Hollywood into their production. The video becomes visually appealing if there are any specific exciting special effects that can help add depth to the narrative of the video. The special effects mean that the video will become overall more complex and interesting. The idea of using these effects will lead to more people watching if they find the video good to watch. Only some bands/artist rely on their music video to be entirely animated. They may want to make something that cameras cannot create, so that’s why they will have animated characters.

Some artist use animation for the whole length of some of their videos. For example, ‘One More Time’ by Daft Punk. The music video is presented in another planet, out of space. It has a type of astronaut, space and has an alien type of theme. It is the band itself performing to a crowd. It also has a 70/80s style of vibe. It is interesting to watch because it is completely different to other music videos. Because it is different to other normal music videos, the audience will become intrigued, which would make then want to watch it more and recommend it to other people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGBhQbmPwH8

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In this part of the blog, I will mainly be analysing and exploring different styles. I will find out what the specific styles mean and find an example for each of them and why the artist has used it.

Popular Music Genres

Different music genres tend to have their own style in their videos. All the videos may share all the conventions, but they find different ways to help to promote the artist and appeal to different audiences.

Hip Hop music can also be called hip-hop or rap music. This type of music genre was developed in the United States. Mainly by inner-city African Americans in the 1970’s. Hip Hop music tends to be in specific locations such as party places or a club location. Sometimes the music is played in residential neighbourhoods. As a community, drugs such as Marijuana are mainly used throughout and people tend to drink excessively. Throughout their music videos, there is a lot of recognised brands and clothing, which are usually designer brands. They also might promote their own brands. Not every video, but most music videos displays a representation of wealth. For example, sport cars, jewellery, and mansions as their homes. It is the same as sexualising woman. The woman is objectified and are usually stripping and dancing throughout the video. Their dance moves are over dramatic and are performed by woman to accentuate the female form and their sexuality. The men on the other hand are represented by their masculinity and virility. The male artist usually is represented as having the power, whereas the woman is fawning over them. Not all the videos/songs are followed by a storyline, but are based around a theme and a performance. Sometimes the male artist tends to perform to the camera. They are interacting with the audience through singing. The studio set up is very minimalist. They usually use monochrome colour schemes.

An example of a Hip Hop genre and music video is Rihanna’s ‘Work’ which features Drake. The music video represents all the above that have been explained. Such as drugs and excessive drinking, the sexualising of woman and how the dance moves are being over dramatic (twerking). The camera movement tends to cut very quickly in a smooth sequence. It usually cuts to close ups, median close ups and wide shots of the action. The close ups show the excessive drinking and the use of the drugs, the dancing and the action of what is happening. The wide shots show all the action. The editing helps to tell a story, which helps the audience to engage more within the video. Each shot helps to create motivation. Each new shot helps to provide new information, but so does the shot it is cutting away from. In this case, the drinking and the drugs. The pace is very rapid which represents intensity and excitement. The props that are used throughout the video are the costumes, the drink and alcohol, money, cars and jewellery. The props help to identify the location, which is very clear to understand. It is a in a Jamaican night club/bar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL1UzIK-flA

Another music genre that is very different to Hip Hop is Rock. Rock music is a broad genre of other popular music that is originated as ‘Rock and Roll’ from the United States. Rock music is a type of genre that covers many different other genres of music which have been developed since rock and roll in the 1950s. Rock and Roll is another genre of popular music. It originated and evolved in the United States during the 1940s. It was from African American musical styles such as Gospel, Jump Blues, Jazz, Boogie woogie, Rhythm and blues and along with country music.

Rock music is mostly known for the use of dark colours. The colours are usually black, blue, red etc. People usually get confused between Rock music and screamo. Screamo is an aggressive style of emo. It is combined with musical intensity which is wilfully experimental dissonance and dynamics. Rock music tends to be on stage performances. The crowd are usually screaming and singing along to the music. There is a lot of male bonding throughout, such as High Fiving each other and back slapping. Their outfits are usually dark coloured, often baggy and sometimes causal clothing. The footage in most of the music videos are usually back stage footage.

An example of a rock music video is Bon Jovi’s livin’ on a prayer. The music video is in black and white throughout a half of the video. The first half represents the backstage footage. It shows the different cuts of the video and using different equipment to help support the video. The other half is then represented in colour. The crowd also appears, screaming and singing along with Bon Jovi. Throughout the video there is a lot of male bonding. A lot of hugs and groupwork. Most of their outfits are dark coloured but casual at the same time (fashion in the 1980s). Most of the video is represented with back stage footage. There is a lot of tracking and panning shots throughout the video. There is a lot of movement that is filled with energy and passion. The editing is very fast paced which represents intensity and excitement. There is a lot of close up shots of the vocalist during their exciting moments of the song and of the instruments. The wide shots represent the band being together, signifying their unity and how close they are as a band. There is a lot of studio back lighting as well. There is a cross cut from the black and white behind the scenes footage, to the coloured footage of the actual band performing to a screaming crowd. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lDK9QqIzhwk/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEXCPYBEIoBSFryq4qpAwkIARUAAIhCGAE=&rs=AOn4CLBPdLF1dZylNuegu9DZHIPuwlfcsg

Both genres have one similarity. They both have the same background, African American. Hip Hop music is mainly the idea of representing wealth, drugs and woman. Whereas Rock music represents more of a bond with the band and the audience. Hip Hop music is known for the use of the drugs and excessive drinking, the power of men and the sexualising of woman. Rock music mainly focuses on the band, the audience and mostly the backstage footage. Both are very completely different genres. Hip Hop music and Rock music both share the same rapid pace which both represents excitement and intensity in their videos. But rock music mainly has close ups of the vocalist to show their emotions and feelings towards the song and the audience. The rock genre also uses wide shots to show the bond that the band has. On the other hand, the hip hop genre shows the use of drugs and sexualising of woman through different close up and wide shots. It tells more of a story through these shots.