In this post I will be showing some of the research I have gathered from various sources, the research will be about the styles, conventions and techniques that music videos use.
The first source i used was an online document:
http://www.slideshare.net//conventions-of-music-videos-2935597 jamsjamsjams
In this article they cover the four main conventions very well in a way which is universal for all music videos, as well as this the article has examples of more specific conventions for certain types of music videos.
Some of these are like hip hop music where it states that the conventions are
- location - normally somewhere with a live environment such as a club or a party or such.
- use of alcohol - sometimes used to show a certain party life
- recognised brands of clothing - show off trendy new fashions
- expensive houses and cars - once again showing off
- camera shots concentrate on money jewels and assets
- sexualization of women
- artists tend to get involved
All of these are present in most music hip hop music videos although another convention this document covers is the aspect that they do not really follow narrative, my research goes against this, as I found many hip hop music videos which have very clear plots so I believe this is false.
Below are a few videos I researched into:
Here is a hip hop music video which follows all the conventions mentioned above perfectly, it's got a great location in America which people can be familiar with, it's got use of alcohol, they have expensive well known clothing, they show off their wealth a lot with cars and boats - a lot of assets, in fact there are lyrics which support this such as 'I have more jewels than your jeweller'. There are a number of women in bikinis so women are defiantly sexualised and all the artists, especially DJ Khalid, are involved. As you can see this has a very good plot and goes against the online document. But from here on this video is a bit different from the normal conventions for example it does not sexualise women, no alcohol, they do not show off their wealth much etc. The artist do get involved but thats about it. the reason why this video is like this and does not folow a lot of conventions is because this hip hop song is solely about NYC and nothing else therefore many of the other conventions are unnecessary.
Here is a very popular song by Ja Rule, Jada Kiss and Fat Joe. Three very well known artists in the hip hop industry at that time and still quite popular today. The song is entierly about NYC and definitely follows the convention about location fully! Other minor conventions which some hip hop music videos follow is to 'big up' the artist. For example, in this video and the other two, I am analysing, the artists always have a massive following and a lot of support and this shows them as the alphas in the group. The New York music video has a massive number of people on set in different locations in NY this definitely shows the artists as the main feature in the shot.
Here is my last video on hip hop which is by Lil John, the East Side Boys and Ice Cube. Called 'roll call' the basic plot in this is about Lil John who is the main character getting ambushed by a rival gang but he manages to escape but at the cost of leaving an attractive female who is dressed up in hardly anything. So to get the girl back Lil John calls Ice Cube who is at his house, but then goes inside to get his clothes and then jumps into his very expensive hydraulic car to help Lil John. Then they are at the rival gang's club and sabotage the club whilst drinking krunk and wearing suits. Then the two gangs confront outside, the attractive girl gets returned to Lil John and a massive gang battle kicks off. In that short description you can see every convention very clearly and you can see that this is a very typical hip hop music video which has followed the conventions perfectly and become immensely successful.
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