diversity of music videoas

Why would an artist  chose to create a diverse music video ?

There are various things that makes a music video unique. These things will include the following:

• Clothing worn by the artists: This can include all sorts of clothing colorful, dull or very revealing clothes. For example clothing worn by lady gaga in her music videos.
• Strong narrative: If a music video has a different narrative and the narrative has a deep meaning to it. Like Christina Aguilera music video 'beautiful' where she sings about being beautiful even if you are anorexic, obese , gay or ugly.
• Censorship: This means music videos that breaks the rules and makes a music video that cannot be played everywhere as it might not be appropriate for some people. For example S&M by Rhianna where her lyrics went appropriate as well as the music video itself. This is when she says 'sticks and stones may break my bone but chains and whips excite me' Music videos like these are played after watershed.
• Budget: The budget of a music video also makes a music video diverse. Big budget music videos will have more expensive props and locations which will make a long lasting effect on the audience. For example Michael Jackson's music video 'Scream'. The cost came up to $7,000,000.

I will be analysing two directors that create totally different types of music videos. There music videos are unique in their own way. These two directors include Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry ; They produce music videos that don't conform to the stereotypical genre characteristics. The music videos produced by this artist are totally different from what an audience can expect. For e.g. in a dance music video one would expect a lot of dance but these videos are quiet diverse.  I will be analysing Music video by Aphex Twin – Come to daddy and Frozen – Madonna which are directed by Chris Cunningham. I will also be analysing Kylie Minogue’s come into my world and the white strips – the hardest button to button which are directed by Michael Gondry.

Chris Cunningham: Is a British music video director; He is known for his music videos such as Madonna’s frozen,  Alphex twin ‘come to daddy’ and windowlicker for which he won a Brit award.

The music video ‘come to daddy’ is from the dance genre but however it doesn’t follow any genre characteristics. Dance genre characteristics include a club setting, flashing lights, fast pace editing etc. It doesn’t consist of any of those things stated above. A dance music video is expected to be lively and upbeat. This music video compared to the usual dance music videos was completely opposite as it was cold and dark, the narrative involved an old granny walking her dog and she is terrifies by scary looking kids. It shows how vulnerable the old granny is and how terrified she becomes due to these kids terrifying her. It seems more like a short film then a music video. This music video doesn’t follow Goodwin’s theory which shows it’s diverse for a reason. Throughout the music video the artist isn’t shown and the music video is more about the narrative. .  This type of music video is unlikely to be shown on MTV as it breaks MTV’s censorship laws.

‘Frozen’ by Madonna is also a strange video. It shows Madonna on a deserted island where she is dressed in black has a really pale face. The can come across very Gothic as she long black hair but pale face. The genre of this music video is popular music but it goes against the conventions of a pop music video. There seem to be no colour or dancing in this music video which is typical of pop music.

There seems to be no relationship between the lyrics and the visuals in this music video as the music doesn’t follow the Goodwin’s theory. The music is performance based as their no concept or narrative to the video. The video involves Madonna singing to the camera and In the background the audience can see black pigeons flying which adds to the mood of the music video.

The representation of Madonna in a Gothic way can suggest the time of when this video came out which was in the 1990’s. Her images is shown to be rebellious as the music video doesn’t seem to follow the conventions of a popular music video.

Micheal Gondry is another director that creates diverse music videos but they are totally different to music videos created by Chris Cunningham.  Micheal Gondry is a french Academy award winner and also produces music videos.

One of the music videos he produced was 'come into my world' by Kylie Minogue. This music video is set in a realistic location and is a popular music video. His style of  directing music videos involves allot of repletion. Kylie Minogue sis wearing typical everyday clothing one would expect to wear on a trip outside. The music video is very conventional to the popular music genre. As she is dressed in a typical everyday clothing and is singing to the camera.
This music video follows Goodwin's Theory as we see Kylie going around doing the same thing again and again coming out , picking the newspaper , crossing the road. This suggest her typical day and she is singing about coming into her world. Kylie Minogue keeps doubling up as she keeps going round the same circle.
This music video is 90% performance and 10% narrative. This is because she is singing to the camera however the narrative is that her world involves doing the same thing everyday.

Another music video that is directed by Micheal Gondry is The hardest button to button by the white strips. This band is an alternative rock band. The genre conventions for an alternative rock band would be dark colours , high pitched music , and use of instruments. This music video follows these conventions as we see allot of use of black and red. We see the singers wearing eye liner which adds to the rock genre. They both have dark hair which suggests they are bit Gothic. There is allot of use of instruments as we see the 'red box' replicating itself with the beat as the drummer drums with the singer singing.

Th music video also uses Goodwin's theory as the visuals on screen matches the lyrics. With the beating of the drum and the strumming of the guitar the editing goes fast pace. It then stops when the singer sings and then goes fast with the drumming.

This music video is stereotypical to a rock music video and is all performance based music video. The artist are playing instruments and their is a constant location change.

There are many reasons why an artist  would choose to create a diverse music video is that they want to be 'different'. By being different the audience tends to remember that specific artist and its music video. Producing a diverse video can also start some sort of trend that everyone starts following. This can be something showed in the music video, clothes worn by an artist or maybe a dance step performed by the artist.These music videos break the generic conventions and have something completely different.
However, their are some down side to creating a diverse music video ; these can include the fact that it is hard for the audience to relate to the artist. This can mean that the audience wont have any intrest in the artist.

Chris Cunningham and Micheal Gondry are both very different types of music videos. Chris Cunningham creates very dark and strange videos. Micheal Gondry creates music videos that has a 'repetition' in it. Micheal Gondry's styles of directing music videos best suits the music video that i will be producing as the song i am doing is upbeat and is lyrics based. However Chris Cunningham's videos are dark and Gothic and strange and the song i have choose to do is a love story compared to the type of songs Chris Cunningham directs.