This document discusses different genres of music and their typical styles and conventions as portrayed in music videos. It begins by explaining the variety of modern music genres like pop, rock, R&B, rap, jazz, hip hop, electronic, country and metal. It then provides more detail on specific genres, describing common themes, locations, shots, and portrayals of men and women in music videos for genres like rap, rock, drum & bass, and electronic. The document also covers various music video techniques including in-concert footage, narratives, animation, and referencing/homages.

1. By Jack
Brooks
T H E S T Y L E O F
M U S I C V I D E O S

2. VARIETY
 Music has grown massively in the last 50 years. From Elvis to Lady Gaga, and
Blondie to Eminem, music has changed. Nowadays the variety of music is huge,
and popular. A genre of music is a orthodox grouping that categorizes pieces of
music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Pop, Rap, RnB,
Drum and Bass, Electronic, Rock, Alternative all feature in the charts, and their
styles, conventions and stereotypes all come through in their respective music
videos.
 Audience and consumers enjoy variety and having a massive choice of music to
listen to and enjoy for themselves. On iTunes at the moment there are of millions
of songs available to download whenever you want.

3. GENRES
 Pop – From the word ‘popular’. Originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. Can mean any genre or type of music that is popular at that time. Usually is
clean and fun, for the charts. Famous artists include Katy Perry, Ariana Grande etc.
 Rock – “A form of popular music which evolved from rock and roll and pop music during the mid and late 1960s. Harsher and often self-consciously more serious than its
predecessors, it was initially characterized by musical experimentation and drug-related or anti-establishment lyrics.” Wikipedia.org – 2014.
 R&B – Stands for rhythm and blues. It is a genre of popular African-American music that originated in the 1940s. It has now evolved to be popular and can be quite electronic.
Popular artists consist of Beyoncé, Mariah Carey and Usher.
 Rap - “A style of popular music, developed by disc jockeys in the late 1970s, in which an insistent, recurring beat pattern provides the background and counterpoint for rapid,
slangy, and often boastful rhyming patter glibly intoned by a vocalist or vocalists.” Dictionary.com – 2014. Some successful artists consist of Jay-Z, Kanye West and 50 Cent. It has
heavy influences with drugs, sex and gang culture.
 J a z z – “Jazz, often called America's classical music, grew out of a mixture of blues, Western Swing and Western Art music. Jazz has been a part of American culture since the
turn on the 20th century and has undergone many different changes since its inception. Jazz players such as Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie have become household names for both
their flamboyant playing styles and highly energetic improvisations.” ehow.com – 2014. Popular artists consist of Louie Armstrong.
 Hi p -Hop – “Hip-hop usually consists of DJs who manipulate sounds and beats on turntables. Other features often include break dancing and the performance of skilled
rhyming using a combination of spoken word and scat singing, known as rapping. Hip-hop became a commercial phenomenon in the late 1980s/early 1990s, gaining a mass audience
as well as criticism. Some praised hip-hop for being a vehicle for social change, while others claimed it glamorizes violence, misogyny and criminal lifestyles.” ehow.com – 2014
Popular artists consist of Dr. Dre, The Notorious B.I.G and Lil Wayne.
 E l ec t roni c – “ Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production, an electronic musician being a
musician who composes and/or performs such music. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using
electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, and the electric guitar. Purely electronic sound production
can be achieved using devices such as the theremin, sound synthesizer, and computer.” Wikipedia.org – 2014. Popular artists consist of Calvin Harris, Pendulum and Netsky.
 Co unt r y – The core formula “consists of a straightforward chord progression, a resonating chorus or bridge, and a memorable story, will most often be the foundation of
country music songs. The country music chorus can be the signature of the song combining brilliant harmonies and emotionally driven lyrics, which add to the unique quality, and truth
of the genre.” wisegeek.com – 2014. Popular artists consist of Billy Ray Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Jonny Cash.
 Metal – ”With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion,
extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are often associated with masculinity, aggression, and machismo.” Wikipedia
– 2014. Popular artists consist of Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford and James Hetfield.

4. RAP
 Usually in rap music, the artists are male, young and black. They usually have tattoos and are considered tough or intimidating. They act
gangster and make references to drugs and violence in their lyrics and actions. They seem arrogant and rude, and they don’t seem like nice
people.
 Themes of rap music are violence, gangs, sex, money, drugs and alcohol and a difficult lifestyle background. They all add to the gangster
and underprivileged theme that runs through rap music. They also talk about racism, cars and success.
 Rap music videos often take place in urban environments or in very dangerous places. This shows how they came from the bottomor they
are trying to relate to the target audience of young underprivileged teenagers.
 A reoccurring theme in rap is the notion of starting from nothing and succeeding due to the success of their music. They talkabout the
money they have now and what they have. The artists usually brag about how far they have come. This will come across arrogant. There are
usually cars and women in the typical rap music video. Guns and violence also play a heavy part in rap music and this reinforces their
gangster lifestyle that they portray.
 Low angle shots are usually used, as it shows how the artist is more powerful than you because he is higher up than the camera. Also it is
typical for the artists to perform to the camera. This is common because it takes little creativity and acting out the lyrics are not as ‘cool’.
There would also be shots of cars and money, to show their status. Women will be in the forefront of the video as it makes the video
appealing to men. It also would show that the artists are successful with women.
 Women are usually objectified and the term ‘video hoes’ stems from rap music videos. Artists will usually get lots of attractive women to
dance sexually to their songs. Women are used as sexual objects and that is portrayed in the lyrics and the videos. Men are portrayed as
either friends or enemies in the videos, and the friends are usually gang related, and the enemies are usually picked on in the lyrics and
video. This backs up the violence and gang themes.

5. ROCK
 The artists usually are male, rough and dangerous. A big part of rock is the ‘cool’ image, and this is portrayed through clothes such
as leather coats and long hair. They usually act rude or mysterious, or eccentric through the big drug culture in the Rock genre. A
famous example is Alex Turner, the frontman for the Artic Monkeys. He is very mysterious and fashionable, with slick back hair and
black leather clothing. He will act moody, in order to gain interest in his character and profile.
 Common themes of rock music are love, sex, drugs, violence, aggression and rebellion. This adds to the mysterious and dangerous
lifestyle or Rock.
 Some artists use locations such as run down and dirty places as it shows how they don’t conform to the establishment. If everything
was clean and neat it would not represent the rebellion that they try and show. Usual locations are warehouses or urban locations. A
lot of rock bands use in concert footage in their videos to show how popular they are and to show that people enjoy their music.
 Typical stories in rock music are parties, drugs, sex and violence. These things are portrayed in videos quite literally and can be
interesting to watch. A lot of artists write songs about their lives but the main feature of rock is the instruments. There is a big
influence on making the songs sound good and lyrics can often be meaningful. As rock can be dance music as well so it needs to
have a good beat. It is often in 4/4 timing, meaning that it is a simple structure to dance to and listen to.
 Typical shots involve band performance, because the main point of rock music is the instruments and image of the band, rather than
the stories they tell with the lyrics. This leads to a lot of shots of bands playing in all different places, whether it is to an audience or
not. A lot of the time bands are just playing towards the camera, and the location is dirty and grungy. This shows the hard and
dangerous lifestyle of the band. Other shots include close ups of the band members, close ups of the instruments, and shots of the
location.
 Women are usually portrayed in sex and often dance in the videos. The target audience for rock music is white males, therefore
women will be conventionally good for adding attention to the video. Men are portrayed as cool and dangerous.

6. DRUM & BASS
 Electronic music is new and different to what has come before. There is often no instruments as it is all created digitally on a computer. The artists
are usually solo or duet DJ’s and if there are shots of them it will be playing turntables. The music videos for electronic music usually tell a story or
depict a party atmosphere in which this music would be normally played. The artists are enthusiastic as they all want to create energy for their
music to make people want to dance (as electronic music is predominantly dance music). The artists could have personas, like Deadmau5 who
always wear giant masks when they appear in their videos or play live. This creates mystery and excitement. Some artists like Skrillex go for a
unique and authentic look, with long hair on one side of his head and shaven completely in the other side. A big part of electronic music is being
different to the norm, and this could portray that in his style.
 In electronic music, the majority of the music has no actual singing, maybe just loops of previous songs. Some electronic artists will collaborate
with other artists, such as Calvin Harris, who gets artists like Ellie Goulding to sing over his instrumentals. However, a lot of electronic music has
no vocals at all, and the instrumental can sometimes tell a story. Other types of electronic music like Dubstep, will have a phrase which is
repeated before the drop and the most exciting part of the song. This will usually be the title of the song and can be the memorable line. For
example, the word ‘centipede’ is used before the drop on Knife Party’s “Centipede”. The music then portrays a centipede by having fast and high
pitched sounds to represent the multiple legs.
 Common themes in electronic music is partying and raving. The music often has little meaning apart from to dance at nightclubs or gigs. The
music creates excitement in people because of its fast nature.
 Locations in the videos are often nightclubs or places that the song would be played in real life, or if it’s a story, anything could happen. For
example David Guetta’s “Titanium” depicts a boy running away from home to the music. This will always change. In DJ Snake’s “Turn Down For
What”, the video is a story of people dancing to the music and smashing things in an apartment building, leading to extremely fast dancing and
people being horrified by the dance moves.
 Typical shots consist of the artists on the turntables, dance scenes in nightclubs, special effects like explosions and sometimes animation. The
videos often are odd and represent the music. Party drugs are also quite common in electronic music videos, leading to shots of the consumption
and effects of them.
 Women are portrayed as dancers and can sometimes be used sexually, but the target audience includes young women, so the videos are not
usually disrespectful to women. Men are treated equally in most videos and songs, but a lot of the music can be compared to sex.

7. MUSIC VIDEO TECHNIQUES PT. 1
In-Concert Footage:
 Bands will use in-concert footage to fill the space in videos with little narrative or to try and promote a tour or show. Doing this allows the
viewer to experience a show and see how the band or artist can perform. It is a good way to blend your platforms and get content shown. It
can also show that a band is successful if their music video has them playing a song to a sold out stadium. Some bands use in-concert
footage to advertise a tour, or to show how popular a song is because if 50,000 people are singing the lyrics in the video the viewer feels
like the song is good and successful. it can be a very powerful and persuasive technique. It could be used in a non narrativevideo to be
good to show the artist live, or a narrative video to show progression to fame and having a sell out show.
 Some other bands use In-Concert Footage for the whole video. The band will perform the song to a live audience, with clips of the band, the
venue and the audience. However, the audio from that recording will not be used, as the music video needs to be good sound and the
album version of the song will be overlaid onto the video.
Narrative:
 Music videos can have a narrative element to tell a story, or be a visual aid to the story of the song. Some artists want to tell a story in their
music videos, such as Michael Jackson and his song ‘Thriller’, in which the video is a short zombie film with a beginning, middle and end.
The song features in the video but the video gives the song meaning and a lot of people enjoy having stories. This was the first time that a
music video was more like a short film. It was revolutionary at the time of coming out and changed the way music videos are received and
presented. It opened a new door for narrative music videos and their potential for making more money and utilising the success of a song.
 On the other hand some music videos, for example Bobby Shmurda ‘Hot *****’, the whole video is purely him on a single shot rapping to
the camera with no story or narrative. This can be effective as it is something to watch whilst listening to the song. The video adds nothing
to the song other than reinforcing he is a intimidating male with a gang of friends and he is part of gang culture. The song doesn’t have
much meaning to it which is perhaps why he opted to go for a non narrative music video.

8. MUSIC VIDEO TECHNIQUES PT. 2
Animation (stop motion, digital):
 Bands will use animation in their music videos to add a sense of Hollywood into their production. It will be visually
appealing if there are exciting special effects or it could add depth to the narrative of the video. Using special effects
mean that videos can be more complex and interesting, leading to more people watching if they find the video good to
watch. Some bands whole videos could rely on animation for the whole video because a normal camera and normal
actors cannot contain their imagination and ideas. They might want to make something in which cameras cannot create,
so they will have animated characters.
 Some artists have used animation for the whole length of some of their music videos. The whole of “Do I Wanna Know” by
Arctic Monkeys is animated. The video consists of a line which moves around to create shapes and images and move to
the beat of the song. This is effective as it is interesting to watch and expertly executed. It is different to normal music
videos which could cause people to want to watch it more. A band called Gorrilaz have characters as animated gorillas,
and all their music videos are always of the gorillas either playing music or a narrative based around them. It is very
interesting to watch and the music and videos are good. They caused controversy because their fans didn’t even know
who the artists were and everyone thought they were a cartoon band. This was an interesting concept to people and
therefore they would have been drawn to watching their videos and listening to their music.
This is a screenshot from Gorrilaz “On Melancholy Hill” music
video. You can see how they are animated and have characters.
A lot of people enjoy this and like watching to videos. There is
usually a narrative to their videos, creating a story with set
characters before. The gorilla at the front is called Murdoch, and
he is grumpy rock star and the bass guitarist. This character is
utilised in music videos as he clearly looks grumpy here and it is
the same in many of their videos. It is a new approach to music
and the usual codes and conventions of bands and their videos.
This is Arctic
Monkeys “Do I
Wanna Know”
music video. The
animation of is
clear of the line. It
is a very interesting
video.

9. MUSIC VIDEO TECHNIQUES PT. 3
Referencing/ Homage:
 A reference/homage is 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. They will copy
certain elements of a video without mimicking the original text. It 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. It could also be humorous and an interesting video to watch if they are re-creating a classic video.
 For example, a band called Alien Ant Farm reproduced a cover to Michael Jacksons - Smooth Criminal. In
this video they honour his previous songs by reconstructing sections such as the lit up tiles, his dance
moves and the moonwalk.
 Another example is The Wanted “Walks Like Rihanna”. In this particular 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, and maybe to respect their idols as they are a boy band and must
have used classic examples as inspiration for their carers. This video recognises the old bands and plays
a tribute toward their work.
This is Alien Ant Farm’s cover of Michael
Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”. The band
are clearly referencing Michael Jackson
here by using one of his famous crotch
grab dance moves. This is an intertextual
reference that if people know about
Michael Jackson and this dance move
then they will enjoy the reference
because they feel in the loop. Alien Ant
Farm also did they because they liked
Michaels music and wanted to play a
tribute to him.
This reference is
more subtle, as
Michael Jackson
owned a pet
monkey named
Bubbles, and this is
either a comical
reference to that, or
a subtle reference
to his personal life.

10. MUSIC VIDEO TECHNIQUES PT. 4
Pastiche:
 A pastiche is when the music video imitates the style of the work of one or more other artists. Pastiche is different from
parody because it celebrates, rather than ridicules, the work it emulates.
 This is a good way of a band honouring their musical inspirations and showing it to their audiences. It is a respectful way
of creating references to other pieces of work and having fun with the idea.
 "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen is uncommon, because there are numerous dissimilar styles imitated in the song, all
mixed together to make one piece of music. It shows how they respect other types of music and want to add them in their
own songs and styles of work.
Parody:
 A parody is a re created music video, with an element of humour or fun being poked at the original artist.
 Weird Al Yankovic creates many parodies of popular songs such as Michael Jackson “Bad” and Lorde “Royals”. He does it
for comic effect and executes the production well and very similar to the original video, creating a parody of the song.
 Parodies can be good ways to get material noticed on websites like YouTube because if someone searches a song, then
the parody will come up along with the song. Also people might be interested in viewing parodies because it is interesting
if they enjoy the artists original work.
Weird Al’ Yankovic’s
parody of hat
famous album
cover. This is purely
done for comic
effect.
Real Nirvana
album cover for
‘Nevermind’.
Queen’s
‘Bohemian
Rhapsody’
artwork.

11. MUSIC VIDEO TECHNIQUES PT. 5
Influence of Commercials:
 The influence of commercials on the success of music videos is huge. For a music video to be successful it needs to be viewed a lot and discussed
in the public. It needs to raise awareness of the song and the advertising of that video means that it will be seen more if it is advertised well.
 If the advertising campaign for a video is good, it will spark interest and get the audience excited for the final product. It will influence a good
image of the song and the artist, leading to more people watching and potentially buying the song which increases the artists income.
 Advertising for music videos have been used in the past for bands like One Direction, whether the advertising was on TV or social media. A lot of
bands use social media in the build up to a release of a song, and create worldwide ‘hashtags’ which sparks a debate and creates free advertising.
They will also post about the song or release short teaser trailers of the upcoming music video.
Surrealist/ Impressionist:
 Some directors attempt to create a surreal video to appeal to the audience’s senses and leave a long lasting impression of the music video. By
doing this it creates interest for the video and therefore profit. It can also enhance or support the personality of the artist, as if it is a crazy video it
would reflect on the artists crazy persona.
 An example of a surreal music video is Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’. The whole video is presented backwards, even though the story appears to be
told chronologically, and the lead singer Chris Martin lip syncs the song even though it is in reverse. He had to learn to mouth the words backwards
in order to achieve the desired effect. This video is surreal because the story appears to be told chronologically, but it is in reverse. It leaves a
lasting impression of the video and shows Coldplay as a creative and interesting band.
 Impressionist music videos try and represent true life through scenes. They try to seem realistic, but with a twist. It can be very effective and look
good if done well. It is a technique used by bands who put a lot of effort into their work. A famous example is Daft Punk’s music video for ‘Da
Funk’. It shows a normal day in the life of an urban person in New York, but the character is a dog dressed in human clothes, rather than a human.
This is a still from Daft
Punk ‘Da Funk’. A dog
dressed in human clothes
is impressionist and odd to
the senses. It makes the
video memorable and
adds interest to the song
and the band.
Chris Martin in
Coldplay’s ‘The
Scientist’ video. This
is the start of the
video but the end of
the story. This
concept makes the
video surreal.

12. MUSIC VIDEO TECHNIQUES PT. 6
Interpretative Music Video:
Audience Interpretation:
 A music video can be interpreted by an audience. The audience will watch a video and take their own
meaning from it, depending on their opinions and knowledge. It doesn’t have a set meaning or morale
but the audience will interpret whatever they think. This is a good way to create a debate between your
fan base or develop a deeper complexity in your video. It can be considered as art and therefore the
audience will feel connected if they have to think for themselves about the meaning of the video and the
intentions or beliefs of the artist.
Production Interpretation:
 An interpretive music video is a video in which the lyrics directly reflect what is happening on screen. If a
lyric is said in the song, it will usually be acted out on screen. This is usually done in videos without
narrative and can be effective if the song either lacks deep meaning or is cheerful and doesn’t have a
set meaning to it. This would happen often in rap, comedy music and some pop videos.
 For example, an American comedy band The Lonely Island used interpretation in their music video for
their song “I’m On A Boat”. The lyric is “I’ve got my swim trunks and my flippy floppies.” and below is a
screen grab from that part of the music video, clearly showing on screen that he has swim trunks and
flippy floppies.