Folk Music Video Conventions

The indie folk music genre arose in the late 1990's. Indie folk music combines two different music genres which are indie rock and folk music as one.


Indie folk music commonly use instruments such as banjos, pianos, double bass and violins in their songs.

In indie folk music the artist or the actors in the music video often wear natural looking clothes as this reflects the 'natural feel' the songs have as they often follow a narrative. They can often wear quite smart looking clothes but change this look into a more casual appearance so they have a simple and plain look.

Folk music videos have a very laid back feel to them and feature all the members of the group as one in a variety of long sweeping shots with smooth editing to create a calm relaxed atmosphere.

Folk music videos also commonly use vintage looking filters and use low key lighting, to add a old fashioned and aged feel to the videos which again adds to the relaxed atmosphere and complements the style of music. The low lighting adds a warming and welcoming feel to the videos which reflects the often happy up-beat narrative behind the songs.

This shot from The Lumineers music video for 'ho hey' is good example of your typical folk music video. The group can all be seen in the same shot, so the viewers can get to know the group as a whole and also portrays a relaxed and informal feel. The use of wide shots also show the clothes and instruments that are being used. For example, the two male members are dressed in smart casual look with a vintage old-fashioned feel with the hats and braces. The instruments are also a important part of Folk music videos as instruments are a key aspect that portrays the genre to the audience. For example in the centre of the shot Wesley Schulz is playing the guitar and is centre of the shot as it is a important aspect in the video as guitars are used in a lot of Folk music. It also allows the viewers to be able to see where the vocals and instrumentals are coming from, which also creates a connection between the viewer and the artists as the are likely to want to buy there music if they feel connected to the artist. 

The shot above is again from the 'ho hey' music video by The Lumineers. This shot has minimal lighting which creates a warming and natural feel and also makes the shot appear ta little washed out and faded which again creates that old-fashioned feel. The setting is also simple and reflects the simple narrative of the song and complements not only the music but also the artists themselves. Another thing that can be seen in this shot is the use of mine-en-scene as the hallway the band is in has been decorated with pink flowers. This is typical in Folk music videos as there is a lack of manufactured imagery in the videos as they often opt for a much more natural feel with the use of the environment, which in this video has been in the form of flowers to keep the the raw and simple feel. 

Folk music is very narrative focused and can a be simple love story or have a deep and emotional story behind the song.  Therefore, Folk music videos need to reflect this through the audio and also though the imagery but in a simple way with no flashy imagery or special effects, but a solid clear story.

For Folk music videos to portray a narrative the characters in the music videos need to be relatable and the viewer should be able to capture there personalities quickly so the audience can make a quick connection and be able to be absorbed into the story of the song.  

How to Tell if a Music Video is Successful

• Amount of YouTube views
• How often it is shown on TV
• Whether or not it is featured in newspapers/magazines or online
• How many times it has been downloaded from sites such as ITunes
• How many CDs were sold
• If the music video has won awards (and which ones)
• How much publicity it receives and whether it not it is positive

These are all indicators of whether or not a music video is successful. Generally the more the views it receives or the more the item is bought, the more successful it is.

What Are Music Videos?

A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery. Music videos are often produced for promotional reasons or artistic purposes.

The modern day music video are mainly made as a marketing tool, to help promote the sale of the music and the knowledge of the artist. Before the 1980's music videos were described using terms such as 'illustrated song', 'filming insert', 'promotional film', 'promotional clip', 'promotional video', 'song video', 'song clip', or 'film clip'.

There are many different forms of music videos, which use a variety of styles. Some examples of video making techniques include animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches.

Some music videos use a variety of styles and blend them together. A common combination would be animation, music and live action. Many music videos use scenes and images directly from the songs lyrics, which creates a visual story which is told within the song. Other music videos do not do this but instead create a filmed version of the songs live performance.

History:


In 1894 publishers Edward B. Marles and Joe Stern hired an electrician, George Thomas, and gathered various performers in hope to promote their song 'The Little Lost Child'. Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of still images on  screen, at the same time as the live
performances were taking place. This form of entertainment then became known as the illustrated song, which was the first steps towards the music video as we know it today.


Also The Beatles used music videos to help promote their music, which started in the mid 1960's.

The debut of the Beatles film 'A hard days night' and performances of 'Cant by me love' were two creative ways in which music videos were used in the 1960's.  

Decades later MTV honoured the film director of these videos, Richard Lester, and stated that Richard Lester basically invented the music video.

Audience Theories

Signs and Signifiers

Signs and Signifiers are built up of the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the physical form of what you see or hear, for example, a rose. The signified is what we interpret from the form, for example, many associate a rose with love.
This can be very useful in media videos as they can be made to be interpreted in a certain way. A shot of a rose could help portray the meaning of the song, showing the audience that the song is relating to love. This can also include the use of colour; Muse used a large amount of red in their music video for ‘reapers’. This colour could be associated with love and danger, though in the video it is clear that the colour is supposed to signify danger as the drone chases down the character.

Hypodermic Syringe Theory

The Hypodermic Syringe Theory was developed in the 1920/30s after researchers observed the effect of propaganda during the World War.
It suggests the media ‘injects’ its opinions, images and perspectives directly into the minds of the audience.
Mass Media is able to influence a very large group of people directly by shooting them with appropriate messages. It suggests the audience is passive.
For example, a young boy shot his mother after playing Call of Duty, believing she would respawn as they do in the game.
 This can also occur in music videos, so one must be careful of what the lyrics and the physical interpretation could represent to the audience. The audience should believe what the song is trying to put across, but not influence them to commit crimes.

Two Step Flow

The Two Step Flow Theory states that we are more likely to be affected by the media, if we discuss it with others. Our opinions are affected by the way our friends have viewed the media. Discussions about TV shows, music videos or films often help decide whether or not it will be successful; this is called ‘word of mouth’. If the opinion leaders decide that what they have seen was not up to their standard and discuss this with others, they feel inclined to agree. This process will spread the idea that the item is substandard and it will receive fewer views and not become successful. Word of mouth is very important if one wants a music video to be successful.

MTV

MTV is an American satellite television channel which was launched on the 1st of August 1981.

The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by television personalities, who are also known as 'video jockeys'.

In its early stages MTV had a target audience of young adults, however this has now changed and is now targeted at adolescence and teenagers.

The concept of a music video has been around since the early 1960's.

MTV's original slogan used in 1981 was, “You’ll never look at music the same way again”.

MTV was launched to be 'music television', which meant they played music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, this has now changed and MTV no longer plays music videos 24/7 and shows many programmes such as reality shows like 'Jersey Shore'. But people can now watch music videos on demand at MTV.com.

The first ever music video to ever play on MTV was the song 'Video Killed The Radio Star' which is well remembered as being the first video shown, which was at 12:01am on 1st August 1981 in America.


MTV, now has more than 340 million viewers worldwide, and reaches 440 households globally.

Star Analysis- Analysing Progression of Music Videos

Muse’s first music videos were very obviously made with a low budget, as they were not yet well known and did not have the money to spend on eccentric videos, and were very simplistic. This can clearly be seen in ‘Sunburn’.
 Sunburn was one of the singles from their first album, ‘Showbiz’. The video has a very simple household setting with a mother watching television with her son. She walks up stairs and looks at herself in the mirror, and sees the band in the mirror. This is very basic editing but is still quite effective. However one can tell that the actress is not very good, which shows that their budget is low. They still manage to portray the meaning of the lyrics through the video, as the actress ends up finding herself stuck in the mirror. As one of the band members states; “it’s about moving into a new world, mentally or physically, realising its not what you thought it was going to be”.
 It still clearly shows that the band had a small budget, making it rather low production, but they still managed to make it an effective video.

 

One of their later videos, ‘Undisclosed Desires’, from the album ‘The Resistance’, clearly shows higher production. This means that the band has become more successful and therefore can afford better music videos.
This video was set in, what seems to be, a small warehouse. The area is surrounded by screens showing the song’s lyrics word by word. They are often not in time and occasionally playing some other part of the song. This creates an interesting background to the scene. They have lots of shots of a dancer, often in slow motion, where she appears to be covered in wires. This fits with the theme, as the entire set is covered in wires, speakers and instruments and lights that lie on the floor, which light up according to the beat. It gives the impression of seeing the band ‘behind the scenes’, as the audience sees what is usually hidden in videos, such as the wires, hanging frames saying where each shot is and describing the shot type, eg. Matt Close Up. One can also see tracks on the floor, which are being used as dollies, which are commonly used for filming track shots. There are also several shots of mechanical items and images which relate to hearts or blood, which link to the lyrics.
Overall, the video has improved greatly in production, creating a video which is fun and easy to watch, both for its simplicity, its interesting camera shots and because of everything that’s going on; for example the fast paced editing allows the audience many shots of moving speakers, the dancer and the band, so the audience is constantly entertained.

 
‘Reapers’ is one of their most recent songs, from their album ‘Drones’ which came out in 2015.
This video is clearly of higher quality- the production in this video is much higher than any other, with CGI drones and better editing. This album was based around the control of the government and the story of someone trying to escape their hold. ‘Reapers’ expresses the characters losing battle as he eventually stops running, the last shots showing him lying on the floor, completely spent as the drone flies away, having subdued the enemy.
 The woman in the video is the antagonist who is controlling the drones, chasing the man through he set. The entire video is in black and white, however the text appears as red, as does the woman’s lipstick and nail varnish- this clearly sets her up as the antagonist as red represents danger.
The shots through the eyes of the drone are seen in negative with a frame and a target, as they chase the protagonist through the abandoned buildings, which shows the drones intent of stopping the protagonist through any means necessary.
 The lyrics also appear providing key words or phrases of the songs to make it clear to the audience what they are trying to express, for example phrases such as ‘rule with lies and deceit’, ‘kill remote control’, ‘Hellfire’, ‘killed by’ and ‘brutalise’ easily portray the drones (and the government) as the cold and heartless antagonist of the story. They then later repeat the words ‘here come the Drones’, which gives the audience a sense of foreboding as the Drones give chase and eventually win against the protagonist.
 These subtle editing techniques help to win the audience’s attention. This is using the ‘Hypodermic Syringe Theory’, which suggests people are suggestable and will be influenced by what they see on the media. These suggestions manipulate the audience in to knowing who the antagonist is by clever use of words and colour.

This clearly shows the progression of Muse’s music videos, both through production and ability to create an interesting video.
At the beginning, they had a small budget, with a very typical, unexciting video, that had a very basic storyline and with a rather simple meaning that was expressed very fundamentally.
 Through the years, we can see their improved fame, allowing them a larger budget, so they can become more expressive in their music video to help portray the meaning of the song and to pull in a larger audience, as many people enjoy watching music videos. With the money they have, they can afford a better production team to create a higher quality media piece, using expensive equipment to create better angles and more interesting shots. They can improve the editing of the video to make it more realistic and eye-grabbing. Over time they became more inventive with the use of editing in their music videos, especially with ‘Sing for Absolution’, where the band was edited into a spaceship that flew into space through an asteroid belt and crash landed onto an abandoned planet. This immediately drew the attention of audiences, as it shows what the future could be and how we need to conserve the planet we live on, as they represent the idea of humans destroying the planet as we see debris around the planet and advertisements preparing the people for the ice age. The astronauts then land on the abandoned planet to find a ruin of big ben, as they realise they had already destroyed the previous planet.
 From this you can see how effective music videos can be in representing the idea behind the song. Muse mostly use their videos to help teach their audience about conspiracy theories and their beliefs about the Government and what the future could hold for us.

Star Analysis- Introducing Muse

Muse is a small English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon which formed in 1994.  The band consists of Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar and piano), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Dominic Howard (Drums, percussion, synthesisers).
Muse has released several studio albums:

·         Showbiz (1999)

·         Origin of Symmetry (2001)

·         Absolution (2003)

·         Black holes and Revelations (2006)

·         The Resistance (2009)

·         The 2^nd Law (2012)

·         Drones (2015)

And four live albums. Muse has sold over 17 million albums worldwide.
Their album ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ won the band a Mercury Prize and was named the third best album of 2006. Muse has won several other awards such as five MTV Europe Music awards, six Q Awards, eight NME Awards, two Brit Awards, won “Best British Live Act” twice, an MTV Video Music Award and were nominated for five Grammy Awards.

Muse’s Video for their song ‘Uprising’ won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Visual Effects.
‘Uprising’ is considered a good music video as it was used to symbolise implication of the lyrics. The first thing the music video focuses on is the burning fuse, which could imply the idea of time running out and how the population needs to stand up to the government while we are still aware of their control, as stated in the lyrics ‘they’ll try to push the drugs that keep us all dumbed down’, which is visually represented by a small toy digger pushing drugs, which shows the idea that the government is controlling it’s people, ‘and hope that we will never see the truth around’.
The use of a miniature setting gives the impression of the populace being small and insignificant (at least in the eyes of the corrupt government). They also depict those who represent the government as teddy bears, as they are shown on the television- a common conspiracy theory is that the media is used by the government to control people, which is represented in this video. The singer, Matt Bellamy, then uses the guitar to smash the screens to present the idea of an uprising and to rebel against the control- ‘so rise up and take the power back’.

Many shots are also used of the band with top lighting creating dramatic contrast with sparks flying in the background, this makes them seem powerful to the audience, making the audience feel like they are on the winning side, as the singer promises in his lyrics- ‘we will be victorious’.
 The teddy bears in this sequence play an important role. They symbolise the idea of something which is expected to be harmless and cute, however in this music video they are presented as evil as they destroy the buildings on the set. This could be insinuating the idea that the world is being destroyed by people that we believe to be harmless or who we think we can trust, in this case, it is suggested that the teddy bears represent the Government.
Muse attracts an audience that likes (alternative) rock and that possibly agree with conspiracy theories or just like the meaning behind the lyrics. This is enforced by the band’s music videos, which follow the typical conventions of their genre, for example, an interesting setting, close ups of members if the band and their instruments and group shots of the entire band, which editing that cuts along to the beat. They also have very interesting videos that are entertaining to watch and often have a small narrative or themes that relate to the lyrics, like in ‘Uprising’.

Rock Music

Rock Music is a form of popular music which evolved from Rock and Roll and Pop music during the mid and late 1960s, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was initially characterised by musical experimentation and drug-related or anti-establishment lyrics.
 Musically, Rock is centred on the electric guitar, usually as a part of a rock group with electric bass guitar and drums.
 The Beatles were one of the first major British rock bands when they started in 1962.
 Rock has many sub-genres, where the original Rock genre has been heavily influenced by another genre, affecting the sound of the music.
 For example, Pop Rock, Folk Rock, Punk Rock, Alternative are all subgenres of the Rock genre.

Several well-known modern rock bands are the Foo Fighters, Green Day, Linkin Park and Muse. Compared to the original Rock Bands, such as The Beatles, these bands show the technical and musical progression of the genre throughout the years.
 If I were to study one band to show the progression of the genre, I would study Muse, an English Rock band that formed in 1994. Because Muse has existed for 21 years, they would make a good study to show the progression of their music and their music videos.

Star Analysis: Michael Jackson (Pop)

Michael Jackson was a singer, songwriter, record prooducer, dancer and actor. He was known as 'The King of Pop' as he made many contributions to pop music and also to dance as well, which made him a global figure for over four decades.

Michael Jackson started of his career in 1964 as part pf the Jackson 5, with his other four brothers, and then started his solo career in 1971. In the 1980's he became a dominant figure in pop music.

Michael Jackson's music videos were said to have broken down racial barriers and also said to have transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool. Some examples of these would be his songs 'Beat it', 'Billie Jean', and 'Thriller'. At the time of these songs the relatively new music channel MTV was said to have shot to fame due to the popularity of Michael Jackson music videos.

Through Michaels stage and music video performances Michael Jackson made many complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk popular and also gave these techniques their name. Michael Jackson's distinctive sound and style has influenced many artists over the decades.




The iconic 1982, Michael Jackson song 'Thriller' is the best selling album of all time in the United states and the best selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 63 million copies. In addition to the album, Michael Jackson released a 14 minute long music video for the song in 1983. In 1985 , thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video.

As well as being known as the king of pop, he was also referred to as the king of music videos. It was said that he turned the music video into a art form and also a promotional tool through he way he used complexed storylines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances. Before Thriller Michael Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, which was supposedly due to the fact that he was African American. The popularity of his music videos helped to make MTV well known. Short films like Thriller are still considered as being unique to Michael Jackson. However, dance sequences that were used in music videos such as 'Beat it' have had a big impact on many music videos and have tried to be copied many times. The famous Thriller dance which features in the music video has now become a part of global pop culture. The Thriller short film raised the bar for music videos, and is the most successful music video ever according to the Guinness World Records.

Michael Jackson also released a 19 minute music video for the song 'Bad'. In this video Michael Jackson started to use sexual imagery and choreography which was never seen before in his work. In the music video for the 'Smooth Criminal' Jackson did his famous anti-gravity lean. The music video for 'Leave Me Alone' was released in 1989 and was nominated for three Billboard music video awards and in this same year it won a Golden Lion Award, due to the special effects, it then made more success in 1990 when it won a Grammy for the Best Music Video.
In 1988 Michael Jackson received the MTV video vanguard award and in 1990 he won the MTV video vanguard artist of the decade award, due to his achievements as these awards are also reefed to as the 'life time achievement award'. From 1991 and to this date the award has been renamed the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

Remember The Time had a big production and became one of his longest music videos. This music video was set in the ancient Egypt and featured ground breaking visual effects. Ira Robbins from Entertainment Weekly described the video as being a "gorgeous ancient Egyptian extravaganza". Remember The Time was marketed as a short film and featured stars such as Eddie Murphy. Michael Jacksons record label released clips and also released behind the scene clips of the making of the music video.

Michael Jacksons Scream, gained 11 MTV music video award nominations in 1995. Scream won the Best Dance Video, Best Choreography and Best Art Direction. A year later the video won a Grammy for Best Music Video and also the Guinness World Records listed it as the most expensive music video ever made , as it had the cost of $7million. Also Michael Jacksons song Scream holds the Guinness World record for the longest music video, as it is over 38 minutes long.

Pop Music Video Conventions

Pop music videos usually have some link between the lyrics and the visuals used int he video. This makes the video relevant to the song and can also help people remember the lyrics, as they can physically see the words coming to life on the screen, which makes people remember the song and possibly make them want to by it.

Editing is often used to cut the clips on the beat of ore upbeat pop songs, which makes the video more pleasing to the viewer.

The target audience for pop music is generally youth, so pop music videos have to stand out and be appealing. To achieve this bright lighting is often used and some form of bright object or costume is also used, to make the video vibrant and lively, as this is what the youth are generally attracted to. This then makes the music video upbeat which often reflects the general message and the beat of the song.

For example above is an image from Megan Trainor's, All About The Bass music video, which is as you can see is colourful and has a 'cute' feel to it with the mixture of pastel colours, also worn by the artist herself which makes the whole video stand out.

Again, as the target audience for pop music videos is the youth,and fashion is considered important to this generation, the costumes worn are generally whatever is in fashionable at the time it as made. This then makes them relatable for the young generation to understand them and to be liked by the. For example George Ezra is wearing a casual looking outfit, in his Listen To The Man music video, which would be seen as 'normal' to the young audience.

However, some pop artists do not dress with the latest fashion, but opt for a much unusual and rather 'weird' looking image. A good example of this would be the vibrant look of Nicki Minaj in her music video for Starships. Her look makes her unique and really stand out from the crowd and her music videos allow her to have a well known presence in the music industry.



When pop music videos include a story within their videos the actors are usually young. This is particularly because the artists themselves are young, but also so that the video is appealing to the young target audience.

In pop music videos narratives commonly feature or have elements of love. This is because the concept of love is often associated with the young target audience and is one they can relate to and also fantasise over. However, love is also used in music videos as more pop music is about love.

Pop music videos also often feature some of the reference to the artists name or the song title within the music video itself. this then straight away establishes who the artist is and what the song is called, so is embedded int he mind of the viewers.

Most of pop music videos are full of narrative so to break that up to prevent the audience from becoming bored there are often scenes of the artists actual performance and also to make it clear who the actually artist is.

Pop Music

Pop music is a genre of popular music, which originated from the western world during the 1950's and 1960's. Pop music's originates from rock and roll. Pop music is actually not a genre but is an abbreviation of popular music. Therefore if you consider it as a genre pop music is wide ranging. For example, pop music includes elements from other genres and style, such as dance, urban, rock, latin and even country.

Some key elements to a music video would be that pop songs are of short to medium length, which are wrote in a simple format with a verse-chorus structure. Also, pop songs include repeated choruses, melodic tunes and hooks.

Pop Definitions:

David Hatch and Stephen Millard define pop music as:

"A body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, and folk music's"

Pete Seegar's definition:

"professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music"

Pop music can be used to describe a distinct genre, which is aimed at a young market. It can be seen as a softer alternative to rock and roll.

Advancement in technology has effected pop music. For example, in the 1940's improved microphones allowed artists to have more unique singing styles. Another advancement in technology would be the widespread availability of television in the 1950's. This is because television appearances enabled pop stars to have a visual presence. Also, in the 1960's the development of inexpensive portable transistor radios meant that teenagers could listen to music outside of the home. By the early 1980's the promotion of pop music was majorly affected by the rise of music television channels like MTV, which enabled artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna to have a strong visual appearance.

Types of Music Videos

There are usually several different types of music video. Each has its own purposes and are utilized in different ways to affect an audience.
Several examples are as follows:

Homage: An acknowledgement to something from the past.
              e.g. 2Pac- Ghetto, a tribute to Tupac Shakur

Animation: The use of drawing to illustrate lyrics and meanings.
              e.g. Radiohead-Paranoid Android

Narrative: A story told throughout the video to develop an idea or path of thought.
               e.g. Coldplay- The Scientist, a narrative in reverse

Live: A video of the song being played live, usually in a concert
               e.g. Muse- Follow Me

Referencing: Uses media subject for inspiration.
              e.g. Foo Fighters- Walk, which referenced the film,                          'Falling Down’.
Parody:  Aimed to mock and make fun of an original piece of 
               work
               e.g. “Weird Al”= ‘Another One Rides the Bus’, a parody
                of ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ by Queen.

Influence of commercials: Using advertisements to help portray a
                 narrative
               e.g. Kayne West- Gold Digger, which uses women posing
              similarly to those on 1950’s magazines.

Surreal: Something the audience would find hard to believe in the
                real world. This sequence can be dream-like.
               e.g. Radiohead- ‘There There’, where the singer walks
                around the woods and is eventually chased by ravens and
                the singer is turned into a tree.

Interpretive:  A visual interpretation of the lyrics
               e.g. The Offspring- You’re Gonna Go Far Kid, which is
                 influenced by the idea of ‘Lord of the Flies’.

Impressionist: The video takes an ‘impression’ of a style/genre or
                         theme
               e.g. Muse- Psycho, which relates to the idea of the
                        government controlling it’s people, which is linked
                         to shots of war and destruction in the background.

Andrew Goodwin’s 6 Features of Music Videos

1.      Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
 (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).    [this is also known as iconography]

2.      There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

 3.      There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.

(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4.      The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5.      There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6.      There are often inter-textual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.)
  

Music Genre

A music genre is a conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

Music Genre	Examples
Country	Alabama, Zac Brown Band, The Band Perry, Lady Antebellum
Electronic	Skrillex, Knife Party, Owlcity, Kraftwerk, Massive Attack, The Chemical Brothers
Folk	Mumford and Sons, Simon and Garfunkle, Fairpoint Convention
Hip Hop	Naughty by Nature, Black Star, Public Enemy, EPMD
Pop	Coldplay, George Ezra, Rhianna, Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran, Fall out Boy
Rock	Muse, Nirvana, Radiohead, The Offspring, Foo Fighters,
Metal	Metallica, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin, Disturbed, Tool, Rammstein
R&B and Soul	Stevie Wonder, Jessie J, Beyonce, The Jackson 5

However, not all of these bands are specifically linked to one genre. Bands are often influenced by new sounds and other genres. This often means they are linked to two or more genres. For Example, Muse is a Rock band, but due to the impact of other genres, other subdivisions such as Alternative Rock or Space Rock are created. These are called Sub-genres. 

Media Brief

We have been assigned the task of creating a promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video with two of the following three options:

·         A website homepage for the band

·         A cover for its release as a part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)

·         A magazine advert for the digipak (CD/DVD package)
 

Music is composed of vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony and expression of emotion.
 A music video is a videotaped performance of a song, usually accompanied by dancing and visual images interpreting the lyrics.
 Occasionally there will be two official music videos- one will be known as a lyric video and another will be a visual interpretation of the song.

Welcome!

Hello! This blog is run by Lisa Taylor and Janna Lowe, of year 13. This blog will be show our research and planning and our final product for A2 Level Media.
Our task is to plan and create a music video, that follows the conventions of its genre, and to produce several other media products, such as a digi-pak.