Research Into the Diversity Of Music Videos

Each music video that is created is unique in some way. This is due to the different characteristics of the artist that is being displayed within the video and leads to the type of video that is made to be altered. For example a music video for Rihanna will have to be edgy and include the genre characteristics of her music, whereas a music video for Ed Sheeran may be more low key due to the slow paced style of his songs. Themes and concepts are also altered throughout different videos and depend on whether the video is concept, narrative or performance based. Other factors such as the mise-en-scene of the video, the genre, cencorship and contrast contribute to a music video becoming unique.

Directors such as Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry are know for creating diverse music videos that do not conform to the stereotypical genre characteristics:

Chris Cunningham:  is a British music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk. He has had close ties to Warp Records since his first production for Autechre. Videos for Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker" are perhaps his best known. His video for Björk's "All Is Full of Love" won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. It was also the first ever music video to win a Gold Pencil at the D&AD Awards.

Cunningham directed the video for Madonna's 'Frozen' and is considered as a diverse music video. The structure of the video consists of both performance and Narrative, with performance being vastly heavier weighted. He presents the song and the artist as being Gothic and mysterious and it portrayed through the use of dark colours and drab weather. These dark colours are evident in the iconography such as the dark cloak that Madonna is wearing and even down the black birds that fly behind her when she is performing to the camera. The use of the Black birds also link to Goodwin's theory as the lyrics and the visuals link. When Madonna sings the lyrics 'birds' the group of back birds appear and sly behind her. Her frozen and pale complexion also reflects the title of the song 'Frozen' and is a theme that is continued throughout the entirety of the video through factors such as: the cold and windy weather and isolated location. The video however does not represent the artist in a way that the audience is used too as she is known for creating more uptempo pop/dance songs. The video for the song 'Frozen' however, although linking with the title of the song and the representation of Madonna within the video, goes against all of the conventions that you would expect to see in one of her music videos.

The video for the song 'Come to daddy' by the Aphex twins was also created by Cunningham and is another great example of how his directing allows a diverse music video to be created. The video has been created to more accurately fit the connotations of a short film as it is predominantly narrative based and follows the structure of having a beginning, middle and end.The music belongs to the genre of Dance/Techno however the video contradicts this by going against the generic conventions of people dancing etc that you would normally see in a video for this genre of music. Instead, Cunningham has produced a video that would not feel out of place in a thriller film. The only aspect that links the lyrics with the visuals is the editing where the beat and cuts etc follows the music.

Michael Gondry: Is an Academy-Award winning French filmmaker, whose work include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise-en-scene. 

The music video that we have studied that has been directed by Gondry is Kyle Minogue's 'Come into my world'. The video is set in Paris and is purely narrative and performance based. This is not conventional to the pop genre that the song belongs too as they usually contain more of a performance to compliment the upbeat type of song and lyrics as well as enticing the audience. This is one factor that has helped contribute to the video to become independent. The lyrics 'come into my world' introduce a new Kyle or aspect to the video which links the lyrics to the visuals and relates to Goodwins theory. The video also conforms to Dyers theory where he believes that the artist needs to appear accessible. This is shown through Gondry's decision to portray her as an ordinary person through the use of mise-en-scene and iconography. The setting for example shows an ordinary street in Paris and shows her walking around as if she is doing normal daily things. Her costume is also used in order to show her as being accessible as she is dressed in jeans and a top, just as a normal person would be when going about their daily activities. 

Gondry's technique of incorporating a new edition to the video is replicated in the song 'The hardest button to button' by the White Stripes. This is shown where on the beat of the song a new set of drums is replicated in the video. Ths song belongs to the genre of alternative rock/indie and the conventions are present throughout the music video through the mise-en-scene such as the long black hair of the artists and dark colours (black and red). Instruments are also used which is stereotypical to music of this genre, these instruments include drums and guitars. It also follows Goodwins theory as the visuals link to the lyrics as they are singing about a red box and there is a red box present in the video. The structure of the video is purely performance based as it shows the artists performing to the camera using their instruments and there is no underlying storyline etc to introduce any other elements.