Analysis Of Music Genres - Miss Georgiou.

Music videos appeal to their specific target audience  through many ways. Due to their being many variations in music genres and channels the way each music video appeals to their own unique target audience differs. They attract these specific target audiences through numerous micro-elements such as miss-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound. How each music video uses these micro-elements is how their target audience is able to recognise the genre of the video and the individual style and personality of the artist.

Drake - Over (Rap) -

Within Drakes music video for 'Over', cinematography is used to appeal to his target audience who is attracted to the rap genre. This video is very stereotypical and conventional to the rap genre which makes it appealing to his target audience who are attracted to this specific type of video. This particular use of cinematography is evident when a close up of Drakes face is used early on in the video. This close up shows the emotions Drake is trying to portray within the video as the close up immediately allows the audience to clearly see the fact that he's feeling depressed and sad, and sets the tone for the rest of the video which is about Drake expressing his negativity towards a relationship.

Another shot which is used within Drakes video for 'Over' is a long shot from allow angle. A long shot is used because it successfully shows the editing which is being used in the background, which is the rushing city streets, this means that they are clearly able to express the connotations of these city streets to the audience. A low angle shot is used because, from the audiences perspective, they are looking up on the artist this means that he is presented as bigger and more dominant and powerful to the audience as he is towering above them and looking down on them. Both of these shots are conventional to the dance genre because long shots are usually used to show large amounts of the background and present specific messages. Low angle shots are also frequently used and conventional within the genre as rap artists often try to present themselves as powerful and this shot does achieve this.

The editing used within this video is very unique and key in portraying a specific effect to the audience. Colour tints are frequently used in this video to change the colour of the whole scene to a variety of bold colours which makes the more exciting and eye catching which appeals to their specific target audience. This use of colour tint makes the video more exciting because it quickens the pace as they quickly interject the colour for a very short period of time which makes the video appear quicker as what the audience is seeing keeps on changing and they don't know what to expect. This particular use of editing is unconventional to the hip hop genre because usually within this genre they use just simple jump cuts which vary in pace depending on the song and whether it is fast or slow. This type of editing is usually found within the dance genre.

Within this video lighting is also used to present Drake as relatable to his target audience and help portray the emotions the video is trying to express. This helps appeal to an audience as the red lighting has numerous connotations such as love and passion, and contrastingly danger and anger. To do this  they briefly cut from the stereotypical and conventional editing and lighting of the busy rushing streets in the background and jump cut to all red lighting. This contrast from the usual stereotypical rap genre editing and lighting of the fast paced city streets to the all red lighting emphasises the emotions it connotes. These emotions which the colour connotes are what present Drake as relatable to his target audience as most of his specific target audience would have at one point during their lives felt one of these emotions and therefore form a bond with the artist as they have something in common with them which makes them appear as less of a celebrity and more as someone who has had similar experiences.

Flo Rida feat. David Guetta - Club Cant Handle Me (Dance):

Contrastingly to Drakes video for 'Over', Flo Rida's 'Club Cant Handle Me' belongs to the dance genre rather than Drakes rap genre. Because of this difference in genre the micro elements used such as mise-en-scene, lighting and editing. This is mainly evident through the contesting use of lighting. The lighting which mainly features within the Club Cant Handle Me video is low key lighting with flashing strobe lights, this lighting aims to recreate a club setting and atmosphere. This will appeal to Flo Rida's specific target audience as they will be attracted and interested in this specific setting and therefore will look for it to be recreated within a music video. This, much like the affects of certain micro-elements from Drakes 'Over' makes the video more relatable to the audience as they will have experienced this lifestyle and will therefore also feel like they have similar interests to the artist and will therefore enjoy the video more than other audiences who the video isn't targeted at.

Despite this initial difference in the use of lighting and its affect on the audience, similar red lighting is used within Flo Rida's music video to that in Drakes and aims to have a similar affect despite appealing to a different target audience who would be attracted to different aspects. Much like Drakes video which  Flo uses red lighting to portray his love and passion for a love interest Flo Rida's video also uses this similar lighting to a similar effect but presents it in a more lustful manner.


Within Flo Ridas 'Club Cant Handle Me Right Now' a varity of different shots throughout but the main two which are consistently used are long shots and close ups. A long shot is used to show off the luxurious lifestyle of the rapper and make him look extremely wealthy and flashy. To do this a long shot is used as it allows for two very expensive cars to be seen parked behind each other outside the club whilst money is falling from the sky. This portrays Flo Rida as extremely wealthy and flashy because he appears to own at least one of theses very expensive cars and is throwing money on the floor. This use of cinematography is conventional to the hip hop genre because the way in which it is used conforms to the convention that the artists should be wealthy and show off their money.


Pharrell Williams - Happy (Pop):

The final video I've decided to analyse is 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams. This video differs immensely from the other two despite belonging to a genre which isn't that different from their own. 'Happy' belongs to the Pop genre which means that it features certain micro-elements which differ from the other two genres. For example the cinematography used within 'Happy' differs to that used within the other two videos as both Drake and Flo Rida use numerous close ups off the artist which helps the audience remember the artist and shows the emotions on the artists face. Happy also aims to show the artists emotions but instead of using numerous close ups, long shots are used to show the artist dancing. Despite these differences in use of cinematography Flo Rida and Pharrell do frequently use a similar longshot to present their unique and contrasting images. Although both videos use a longshot which allows for the majority of the artists body to be seen as well as the background which is key to presenting their own unique messages. This specific shot is key within 'Happy' as it still shows the focal artist dancing but it also clearly shows the gospal singers singing and dancing in the background which is all part of presenting the main 'happy' message within the video.

The lighting used within Pharells Happy differs immensely to the lighting used within both Drakes Over and Flo Ridas Club Cant Handle Me Right Now as within Happy all the lighting used is natural and comes from either the outside lighting or average room lighting. This differs from the lighting used within Drakes and Flo Ridas because all the lighting used within their videos is very artificial and has been created in that specific way to conform to their genre's conventions. The lighting used within this video is, for the most part, very bright sunlight. This conforms to the pop genre codes and conventions and the message of the song as it evokes happiness within the audience and is a joyful use of lighting. This differs to the dark club lighting used within Flo Ridas and the dark lighting used within Drakes video who are not conforming to the pop genre and portraying a happy message.

The editing within this video is also very different to the editing from the other two videos as within this video very basic slow editing is used and within the other two videos they use complex styles of editing which contrast in pace to Pharrells Happy. Within Happy the editing is very slow and consistent as only jump cuts are used and they are spaced quite far apart. This is used because within this video they rely on other micro elements other than editing to portray the happy conventions and this pace of editing also matches the rather slow paced song. This style of editing is rather conventional to the pop genre as usually within this genre they use editing which matches the pace of the song so all slow paced pop songs will stereotypically have slow paced editing. This differs to the editing of the other two videos which is much faster as their songs are much faster therefore they have o create excitement within the audience as well as conform to dance genre conventions.

This analysis of different music genres will assist me and my group when we choose which song to use for our music genre and allow us to recognise and understand what genre this song belongs to. Following this decision this research will then help us realise what the codes and conventions are of that genre and then we can figure out how to go against these or conform with these depending on what type of video we plan to create; a diverse video or conventional. It also has given us knowledge and ideas on how to manipulate specific micro-elements to ensure that the video appeals to the different target audiences.