Genre - My Video

Goodwin's theory is going to relate to my music video because part of his concept explores that heavy rock will have a horror genre, my choice of song which is quite sad and dramatic will have a sad and dramatic genre/narrative for the video. Moreover, the music and visuals relation is something I am planning on doing, with written lyrics mimicking the literal meaning of the words (an exact example is on the lyric ‘setting fire to our insides for fun’ I will have the words written on a piece of paper that I will then set on fire). On the contrary, Goodwin states how voyeurism of the female body is a selling point, however, I actually plan to not completely adhere to this idea as the main character will be dressed very average and normal, nothing overtly sexy or obviously trying to cover up. This is because I do not want to support the over sexualisation of females as well as the fact it is simply not something I want to be of focus in my video.

Schatz’s theory is a very specific idea of how there is a cycle within genre. My video will not be a parody as it is touching on a tragedy and mocking that would be inappropriate and I don’t want to do a parody, as it would be unrelated to the genre of the song. Stage 2 which is the classical stage, will be something I defiantly stick too as it is following the idea that media texts adhere to patterns and trends and the conventions of a drama/indie style would be well established. I will use this as a why of understanding the genre and what I should typically include in my video to signal to the audience what genre it is. Additionally, I will hopefully challenge some of the conventional elements that are seen in music videos, whilst still conforming to certain aspects.

The genre of my music video is hopefully going to reflect the style of the song. As I am using the song ‘Youth’ by Daughter which is quite a dramatic and emotional song, I hope to mirror the same tone with my music video. The genre will most likely conform to the hegemonic patterns or a drama as it will have a big, despondent moment that will shape the narrative of the video. Therefore, people can expect the video to be quite emotional as the genre and the style of the song suggests that. Genre is tremendously important as it will influence the text or general idea, such as the age group, the marketing and everything that follows.

The age group will be about teenagers and up as the video will incorporate concepts that many younger people will struggle to understand. Understanding what genre my video will be will be beneficial for both myself and the audience, as it will allow me to advertise my video accordingly (which I make posters etc), moreover, the audience will know what to expect from my music video. In terms of sub-genre, my idea will not stray too far from the typical conventions of a drama, unlike some genres that will have additional styles like slasher is a subgenre or horror, mine is very unlikely to venture too far from what would be expected.

Christopher Booker’s seven plots theory within genre is going to play a part in every text. I believe my idea will incorporate a few different plots from Booker’s theory, as there will defiantly be an element of tragedy one of the two characters featured in my video will die, leading the main character comply to the rebirth or voyage and return plot as the tragedy will make the main character spiral down and then the video will be of the character coming to terms with the tragedy and going on a journey to ‘find herself’ in a sense.

There are two approaches that a concept can take in terms of genre. It can either be descriptive of functional, I think my video will take a more functional approach because it will repeat patterns within dramas and ask questions that has been asked before which would be focused around the characters emotions and situation. Furthermore, the functional approach looks at what is being represented and how this will affect the audience. The way my video will be shot will hopefully allow the emotion of the main character to be portrayed as she is going to be wearing a mask, which would pose a problem to convey emotion as you cannot see her face.

Therefore, I am going to use other elements like colour, flashbacks/memories, and location, props, editing etc to portray the emotion of the character without revealing her face.

The issues touched upon in the video, are not new or evolutionary, typically as time goes on genres will evolve with the time, such as what scared people 100 years ago will be different today. However, they aim to explore current topics faced by society that have always been there. Additionally, the video will reflect on problems or issues of society and people, which may give the audience a sense of fulfillment or familiarity, which is comforting and enjoyable. However, I do believe that this constant state of change within genre will still play a small part in my video as naturally things will evolve with time and that will have inevitable and slightly unconsciously affected how I choose to make my video.