diversity of music videos

In order to make a music video as diverse and unique as possible, the artist must not strictly adhere to the expected codes and conventions of their genre. This way, the audience will be able to watch something they have never seen before; producing something similar to many other videos already out there is exceedingly tedious to watch. Making a music video as diverse as possible, with it still loosely following genre conventions, allows a more interpretive meaning to unfold for the audience; this allows the audience to actually engage with the music video and become an active audience and look beyond the actual visuals they see to discover underlying meanings. Furthermore, if the artist would like their music video to be remembered or just to gain more public attention, then creating a diverse and unique music video means that it will be far more memorable and talked about; a good example is "Gangnam Style", which is so obscure that everyone is aware of it. However, issues may arise in that the artist may stray too far from the genre codes and conventions in an attempt to create something so memorably unique; this would definitely not be appealing for the audience as whether subliminally or consciously, that have certain expectations.

A quintessential example of a music video director who tends to go against genre conventions is Chris Cunningham. The British director tends to create abnormal and unique music videos by including weird types of characters, dark or creepy themes and strange editing styles. Two famous examples of music videos Cunningham directed are "Frozen" by Madonna and Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker".

The first music video, "Frozen" by Madonna, who is a well-known pop artist. However, this music video subverts the pop genre conventions due its dark and mysterious content. Through the misc-en-scene of the video, we can see how the costume and makeup used shapes the visuals; Madonna is shown wearing a black dress which contrasts with the extremely pale makeup look. The use of this aspect ensures to build a relationship between the visuals and the music as the beats reflect the eery and slightly ominous tone. Goodwin proposes one essential aspect to a music video is for there to be a relationship between the music and the visuals as this is an efficient way of bringing the music video together well so the audience find it easy to follow, interesting and professional. The gothic appearance of the video illustrates Cunningham's style as he strongly subverts against the pop genre conventions of using bright, positive and flashing images. The use of the color black for Madonna's costume is key as its connotations establish a certain representation of the artist. Black connotes death and misery, associations one would conventionally make with the heavy rock or metal genre, not pop. However, despite this alteration in generic conventions, the audience are still able to relate to the artist as Cunningham adopts a performance style of video; this allows the audience to see the artist in their element, performing, as if they are seeing them live. There is also some concept style to the music video; Madonna portrays love in a negative and detrimental way, giving a more intense video. In conventional pop music videos, the artist usually takes a more light-hearted and almost jokey tone in comparison to this video, using vivid colors and excessive editing. However, the different ideologies given by the artist in this video in contrast to other pop music videos allows the audience to really think about the messages of the artist; this way, they can actually engage with the video, and therefore makes it more interesting. Furthermore, the different style of video Cunningham has created, a more raw music video, will make the audience feel like there is actually something useful they can take from it, a more real-life message behind it. Whereas in other of Madonna's music videos she is seen as following conventions of the pop genre and sticking with mainstream elements such as her clothing being quite provocative and her more alluring manner, as well as using brighter visuals with heavier editing, in this video her representation alters as she subverts the genre conventions. There is a more rebellious nature to her attitude, similar to what one may see in say the heavy rock or the metal genre. This change in behavior could indicate that perhaps she is attempting to attract a different type of audience as she wants to reinvent herself.

The next video is Apex Twin's "Windowlicker", an artist belonging to the electronic genre, being of intelligent dance music style. However, unlike the conventional use of flashing strobe lights, this video adopts different elements. Chris Cunningham employs his dark sense of humour in the the directing of this music video, making it an 11-minute parody, bluntly criticizing contemporary American gangster hip-hop music videos.

As with Madonna's music video for "Frozen", there is a clear relationship between the music and the visuals. Near the middle of the music video, there is a sequence involving the artist dancing with an umbrella and every time he moves the umbrella, the beat changes. The in-synch effect is a convention of Cunningham; the shots consequently prove to be seen as a lot more powerful. This strong relationship between the music and the visuals means that the audience will unthinkingly assume it is the artist who is actually making the noise, creating a more surreal video. Another example of such a powerful effect of this music and visuals relationship is where the man in the limousine pops opens a bottle of champagne and there is a parallel fuzz sound of the music. Simultaneously, there is a shift in the visuals as a filter effect is applied and makes the shot darker, suggesting that the video is not a light-hearted one. In fact, the narrative is predominantly one that makes the audience feel extremely uncomfortable as it is quite satirical; furthermore, the fact that the video starts off with a narrative subverts EDM conventions as it hinders the desire to dance when watching it. The shots of the umbrella also link with Goodwin's theory of there being demands from the record label as the umbrella has their logo on it. As the audience will be quite engaged within these shots as they are quite dynamic, they will see the logo and associate it with the artist from there-on; this is an extremely effective way of promoting the artist well. The artist is represented as being quite charismatic, through the use of his dancing extraordinarily; this would attract to the female audience as they like to see males dancing.

Furthermore, the use of iconography such as the limousine and the color of white of the costumes help to portray the connotations of excessive wealth and flashiness which the EDM genre is concerned with.

Another director I looked at was Michael Gondry. In stark contrast to Chris Cunnigham, Gondry takes a more simplistic approach in his visuals; his music videos create a more relatable image for the audience. Two famous examples I will look at are "The Hardest Button to Button" by The White Stripes and "Come Into My World" by Kylie Minogue.

The first music video, "The Hardest Button to Button", which adopts a predominantly performance style, conventional of the rock genre. We can see this in the iconography of the musical instruments, such as the guitar and drum-kit. The dominating use of instruments helps to portray the artist as extraordinary in their talents, just as Dyer claims. This, in turn, helps to build an artist-to-audience relationship as it shows the artist being quite authentic, which a rock audience would appeal to, rather than elaborate editing and effects. Furthermore, the heavy performance aspect helps the audience to feel as if they are actually seeing the band live in concert, giving a more personal feel to it. Referring to Goodwin's theory of music videos, there is a clear match between the music and the visuals. Everytime there is a beat in the music, the artist moves forward as their instruments duplicate. This creates an effective look in that it allows the audience to feel as if they are following the artist on this journey they are on. Furthermore, as this is actually unconventional of the genre, as the synchronization of this denies stereotypes of messiness and chaos of rock music and artists, it is more appealing as it creates a more unique and dynamic video. In addition, the representation of the artist as being quite relatable for the audience through the use of costume in the mis-en-scene is also evident. The characters wear simplistic clothing of baggy trousers and simple tops; the color co-ordination helps with this organized feel to the video and creates a holistically well-constructed feel to the video. 

The second video directed by Michael Gondry is "Come Into My World" by Kylie Minogue. The pop genre music video is a narrative based one which takes the plot of seeing the artist and other characters' daily routines. Unlike the generic conventions of designer and provocative clothing, dance routines and flamboyant editing, this music video takes a more subversive approach. For example, the costume of a simple t-shirt that Kylie wears helps to represent her as more relatable for the target audience, of mostly young females. This is important as it shows the audience that they can actually aspire to be more like celebrities. However, the use of showing the artist's daily routine is helpful in illustrating that despite Kylie being a celebrity, she still does and experiences everyday things, such as walking down a run-down area. There is also a distinct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, as Goodwin suggests. For example, when Kylie does walk down the street, she sings "come into my world", inviting the audience into her life and therefore making her seem more down-to-earth and relatable. An alternative explanation could be that the artist actually feels like she wants the audience to be a part of the world she is in so it feels more normal, as emphasized by her ordinary clothing. A clear sign of Gondry's work as a director of this video is seen through the relatable representation of the artist, as well as the creativity of using clones of Kylie walking through the streets as this helps to express the complicated feelings the artist is trying to convey that she is feeling. Furthermore, each time the lyrics "come, come, come into my world" are sung, the new replica of Kylie emerges, synchronizing all the elements of the video, as well as representing how dull her life is perhaps, as it is the same copy of a routine, over and over again.

When comparing the two directors, Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry, there is a clear differentiation between the style of visuals they choose to adopt. Cunningham takes a distinct gothic look, with darker elements in the misc-en-scene; for example, the location in "Frozen" is a desert, which has connotations of isolation, and the location of "Windowlicker" is an underground questionable area. However, Gondry in strong comparison, chooses more open locations, giving a more friendly feel to the video, such as an urban area, as shown in "Come Into My World". Elements such as the location, help to portray the artist in a certain way, as well as aiding in an artist-to-audience relationship; therefore, Cunningham's lack of such a strong relationship shows how unlike Gondry, he cares more about the visuals being as unique and interesting as possible, rather than how relatable it is for the audience.

Conclusively, artists may choose to change the way their music videos are directed and make them more diverse as firstly, they may wish to be more creative and expressive in their work, employing their own personal touch to the video. There is also the reason that some artists desire to establish a new target audience, and therefore making the elements of their video different and more diverse to what they normally do, is an efficient way of doing so. This has subsequent advantages such as the video becoming more popular as it stands out to what the audience may perpetually be accustomed to watching. However, there are some downfalls of having a diverse music video. Some fans may actually strongly dislike the change in the style of the music video, as they may feel it takes not fit or represent how the artist truly is. Therefore, there is a chance the artist may lose some of their target audience by changing their style. I personally would choose Michael Gondry to direct my music video, as his simplicity and relatable representation of the artist is something that is conventional of the indie genre and therefore I would find useful. Making my music video more gothic would completely subvert indie genre conventions and the audience would not find it as appealing; furthermore, it would most likely confuse them as the lyrics/music may not match the visuals.