genre study

The genre of my band is hip hop, rap and pop and this has to be shown through the music video and the digipak. All of these genres are popular genres and there are many stereotypical codes and conventions that allow the audience to identify the genre. Though pop is a very wide genre, and literally means popular music, this genre includes artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake etc.  The hip hop/ rap genre has many stereotypes in their music videos and digipak's;

-Conventions and Codes for hip hop/rap video

•                Male artists tend to perform to camera, interacting with it as though singing to the audience

•                Female artists tend to combine performance to camera with performing to an ethereal 'other'

•                Displays of wealth are featured: fast cars, expensive clothes, jewellery, homes, lifestyles

•                Sexualised dancing is perfomed by women

•                Colours are often bright, in costume, lighting and sets

•                Daylight, rather than night, is frequently used. Where night is used, it is contrasted with bright interior shots

•                There are frequent close-ups of artists performing

•                Females are objectified: use of fragmentation, slow motion etc

•                Costumes worn by women are clingy, revealing and sexualised

•                Exaggerated dance moves are performed by women to accentuate the female form and their sexuality, and by men to accentuate their virility and masculinity

•                Narrative themes of infidelity, are often played out in a narrative performance by the artist

•                Setting is frequently urban, or suburban, and often identifiably set in and around london

•                Editing is often paced to the beat of the music track

•                Low-angled shots emphasise the dominance of male artists

•                There is use of reflection/silhouette/shadow

•                Studio sets are minimalist, using monochrome colour schemes

•                Sets can be lavish, intended to represent a luxurious home

•                Strong backlighting is used to radiate around the artist

Cars are often used as sets for performance

Many of these codes and convention are inaccessible due to budget. My video will be a conscious effort to subvert many of these conventions, this will be initially evident through the use of a different video narrative structure, where the woman is more empowered as she leads the male character. Though subverting some of the conventions of a stereotypical hip hop/rap video, some conventions like the location, urban and suburban,  and close ups of the performers will be retained. The artists music is going to appeal to a young audience. The video will reflect the underlying humour that is incorporated into the lyrics which is not stereotypical of the hip hop/rap genre.  

-Conventions and codes of hip hop/rap  for a digipak

• dark and dull colouring throughout the digipak, this colour is very recognisable for this genre
• there is stereotypically an empowering picture of the artist on the main panel that shows power through the camera angle, low angle close up usually, or through wealth, cars, houses as the backdrop to the artists picture and quite often with reference to drugs, especially marijuana   
•  the font that is usually used in this genre of digipak are fonts that captures the driving rhythms of hip hop music in the gesticulating forms of this dancing pairs of typefaces, HipHop Demi and it's syncopated twin, HipHop Inline or clean straight letters, with bold colours that stand out from the background.
• the backgrounds can either be expressions of wealth or gritty urban locations. An example of the latter would be the cover of lil wayne's cd