There are, however, other dance artists that are similar to Shift K3Y. One example could be Calvin Harris and his song 'How deep is you Love' with disciples:
This music video is highly conventional to the dance genre. This is seen through the evidence of a party lifestyle, a night life and strobe/neon lighting seen throughout. They is all presented in the video through the use of mise en scene, cinematography, sound and editing.
One convention that is noticeable within the video is the use of neon lighting. This is presented through a mid shot as the camera focuses on the girl whilst she walks to the club. The background lighting is seen as green neon, this totally stands out and easily gains the attention of the audience. This effect it has on the viewer as it foreshadows the later exciting events within the club; it builds excitement for them as the video builds up towards the club/party atmosphere that the target audience are seen to enjoy. It can be seen as conventional to the dance genre as the neon lights are used to develop the fun atmosphere built through the song and represents the lights within a club, portraying a party atmosphere that the dance genre resolves around.
Another convention seen within the video is the use of setting. The female character that the video focuses on is seen in a club, on a boat and around a pool. It shows the character as having a rich and luxurious life, full of fun and excitement. This again portrays that party atmosphere that dance fans are seen to thrive upon. The setting relates to the audience as it portrays a fun, exciting yet relaxed lifestyle that the target audience are seen to aspire towards. This relaxed and fun party lifestyle also relates to the dance genre as this is the kind of atmosphere that artists aim to create.
Finally, as well as setting, the video is also seen to portray this party atmosphere through the use of editing and cinematography. Towards the end the video shows the main female character and many others jumping around and partying with smoke and strobe lighting. This is shown by both a mid shot and slow paced editing in order to highlight the happy facial expressions upon all the characters. By doing this they are able to convey a happy and excited vibe towards the audience, making them enjoy the ending to the video. This form of editing and cinematography is also used in order to comply to the conventions of the dance genre as it portrays that relaxed and fun atmosphere that the genre produces.
The video itself is made conventional in order to appeal to their selected target audience. This consists of teenagers and young adults who are able to relate to the video itself as, much like the main young female character in the video, they are also seen to pursue this party themed culture. The video is then able to relate to this selected target audience as it portrays the lifestyle that they aim to lead through the use of setting and narrative. This young target audience is conventionally seen to be targeted by the dance genre as the music itself tends to produce this fun and relaxed, party atmosphere.
This artist is not actually seen within this video. Instead Calvin aims to use the video in order to represent his music instead of him. This is often seen within many of his songs and a lot of songs throughout the dance genre. This is both because artists tend to just produce the song and not perform within it, s therefore aim to create a narrative that can give meaning to the song and appeal to the target audience. This applies both the needs of the target audience and the conventions of the dance genre itself. It allows artists to build up that fun party atmosphere that the music creates which appeals to the audience as they tend to focus on the music in clubs and parties opposed to focusing on artist representation.
The style of the video also complies with both the conventions of the genre, the needs of the artist and the needs of the target audience. This video is solely narrative based as a girl is seen to be confused over the 'love' of her partner as she travels through her incredible exciting lifestyle. The narrative based video allows the artist to convey this party lifestyle that is represented by the music in order to appeal to the young fans of the dance genre. The fans see this relaxed party lifestyle and aspire to live it themselves.
In addition to this, evidence of Goodwin's theory is also seen within the video in order to both appeal to the target audience and comply to the conventions of the dance genre.
The video is seen to match the lyrics and music of the song itself. This is seen as the video and the jump cuts within gets quicker as the music does; this is achieved through fast paced editing. Also, the video is seen to match the lyrics as the female character is made to look confused and frustrated at the fact the she does not know the 'deepness' of her partners 'love'. This has a great effect on the target audience. They are able to gain a far better understanding of the song through this; they can see how the narrative matches the songs and are able to see the meaning behind it. This allows the audience to easily relate to the video. Also, the fact that the video matches the music's tempo could be seen to be conventional to the dance genre as the fast tempo creates the exciting, interesting atmosphere that dance artists aim to create.
Another dance artist then can be seen as similar to my chosen artist, Shift K3Y, is David Guetta and his song 'Without You' featuring Usher.
Much like Calvin Harris, David Guetta is also a conventional dance artist and this is conveyed throughout this video.
One convention within the video is instantly portrayed at the start of the clip through cinematography and editing. Towards the start, David Guetta is seen performing as a DJ to thousands of people; this is shown through the use of both a low angle and shadow focus as the camera focuses solely on the artist. The low angle and the shadow focus forces the audience to concentrate their attention upon the artist and the party atmosphere that he is creating through his music. This appeals to the young target audience of the genre as they feel inspired by the party atmosphere that is created through these shot reverse shots of the crowd and the artist the start of the video. It appeals to the conventions of the dance genre as the dance artist constantly aims to build upon this party atmosphere.
The setting and mise en scene within the video is also used in order to develop a conventional dance music video. Evidence of this is seen towards the end of the video at the chorus as the setting shows a large party directed through David Guetta and his mixing skills. The setting is on a beach with characters positioned alongside each other dancing and jumping around through the use of slow paced editing with very happy, smiley facial expressions. Much like other conventions built within the video, this appeals to the target audience as it portrays the happy, laid back, outgoing and fun lifestyle that the younger viewers can relate to. It means that an atmosphere is built around the song itself showing it to develop a happy party atmosphere that is highly conventional to the dance genre.
Finally, the video also uses editing to develop conventions to the dance genre. This is clearly evident through the quick successions of face paced jump cuts that are seen in the first chorus of the song at the start of the video. The fast paced editing and series of jump cuts run between both shots of the continents coming together and shots showing the party atmosphere that is developing through David Guetta's performance. This fast paced editing is used alongside the rising music tempo, this is done to build up excitement for the viewer as they feel inspired by the party atmosphere building between different cultures and countries that has been created by the music itself. It is highly conventional to the dance genre as it specifically appeals to the selected, younger target audience; this is due to the exciting party atmosphere that is created through the fast tempo and jump cuts. The audience aspire towards this atmosphere created by the dance genre.
Although the video and the song are aimed at the conventional target audience of the dance genre, it is clear that the artist is trying to reach out towards a far bigger mainstream audience. Evidence of this is seen from the narrative showing different continents joining together to party and have fun. It produces happy vibes and relates to a worldwide audience. This is done because David Guetta is seen as a star and a worldwide phenomenon allowing him to release his songs on an international stage. This is often seen within the dance genre as it is one of the biggest and most popular genres within the music industry with a series of artists being able to achieve international stardom.
Throughout the video David Guetta's international stardom and influence over the crowd is specifically highlighted. This is evident towards the start of the video as there is use of both shadow focus and a miss-shot highlighting the artist moving through a crowd of people jumping a shouting with joy. This appeals to the younger target audience of the dance genre because it emphasises the atmosphere the artist is able to create within a party/festival setting. The young target audience is seen to aspire to this atmosphere and enjoy watching it develop. The presentation of the artist is also conventional to the dance genre as they usually prefer to express their fun and exciting behaviour towards the crowd.
The start of the music video is seen to be predominantly narrative based with examples of performance as the artist is seen playing his music to thousands of people. The narrative shows different continents physically coming together so that cultures can merge in a large festival like party controlled by David Guetta. The narrative appeals to the target audience of the dance genre as it portrays a relaxed, fun party lifestyle that revolves around the dance genre. In addition to this the performance element of the video is also used to again appeal to the target audience; s it furthermore develops the image of David Guetta's party lifestyle that the viewers aspire towards.
It is conventional to the dance genre as artists tend to elaborate upon their vibrant and exciting behaviour within a party atmosphere.
Goodwin's theory is also seen incorporated into this video in order to meet the conventions of the dance genre and appeal to the target audience.
One part of the theory is supported as David Guetta is presented as a product, specifically toward the start of the video. This is evident through numerous close ups showing David to be wearing the 'beats' headphones that are were very popular at the time of the songs release. This presents him as a product as he is able to market a product just simply through his stardom and popularity. This is seen to appeal to the target audience of the genre as fans are able to relate to the star DJ as they use the headphones. It also benefits David as he makes money from marketing the product and is able to present himself as being up to date with the latest technology and fashion; again helping him to relate to his mainstream audience and his target audience of younger adults and teenagers. The fact that David is seen wearing an expensive, popular brand of headphones also appeals to the dance genre as it is full of DJ's that want to show their quality and talents.
This research can be seen to have greatly helped me with the development of my video that is also part of the dance genre. It shows what is needed for a successful video within the dance genre and clarifies how conventions are presented in order to appeal to the selected target audience. One inspiration I have particularly taken from this is the use of setting and mise en scene in order to develop the sense of a party atmosphere and a fun and vibrant environment. This is done throughout both videos with settings showing both a club and a festival. It appeals to the younger audience of the genre as they are seen to enjoy and aspire towards this party lifestyle developed within the selected settings. I see this as a key way of relating to the audience and may attempt to use setting through filming vibrant teenager's in a club or party. Hopefully this will develop the party atmosphere that conventionally revolves around the dance genre.
This post demonstrates a proficient understanding of your chosen music genre. The two music videos that you have analysed, demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of the dance codes and conventions, micro elements and the target audience. You have started to consider the messages behind the song, but this needs to be explored further.
ReplyDeleteAim-
1) Elaborate on the dance conventions, by providing more detailed examples from the videos
2) Ensure that all areas of mise-en-scene are included
3) Include screenshots to support the points that you have made.