Research into chosen music genre

I have always had an interest in the dance music genre but it is only recently that i have developed 
my interest and become more evolved with it as I now listen to it more frequently and consequently I 
have been watching a lot more of the videos that go with the songs. Knowing that we would spend a 
lot of time listening to a certain genre of music, me and my group all decided that we could use the 
music genre  as we all listen to it to some degree and would have an interest in creating something to 
run alongside a song similar to this genre. We were all inspired to choose this genre once we began 
watching artists such  as Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta and Skrillex. We 
enjoyed the style of these videos and felt that they bought something different to the other genres of 
music. 

One video that we watched that I was particualy captivated by was the video to David Guetta's song

'Titanium', mise en scene is used in this video and helps to enforce the dance image and makes it

clear that it is a dance music video, this is done by the video following the typical conventions of a

music video, one exception is the setting of the video which is a small sub urban town and an empty

school, this subverts the common conventions of a dance video as they are usually set in exotic

locations abroad or clubs, which is where the music is mainly played to its audiences. One thing that

does follow the conventions is that there is high key lighting in most shots in the video. This is to

keep the upbeat theme that is associated with dance music whilst enabling the audience to easily see

what is happening in the video as it is a narrative and the audience will want to see what is

happening. This video subverts from the conventions of other dance videos as the costume the

characters wear in this video are very ordinary and more practical, for example it is set in winter so

the main boy in the narrative is wearing a wooly winter hat, gloves and a large coat, this is not

typical of the dance genre which usually contains luxurious and expensive clothing for the men and

tight fitting, sexually ambiguous outfits for the women, this usually to promote a luxurious, rich and

famous lifestyle. However there is no ideology in this video and is very different to the stereotypes of

this genre which is why I am drawn to it.

Because Goodwin's theory is applied to this video it is focused around a narrative rather than a
concept or performance, because it is a narrative it is telling a story about a specific character, in this
case the young boy. As the boy is the protagonist his feelings and emotions are important to
developing the story and helping to involve the audience. This means that there are a lot of close ups
to show the boy's facial expressions. Other shots used a lot in his video are dolly shots and panning
shots, these both allow the camera to follow the boy without having to switch to another shot. this is
done so the shots are constantly following the boy and moving with him in order to make the
audience feel like they with the boy and are  beside him on his journey which is important as it is a
narrative.

The editing style is pretty straight forward in this video, it is mostly continuity editing as it is a
narrative  and has to make sense and show events in the correct order. There are a few jump cuts to
other locations but are only to show what is is happening simultaneously to the main characters
actions and contain a  relationship to the primary story. The pace of the editing is generally slow but
speeds up for the choruses and the beat breaks of the song. This is to contribute giving an energetic
feel to the video and follows the common conventions of the dance genre in which the editing is fast
paced to excite the audience and give the impression of euphoria and fun which is all associated with
the dance music genre.

The target audience for this video is young adults aged between 18 and 25 as this is the most
commonly aged group of people that go out to clubs and are therefore are the age group that will
have a lot of access to the this kind of dance music as it will be played at clubs and similar places.
Also they are the target age group for many music channels and radio stations like MTV Dance and
KISS which both play mainly dance music and would of heard of this artist so will probably want to
hear a new song from the artist and watch the video for it as well. The artist is not present in this
video as he generally considered to be more of a producer of music than a performer but is still
considered to be an artist. It is hard for the audience to connect with the artist in this video as he is
not in it but instead there is a young boy for the audience to relate to and connect with on an
emotional level.

Another artist that produces products in this genre is Flo Rida, in particularly his video to his song
'Whistle'. This video follows all of the conventions of the videos in this genre, for example the video
is set in an exotic country abroad which is one of the conventions of the dance genre. Also the
costumes used in this video are conforming to the stereotype of the dance genre which is that the
women are dressed to look attractive but also sexually ambiguous. For example the women in this
video are wearing minimal clothing in the form of swim suits and bikinis, this conforms to the
voyeuristic nature of dance videos and fits in with theory which refers to the notion of looking. The
lighting in this video is also typical of the dance genre as it is high key to keep an up beat feel to the
video Goodwin's, for example in this video there is bright sunshine which acts as a form of natural
high key lighting.

There are a lot of establishing shots in this video which is done to show the location of the video
which is a small group of tropical and exotic locations which is a typical location within the dance
genre. There are also a lot of ariel shots, this is also done to show off the location and setting of the
video. There is a heavy use of close up shots in this video, this is done to show the artist and to help
make it clearer who the artist is and raise awareness of the artist. This conforms to the conventions of
the dance genre in which there are lots of close ups used.

The editing style in this video is similar to that of a montage as it is not using continuity editing. The
pace of the editing in this video is fast as it is dance, this editing has to be fast to keep up with the
beat of the song as the song itself is fast because it is a dance track which are are up beat and slightly
chaotic. There is also a technique used called split screening in this video, this allows the video to
show multiple shots of people partying and dancing which ads to the overall feel of a fun and
euphoric atmosphere in the video. The main audience targeted in this video is teenagers and young
adults, this is because they are at the age where it is popular to go clubbing and dancing where they
are likely to be exposed to music similar to the artist in this video.

The artist 'Flo Rida' in this video is represented in a stereotypical way in comparison to the dance
music genre as he is portrayed in a positive way and made to look famous and successful. For
example he is wearing sunglasses in most of the shots in the video which symbolizes wealth. He is
also represented as an entertainer and a performer as he is mainly filmed using mid shots which
allows the audience to see him dancing as well as singing. The style of this music video is
predominantly performance based as most of the shots contain people dancing and the artist singing,
there is very little or no narrative involved within this video and also there is no visible concept being
put forward through the video or lyrics.

Researching into our chosen music genre was a great benefit to me as it enabled us to see what to
consider from the very beginning of the planning stage to the finishing stages of the video. This
research has inspired me and my group's way of thinking in terms of my ideas and plans for my
groups video and will definitely have an influence on the final product, this could be through
locations used, choice of cast but more importantly it has helped me in deciding the amount of time
allocated to performance, narrative and concept in our video.