Research: Diverse music videos

Diverse music videos are usually created to attract it's own niche audience and is usually concept based. Genres that usually create diverse music videos tend to be rock, indie and contemporary.


Cunningham:

One of the video's Cunningham directed was with the artist Bjork's song, "All is full of love". This video consists of robots who fall in love and process of Bjork becoming a robot. The video is very much focused on Bjork and her robot building portraying her own unique identity. The relationship the video creates with the audience is that the loyal audience of Bjork will watch the video, however, this is not made for every day listeners due to the diverse scenes. The mainstream audience may be left confused whilst the loyal audience will understand the artist's story.

Another video Cunningham has directed is with the artist Apex Twins' song, "Come to daddy". This video consists of children/dwarfs dressed as school kids who are inhuman causing havoc. The star image is unclear due to the many children running around and a grandma. This music video has extremely unconventional ideas due to the inhuman characters which may confuse the mainstream audience.

Another video Cunningham has directed is with the artist Apex Twins' song, "Flex". This video consists of a couple's relationship being portrayed in a physical fight. It also can be seen as the progression of life being shown due to the inhuman imagery and slowly turning human. This would also leave the audience confused due to the weird scenes of physical violence however, also the passion the couple has for each other.



The credits Cunningham received for his music video's were very significant. Bjork's "All is full of love" won multiple awards including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music. It was also the first ever music video to win a Gold Pencil at the D+D awards. Moreover, his video for Apex Twins' "Windowlicker" was nominated for the Best Video award at the Brit Awards 2000.

Conventions of Cunningham's work are unusual themes which include abnormal and inhuman behaviours. Also, he promotes the idea of disabilities that occur in society and usually includes it in his work. Personally, I believe that the music video's Cunningham has directed are extremely diverse and are risky to use in society today due to the mainstream views on society today.


Gondry:

One music video Gondry directed was "Hardest button to button" by White Strips. This video consists of the band itself performing the song and is purely based on concept. There is an emphasis on star image however, not too heavily focused due to the other focuses on the instruments and repetition of the edits. This may leave audiences feeling confused due to the heavy repetition of movements matching the music.

Another music video Gondry directed was "Mad World" by Gary Jules. This video is purely based on concept due to the heavy performance of dancers and only slight shots of the artist watching the performance himself. It consists of one shot which is a panning shot throughout the whole music video which may confuse the audience as to why there is no complex editing in order to entertain them.


Another music video Gondry directed was "Come into my world" by Kylie Minogue. This video is also purely based on concept due to the constant panning shot of repetitive clones carry out a daily routine. This may leave the audience also feeling confused due to the constant movements being made and may not be able to connect them to the artist's feelings.


Conventions of Gondry's work are repetitive themes throughout the music videos. He enjoys creating patterns and videos that are concept based due to the lack of narrative in each one. This is clear because in each video he does not relate the visuals to the lyrics however, just creates ideas that are random. Personally, I believe that Gondry's work is also extremely diverse however, much more mainstream when comparing it to Cunningham's work, therefore, I would prefer to include Gondry's work in my own music video. This will enable me to attract audience's attention in a less distressing manner.


Advantages of diverse music videos:

• Entertainment for the audience, to see something different in order to stay engaged.
• Portraying individual style, which would show the loyal audience's the artist's feelings and how they are able to express it.
• There is always a niche audience for diverse artist's which means these are made purely to entertain a specific audience and not for mainstream artists.
• Create's hype, which would ensure the music video becomes popular and is talked about gaining publicity for the audience.
• Abstract comes to life, suggesting the artist's artistic views and beliefs can be portrayed clearly through their music videos.
• Mentally challenging, which is done to challenge the audience's views which is a form of educating them.
• Reinvent star image, this may be done to change an artist's reputation or the gain more publicity for and old artist who needs to be modernised. For example, Madonna used Cunningham to reinvent her star image after a break in her successful career.
• Memorable, will stay in history forever for people to remember the special views of each individual artists.

Disadvantages of diverse music videos:

• Could be offensive, suggesting that some scenes in these music videos may cause harm or anxiety for audiences and may make them feel uncomfortable due to the diverse ideas.
• Theres a much smaller relationship between the artist and audience due to the diverse culture which will only apply to the niche audiences.
• Exposure to be censored, meaning that the artist has a much higher chance of not being able to promote their video properly due to distressing videos.

I believe that diverse music videos should stay away from mainstream music culture because it can cause music video's to become less popular rather than boosting it's success. This is because, the diverse nature shown in each music video may be extremely distressing for the audience's and may cause controversy in the public eye. It is also extremely risk taking and may harm an artist's career.

Overall, there are many advantages and disadvantages to creating a diverse music video which has helped me to decide on whether I would personally follow this theme in my music video. I have decided that I will not be going to the extremes of Cunningham's videos, however, may take features from Gondry's work as it is more subtle. This will enable me to still create a successful music video and still attract the mainstream and niche audiences.