Diversity of music videos - Miss Miller

A music video is diverse when the video itself does not conform with genre characteristics and conventions. It is when the music video is very different from the majority of music videos in that genre due to extreme creativity and originality. Unique and diverse music videos can often appear to be odd or weird to an audience. But this doesn't mean the video will be unsuccessful.

Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry are two music video directors that produce very unique material for an artist. They create music videos that do not conform to the stereotypical genre characteristics.

   Chris Cunningham is a British video artist, he has directed many unique music videos. Some being Madonna - Frozen  which became an international hit and won the award for Best Special Effects at the 1998 MTV Music Video Awards. He has also directed videos for Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker" are perhaps his best known.  His video for Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker" was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Brit Awards 2000.

The Madonna - Frozen video is very different to the other music videos Madonna has. The mood of this video is very Gothic and depressing. Where as, Madonna's other videos are usually more upbeat and fun. 

Firstly, the mise-scene in this video, the costume and make up, lighting, setting and colour codes all work together to produce something mysterious and eerie. Madonna is shown wearing all black, black hair, black nail polish, dark lipstick with a dark isolated background. The lighting is low-key and uses the chiaroscuro effect. This allowed shadows to form and for the overall video to look scary and witch like. As witches are associated with the colour black and the contrast between this black, her pale skin and bright eyes make her look ill and demonic. The isolated background may have been used to emphasise her loneliness and puts greater focus on her being hurt and in pain, which is stated in the lyrics 'If I lose you... my heart will be broken'

  

           Mid shot of Madonna, dark costume and low key lighting.

                        Isolated location with a lonely Madonna 

 There is also a lot of close-ups of Madonna's hands to focus on the unknown signs and tattoos on her body. This may relate to the video being based on the idea of Morrigan an old centric Goddess. As Madonna use to practice Kabbalah, so Morrigan has been said to be the inspiration for the video. Morrigan was sometimes describes as a good and evil goddess, so I believe that the video may play off that. Showing that Madonna is also good (from previous music videos) but has a dark side to her artist image or personality.

                        Her hands in the video 

Furthermore, we can identify a lot of editing manipulation to make the video more interesting and appealing to the audience this is shown at 0:52-58 where the fabric turns into a crow. We also see something similar when the fabric turns into a dog like animal later on in the video. This editing creates mystery and amazement to the audience. And allow the audience to gain that eerie feel from the music video.
 When Madonna is flying/floating in the air it shows her to belong to a higher power making her seem supernatural or even superior. Which can relate to her status or even power in the music industry.

I believe that Cunningham created a music video tailored to Madonna and her religious interests. However, I feel that Gondry produced a very eerie and mysterious video to the audience. And allowed the audience to see the dark side of Madonna. But I feel that some people will think Madonna is satanic by watching this video and may feel put off by this to continue to be a Madonna fan. As it is very different from her previous music videos. Furthermore, this video produced something creative and mystical for the audience. Allowing her to stand out from the typical pop videos.

This may be odd to be put on music channels as it is very different and extremely unique for a video. But as stated I feel that it will allow the artist to stand out from the very competitive music industry.

Cunningham's other works such as Aphex Twin - come to daddy shows similar characteristics to Frozen - Madonna. Such as, low-key lighting, thriller like feel as suspense is created. And an isolated locations. This leads me to believe that Cunningham likes creating a narrative with his videos with also a unique twist with suspense and mystery.

                    Isolated opening scene - eery atmosphere

                      Artist face edited onto little children (creepy)

Michael Gondry is a French film director screenwriter, and producer. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. He has directed many music videos from Kylie Minogue - Come into my world (2002) to The hardest button to button by the white stripes (2003).

Kylie Mingoue - come into my world music video  is very unconventional. Through the mis-en-scene, costume, Kylie is  shown wearing very casual clothing, looking like an average person not a celebrity  This goes against a typical pop video as the artists are usually very fashionable and stylish, however Kylie looks very casual and not very into her appearance.
   Furthermore, the mise-en-scene, setting is a very typical normal everyday setting where it would be unlikely to spot a celebrity or see this type of setting in a generic pop music video. It's unglamorous and dull; this may have been done to allow the audience who are the 'average people' to relate to the video or her 'world'.

    
    Kylie wearing casual clothing in a casual town setting, extras paying no attention to her

Lastly, as there is repetition of 'come into my world' and a repetitive panning of the camera/shots. Showing her doing the same thing but doubling. It puts more of the focus on Kylie Minogue which allows her to promote herself and create motifs. With the panning of the camera in almost like a circle motion. Emphasises the come into my world showing that that little area she's in is her world. Which obviously depicts a different side of Kyle, making her be viewed by the audience differently.

 
                      Clones of Kylie and circle shaped panning (her world)

I feel that this music video was good as it showed Kylie in a different light. Made her seem like a relatable person for the audience and put all the focus on Kylie. This most likely helped build her fan base and helped her to promote herself by keeping the attention on her. It also shows more of a subtle side of Kylie instead of all the gimmicky dance routines and typical conventions in a pop video. For music channels I feel that this video would have stood out on music channels as its unique and different making it stay in the audience's mind.


Gondry directing 'the hardest button to button by the white stripes' also displays unique aspects in the music video. This video quality looked very amateurish and gave it a very casual video look. With the same theme flowing throughout the whole video which was the cloning of the music equipment and artists. The mise-en-scene, setting was very plain, dull and empty and allowed the attention to be on the artist and their music. This is good as it will increase their fans making the audience interested in their music more. Also, the music video visuals match the beat of the music. Making the video more euphoric and entertaining.





                       Cloning and movement of drums and drummer  

To summarise, Gondry's work is very simple but eccentric. It stay's in the viewers mind and increases the brand image of the artist as it allows the artist to be viewed as more alternative than mainstream. Making the artist to be viewed as more talented and skilled, as they are doing something different. Also, we can see that Gondry pays more attention to the mise-en-scene than any other micro-elements and manipulates that to make the video more unique and diverse.

Cunningham and Gondry are similar and different. They are similar as both Gondry and Cunningham aim to create a unique video they both do this by focusing more on the mise-en-scene than other forms of micro-elements. They both manipulate visuals to create an impact for the artists music video. They both use forms of cloning and doubling of characters to produce something unique.

  However they are different as I feel Cunningham is more extreme in the directing of videos. I feel that Cunningham pushes boundaries and makes videos more extreme. Whereas, Gondry uses simplistic ways which are not too risky in loosing fans or boring your audience. I feel that Cunningham takes a bigger risk in being unconventional.

 An artist may choose to create a diverse music video to c„reate memorable videos that are individual and stay in the audiences mind. Which make the audience want to buy the music the artist sells. It also gives the artist an intellectual appeal as it shows a smart creative side. Delivering this to the audience will give them a different perspective of you and to show that you are not a one-dimensional artist. Mainly I think its so the artist can express their deep weird inner creativity more visually than audio music alone. Furthermore, an artist can create a niche audience, a relatively small audience with unique characteristics. Lastly, it can heighten the meaning of the song. Showing the abstract side of the video to allow the audio song to make more sense to the audience. 
 However, diverse music videos can be negative as there would be a relatively small audience as its not genre conventional. Meaning that you could lose out on sales just for being 'creative'. Also the audience may not understand what you were trying to put across even if the artist themselves thought it expressed their artistry. So there could be no relationship or bond between the artist and audience. Another negative is that the audience could find the video weird or even bizarre. This could lead to criticisms of the music video via other forms of media/the internet. Causing the artist to lose fans as they didn't like your music video. I feel that one of the worst things that can happen is that the artist receives negative publicity as it will mean the artist may need to think about what they are giving to their audience. As publicity can really affect an artist career and lead them to lose their whole fan base.
  But on the other hand, negative publicity could mean that your fan base get closer to you and support you more. Meaning that you still have those good sales and positive image.

As the music industry is ever changing artists need to do drastic things in order to keep their fans and the media entertained. This is what can be achieved through a diverse music video.

I feel that Gondry's style of production will suit my chosen genre better as Gondry doesn't take as much of a risk of creating diverse music videos as much as Cunningham. As our genre is pop I would want to make the production both conventional and unconventional and I feel Gondry does that well. Such as, the cloning of the artist is done very well and fits in with the lyrics. Gondry also uses bright lighting and I feel that will fit in my music video as I would want the mood of the video to be a good one and not scary or suspenseful like Cunningham's.
  However, I feel like Gondry's production is too repetitive as Kylie Minogue - come into my world is shown walking round in circles doing the same thing for the whole time. And the hardest button to button - the white stripes is also very repetitive; The singer and drummer just moving to dull locations. I feel that the song we are doing 'Ed Sheeran - Runaway' will not fit in well with this as the song is narrative based and will need a range of camera shots and scenes to explain the lyrics fully. To keep the audience interested and entertained. But overall, I feel that Gondry's style of production will be best suited towards my music video than Cunningham's.