Research into the Diversity of music videos - Miss Miller

A music video gains diversity - it's uniqueness by the artist in the music video and their actions or style. The meaning of diversity is when you understand one another's individuality as well as recognising individual differences which can consist of either dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, age, physical abilities or religious beliefs. 

Chris Cunningham is a diverse music video director who has worked with many different music artists who made his directional debut in 1997 with the music video for "Come to Daddy" by Aphex twin, which was instantly praised, banned, and raved about by many people in the business, other artists he worked with include Madonna and her diverse music video for her song "Frozen". The videos diversity allows the audience to remember the music videos which therefore can impact on the artist by gaining or losing their publicity and fans. Cunningham works predominantly with genres such as ambient music and electronica. Whilst working with pop artist Madonna Cunningham was able to reinvent her completely from her general pop genre based music videos to a more dark, gloomy video. 

The music video 'Come to daddy' by 'Aphex Twin' is directed by Chris Cunningham. This music video can be seen as very unusual and strange due to the editing of the artist "Aphex Twin's" face onto the bodies of school girls which is evidently going to be very memorable to the audience which would then gain the artist publicity either in a negative or positive way. The fact that Cunningham used the bodies of young girls for a male artists face could make the audience feel uncomfortable or offended with the sight which then has a bad impact on the artists reputation. The title 'Come to daddy' in itself can be seen as inappropriate to the audience as the video includes little girls who the artist seems to have a hold of which can bring about a negative message and can be taken the wrong way. However the points made are all diverse as they are things that you would not usually see or expect of from a house/electro music video. The genre of the song is electro, however the music video contrasts this completely as it shows scary disturbing images which are more linked to the horror genre rather than electro music. This music video would not be played on music channels due to the disturbing content which would result in the music channel possibly losing viewers therefore the music video was banned completely.
The advantages of this music video include:

• The diversity makes it highly memorable.
• The individuality promotes the artist.
• The use of the artists face throughout will keep them in the audiences mind.

The disadvantages of this music video consist of:

• Giving the artist a negative reputation.
• Losing fans due to the music video not matching the genre.
• Offend/disgust the audience with the disturbing images and use of inappropriate lyrics.

Another music video which was directed by Chris Cunningham was artist 'Madonna's' "Frozen". Madonna is associated with the Pop genre which makes this music video so unusual as it shows a complete artist reinvention. The music video portrays isolation of the artist 'Madonna' who is usually seen with many back-up dancers or extravagant scenery in her previous pop music videos. The pop genre is linked in with bright colors to tie in with the upbeat music, however this video of Madonna's completely contradicts this as it includes dark,dull coloring and lighting to match the deep lowbeat music. I believe the reasons as to why Madonna chose to reinvent herself is to gain a more varied fan base/different target audience, to change her genre of music which is evident in 'Frozen' and also to create publicity as she may have had previous bad press. The change of her music video would get the audience talking and through word of mouth would again attract more attention. I think that music channels would show this music video as it's Madonna a highly famous singer who has a lot of fans interested in her music and would therefore tune into music channels to watch her music videos, however the video and song is rather depressing so probably wouldn't be played throughout the day but on occasion.

The advantages of artist reinvention- Madonna's change in style:

• Increase her revenue due to the wider audience.
• Creates publicity.
• Reaches out to her her emotions and personal feelings through her music more.
• Controversial-which then creates a buzz.

The disadvantages of Madonna's change and reinventment:

• May gain bad press.
• Loss of previous fans who prefer her old image and style.
• May only appeal to a minority of people interested in the depressing type of music- which would then lose her revenue.
• Give her a bad reputation.

Michel Gondry is another diverse music director who worked with Kylie Minogue and The White Stripes who both created obscure and ambiguous music videos. The music videos are out of the ordinary which makes them memorable through the use of repetition of the artists/characters within the videos. Gondry's success was achieved by the use of mise-en-scene in his videos. The elements he incorporated into his videos were very unique, and helped to attract and engage the audience.
















Kylie Minogue's music video 'Come into my world' is from the pop genre which is typically associated with flamboyant or extravagant scenery and dance routines which the audience would expect from Kylie Minogue however her music video for 'Come into my world' the artist is the only focus and she is repetitively shown. The repetition of the artist is unconventional for the pop genre which will draw the attention of the audience and engage them to watch more. Another factor that makes the music video so diverse is the fact that Kylie Minogue is wearing casual clothing which subverts typical pop and also has a normal everyday setting. The videos style is narrative and performance based - when Kylie sings in to the camera which links in with the title of the song as it shows a day to day routine and is the artist going through her own world doing the same thing over and over again. The representation of Kylie within this music video shows pure focus on her as well as clones of herself which is self promotion. Furthermore, by wearing casual clothing, Kylie Minogue makes the music video relateable to the audience which again matches the theme of the music video of a day to day routine. Music channel would play this song because this song due to Kylie Minogues large fanbase which would gain them more viewers.

Advantages:

• Memorable- makes more of a profit.
• Makes Kylie different to other artists from the same genre.
• Controversial-creates a buzz.
• Appeals to a wider target audience - globalization.
• Reinvents herself.

Disadvantages:

• Negative publicity.
• Lose existing target audience.
• Creates a negative reputation.
• Limited target audience.
• Building a relationship with the audience is difficult.

The White Stripes are a duo from the Rock genre who have a diverse music video called 'The hardest button to button'. Within this music video you would expect the artists to be playing instruments as this is a key accessory for rock artists due to the mass use of them in their songs - this is used therefore making the music video conventional to the rock genre. There is constant repetition of the instruments to exaggerate the rock genre and the use of their instruments which would be appealing for their target audience. There is also repetition of the artists themselves throughout the music video which is self-promotion, they are represented as typical rock artists in the way they are dressed and both are playing instruments. The setting is constantly changing due to the constant movements of the artists which would put different images in the audiences mind, making it more entertaining and memorable for them. Music channels are likely to play this music video due to the diversity and eye catching editing of the instruments and also to appeal to the target audience of the rock genre.

Advantages:

• Makes them different and stand out from other artists in the rock genre.
• Memorable for the audience.
• Unusual- may attract people outside of the rock genre.
• Will be talked about.

Disadvantages:

• Won't appeal to a wide variety of audience.
• The use of repetition may be a bore to the audience.
• Hard to build a relationship with the audience.

Cunningham is a music video director who who bases his videos around scary or dark themes which could be intriguing for some people as it is not the norm for a music video. Gondryon the other hand uses the repetition of artists in order for the audience to remember them and stick in there head.


To conclude, the music industry nowadays is a very hard industry to build yourself up in and be remembered to stand out from the mass amount of music artists within it. Therefore, an artist may feel the need to create a diverse music video in order to be memorable and gain fans. Gondry's idea would be less suitable for my genre due to the use of repetition because as an artist within the indie genre you wouldn't want to bore your audience- you would want to be creative and individual. A lack of audience means a lack of profit and publicity. As well as this,  Cunningham's style would also be unsuitable for my genre due to the use of swearing and explicit scenes and the negative narrative used within the music videos he directs.