Diversity of music videos - Miss Miller

Diversity of music videos

A diverse or unique music video means that it doesn't does fit the generic conventions. Controversial

music videos are different because they can be strange, different and push some boundaries of what it wanted or what is generic. Things like the narrative, or the concept maybe be weird and unusual causing the music video to become diverse. The purpose of creating a diverse music video is it draw the attention of the audience by creating something that they haven't seen before, if the contents is controversial then the audience are intrigued to see the rest of the video.


Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is a British music director for music videos, he primarily directs for ambient and electronica genre artists, for example Autechre and Aphex Twin, but he has also worked with Madonna and worked on a advert for Gucci flora. Some of Cunnings music video I have look at are Aphex Twin's come to daddy and window licker. I also watched Madonna's video for frozen. 

Madonnas music video for frozen goes against her original pop music videos, she usually creates stereotypical pop music along with conventional music videos. For this song she has changed her normal motif of the pop theme and gone for a more unique style. Throughout the video she uses the micro elements to portray the weird style, for example mise en scene is used to show the setting of a desert, there is no civilisation or sign if human life except herself. She also uses lots of animals which she changes into for example a dog and crows, she also duplicates throughout the

video.

Madonna, Frozen

This music video is diverse mainly because of the use of mise en scene, Madonna's costume is also unique, it is a long black dress which has many sections getting caught in the wind. Her hair and make up also match the diverse aim for the video she has jet black hair, pale male, long nails and pattern tattoos on her hands. These elements make the video controversial because she is with in pop genre and the look of this video the subversive to her normal music videos. The dark colours, animals and location all come across as odd, they show a darker side to the artist which her fan base audience wouldn't have seen before. For the audience this particular video of hers may intrigue them as they will want to see this other side to her personality which the haven't seen before and because the bizarre events taking place they will want to finish watching to find out what else might happen. The artist is represented as unique and dark, she isn't shown with her normal image, possibly the opposite. She is portrayed and glum and gothic looking. Goodwin's theory is used in this music video, for example the demands of the record label. There are a lot of close ups of the Madonna throughout the video, this is most likely to be because the record label has asked for this. Having a lot of close ups makes the artist more relatable for the audience, meaning they will want to continue to watch her music videos providing more views and profit for the company. The style of this video is concept and performance, all shots which the artists stars in she is performing and the other section of the video are focused on the meaning of the song and how the Artist wants the audience to view it. This music video wouldn't necessarily be shown on a popular music channel like MTV or 4Music, it is more likely to be seen on VH1 because the channel plays the old school artist and the audience would enjoy watching Madonna even if she isn't being conventional. Madonna's Frozen video shows some of Cunningham's darker work because it is very slow and eerie. It shows that he has ideas that can portray an artists different side and give macro meanings, the macro meaning for this song is that freedom is needed, this is shown trough the use of different animals running or flying away showing their freedom so the audience and how they have no restrictions.       

Aphex Twin, Windowlicker

Aphex Twin also follows the controversial look for his music videos, he likes his work to be different and unusual including his lyrics which are often strange and hard to understand the meaning of. Cunningham has directed some of Aphex Twin's videos including Windowlicker and Come to daddy. Window licker is a narrative and performance based video, the narrative is about two men trying to get the two female characters attentions but instead Aphex wins them over. The performance side consists of the artist dancing and when he face is put on other characters they sing to the camera. An example of the diversity in Aphex's Windowlicker video is the CGI (computer generated images) used, when the music video gets into the chorus stages all characters in the video have their faces changed in to Aphex's face, so they all look alike. This is a good way for the artists promotion and his face to be known because the audience will recognise his face as part of the music, this could be viewed as Goodwin's point of demands of the record label. Mise en scene is used in this video, specifically facial expressions to represent the artist, no matter what character Aphex's face always has the creepy looking smile. This shows the diverseness of the artist and Cunningham's style because it is a unique thing to see, the audience do not expect to see his face as much as they do throughout the video, the facial expressions are also weird because he looks happy but in a scary sort of way. These examples show how Cunningham think out side the box when he creates these music videos, he knows how to attract the audience to new artist how need to be spread. The diversity of the music video portrays Cunningham's way of intriguing the audience which is by using material which they will want to tell their friends or family about so they can discuss or share the weirdness.

Aphex Twin, Come to daddy

Another one of Aphex Twins videos which also shows his controversial style is the Come to daddy music video. This video uses some of the same characteristics as Windowlicker, the one main asset which makes the video recognisable as Aphex's and Cunningham's work is that his face is merged onto the other characters. This makes it easy for the audience to see it as related to them. The faces also portray the diversity of this music video, it shows the weird ideas and themes of the artists music and how he is have a controversial style compared to other artists.  A strong element which shows a point for Goodwin's theory is the notions of looking, this means a lot through out the video as the iconography of a television the key element. The TV is used for Aphex to control the children, this does not just represent the audience and them being almost hypnotised to continue watching his unique, controversial videos but is also has a bigger macro meaning. This piece of iconography gives the deeper meaning that the media controls and manipulates society. Aphex and Cunningham have put a real life struggle into the video so that the audience can understand what media is doing to them. This is shown through the artist being able to control the other character through the television which is what happens in society, people are control or influenced by what they see or are told through media.

Michael Gondry

Michael gondry is another music video director also with a controversial style. He is known for his creative manipulation of mise en scene. Most of his work has matching music and visuals and he is also known for his repetitiveness. He has worked with The Rolling Stones, Kanye West and Kylie Monogue, he has a range of different genre artist who he works with regularly. The two music videos I have analysed when looking into his style are Kylie Monogue with Come into my world and The White Stripes with Hardest button to button,

The white stripes, Hardest button to button

Michael Gondry is another diverse character when it comes to his work on music videos, one video which shows the controversy is The White Stripes with there song Hardest button to button. This video is simple and repetitive, it includes the artists playing their instrument on the streets and each beat another instrument appears. This shows how Gondry uses mise en scene, iconography to show his work. The drums and guitar reoccur through out the whole video there is no change except the location, the artists do the same thing the whole way through. Although this video is repetitive it does used the conventions of a Rock music video, the colours red and black are stereotypical and the setting of London streets. The video is based on performance, there is no narrative and not  much concept. Gondry and The White Stripes aren't shown as the most creative producers throughout  the material of this video it id quite boring and simple, the audience can easily get bored because there is no change.

Kylie Monogue, come into my world 

Another music video that Michael Gondry directed was Kylie Monogues, Come into my world. This video also shows some the same characteristic that Gondry portrays through his work, on example is the repetitiveness. For this video Kylie travels round the streets and each time she passes the same beginning place she duplicates and does the circuit again. The audience can see Gondry's use of mise en scene again in this video, he uses iconography, setting and positioning of characters to create is repeating material. Things like envelopes, motorbikes, fruit and mattresses are used in this video to show the duplication of everything within the video. Gondry also uses his other style here but going against what the audience expect to see, they expect to see Kylie glammed up and being pampered  but instead he has portrayed her as a normal everyday person without fame. This is again done through mise en scene, her clothing of jeans and t-shirt and a hat show her normality and they she isn't just a famous name and image she has a normal life behind what the public see. Kylie and Gondry have used the concept style to show that not everything is as it seems, which is shown through kylie shown living an life which doesn't revolve around her singing or performing she is simply living an average life.

Cunningham and Gondry both have controversial directing styles when it comes to creating music videos, they both choose to go for the diverse approach which means stereotypical conventions aren't used instead the material in the products are strange and unique. In some ways they are similar because they alike when to the styles they like, they both have weird tastes when I comes to intriguing the audience or promoting the artist. Cunningham and Gondry also have some differences, Cunningham has a more flamboyant adventurous technique, he attract audience members by creating something that is unforgettable, he make is hard for the viewer to dismiss what they have seen. The weirdness in his videos make the audience want to tell other about it so they can look for themselves and share their opinions. Gondry uses a different technique to this, he also like to make his work hard to forget buyt he does this by making it repetitive. In most of Gondrys videos he makes the content repeat so that the audience see it more then once and therefore remember that when talking about the music video, this is shown in Kylies Monogues, Come into my world and The White Stripes, Hardest button to button. Gondry's work appeals to the audience because he uses the conventions of the songs genre and enhances them by his repetition and manipulation of mise en scene. This appeals to them because they like to see how he works with the material and the song he has and how he puts his own twist to the song. Cunningham's work appeals to the audience because it is so unique they do not expect to see anything that appears in the videos he has directed. He uses eccentric assets and original themes to interest the audience. His idea intrigue the audience because they don't see much work like his and therefore want to see what else happens throughout the video or his other work.


In the music video industry this controversial style is used because people are attracted by it, the unusual material intrigues them to watch it. Artist choose the create a diverse music video because it brings in a wider audience not only will the usual fan base be interest to see the product so will other audiences as the uniqueness makes the video tempting to watch. There are may positives and negatives when and artist and director choose to create a diverse music video. Some of the negatives are if the audience find it to controversial it may become un-enjoyable and they stop watching, it may make it hard for the audience to build a relationship with the artist or hard to understand, they can be non generic, they can also limit the audience because of the unusual content, any new fans may be put off and the artist can get a bad reputation through the industry. The positives are that the audience will want to continue watching because the video is intriguing, the video stands out because it is not generic, it may appeal to a wider audience, the audience may make a better connection with the artists different/fun sides and the audience also may enjoy the macro meanings and respects the artist.
Gondry and Cunningham wouldn't really suit my genre of music which is RnB, the controversial style is better suited to the pop genre. Although some elements may work for example Gondry's repetition might be able to promote the genre. I think if RnB was mixed with the controversial styles the audience wouldn't be as interested, they might be put off from the artist or the song.