Research: Diversity of music video's

Diversity of music videos

Diverse music videos do not necessarily appeal to mainstream culture and tend not to follow mainstream conventions of music video making. They are also not likely to would follow goodwins theory of music videos as they appeal to a niche audience. niche audiences do not tend to follow the eight characteristics as this does not appeal to them and their taste in music.

Chris Cunningham is a British video artist. Cunningham has close ties to Warp records. His work compliments the diverse nature of music videos & includes music videos that do not appeal to a large mainstream audience. Cunningham has primarily directed music videos for ambient music and electronica arts such as Autechre and Aphex twins. 

The music video for 'Come to daddy' by the Aphex twins come across as weird and controversial as the characters seem disabled and disturbing to look at.

'Bjork all is full of love' music video had won multiple awards including the MTV music video award for breakthrough video and was also nominated for a grammy of the best short film music video. This music video was one of his more successful and this implies that effort and money is still put into for a music video that appeals to a limited audience and not being part of mainstream culture. Moreover, robots are the main theme in this music video and it is not likely to have this as a main theme in a music video.

Known popular culture artists such as Madonna has collaborated with Chris Cunningham. The music video 'Frozen' became an international hit and won the award for best special effects at the 1998 MTV music awards.

Personally I find Chris Cunningham's videos interesting and it definitely catches my attention. The visuals being original catches my interest. The idea that he doesn't follow popular culture allows me to have a different and unique experience while watching his music videos.

Michel Gondry is a French film director, whose works include being a music video director. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scene. The majority of his work are based on music videos.

The music video for Bjork's 'Crystalline' is not clear with images but engages the audience, frequent flashing lights are used. There is also ever ending action throughout the video.

Madonna's ' come into my world ' has a unique storyline which engages the audience, also this is not conventional to see in a music video. This gets the audience thinking and makes them be analytical about the music video.

Bjork 'hyper ballad' has an Interesting relationship between images but not really clear about what is going on. A star image has not been portrayed as the music video isn't based around the artist.

 Michel Gondrys work can be confusing as it could take time for the audience to understand the concept of the music video. However the images and visuals are engaging that makes the music videos attractive.

Why popular artists would use these producers:
Popular artists such as Madonna and Kylie would use producers that make diverse music videos because this gives the artist a sense of uniqueness. By using a diverse music video this mainly would appeal to a niche audience. Therefore, artists such as Madonna and Kylie would like to give the image off appealing to a wider audience rather than only the mainstream popular culture. This would ultimately result in a more successful career.

Common characteristics of both artists:
Both artists have worked with the same artists but with different music videos. Both Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham has worked with Aphex twins and Bjork. This shows similar characteristics as they both have been associated with the same artist, and the artist using both of them with their work shows how they can both portray the diverse aspect of music videos.

Advantages of diverse music videos:

• Memorable videos that is individual
• They give the artist and intellectual sense
• Attracts an niche audience

Disadvantages of diverse music videos:

• Limited target audience
• No relationship built with the artist to audience
• Could be come across as being bizarre and too different

“Diverse music videos should stay away from mainstream music culture”

I agree with this statement. The reason behind this is that diverse music videos have their own specific, unique concept that appeals only to a niche audience. The followers of mainstream music culture would not find diverse music videos appealing and they wouldn't watch the music videos. This is because they they tend not to include the eight characteristics that all popular culture music videos do. Likewise, audiences that prefer diverse music videos do not want to follow popular culture and therefore they seek something different and specific, and diverse music videos offer this.

The research into diverse music videos enabled me to understand what makes diverse music videos appealing, and why a niche audience would watch and be interested in diverse music videos and not to follow popular culture. However, I don’t think I would include features of diversity in my music video. This is because I would like my music video to appeal to popular culture and  a larger audience.