Research: Diverse music videos

Diverse Music Videos:

Diverse music videos are usually created to attract niche audiences or to create hype around the artist. Majority of diverse music videos are concept based and are seen in genres such as; contemporary, rock and indie. 

Cunningham..

Cunningham worked with the very famous Bjork on a music video for her song "All is full of love". In this video robots are presented to us as they take action in human activities. Their is a process of Bjork turning into a robot herself and then falling in love with her fellow robot friend. The video shows Bjork in a different light and sheds enlightenment onto her very niche identity. When Bjork was asked why she worked with Cunningham she stated that she believes him and his work are "genius". She believes that her and Cunningham worked together to create a video that suggests the notion of making love and the feelings of love and lust. 

One of the influences on Cunningham that helped create such an epic diverse music video is his background of cultural engineering and he also holds a degree in engineering. When Cunningham was asked about what concerned him most about Bjork's music video he stated that he thought it was going to look "rubbish" and the fact the whilst the making of the video he had to improvise and change things on the spot. 

Another Cunningham video we researched was "Come to Daddy" by the Apex Twins. This video contained male dwarfs dressed as young school girls. They are running around causing trouble and bringing hell to earth. In this video there is no clear star image as it is very chaotic. This video would fit in with a very niche audience as the elements and themes are very unconventional and may confuse a mainstream audience and could possibly cause them discomfort.

The last video made by Cunningham that we researched was also a song that was provided by Apex Twins. The song is entitled "Flex" and involves one male and female character. Within this narrative you see a couple starting of in a very fertile position which represents innocence however it then turns in to aggression and sexual movements. The narrative represents the galaxy shinning on them and the progression of life as humans. There is no star image at all in this video since we don't see the artist at least once. 

Cunningham has had many achievements through his making of diverse music videos. His "All is full of love" video won a MTV VMA for Breakthrough video; it was also nominated for a grammy for best short film. He was the first director to win a Gold pencil at the D+D award for a music video. 

Reoccurring Characteristics from Cunningham...

• Unclear narratives
• Hardly any star image 
• Niche music unless he is approached by an artist with a mainstream target audience
• Deformity within humans 
• Lots of low key lighting. 

Michel Gondry...

The first music video we researched from Gondry was the one he created with the band White Stripes, for their song "Hardest button to button. The characters in this video where solely the band which consist of two people. There is not any narrative because the video is mostly concept based. Since it is mostly concept and focuses on the two band members there is an element of star image but it is not heavily relied on throughout the video. 

Secondly we reviewed Gondry's work with Gary Jule for the music video they created for "Mad World". The main characters in this video are the dancers however the dancers help portray a concept based video with repetitive motions and pictures. Star image in this video is not vital but plays a small part as we she the artist several times throughout the song. The audience may find the video boring due to the fact that it is filmed in one whole with no edits or transitions, this can come across quite dull for the spectators. 

Gondry worked with Daft Punk on their music video for "Around the World". The characters in this video where dressed up in various costumes and this video was also concept based. There is not much star image within this video as there are not really any close ups or single shots of the artists. Audiences may find this video appealing as it is colour and strange. 

Lastly we looked at the video that Gondry created for Kylie Minogue's song "Come into my world". For this song the video was also concept based and showed every aspect doubling through the whole duration of the song. Star image was important in this video since we see multiple kylie's and a honest representation of her. The audience may become confused due to the clones and repeating sequences. 

It is evident that in Gondry's work he enjoys creating pattern and constant movements without any breaks. Every single video of his we have done research into shows that all his videos are concept based with almost no narrative. I think his work may come across a bit less diverse compared to Cunningham because his ideas are more "random" rather than Cunningham who comes across extremely discomforting. 

Advantages...

• Creates hype 
• Unique 
• Visually captivating 
• Unusual directing 
• Reinvent star image 
• Entertaining 
• Mentally challenging 
• Memorable 
• Feeds niche audience 
• Abstract ideas come to life 

Disadvantages... 

• Ideas are controversial 
• May confuse the audience 
• Mostly likely not to attract a mainstream audience 
• Massive risk in an artists career 
• Can only be shown after the watershed 
• Can ruin an artists image 

Personally, i believe that diverse music videos are not a bad thing however they would never work within the mainstream industry. I've reached this opinion due to the disturbing images and unsettling concepts that are involved in making a diverse music video are not suitable or appealing to all audiences. Content in these videos can be harmful and upsetting to some viewers, creating a huge amount of controversy. In my own work I don't think i will be using any ideas as diverse as both of the directors i have looked at but i will say that I'm going to take elements of diversity in music videos and make it my own. 

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