Genre Theory Case Study

For this genre theory case study I have decided to analyse the music video from Hip Hop production team; 'The Mouse Outfit' called 'Air Max' which features rap artist Black Josh.The Mouse Outfit are a 9 piece hip hop band from Manchester who are reasonably new to the hip hop scene, they are currently touring around Europe and the UK and are becoming more and more popular and known by the day.  I have decided to use this music video as I feel it uses the theory of genre to great effect, like many hip hop/rap music videos it exhibits theories relating to mass audience and commercialism.



Artist/Band - The Mouse Outfit
Featuring Artist - Black Josh
Track - Air Max
Genre - Hip Hop
Release Date - February 17th 2013

Denis McQuail defines genre within music videos as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce productions consistently and efficiently to relate the production to the expectation of its consumers. In terms of music videos this would be producing and listing certain content so that it has maximum appeal to the target audience and also meeting the expectations of the target audience in terms of generic content. For example in The Mouse Outfits music video; Air Max, their target audience may be expecting such generic content such as the use of marijuana, this is a commonly used aspect in hip hop music videos as Marijuana originally originated from Jamaica, most hip hop artists tend to be of the African American ethnicity, therefore are more likely to be smoking the drug and listing it in their music videos as they may have grown up around it and see the drug as an important aspect of defining who they are. Throughout 'The Mouse Outfit's' music video marijuana is mentioned in the lyrics numerous times and on a couple of occasions 'Black Josh' who is the featuring artist for this music video is seen to be smoking the drug.Marijuana is a generic convention of the hip hop genre and has been used by many famous hip hop artists such as Biggie Smalls and Tupac within their music videos. This could also suggest that the Hip Hop genre is based around wealth as the drug is an expensive habit to come across and the fact that the lyrics could be suggesting that it is being smoked in excess implies that they have money to waste. Most music videos based around the hip hop genre exploit the artists wealth and their ability to spend it on expensive possessions.

The surroundings add to the music video's urban culture. Also seen is the iconic marijuana leaf on 'the hat.

'Black Josh' smoking marijuana during the music video for The Mouse Outfit's Air Max video.

When a music video is released it will be labelled under a specific genre such as hip hop, therefore the audience will know and have a picture about what to expect from the music video. McQuail's theory addresses the consistent and efficient making of productions and it also takes it consideration the commercialism of the music industry (hip hop being one the most used genres for commercialism) and the way that these hip hop music videos are used to promote commercialism with certain brands and objects such as cars and fashion accessories. This leads absolutely perfectly onto my next point about the hip hop genre promoting commercialism, the music video for 'Air Max' does this to great extent. It all begins in the track name which is a well known brand of Nike shoe which is of great popularity all across the world and is an expensive product furthermore supporting the theory that hip hop genre is controlled and molded around wealth. The opening shot to this music video is of a pair of custom Nike Air Max sneakers which acts as a starting block for the rest of the music video and track as it goes onto rap about different forms of Nike shoe and how shoes along with marijuana are basically a way of life. Fashion could be seen as a way of letting hip hop artists express themselves and to put their own individual stamp out there. For example in the music video for Air Max by The Mouse Outfit we see that the shoes shown in the opening shot the featured artist 'Black Josh' has customised his name onto the tongue of the shoe giving him presence and making him seem important, also yet again reinforcing wealthiness. The shot of the Nike Air Max shoes is a close up which provides an emphasis on the shoes and makes them seem an important factor within the music video. 
Close up shot of a pair of Nike Air Max shoes at the beginning of the music video.

The video for 'Air Max' seems to be targeting a particular audience or subculture with the way that the artist 'Black Josh' is dressed. Hebdige stated that a subculture is a meaning of style, the fact that individuals come together through such things as clothing, music and drugs. Evidence for this theory is provided through the music video as emphasis is put on the brands that Black Josh is wearing, a strong example is during the opening scene when his sneakers are shown at a close up. The hat that Black Josh is wearing is the designer brand of 'Huf' which associate all of their garments around marijuana and largly using images of weed on their clothing and accessories as shown on his hat in the music video, Furthermore expressing the generic convention of weed and hip hop. Throughout the music video the lyrics play a big part in the fashion side as brand names are constantly being repeated such as 'Air Max' and 'Carharrt' which is reinforcing the brand names and images which will stick in the heads of the consumers. This leads onto the fact that the audience consuming this music video can go out and buy the same or similar brands of clothing and footwear, these brands may become more appealing for an audience and its also another way in which the artist can be represented by fans.

An interesting relation between the lyrics and visuals comes in the music video for 'Air Max' is when 'Black Josh'  raps "Nike's on my feet and a bag of weed to keep me complete" which implies that these two elements are enough to keep him satisfied in life and that as long as he has fashion and drugs his life is complete. When the lyrics "Nike's on my feet and a bag of weed" are spoken, the surroundings are very dismal and urban but when the lyrics "to keeo me complete" are spoken the surroundings change to a more bright and lit up city scene suggesting that without this culture he is living by you may end up in a dark, bad place but with this culture he lives by, you will find yourself 'complete' and end up living the 'high life'. The emphasis of these lyrics and visuals seen in the music video can be related to Andrew Goodwin's theory of music videos. 

The Mindless Minority

 

I happened to stumble across this image when looking for added footage of the anti austerity march I attended last month, this image has much relevance to our music video and the track which we are using. This image is captioned 'The Mindless Minority' which relates to what Barnaby Raine (who's speech is used within Fold's song 'Fight Back') was strongly expressing about the media focusing on the mindless vandalism that was caused by thugs on the days of the student protests instead of the media focusing on the good and peaceful protests that the majority were there for. This then comes across to the general public that students are mindless criminals whose only intentions are to cause violence and anti social behaviour. The picture strongly relates back to the student protests back in 2010 as a minority of youth's went out and caused havoc in many of the UK's proliferatent cities such as Manchester and London, breaking into shops and looting their goods and even burning down peoples residence. Lying on the floor of this image is a 'No Cuts' sign which relates strongly back to our music video as Luke is seen using a replica sign of this to express his views, this sign appears to be thrown and cast aside expressing that this mindless minority aren't causing havoc for a cause but just for the sheer adrenaline rush and thrill. This image also strongly shows a contrast between the 'Mindless Minority' and the students and people who were protesting for an actual cause against education cuts. Barnaby Raine was part of this genuine cause, the days of the protests the mindless minority covered up their faces to hide their identity as they didn't want to be identified as committing a criminal offence unlike the peaceful protesters who dressed normally.



This is an image taken from the student protests back in 2010 in London. It shows someone labelled as the 'Mindless Minority' who is shown to be covering their identity. This is not how we want to present Luke as looking in our music video as we want to show him as a peaceful protester so we can express his frustration through our video in that the media and general population weren't recognising the good that was being done that day among thousands of students.


This is how we want to present Luke in our music video as a peaceful protester dressed in normal clothes holding anti education cuts signs.

Props and Objects

Considering the context of our song 'Fight Back' we thought it essential that a made 'No Cuts' sign was made in order to make Luke seem like an average protester fighting for a cause he believed in. Near to the beginning of our music video, Luke is pictured watching scenes unfolding of the protests that took place in London and across many other major cities in the UK, in the BBC News footage many signs similar to the one we made are seen, meaning the audience are able to recognise the cause Luke is protesting for, (Anti Education Cuts). This particular prop also aids Luke in standing out from the crowd at a certain time when no student protests are taking place due to the bold font and dangerous red color. The fact that Luke is the only one holding a sign like this in Norwich could symbolize the frustration students faced in trying to get their point across to the government and also the fact that many peaceful protesters were overshadowed by the mindless thugs who were attending these protests just to cause trouble and not for the actual cause.

We required the use of a computer during our time spent filming in order to signify a flashback of Luke attending the student protests a few years ago. Luke rekindles the days the protests took place by watching BBC news coverage of the events.This is a useful prop as we are able to show the audience exactly what the protests looked like on the day therefore giving an accurate representation. The computer which is an Apple Mac can also be used to attract our target demographic which is 18-25 year old's as it is a common brand consumed by young people and considered as new technology. 

Applying Goodwin's theory in Echosmith's 'Come Together'

Austerity March - London (UNFINISHED)

On Saturday October 18, 2014, around 90,000 people who took part in “Britain Needs A Pay Rise,” a march and rally in London organised by the TUC (Trades Union Congress) to highlight the growing inequality in the UK, and to call for an increase in pay for those who are not in the top 10% of earners, who, it was recently revealed, now control 54.1% of the country’s wealth. The London march began on Victoria Embankment and proceeded to Hyde Park, where there was a rally. Other protests took place in Glasgow and Belfast.

On Saturday 18th October 2014, I attended the austerity march campaigning for wages to be increased and the national minumum wage upped. People from across the country turned out in their thousands to protest creating a colourful display of signs and banners along with balloons and posters expressing their anti tori views. I felt that attending the anti austerity protest march would give me an insight as to what a real protest looked like and the vibe that it gave off. Arguably the most important aspect of attending this protest was that I got the chance to capture some footage of the protest for us to use in our music video, considering the track is all about student protests, it was crucial that I got some real life footage of a protest. Although I would have liked to attend a protest strictly based around students and education cuts, there were no such events available.

An image taken by myself of the 'TUC' protest marching through Park Lane, London.

 

Costume

The one and only character in our music video; Luke Keeler. We want to make Luke look like a stereotypical modern day teenage student, this idea was hatched as during the student protests back in 2010 and 2012, quite clearly the majority of people protesting were students and many of Luke's age demographic. We wanted to replicate the look of the students protesting on that day to make our music video as realistic as possible and for the audience to relate the clothes Luke's wearing to that of a teenage student. Many on the several days of the student protests however were't dressed as your standard teenage student, they were dressed looking intimidating and aloof, many equipped with bandanas and weapons. This was a minority, as Barnaby Raine expresses in his speech used during Fold's track, students were wrongly portrayed throughout the protests being mistaken for the trouble making thugs that were just looking for an excuse to vandalize. This image shows Luke's full outfit that he will be displaying throughout our music video, shown is a tartan checkered shirt, black jeans, sunglasses and sneakers.

Luke's full outfit to be used in our music video. His whole outfit represents that of a regular teenage student, he purposely looks a tad scruffy to fit the teenage boy stereotype (as shown by stained jeans).

The fact that Luke has all of his buttons done up promotes a smart look which could suggest to an audience that Luke is intelligent and attending student protests for the correct reasons and standing up for what he believes in, that education is for all, not just some and that no educational cuts should be issued. Unlike some attending the student protests who were purely there to cause trouble. Luke's shirt is from Topman which is a popular location to shop in for many teenage students of the demographic 16-21, this will help us to make more males relate themselves with this look.

Also, throughout our music video Luke is going to be wearing sunglasses. This somewhat hides his identity which relates back to the student protests as many that day wanted to hide themselves so that they didn't get prosecuted for what illegal activity they may have been partaking in. The sunglasses yet again show a modern look, giving the young male student audience a chance to relate with the main character.

Jeans are now one of the most worn types of trousers and to make Luke seen as a modern young adult, wearing jeans is important in targeting more of an audience. Luke's jeans appear to be scruffy looking with grass stains and mud on them which could show that the character isn't afraid and reluctant to get involved in what may arise during a protest. Jeans are a very popular type of trouser to be worn in music videos, many main singers and bands such as Oasis // Wonderwall where all members of the band are wearing jeans and famous rapper Kanye West in his song Stronger. 

Pictured here is Luke wearing an Adidas pair of trainers which is the most common form of footwear for a teenager, like Luke's jeans his shoes are scruffy and dirty. 

Storyline

At this fairly early stage of planning our music video, our initial intentions were to visit London and attend a student protest, on the 18th October there is one which I shall try to attend and get some good raw footage of actual protests taking place which relates very muchly to our track. Our music video starts with an average everyday occurrence of waking up, the main and really only character in our music video is Luke who is 17 therefore the age of many student protestors back at the protests in London in 2010. Luke is awoken by the subtle vibrations from the alarm on his phone, he then drags himself out of bed in a sluggish manor and gets dressed using his mirror to observe himself. Luke then goes over through into the room where his computer is located and as he does every morning, checks the news before he goes off to school. Luke reads about the mass student protests that are starting to happen in London and feels extremely aggrieved therefore takes to the streets of Norwich himself to voice his feelings.

Image of us preparing to film one of the many opening shots of our music video.

We ensured Luke's room was as messy as possible to resemble a stereotypical teenage male, this was chosen to be done as we want to relate to the demographic that were protesting at that time in London back in 2010.

This image shows Luke shortly after waking up and finding out about the student protests taking
place.

Email to the band; Fold

We sent an email to Seth Mowshowitz who is one of the band members at Fold asking for their permission to use their music and this case their track 'Fight Back'. Below is the email sent and also the reply from Fold confirming we could use their music.

Message sent by myself to Fold.
 

Message back from Fold allowing permission.

Why we chose the Track 'Fight Back'

We decided to use the track 'Fight Back feat.Barnaby Raine' because we felt the song had real meaning and we could create an effective music video around this. Fold produce their songs so that they collaborate speeches with music, including speakers such as Martin Luther King and Barack Obama.

The speech used in Fold's track 'Fight Back' is spoken by a young 15 year old, Jewish student from North London named Barnaby Raine. His speech focuses on the student protests that occurred in London a few years ago. From listening to this speech I managed to learn a number of different things; how blatantly students were being cheated and robbed of a future in the name of so called austerity, how willing the public was by and large to accept this, how heavy handed the police tactics (e.g kettling) were and perhaps most importantly the extent to which the media glossed over the heavy handed actions of the police while casting the students in an unjustly violent light without fairly presenting their case. I felt the speech used in 'Fight Back' really captured the zeitgeist and exposed some important truths at the time of the student protests in an unusually concise and rousing manner. Due to the speech used in the track we are able to create a music video with real meaning and our able to relate to a young demographic that may have been affected or were even part of the student protests. Although the speech being the main part of the track there is also an electronic genre of music used which stays pretty much in monotone the whole way through therefore meaning it doesn't drown out or outshine the speech, the music is still catchy however and has a good beat and flow to it.

Fold have got in touch with me and stated that through their making of the track they wanted to demonstrate both their solidarity with the students at the time and to remind everyone that when our rights are being threatened we music stand up and fight back if we wish to preserve them. They believe there aren't enough Barnaby Raine's out there that speak out and make a difference.




This is the type of image we wanted to display in our music video.

Fold / Fight Back (featuring Barnaby Raine)

This is our chosen track for our Music Video.



LYRICS


We're gonna stand up and we're gonna fight back, 


'fight back' x22,


I was with thousands and thousands of school students who'd come down, who'd never been at a protest before, who'd never joined a political party or been involved in any political movement before, we didn't have any economic knowledge or political degrees but they were there because they believed in something bigger, and they were there because they knew there weren't a million choices, there were two choices, either they laid down and took whatever the government through at them or they stood up and fought back and so those school students who'd never been involved in anything before, stood up and fought back.


'Back' x8,


The word went round as we were sitting cuddling round the fire sharing out the food we had, we said were not bad, we know that they don't think we're a danger to the public, we're 15 years old, there's people here as young as 13 years old, they know we're not going to start a riot, they think if they keep blocking us out, we're not gonna hold a demonstration ever again, well let the word go out for today people said, let the word go out about next Tuesday, let the word go about next week and next month and next year that they can't stop us demonstrating, they can't stop us fighting back and all the amount they try to imprison us in the streets of London, those are our streets and we will always be there to demonstrate, we will always be there to 'Fight' x9.


People who had always thought that Police were just those people at the other end of a telephone line to help if there was a burglary, people who had always thought that the media were just those friendly newspaper men  who were to give them that unbalanced picture of the fact, people learnt a lot as they huddled round fires and then emerge from that kettle to see headlines like 'VANDALS' on the evening standard that afternoon, people learnt a lot when that standard was left in the middle of the road so the police could come and tow it away and show the whole public look what vandals these people are, so the message that goes out is very clear, we are no longer that generation that doesn't care, we are not longer that generation that is prepared to sit back and take whatever they give us, we are now the generation at the heart of the fight back, we are now the generation that will stand with everyone that's fighting back, we hope your show solidarity with us and send a strong message to this government that they can't throw their cuts at us, we're gonna stand up and we're gonna fight back x40 


We're gonna stand up and 

fight back x40


'Instrumental'


We're gonna stand up and fight back. 

Afrika Shox - Case Study

Afrika Shox

The music video, Afrika Shox is by a British band named 'Leftfield'. The featuring artist in Afrika Shox is Afrika Bambaata who is an American artist responsible for the growing popularity in this electronic/dubstep genre. The man responsible for the directing of the music video is named Chris Cunningham. The song/music video was released publicly on 6th September 1999. 

The opening shot to Afrika Shox is of the prolific twin towers located in New York City. The low angle shot of these incredibly large towers makes the audience feel vulnerable, this accompanied with the misty, bleak weather helps to connote a daunting feel to the beginning of the video. This shot also may carry some symbolism as in 2001 the twin towers were famously destroyed by a terrorist attack, most people know that this iconic landmark is associated with that day in 2001 and therefore bringing negative connotations to the image. It creates a sense of doom amongst an audience. The shot of the twin towers may also connote a sense of wealth and power within America, however we see a sharp contrast when shown the main character of the video. 

This vibrant lights on the police vehicle indicates the vibrant life that occurs within the city and also relates to the electronic genre of Afrika Shox. This shot has a very grey and dismal background which makes the vibrant colours of the police car's lights stand out even more. There are even more lights which continue to shine throughout the music video to keep the genres to the beat and suggest people dancing in a club which is what the track is designed to do.



The dark mise-en-scene, urban genre is portrayed through the city views and urban setting within the music video. The camera cuts to a shot of a car park located underground, this a cultural signifier of underground music, its very dark and also includes flashing images which relates to lights that you would experience in a club, this is also unknown to the mainstream music scene. This clip is also in black and white which further suggests that its a non-mainstream music video.

 

This shot shows the main character from Afrika Shox stumbling in a zombie like fashion through the back streets of New York, it is very clear that the character is walking like a zombie or alien, this is further portrayed by the characters costume and make up. The white, cloudy eye contact lenses make him appear blind and not completely in touch with what it is going on around him and sees the world around him from another perspective to those contrasting characters we see later on in the video (Upper class businessmen). He is used as a representitative of black slaves once seen in America who are now forgotten, he doesn't fit in with his surroundings and other people. The fact that there is no colour in his eyes could suggest that his eyes are similar to his life, in that there is no colour in his life and that he lives a bleak and dismall life.

This shot gives the audience a strong comparison between two characters. The business like bystander seems to take an interest in the main character for a split moment with a negative and unfriendly expression on his face, this indicates to us that he is disgusted and disapproves of what he sees infront of him and feels that this man doesn't belong in society. This man is also clearly not willing to help this man and isn't bothered by the distress the main character is showing as he quickly diverts his attention back to reading the newspaper.

 

This shot of the main character holding out his arm suggests that he is in need of help and support from those around him, from earlier shots we know that the bystanders are not willing to give him aid even though he appears to be in desperate pain. This can relate to the black slavery period in America, as they were in need of help but none ever came.

Another possible track

Obongjayar - De La (Official Video) Directed by Jay Cee

'Obongjayar' is an unsigned, up and coming rap/hip hop artist in the local Norwich area. This particular track could be a possibility for us to use as the vocals have a certain amount of meaning behind them and the beat and flow of the track would be easy to create an effective music video around. It has already been confirmed that Obongjayar is unsigned and has allowed us to use his music.

Introduction