Research Into The Chosen Music Genre & Sub-Culture Theory

The music genre which we have decided to choose is of the Alternative music genre, the genre emerged from the independent music artists from the 1980's and became widely popular by the 1990s with artists such as Oasis and U2. Additionally, in the present day the music genre is still popular with the music industry with artists such as Muse, Jason Mraz and Blur which have been in the UK music charts through-out the year. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several alternative rock bands emerged, including The Strokes, Blur, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and The Rapture that drew inspiration from the previous Alternative Genre a decade before. Preceded by the success of bands such as The Strokes and The White Stripes earlier in the decade, an influx of new alternative rock bands such as The Killers success in the early 2000s. Owing to the success of these bands, Entertainment Weekly declared in 2004, "After almost a decade of domination by rap-rock and nu-metal bands, mainstream alt-rock is finally good again." The Alternative Music Genre has changed with a new style of artists in the genre such as Ed Sheeran, Jason Mraz and Muse having less of the Punk genre but more Indie genre characteristics to appeal to a more wider and profitable target audience.

The first music video from the alternative music genre was ‘The A-Team’ sung and written by Ed Sheeran. The song reached 2nd in both the Australia and Scotland Music Charts. Also, it was a Top 10 Hit in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom Singles Chart – Official Charts Company, which shows that it was very successful in a number of Music industries across Europe, British Commonwealth and other Asian countries. This music video challenges the normal stereotype of the genre because the artist isn’t in the music video (only as a background character – unknown character) performing a majority of the visuals. This means that it does raise awareness of the artist but due to him not being consisted during the video it means that it doesn’t massive affect promotion. Also, the music video doesn’t have anyone singing through-out the production and therefore there is not lip syncing. The target audience of this music video is 16-35 year olds of both genders because it is from a very popular mainstream artist this means that it has a wide target audience in the Music industry as well as the alternative music genre.


However, the material does visualise the lyrics strongly with a very important and essential meaning to make the music video affective. This illustrates the importance of visualising and in this video it shows the lifestyle of the homeless and the lyrics describe the visuals and looks of the main character and how people act in society. Also, the song is about how she deals with being homeless and the way people look at people who sell the big issue. This opinion is changed after she spends the money which she has been given to succumb to her drug abuse. Overall, the visualizing of the lyrics and narrative are important in representing the meaning behind the video/narrative. The pace of the editing is slow which fits the pace of the music and emotions; this is a great example because the song has a very slow level of editing. This makes the duration of the shots longer, making the video appear slower to match the pace of the songs narrative.

The mise-en-scene of a music video covers 5 key elements to make the material affective and look professional, without this it won’t look realistic to the audience. The mise-en-scene covers all the visuals which are seen in the production of which include settings & props; costume, hair & make-up; facial expression, body language; light, colour and finally positioning of characters/objects within the frame which draws attention to the main character and what she is trying to get from living on the streets. This is used by Ed Sheeran as an indication of the relationship between the people. This means that for our music video we have to make it successful because otherwise the video is likely to fail.  Ed Sheeran’s music video is very basic and simple but very affective and successful. The main character is wearing normal clothes and due to her being homeless she has limited items. The character is represented as homeless due to her selling ‘The Big Issue’. This is also shown by the setting and location of where she is located in the shots, firstly she is on a park bench which implies that she slept ruff and could be homeless with the second being on the streets. This suggests that she is homeless and the song is about her and what she has to do to stay alive. Finally, the last location is where he lives where she can with the small amount of money she has. The props are stereotypically items which show that she is desolate, but an item which is a stereotype is drug abuse. The lighting which makes the location affective is with only using key and back lighting which produces sharp contrasts of light and dark areas, with deep shadows being formed. This highlights the important character and sleeping bag she has to make her look mysterious by shading sections of the face and body. The shot reflects the characters mental state/ hidden emotions of pain and depression. The colours of black and white of which the video is shown in through-out carries certain connotations which may add to the meaning of the scene and video, it can give the video a particular feel, mood and style of which is used for dramatic effect. The music video was made from £20 (Sheeran only bought stockings and a crack pipe), which shows that the idea makes the production successful not the production itself with him saving on Mise-en-scene to reduce his costs. Additionally, his is very important and it should comply with the mood of the song. The song is very negative and sad which means that the lighting complies with the mood of the song by being in black and white which are associated with depression and upset. This is very affective because it means that the lighting and colour can be used to show her emotions which can attract the audience.

The hair and make-up of the character shows her upset and sadness due to her mascara running. This tells the viewer immediately whether the video is set in the present and the society of which she lives in, which is of a not caring about other citizen’s culture. Therefore, as a result this acts as an instant indicator to the target audience of the characters personality, status and job. This is implied by her status being of the unemployed under skilled due to not status in society but also her leading to prostitution to gain money to live and survive. This is certain due to the costumes she wears being signify certain of hooker and courtesan. The facial expression and body language of the character shows her depression and heart break of where she has ended up in her life to living on the streets of London without any belongings. The expressions provide the audience with a clear indicator of how the character is feeling if someone is depressed or sad we assume they are crying of which we get the same feeling due to the slow paced music. Her body language is also an indication of how the character is feeling towards the other character (people walking past) of unloved and heartbroken. Overall, the mise-en-scene of the music video is very simple and easily filmed but is successful in representing a homeless person and their way of life compared to the viewers. The videos camera shots were very simple but affective using slow paced narrative and tempo to convey the emotions of the character to the target audience. Her positioning on the floor with many low angle shots shows that she is represented lower in society then the average people walking past because they have belongings and homes compared to her. Also, the establishing shot of the style of setting is a long shot of the main character sleeping/lying in a sleeping bag on a bench in the middle of a park, this illustrates that she sleeps there regularly, this camera shot is important because it shows the audience the location of where the music video will be based and implies that the song by Ed Sheeran might be about the character. Thirdly, an essential shot to the meaning of the music video is when the character puts on her hooker clothes, this suggests that she as to do a selected job to fund her essentials to survive and live.  The editing through-out the music video is slow paced with the editing in connection with the style of the music. This means that the audience/viewer listens more to the narrative and shows the emotions which she is trying to represent.


Goodwin’s Theory is used through-out the music video to make it more effective, the genre characteristics of the alternative music genre are similar to the Pop genre however they are more realistic the productions. Therefore, ‘The A-Team’ is a typically music video for the genre due to ‘The A-Team’ is a typically music video for the genre due to the main character having a problem in society due to her social and culture status and therefore her ideas of life, similar to Jason Mraz with the song ‘I won’t give up’ about military injured war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. This is due to the character living on the streets without any hope of an average life in the community. There is a strong relationship between the lyrics and visuals because the narrative decides her and what she feels like when living on the streets. This means that the viewers can feel the same emotions and pain of which she has from living in the harsh conditions and no living standards. This builds a strong relationship because it increases you knowledge of what large amounts of other people are going through in the community without support. The relationship between and visuals is less connected as the lyrics and visuals but they have a indirect relationship due to the slow paced music and the visuals of the main character building a strong emotion of upset and sadness for the situation that she has been put into by living homeless. The music video has no notion of looking of the main character through-out this could show that the characters lifestyle because due to her not being a celebrities or the mainstream artist Ed Sheeran and just a normal human it shows that people aren’t interested in her in society. The video production has no intertextual references due to the video made before he became a mainstream artist and therefore only spent £20 in making. The visuals of the music video are on a level of 50% on both the narrative and concept which is due to the narrative and concept having a major part of why the music video is so successfully compared to other alternative genre production videos.

Secondly, I have decided to anaylsis U2 song 'With or Without You' which was released in March 1987, the song was Number 1 in Ireland, Canada and the US Billboard Hot 100. Also, the song was 4th in the UK Singles Chart, this shows that the mainstream band was popular world wide in a number of markets and therefore shows that similar to Ed Sheeran's 'The A-Team' that the alternative music genre is very mainstream and popular in the mass market of the music industry shown by the WorldWide Charts of the music markets. The target audience of the music video when the music video was released in 1987 due to the rebellious actions and style it would be aimed at 14-26 year olds with the mise-en-scene challenging the fashions of the old generation.

The conventions of the music video are important and are the essential aspects which the video need to include to be successful. The band play a 100% performance based music video due to the artist only playing the song through-out the video, this means that the band only sing the song and don't build a story around the song, due to the narrative representing the what the artists want to show the audience. The music video is of the band performing on a stage this means that they use a number of shots such as crane shots, pans, close-ups and low angle to represent all areas of the band during the performance. The music video uses the effects of a smoke machine to make the stage location and artist mysterious this is a technique used to represent what the artists emotions are of confusion of whether they are 'With or Without You', which means that it emphasizes the feelings that the artists is trying to convey.

The alternative genre mise-en-scene in this selected music video has dark colours throughout and the use of the simple setting of a concert stage. Similar to many other music video of the genre contain the use of music equipment such as drums and guitars which is why the band members are all the music video performance. Therefore is a lot of emotions portrayed in the emotions of the narrative in the video but not on the facial expressions of the musicians. This challenges the stereotype due to the strong emotions of which the videos story-line portrays compared to other alternative songs. But, similar to Ed Sheeran's 'The A-Team' the people in the performance are not portray happiness as they relate the lyrics and meaning of the song to the story-line and emotions of a major sad event or lifestyle which is happening/happened in their life. The costumes of the band are simple but affective to appeal to their target audience with the majority of the members wears plain tank tops and t-shirts with the main singer having a leather waistcoat. This makes the main singer stand out but during the 1980's the clothes worn by all the band members was very popular which attracted the younger generations to the songs fashion appeal. Also, the artist wear symbols of religion and peace which during that era show that they are rebellious. This is implied by the songs narrative due to them being peaceful and happy but now they are without the person they love, they have turned to rebellion and violence which is conveyed to the audience. Also, the rebellious ideas are showed in the military boots and ear piercing and long hair which suggests that they don't comply with their older generations traditions and ideas. Overall, the mise-en-scene of all the members costumes is very simple and basic but appeals to the audience of the music and attracts them to follow the ideas they are trying to represent. The lighting that is used through-out is only key and back lighting similar to Ed Sheeran's music video because it uses this to create strong outlining shadows.

The camera movements are slow paced with long duration of shots throughout the viruses this is because it keeps the pace of the narrative and music synchronised. This means that the music is more flowed and is easy for the audience to listen to which makes it affective and the narrative more powerful with a meaning. The transitions of these shots is used as fading to make the change of shots more passive compared to a straight cut. However, this changes during the chorus because the pace of of narrative fastens which continues the correct flow of music to the lyrics. The shot changes to black and white frames which is similar to Ed Sheeran's 'The A-Team' which is a stereotype of this genre because it represents the depression and sadness of the artist and the mood of which they are trying the convey to the target audience. The music video uses close-up of the main singer this means that the audience can connect with the artists because then it shows them the emotions which the artist is emphasising in the narrative. The shot changes to a straight panning shot of the band, this implies that the camera is the viewer looking at the whole band and not only the main singer in the band. Also, the camera shot is a eye-line to represent that the audience and artist are on the same level in society and that they both can connect. Finally, the shot changes to a high angle shot of the band when he sings the chorus  'With or Without you'. This suggests that the audience is the person that he is singing about the person of which has rejected him. This is because the viewer is now looking down on the band compared to previous shot.

'With or Without You' uses Goodwin's Theory to increase the potential successful of the music video using the genre characteristics of the music video being mainly located on a band stage. This connects the target audience with the artists which could have seen them at a festival or concert but also that the viewer is watching a concert style music video. The relationship from the lyrics and visuals doesn't have a strong connection due to the location not being of their relationship but on a stage. This means that the only connection between this is the artists emotions of being alone and 'Without her'. Therefore, it has a  indirect connection but isn't affective compared to other alternative music genre artists music videos. On the other hand, this is different to the relationship between the lyrics and the music because the artists paced of the narrative is slow with the music complimenting this but building strong foundations to shows the strong emotions of which this event has had a major impact on this life. Through-out the video production their is the notion of looking due to this representing that the artist potentially singing to the person of which the narrative is about. This increasing the attraction and connection between the audience and artist which makes this very successful due to using emotions and notion of looking to attract the audience to watch the music video material. Their is no intertextual references which makes the audience feel that the artist is average and is not extraordinary and appeals more to them then an 'over the top' music video which doesnt appeal to the target audience.

All of this considered, both the alternative music genre music video production are affective in the way they repsent and show the emotions and meanings of which genre characteristics  they are trying to represent to the audience. Also, they use smiliar techniques and genre to make them successful in the music genre of which they both were very popular in the global music industry Number 1/2 in a number of European and worldwide countries. This means that we can use this information and research that we have learn't to see the affective characteristics and techniques used in the music videos which might be affective in our music video such as using Black and White frames which is used in both music videos which have been researched and studied.

There is a number of sub-culture theories such as McCracken, CCCS and Dick Hebdige which use a selected structure to make the music video successful and affective. Dick Hebidge was a media theorist and sociologist who made theories as resistance against the mainstream of society and the music industry. Hebidge was a student who studied a master's degree at the Centre for Contemporary Culture Studies of which be become influential and best known for the book in sub cultural studies 'Subculture: The Meaning of Style' which was originally implying that although some people think sub-culture only appear to be different but deep down they are the same, he says that if you look into all ideas there is enough richness to warrant renaming 'sub-culture' as 'little cultures'. This means that due to him going to the research centre that he has formed the same theory even after his own judgement and came to the same conclusion.
 

Grant McCracken was the director of the institute of Contemporary Culture and senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School and his theory which is used during the post modern world in the music industry which is full of diversity, dynamism and creative which means that there is more variety in the production of visuals with the narrative of the song. McCraken's theory states that if we look at an array of values and ideologies with the different music genres. Therefore, all the sub-cultures can't come from the same one culture, this idea was written in a number of books 'Culture and Consumption, 'Culture and Consumption II' and 'Chief Culture Officer'. This shows that he has a wealth of experience and ideas that have given him strong knowledge to make a very knowledgeable judgement on cultural ideas of the music industry and genres. Finally, being a lecturer at Harvard Business School means that he could have formed new ideas or changed the theory but didn't which his decision more strong foundations and idealistic.

 

 

The Centre for Contemporary Culture Studies (CCCS) was the research centre of the University of Birmingham which was formed in 1964 with similar theories of Thedor Adorno who believed in music genres becoming 'Standardised'. The theory was that people rebel from the mainstream industry of which it assumes that all sub-cultures come from one culture due to the reaction of mainstream industry. This means that the research centre was able to do in-depth planning and exploration with investigating the genres cultures.