Conventions of a house music website include pictures of a massive crowd all with their hands raised to the DJ performing.
Another convention is the fact that very contrasting colors with their title name is shown. Usually black and white. In addition the font used for the title.
Furthermore, most of these artists use similar tabs that lead to similar kinds of pages such as the store page and the music or releases page.
In conclusion, as it can be seen the most typical features of web pages for house music artists consist of contrasting colors such as black and white. And simplistic fonts that stand out and are easy to read. Usually the font and the background are the two contrasting colors. Also, it is not rare to see that some artists include vivid neon colours with the black and white to create a vibe that the page visitor is at a party or a club where the neon lights would be flashing. Usually, this genre of music will be targeted to the younger generation. The younger generation usually likes to party and club, therefore, the vivid colors and the two contrasting colors attract this audience. As it can be seen in all the artists' sites (Hardwell, Avcii, Calvin Harris, and Dzeko & Torres) there are pictures of them playing and enjoying themselves in front of a huge crowd.
Blumler, Lazarfeld and Katz have a theory called 'uses and gratifications' which states that, unlike the 50's where audiences used to be passive, audiences are now active. Meaning that in the 50's it was used to be believed that media could harm audiences, and that they would just let it happen to them. Whereas nowadays, their theory is that audiences evolved into becoming active, that they now consume media texts for positive effects, audiences actively select texts and use it for something they want to do. Blumler, Lazarfeld and Katz also believe in 'diversion' and 'personal relationships'.
Diversion means escapism from a mundane, boring reality. When in a music video for instance, a more dangerous, exciting world is shown. (depends on the genre)
Personal relationships mean that audiences start feeling friendship connections with characters within the media texts.
In this post I will be exploring 3 of the top 10 music videos of 2014 ranked by the 'Rolling Stones' magazine and applying the theory of 'uses and gratifications'.
OG Maco - U Guessed It
Diversion = 'OG Maco - U Guessed It' is shown throughout the video because it shows them not playing by the rules. Showing them, for example, shirtless in a fancy hotel as if they were in control of everything and also being extremely noisy and not carrying whether they were being disrespectful due to the noise they were making. Basically showing that they don't have to play by the rules. We also see that the security guards were ok with all the mess, emphasizing the fact that the artist has more authority.
Personal relations = created in the video by the use of the shaking hand held camera, making the audience think they are together with the artist in that mess. It is also possible to relate to the audience through the use of direct address when the artist sings while looking to the camera, making it seem as if he was singing to the audience viewing the video.
Disclosure - Grab Her
Diversion = This video escapes from the reality of a typical boring office by the use of some comedy. The boss is shown as a prankster who just wants to fit in and be cool around his co-workers. However he is disliked my most of them due to this 'power' he has to change gravitational polarity with his touch. This strange, creative video basically takes the mick of the seriousness of the corporate world therefore, being a song heard by teenagers and having a music video set in an office the music video can be targeted to an audience with a wider range group, perhaps ranging from 16 to between the 30's.
Personal Relations = They are shown in the video through the use of comedy in the music video. The comedy portrayed sets a more relaxed and welcoming mood to the audience, as if the viewer was being welcomed and presented to the funny office life. Another way in which the audience is able to relate to the video is due to the fact that the co-workers share what they feel about their boss. We can see that they dislike him, but still pretend to laugh at his jokes and be friendly with him. Therefore, it makes the audience realize they know something that an actor in the music video doesn't.
DJ Snake, Lil John - Turn Down for What
Diversion= There is a huge escape from the mundane reality shown in this music video. Again, in an extremely comedic way. The video basically starts with a man in the roof of a residential building and every time the beat drops the people 'affected' by the music fall into the floor below by breaking the ground. The world of the music video is shown to be a very sexual and comedic world, simply by turning sexual concepts into comedy. The escapism in the video goes against the boring life that the majority of the people have, showing families united at night time suddenly going crazy when the beat drops.
Personal Relations= The video establishes personal relations by showing that the characters enjoy the music specifically when the beat drops. Emphasising the fact that they enjoy the music at the same time that we, the audience, do. The music genre is trap and it is often very dirty music played in clubs, therefore the video helps to set the hardcore, sexual mood to the audience. Another way in which they establish relations with the audience is by the use of a hand held shaking camera with a slow motion effect when the beat drops for the last time. All of those combined makes the audience feel as if they were in the moment with the characters.
The music video of Madonna's song, "Like a Prayer" is debated to be one of the most controversial music videos of all time in the industry. This music video is believed to be very controversial for various different reasons. most of which are related to religion (Christianity) and ethnicity towards the black community. These will be the two areas I will be covering in this essay.
As soon as the video starts at around 0:10 we see burning crosses. It still hasn't been portrayed to the listener what the context of the music video is going to be. But initially, with the appearance of the burning crosses we feel a bad vibe for the video. We also get a shot of a black individual getting arrested at about 0:30, enforcing the stereotype against black people and the context about police brutality.
Throughout most of the video we get controversy because Madonna is shown dancing in church with a lot of cleavage being exposed, this brings controversy between religion and sexuality. We are also shown that Madonna brings a crying black saint to life by doing a prayer and kissing him on the foot, this transmits the message which dictates that there is still a sense of racism in the world through showing that the black community is sad due to inequality between their race and the white race. But then again, we see Madonna dancing is front of burning crosses which emphasises the video's controversy because we see her feeling sorry for the black community and then we see her dancing in front of the burning crosses. The symbolism related to the burning crosses has a historical background including the KKK. Basically, every time a member of the clan would capture and kill a black person they would burn a cross to show what they've done. What also makes this music video very powerful is the fact that some white people assaulted Madonna in the streets and as soon as a black person steps in to save her the police man arrest the black person because they assume he's guilty due to his ethnicity. Therefore, apart from only creating conflicts with ethnicity and religion, the music video also cerated tension with police brutality.
In the video we are also shown Madonna and the saint she brought to life kissing and eventually having sex in the church. This is extremely controversial against religion because Christianity dictates that there should be no sex until marriage, yet the two still do it in church. Something else which is debated to be sinful is the fact that Madonna represents herself as being Jesus since the grabs the knife and accidentally cuts both her palms symbolising Jesus' palms when he was crucified.
conventions: colorful environments, wide target audience, very happy music in general
conventions: dancing, parties, rave, alcohol, teenage music, usually simple, not very musically complex, played in clubs
conventions: cowboys, southern north america, Texas, deserted areas
Conventions= old, very musical, for older age group, violins, orchestral instruments. Conventions= laid back, drugs, relaxing, yellow, red, green, Jamaica
Conventions= laid back, drugs, relaxing, yellow, red, green, Jamaica
