Research into our chosen genre

Research into our chosen genre

The song that we have decided to use to create our music video is Sonnentanz by newly popular group Klangkarussell. The song falls under the Deep House genre. Deep House is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980's which initially fused elements of Chicago house with Jazz funk and soul music. The genre is well known for its complex melody and use of unrelated chromatic chords underlying most sequences and a soul, ambient, or lounge vibe vocals.

House/Dance characteristics:


Cinematography:  - Handheld camera work
                               - Rarely any static shots
                               - Large variety of camera shots and angles
                               - Close up of lead singers

Mise-en-scene:     - Night club scenes
                               - Flashing lights
                               - People dancing (street dancing, break dancing, raving)
                               - Modern teenage stereotypes (Alcohol, Drugs)
                               - High key lighting
                               - Fun atmosphere

Sound:                   - Upbeat music
                               - Repetitive drum beat
                               - Produced sounds (techno/electronic style)

Editing:                  - Fast paced/ to the beat
                               - A cut to a new shot usually every 1 or 2 seconds
                               - Usually cut to tell a narrative

AZEALIA BANKS - 212 FT. LAZY JAY

Similarly to our chosen artist Azealia banks is also falls into deep house genre with her song 212. This song includes many codes and convention of the genre. This would help my group by showing how to include deep house codes and conventions in to a music video.

Throughout the music video there is fast paced editing which links to the music video. The shots are very fast. This is highlighted through the image of the quick cut shot. This evokes to the audience what she is saying. This is cemented through the basic colours. The white background and black writing help this to stand out. Helping to emphases the beat of the music. It also highlights the power of the lyrics. In addition there are a number of shots one of these is a close up of the artist highlight there importance and image as a star.

Azalea connects with her young target audience in the video. This seen from the image of alcohol. Young audience are stereo typed to drink excessively in order to have a good time. Azealia highlights this by evoking the feeling that if you drink you have a good time. Although this may be socially questionable it is something that the target audience can connect with, creating emotional link with the audience therefore increasing her success.

The code and convention of dancing is also evident in the music video. This seen in the image where the artist is dancing. This evokes the target audience to dance have fun. This also illustrates the artist connecting the audience as they will get enjoyment from dancing to the music. It also helps to portray the lyrics which are very conventional of the deep house genre. “212” this evokes the nature of the deep house genre having shot catchy lyrics.

Contrastingly in is clear in the music video that the artist has subverted the genre by having many static shots of the artist. This highlights the simplicity of the video. This showed my group that aspects of music video can be subverted. And simplicity music video can be very successful, shown by azealia song going to number 1 in the charts. 

 Disclosure white noise

In addition to azealia deep house song 212 I also analysed white notice by disclosure. This song is similar to what my group want to create being a narrative based music video. However this doesn’t change the codes and convention of the deep house genre.

The Cinematography codes and conventions are rarely subverted and the song sticks to the codes and conventions of the genre. Contrastingly to the first deep house music video this music video has very minimal static shots and Large variety of camera shots and angles. This is seen from the urban backgrounds seen in the video.

Although there isn’t a club scene in the music video due to the narrative performance. However through the use of Mise-en-scene the video shows many conventions of the genre. The video includes street dancing a common convention. This is used to construct a fun atmosphere. The aim of this to pass the feeling on to the target audience, therefore making them enjoys the music video more. It is clear from the long shot seen below where the character is dancing that the artist is trying to create this feeling. The background also aims to create the connation’s that u can have fun in any destination. This is seen from the dull horrible background.

It is clear from many deep house music videos it is very rare to subvert editing styles. This music video by disclosure is no different; showing fast paced editing to the beat of the music. Shots changing ever 2 to 3 seconds. This highlights the narrative showing many clips to evoke a storyline. The fast beat and fast editing is also used to create a fun atmosphere and get the target audience to dance boosting the artists success.