Genre Theory

Neale Theory - Genre as a system

This theorist believed that genre worked in a repeated three step cycle. He believed that the industry would create a piece of text in which would appeal to a particular audience as they would expect a certain output. They would then give that text attention/money, thus benefiting the industry. Then the cycle repeats and repeats. 

I can use Notorious B.I.G.'s "Sky's The Limit" to describe this theory. As a slow paced hip-hop video, the typical conventions of something from this genre are aspects such as rich mise-en-scene, male dominance and slow motion within the shots. All three of these expectations are showcased in the video. We see the rich visuals demonstrated when the expensive cars, suits, sunglasses, bed, pool and more appear. The reason for these appearing is that they allow the rapper himself to look like someone of a high profile, thus being idolised by the audience. The male dominance is during the stairs scene where a woman is being walked by a man. You can tell that the man is controlling the walk as her arm is holding onto his and she appears a step behind him. The use of this is the same as the other one as it again puts the performer on a pedal-stool to his audience.

Neale Theory - Repetition & Difference
This is the theory that the plot of the media text remains the same, but the way in which the institution entices the audience is by changing a bit of the product. 

For this, I will use Blink 182's "All The Small Things" as an example. This theory is very applicable in this video as it is a homage to the very prestigious reign of 'boybands'. Some typical conventions of videos for male singing groups contain screaming fans, lack of clothing, choreography dancing. beach scenes and more. This Blink 182 video contains all of this, which is apart of the repetition side of the theory, and the difference occurs when they take a more comedic turn with it. The band members are seen with screaming fans (0:05), in which the people playing these 'fans' appear to be overreacting. Then at 0:06, the band are in white underwear, something that is not conventional of the 'cool' look that boybands typically go for. As a way to make fun out of the lack of manliness that many people claim boybands have, at 0:11 the band are dressed in female clothing whilst in a dance studio. As groups of this genre tend to know how to dance, the reference is right there. Finally, the beach scene at 1:36 is taken a bit far as there are no clothes on the men, so they look more vulnerable than 'cool'. This has been used so that people can see the references to pop culture and laugh at it. This will then take something that people are already familiar with as well as fond of, plus add a unique spin on it in order for the audience to still find it interesting. There are many ways of doing this, whether it would be for a more serious outlook, such as the change in characters in Marvel films, or it could be the opposite, just like this video.

David Bordwell - Any theme may appear in any genre
Bordwell believed that it did not matter what genre of song was appearing in the video. He said that as long as it was thought out right, any theme may appear in any genre and it could work out well.

For this theory I will use "Acapella" by Karmin to exemplify it. The song is a modern day pop track that talks about a relationship between a man and a woman. However, the video is much more old school and is something that we would see within the 1990's/early 2000's. This fits perfectly as it has now made the song seem as if it actually suits the era of video making. The music video has one colour sets, as seen in plenty of videos in the 90's/early 2000's such as "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child.

I could use this for my music video as it can be quite a beneficial thing. This can make it much easier to create as there would be no conventions that I had to stick to. Also, as the video is not something that fits one particular audience, people that are into either styles (the song and the video) can be attracted to my product. This means that a wider amount of people can watch my video, which is something that any video maker wants as it means that they can gain a bit of profit from it.