According to Steve Neale, Genre is a term that can be split up into different categories, based on the characteristics that they share, for example, settings, storylines, narratives, characters and themes. In particular, genre can be referred to music videos, and they can be classified as being a particular genre, for example, pop, rock and hip-hop.
Steve Neale states that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference' and 'genres are not systems, they are processes of systemisation'.
He also says that, definitions of genre are historically relative and are therefore historically specific. Believed that there was a system of expectation and that by using own knowledge and applying conventions of the genre, the audience should be able to infer the narrative and storyline of the music video. He also declares that difference is essential to the economy of the genre; mere repetition would not attract the audience.
Similarly, Rick Altmen's theory also talks about genres having the same idea as Steve Neale:
Genres have characteristic features that are known to and recognised by audiences. Audiences develop an understanding that certain expectations will be fulfilled and they may find pleasure in predicting what will happen next. Producers of generic videos depend on immediate communication with the audience. This can prove problematic as audiences need to know what to expect from a generic video but some variation is required as you don't want the audience to be bored or dissatisfied.
Altmen suggests a 'semantic/syntactic approach'.
- Semantic means considering the conventions of the genre that an audience can relate to such as character or performers, locations, props and camera shots/movements.
-Syntactic means the type of narrative an audience would expect from the genre.
Altmen talks of a contract existing between the genre producers and their audience, with the audience having certain expectations from this genre and the producers needing to meet their expecations.
50 Cent - Straight to the Bank is a hip-hop rap music video that will be used to test these theories and is also relevant to creating our hip-hop rap music video. This music video has also influenced our music video because it's hip-hop/rap and has a serious but also comedic tone to it.
You can see that Steve Neale's theory applies to this music video as there is frequent cuts of 50 Cent rapping infront of the camera in the same locations, his 'office', the bank vault and the rooftops which is a convention of every rap video. There is also multiple voyeuristic treatment of women therefore Steve Neale's view that there is a system of expectation is applicable to this video too. The narrative can be inferred from the music video since at the start of the video you can see 50 Cent's mugshot in the picture and every time the camera cuts to 50 Cent not rapping, he is usually doing something involving money, women or things of great value. This implies that the video is about him working from the bottom (prison) and becoming incredibly rich therefore being able to afford all these things which the bank cannot contain (as he says it). Almost every rap video is about the artist rising from the bottom to the top, it's no different in this music video. However there are exaggerations such as the bank references which keeps the video unique from typical rap videos which shows how Steve Neale's view that there needs to be a difference along with repetition. After every verse, you can hear Tony Yayo doing the laugh track in the chorus, "I'm laughing straight to the bank with this" which is very catchy and unique of hip-hop rap music therefore the difference is also applied to the music video.
Steve Altmen's theory also applies to the music video as there are characteristic features that audiences recognise such as a stereotypical black rapper with fine jewelry and a lot of objects of value. There are fast paced edits with 50 Cent in the center of the frame. These are typical conventions of rap videos and audiences may find pleasure in that it meets their expectations of the genre. In terms of semantics, locations such as urban cities, inside of a car and fancy places are conventions of the genre that audiences can relate to. In terms of syntactics, similar to the Steve Neale theory, the narrative is about the artist starting from the bottom and working to the top. Expectations of the genre are definitely achieved in this music video because of all the typical conventions of a rap video. Altmen talks about how there needs to be variation and the chorus is proof of the variation.
Overall this music video is very typical of hip-hop rap music videos despite the slight variations and I personally think that it's incredibly well done with 50 Cent not taking this too seriously unlike most rap artists like Eminem. I think this would work well with our music video because we don't intend to have a serious tone to our music video either and the laughing soundtrack is almost comedic in a way.
Mise en scene: The lighting is low-key, sometimes developing into high-key in some locations but mostly low-key. This is to show that despite this genre typically having negative vibes, 50 Cent is trying to break that stereotype and make this song light-hearted and humourous. The locations vary from his office, to a bank vault, to a rooftop, to the city, to a dining room. There is never a focus on one location for too long, always changing after several seconds, implying how 50 Cent's life is so adventurous and busy that he's able to visit all these locations because he has so much money. The clothing of 50 Cent varies from a typical hoodie jacket with a cap, stereotypical of urban rappers to a black suit which is more atypical of rappers. The clothing compliments the environment that he's in, so when he's in his office, he wears a suit, and when he's in a bank vault, he wears a white vest. The connotations of this is that it shows 50 Cent is very adaptable and can fit in any scenario. Whilst he's a wealthy rapper, he can also look urban and down to earth. His facial expressions are almost always smiling because this is a light-hearted song and reflects 50 Cent's success.
Cinematography: The cinematography mostly has medium shots, close-ups, two shots, low angles, tilt movements, pan movements, tracking shots. 50 Cent is almost always in every shot to obviously show that he's the one of importance. The wild and varied camera shots compliment 50 Cent's unpredictable lifestyle. Repetition is incredibly prevalent in the cinematography because it applies Steve Neal's and Rick Altmen's Genre Theory and that drills into the audience's heads that this music video should be memorable. Close up of the artists also complies with Andrew Goodwin's Theory.
Editing: The editing is mostly non-continuity, slow-paced to compliment the calm mood and chilled tone of the song. There are many dissolves and fade transitions throughout the music video which makes the video more creative because most music videos stick with typical straight cuts. Since the music video was made in 2009, variety in transitions were quite common back then however in contemporary music, they are less common because we find them cheesy and distracting.
Sound: The sound is a mixture of non-diegetic and diegetic because it's difficult to tell whether the people in the music video can actually hear the music when 50 Cent is singing. However in most instances, the song is non-diegetic because no one is singing in that particular shot. The music is synced to 50 Cent's mouth.