Applying genre to my A2 coursework

Genre is the categorising of texts to indicate to an audience what they will be experiencing. Genre plays a big part in media productions as there are certain conventions that they have to meet and develop. The genre for my music video is country/pop. I have made a music video for Taylor Swift's 'Never Grow Up'. There are many ways in which my music video supports and subverts stereotypes of genre.

Nick Lacey's Repertoire of Elements supports my genre. The artist, Taylor Swift is played by Abbie Taylor. The artist conforms to stereotypes of the genre through her character's costume. Cowboy boots, denim, checked shirts and cowboy hats are normally associated with western media products and the country/folk image. My artist wears a white skirt to display her innocence, a checked shirt, a denim bodice and cowboys boots to meet these stereotypes of the genre. The element is the main way of communicating to the audience the genre of the music video was purposely planned.

Again, some of the iconography featured in the music video can be seen as meeting the 'criteria' of the country genre. The artist plays a guitar which lots of country singers play, and in acoustic versions of pop songs, guitars are often used. However, I have deliberately subverted stereotypes of the country genre to make it more modern. For example, a fiddle, banjo and harmonica are all instruments associated with the genre but I chose a song that doesn't include them to attract a wider audience as these instruments are not normally featured in popular music. Christine Gledhill can be applied here as she quoted 'Genres... are not discrete systems, consisting of a fixed number of listable items'. This relates to my product because I have not included the 'list' of things that are normally considered to make up features of the country genre. 

Props such as cactuses and horses can also be said to be obvious characteristics associated with the genre theory. However, I did not use these in my music videos, not only because they were unaccessible but I don't think they relate to the song and will be attractive to the audience. These 2 features could be mocked and are not appropriate in the modern country/pop music videos. This is supported by Steve Neale, who said ‘difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre' which means that repetition would not attract an audience. 

Difference is important to genre because it keeps the audience interested and means that they won't expect what is going to happen and get bored. In my music video, difference is also applied when it comes to the setting of the shoot. I shot my music video on a beach but the country genre would stereotypically be associated with a desert, farm, bayou, or a location in deep South America. Although I didn't fit the conventions of the country genre through setting, I did use a natural setting which is appropriate for the vibe of the song. The conventional settings were inaccessible to me also. 

My narrative also subverts the country genre in some ways. Country songs are often happy and about love but my song itself is subverting this genre as it is about reflecting on youth and growing up so it has a sad tone to it. However, lots of country songs are about childhood and this is relevant to the lyrics. I have used found footage and anachronic flashbacks to convey the artist's childhood.  

I have considered using a sepia tone in the editing process of my music video which would fit the style of country. This is because it creates a vintage effect which can be linked the the country genre.