Christian Metz's Model of Genre (Finish)

Christian Metz was a french film theorist who changed film theory over Europe and America in the 1970's. In his book 'Language and Cinema', he explored the development of genre in film and suggested that genres pass through four stages of existance:

1. Experimental
2. Classic
3. Parody
4. Deconstruction

Films aren't the only type of media product that the model can be applied to. TV dramas and music videos also have similar conventions that go through the same stages as film genres. I will be applying Metz's theory to music videos and how different elements of music videos developed over time.
Experimental:
The experimental stage is when the genre is first starting to develop unique elements that can be associated with that genre specifically. This stage is mostly shown in early products in the genre. The creators of the first official music videos started in the early sixties with bands like The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones. These early music videos, artists would normally use the video as a live performance and would perform to an audience as well as the camera. The set would be very much like a performance set on shows like Top of the Pops. The new thing about these performances were that they were often made to be replayed again on television. To create these videos, there would be a wide variety of shots and angles, mainly focusing on the lead singer. In this video by The Who, the video seems to have been shot during a talk show but the credits before hand show that this was made to be a music video. There is also several close-ups of the lead singer, wide shots of the whole band, and long shots of the other members. Another example of a music video with similar conventions is Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. This is now seen as quite iconic because of the famous scene of the whole back with their faces blocked out by shadows. In this video, there is a combination of live performance and studio recorded footage. This is done so that the special effects could be done effectively.



A good example of an experimental music video that pathed the way to future music videos is The Beatles and A Hard Day's Night. It shows the band running away from a crowd of fans in a comical way. This could be seen as the first narrative music video whereas The Who video was a performance video. Richard Lester is often considered as being the director who laid down the foundations for the classic music videos seen later on in the late 70's onward. This video was made in 1964 and would have been used to promote the new single and any new albums that might have the song on.