Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features Of Music Videos (Beyoncé - Grown Woman)

R & B

1. Music Video demonstrates genre characteristics. 

noun

noun: R 'n' B

1. 1.

   short for rhythm and blues.
2. 2.

   a kind of pop music of black origin with a soulful vocal style featuring much improvisation.

Typical conventions of an R&B video are

• Artist always shown 
• Usually dance routine 
• Close up of artists
• Usually set in calm locations such as houses, beaches
• Hardly no performance
• Women usually wear revealing clothing
• Money portrayed positively.
• Alcohol and party scenes
• Use of special effects

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. 

A typical music video will include cuts from action to action and 'Grown Woman' is no different. It needs to aesthetically please as well as its interest to please with its audio. Nowadays most lyrics are portrayed through image and illustrations. In this video, we firstly see the development of Beyoncé life. The video starts by showing her as a young girl and cuts to her as an adult. Through the use of her home footage we see various images and clips of her getting older. An interesting appeal is her mirroring her movements as a child in present day time. There is no denying her love for dance, and her transformation from child to adult supports this. The correlation occurs with lyrics to images as the words sang are "I'm a grown woman, I can do whatever I want."

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals.

The music has an upbeat fun tone to it, consequently making you want to dance. There is also an element of culture to the song, as its visual images suggest a Caribbean setting towards the end, with the 3 girls almost giving off tribal vibes against the colourful floral backdrop. The dancing is also stereotypical for the Caribbean culture, which is portrayed through the music. 

4. The demands of the record Label will include the need for less close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. 

Throughout the video there are frequent shots, angles and positioning of the characters, particularly Beyoncé. The different layouts, costumes and make up seen on Beyoncé make the video more interesting. If you were to watch any music video with a popular artist you would expect to see them somewhere in the video. 

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking.

Through the dancing Beyoncé and companions are seen shaking their bums (twerking) to the camera at (2.08 minutes). This could be seen as a sexual portrayal of the female body, however its chilled setting and casual clothing make it seem light hearted and fun. In fact, the the most sexualised element of the whole video is shown at the end, when Beyoncé has clearly emerged into the adult she is today. She is shown wearing various outfits; a black dress to start with whilst dancing with a group of females and then a patterned leotard to follow. Both outfits correlate to the provocative dancing shown. The different array of settings suggest a change in time (as time moves on). Furthermore the special effects seen more towards the end of the video show a change in era; times have moved on and we are now able to present an audience with visual special effects. 

6. There are often inter textual references.

This is not applied in this video.