Genre-Post-Hardcore

Genre is a denomination that something falls into in its field judged on its content and form as well as what its conventions fall into as well.

Post-hardcore music originated in the hardcore punk movement and is seen as a hybrid genre of hardcore punk as well as having links to metal music within its fast tempos, guitar riffs and musical styles. Also, similar to punk, it is also one of the “do it yourself” genres where you do not need to be particularly talented to take part in music creation within the genre. Its origins started in 1980s USA when the punk movement started to decrease a little as it was becoming boring so bands started experimenting with different sounds and forms.

Post-harcore music has a variety of lyical formats that can range from a story being told by the band, to lyrics that relate to our everyday lives. However, Post-hardcore often also has lyical themes in crime and love too, mainly murder and lust.

The general music style of post-hardcore is a combination of different punk denominations and metal combinations. The vocals often include harsh screaming and growls, similar to extreme metal and hardcore punk, as well as clean, usually poppy vocals. This combination can either be done by one vocalist but is usually more. The singers also sometimes have a tenor (higher pitch) or countertenor (a technique that uses high notes but can also descend into deep notes and growls). There are also usually two guitarists, rhythm and lead, which usually have crushing and heavy riffs in it to faster, lighter ones. A bass guitar and drums are also implemented. Sometimes, a keyboard is also implemented to create a more electronic sound.

 

 

 

This is Alesana, a post-hardcore band that implement everything within the genre requirements apart from a keyboard, however, a piano is sometimes used. As we can see, post-hardcore bands are often known for having longer hair as well as tattoos and being associated with darkness as their music is seen on the “darker” side. However, this represents the bands in the genre as being emo, however, most bands often say they are not and in fact, dislike the term and being associated with it.

 

 

 

This is another post-hardcore band called Eyes Set To Kill, they are usually seen as non-conventional as they use female vocals as the main part of the music and male backing screams as additions, however, we can also see they are still associated with black and tattoos so we can see, even non-conventional post-hardcore bands are represented the same.

The ideology of being a post-hardcore artist is usually based around alternatives to what you are represented as.  Due to the black clothing and style, they are often associated with death and emos as said above, however, they sometimes base their music on love and life as well as what’s right and wrong which would be seen as subverting the aesthetic representation of post-hardcore. This is very important to many bands and some are even religious and implement some religious lessons into their music.

The target audience of Post-hardcore is teenagers and young adults as the music often include profanity and the occasional adult theme. The target audience is often also the middle and lower class as it is not seen as a “posh” or “normal” genre to listen to as it is a combination of many genres into one. This means that the audience is often socially awkward or very unique individuals.

A Skylit Drive- Crazy

 

In the A Skylit Drive-Crazy music promo, the cinematography is conventional of most music promos. For example, in most promos, there are very few stationary shots and the camera pans many times and almost has constant movement. It is also the same within this promo as there are barely any stationary shots. Also, in most post-harcore music promos, they amplify the use of close ups on the singer and instruments being played, especially the guitars. The same applies to this music video as most of the shots are close ups so it is very conventional in that case. However, there are many more close ups of the singer than what there is of the guitarists so that is somewhat unconventional.

An example of the post production effects.

The editing in this promo is very, very fast and is a lot faster than many other promos, however, this is staple of the genre as it is a lot faster than less aggressive genres. Also, a few post production effects have been used within it to slightly enhance the speed of t which is used effectively. Most of the edits used are straight cuts with a few being fades which are also barely used within the genre, this is rather unconventional but works very well. A few cross cuts are also included within the promo but very quickly which intersect performance and narrative, this seems to make them happen together.
The mise-en-scene of the promo is also rather conventional as post-hardcore videos usually use a setting that the audience is familiar with, as it does here. The setting is a city and it also emphasis this within in it as it shows the use of buildings and urban materials as some of the characters within the narrative part use it as a way to travel around. The costume of the band is rather conventional but unconventional at the same time. It is conventional because it is made up of mainly black clothing, however, it suits the punk genre more, but you could say this is because post-hardcore is a relative of punk.










A chain link fence, a common item in an urban environment.

 

 

Here we can see how the costume suits post-hardcore and punk as the clothing is post-hardcore related but the singers’ hair is more of a punk style.

In this promo, there is a mix of narrative and performance but majors as performance as there is more of the band in the promo than what there is the narrative. However, this is because, eventually 1:54, they both come together. This is unconventional as most music promos in this genre or similar have them completely split, however, it works well here as it makes the video more colourful as the characters start using coloured powder to add variety as well as the performance still continuing. The use of this coloured powder also subverts some of the conventions as post-hardcore is seen as a “darker” genre of music and is often portrayed as such. However, then the colours slowly turn into smoke which start to show the band in the white of the smoke and turns it into a slightly more exiting performance as well as showing a crowd dancing and the camera being within the crowd so it feels as if you are there.

The performance and narrative together with the unconventional colour.