Conventions of Drum and Bass

"Drum and bass (/ˈdrʌm ənd ˈbeɪs/ drum-ənd-bayss) (also written as drum 'n' bass and commonly abbreviated to D&B or DnB) is a type of electronic music which emerged in the mid 1990s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats (typically between 160–180 bpm, occasional variation is noted in older compositions), with heavy bass and sub-bass lines. Drum and bass began as an offshoot of the United Kingdom rave scene of the very early 1990s. Over the first decade of its existence, the incorporation of elements from various musical genres led to many permutations in its overall style." - Wikapedia

Drum and bass is one of the most common forms of music found at clubs and raves alike because its heavy beat, which makes it easy to dance to. Drum and Bass, also known as D&B is usualy fast paced with an adverage of 170 BPM and can go as high as 190 and less commonly as low as 140 BPM. Mixing points usualy begin or end with a drop (the point at which there is a change of track or rythm).

Music videos for D&B are usualy centered around clubs (as that was were the music was desighned to be played) and usualy show the DJ at the Decks infront of a completely full dance floor. D&B music videos make extensive used of strobe lighting, lasers and complex arrays of coloured lights.

The camera work is usually low, wide angle shots of the dance floor with close-ups of the DJ and dancers. The clubs are usually set in famous club areas such as Ibiza, and the most of the time the videos are shot at actual clubs during a peak times. The low angle shots are not used to make people seem weak as in other genres, but mainly to show the amount of people (although in some videos the DJ is shown in high angel shots but weather this is to give the perspective from the dance floor, or to make the DJ seem in control isn’t clear). The messages from D&B are usually about being lively and free (when teenagers go on their 1^st holiday with friends its usually to a club area) and you could say that there is a message about bonding (chatting up the opposite sex). The people seen in the videos are usually quite young (late teens to mid 20’s) and are portrayed as outgoing (the general stereotypical partygoer).