Our target audience is mostly teens. From our research that we conducted in the 6th form that we attend, giving out questionnaires across the year groups to teenagers. We found that majority of people have or do listen to music. Based on our target audience of the age range 11-18, we've seen that this is the period during a teens life where they are most affected by bullying. 11 year olds start as small fishes in a big pond at a new big school (secondary) whilst 16 yr olds go onto college or 6th form with the same situation except its more to the working world of adults where they are solely dependent on themselves.
AGE: 11-18
DEMOGRAPHIC: unemployed students, probably working class.
Representation
TEENS: the most crucial social group because the narrative and the issues are based around them.
MALES/FEMALES: Males are mainly the protagonists in rock music videos; we are sticking to the conventions. Females aren't portrayed in any way.
RACE: the majority of our characters will be wearing paper bags, accept the main character. We were undecided on who was the main character but due to convenience we were able to use Emmanuel Agyeman.
Monday 12 November 2012
Questionnaires
Linkin Park was the rock band that people were more familiar with than any other - this confirmed the choice of using Linkin Park as our band. We know that people are aware of the band, this shows there is a target audience that will be interested in our video.
Majority of people said they have or do listen to rock music, Jahquani also went around and asked people whilst they were filling out the questionnaires. Those that do listen to rock music said they listen to it regularly- at least once a week.
In our generation we listen to music everyday intentionally or not, for example when we walk into shops music is playing.
This question shows that there is a target audience for a rock video.
We rarely see rock artists solo- therefore we associate Instruments with rock bands. There is a lead singer, guitarist, a drummer and a pianist. For example this is the band dynamic for Linkin Park.
Dark, gothic, demonised items or places are related to rock and heavy metal music. We are going to follow the convention.
This question was based on Richard Dyer's utopian theory
This isMusic videos providing solutions or compensation for inadequacies for the public. The question featured some of the inadequacies that Dyer outlined-exhausted. We didn't include any of the others as we believed that they weren't relevant for the rock video idea we had.
The results show that the majority of those asked answered that rock music videos make them feel Energetic. This could be down to the bass and tempo of the song and the instruments being heard- as they are up tempo. Also we associate rock concerts with lots of jumping around and loud music, we expect to see the same in their music videos.
We are not specifically focusing on making our target audience energetic or make them jump around whilst watching our video; we will try to incorporate things that will make them use their brain
(What is coming next).
The results also show that a lot of people thought rock videos make them depressed- we have taken this into account and have incorporated this into our storyboard/plans. For example we have the basic idea of showing the narrative of a boy who is 'One step to the edge'.....
Concerts are energetic
After discussions with the group we decided to use the song One step Closer. As you can see 52% of those asked said they had heard the song for but nearly an equal amount said they hadn't (48%).
This song featured on Linkin Park's first album- Hybrid Theory. Many successful songs came from this album, one reason why the song we chose may not have been that famous is because it was overshadowed Numb. This is a very popular song by the band.
On the other hand people may have bought the album because of numb, therefore hearing the song.
As we have evidence that our target audience know the song we will continue to use it.
The people who answered questionnaires chose bold and colourful as the lighting they prefer to see. I think we should use this to show a contrast and go against the codes and conventions of a rock video. We are used to seeing dark, black and white videos- using colour will be unique.
dark
Majority of people said fast pace transitions- this would be a effective way of showing the theme of the song.
The song we have chosen is upbeat with an edgy feel, fast pace transitions would compliment the anger, frustration that the character is feeling.
Majority of people said no- they don’t think rock videos portray women in a negative way. This included seeing them being sexualised, portrayed in a stereotypical way, or seeing them as being weak. Many rock video don’t contain images that sexualise women, they mainly focus on men. These men can be part of the band or be the main characters in the narrative story however in Linkin Park - Numb the main protagonist was a girl.
One person in particular wrote on their questionnaire this isn’t R'n'B; this shows that the audience have already associated the sexualisation of women with another genre.
We are sticking with the codes and conventions of rock videos as we are not choosing to portray women in a negative way. Our main protagonist will be male.
Monday 5 November 2012
Categories of Music Videos
There are three main categories of Music Videos:
1.Performance based videos
2.Narrative based videos
3.Concept based
1.Performance based video
Performance based videos consist mostly of the band performing throughout the video, showing the band at live performances or in a studio.
Linkin Park uses this in their "Faint" music video.
The video, directed by Mark Romanekand shot in downtown LA, consists of the band performing in front of an audience and a floodlight. This puts them at the centre of attention showing that they need to be heard even though they aren’t seen concealing mystery towards them as to why they don’t want to be seen. It can also be a representation of them not being seen within their record label as who they actually are. The silhouettes show them as figures performing for an audience as if they are programmed to do it. The audience is consisted of members from the LPU. Almost the entire video is shot from behind the band, allowing the strong lighting to portray them in silhouettes. Therefore, the faces of the band are not shown throughout most of the video, except at the final chorus where the band is then shown from the front after Chester shouts the last chorus shouting that they are there, they will be seen, they will be heard as them the representation of Linkin park. They perform in front of a derelict building structure with graffiti, such as a monstrous version of the Hybrid Theory Soldier and some Linkin Park symbols. The wall symbolized the background of them; they've worked from the streets up to concerts which is the audience and flashing lights in front of them and now they deserve the recognition as Linkin Park not the product of a record label.
2.Narrative Based Videos
Narrative based videos have a story line throughout the whole video; it contains mostly footage that attempts to tell a story through moving images. The story is sometimes linked to the lyrical content.
Within Linkin Park’s ‘Crawling’ video narrative based concepts can be seen. In the video he says ‘I can’t find myself again the walls are closing in’ the video then shows a girl surrounded by a transparent sharp objects that are closing in on her as if she is trap like the lyrics say.Another lyric says ‘ I've felt this way before so insecure’ the actor in the shower on the floor going into a tight ball implying that she is insecure and scared. Therefore throughout this video lyrics are portrayed to the audience.
3.Concept based videos
These music videos are usually based around one concept or idea. these types of videos are fairly unusual or utilize a particular editing or filming technique.
A video that applies to concept based videos is Linkin Parks ‘Catalyst’. The idea is to show some sort of battle field between the civilians (public) and masked persons who represent the police force. Its has people consumed by smoke running around, through colourful powder, people wearing gas mask, Chester singing in water with the camera angles being rotated around and in symmetrical view showing a reflection on the water whilst Mike is hooded in a car singing then to the band playing in the smoke as well. Whereas the lyrics say:
‘God bless us everyone We're a broken people living under loaded gun And it can't be outfought It can't be out done It can't be out matched it can’t be out run
No’
This is a contrast to the lyrics making it random.
What media does to audiences, ‘what are you injecting into your audience?’
Dating from the 1920s, this theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media. It suggests that audiences passively receive the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data. Don't forget that this theory was developed in an age when the mass media were still fairly new - radio and cinema were less than two decades old. Governments had just discovered the power of advertising to communicate a message, and produced propaganda to try and sway populaces to their way of thinking.
This was widely done by Hitler and Nazis Germany by manipulating the media to go against a race showing just how powerful the mass media can be.
This theory suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. It assumes that the audience are passive and heterogeneous. This theory is still quoted during moral panics by parents, politicians and pressure groups, and is used to explain why certain groups in society should not be exposed to certain media texts (comics in the 1950s, rap music in the 2000s), for fear that they will watch or read sexual or violent behaviour and will then act them out themselves.
For example the Frankfurt School: Marxist German Intellectual reacting against Nazis propaganda. Hitler used posters and pictures in newspapers to promote women staying at home, men going to war and children hating Jews. These posters were everywhere so the public had no choice but to consume the information.
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The rise of TV in the 50s and 60s: fear of danger to children. Influence of behavioural scientist Pavlov and his study of dogs; he found that dogs produced saliva when they heard a bell because they had associated the bell with food. In connotation with media and audiences media makes people dependent e.g. we hear the Eastenders theme tune without seeing it but we know its 8pm and the channel is on BBC 1.
Moral panic: concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality.
(2 step)
MEDIA TEXTS ----------- OPINION LEAERS ---------- MEDIA CONSUMERS
Criticisms
Violence problems are social and psychological not as a result of the media.
Media can be positive, not just corruptive like the theory suggests.
Criticism of the media using this model is often politically motivated.
Uses & Gratification –
What audience do with the media challenging it?
During the 1960’s audiences were made up of individuals who activity consumed text for different reasons.
·Surveillance – the surveillance need is based around the idea that people feel better knowing that they have knowledge of what’s going on in the world. This awareness makes us feel more secure.
·Personal identity - the personal identity need explains how being a subject of the media allows us to reaffirm the identity and positioning of ourselves within society. An example of this is in soaps; the characters are usually designed to have widely differently characteristics, so that everyone can find someone to represent them, someone to aspire to and someone to despise. You could find a character that seems ‘cool’ and leads a lifestyle you would like; this could help you set your own goals. Or if you find a character that you don’t like, you could pick out their bad habits and make sure you don’t act like that.
·Personal Relationships –
1.Relationships with the media, many people use the television as a form of companionship. The television is often quite an intimate experience, by watching the same people on a regular basis we can feel quite close to them – we grieve, cry, smile and laugh with them,
2.Using the media within relationship, we can use the media as a spring board to form and build upon relationships with real people. When families came together to watch TV it can be used as a stimulus for conversation.
·Diversion – this can be termed as an escapism, using media can help us forget about our own lives and problems for a while we think of something else. The media can give us emotional release and also sexual arousal, which includes sex scenes.
Since then, the list of Uses and Gratifications has been extended, particularly as new media forms have come along (e.g. video games, the internet).
Criticisms: We may not have an option in what we watch. Ignores any aspects of the Effects Theories. Ignores socio-economic factors.
3. Reception Theory
This work was based on Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model of the relationship between text and audience - the text is encoded by the producer, and decoded by the reader, and there may be major differences between two different readings of the same code. However, by using recognised codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience expectations relating to aspects such as genre and use of stars, the producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is known as a preferred reading. 4. Cultivation Theory This theory considers the way the media affects attitudes rather than behaviour. The media is seen as part of our socialisation process. The repetition attitudes, ideas may become 'naturalised'. For example a person who watches a lot of crime shows will eventually believe that there is a lot of violent crime in the city that they live. 'Viewers who watch more Television will be more influenced than those who watch less'. Categorized Television Viewers: - Heavy viewers (watch TV more than 4 hours) - Light viewers(watch TV less than 4 hour
Television - 'Cultural Construct' Mainstream: The common current thought of the majority. Blurring: Constant exposure to the same images Blending: Mixing of fiction and the real world.Bending: Reflection of TV fiction.
Criticisms: Simplistic- ignores complexity of nature. Society's views can be affected by other variables.
These theories have been backed up by events that have recently happened- 'Demonised Media Texts'
Child's Play (1988) was blamed for influencing the murder of Jamie Bulger.This horror movie is notorious for its links to the 1993 murder of three year old Jamie Bulger, in Liverpool,
England. The 10 year old killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, supposedly saw the film, and imitated a scene where a victim is splashed withblue paint. - Marilyn Manson was blamed for the Columbine High School shootings. Two Columbine High School students walked into their school in Littleton, Colorado, shot and killed thirteen people, and injured twenty-three others before turning the guns on themselves.
Richard Dyer's Utopian Solutions Theory Inadequacy Poverty Confusion Exhaustion Isolation Solution Abundance Clarity Energy Community
This solution gives people a choice of compensation for the inadequacies in their own lives. 3 reasons why audiences choose to consume media 1) social tension 2) inadequacies 3) absence Andrew Goodwin
He has a number of points that are included in music video
Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics- e.g. dance routines for boy or girl bands. Choreographed dance sequences and interest in the opposite sex.
There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (illustrative, amplifying, and contradicting).
The tone and atmosphere of the visuals reflects that of the music. You can’t have a sad heartbreaking song and have people jumping around happily in the video.
The demands of the record label will include the need for close ups of the artist and may develop motifs which reoccur across their work.
There is frequently reference to notion of looking. There are often Intertextuality reference to TV Programmes, other music videos etc.
Laura Mulvey's Feminist Film Theory and Audiences
·Cinema reflects society with reflects a patriarchal society.
·Erotic Desire- Women have 2 roles in media- as an objective of desire for the characters & for the audience.
·The Male Gaze :
- the gaze of the camera is the male gaze - the male gaze is active, the female is passive -The spectator is made to identify with the gaze because the camera films from the optical and libidinal point of view. -3 levels - camera, character and spectator (triple gaze) Out of these theorist we used Andrew Goodwin's theory as it best suited our storyboard. He talks about there being a relationship between lyrics and visuals so we incorporated this into our video by using a narrative that linked in with the song and also by adding lip syncing to give a better understanding of what's going on between the song and the narrative. Laura Mulvey's theory didn't apply to ours as females did not take a key role in ours, neither were they portrayed as the objective of desire. Our protagonist is male so then this theory is not useful to our group.
Tuesday 25 September 2012
Intertextuality
The influence of video games will predominate for the younger audience with a more plasticised look of characters emerging (as seen for example Robbie Williams ‘Let love be your energy’ in 2001 and Red Hot Chilli Peppers ‘Californication’ in 1999. Linkin Park ‘breaking the habit’ in 2003 and Britney Spears ‘Break the ice’.
Here is the plasticised character that is meant to look like Robbie himself in the ‘Let love be your energy’ video. The lyrics of the song go with the imagery we see on the screen. To me I think the song is a portrayal of our collapsing society, set in a futuristic time. In the first verse it says:
‘Out of a million seeds
Only the strongest one breathes – meaning that only the richest/most powerful/strongest person will lead.
You made a miracle mother
I'll make a man out of me’ - there is always a standard to fill in society, he needs to prove himself as a man. Along with this line in the video we see the character running through forests and desserts, something you would consider primal, manly and strong.
"Daddy where's the sun gone from the sky?
What did we do wrong, why did it die?
And all the grownups say 'sorry kids we got no reply'" – just like a child is asking a question, he is asking us ‘what did we do’ referring to society. ‘Why did it die’ we let things get out of hand, we aren’t surviving as we were before. Again the video reflects the lyrics with dark scenario and dangerous surroundings Robbie’s character.
Here is the video:
Here are several pictures from Red Hot Chilli Peppers video ‘Californication’ that uses animation and the band in the video together. They used the idea of a game with each member of the band having a chance of being the person we see on screen. The games idea looks is if the audience are the gamers playing ‘San Andreas’ and the band is the animated characters, involving us in the experience. They go through varies environment like LA city with buildings to swimming through water with sharks which represents the music business being a shark eat shark world; your never safe. The whole concept of the video was to show that California wasn’t a glamorous and happy place but that it had problems like alcoholics, drug abuse and fornication hints the title name of the song ‘Cali- Fornication’.
Here is the video:
'Breaking a habit' by Linkin Park:
The video was animated by the same people who worked on the film Kill Bill which is why the video is a replica of the film only in animation.
Mike Shinoda had been trying to write a song around this lyrical idea for over five years, but couldn’t do so, as nothing was working out as he hoped. While the album was being put together, Mike began working on an interlude, crossing a digitally manipulated beat with strings and piano. Brad and Joe suggested that Mike make the small interlude into a whole song. The piece was extended to three minutes and sixteen seconds and went under the name "Drawing." When Mike took it home to write lyrics, it took him less than 2 hours to complete the song that he had been trying to write for years. With some finishing touches of live piano and live strings, the song was finally complete - six years in the making.
The narrative of the video is harm to me. From the start we see character 1 'Chester' who has committed suicide by jumping off a building. We then see a man in an office who looks over worked and is a drug addict that uses syringes. Character 3 is a woman that is low in confidence and believes she is 'nothing' so she cuts herself and cries consistently. The last two main characters we see are a couple fighting after the women saw her partner in bed with another woman. As previously stated, I think this video is about harm. We inflict so much harm onto ourselves and can’t cope with it when it gets too much for us, so the results come as harsh consequences when we could change all that by thinking differently. Drug abuse and self-harm has been illustrated in a lot of Linkin parks videos accompanying their lyrics.
LINE 1: The first 2 pictures show a city as if it’s a big clock that’s been taken apart. This goes with the instrumental which include ‘ticking ‘at the beginning of the song before the person starts singing. The 3rd picture is a bird’s eye view shot of a crime scene someone has jumped off the roof of the building and landed onto the roof of a car. The 4th and 5th pictures; the 4th picture is a P.O.V looking through a hole at a person sitting in a dark room. To me I think this is saying ‘there’s someone darker inside’ someone that is hidden from everyone else. The 5th picture is a shot of his spirit, the person who committed suicide (Chester’s character) going through people’s rooms and seeing what’s happening in their lives.
Line2:
The 1st picture shows his spirit traveling through rooms. 2nd picture is another character who I will be referring to as 'nothing girl' that seems to be suffering from self-harm as her hand is red and shows the blood. Picture 3+4 again show his spirit traveling into another room. 5th picture shows a man cowering from tomatoes being throw at him by his partner.
Line3:
The 1st and 2nd pictures are of Mike falling. The last 3 are of the drug addict character showing the pain in his eyes and face.
Line1: 1st picture is a close up shot of the tomato being smashed against the walls. 2nd picture is another close up of hands opening a door with keys. This could mean they are unlocking something they shouldn’t see as the colours are dark and grey giving that unsettling feeling. 3rd picture shows the spirit re-entering Mike's body after its been around the building and seeing all the other people dealing with different struggles. The 4th is a shot of the building as the camera travels to picture 5 that is a reverse of Mike falling off the building. Instead now he’s raising up which leads to line 2.
Line2: Chester is on the roof of the building singing the last verse of the song as the beat is more up tempo, the edits are much faster and shot at a lot of different angles. This shot is angled low looking upwards. Picture 2 is a bird’s eye view shot of the entire band playing. Picture 3 is a low POV shot from the side of the piano player. The 4th picture is another bird eye shot, but lower than other. The last picture on that line is a fast shot of mike but since it’s moving so fast it is fuzzy.
Line3: 1st picture is a sideward shot of a low POV of a member playing piano. 2nd picture is of the drummer in a POV shot. 3rd picture is a close up shot head on of mike. The 4th and 5th picture is of the band playing.
This is Britney Spears 'Break the ice' which also has intertextuality, In 2003
John Stuart’s description of music video 'incorporating, raiding and reconstructing' is essentially the essence of intertexuality. Using something with which the audience may be familiar to generate both potentially nostalgic associations and new meanings. It is perhaps more explicitly evident in the music video than it any other media form, with the possible expectations of Sinead O'Connor- Nothing Compares To You.
In 1985, The Family, a funk band that was signed to Prince’s Paisley Park record label, created as an outlet to release more of Prince's music released their first and only album, the self-titled The Family. "Nothing Compares 2 U" appeared on the album but it was not released as a single, and received little recognition. The song was inspired by a member who had just broken up with his girlfriend. The Family was made up of former members of The Time, and they released only one album.
Mainly shot in Paris, the music video for "Nothing Compares 2 U" was directed by John Maybury and Prince, who also helped with directing. O'Connor's crying toward the end was accidental. She stated on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s that it was caused by the lyric "All the flowers that you planted, Mother/in the back yard/All died when you went away," because she had a very complex relationship with her late mother, who used to abuse her in childhood.
The clip consists almost solely of a close-up on Sinead O'Connor's face as she sings the lyrics, sometimes with angry expression; the rest consists of her walking through an area of Paris, known as the Parc de Saint-Cloud. Toward the end of the video, two tears roll down her face, one per cheek. This is what made the video so popular as she did it with real emotions that the audiences were able to connect with.The background is completely black suggesting emptiness and making it more apparent that she is to main focus for the video, all eyes need to be on her so that the audience not only understand the lyrics of the song but the emotions it carries with it as her face displays it. In the middle and at the very end of the video there is a shot from O'Connor's photo session for the I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got album cover.
The director shot a lot of footage around Paris for the video, but ended up using just a simple tight shot of O'Connor singing. It was the first time most people saw what she looked like and were surprised that she was bald. She shaved her head when she first started recording because she wanted to make a statement and not be known for her beauty. She turned off a lot of people with her political statements, which included refusing to let the National Anthem be played before a concert in New Jersey and tearing up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live.Although this was a mainstream hit, O'Connor was considered an "Alternative" artist at the time.
Here is the video:
John Stuart:
John Stuart' description of the music video is apparent in the music videos of Madness- Our House and Kid British- Our House is Dadless.
The track released in November 1982, peaked at #5 in the UK singles chart and was their biggest hit in the US, reaching #7 in the billboard hot 100, in 1983. The video characterize the band acting out the song's lyrics in a mews house. The song's lyrics mostly illustrate the working-class family lifestyle, and the band acts them out by portraying such a family in the video. The band plays their instruments in the living room, prepares for work and school as the 'family', plays squash and relaxes in a hot tub.
Intertextuality was evident between this video and Kid British's video. they used similar codes and conventions but they also changed some to make them modern.
The band members are originally from Manchester and grew up on a council estate. They were eager to let everyone know this with their first single, Our house is Dadless, which samples the famous Madness track, Our house. The video is mainly narrative based and follows the life of how it is to grow up in these areas. Instead of representing a nuclear family, this video concentrates on the family being 'dadless'. This shows how the traditional nuclear family has changed over time and its now considered normal to only have one parent (most likely a mother) than having both parents. In this sense, its quite relatable as they have used current social realism to portray modern life in their song. The theory that would explain this video is Uses and Gratification; this video is relatable for many people especially kids in Britain today. One aspect of the video helps with is Personal Identity. Personal Identity - the personal identity allows us to reaffirm the identity and positioning of ourselves within society. We see the characters in the video live a certain lifestyle, this means everyone can find someone to represent themselves or to relate to. In this video Laura Mulvey's idea of the male gaze is not represented. In this case the song and video portray men in a negative light. We are focusing on men not being there and women being the fore front of the family instead of seeing them in an erotic way. This gives them more credit in the eyes of the family as it depicys them having to be stronger and carry their family, but is also seen by society as something to look down on since they are a lone mother without a husband to support them.
Camera Shots
Within the first 10 seconds of the music video, 9 different camera shots were used.
The music video begins with an extreme long shot of a city scape - this establishes the scene with typically shows London- the centre of Britain but also where a lot of poverty and deprived areas are.
Which then quickly pans over to the right, focusing on a working class suburban location.
Throughout the whole video, the camera cuts to shots of the narrative, which is based on the lyrics; for example, the opening lyrics are: 'See my house is a mad house', and it is at this moment, a young boy runs out of the house in an excitable and frantic manner-illustrating the phrase, 'Madhouse'.
Also the camera often cuts to a high angle shots as the band jumps over hedges, fences and walls. This is a stereotype of young lower class males showing no respect for other property, this is reinforced by fast paced cuts to set the tempo.
Misenscene
- normal clothes, this shows that working class people are normal and live life normally. - greenery, lowerclass area -house is messy - working men - policemen, builders - high rise flats, council houses - neighbours peeping over fences - a man in his garden pretending hes on holiday - this plays on the idea that britain has bad weather and we dont live the lavish lifestyle. Representation Youth : I'm downstairs arguing/ Mum chill out I won't have this in our house/ Ok, your house/ Whiles these lyrics are played the boy comes downstairs. This shows that the youth don't want to help out around the house. Women The mum is in the kitchen cooking and cleaning - normal stereotype The woman in the garden This video portrays 2 type of women the one that cooks and cleans as well as a sex object. This is ironic as the second women is probably the women that the dad has run off with. The music video starts with the orginal song of our house - madness playing on the radio, someone switches of the radio and the Kid British version is played. At the end of the video a white van drives off, this also happened in the original video.
Key innovations in the development of modern music video were mainly recording and editing processes along with other developments such as Chrome: key or green/blue screen. A ha- take on me (music video) was the 1st early 80s animation followed by Peter Gabriel ‘Sledgehammer’ 1986.
The advent of high-quality colour videotape recorders and portable video cameras enabled many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply.
In the 90s a number of technical codes become common:
·Most common form of editing associated with the music promo is fast cut montage.
·Many images, impossible to grasp on 1st viewing thus ensuring multiple viewing.
·Split screens, colourisation are also commonly used effects
·Non-representational techniques, is which the musical artist is never shown, become more common.
·Lack of edits, long take/steadicam also a common experimentation.
Goodwin Music Video analyse
·Andrew Goodwin writing ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ ( Routledge 1992)
1.Music video demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in rock video, dance routine)
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals
4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist mat develop motifs which meansrecurs across their work ( a visual style)
5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.There is often intertextual reference( to films, TV programmes and other videos etc)
Directors who started with music video include:
David Fincher – Madonna ‘Vogue & Express yourself’
Spike Jonze – Fatboy Slim ‘Praise you’
Michael Gondry - Bjork, Foofighters
Intertextuality
-From Madonna ‘Material Girl’ (Mary Lambert 1985, drawing on ‘diamond are a girl’s best friend’) to 2pad and Dr Dre’s ‘California love’ (Hype Williams 1996, drawing on ‘Mad Max’. Material girl archetype of a sexy blonde.
Madonna and Marilyn evidently show clear similarity in these two pictures. The Mis en scene shows similar bold pink dresses that captures their body and enhances their figures. The diamond jewellery represent the material things and wealth that are meant to be adored by both women. Also groups of men are enclosed around the women making them stand out more to be center of attention.
Madonna's 'Material Girl'
2pac 'California Love' intertextuality with the film Mad Max
Mad max
Another example is Shania Twain's 'Man I feel like a Woman' 1999 which was inspired by Robert Palmer's ' Addicted to love' 1986
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