Firstly representation regards the way in which someone is portrayed, whilst looking at music videos there's a lot of attention concerning how women are portrayed to titillate whilst men usually show a dominate roll especially within the rnb/hip hop and grime genres. Laura Mulvey is a feminist who is a professor in film and media studies, she looks how women are sexualised through camera editing and mis en scene for example, hip hop videos may use close up of boobs and bum's to titillate the male audience, also they are costumed in close to nothing. The factors which contribute to representation is costume, roles and mis en scene. Overall in film she believe 'she said that most films presented images of women that were produced simply for the ‘gratification’ of male viewers' This quote well expresses her view within music videos too she refers to women playing a 'passive' role whilst men are active.
A video which expresses her views well is Drake 'Best I ever Had' I believe this expressive her ideas well although the females are playing a male sport, they're are still dressed in tight revealing clothing and the sport isn't used to show a dominance, it pretty much is used to zoom in on their features, the fact there is the man in the video is the coach shows he is in a different league to the girls, they see him as the 'boss' and they follow his orders.
Despite women being portrayed as passive the majority of the time, they are also shown as dominate some of the time, this is popular amongst strong female singers such as Jessie J and Beyonce, although they may use their sexuality she makes it intimidating and the females are constantly present rather a compliment to the man. Two Videos which use sexuality and dominance are 'Run This World' Beyonce and 'Like A Dude' Jessie J.
Vernlis's Theory includes music video's breaking the rules of continuity, she explores how the importance of continuity whilst editing is ignored; whilst examining music videos it becomes apparent that the sense of narrative becomes jumbled within the combination of fast jump cuts and change of scenes without links. A good example of this is Keri Hilson's 'Pretty Girl Rock' as the locations are constantly changing along with the time era and her appearance. There's no clear narrative which links the different scenes, therefore the rule of continuity is broke, but Vernlis is aware that this isn't important within music videos.
Goodwin ways in which promote the song ' Illustrate, Disjuncture and Amplify'. Illustrate is to add a visual foundation which is popular within it's genre, most music videos follow cliches according to genre for example pop videos usual follow the narrative which has a problem to be solved throughout the video. Disjuncture- a disconnection (things which aren't relative to the context), the context of the lyrics is ignore and Amplify this is to make the lyrics has a heighten meaning by visually fitting the songs lyrics, this is done by using repetition of visuals and dance moves for examples during chorus's.
Goodwins 5 key concepts which audience look out for:
Thought beats (seeing the sound in our heads)
Narrative and performance.
Star Image.
Relation between lyrics and visual.
Technical aspects (filming/editing)
I will briefly summarise his key features of music videos whilst giving an example:
Thought beats: This concerns what is going on with in the audience mind whilst hearing the song, it's important to be able to identity the artist, by listening to the lyrics and visualising the footage being able to interpret. Goodwin looks at the artist as the 'storyteller' therefore the music video may work as a contribution to help the audience understand the story. This Music video is a great example of this, the visual aspect suit the narrative of the lyrics whilst Kelly Rowland acts as the story teller.
Narrative and Performance: This concentrates on the story line and the performance the artist may be giving to keep the audience engaged. A type of performance Goodwin finds most popular within music videos is miming, this is done to notify the artist and show them as the performer, we see how they deliver the song and are entertained by their character.
Star Image: This concerns the physical appearance of the star, Goodwin in order to have successful music videos and artist, portraying a unique image is vital as it allows the artist to stand out amongst the rest. The star image is important as it adds to their personality and the way people will judge them. An example of a star who has a strong, recognisable image is Lady Gaga, she show's originality and causes controversy which has contributed to her success.
'A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.'
This is in regards to the context of the lyric and the visual footage, does the lyrics compliment what is going on visually? or does it contradict the lyrics ? For example like in in my analysed video when the plane is shown on the screen whilst the artist sang "Should have stayed on the plane" this shows a relationship between the footage and the lyrics others may be totally irrelevant to whats being sang.
Technical aspects: This is referring to factors such as- camera angles, mis en scene, lighting, editing and so on. This is used to create effects and the 'wow factor', for example its popular for hip hop music videos to include quick cuts, close up of the female features whilst dancing, fast editing which suit the beats, mis en scene of mansion house parties or being in front of a car and angles which emphasis women's breast/bums. There are different conventions to the technical aspects according to genre here is an example of a good mis en scene and editing and animation which make this music video a success.
Godwin says 'music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals and the song plus the artist. Relationships are built between these in the video, and the close-ups of the artists gives them the representation and publicity they require. Voyeurism is used to increase the video’s attractiveness, particularly to males, whilst intertextuality is often employed in humorous videos.'
'Watch The Sun Come Up' By example video stands out amongst the rest. The video holds a narrative which is he has now returned to his ordinary life from coming home from holiday yet his mind is still reminiscing about his holiday romance.
What makes this video successful is the narrative isn't thrown in your face not only does it jump to two different locations all the time, it joins the location through animation here's an example:
Although he is clearly walking the streets of london, we see the journey his mind is taking, by the animated boat (which is associate with holidays) being on the street.
This video shows a convention which is popular within music videos to show literal images, where the lyric is suited by the visual aspect for example Example sang "should have missed that flight" whilst a picture of a plane appeared on the screen.
The pace of editing and the timing of the jump cuts are well suited with the music, this is often is done in good music videos, the video doesn't have the typical booty shaking materialistic cliches which creates no originality. I have never seen a music video like this, therefore I believe its a great Example of a music video.
During our first A2 lesson we discussed 'what is the function of a music video?'
Firstly the most important function is to create recognition for the artist, by creating a video and by including the artist they are physically being seen, which can not be done through audio. This is the reason most artist include themselves in their music video's especially when they are a new upcoming artist, recognition is vital. For example a new Artist Alexis Jordan first music video included herself as the main character whilst she lip sang all the lyrics, this focused the attention on her and allowed people to identify with her as the artist:
Although recognition is one function another is to promote the song, by making a music video not only is the song being distributed by air it is being distributed through television and websites such as Youtube/Vimeo ect, having a music video widens the distribution platform and more people will have access to the song, hence the amount of plays are heighten. The song will not only be selectively chosen by radio stations but will have links on the internet, and people will be able to access it any time and share with friends or other members of the public. For example when you Link a music video on Facebook this allows people who may have never of heard of the artist to come across them, therefore their audience are widened:
Creating a music video allows the artist to express themselves visually, therefore the artist personality will be will be portrayed through the style of mis en scene, music videos differ from the standard tv show as they're made to express the individuals style and genre of music, some of the conventions of a music videos- jump cuts, titillate, dance, lip singing, fast edits which match beats, non-narrative, literal and also use of extravagant mis en scene concerning costume/ lighting/ scenes, they typical last up to 3mins also, therefore the function is to stand out from the rest, create an individuality and entertain the audience within the minimum time. Whilst discussing music videos in our class we were asked the question 'How many of you have searched a music video to watch purely for the footage, or carried on watching the music video not because you like the song but because of the video?' The majority of the class baring 2/3 put there hands up, hence this showed the importance of a video and how much of an impact it may have, a great example of this is Lady Gaga, her music usually cause controversy and people who are not fans continue to watch her for the uniqueness she show's in her videos. Lady Gaga uses her videos to create her image and express her uniqueness:
Within our introduction to music videos during AS we were given information concerning legal policies such as Copy Rights grants. As we are not the artist of the song we will be making a music video for, we had to get in contact with the artist and record labels which the song belongs to.
Our summer assignment to email record labels in regards to granting copy right permission hence for songs consider to use for our A2 music project. I emailed a few record labels such as Rough Trade, XL record label and MTA record, all of my layouts to my letters were the same the only thing which differed in each letter were the artist names, the song and of course the email address.
Example of the layout I used to ask for Copy Right permission:
I think an example of a music video which follows the music video forms is Maroon 5 - Moves Like Jagger. In the video straight away the audience get a sense of what the music video & the song is about (Mick Jagger the rock LEGEND!). This is characteristics of a amplification/illustration styled music video where the song and the music video do not contradict each other and the meaning of the music video is understood. repetition not only through the lyrics ‘Move like Jagger, I got the moves like Jagger’, but also through the setting with having dancers move like how Mick Jagger himself famously moved. Similarly, the structure of the video is very much with the way the song goes, what I mean by this is that its edited to the beat and has obvious edits in places such as jump cuts &close ups which is a common feature of music videos.
