Diamond Nine...

This is a diamond nine that we did in one of our lessons, it shows the important factors when it comes to constructing a music video and the appeal to the audience.

Holiday Inn...

In a lesson with Mrs Jones, we looked at the Levi-Strauss theory of Binary Opposition. We watched a short musical film called the 'Wrong side of the bed', this displayed a binary opposition of Lucky vs Unlucky, as it showed a man completing his day. The video itself connotes that emotions determine whether or not your day will begin and end well.
The video is like Holiday Inn's new advert to promote their use of wifi and technology. The ad shows a man taking a picture of himself, he then becomes two different men and the advert then shows a range of binary opposites. For example, Modern vs Vintage, Old vs Young, Fast vs Slow, Sociable vs Unsociable, Fit vs Unfit etc

Purpose of Music Video's...

There are five factors that determine the purpose of music video's:

• Sell the song- by selling the song it imprints itself into the audiences memory and spurs a reaction, making them remember it for a long amount of time.
• Better understanding of song to audience- by only listening to the audio version of the artist's song, leaves you with your own interpretation, but when the music video comes out it gives you the artist's interpretation and the director's.
• To entertain-this could be in the form of acting, if theres any dialogue or dancing.
• To sell upcoming CD's or DVD's of the star- it promotes their upcoming concert dvd's or upcoming cd's and expands their audiences target market.
• Sell the artist- a music video will add more to their profile and help them get more bookings for gigs, more publicity etc

A good example of a music video would be Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' as it has one thing in there that no one will ever forget,(even if they weren't around the same generation): his dance moves or the 'Lean'. 

Mulvey Theory...

Laura Mulvey, came up with Male Gaze Theory, which suggests that the media is made by men, for heterosexual men.
The concept of the theory is how the audience view the way females and males are represented in the media.
Mulvey came up with the idea that when you watch a music video or a film, you have to view it as if you are a heterosexual man.

The theory can be split into three factors:

1. How men look at women.
2. How women look at themselves.
3. How women look at other women.

Some of the features that link to the Male Gaze theory would be that women are portrayed as objects, and experience narrative second-hand, the camera has to highlight the shape of a women's body to the audience and there has to be a reaction from a man.

Dyer Essay...

To what extent does a pop stars image influence their audience? 

“A star is an image, not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines etc.) as well as films (music)” Dyer 1979

Due to the media, stories can be misconstrued and the public will agree with them to such an extent that they become obsessed. The ideology and culture of a star has the ability to influence their audience, in terms of fashion. For example, if a star is spotted in a magazine, then most likely their fans will attempt to adopt the same style as them. This could be so that they feel close to them and get a sense of how they’re living or because they want to be them. An example of this would be Eminem’s music video ‘ Stan’, which takes place in the house of Eminem’s ‘greatest fan’, he even dyes his hair blonde (like Eminem’s). However, if the pop star was to dress badly, they might adapt to the style anyway because they like their music or to defend them. Dyer suggests that humans are naturally driven by gossip, and fashion trends will only give the artist more publicity if their style is copied over and over again. This causes them to be an icon, because their fans are so dedicated to them.

Dyer also suggested that their character and personality has to appeal to their audience, this is to make them look like a ‘real’ person and also to make them relatable to their target audience. This can be through their songs or when they go out in public. But it all depends on the way they convey their emotions when addressing their fans or how they act towards them. An example of an artist being a ‘real’ person is when Lady Gaga won an award and she began to cry, this was an attempt to make her as normal as the rest of the world (infamous).

Lastly, another way that a pop stars image influences their audience, is by creating a character or an alter ego. This influences fans to create either their own look or they copy their icon. For example, when Lady Gaga made a bow out of her hair, it became a fashion statement and other girls wore it too. Another example is Beyoncé (Sasha Fierce), when she sported large quiffs and dark make up; it became popular for others to do so.

If they don’t appeal to their audience then they lose fans, it could make them lose profit and they might get dropped from their label if they do not generate enough attention from the public.  It can also cause fans to start doing drastic things like the ‘cut for bieber’ incident to get their favourite artists life on track.  On the other hand, there doesn’t seem to be any consequences if huge, well-known artists continue to do the wrong thing. For example when Justin Bieber and some of his friends found it amusing to spit on his fans head’s, as they crowded underneath the balcony of his hotel room.

Narrative Theory...

Ed Sheeran's 'Give Me Love' displays parts of the Binary Opposition theory by Claude Levi-Strauss. It is seen when a woman and man are leaning up against a wall. This could be seen as Poor vs Rich or Upperclass vs Lower/Middle Class. The reason why I have come up with these ideas is because of the costume that the woman is in-fur, and the man is wearing middle class, casual clothes. She also looks like she belongs in a different era, maybe the 50/60's and him the 21 century. This could be seen as Old vs New/Modern.

Rihanna - Pour It Up...

Rihanna's new video 'Pour It Up', created a lot of controversy because of genre and themes of the images. This is due to the fact that it contains explicit and pornographic connotations that may influence people the wrong way. In the video she adheres to Goodwin's theory of voyeurism by portraying herself as an object - skimpy clothes, provocative dance moves etc.

However, this could be seen as publicity stunt to get people to search for the video more, which in turn  generates more money and profit for both the artist, manager and record company. It could also be seen as Rihanna's competing against Miley Cyrus, who has also sparked controversy with video's such as 'We Can't Stop' and 'Wrecking Ball'.

Fandom: One Direction, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga...

Recently, fans have been going to extreme lengths just to get their favourite artists attention. Not only that but their emotional responses are more obsessive idolising, not what you would expect of a normal fan.

In this short One Direction interview, they explain their craziest encounters with fans. However, fans now have access to any of their artists social sites, such as Twitter, Facebook etc. One recent 1D scare, was when a girl threatened to kill her dog and posted pictures of the dead dog after Harry neglected to follow her. Situations like this make the public laugh and only recently have they been aware of how far fans will go to get attention...

 #Cut4Bieber was the latest craze, after pop icon, Justin Bieber started to take drugs. However, after his fans heard this information they began to cut themselves to get him to stop. This proved ineffective in the beginning but soon he 'stopped' and so did the cuts.

Recently, Lady Gaga has made a comeback and this fan reaction video displays just how much people were anticipating her new release.

Lyric Videos...

The main reason why lyric videos are created is to promote the artists upcoming music video and keepings their fans anticipation high.

Two examples of the latest lyric videos are:
Katy Perry-'Roar'

The video uses synergy to promote other companies, such as Whatsapp. By doing this, suggests that the company may sponsor one of her new music videos or an upcoming concert and also generates fans who didn't have Whatsapp to buy it.

The second example is Gary Barlow's 'Let Me Go' - this is a lyric video using stop motion. It uses objects that builds a relationship between the lyrics and the sound (Andrew Goodwin). The song itself contrasts with his 'Simon Cowell' persona that he adopts on X Factor and will appeal to a bigger target audience because of his softer side in the image.

Dyer Theory...

Barthe Theory...

Roland Barthe was a french literary theorist who suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. Also used denotation and connotation to analyse images.
The codes are:

• Action-Narrative device by which a resolution is produced through action e.g. a shoot out, dance off etc.
• Enigma- A narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. It works to delay the stories ending pleasurably.
• Symbolic-Connotation.
• Semic/Semiotic-Denotation.
• Cultural-A narrative device which the audience can recognise as being part of a culture e.g. a male man in a gangster film is part of the mafia culture.

Strauss's Theory...

Claude Levi-Strauss, examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a clture. Expressed in the form of binary oppositions. It was adapted by media theorists to reveal under lying theme and symbolic oppositions in media texts. The theory applies to narrative.
Some examples of binary oppositions are:

• Rich vs Evil
• Weak vs Strong
• Male vs Female
• Young vs Old
• Black vs White
• Sane vs Insane

Propp Theory...

In 1920 Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic who specialised in the narrative of folk tales. From this he developed a theory that the narrative was the same for the majority of folk tales.

The characters he developed were:

• Hero/Heroine-the main protagonist who has to save or carry out a task that involves danger.
• Princess-someone who the hero or heroine saves from a bad fate.
• Side kick/Helper-someone who helps the hero or heroine save the princess or prince.
• Princesses Father-someone who either frowns upon the hero/heroine or loves them like a d=son or daughter.
• False Hero-the false hero is someone who rescues the princess or prince for the wrong reasons. For example money.
• Villain-this is the person who tries to sabotage the hero journey.
• Donor-this is someone who helps the hero to save the princess by offering something.
• Dispatcher-this is someone who sends the hero or heroine on their way.

Todorov's Theory...

Tzvetan Todorov came up with an idea that most narratives start with a state of Equilibrium in which life is normal and protagonists happy. There are five stages in his theory:

1. Equilibrium 
2. Disruption
3. Recognition of Disruption
4. Attempt to repair Disruption
5. New Equilibrium

For example, 

1. Town is peaceful
2. Little girl gets murdered
3. Father reports girl missing
4. Father goes after killer 
5. Killer gets arrested

Goodwin Theory...

Andrew Goodwin is the Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of a well known book that focuses on Music Television and Cultural Theory. He has published numerous articles on media and cultural theory.

His theory consists of the six things that a music video must do in order to keep the audience attentive and increase its repeatability.

• Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals: This means if the lyrics relate to what is seen in the video at the exact same time, they can be symbolic and connote what the artist is feeling, or be a different interpretation of what the words mean.
• Relationship between Music and Visuals: There are three ways to define the relationship between the music and visuals. Illustrative - using a set of images to illustrate the meanings of lyrics and genre (this is most common). Amplify - similar to repeatability . The meanings and effects are constantly shown and manipulated to ensure they stick in our minds. Disjuncture - this is when the meaning of the song is ignored (most common in abstract video's).
• Genre Icons and Style: Some artists have a trademark that they perform in nearly all of their music video's, this makes their songs easy to recognise. It can also be used as a marketing strategy, as the artist can generate more fans who will copy them.  The genre can also be shown by the location, like if they were to film a rock video, the mise-en-scene would be dark and maybe have filtered light.
• Close Up of Artist: This is to promote the artist and can be linked to Laura Mulvey's theory: Male Gaze, as a female vocalist may be viewed in a sexual way to appeal to the majority of the male audience.
• Iconography: This is to do with the style of the of the artist and how the audience idolises them and copies them. For example, Michael Jackson's glove or Amy Winehouse's Beehive.
• Voyeurism: This promotes the sexuality of the artists.

Promotion...

While watching Avicii 'Wake Me Up', I noticed that the music video promoted the Xperia Lounge during the concert featuring Avicii. This helps to promote the phone to its target audience, for example when they take the picture, it's obvious that the phone is aimed for teenagers.
Also by 'tattooing' Avicii's sign on the girls arm's promotes his new songs and makes him an icon that everyone will remember.
Also its just one of the new videos from this year that include the directors names, this isn't common for an average length music video and is seen more in 7 minute ones. Also, a possible reason why the directors name's are at the end, is because the concert footage was incorporated into the music video itself.

By using the phone it suggests that its appropriate to take in a certain environment (concert), as it won't break or fall. The use of branding in the video is a way for the director to promote his artist and his image. By cutting to close ups of Avicii's logo,it is imprinted in the audience so that there will be word of mouth promotion.

Waste of Time...

Waste Of Time - MØ...

MØ - Waste of Time