Saturday, 12 July 2014
Britney Spears Preliminary Task
Evaluation:
I was in a group with seven people. This was a nice amount of people in the group as everyone had something to do therefore things were done quicker and on time. We all worked well as a group and knew what it was that we needed to complete.
Firstly we all sat down and planned out each shot and the timings. This helped us a lot when it came to filming as we had it all written down in front of us. However the plan wasn't as specific as it could of been and this caused us to struggle when we came to the shots of us dancing. This meant that we had to keep referring back to the video on YouTube which became a pain.
We managed our time well when it came to filming.Everyone took part in the video and everyone had a turn at filming. This was nice as everyone got to experience different jobs and made it more exciting. We easily found locations to shoot as we was in a school, which is where Britney's video is set also. We used various different corridors and classrooms which relatively resembled the video. We started off with bringing in costumes for example the wig and top but as the video progressed sadly we kept forgetting to bring it in. This is something that I would definitely hope to make consistent throughout the video if I completed this task again. We struggled a lot with finding people to take part although we was a large group of seven. Within the video around four or five dancers are seen in the background along with Britney. We wanted to make it as similar as possible but we couldn't find may volunteers who wasn't busy with their own work to take part. This may be something that we can not over come as we can not disrupt other students.
We planned out how many lessons we had before the deadline and quickly realised that we would not have enough filming time therefore we had to use a few of our frees which overlapped with other to complete the task.
When it came to editing the video, I found this to some extent simple. The class had all used the software for AS Media therefore we was all aware on how to use Adobe Premiere Pro. I felt very comfortable with editing so I volunteered to take charge of it seeing as I did not appear as much in the video as other people. It was very fiddly to cut all the shots and arrange them into order ensuring that they fit the specific shot time but in the end I managed to do it as close as I could possibly get it.
I have learnt from this task a lot and I feel that it has made me realise how much hard work I will need to put in to certify that my music video is of a high standard. I will need to make certain that I am extremely organised and prepared. The time scale will be much larger meaning that I can take multiple shots so ensure that it is perfect.
Friday, 11 July 2014
Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory
She believes that in television audiences have to “view” characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.
T This is the concept of the gaze is one that deals with how people an audience views the people presented
For feminists it can be thought of in 3 ways:
- How men look at women
- How women look at themselves
- How women look at each other
Features:
· The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and an event which occurs to women are presented largely in the context of a man’s reaction to these events. Relegates woman to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.
Also some theorists also have noticed the sexualising of the female body even in situations where females sexiness has nothing to do with product being advertise
Criticisms:
- Some women enjoy being looked at, for example beauty pageants
- The gaze can also be directed toward members of the same gender for several reasons, not all of which are sexual, such as in comparison of body image or in clothing.
- Marjorie Ferguson (1980) categorised facial expressions for women:
- Chocolate box
Here is an example of a music video that shows Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory:
Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around
This video shows a lot of the conventions of Laura Mulvey's theory, however, there are some small part which go against the theory.
Within the first shot of the video, we can see Kylie's feet. She is wearing kitten heels that are gold. This type of footwear suggests to the audience that Kylie is a confident character and that she is out going. The colour of the shoes implies that Kylie is some sort of prize possession - relating to the male gaze theory. Kylie then spins around (following the lyrics of the song). The movement within the shots is slow motion, this allows the audience to concentrate on the characters. This also follows Mulvey's theory as she suggested that women were presented in a way to give men pleasure. The slow motion effect of the shot allows the audience to see Kylie in a more detailed way.
The next shot is again another close-up which also gives more pleasure to the audience. The close-up is of Kylie's bum, therefore giving off sexual connotations. She still continues to wear the colour gold symbolising that she is some sort of prize. 
In the next few shots, Kylie is laid upon the table in front of the bar. The bartenders are men who are serving alcohol. This could be the reason that Kylie is dancing in such a provocative way. The men are also watching the character her when she is laying on the bar. This is like she is performing a dance act for them. Her facial expression is happy, implying that she is happy with what she is doing. When Kylie is laying
on the table she is wearing a bikini top and in the other shots she is wearing shorts and a halter neck top which reveals her shoulders and arms. The character is presented in a way that exposes her body suggesting that the male gaze relates to this video due to the female being shown on screen in a form that gives pleasure towards the audience. The audience are suggested to be men due to the way the main character is presented.
Hyperdermic Needle Theory
Hyperdermic Needle Model
This is a model of communications suggests that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in 1930s behaviourism. This theory is not based on empirical findings from research but rather assumptions of the time about human nature. People were assumed to be uniformly controlled by their biologically based instincts. This theory is also known as the Magic Bullet this assumes that the media's message is a bullet fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head" (Berger 1995). This suggests that the media injects its message straight into the passive audience, and then the audience is directly affected by the message. This suggests a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.
It suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message, because of the limited communication tools and the studies of the media’s effect on the masses at the time. There is no escape from the effect of the message in this model. People are seen as passive and end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information.
Factors which contribute:
- Speedy increase of popular media
- Industries Persuasion by advertising or public opinion
- Impact of motion pictures on children (The Payne Fund)
- Hitler’s monopolization of the mass media in world war two.
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
What Music Means To Me
When looking at this and reflecting back, it has had a positive impact on my choice of genre for a music video. Although, at the moment, my interest of music is house and pop it would be quite hard to make a video to house music. House music lacks lyrics therefore this would make this increasingly hard to create a story around it. Therefore my choice of genre would be pop.
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
"Music Video Have Changed Drastically Over Time And Are Now Unrecogniasable From Their Historical Counterparts."
The definition of a music video states that it is a short film combining a song or imagery which is produce for either artistic or promotional purposes. It is believed that modern day music videos are specifically for promoting the sale of music recordings.
It's been said that the origins of music videos date back much further than we know but we have records of them coming to the public eye in the 1980's when MTV based their format around them. Ever since the first music video was directed, they have been evolving till this very day. New technology is being created as the years go on and the music video companies are the first to use it. Videos can be made more realistic therefore it is more entertaining to the audiences.
"Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles is well remembered as the first music video to be aired on MTV at 12.01 am on August 1st. The song has received numerous awards for example being ranked number 40 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80's and being covered by various recording artists. The video was shot in South London during the day in what looks like a destroyed room. The song is about the promotion of technology and the worrying effects it could cause. They had mixed attitudes towards the up and coming inventions for the media arts. The public found the song catchy with the unusual pop elements it contained. The video starts with a young child playing with a large radio when ironically one of the artists appears on the side of the screen as a special effect. This contradicts the song's lyrics as they are singing about the protest and anxiety of up and coming technology yet they are using a pretty advanced piece at that time, in their video. The artists are dressed in what looks like a scientist's outfit, I feel that they are making a joke out of technology by using it in the video but singing about how they do not really want it.
Andrew Goodwin had a theory that "Music videos are not primarily a commodity form, but a promotional one." There are five key features including the star image, narrative and performance, intertextual references, thought beats and technical aspects. When looking at this theory and a historical music video, we could compare "Vogue" by Madonna. It was released as the first single from her album on March 20 1990. It is said that Madonna was inspired by Vogue dancers and choreographers Jose and Luis Xtravaganza from the Harlem House Ball community. Vogue is an up beat dance and pop song which followed the trend in the 90's but also has influences of the 70's disco. The song lyrics are about people enjoying themselves on the dance floor no matter who you are. This relates with the video as all types of people are showed within the shot for example black men and women and white men and women. This backs up the idea of anyone being able to enjoy themselves. Madonna is dressed in various outfits consisting of a very revealing lace body suit, a sophisticated black suit, a white silk robe and at one point completely naked. This is a typical Madonna move as she always wears very scandalous outfits. This video is very mature for Madonna as other than 'Material Girl' a lot of her other videos are very crazy and original.
Laura Mulvey also had a theory called "The Male Gaze". The concept of the word 'gaze' is how an audience views the people that are being presented. There are three way in which people view others. These are how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women see other women. Mulvey believes that you have to 'view' people from the perspective of a hetrosexual male. The camera tends to linger on the women's curves and regulates women to the status of objects. This can be shown in "Hard Out Here" by Lily Allen. The song was released on 17 November 2013. The video contradicts itself as the main idea for the song is that Lily's musical message is "This is who I am, I'm not changing for you", yet in the video she is seen having liposuction and shows women posing revoltingly. Critics praised Lily's lyrical content and her take on the forever evolving industry, they even named her song 'A feminist anthem through and through.' When the video was released, many critics again praised it but it also sparked minor controversy about the ethics. On YouTube the video has received 31,422,983 views which shows to us that people enjoy these types of videos. Giving that Lily Allen is not really as high up as she used to be with competition from artists like Beyonce, this is a fair amount of hits to have. The backing dancers are dressed very minimal which promotes the idea of sex.
In comparison to Lily Allen, Swedish pop group ABBA released one of their most successful songs "Dancing Queen" in 1976. All of ABBA's music videos are purely based on showing off their singing talents and their friendship as a band. Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are dressed in jumpsuits - something which would be seen as very fashionable in them days, but you rarely ever see a long shot of the artists. This is because the camera focuses on the face and their lips rather than the curves on their body. The women are shown equally as much as the men, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. This disproves Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory as "Dancing Queen" has been dubbed as one of the greatest songs of all time yet does not involve the sexual exposure of women.
Additionally Blumer and Katz had a theory called "The Uses and Gratifications Model." The basic idea is the choices which people make are motivated by the desire to satisfy a range of needs. This is so the audience understand the genre and enjoy it. I feel that the most distinctive genre is Rock due to various reasons. I have found from researching Rock bands music videos, that they tend not to involve a narrative. A lot of the videos consist of the band singing on a stage and mucking around together. There are spotlights and all of the bands equipment as if they are performing a real show. Elements of the video do contain clips of them performing in front of an audience but mainly on their own. This shows that they really are who they are - crazy rockstars! They act the same when performing in front of nobody, for example Jon Bon Jovi jumps on the piano and he will most probably do that in front of an audience as well. The video is in black and white which are colours that we would associate with Rock. All of the band members have the stereotypical hair style which is very ragged. Compared to Bon Jovi's nowadays music videos they are still practically performance based but he is starting to adapt to what the audience want which is a story line. The band members have relatively kept their ragged hairstyles but they are much shorter now. Bon Jovi's music videos are harder to establish which genre they are in the modern times but if you recognise the band you would be aware of the genre straight away.
To conclude, I feel that Andrew Goodwin's theory is true but can only be applied to certain music videos. "That Power" by Justin Bieber ft. Will.I.AM and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus are both prime examples of a promotional video. They clearly show products that are attempting to be advertised by this artist which I believe does work. If a fan saw their favourite artist advertising 'The Pill' by Dre Beats, then they would definitely look into the product. On the other hand I also believe that artists create their music video for beauty and just to have fun. When I watch a music video like "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and "We Found Love" by Katy Perry I always think to myself how fun it would be to have made that with them. Half of the time I barely notice when the artist is holding something that they are trying to promote as I am too intrigued with everything else that is happening. Laura Mulvey's theory I feel mixed emotions too as I do believe women are portrayed as an object but this may be their own fault. Some women like to portray themselves in a negative way. If the artist did not want to wear a skimpy dress showing off her curves then she doesn't have too. Its their music video, therefore I feel that they are bringing unwanted attention upon themselves.
In my opinion I do feel that music videos have changed quite a lot since the first ever music video but I wouldn't quite say 'drastically'. It depends on the artist who's music video it is for example Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj are all most likely to create a music video which is very abstract where as bands like One Republic and 1975 still make videos purely of them performing like the historical videos. There are many ways to watch music videos whether it be on YouTube or a music channel on the TV, therefore there is a mass audience that the artists need to impress. Every music video needs to up its game to get the best response. Some artists would not suit a historical style music video as their fans would not find it entertaining and this could cause them to loose record sales.
It's been said that the origins of music videos date back much further than we know but we have records of them coming to the public eye in the 1980's when MTV based their format around them. Ever since the first music video was directed, they have been evolving till this very day. New technology is being created as the years go on and the music video companies are the first to use it. Videos can be made more realistic therefore it is more entertaining to the audiences.
"Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles is well remembered as the first music video to be aired on MTV at 12.01 am on August 1st. The song has received numerous awards for example being ranked number 40 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80's and being covered by various recording artists. The video was shot in South London during the day in what looks like a destroyed room. The song is about the promotion of technology and the worrying effects it could cause. They had mixed attitudes towards the up and coming inventions for the media arts. The public found the song catchy with the unusual pop elements it contained. The video starts with a young child playing with a large radio when ironically one of the artists appears on the side of the screen as a special effect. This contradicts the song's lyrics as they are singing about the protest and anxiety of up and coming technology yet they are using a pretty advanced piece at that time, in their video. The artists are dressed in what looks like a scientist's outfit, I feel that they are making a joke out of technology by using it in the video but singing about how they do not really want it.
Andrew Goodwin had a theory that "Music videos are not primarily a commodity form, but a promotional one." There are five key features including the star image, narrative and performance, intertextual references, thought beats and technical aspects. When looking at this theory and a historical music video, we could compare "Vogue" by Madonna. It was released as the first single from her album on March 20 1990. It is said that Madonna was inspired by Vogue dancers and choreographers Jose and Luis Xtravaganza from the Harlem House Ball community. Vogue is an up beat dance and pop song which followed the trend in the 90's but also has influences of the 70's disco. The song lyrics are about people enjoying themselves on the dance floor no matter who you are. This relates with the video as all types of people are showed within the shot for example black men and women and white men and women. This backs up the idea of anyone being able to enjoy themselves. Madonna is dressed in various outfits consisting of a very revealing lace body suit, a sophisticated black suit, a white silk robe and at one point completely naked. This is a typical Madonna move as she always wears very scandalous outfits. This video is very mature for Madonna as other than 'Material Girl' a lot of her other videos are very crazy and original.
Laura Mulvey also had a theory called "The Male Gaze". The concept of the word 'gaze' is how an audience views the people that are being presented. There are three way in which people view others. These are how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women see other women. Mulvey believes that you have to 'view' people from the perspective of a hetrosexual male. The camera tends to linger on the women's curves and regulates women to the status of objects. This can be shown in "Hard Out Here" by Lily Allen. The song was released on 17 November 2013. The video contradicts itself as the main idea for the song is that Lily's musical message is "This is who I am, I'm not changing for you", yet in the video she is seen having liposuction and shows women posing revoltingly. Critics praised Lily's lyrical content and her take on the forever evolving industry, they even named her song 'A feminist anthem through and through.' When the video was released, many critics again praised it but it also sparked minor controversy about the ethics. On YouTube the video has received 31,422,983 views which shows to us that people enjoy these types of videos. Giving that Lily Allen is not really as high up as she used to be with competition from artists like Beyonce, this is a fair amount of hits to have. The backing dancers are dressed very minimal which promotes the idea of sex.
In comparison to Lily Allen, Swedish pop group ABBA released one of their most successful songs "Dancing Queen" in 1976. All of ABBA's music videos are purely based on showing off their singing talents and their friendship as a band. Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are dressed in jumpsuits - something which would be seen as very fashionable in them days, but you rarely ever see a long shot of the artists. This is because the camera focuses on the face and their lips rather than the curves on their body. The women are shown equally as much as the men, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. This disproves Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory as "Dancing Queen" has been dubbed as one of the greatest songs of all time yet does not involve the sexual exposure of women.
Additionally Blumer and Katz had a theory called "The Uses and Gratifications Model." The basic idea is the choices which people make are motivated by the desire to satisfy a range of needs. This is so the audience understand the genre and enjoy it. I feel that the most distinctive genre is Rock due to various reasons. I have found from researching Rock bands music videos, that they tend not to involve a narrative. A lot of the videos consist of the band singing on a stage and mucking around together. There are spotlights and all of the bands equipment as if they are performing a real show. Elements of the video do contain clips of them performing in front of an audience but mainly on their own. This shows that they really are who they are - crazy rockstars! They act the same when performing in front of nobody, for example Jon Bon Jovi jumps on the piano and he will most probably do that in front of an audience as well. The video is in black and white which are colours that we would associate with Rock. All of the band members have the stereotypical hair style which is very ragged. Compared to Bon Jovi's nowadays music videos they are still practically performance based but he is starting to adapt to what the audience want which is a story line. The band members have relatively kept their ragged hairstyles but they are much shorter now. Bon Jovi's music videos are harder to establish which genre they are in the modern times but if you recognise the band you would be aware of the genre straight away.
To conclude, I feel that Andrew Goodwin's theory is true but can only be applied to certain music videos. "That Power" by Justin Bieber ft. Will.I.AM and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus are both prime examples of a promotional video. They clearly show products that are attempting to be advertised by this artist which I believe does work. If a fan saw their favourite artist advertising 'The Pill' by Dre Beats, then they would definitely look into the product. On the other hand I also believe that artists create their music video for beauty and just to have fun. When I watch a music video like "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and "We Found Love" by Katy Perry I always think to myself how fun it would be to have made that with them. Half of the time I barely notice when the artist is holding something that they are trying to promote as I am too intrigued with everything else that is happening. Laura Mulvey's theory I feel mixed emotions too as I do believe women are portrayed as an object but this may be their own fault. Some women like to portray themselves in a negative way. If the artist did not want to wear a skimpy dress showing off her curves then she doesn't have too. Its their music video, therefore I feel that they are bringing unwanted attention upon themselves.
In my opinion I do feel that music videos have changed quite a lot since the first ever music video but I wouldn't quite say 'drastically'. It depends on the artist who's music video it is for example Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj are all most likely to create a music video which is very abstract where as bands like One Republic and 1975 still make videos purely of them performing like the historical videos. There are many ways to watch music videos whether it be on YouTube or a music channel on the TV, therefore there is a mass audience that the artists need to impress. Every music video needs to up its game to get the best response. Some artists would not suit a historical style music video as their fans would not find it entertaining and this could cause them to loose record sales.
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