At A2 you will be studying Music Videos in preparation for your coursework. I have set up a brief blog which covers the basics of theory which you'll need for both your coursework and exam. This means that a potential 75% of you A2 grades are available for learning and applying these theories.
The link for this blog is HERE
Those of you in my class should be familiar with Steve Neale's belief that 'genres' are instances of repetition and change, essentially that is what we'll be examining at A2. To get you thinking watch the clip below by Australian comedy trio 'Axis of Awesome', you should recognise 90% of the 'same' songs.
Showing posts with label music video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music video. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Music video blog link
This is an example of a student's A2 c/w from the OCR exam board. The music video would achieve a top C/low B - some great shots and editing although mise en scene is not always well thought out. The digipak would score 3/10 as only a DVD cover has been produced. The poster is 3/10 - poor planning.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Music Videos - General Theory
Music Video General Theory
Lyrics establish a general feeling/mood/sense of subject rather than a meaning. Meaning is presented more through visuals.
Tempo of music drives the editing.
Genre might be reflected in types of mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.
Camerawork impacts meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band (close-ups dominate).
Editing is done in fast cuts, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing.
Digital effects often enhance editing, which manipulates the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure of the audience.
Intertextuality is often present. Intertextuality is the shaping of a texts’ meanings by other texts. Not all audiences will spot a reference to another text, which would not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and gain a sense of fulfillment by this. It also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product. Many music videos draw upon cinema. Some examples are: Madonna’s Material Girl drew on the song sequence Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend in Howard Hawk’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.2Pac and Dr Dre’s California Love, which referenced George Miller’s Mad Max Exhibitionism is often present.
Exhibitionist is the psychological need and pattern of behavior involving the exposure of parts of the body to another person with a tendency toward an extravagant, usually at least partially sexually inspired behavior to attract the attention of another in an open display. The apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of, and inviting, a sexualized gaze.
Lyrics establish a general feeling/mood/sense of subject rather than a meaning. Meaning is presented more through visuals.
Tempo of music drives the editing.
Genre might be reflected in types of mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.
Camerawork impacts meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band (close-ups dominate).
Editing is done in fast cuts, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing.
Digital effects often enhance editing, which manipulates the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure of the audience.
Intertextuality is often present. Intertextuality is the shaping of a texts’ meanings by other texts. Not all audiences will spot a reference to another text, which would not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and gain a sense of fulfillment by this. It also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product. Many music videos draw upon cinema. Some examples are: Madonna’s Material Girl drew on the song sequence Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend in Howard Hawk’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.2Pac and Dr Dre’s California Love, which referenced George Miller’s Mad Max Exhibitionism is often present.
Exhibitionist is the psychological need and pattern of behavior involving the exposure of parts of the body to another person with a tendency toward an extravagant, usually at least partially sexually inspired behavior to attract the attention of another in an open display. The apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of, and inviting, a sexualized gaze.
Music Video Theorists
Andrew Goodwin’s Theory
Visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music.
Genres often have their own music style/iconography (the typical depiction in images of a subject, and related sense.
Close-ups should always be included.
The artist/band might want to develop their own star iconography, which becomes their star image (identify).
Voyeurism (the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviours, such as undressing, sexual activity usually considered to be of a private nature) is a common theme within music videos.
Intertextual references are also popular.
Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently objectified principally for display purposes, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualized treatment of the star.
Steve Archer’s Theory
There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.
Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band.
A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor.
John Stewart’s Theory
The music video has the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star’s face.
He sees visual reference in music video as coming from a range of sources, although the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography.
Stewart’s description of the music video as ‘incorportating, raiding and reconstructing’ is essentially the essence of Intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings.
The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. The mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle.
Sigmund Freud’s Theory
Refers to the notion that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the object is unaware of being watched).
Laura Mulvey’s Theory
Because filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women in films is often solely for the purposes of display (rather than for narrative purposes).
The purpose of this displace is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a ‘male gaze’ one that is a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display, who is effectively objectified and passive.
Visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music.
Genres often have their own music style/iconography (the typical depiction in images of a subject, and related sense.
Close-ups should always be included.
The artist/band might want to develop their own star iconography, which becomes their star image (identify).
Voyeurism (the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviours, such as undressing, sexual activity usually considered to be of a private nature) is a common theme within music videos.
Intertextual references are also popular.
Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently objectified principally for display purposes, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualized treatment of the star.
Steve Archer’s Theory
There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.
Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band.
A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor.
John Stewart’s Theory
The music video has the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star’s face.
He sees visual reference in music video as coming from a range of sources, although the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography.
Stewart’s description of the music video as ‘incorportating, raiding and reconstructing’ is essentially the essence of Intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings.
The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. The mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle.
Sigmund Freud’s Theory
Refers to the notion that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the object is unaware of being watched).
Laura Mulvey’s Theory
Because filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women in films is often solely for the purposes of display (rather than for narrative purposes).
The purpose of this displace is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a ‘male gaze’ one that is a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display, who is effectively objectified and passive.
Monday, 14 September 2009
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