Reflection on Progress

At the risk of repeating myself too much, I would refer you back to my blog 'Skills Audit' to see in more detail how I feel my research skills have progressed in this A2 year compared to my AS year. Overall though, I feel my blogging has improved on last year as a whole. My posts are more on target and generally contain a lot more information and use of technology. My blog also seems to have a nicer flow as one post connects to the next in the right order whilst each being different but having the same sort of consistency.

It is hard for me to know what mark out of 20 I would have so far on my blog as I have nothing to compare it to or any feedback on if its along the right lines or not. I only have the blogging checklist which I have adhered to so hopefully maybe around 14(?) I haven't done any extra so I probably wouldn't expect it to be any higher. Unless if this is a test and we will be given the marks we feel we deserve, in which case I would have to say 30/20.

To improve I think I need to:
1. Include more varied use of ICT not just GIFs/Youtube which at the moment are dominating my posts.
2. Put in posts of my own and not just from the blogging checklist.
3. Finish posts well before the deadline, and not hide them being done the night before by publishing the posts earlier than the date you actually completed them, which I would never do and is a totally unconnected thought.

Skills Audit

As I do every Saturday, today I was reflecting on my past blogging for my AS practical work, I was thinking about how far I've come and what a great blog post it would make. So.

As far as research goes, I have improved a lot on my AS skills. Looking at my old blog I had quite a few posts of just written text without any relevant use of ICT. I have improved on this by now adding a relevant use of ICT which illustrates my understanding of the chosen topic. I have also used a more varied selection such as TimeToast, GIFs, MP3s, Youtube, Vimeo etc. This has partly been possible as I learnt more about HTML coding so I was able to learn how to put certain things on the blog, which weren't necessarily designed for it, which I would not have known how to do before.

An example of the relevant use of ICT I now illustrate all my blogs with.

Something I've improved on by going to workshop and generally researching thoroughly into the theories and skills we have been learning this year is making blog posts relevant and full of more detail. I found that some of my blog posts last year seemed to be just there to check off a post on the checklist and hadn't actually been properly researched and seemed to just be gibberish with a few key words and pictures of charts. I avoided this by making sure I fully understood each topic before blogging about it which makes for more substantial and hopefully interesting blogs.

Another blog post I tried at AS was, when writing posts if I had only written three short paragraphs and didn't have anything else to say, I would start a new paragraph and just make things up with key words like synergy, cross media integration, title sequence, final cut pro, thriller, the step father, soundtrack pro, tripod, camera, settings, mise en scene, doc martin, sound, audiences, iconography, vertical integration, intertextuality, editing, 180 degree rule, rule of thirds, fig rig, prelim, group work, pitch, health and safety.

This is the kind of cheap trick I would never try at A2 as it is a waste of everyone's time, carries no marks and will not actually make the post any better.

Here's to quality A2 blogging:

Synergy

How do artists use cross media products and synergy to create a brand identity? Lets look at a recent example from Arctic Monkeys seeing as they are the same genre I am interested in working in.

Name of Group: Arctic Monkeys

Album Cover Name:
AM

Key Features:
- Sound waves that continue round the whole front and back of the album
- Black and white
- Plain fonts






Music Video Single:
Do I Wanna Know


Key features:
- Sound waves in synchronisation with the song
- Predominantly black and white
- AM spelt in sound waves at the end
- Cartoons/animations

Music Video Single:
Why'd You Only Wall Me When You're High?


Key features:
- Do I Wanna Know playing at the beginning
- Mostly dark colours

Album Advert:

Key features:
- Same footage as Do I Wanna Know Video
- Soundtrack from Do I Wanna Know
- Same colours
- Same sound waves
- Same font and logo

Tour Advert:
 
- Same use of Do I Wanna Know song and video
- Same animations
- Same colours
- Same logo

What features are seen across all products to create a brand identity?
- Sound Waves
- Dark colours
- Black and white predominantly
- Band name
- Band initials
- Font
- Song 'Do I Wanna Know' featured heavily

Costume/Setting/Location in Genre

Analysis of costume/setting/location in music videos from the indie rock genre.

In the indie rock genre, a genre my group and I are interested in working with, I found that costume changes were often sparse if at all found it was usually just a few. Often the costumes were just plain clothes that the band would usually wear, putting the focus onto the music and making them seem like normal guys.

The settings were usually studios or plain rooms for the band to play in which again shifts focus onto the band themselves and doesn't come across as too showy or gimmicky. Whether interior or exterior, the settings usually didn't have a link to the song and were not eye catching at all.

The most significant props used in this genre were the instruments that the bands always had, most notably guitars, bass guitars and drums as well as microphones. These were in almost all the indie rock videos that I watched and there was clearly a strong link between the props and the genre. The instruments show the audience that the band are 'real' musicians and a lot of the videos feature the band performing the song live rather than lip syncing in a studio, emphasising this fact.

Video:



Timeline:

Synergy in Music

Synergy is used quite effectively in the Music industry. The Album Cover, Teaser Trailer and Singles all link together to create a brand image. The genre our chosen song is from, is Indie Rock.

I have researched synergy used by other Indie Rock artists, specifically Gorillaz.

Their Album 'Demon Days' shows a 4 image collage of 4 fictional characters. Firstly we have Murdoc, then 2D, then Noodle and finally Russel. These are the band's image icons, and are what they're most well known for.

There was no teaser trailer for the Gorillaz, this may be because they have such a large fan base anyway that they didn't need it. However, they do have books about the characters and other short clips created for them.







Their first Single 'Feel Good Inc.' was brought out.

In this video we see all the characters singing the song, playing the instruments and being the narrative. This relates back to the album cover because it's all about them and not the artist, however, they feature another artist in the song and show him as himself not a cartooned character which is very interesting and shows that they are individual and separate from the other performer.







Their second single 'DARE' also shares the same traits.
It shows all of the Gorillaz characters again, also shows a human singing alongside them too. This has all contributed into becoming their brand image, having 4 fictional and set characters interacting with a real person in each video, I have also seen this present in their video for 'Dirty Harry' on the same album.

Analysing stuff visually

Planning of Costume, Setting/Location and Props are very important in music videos. In a previous blog I talked about the Rock genre along with Country and Pop and how they all have differences.
I'm interested in the Pop-Punk genre so I've analysed 3 different videos within in.

All Time Low - Love like War
Good Charlotte - The Anthem
The All-American Reject - Beekeepers Daughter

ALL TIME LOW:

In this video they only have one casual costume, they wear dark clothes, skinny jeans, t-shirts and caps.
They have 2 different settings; Screen room and lobby of a cinema, the video goes between the two all the way through. We see a lot of pros such as the instruments, popcorn and drinks.






GOOD CHARLOTTE:

In this video we see 2 costumes, however they are very similar. They wear dark clothing, mostly black, baggy trousers/shorts, t-shirts, tracksuit jackets and dog tags. This is also extremely casual. They have 2 locations; in a pool and by a car. It quite teen like and relates to out casts and punk kids. We see skateboards, cameras, instruments, people everywhere, motorbikes, cars and drinks all around which is very party like.

THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS:

This video is slightly different, he only wears one costume which is a dark t-shirt, sleeveless jean jacket, dark red skinny jeans and an arm band which is expected in a pop punk video, however the locations are really bright and happy, he walks around town through alleyways, streets, on steps, in doorways, through pillars, in parks etc etc. which is different. Also there are people everywhere who are dancing constantly. Props like the people, the float, instruments, bags, microphones, cars etc are used a lot.

From this research we can see that Pop-Punk videos consist mainly of one costume and 2 locations with some exceptions, but they are all closely related and focus more on the music and the artists main style/look.

Favourite video done by "Others"

I really do like this video. I like how they have used a static camera even though we are told not to but it still looks quite fun. The layout of the whole video is the same throughout but it does vary with location and costume which is why I think it keeps me watching it til the end. Also, the use of changing their positions but being consistent in playing their instruments to the song is really done well.

Skills Learned (and forgotten) in AS

In AS, we learned a wide variety of skills in media.

• How to set up and use the cameras, which I previously had understanding of
• How to use rule of thirds to get good framing and shots with the camera
• Final Cut Pro
• How to walk backwards
• Soundtrack Pro sound editing
• Quark Storyboard
• Fig Rig
• Converting different video formats in Final Cut Pro
• Planning a movie in a group
• The movie making process

Unfortunately we also learned that the technicians don't always answer their phones, so remember kids, be careful out there.

Mulvey likes to talk about gender.

Laura Mulvey's theory consists greatly of the way in which women are sexualised in the media in general, we can apply her theories to music videos just as effectively. 

Her quote: "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active /male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly" 

In summary she's explaining how women are dressed and portrayed in order to please the male gender, and are there for their own pleasure. Based on this theory, I think women are shown mainly undressed, with parts of their body (e.g. boobs and bum) highlighted or zoomed in on, and them strutting around with men looking at them suggestively and judging them. 

An example of where the video is steering towards men's viewing pleasure is Lady Marmalade. The costumes in this are extremely suggestive and wouldn't be worn normally.

These highlight the facts that the women aren't shown for their face or talent, but for their body parts, which shows what Mulvey is talking about when saying women are there for male viewing. 

There are times where people try to challenge this theory, such as Paramore and their video Ignorance.

Her outfits are very covering and aren't tight fitted, also most of the video is dark and you cant see her much anyway, apart from her hair and her face, the video also focuses on her male band mates who don't ever look at her, she always looks at them. This reverses the roles and makes the men's presence for her gaze instead.

Get a load of this about Vernallis's theory

Carol studied very closely at editing and camerawork in music videos. She noticed the amount of edits in a music video were significantly greater than in a film, and the edits were closely related to the song and the rhythm. She narrowed her findings down into a few points being;
- Nothing flows, all the editing is done to show what's on the screen and not to make sense (e.g. no match cutting)
- Jump cuts and special effects are used to draw attention to the artist (e.g. wipes, captions, sparkles)
- Base tracks are used frequently to add some sort of structure, usually featuring the artist
- Camera movement and speed of editing goes in time with the music
- Narrative is not always complete (no resolution to the story)

'Wake Me Up When September Ends' by Green Day really uses the story part of her theory, the whole video is based on a boy going to war and his girlfriend waiting for him to get back safe and alive, however, despite the video being 7 mins long we never find out if he got back or died in the war.

Elvis vs. JXL - A Little Less Conversation illustrates a lot of the editing themes she discusses.
The cuts between the people in boxes go along with the beat of the song, also the lighting changes with the beat too.

A base track is the wide shot of all the boxes, and they go back to each box a few times.

Andrew Goodwin has a good theory, I guess.

Andrew Goodwin talks about narrative in different videos. He looks closely at Pop videos and says that they don't follow traditional narratives as they don't apply. He said that;
- Pop videos are based ont he song therefore the narrative isnt focused on
- Pop videos use the singer as both narrator and character
- The singer often looks at the camera to involve the audience, this breaks from the narrative.

Pop videos rely on repetition in their videos and songs to make the audience rememberer the genre, remember the song and remember the video all at once by sticking it into our brains and having it played everywhere (e.g. Radio, TV)

There are different types of narrative used to create different meanings and promote the artist in different ways. These are: Illustration, Amplification and Disjunction.

Illustration: This is where the video shows exactly what the lyrics are saying. In the music video Chainsaw by Family Force 5 they say 'Crank it like a chainsaw' and the action is shown.

Amplification: This is where something is shown to add to the meaning of the lyrics.
I had trouble finding an example for this one as most videos are quite literal and any extra meaning is subtle. However I decided on Lily Allen - Smile, this is because she sings about her ex cheating on her and trying to get her back. The lyrics 'with a little help from my friends, I find the light in the tunnel at the end' suggest that her friends were there for her and supported her through the breakup, however in the video it shows her 'friends' mugging the ex and trashing his house, and we get a completely different understanding of how she got over the breakup.

Disjunction: This is where the video and song have little to no connection.
In the music video 'Miss Nothing' by The Pretty Reckless, she sings about how she doesn't miss someone or anything about them, but she's just crawling around on a table the whole video.

Review of Previous Student Video

Reviewing - Foundations (Kate Nash) [Nabilla Doma/Natalie da Silva/Zaiba Hakim]

I chose this video because It had a lot of character and seemed like the students put a lot of effort into it. That can be seen by the things I picked out:

Locations & Costumes (Mise en Scene)

This group used a range of locations which made the video more realistic and entertaining.
They appear to have gone around London (Paget Street), a cafe and a park. 

There was also a selection of costume changes which, like the locations, totally worked.

Artistic/Fun Shots

These shots where nice to fill in from the other parts of the video. Because there isn't a narrative it doesn't 'break up' the video as much as they're a nice little change and I thought the flower was nice.

I would say however, that as the video moved on and the shot of the cupcakes and lemons appeared that it seemed these shots where there more to just fill in space as they have nothing to do with the song and are really just moving food on the table.
That being said it might have a deeper meaning to the video or song that I can't see. It may symbolise the foundation of the table and that humans are the lemons and cupcakes moving across the table/foundation.

What I Liked: I liked the video, I thought they did well with the song choice they had. I thought the number of locations and costumes definitely made the video much more entertaining.

What I thought was good but not as good: I felt like the song choice would have worked better if they went with a set narrative. Sometimes I felt I wasn't watching a story as much as random clips, however, that may have set the group apart from the rest which is also a pro.

Video Link: http://vimeo.com/55011557

Functions of a Music Video

Music Videos are used for a variety of different purposes, however then main one is top promote the artist and their song together.

The main features that music video must have in order to do this is;
- Create a memorable link between video and song so people will remember it.
- Create an explanation or meaning to the song so people can understand and engage with it fully, a simple way of this is through telling a story.
- Use the artists talents to entertain the audience and make them want to watch it again and again.

I prime example of all of those things linked into one video is: Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects.



This video is especially great because the singer Tyson Ritter uses his acting career and skills to act as both protagonists in the music video's story. He also touches on the story part of the song, linking lyrics like 'Picket fence love' and 'shiny'car' to physical things in the video as shown:

Also, the complexity and humour in the video is very memorable, people are fans of them because they like all their creative videos, their music and to see Tyson Ritter, they've combined everything in one video and make the viewer want to come back and watch it more. This is particularly evident in the fact that I thought of this video instantly for this post, when the video itself came out in 2008.

Summary of Mulvey's theory

"The male gaze projects it's fantasy on the female figure which is styled accordingly. 
           In a world ordered in sexual imbalance, pleasure of looking has been split
                          between the active male and the passive female"
- Laura Mulvey
[re arranged]

Laura Mulvey expresses her thoughts that females are represented in music videos to cater for the men on and off screen.
Although many music videos don't apply to this, there are a worryingly large number that do.
This could be because it gains a lot of attention from the audience (Blurred Lines) or because the music videos theme ties into the genre it's depicting.
Hip-Hop & R&B are the most popular for doing this in their videos.
Key Videos 
[Hip-Hop]

As you can maybe see from the endless amounts of GIF's the men in this video are clothed pretty well. Starting with all black, wearing vests and jeans to getting classier wearing buttoned up shirts and jackets the video see's all the men (Asap Rocky/Drake/2Chainz/Kendrick 
Lamar) having a grand old time waving their arms in motion rapping.
They are dressed this way because they know their target audience are teenagers, predominantly males, so they want to show off by wearing a lot of clothing. The less clothing they wear the more jewellery they can show e.g. vest with gold chains. The more clothing they wear the less jewellery they wear e.g. shirt & jacket.










The girls in this video don't really do much. Sometimes they're together and sometimes they're on their own but they mainly stare at the camera and dance. Occasionally they'll have a chair or a hat but that's about it.
This is because the focus of the video has to remain on the rappers, therefore the girls are there for a bit of show.
This is proven when the girls do get screen time, for a few seconds the camera will show some sitting/dancing/staring then 2chainz will appear waving his arms around. This is to re-enforce the main focus.
The girls arn't wearing much because that's what Asap's audience (young teenage boys) want to see, and the rappers don't mind doing it.



Pop/R&B

In this video (Crazy in Love) Jay-Z and Queen B (Beyonce) feature together for Beyonce's song.
She is seen wearing a white vest and shorts, then in a dress. For pop and R&B standards that's very respectable. Jay-Z is wearing a shirt, another shirt, jeans and a hat, typical for a rapper.

Both arn't going over the top as although this was before they where both on the insane success level they're on now, they arn't known for being 'too revealing' or 'douchey' 

Old School

Some people have argued that over time society has become more accustomed to the 'male gaze', and you could be right. Look at Cher. In her biggest song ever, the music video has very little revealing clothes. Take a popular pop star now: Gaga/Rihanna/Katy Perry/Mariah most of them do wear revealing those's, but Madonna also does that so really it depends on the person no matter how downhill society gets.

Costume/Setting/Location

The use of Costume, Setting and Locations for each genre of music video varies indefinitely.

Pop: Umbrella - Rihanna

Country: Hunter Hayes - I want Crazy

Rock: Young Guns - Bones

In the Rock genre it's mainly about the song, rather than the video.
Young Guns only use one costume throughout the video and it's extremely dark around the actual artists so you cant see it anyway, which shows the lack of importance clothing and looks are in the genre, you are focusing more on the actions and movements of the people in the video.

There are 4 different settings used: The rooftop, the dark room with the band, the abandoned house and a classroom. All 4 of these are dark and moody except the rooftop which carries on with the rest of the video and the typical connotations of a rock video. This was filmed in London, however it isn't evident and there's no iconic location plugs.

All 8 of Rihanna's costume changes and all 6 of
the settings.

In the pop genre, we looked at Rihanna's video for 'Umbrella'. We found that there were 8 different costume changes and usually a new costume for each new part of the song. The costumes used were usually risque leather outfits and were often accompanied by the prop of an umbrella which ties in with the songs lyrics and the setting which occasionally had rain - although it should be noted that the umbrella was rarely used to actually protect Rihanna from the rain and was more often kept shut and instead twirled around. The costume is typical of pop music videos as women are often scantily clad and Rihanna certainly is in this video.

There are 6 different locations used which are all similar and usually just dark studios. The settings match Rihanna's costumes and are quite typical of the pop music genre as the dark studio puts all the focus onto the artist and often their dance routines which is what pop stars want. The locations are not well known which again puts all the more emphasis onto Rihanna.

Country/Pop

Costumes
Because this genre of country is country/pop there is a significant rise of detail into the amount of costumes in the music videos now. The budget is higher because of dual genre and the wider audience (specifically teenagers) now watching and listening to these newer artists.

In this music video for I Want Crazy we see 6 key costume changes. The first being on a base track. The second, third and fifth in a flashback and the 4th and 6th travel moments.
All the costumes are very well picked out as theyre all so simple and casual you dont think about them changing whilst watching it, you don't think about how much thought went into the choices so you focus more on the narrative. They also tie in with the 'laid back' country vibe with sticking to the non-commercialised genre but in this case, the pop element is still there.

Setting & Locations

There were quite a lot of locations in this video. Some were clearly filmed in the same area, on the same day because they're wearing the same clothes. The locations were all very cute and fit the song and narrative of young love.
The locations ranged from a little country house to an empty swimming pool, an empty plane garage and a roof.
The locations became progressively larger as the narrative continued because of the 'flashbacks'. Although they are not realistic, it moves into a more 'modern day fairytale' because the singer and main character goes through a whirlwind time which most girls (his key demographic) want to see and have.

I got some Copyright Clearance....

I got copyright clearance for a song to use in my project. (well done to me)

I Want Mulvey

Laura Mulvey is a feminist who has a theory surrounding the portrayal of women in media, and I am going to analyse this through the means of music videos.

She states "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active /male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly"

This suggests to us that women are very much dominated in the media, which means that they are there for "the male gaze" which more or less means that they are eye candy for men and only there for them to look at. This comes across in music videos when we primarily see women half naked, with a huge emphasis on boobs n' booty. This pushes forward this idea of sexuality on women, especially through there actions, which could definitely be labelled as suggestive, which is clearly for the heterosexual male.

This is primarily in RnB and pop music, as evidenced by Lady Gaga, who tends to wear interesting outfits such as bubbles, meat and more or less nothing.

In this shot she and her back up dancers are seen unneccesarily dancing in just a bikini, reflecting the idea that even in female driven music, the male gaze is most important, and boobs n' booty are the key factor, as Laura Mulvey states.

I still like how she doesn't get the idea that men and women are both used for their appearance in music videos (ie. One Direction) but girls and boys are into different things but okay whatever.

Summary of Vernallis's Theory

Carol Vernallis's 4 Concepts

• Narrative - Makes the video is a visual response to the music. There doesn't have to be a balance from performance and narrative. Music videos narrative are often partial and fragmented when cut between performance so the audience only see key parts of a story. Some videos keep the audience guessing, such as Grenade - Bruno Mars (SPOILER: Did he really get hit by the train)????
• Editing - Tends to match the beat of the song, making it comfortable for the audience to view and keeps the focus on the video working with the song. Music Videos tend to speed up for the chorus then slow back down for the bridge, this is because the chorus is normally the most recognizable part of a song, making it the most important. 
• Camera, Framing & Movement: Typically extreme to break away from the commonly used mid-shots and close-ups. Style of framing and camera type is usually a continuing theme in the video, aswell as matching with the song and genre. For genres such as Hip-Hop/R&B/Pop the lead singer tends to be framed in the centre as it's very 'self centred' 

Narrative

Bruno Mars - Grenade

Editing

Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body

Narrative

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

Copyright Permish

After several failed attempts to get contact through a website, I have attempted Facebook to get up close and personal with good ol' Franz Ferdinand.

Review of a Previous Student Video

I wanted to review this video as I thought it was well made and I know it got a high mark and personally it was my favourite of the ones I saw. I liked it more than some of the other higher scoring videos because I thought it had a nice story line and wasn't pretentious or trying too hard like some other videos.

I liked the mise en scene used in this video, especially the pink filter over the top of all the footage as it made the colours pop out and gave the video a vintage type feel. The colours were very effective and were framed well such as the shots by the houses and by the colourful walls. These shots reflected and matched the up beat positive nature of the song and although in the video the couple aren't together for most of it, shots like these help keep the video feeling positive and matching the song.

My only criticism of the video was that the performance was somewhat stilted which could occasionally in some of the more close up and stable shots against the wall feel a little awkward. However, I realise this is a bit harsh and not something that you are really marked on.

In the video they seem to be following Goodwin's theory and using amplification as the song seems to be about love which the video is connected to but it doesn't illustrate the lyrics specifically. The video also used most of the features Vernallis found which resulted in a music video that looked a lot like a typical music video and could not be confused with anything else. Mulvey's theory is also addressed in that the female in this video challenges the stereotypical representation of women as she is not sexualised in any way and gets to wear all her clothes. The groups use of these theories is one of the reasons the video is so successful.

The main reason I liked the video though was the narrative as I thought it was sweet and the ending especially was a nice touch and leaves the video with a happy ending that is satisfying to the audience. Another good feature was the use of effects on the location where they would show a black and white picture then pull the picture away to reveal the film in colour in the same location, this tied in with the videos narrative and themes of memories along with the tied up frames in the tree and was also a nice visual making the video seem less basic.

Hungry for Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin talks about several different components of a music video, talking about primary components and the like.

He says that

• Pop videos represent the song which normally centres around modern day, hence why we get such a variety of different and strange videos.
• The artist usually stars in the video either as a singer or character
• When the artist looks into the camera it is to make the viewer feel like a character in the video, and thus very involved.

Songs generally try to tell the story of the song, which is why videos now tend to be either very similar to the other videos brought out around the same time as it, or very out there and completely different. There are three different types of link between song and video, and Goodwin states that they are...

• Illustration - Where the video tells the song's story
• Amplification - Where the video tells a story the song doesn't
• Disjuncture - Where the video and the song have no connections between them, both being completely different in meaning and not necessarily being linked at all

 Here are some examples of each of these three.

Illustration

Amplification

Disjuncture

 

Mulvey

As the great Mulvey once said:

'In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly.'

And she totally had a point, the representation of women in music videos is something that hasn't changed and women are still represented as being passive and only there as objects for men to look at. Women are continually objectified in all genres of music videos but especially in hip hop and R&B music videos. Male artists will often have videos featuring themselves and other men fully dressed while scantily clad women walk around being stared at/giving lap dances to the men. 

Female artists are no exception and themselves generally do very little to break this gender imbalance as even powerful female artists at the top of the industry like Beyonce, Rihanna and Lady Gaga still choose to present themselves in the same way. 

Here are two music videos that Mulvey would hate and show the general representation of women in music videos:

The three fully clothed men surrounded by the scantily clad women along with the fairly creepy lyrics and the way the men act towards them makes this video a good example of the representation of gender and the 'male gaze'. There is another official release of this video on Youtube which is the same but the girls have no tops on. I didn't want to post it on this blog but it says enough about the attitudes towards women in modern music videos.


To prove female artists are no better, this video features the exact same type of dismembered shots of female body parts and also features Nicki Minaj standing dancing in a bikini while a fully clothed man looks on.

An example of an artist who challenges this representation of women is Missy Elliott who, as you can see in the video below, prefers to actually wear clothes in her music videos.


However the video does feature some unrealistic expectations for women:

Summary of Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin touches on different areas of what he believes happens in and around music videos.
He starts by talking about common features in a music video, why they have a common template and what makes them that way.

1. Pop videos represent the song which normally centres around modern day, hence the strange videos
2. The artist is usually the singer & character
3. To bring in the audience the singer/s look into the camera

Thanks to advertising we grow up with hearing certain songs on the TV, radio and online. Because of this we grow up hearing the same sounding songs because of the simple format of a pop song.
This repetition ties in with the video allowing the 3 minute song to have a sense of closure from the video, giving what could be a forgotten song a unique story.

Some videos are weird and go beyond what the song says. There are three types of relations between songs & videos (according to Goodwin);

• Illustration - Where the video tells the story
• Amplification - Where the video tells a story the song didn't, but adds to the meaning
• Disjuncture - Where the video and the song have no connections between them, both hold seperate meanings

Video that represents Illustration:

Stan- Eminem

As the song is about a crazy man writing a letter to Eminem, telling him about his life, we see the lyrics come to life in the music video as it follows Stan (crazy man) through his messed up life, with his abusive relationship to obsessive fan then finally his death. In the final part we see Eminem playing Eminem and the song and video come together very well.
The genre is hip-hop.

Video that represents Amplification:

Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day 

The lyrics of the song have no connection between a couple in love and the military. That being said the song itself is very sad, from the first two verses it's slow and is sung soly by the lead singer (Billy Joel) and only the guitar is played. Once the chorus kicks in the song becomes very climactic and loud.
The video uses the song to create a story of a young couple in love. The problems start when the boy goes of to the military to support him and his girlfriend/wife?. She's left alone and he watches as his friends die beside him. It's all very dramatic and depressing but it works well.
The genre is  Rock.

Video that represents Disjuncture:

Paradise - Coldplay

This video makes no sense with the lyrics of the song. I think this just sums up Coldplays weird videos that have little to do with the songs. The song itself is about Paradise so the first shot makes sense, the animals and the sunrise/sunset, but then it gets weird and the band arrive on stage, which suggests their Paradise is performing to their fans.
The genre is arguably pop/rock

AS Technical Skills Learnt

I learnt many technical skills during my AS year in Media;
- I learnt how to use Final Cut Pro more effectively
- I learnt the components of camerawork like; fig rigs, lights, tripods, battery and memory cards.
- I learnt how to successfully make a trailer and the way in which each part is specifically thought about, e.g. the titles and their order, the 3 conventions (mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound)

I also learnt about the framing rule, of having the image placed in a certain area of the frame to make it look more effective.

Vernallis

Carole Vernallis, like Goodwin, also studied and wrote a book about music videos (Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context) but she focused mainly of editing and camerawork.

She found that in music videos the usual rules of continuity editing are broken and instead the editing has a rhythmic basis connected to the song. The edits are not only far more frequent than in film but are also often far more obvious in order to draw attention to themselves such as with special effects. Base tracks are usually used in order to give the video structure and another common feature is jump cuts usually to keep the video at a high pace and keep it interesting. As well as the editing being in time with the music, Vernallis also found that the camera may move in time with the music.

An example of a music video I found that illustrates many of Vernallis' ideas is Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake.

Camera movement in time with the music.

A large amount of edits in time with the song.

Use of base track (the medium close up of
Justin performing) cut between other shots
to give the video structure.

Use of obvious edits such as special effects.