Goodwin's and Halls theory

Goodwin's theory is about genre conventions and their stereotypical characteristics. It looks at 7 different principles:

• Links between lyrics and visuals
• Genre characteristics
• Intertextual references
• Notions of looking; similar to the Male Gaze theory
• Voyeurism; the enjoyment of watching/ looking at the artist
• Demands of the record label
• Performance, narrative or concept based music videos.

When looking at the house genre of music videos and the music video for our song, Madeon 'Finale', there of differing styles that the music video takes. In 'Finale', there a focus on the artist and a narrative of him performing at a live show. While there of shots of the artist, very few are clear; ruling out the belief that the audience watches the music video to look at the artist. The lyrics and visuals don't often match, but the use of 'go out young' with the audience appearing to be of that age group shows that is it not out of the question.

Other music videos of the genre also tend to use a performance/narrative with some intertexual references for their niche audience. There may be some links with visuals but will often depend on the lyrics and if it possible to make any graphic matches.


Hall's reception theory is how the audience view the music video and it's messages. There are three readings that the audience may have to a music video:

• Dominant - the viewer accepts the points made in the video.
• Negociated - the viewer partly accepts the points but may question elements of the video.
• Oppositional - the viewer totally rejects the points made in the video.

The music video for Madeon's 'Finale' has very few controversial points, and is mainly about how the artist feels during a performance. Therefore, it is most likely people will have the dominant view of the video.


Few music videos of this genre raise controversial points due to already appealing to a niche audience. If so, they would be points the fan-base of the artist would also agree with.

Hebdige's Subcultures Theory

Hebdige's theory about cultures was written in 1979 and looked into how cultures, subcultures and counter cultures have evolved over time. He mainly looked at the sub and counter cultures after World War 2, such as Punk and Skinheads, and the common background elements. These include socio-economic, background, ethnicity, regional identity and class. He said that these counter cultures can be seen as a symbolic form of resistance against the mainstream culture and are looked down upon. One example that was seen was the 1990's rave, where many young people or students would gather in a field to play loud music and take drugs. It was frowned upon by mainstream media, and laws were implemented to clamp down on the problem.


This can be related to our audience as our song is likely to appeal to a subculture of fans of electro-house, rather than fans of mainstream pop and hip-hop. However, it may be seen as a counter culture by an older audience as it can be related to the free-willed young who party during the night and cause trouble.

Identifying audience with the Life Matrix.

Created with Padlet

Distribution Process

In order to understand how music videos further, we have looked into the distribution process of music videos. We have created a Prezi to show the information we have learned.

Star Theory

Star Theory is a theory created by Richard Dyer, and is about the creation of a star through media; in this case through music videos. Stars are also dependant on subsidiary media such as magazine articles and television reports in order to help construct the image of the star. Dyer also says that stars are based on two key paradoxes:
- The star must be equally ordinary and extraordinary at the same time,
- The star must equally be present and absent at the same time.

 

One band that I have found interesting to relate to Star Theory is The Arctic Monkeys. The band, led by Alex Turner, originates from Sheffield. This somewhat local area gives the image that the band is quite ordinary as there is little that is associated with the area. As a result, the Monkeys appear ordinary and extraordinary at the same time; meeting the criteria of the first paradox of Star Theory. This niche selling point for the band gave them a rise in popularity overall, and the audience demanded that the stars would reveal themselves. While the Monkeys appear at live events, they rarely appear in their own music videos to prevent them getting an ego. However, this relates to the paradoxes of Star Theory as the band stays present and absent at the same time.

Another artist that is relatable to Star Theory is Miley Cyrus. When she was younger, she appeared as a well known artist; then going on to appear in a Disney Channel show as a popular singer. However, to continue interest and Cyrus in the spotlight, she changed her image to appeal to a more mature audience by appearing in her own music videos in a 'sexual' way that raises questions and keeps her a star. Cyrus is also a star often seen in subsidiary media as she is already a well known artist that most people already know and the fans of the star wish to know more about her; what Star Theory says that the star relies on to be of continued interest.



 



Vevo case study

We have chosen to do a company case study on Vevo to help understand the distribution of music videos further.
Resources - Vevo - Wikipedia

Best music videos and CD covers

One of the music videos that I have looked at that is highly regarded as one of the best music videos is 'Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun'.



The music video is described by NME as 'One of the classic WTF? vids'. This I agree with, as it uses a lot of weird distortion editing techniques which matches the dark nature of the song about the apocalypse. The editing, (for its time) is quite effective and supports the nature of the song as a whole, as well as having visuals matching lyrics at times with 'shoes' and 'youth'. The shot choices also match the creepiness of the song, constantly changing in angles and characters in the town shown.


NME 10-1 of Greatest Music Videos




Another song that was highly regarded was 'Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box'.

This music video uses very simple green screen effects and costume to display a religious message, going between good and bad. While it didn't personally make sense to me, I understood the Jesus reference and I presume that the young girl represents innocence; though I am not quite sure. There are a lot of close-up shots of the lead singer, especially when he says, 'Hey. Wait.' However there are a lot of blurred shots of the artist as well, which could infer he is unsure about his standpoint on religion.

NME 30-21 of Greatest Music Videos

When looking at the greatest music videos, I found one that I personally thought was interesting, and that is 'AC DC - Back in Black'.

The CD cover was the first made after their lead singer Bob Scott died. It is filled with depression and sadness, despite it appearing to be simply for visual purposes. It is very simple and effective, standing out easily from many with little to nothing but the name of the band and the album name.

 

Another CD cover that is highly regarded is 'Queen - Queen II'.

This CD cover has Queen with their most recognised image on the cover of this from the music video. This immediately shows who the band are and what to expect; Queen still incredibly popular at the time of this albums' release.

Greatest CD covers

Music Video Director - Hype Williams

I have made an evernote post on the music video director, Hype Williams, and his style of videos.

Music Video Director - Hype Williams

Controversial Music Videos and Regulation

I have a Glog in the link below about the purpose of Controversial Music Videos.
Glog for CMV

Band website introduction

Today we looked at Band Websites as one of our tasks is to create one for the song we make a music video for.

Band websites are used for a number of reasons. It helps promote the band itself, but also gives the band a positive image. It is easy to make and control what information goes on the website; making it the main information hub for all about the band. The band website also gives directors a place to look at the band when deciding to help in their career, which also makes the band appear more professional. It also can act as social network for fans for the band where there can be forums set up for them to talk about the band: helping the band learn about their audience and their feedback.

Band websites will follow the three 9 rule, where any part of the website is accessable in clicks from the homepage. It will also have links to social media that the band has official pages on for the viewers to look at and like or follow. It should have all new and relevant band information such as tour dates and album release dates. Most band websites will have links or embeded videos about them or of songs made by them. It should also have a place to purchase the songs from places like iTunes.

Looking at Lana Del Ray's website, it fulfils this criteria. The homepage has tabs at the top of the page that take you to other important areas of the website such as the shop. It has embeded music videos throughout the homepage of the website, making the artist feel as if the website was personal and made to suit her. It also includes tour dates for when she on tour. Overall the website is effective at promoting herself and int interacting with her audience.

Steps to Success

Recently, we learned about some tips from the exam board to make a successful music video. To show my understanding of these tips and their importance, I have made an Evernote post linked below.
Steps to Success

'Happy' by Pharrel Williams

We were set the task of creating a 30 second recreation of the music video of 'Happy' by Pharrel Williams. The result was a full length video that was shown across the school and we are very proud of, including many members of staff, lip syncing and the practice needed before the 1 minute task that is to be set soon. Enjoy the video.

History of the Music Video

We were assigned the task to research the history of music videos, their origins and their evolution over time. I created a timeline using TimeToast to show what I believe are very significant events for the music video.