I just love this video because of its up-beat rhythm, and its repetition of the chorus really catchy. "Yeah yeah yeah" ... it just also simply shows what Varnnalis points out about the editing and camerawork in music video's, the camerawork moves at the same time of the music.
Select one piece of the student music video and analyse by using the theories of Goodwin, Vernallis and Mulvey.
I watched the music video of where the main singer is the Asian boy singing. I think that by using Andrew Goodwin’s theory, that this music video is an Amplification because even though the music video does not contradict the lyrics, it adds another level of meaning that isn’t shown through the lyrics which adds another element to the concept of the lyrics. Based on Carol Vernallis’s theory, the camera work have a wide variety of shots like long, short, close ups and in my opinion very good hand held camera work. All these stay true to the conventions of how a music video should look like. Based on Laura Mulvey’s theory, it challenges it because the man singer is no shown through sexual exploitation.
BRIEFLY SUMMARISE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC VIDEOS TO INDUSTRY AND FANS IN 2011.
-How are audiences targeted by music videos? Audiences are targeted by music videos in a variety of ways like through advertisements of Posters and adverts on TV. But I think the most effective way that audiences are targeted by music videos are through the music channels because most people these days are glued in front of their televisions And they are targeted through the Internet through websites such as Youtube and VEVO that enable audiences to watch music video anytime you like. Social networking sites like FACEBOOK had become another great hot spot for audiences to watch music videos as people can share songs.
-What are audience’s pleasures of music videos?
Audiences get to see their favourite artist/s performing, which means that the artist/s become familiar in audiences lives.
-What is the appeal of music videos?
The appeal of music videos enables their songs to become poplar through visuals so that the audiences can enjoy the entertainment side of it.
-How important are music videos to the music industry?
They are really important because how good the music videos are can influence the audiences view towards the song meaning hopefully that they will buy the CD or legally download it.
Here you see a music video by Justin Bieber called 'Baby', its really important that the video is as good as the song, which as a result more then 628,300,66 people views this over Youtube. Because how the good the song and the video is, it influenced people in buying his song which sold over a million world wide. So music videos are very important to the music industry because it reaches a wider audience which means more people are willing to buy the songs which means more money for the labels.
Which Labels dominate the music video?
-How many major labels are there left?
There are 4 major labels left:
-----------EMI(Electric and Musical Industries Ltd)
-----------Universal Music Group
----------Warner Music Group
---------SONY & BMG
Labels like: Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG. The venture’s successor, the again-active Sony Music Entertainment, is 100% owned by the Sony Corporation of America. The company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is Rolf Schmidt-Holtz.
EMI (Electric and Musical Industries Ltd) was formed in March 1931 by the merger of the Columbia Gramophone Company and the Gramophone Company.
Warner Music Group (WMG) is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. For three decades the conglomerate was known as WEA, which stood for Warner Bros.-Elektra-Atlantic Records; three major record companies that signed and developed musical acts.
Universal Music Group (UMG) is an American music group and is the largest in the music industry.Universal Music Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of French media conglomerate Vivendi.
§I think that the roles of music videos in the 21st century are going to become realistic in terms of how they connect with the audience. How they are going to become more intimate with the audience so that the audience can feel part of the videos.
§Where I think the music industry is heading in the 21st century is where we illegal downloading will became much harder to do and the prices for songs and albums will become cheaper allowing sales to dramatically increase.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT LAURA MULVEY’S IDEAS ON REPRESENTATION?
“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”.
(Laura Mulvey 1992)
Mulvey’s ideas are based around the fact that woman are presented in a stereotypical manner to accustom the male fantasy. Representation in music videos and in real life consists of the dissection of many parts like gender, which is challenged in the music video of Nikki Minage where men are dissected in a sexual representation. Age like Justin Bieber, where emphases are shown through his looks and hairstyles and ethnicity and place. The epitome for representation of women that you expect to find in most music videos that show great emphasis on their attractiveness is artists like Nicole Scherzinger in “Wet”.
The immediate genre that I can think of that fits into this representation of women is Pop/RnB. The genre that I think that fits for the representation of men is in Pop like JLS. Artists that challenge this stereotypical representation are artists like Lady Gaga who chooses a unique style that both hinders in attractiveness and challenges it at the same time, also Adele. I think that Mulvey’s opinion doesn’t remain relevant in today’s society because time has move on from 1992 when she wrote it. Women have more say in what goes in the music video and what feels comfortable for them like again Lady Gaga.
A SHORT SUMMARY OF THE MAIN POINTS OF VERNALLIS’S THEORY.
Carol Vernallis who studies camerawork and editing on music videos points out that edits come more frequently then films and that the editing seems to have a rhythmic basis closely connected to the song. She points out that the conventions of continuity editing are broken (discontinuity) to draw attention to the screen as all your focus stays with the song and video. Some edits are obvious to draw attention to them like Coldplay in 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall'. A base track is used to give it a strong structure and that the camera shots are in beat with the music, Coldplay is shown with this base track.
Summarise the Main Points of the handout on Andrew Goodwin’s theory on Music Videos.
Andrew Goodwin’s theory is that he believes that traditional narratives for a Pop video based from ideas of “Todorov” who said that the structure of a narrative is on the equilibrium then the disruption and then back to equilibrium does not really apply to Pop videos. This is because most Pop videos approach a narrative from different angles to novels and films for example Rihanna 'Man Down'.
The reason for a different narrative structure is because Pop videos are built around songs; the singer is both the narrator and the character and also the singer most of the time looks directly at the camera which makes the audience feel more involved with the music video where ever they are. Theoretically, Pop songs are videos so they have a beginning and an ending. A video must have an end and this is reflected in the structure of music: it builds to a climax before fading away like the song “Science and Faith” by The Script and Rihanna 'Man Down'.
Also there are three types of relations with the song and the video, which are based on: ‘Illustration’ where the music video tells the story of the lyrics like the song “Love the way you lie” by Eminem ft Rihanna.
‘Amplification’ where the video doesn’t contradict the lyrics but they do add another layers of meaning like “World’s Greatest’ by R Kelly.
‘Disjuncture’ where the video contradicts with the lyrics like “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay.
What is the Function of a Music Video and what is a good example of a music video?
The function of a music video is to promote the artist/singer. Personally, my current favourite music video is “ Heart Skips a Beat “ by Olly Murs because it demonstrates the wide usage of camera shots and editing. A particular camera shot from this music video that I liked was the high angle shot of the record player playing with the artist on top of it. I just thought that it was a simple idea that became the core scene for the video because it linked the song and the artist together visually. This idea can be hugely advantageous for my group when we make our own music video because it will be visually pleasing and it would promote both the song and the artist. A particular editing used in this music video that I like was the use of repetition of the scene for the chorus because it made the video more entertaining. There were also very fast editing in time with each beat which I thought was absolutely amazing because it coincided with the shots and the beats. The mise en scene used in this music video also made the song seem more uplifting and more fun, this was done by everyone in the video dancing and laughing and playing games.
