Essay

Choose one video to analyse in depth looking at textual analysis and representation using the essays uploaded onto the blog as a guide

Chosen video:
Christina Aguilera - Beautiful

This highly powerful music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund and premiered on December 9, 2002. Christina Aguilera’s presence in the video adds to realism of the lyrics and emphasizes the meaning of the song to the artist. She features in the video between shots of self-image related sequences of an anorexic girl, a teenage boy weight-lifting, an African-American girl ripping out pages of a magazine and throwing the pictures of white women into the fire, a Goth sitting at the back of a bus and having people move away from him and a transgender person putting on makeup, clothes and a wig. However, the most powerful part of the music video is the two gay people portrayed by Jordan Shannon and Justin Croft, kissing on a bench and ignoring the stares of people who pass them. This highlights the problems that homosexual people have and Christina Aguilera justified this by saying "this song is definitely a universal message that everybody can relate to – anyone that's been discriminated against or unaccepted, unappreciated or disrespected just because of who you are." This music video was all about making people recognise that it was acceptable to be who you wanted to be and by having an empowering music video to go alongside it made the song a global success.

From the moment the video begins we are plunged into the deep meaning of the video as Aguilera speaks the words “don’t look at me.” These words speak depth as she is portraying the inner words that many people who are discriminated against, unaccepted or unappreciated feel but also feel they cannot say. The camera shots within the music video help to support this, for example there are close up’s of Christina Aguilera to emphasize her confidence and passion about this subject. This is then contrasted by camera shots of the performers in the music video, as most of the time they are shown they are in wide camera shots, making them look extremely small, helpless and alone with their problems.

The clever thing about this music video is that when the shots are of the artist, she is speaking the lyrics for example “trying hard…”, then when she says the word “emptiness” they flash to a shot of one of the performers, in this case the anorexic girl in the mirror. This is very effective as the words that need to be emphasised the most are sung in the exact same tone and pitch as all of the other words but feel so much more realistic and meaningful because of the shots of the discriminated against, unaccepted or unappreciated performers. Mise en scene plays a huge part in this music video as the lighting has so much meaning. For example the shots of the performers mostly use low key lighting which signifies darkness, aloneness and suffering. However, when the artist is featured on screen she is in a room with bright panels all around her. This signifies that there is hope and ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and identifies with the lyrics as she is saying that ‘you are beautiful, no matter what they say.’ The low key lighting represents the ‘they’ in ‘no matter what they say’ and the high key lighting represents the ‘beautiful,’ she is trying to move people into the light and help them be comfortable with who they are.

The narrative develops as when the music builds up and the artist voice becomes deeper and more longing, we see each performer face the camera straight on and look directly into the camera with confidence and smile. This is a major improvement from the wide shots the performers were in at the beginning of the music video which represents progress and therefore progress in the real world, creating a sense of realism. In the final scene, the narrative is supported by the lyrics ‘don’t you bring me down, today.’ As these lyrics are spoken by the artist, we see a flower that has blossomed beautifully. This represents that the people who are discriminated against, unaccepted or unappreciated can too blossom like the flower, as they are all beautiful in their own way. 

This video offers performance (in the sense of the self-image related sequences of the performers with self-problems), a relationship between the music video and the lyrics which illustrate the lyrics and a clear powerful story. It is ultimately about the artist making people recognise it is more than okay to be who you want to be. 

Star profile

Examples

Voyeurism:
Beyonce - Yonce
This music video is an example of voyuerism as we see flashes of the performers body parts, for example clevage and butt

Exhibitionism (strong, powerful female):
Beyonce - Countdown
This music video is an example of exhibitionism and a strong, powerful female as she isn't using her body to promote herself. This video is all about the perfomance and dancing, plus she was pregnant at the time this music video was made so she couldn't really be voyeured like that anyway

Male gaze:
Rihanna - Rude Body
This music video is an example of male gaze as Rihanna is exploiting her body parts for the pleasure of a males viewing

Female gaze:
Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
This music video is an example of female gaze as the performer/actor is being filmed in a way that his ab's are on show for females to gaze at

Homosexuality

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful
This music video is an example of homosexuality as it features two guys kissing throughout. However, they are promoted in a good light as she sings "you are beautiful, no matter what they say" implying they can be whoever they want to be and still be beautiful

Choose one video to analyse in depth looking at textual analysis and representation:

Chosen video:

Audience

How do I consume music?

I consume music at two main points throughout the day (during week days.) The first point is in the morning when I arrive at school and I am sitting in the common room, I like to listen to upbeat and fun music to get me in a good mood for the rest of the day. The second point is at night before I sleep in bed and this sort of music will be whatever matches the mood I have been put in as a result of the days events. I rarely listen to music at the weekends just because of the fact I am too busy. I mostly listen to music in my room, at school or in the car. When I listen to music in my room, I am normally by myself. When I listen to it at school I am surrounded by friends but I feel very induvidual even though I am surrounded by people. In the car, I listen to music with my mum, dad or sister - whoever is driving. My mum lets me put my own music on, my dad listens to The Jam or The Who and my sister listens to Bruno Mars and other things that I enjoy. I prefer music when I am listening to it with other people because everyone gets put into the same mood depending on the song, and everyone expierences' it together. Music is mostly played through my iPod when I am getting ready or through someone else's phone or iPod at school. There are so many pleasures from listening to music because you can either feel super powerful by it alone or super influnced by it with a group of people, it is quite amazing. It offers the audience a chance to cheer themselves up, be amazed, be impressed or be sad if they want to be. Music lets you feel whatever you want to feel.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY

Personal Identification - when I used to get angry with my parents I used to blast songs that would express how I feel and that would make me feel better

Information - sometimes you learn something from a song, e.g. when I listen to Beyonce lyrics they teach me to be a feminist and that we are all powerful

Entertainment - Beyonce and her dance moves

Social Interaction - songs my friends and I would always request and dance to when we went out

Escapism - listening to sad music to escape from feelings
Create mood - romance, melancholy, upbeat
Cheer you up - listening to up beat songs to cheer me up
Get you in the mood to go out - listening to dance anthems
Add atmosphere to a gathering - listenin to Sam Cook's dance anthems
Help you sleep - listening to slow and calm music
Distraction - blasting rock bands to take your mind off of it
Companionship - driving, travelling

Representation within music videos

Women and men are represented very differently within music videos

Male artists are more likely to play instruments in music videos and women are more likely to be dancing
Women are more likely to be portrayed in less glamorous/important roles within the music video

Voyuerism
Freuds' theory relates to the notion that erotic pleasure can be gained by looking at a sexual object
Technically we are all voyeurs in regards to watching a moving image
Laura Mulvey male gaze, the purpose for women in the text is display
Goodwin claimed that the female performer is constantly objectified through a combination of camera work and editing, with body shots emphasising the sexualisation of the female star or male performer backing dancers

It can be argued women create this representation as a sense of empowerment
Women have taken charge and are now inviting the sexualised gaze. Therefore it can no longer be classed as voyeurism, but exhibitionism

My analysis:

Calvin Harirs - Thinking About You

• This video makes men look like they are in charge of themselves and their own lives. They are able to fight each other to settle arguments and walk around gazing at women if they want to who are just 'bits on the side.' The women are literally walking round with their butts hanging out or laying on a boat with no tops on whilst men drive past them on boats staring. This makes women look very much like they have no control over who looks at them or what they do, they are just there to please the man
• The men on the other boats then proceed to come onto the women's boat and hold them at gun point. In between these shots there are shots of a group of women in a room dancing provocatively for the men. So at the same time that they are being held gun point physically, there are also being held gun point mentally as well, they are made to dance around like this for a man to please him
• At the end of the video, a young girl who is dressed appropriately pulls the guy who is beating another guy off of him. Therefore this music video represents that perhaps only women who are not dressed inappropriately can think for themselves and act sensibly
• Goodwin's theory can be used here as Calvin Harris' backing dancers are constantly objectified through a combination of camera work and editing, with clevage and butt body shots emphasising the sexualisation of them
• Also, Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze can be applied here, as the purpose for women in this music video is for the women to be on display for men to gaze at them
• Freuds' theory is also appropriate here as the music video relates to the notion that erotic pleasure can be gained by looking at a sexual object. For example here, erotic pleasure is gained by looking at the basically naked women in this music video
• Women are inviting the sexualised gaze in this video as they do not protest against it, therefore it can be seen as exhibitionism

Connection between music/lyrics visuals

No rest - Dry the River

What are the emotions it stirs?
The song makes you explore emotions quite deeply. For example, it makes you think about everything in the deepest way, so if you think about a love story (like I did), it's a very intense love story, where he loses the girl and is absolutely devestated

What do you visualise? How do you picture the music video?
I visualised two settings. One where a single man and woman where on a beach sharing love moments, and the other where the man was in a stone room by himself mouthing the lyrics with all the beach shots playing in fast motion around him and him looking lost

What images are conjured up in your mind when you hear the song?
Images of him looking sad and lost in the stone room and images of him looking perfect and content on the beach with his lover

Intertextuality, voyeurism, performance, narrative, abstract? A combination?
No intertextuality or voyeurism, but a mixture of an abstract performance and narrative of the man telling his story in an artistic way

What did others say about their ideas for a music video? Which did you like the best?
One idea was a roman setting of an old peasant lookin for gold in order for him to win his lover
Another idea was a man walking along a street with all of his body parts falling off one by one until he was a pile of asch
But my favourite idea was shots from all sorts of relationships, not just lovers. For example mothers and daughters, grandad's and grandchildren etc

Banana phone

For this task, we had to film a variety of different shots to the song 'Banana Phone'

What went well?
After editing it, it all came together quite well
We were able to get every shot
We worked together as a group and did a balanced amount of work

What could be improved?
We had to re-do two shots because we did not read the instructions properly, so next time we need to read the instructions more accurately to have an appropriate copy
Every shot takes so long to film and edit and is only a few seconds long, this should be considered when picking a genre for the final task

What have I learnt?
I learnt how to do some new good skills on Adobe Premiere, for example cloning
I learnt that team work is key, and when working in a group for the final task the work load must be balanced between everyone
I learnt that genre is key to this, the type of song you choose will change your grade from a D to an A

What music means to me

For this task, we had to choose three songs that mean something to us in some way and are a reflection on our life. One track is from my childhood, one is from my early teens and one means a lot to me today.

Andrew Goodwin's theory

"Music videos ignore narrative and just try to advertise"

Conventions:
1) A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, which illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics
2) Thought beats, you see the sound
3) Genre-related style and iconography present
4) Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist: creation of a star image to promote a recognisable brand-image
5) Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in females
6) Intertextual references to other media texts may be present, especially in humourous videos

Voice within song: uniqueness and recognition

Story being told: emphasise lyrics

Narrative and performance: the music video is more of an advert

Star image: iconic image, ways to promote song (illustrate, amplify [individual interpretation), disjuncture [contrast to lyrics])

Technical aspects: camera movement, camera angle, sound pitch/pace, mise en scene [location, outfits, make up], editing [image, pace]

An example: 

This video uses the following aspects of Andrew Goodwin's theory:

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals which illustrates the lyrics. For example "and every girl in here gotta look me up and down," when Beyonce sings these lyrics, a girl looks her up and down, thus making the lyrics and visuals parallel. Also, "drop the bass, mayne, the bass get lower," when Beyonce sings these lyrics, she proceeds to get lower to the ground when she sings the word 'lower,' again making the lyrics and visuals parallel
• She uses thought beats in the video when she bangs the wall in time with the drumming sound in the background
• There are  multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist (Beyonce) to create a star image to promote a recognisable brand-image
• There is voyeurism when they show shots of the ladies bottom halves and clevage

An example:

This video uses the following aspects of Andrew Goodwin's theory:

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals which contradict the lyrics. For example, the song is about an unborn child, yet the whole music video is set in a hospital. New born babies are usually born in hospitals, so the setting adds extra meaning to the lyrics, perhaps his longing to be in a hospital so the child was born.
• There is iconography present as the lyrics are about a 'small bump' which relates to new born babies, therefore a hospital. So the waiting chair, nurses, notice board etc. that are present relate to the lyrics
• There are multiple close-ups of the main star and image, I think this amplifies the lyrics as it is obviously quite a personal song of his

An example:

This video uses the following aspects of Andrew Goodwin's theory:

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals which illustrate the lyrics. For example, this song is all about making the world a better place and bringing important issues to the surface for people to recognise. To emphasise this, they have used shots of abandoned children on the street and suffering people to add a sense of realism
• Iconography is present as the lyrics and visuals match, so the use of graffiti-ed walls and run down buildings help to create a sense of empathy
• There are close-up's of the whole group used to promote a recognisable problems throughout the world and catch the emotion on the artists' face