Research - Mulvey's theory on Representation

Representation consists of many parts - gender, age, ethnicity, place, etc. This means that the image of an artist can be tailored to their wants and needs simply by choosing certain locations, by choosing certain clothing, etc. This then allows the audience to understand/read what the artist is trying to portray.

We can analyse how representation is shown in Modestep - Feel Good:

In this music video we see much representation, for example:

-   At 1:05 we see that women are shown as inferior to men.

-  At 1:55 we see two men in hoods to show that they are intimidating characters.
- At 0:11 we see a close up of the girl putting on heels to emphasise that women should dress up to look nice.
- At 0:27 we see a man dressed in a suit to show that the man has more power and stus compared to the woman who is dressed in normal clothing.

Research - Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis studied the way music videos are edited. She found edits are much more frequent in music videos and have a rhythmic basis which is connected to the song. She also found that:

-  The rules of continuity editing are broken.

-  Edits are really obvious to draw attention to themselves.

-  Jump cuts are often used.

-  A base track is used to give to give the video structure.

-  The camera may move in time with the music.

Here is a good example I have found: Flatbush Zombies - Palm Trees

Jump cuts can be seen from the start in this music video.

Slow motion can be seen at 0:34.

Special effect editing is used for the title sequence.

The base track is used when you see the rapper in red underneath the palm trees.

Research - Copyright clearance

Research - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin feels traditional narrative analysis don't apply to pop videos. This is because they approach the narrative at a different angle to novels and films. Three reasons for different narrative structures are:

1)  Pop videos are built around songs.

2)  They use the singer as a narrator as well as a character.

3)  The singer engages the audience by looking down the camera.

Pop videos repeat images like the song repeats the structure. As the song ends so must the video, so the video uses the songs structure to climax, repeat images and eventually fade away.

Sometimes the visualisation of a song may go beyond the original meaning. Sometimes it provides a visual pleasure which in turn will help make more people watch it/promote the song.

There are three types of relations between songs and videos:

1)  Illustration - Video tells a story

2)  Amplification - Videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

3)  Disjuncture - Little connection between lyric and video/video can contradict the lyrics

lllustration

 Amplification



Disjuncture