Music Video- Coursework

Mood Board:

Lyrics analysis:

Research:

Locations:

Ideas:

-Blow bubble-gum (soap bubble?)

-Mirror on forest floor (surreal pond)

-Mirror in field? (illusions)

-Video starts/ends in her bed (all a dream)

-Starts with her taking pills before collapsing onto her bed- video a mix of dreams and hallucinations caused by the drugs.

-Ends with her waking up as if it was all a dream- then looks in mirror and pulls flower out of hair- was it all a dream?

-Feathers (delicate, pure) falling over her in field- random (dreamlike)

-different settings (skips between)- Field of flowers (sometimes with boy), woods, river, pink projected light, milk bath, Boughton house (manor house), possibly short clip in alley with gate- 'like a hostage'- darker reality.

Song/artist: Hostage- Billie Eilish

Stage name ideas:

Ivy

Willow

Maple

Viola

Aurora

Skylar 

After deciding to use a song by the artist 'Billie Eilish', I listened to a range of her songs before choosing 'hostage'. The slow, soft tone interested me as I wanted to create a light, aesthetically pleasing music video, however the lyrics have a dark twist that I thought would be interesting to incorporate into the video. My next step was watching music videos by various artists to inspire me with their techniques, camera angles, lighting and general concepts and format of their videos. In a lot of videos I noticed how they would use a range of different locations with different costumes and make up and would switch between these clips all throughout the video. I found these videos enjoyable to watch as there was variation and this gave me the idea to have a selection of different scenes put together in a montage. 

Miley Cyrus' music video for the song 'Malibu', was a great inspiration as the atmosphere was light and dreamlike, the style that I hope to achieve. In the video, she is surrounded by nature wearing a white dress, which contrasted well with the green of the trees and the bright, colourful flowers. I thought this costume choice enhanced the beauty of the nature as the pale colour connotes the purity of both the song and the video. From this I decided to dress my actor in a similar style of clothing, as I wanted her to appear pure and beautiful, like a dream- with the dark, hidden truth being a nightmare. 

Selena Gomez's video for her song 'Come and Get It' begins with her lying in the middle of a field of blue flowers, with shots from above that zoomed away from her body, revealing the size of the field. I was inspired by this peaceful combination of seemingly endless flowers with a relaxed pose, and plan on a similar location to this being used as a transition from her bed in her real life to her dreamland. In this scene of Gomez's video, there is a shot of the side of her face and upper half of her body lying in the field with the flowers standing as high as her features. I plan on using a similar shot to this in my video as she appears as part of the nature that she is surrounded by. In one of the scenes set in the field, Gomez looks into a mirror, reflecting the golden beams of the sun. The placement of a mirror in a field was abstract, which I liked as it created a surreal effect. I want to incorporate this into my own video, with my own alterations; rather than it being in a field, I want to place a mirror on the ground in a forest/woods and have my actor kneel on the ground and look into the mirror. This would give the illusion of her looking into a pond and seeing her reflection, but the reflection would be perfectly clear, in keeping with the surreal theme of the video as I want everything to appear to present realistic aspects, all with a small twist, leading to the audience raising questions.

David Gauntlett’s theory of identity suggests that we are now living in a world where the meaning of gender is increasingly open.

To what extent do you agree with this hypothesis in relation to print advertisements in the UK?

Collate a range of UK print advertisements from the past and present and use these as evidence for your opinions.

To an extent, I agree with David Gauntlett's idea that we are now living in a world where the meaning of gender is increasingly open. This is due to the recent changes in many advertisements that now target both genders rather than targeting a single gender based on stereotypes. For example, in the past, advertisements for food products were promoted by female actors/models which suggested that cooking was the job of a woman. She would be classically wearing a feminine outfit such as a floral dress, apron and done up hair- the stereotypical attire of a house wife. This image has been present in 1950s adverts from brands such as Pyrex and Kenwood Chef. However, in recent years this image has been used less and less, and instead both male and female actors have been used to promote food products. For example, the brand Aunt Bessie which is seen to sell traditional food with the image of a woman wearing an apron and stirring mixture in a bowl, has recently produced an advert where a male actor is shown to be the one cooking for his family, an idea that would be ridiculed in the 1950s. This shows how advertisements in the UK have progressed along with society's beliefs about gender equality as it is no longer assumed by marketing teams that woman are the only ones who should be cooking, and instead uses the idea of parents providing food for their families rather than wives for their husbands.

I also agree that we are now living in a world where the meaning of gender is increasingly open due to fashion brands. For example, the clothing brand M&S  have recently released a new line of clothing which they advertise as 'kids' clothing, rather than it being gender specific. This change in branding evinces an increase in gender fluidity in modern society and how even clothing brands have realised that gender neutrality is itself a potential USP  whereas 15 years ago ranges had to be targeted at a gender group to maximise the effectiveness of marketing. The designer brand Chanel also recently released a line of makeup for men with the name 'Boy De Chanel', which although targets men so may not be seen as gender fluid, it invites men into a market that has always been viewed as exclusive to woman. The brand uses the slogan 'Beauty knows no gender', and the brand even stated 'Beauty is not a matter of gender, it is a matter of style'. This shows that the company have chosen to advertise their new range as something that is not restricted by gender as it has been in the past and disregards this, viewing gender as a factor that should not need to be considered. In the past, makeup has been solely aimed at woman, even using the idea of the consumer attracting men as a selling point of the product such as the flavoured roll on lipgloss 'Kissing Potion' as advertised by the makeup brand Maybelline in the 1980s.

To a lesser extent, I disagree that we are living in a world where the meaning of gender is increasingly open. This is because of brands still using the same stereotypes in advertisements in order to sell their products even if the assumptions made are more subtle then they have been in previous adverts. For example, in the 1970s advertisements for cleaning products used female models dressed as stereotypical house wives to promote their products, suggesting that woman do all the cleaning and it is a wives job to keep the house and dishes clean. This was accepted in the past as woman were expected to hold these responsibilities while her husband works and earns money in order to support his family. However, in our modern society this ideology is seen as sexist and advertisements of this nature would not be accepted and would instead make the brand unpopular to the general public which could cause their business to collapse due to lack of sales. Despite this, the same stereotypes are still made in advertisements for cleaning products today, the only difference being the subtlety. In modern advertisements for cleaning products, more often than not a woman is shown to be the one using the products and although sexist slogans aren't used as they were in the past to point this detail out, it is still assumed that woman are the target market and are therefore expected to be the ones who buy and use cleaning products. As well as this, products such as perfumes are usually clearly targeted at a specific gender, even using the phrase 'for him' or 'for her'. The designer brand Jimmy Choo are an example of this, as in their advertisement for their fragrance 'for men', Kit Harington- a popular male actor- is shown to have a woman's legs draped over his shoulder. The advertisement is clearly solely aimed at men even using the idea that, by wearing this fragrance, men will be able to sexually attract woman and so the product becomes subconsciously more appealing to men, along with the use of grey colours that are seen as masculine. This provides evidence to suggest that we do not live in a world where the meaning of gender is increasingly open as marketing teams still target specific genders in order to sell their products.

In conclusion, to a large extent I agree that we live in a world where the meaning of gender is increasingly open. This is implied by the the significant and noticeable transition from gender role targeted to lifestyle targeted marketing showing a societal acceptance of the fluidity of the roles of either gender. Although the subtle remnants of an age of  sexist advertising are still discernible in some adverts it is clear that while these subconscious stereotypes exist in places they are far less prevalent than they were previously. This all goes to show that the meaning of gender, though still somewhat restricted by antiquated ideas, is more fluid now than ever before and as old assumptions fade, the openness of the meaning of gender will only increase.

Agree:

-food adverts. current adverts show men cooking. past adverts had woman cooking, even the brand aunt bessie is traditional and the logo but current adverts are changing

Disagree:

-cleaning advertisements. female actors used in advertisements subtly suggesting they should be the ones cleaning. links to adverts from the past e.g. 1970s where cleaning products are clearly targeted at females who are dressed as stereotypical house wives.

Ya Mama- Fatboy Slim

    

             


What representations of the artist are constructed in this music video? How does the use of camera, editing, mise-en-scene help to construct these? 


In Fatboy Slim's 'Ya Mama' music video, three white men, stereotypically described to be 'hillbilly's' are shown to live on an unnamed Caribbean island in a seemingly 'backwards' society. They are presented as being naïve for reasons such as the lack of modern technology present in the video, they watch Tom and Jerry on television- a 1940s cartoon and they think of no better way to make money then to let people listen to their new cassette which has the 'power' to make them dance uncontrollably. As the video progresses, the scene cuts to a market place which has sellers at their stalls with signs hung such as 'This could be your cake', hand painted. This use of simple language for advertisement and the fact that it was made by hand is mise-en-scene to emphasise the backwards nature of the society and their lack of academia or even factory technology. Even the Police Station has a sign spelt 'Polis Stazion' showing that even those who bring authority to the town can't be taken seriously due to their bad spelling.

The video presents a male world. The three 'hillbilly's', the stall owners and the police are all male and all lose control of their bodies due to the music. This could have been to show how immature males are as they are presented to act like children.

At the end of the video, the white 'hillbilly' who received the cassette at the beginning of the video is arrested by a black police officer, reversing stereotypical roles for perhaps irony. However, the chief is presented as a classic, laid back police officer, as shown in tv shows such as 'The Simpsons' for a comedy effect and so is also taken over by the music.  
                                  

Roland Barthes: Semiotics

Roland Barthes: Semiotics

Roland Barthes was born on 12th November 1915 and died on 26th March 1980. He was one of the earliest structuralist or poststructuralist theorists of culture. His work developed the ideas of signification which are used in cultural studies and critical theory today. He was one of the leading theorists of semiotics, the study of signs.

Automatically, we have actions and thoughts which are usually controlled by a complex set of cultural messages and conventions and are dependent upon our ability to interpret them instinctively and instantly. An example of this is traffic lights, when we see the different colours, we know how to react to them as it is a sign that has been established by cultural convention over a long period of time which we learn as children. If we see the red light on a set of traffic lights, we subconsciously know that it means stop. With Barthes' theory, everyone is a semiotician, because everyone is constantly unconsciously interpreting the meaning of signs around them.

Roland Barthes researched how audiences interpret what they see. He argued that: 'The audience look for signs to help them interpret narrative... these deeply rooted signs are based on expectations the audience has due to their prior knowledge of old tales or myths'.

In his narrative theory he suggested texts may be 'open' or 'closed'. Open texts are open to interpretation and can have many different subjective meanings that are individual to the audience. Closed texts however are those that are produced with a single, definitive meaning in mind, rendering any interpretation from the audience inaccurate.

Barthes theory says that every narrative is interwoven with several codes out of the 5 that exist and are marked by the multiple meanings suggested by these codes.
These 5 codes are:
-The Hermeneutic/ Enigma code
-The Proairetic/ action code
-The Semantic Code
-The Symbolic Code
-The Referential Code

Media Key Words

Naturalistic Mise-en-scene: Type of mise-en-scene- the cinematic world and its objects follow assumed laws of nature and society and have  consistently logical relationships to one another.

Linear Narrative: Linear narratives follow a straight line- starting at the beginning, moving to the middle and proceeding to the end. 

Narrative Disruption: When something happens within the narrative that changes the course of action.


In the video 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack, why would you describe the miss-en-scene as naturalistic? Why would you then describe the mise-en-scene in Fatboy Slim's 'Ya Mama' as less naturalistic? 

The video for 'Unfinished Sympathy' is more naturalistic then that of Fatboy Slim's 'Ya Mama' as the urban setting is made up of normal looking people going about their everyday lives. The clothing of all performers is what is to be expected of people in that area of LA in the 1990s. However, in 'Ya Mama', the atmosphere is more theatrical as there is a sense of the narrative being staged. Even the costumes of the three men at the beginning is non-naturalistic as they wear stereotypical 'hillbilly' costumes which, along with other subtle objects throughout the video, suggest the main cast are 'backwards' people even using cassette tapes and watching Tom and Jerry, a 1940s cartoon. As the video progresses, chaos erupts at the local market, which is also shown to be a 'backwards' society due to images such as hand painted signs using simple advertising terms such as 'this could be your cake' at a cake stall. Even the police station, which is meant to be a place of authority, has a handmade sign which is spelt wrong- 'Polis Stazion'. This enhances the sense of comedy, making it non-naturalistic as it pokes fun at the 







In the video 'Ya Mama' by Fatboy Slim why would you describe the narrative as linear? Why would you not describe the narrative in 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive  Attacks as linear? 






At what point in 'Ya Mama' is there a narrative disruption? Explain the event and how this disrupts the initial equilibrium of the scene.






In Massive Attacks 'Unfinished Sympathy' what do you see in the video that implies a world of different stories?

Media Terminology

Media Terminology

Social Realism: The realistic depiction in art of contemporary life, as a means of social or political comment

Postmodernism: A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

Intertextuality: The term intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media via another media text. In other words intertextuality essentially means for a type of media (film, television, music etc) to pay homage to another media text.

Narrative: A spoken or written account of connected events; a story.

Diegesis: A narrative or plot, typically in a film.

Ideology: A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

Unfinished Sympathy- Massive Attack

Unfinished Sympathy- Massive Attack

The purpose of music videos is to promote the artist to the target audience and to reflect who they are as an artist. The song 'Unfinished Sympathy' by  the British band Massive Attack was produced in 1990 and released on February 11th 1991 by Circa Records. The genre of the song is 'trip-hop' but features a string section and various orchestral elements as well as the vocals of Shara Nelson who stars in the video. The lyrics show Nelson to be longing for someone in particular, while she is wary of being hurt as she has been in the past. 

The video was directed by Baillie Walsh and uses one continuous shot filmed from 1311 South New Hampshire Avenue to West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The first shot is of a street gang which highlights the gang culture present in 1990s LA, as the group of 5-8 men are real gangsters rather than actors. The gang is made up of a mix of ethnicities, showing that the community  in the video are all of the same low social class regardless of the colour of their skin. One of the men holds the lead of a pitbull who wears sunglasses and a collar with spiked studs on.