Production Process of Music Videos

This is a mind map on the production process of music videos, including the types of things you need physically and mentally to create an excellent music video. 

Distribution of Music Videos

The Distribution of Music Videos

More PowerPoint presentations from Toniey Salt

Narrative Theories

Narrative theories

Difference between story and narrative:

“Story is the irreducible substance of a story (A meets B, something happens, order returns), while narrative is the way the story is related (Once upon a time there was a princess…)”

(Key Concepts in communication – Fiske et al (1983))

Vladimir Propp – Film As Fairy tale

Russian critic in the 1920’s, was interested in the narrative of folk tales and noticed that they were similar in many ways. They were about the same basic struggles and had the same characters. He said that the characters provide the structure for the text and are needed to make the story.

Characters that perform a function

·         The Hero

      ·         Villain
      ·         Donor
      ·         Dispatcher
      ·         False Hero
      ·         Helper
      ·         Princess
      ·         Her Father

Roland Barthes: Narrative Theory

French theorist believed in negotiating meanings and argued that viewers produce ‘new meanings’. These meanings are influenced by their cultural context, (sometimes altered from what was intended).

Suggested that the threads that you pull on to try and unravel a meaning are called narrative codes, and also came up with the idea of enigma codes. These are hooks of element of mystery in a narrative that need to be resolved. The audience recognise the hooks, even if they don’t know the resolution.

Action Codes

·         Audience will recognise an action code in a media text as it is used to indicate the next logical step

      ·         E.g. someone packing a bag frantically, means that they will be leaving wherever they are
      ·         E.g. someone starting up a car engine, means they are trying to get away

Mystery Codes

·         To explain the narrative by controlling what and how much information is given to the audience.

Semic Codes

·         This code is all about signs and meanings in a text and tells us about its narrative and characters. E.g. horror film = dark place

Cultural Codes

·         Used in order for the narrative to make sense to a culturally and socially aware audience. It makes references from the real world that audiences will recognise

Code of Opposites

·         This code refers to a narrative that relies on binary opposites e.g. black and white, hot or cold, male or female etc

The Male Gaze Theory

(Click centre on the mind map to view the map easily)

Other Theories...

Below is Andrew Goodwin's, Star Theory which we have also made notes on so that we can relate it to our textual analysis'. There are also two other theories below which explain their opinions on the conventions of genre in music videos.

 

Andrew Goodwin (1992) - generic conventions – 6 conventions

·         Different sub genres have different conventions – performance in rock video, choreographed dance routines in pop videos

·         Relationship between lyrics and visuals

·         Relationship between music and videos

·         Demands of record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist to emphasis image of star

·         Frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc.) particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

·         Often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos and other popular culture)

Hartley (1994) & Hodge and Kress (1988)

·         Jon Hartley – ‘genres are agents of ideological closure – limits the meaning of given text’ – ruins creativity

·         Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress – ‘genres control the behaviour of producers of such texts, and the expectations of potential consumers’  - can’t be too experimental, conforms to audience’s expectations

John Fiske (1987) – genres reflect zeitgeist

·         Generic conventions ‘embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular’ 

·         Tells us something about the ‘way of the world’ in the time in which they were popular

Reception Theory

Today we have researched theories with the group and below are the notes I made on reception theory...

 

Reception theory

·         Developed by Stuart Hall – Birmingham University 1970’s

·         Considered how texts were encoded (put small messages in for audience to understand) with meaning by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences

·         Reception theory – about how we decode these videos (different opinions)

·         When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience

·         Sometimes – audiences will correctly decode the message and understand what the producer was trying to say

·         Some instances – audience will reject or fail to correctly decode (understand) the message

·         3 different ways: -

-       Dominant or preferred

-       Negotiated

-       Oppositional

1). Dominant –

·         where the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to and agrees with it

·         E.g. watching a political speech and agreeing with it

2). Negotiated –

·         Audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previous views

·         E.g. neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested

3). Oppositional –

·         Where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political, or ideological reasons

·         E.g. total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

How is the music industry regulated?

The music industry is mostly a self regulated organisation, however just as any other industry it has to have regulators to protect all the people involved in the production and distribution of a song, cd, a concert etc. There are many regulatory companies however, the main three are OFCOM, BASCA and APRS. Below is a presentation of the different companies that regulate the music industry, through protecting each aspect of a song or album. 

Textual Analysis of Ellie Goulding - Burn

Ellie Goulding's new song 'Burn' was released this year and so I decided to do a textual analysis of her video, as it is contemporary and most people will know it/ can relate to it. This is the first shot we see of the artist and it creates a sense of power, as we see her walking confidently down a runway. This shows he outgoing personality, and shows to the audience that she is an independent artist that isn't bothered about what others may think of her individual style. The fact that the artist is in black, connotes sadness, however this contrasts to the song as it is quite upbeat and positive about life. Therefore this may show that just because she is wearing black does not mean that she is 'depressed' or that black is a negative colour. In a way, this shot goes against 'Star Theory', which is the opinions of the media industry. These opinions are that the industries try to create their own stars within the artist by making them look a certain way such as what clothing they wear. However, in my opinion I feel that this is Ellie's own look as she looks quite 'casual' and not the typical look for a 'pop star' in their  music video. 

This next relevant part to the music video, shows a group of teenagers jumping over and breaking into a fence. This relates to teens as they are trying to have fun and love the sense of being 'mischievous'. As we can see in the screen shot, the sun is about to go down which shows that it could be getting later which shows a contemporary side to teenagers, of that they enjoy staying out together as a group. It allows the artist to connect with a younger artist as the music in the video is upbeat and 'enjoyable'. Also, it is the type of music that you would expect to here at a party where teens would be. However, this screen shot could have negative affects on the audience as it may influence younger people to go out and do things they shouldn't, which may in turn mean that the artist receives negative feedback about the video. The clothing that the people are wearing the video is similar to the artist, and is also contemporary to what the style and fashion is at the moment for teenagers in the UK, which shows that teens will relate to this and may see the artist as someone who they idolise. 

 Throughout the music video there are many close up facial shots of the artist, which shows the artist to be confident and 'real'. In pop music videos, there are usually close ups of the artist as they try to sell themselves as well as their music. They also get a lot of help from music producers with this, and her music production company will have probably encouraged many of these shots to occur throughout the video. This will have been so that the media and the press know exactly who 'Ellie Goulding' is and will know who she is if they saw her in the street and paparazzi could take photos, leak stories etc. However, in my opinion this artist is quite grounded and wouldn't do anything outrageous. She seems to be very focused on selling her music and not selling stories or information about herself. The way that she looks into the camera on all of the close up shots, shows that she is trying to engage the audience into her song and interest the viewers more. It also allows the younger artists to know who she is and become idolised by her, therefore creating more money as she will be able to sell tours, posters etc, and more people are likely to buy her album if they know who she is. Where as in for example, an Arctic Monkeys song, they are not in the music video and so new audiences are less likely to know who they are.

The two photos (left and below) promote the video in a positive light and relate to groups of teens in a positive manner. In these two shots near to the end of the video, one shows them all dancing and one shows them watching a fireworks display. In my opinion, it creates a sense of belonging within teenagers, and allows them to reminisce on memories they may have had similar to these within their own friendship groups. However, older audiences may see these shots as negative and that it is influencing teenagers to go out and go to parties, which could then influence other things such as alcohol and drugs. In my opinion, teenagers of around my age can relate to this music video very well, which then forces teens in a way to like the song and the video. There is also an element of romance to the second shot, which teens could also relate to and also shows a soft, emotional side to the artist, which viewers may like and feel as if they know the artist more. Throughout the video, there seems to be a slight 'sepia' effect on the camera which makes the video more contemporary and creative. This may have been influenced by music producers to make the artist stand out more and to make her look 'different' from other music artists and their videos. An older audience may have negative views of the video, due to the amount of flesh being shown on some parts of the video e.g. girls legs being out. However, I feel that this shows the confidence of teens and would not see it as negative unless the people in the video were more nude. 

Overall, I feel as if the music video gives a positive view of the artist and the audience, no matter what age will enjoy it. It is interesting and different from a lot of music videos in the music world, and shows the artist to be genuine and herself from start to end. Below is the music video on Youtube to watch.