Blurred Lines (Supports Rape?)

Charlotte Church's Speech - Women in music.

Reflection

In what ways can I improve my exam essay writing skills?

- Having a plan before I start the essay.
- Having a large amount of research.
- Having a clear idea on what to write.
- Have a look at past examples of essays that have been written.
- Go over the marking criterea.
- Analyse past exam papers and know exactly what to write to get good grades. (Break it into a 'To Do'   List)

Public Row: Miley Cyrus vs Sinead O'Connor. Laura Mulvey theory analysis. (Essay)

Why is the public row between the music artists Sinaed O'Connor and Mylie Cyrus important in understanding the relationship between artists and between artist and audience? Explore with reference to the representation of women, media institutions and the role of the media.

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory:

Mulvey's theory is that women actors in films are objectified because heterosexual men were in charge of making films.   
"The Male Gaze" happens when the camera puts the audience watching a film into the perspective of a heterosexual man. Ways in which this may happen could be that the camera focuses a lot on the woman's body and curves and focuses on specific body parts (eg bums and breasts).
The Male gaze has struck up many feminist arguments stating that this makes men look more dominant than women and therefore undermines women and makes them appear to be weaker than men and just there for men to look at. 

A clear example of this theory is this film clip for 'Transformers' starring Megan Fox: 

Sadly, it appears that this is now becoming the norm in films. Women are often seen as sexual objects and this is now to be expected from the industry and society.

However the male gaze isn't only happening in films. It has been happening within the music industry for a very long time. 

A very good example of this is Miley Cyrus' new music video 'Wrecking Ball'. (Directed by Terry Richardson).

In this video, Miley is seen licking a sledgehammer, posing naked and straddling a wrecking ball. The video completely oozes of the Maze Gaze Theory. In fact, there isn't really any shots in the video that doesn't have any sexual representation. 

For example: 

These were just a few of the snapshots that I managed to get from the video that support Mulvey's male gaze theory. As you can see, the images presented within this video are extremely provocative. 

However this style of music video seems to be extremely popular with the general public. Miley Cyrus' video has a huge number of views which must mean this this video has a huge appeal to people. 

However, the vast majority of the comments on this video completely contradicts the idea of the video appealing to audiences. It seems that a lot of people dislike Miley's new video. 

So, why is this video so popular?

In my opinion, the reason why this video is so popular is due to the moral panic that this video brings. I believe that the reason the video has so many views is not because of Miley's fans, but because of people wanting to watch the video to see what all of the fuss and press coverage was about.

The video was directed by Terry Richardson. Richardson is known for his provocative photography work with celebrities. 

Here are some examples of his work: 

His work is very overly sexualised which has made him a very successful and well known fashion photographer. 

The truth is, sex sells. It gains the public's interests because of scandal that goes along side it. This has always been the case, and I doubt that sadly, this will never change.

To Do List!

• Think of several concepts to pitch to the band.  (ALL)  (Sci must think of a concept that involves animation)
• Arrange a potential meeting with the band to present our ideas. (Tarryn)
• Group Name. (ALL)
• Group Blog.  (Kia)
• Music video research in the 'Electro-Rock' genre. (ALL)

UPDATE

I've been trying all summer to organize a gig to film, but so far I've been unlucky due to my group being underage for the venues and because of the fact that some of the venues don't allow cameras. I will continue to try to find a gig to film though!

Also, the band has asked me to change the song to make the video for to the song 'U DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE'



This will be okay for our group because we all liked this song and I think it would be easier to come up with a narrative for this song. 

What we need to do now as a group: 

-Organize a gig to film. (or find a studio space to film in)
-Come up with a narrative to go along with the song.

Song we've decided to use

Music video theory lesson notes.

Andrew Goodwin

• Thought beats.
• Narrative and performance.
• The star image.
• Relation of visuals to song.
• Technical aspects of a music video.

Songs fail to give us the complete narrative!

Music videos are repeated a lot, but the combination of the music and the video stops the song from seeming so repetitive due to the video.

Illustrate (Uses a set of images to illustrate the song - most common)

Amplify (Effect of the video being made bigger)

Disjuncture (Meaning of song is completely ignored/ video juxtaposes the song & lyrics... Gets people talking about the video)


Image:

In this video. Lady Gaga's image is very important. This is because the fact that this is one of Lady Gaga's first videos. This means that Gaga was trying to show the audience watching the video what kind of an artist she was going to be though this video. She wanted to show her personality and to show her uniqueness though her image and outfits portrayed in this video.

Techincal Aspects:


This is a performance video with some narrative. 

Camera:

• Intentional camera movements.
• Use of focus. (Low focus and sharp focus variation) 

Mise En Scene:

• Use of costume that reflects the genre.
• Uses a lot of iconography to show the genre of music and to portray the meaning of the song. 

Editing:

• Fast cuts in time with music.
• Transitions used to look like lighting effects. (Eg. sunlight glares.)

Lyrics of Songs.

Fight!!!

Fight!!! -Lyrics by Tarryn Rose

Atomic White Gold

Atomic White Gold - Lyrics by Tarryn Rose

The Black Room

Black Room - Lyrics by Tarryn Rose

Closer

Closer - Lyrics by Tarryn Rose

U Don't Love Me Anymore

U Don't Love Me Anymore - Lyrics by Tarryn Rose

Conversation with Band (05/07/13)

I then texted the singer of the bad to email me the song lyrics.

Now we need to choose a song as a group and look at the lyrics to come up with a narrative to the music video. 

Conversation with band 04/07/13

Facebook conversation: 

He then called me and we discussed ideas and he told me some rough information about potential gigs to film. I also asked him to send me MP3 files of complete songs. 

I texted him my email address so he could send me the files. 

Email: 

Our potential chosen song task

Our potential song: 

Example of a style of video we want to make: 

Concept: 

Mood Board: 

Filming techniques:

Casting: 

The Band: 

Locations:

Narrative:

Performance: 

How will we develop or challenge the codes & conventions of MV genre? 

Chosen band research - Mitsubishis

Their links: 

http://www.mitsubishisband.com

https://www.facebook.com/mitsubishis

https://soundcloud.com/mitsubishis

http://www.youtube.com/user/mmmitsubishis/

https://myspace.com/mitsubishis

https://twitter.com/mitsubishis

Influences:

Pendulum:


Nirvana:




Daft Punk:




Soundgarden:


Tool:



What other artists are similar to them?

Queens of the Stone Age:



Concept development:

After speaking to the singer of the bad, one idea he came up with was to have the music video similar to Imagine Dragons' Radioactive video. 

Music Video theory research

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin’s Theory from guestc6d43a4a

Found at:
http://www.slideshare.net/guestc6d43a4a/andrew-goodwins-theory

“Andrew Goodwin’s 6 Features of Music Videos

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
   (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).    [this is also known as iconography]
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
   (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
   (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).” -Extract from ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (http://beauchampcollegemedia.com/2010/09/01/features-of-music-videos-andrew-goodwin/)        

Found at: 

http://heathenmedia.co.uk/insanity/2011/11/10/andrew-goodwins-theory/

Example of music video analysis using this theory:

Sven E Carlson

Sven E Carlsson - Kelly Sutton from Kelly2414

Found at:
http://www.slideshare.net/Kelly2414/sven-e-carlsson-kelly-sutton

Roy Shuker

Music video types.

Concept

The music video is based on a single idea or concept. Usually these videos are artistic and open to interpretation.

Narrative
A music video with a clear storyline/narrative that can be understood and followed. (Has a beginning, middle and end).

Performance
A video featuring the band or artist performing.

Gangnam Style Parody

Original:



Our Version:

Controversial Video

Controversial video:


Brief Explanation: 

In the video there is a man dressed as Lady Gaga wearing Gaga's famous meat dress. Lady Gaga is getting a tour of Johannesburg in the video. Her tour guide points out Die Antwoord, who are preparing to street-perform in the video. She says that she wants to tour with them  (a reference to Die Antwoord's former label, Interscope Records, contacting them in March 2012 and informing them Gaga wished to have the band open for her during the Born This Way Ball, to which they declined.) In the video, Lady Gaga's bus is hijacked and she runs away in fear. During her escape she finds the office of a gynecologist. She says to him that there is something "really funny going on down there" before he removes a prawn from her vagina! When she leaves the office, she is chased by a lion before being eaten by it. In between the scenes of Gaga are scenes of Yo-Landi, Ninja, and DJ Hi-Tek performing. 
(Information taken and reworded from Wikipedia)

There was a lot of controversy along with this video. The whole video is basically Die Antwoord making fun of Lady Gaga and other pop artists. There was a fight between Lady Gaga and Die Antwoord after this video was released. 

Progress on music video planning.

I've spoken to the lead singer of the band I want to work with. He said that he's definitely up for working with me. 

I'm going to need to talk to the whole band properly in the near future, secure the song I'm going to work on and I'm going to have to consider the narrative of the song and what I want the video to contain. 

I'm hopefully going to be going to a live show of theirs in a few weeks which I have permission to get footage of. 

This is the band I want to work with: 

Mitsubishis

http://www.mitsubishisband.com/

M.I.A

About M.I.A



Paper Planes

 

What stereotypes are represented in this video?

Youth, black people, Asian people, lower class people.

Can we trust these perceptions of representations?

No, because they're stereotypical.

Bad Girls



What stereotypes are represented in this video?

Women, men, Afghan people.

Can we trust these perceptions of representations?

Definitely not because they're very stereotypical and over exaggerated.

Born Free



What stereotypes are represented in this video?

Ginger people, Americans, the military, youth, men.

Can we trust these perceptions of representations?

No, because the representations are quite unrealistic for a modern video. However, the way that some of the representations are presented are accurate from the way some of these people were represented in the past. For example, the way the american soldiers are acting in this video is similar to the way some american soldiers used to act towards certain types of people in the past during wars. 

Music Video Analysis (Bjork - All is full of love)

All is full of love music video

All is full of love - Behind the scenes/ Interviews

As a whole video:

  Narrative:

• This music video's narrative is to simply represent the emotion of love in a unique and abstract way.
• The creators of the videos ideas (Bjork - Artist and Chris Cunningham - Director) were that they wanted to show a very sensual act of love with robots as a use of artistic expression. 

Representation:

• One representation that it could have is the fact that love can come in many different forms and that love is 'all around' us and that anything can feel or experience love. 
• Another representation could be that the fact that robots have been used could show that love is actually very artificial and fake and that the emotion of love is artificial.
• Also, another representation could be that it doesn't matter what gender you are if you're in love. This is because the two robots are female. 
• The fact that the robots have the same face (the face of the singer- Bjork) could represent the love of yourself and that it's alright to love yourself. 
• The fact that the set and the robots are white could connote purity and simpleness. 

Audience:

• I think that the creators of this video wanted the audience watching the video to gain their own ideas from the video and I think that they wanted the audience to really think about the meaning of the video.
• I think that this video would be for an older audience because an older audience would be able to understand the meanings behind the video more clearly. Although, I don;t think that there is an age limit on this video and I think that children could potentially watch this. (I was obsessed with this video when I was about 6 and I turned out alright... ish!)

6 Stills from the video:

1)

First significant shot. Robot being built by machines. Set and robot are clean and white which gives a clinical feeling to the video. Also, the cool blue lighting also gives and feeling of clinicalness. This adds to the idea of love being artificial. 

2)

The robot is laying on it's own. The camera angle makes it look vulnerable and it's body position also makes it look vulnerable. 

3)

In this shot there is a close up of the robot's face. This allows the audience to see the robot's facial expression clearly which is neutral with no emotion. This adds to the idea of robots having no emotion and that the idea of love is artificial.  

4)

In this shot the robot looks up. We later realise that the robot is looking at the other robot. As the  robot in this shot looks up the audience will see that the robot's facial expression has changed and there is some life in it. (This could be the moment that the robot falls in love or feels love.)

5)

Over the shoulder shot. The robot sitting is looking at the robot standing. The robot standing is calling to the robot sitting and is reaching out to it while saying 'all is full of love' repeatedly. This could again show hat the two robots are in love. 

6)

Final shot. Long shot. Shows the two robots kissing. Showing their love. The robots kiss together as they are both carefully being built by the machines. In this shot everything seems to have emotion. Even the machines seem to be some what alive by their actions and how slowly and delicately they're building these robots. As this shot is happening the like 'All is full of love' is repeating until it fades out. This shot is the visual interpretation of the line 'All is full of love'.