Research:Mulvey's male gaze

What is 'male gaze'

Male gaze is all about how women are portrayed in music videos to please the eye of men. Women are made in videos to seduce men from the little clothing they have on to dancing in a sexy provocative way.

 

Laura Mulvey's male gaze (1975)

 

Laura is a theorist and she came up with the feminist theory. This theory looks for how an audience view the women presented in the video. For feminists, it can be thought of in 3 ways:

• How men look at women
• How women look at themselves
• How women look at other women

She stated that audiences view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male and that men looked at women for sexual pleasure, so therefore the males are active and females are passive.  

This is a music video by "Benny Benassi" called Satisfaction. This video is full of male gaze and actions that are symbolic to sex and male genitals. If we look at this image the female is wearing a bikini and holding a drill in a very sexual way.

 



 

Here is another image of a female showing her bum this is clearly provocative for men and a good example of how women are used as sex objects just for the attraction of men. The narrative of being a builder works well as stereotypically builders are known for making a move on females.

 

 

                           

This music video is called 'TIP DRILL' by Nelly a famous hip hop artist. This music video presents a lot of females in a mansion gyrating and being used by Nelly and his rich friends. This video shows females shaking their bums in men's faces as they through money and swipe their cards between their butt cheeks. Women would look at these females and be ashamed because they may not be confident within themselves. The women in the video feel happy that they get a chance to be in Nellys video and because its there lifestyle they feel that they have stepped up by being in the music video on TV. However men look at the other men in the video and maybe wish they were in their position with all the females.

 

Criticism's of the theory: Some females may enjoy being looked at by other men and see it as a way of work and achievement. And this theory only considers a heterosexual males point of view (men are active while females are passive). lastly men can also be looked at for pleasure as sexual objects but this theory does not include this.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In my music video I do not wish to use the male gaze theory however I will use females. the way I will use these females will not be in a way to appeal sexually but to help explain the narrative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Research: Intertextual References in music videos

What is intertextuality?

Intertextuality according to Goodwin's theory it is when a music video makes a reference to another person or idea for example an event that has happened in our history or people who have appeared in our history. This can be effective for the audience because its something new and fresh that will appeal to them.


There are many examples in videos of references used to highlight main parts of history or media.

Eminem- Just lose it
This music video is full of intertextual references for example Eminem dresses up as Michael Jackson and later on sets his hair on fire just like when Michael actually did for a Pepsi commercial. This is a reference because he is recreating a key moment that actually happened to Michael Jackson.

Britney spears- If you seek Amy
In this song we see an intertextual reference through song lyrics Britney has chosen on purpose to provoke the media as to why she uses a news report as well. The lyrics say "All of the boys and all of the girls are begging to IF YOU SEEK AMY". Now this may seem like harmless words to a fun pop song however if you repeat the "if you seek Amy" it pronounces F.U.C.K ME.





Kanye west- touch the sky
This whole film is an intertextual reference because Kanye west makes his video a whole theme of an old time film. This is creative and entertaining for the audience.

Disadvantages of intertextuality



Although intertextual references are for entertainment purposes many audience members may find them some what offensive or disturbing. This may cause the artists some issues such as being in a vulnerable position for being sewed which could lose them money.

Conclusion
I plan not to use intertextuality because unless it is done effectively and well it will not come across great to my audience and could cause a lot of problems for my video. Also I think its a safer option on just using only my ideas and thoughts .








Research: History of Music video

Music videos have developed over years in the music industry. The concept of the music video has been within the media industry for about 90 years, but they were initially referred to as 'video promos' or 'short films' rather than music videos. This concept is explored by the likes of The Beatles, however it wasn't until Queens video in 1975 (Bohemian Rhapsody) that give birth to the music video. From this moment on, it has been essential that all artists in the industry have a music video to accompany their music in order to keep with demands and be successful. Artists have been influenced by each other to keep creating these original ideas that will appeal to the audience.  Perhaps the biggest influence in our history comes from the 80's with the like of Michael Jackson. Madonna and Duran Duran. This post will explore the development of music videos within our history.



The music video timeline


1929: Songs and moving images
Bessie appeared in a two-real short film called saint Louis blues

1940:walt Disney released Fantasia, animated film based around famous pieces of classical music

1956:Tony Bennett is filmed walking in Hyde park London for his song "stranger in paradise". Bennett claims he made the first ever music video which can be argued.

1964:This video arguably set out the basic visual vocabulary of todays music video, influencing a huge number of contemporary musicians at the time to produce there own music video to represent their music.

1966-1968:'The Monkees' was a TV show back in its time. within each episode there was a specially made film segment that was created to accompany their songs used in their TV series.

1966:Top of the pop was born, this show was created to promote artists and their singles. This was done competitively in order for their videos to get air time.

1967:Videos in this time used techniques that the film world used such as dramatic lighting, film effects, camera angles and rhythmic.

1975: Queen 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was created by Queen the band to replace a live performance for TV  they were unable to attend. It was the first video made for TV therefore arguably the first music video would be accurate, as long as it isn't confused with the first promo film.

1970-1980: In the mid 80s releasing a video to accompany an artists music was the norm. Artists were using high budgets to create their videos for example the Jackson 5. In this time artists started adding plots and stories to their videos.

1981: MTV was launched and the first music video to be shown is 'Video killed the radio star' by the Boggles.

1984: Michael Jacksons thriller is a short film made for a music video with a beginning, middle and end. This video inspired a generation and took the music video format to another level.

Top Of The PoPs (TOTP) started to censor video content, so another approach was to produce a video that would cause controversy and publicity to promote the release.

1980: Madonna owned a great deal of her success to the skilful seductive appeal of her video.
New people waste true musical talent because they are so focused on making a great sexy video.

How has music videos developed over time?

Music videos have developed over time by introducing new technology such as green screen and CGI  as artists and directors grow and create new ideas. As the industry developed the audience demanded more from artists so they had to make sure their latest video was better that the last. However the purpose of creating a music video changed too as artists used it as an opportunity to be controversial and political about what they wear, do or say in their videos. which obviously creates a buzz around the artists and their music.

Conclusion: 

It is important to know about the history of music videos and how it came about because when creating my music video I will have basic knowledge on what things may be successful and what may not be. I have gathered a lot of knowledge and I hope I can use it to create a great music video.

Research: Diverse music videos

What are diverse music videos?

Diverse music videos are music videos that are different in the sense that the content and the structure of the video is more concept based than narrative or performance. In other words it is not mainstream or have typical features that we expect to see in a music video. These music videos are mainly made for niche type audiences just a small group of individuals. The main genres that diverse videos are made for includes electro, club, alternative and at times pop. Diverse music videos are used at times when some artists are looking to reinvent themselves as artists but not to much to shock their fans.

Chris Cunningham

A well know director for creating diverse music videos is a man named Chris Cunningham. Chris Cunningham has created for mainstream artists such as Madonna and not so mainstream artists like  Bjork. All his videos are great representations of diverse music video because they all have different great uses of mise en scene that makes it original from other videos.

Here are a some of his work:

Bjork-All is full of love, this video was about two lesbian robots that fall in love in a white lab setting. Bjork worked with Cunningham because everyone was talking about him and how creative his work was. She sent him the song and he liked it and came up with this robot idea for the music video. Cunningham influences for this video came from industrial robots and computer graphics that he studied in his student life. This music video won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. It was also the first ever music video to win a Gold Pencil at the D&AD Awards.

• Madonna-Frozen, this video became an international hit and won the award for Best Special Effects at the 1998 MTV Music Video Awards. This video was used for Madonna to recreate herself as a new artist for a new generation.

                                                 

• Aphex twin, Cunningham's Videos for "Come to daddy" and "Window licker" are perhaps his best known. These two have worked a lot together and have produce a few abstract and surreal videos.

General characteristics of his work:

• low-key lighting
• surreal images
• abnormal characters
• no narrative
• disturbing
• original

My opinion on Cunningham:

I think that Cunningham is really creative and I commend his work and originality skills to produce something different every time he makes a video.1 thing I respect about him is that he doesn't care about what people say about his work as long as people are talking about it.

 

Michel Gondry

Another diverse music video director Michel Gondry has a great eye for music videos. Most of his videos contain colour, dance and theatrics and star motifs as he directs for mainstream artists mainly.
 
his work includes

• The chemical brothers-let forever be                 
• Daft punk-around the world
• Gary Jules-mad world
• Kylie Minogue-come into my world

Most of his videos have a concept and performance based structure which is entertaining for the audience.

General characteristics of his work:

• high-key lighting
• lots of bright colours
• concept based

My opinion on Gondry:

I find gondrys work very inspiring and entertaining because of the dance he incorporates into hes videos and the lively upbeat themes he takes on.  

Diverse music videos disadvantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

• Allows artist to reinvent themselves
• People are more likely to remember the video longer
• lot more creative and different
• More hype and publicity

Disadvantages:

• Gets blocked due to censorship
• usually gets more bad reviews than good
• makes the audience feel uncomfortable sometimes
• It can ruin an artists representation and potentially their career.

I think that if the mainstream culture used diverse music videos it would help bring a whole new audience that would appreciate both. However I do understand that some images are controversial and may be disturbing to some.

Conclusion
I have learnt that not creating such a mainstream music video can be a good thing because it can still have great entertainment value and still be successful. Therefore I wish to use Gondrys idea of repeated dance and concept because I believe that my group has the capability of creating a good product along those lines.

Research:Music video channels

Why are music channels important?

Music channels are important because they are great formats for promoting an artist and their music. Fans of a specific artists and genre can go to a channel that supports that and watch their videos. This allows and artist to progress in the music industry and gain new fans because they are creating a connection within their videos. A few decades ago when artists started making music videos companies such as MTV started realising that channels need to be made in order to present these videos. There were only a small amount of music channels due to the lack of videos being produce. However as time went on more and more channels where being made and some for different genres. And now we have different music channels on TV used to suit people with different tastes of music.


How has music channels developed over time?

Music channels have developed over time by introducing new tv shows and chart shows as artists grow and produce new music videos. As the industry developed so did music channels because they needed to keep up with the demand of the audience.
Here are examples of  TV channels:

• KERRANG
• MTV
• MTV BASE
• MTV ROCKS
• MTV DANCE
• MTV HITS
• MTV CLASSIC
• VIVA
• BET 106+PARK
• POP WORLD
• STARS
• CHANNEL AKA
• SMASH
• BOX
• VAULT
• CLUB TV
• 4 MUSIC
• KISS
• VH1 

There are genres that are underrepresented by music channels, for example religious and folk music don't have any or less music channels than genres for instance hip hop or pop. This is because the type of music audiences listen to is music that appeals to everyone where as religious music only appeals to the religious audience. Balancing it out more people would want to watch a pop video than a religious based video just the way society highlights mainstream artists in the media.

Advantages



There are many advantages of having so many music channels, one advantage is that it caters to so many people with the different genres so therefore more people are actually tuning in to watch. It is also increases the artists population because if an artists video is shown on a music channel very often, fans may then respect and idolise that artist which will make them gain fans. And lastly it satisfies the audiences demand for music videos they wish to see from their favourite music artists
and these channels allow that.

Conclusion

In my opinion my video would do well on a channel such as MTV HITS because I hope for it to be mainstream and a hit with the audience. It will be easy to understand and the audience can follow the structure really well.