DW: Institutional Context

Why is a music video so significant?

It is a way of promoting the artist, record label and any other associated organisation or item both visually and audibly. It significantly helps build reputation and recognition too, it is also another means of outputting music to listeners and makes music easier to access.

What is the production process of a music video?

1.      Concepting

2.      Scriptwriting

3.      Production Planning (Pre-production)

4.      Videography (Shoot)

5.      Graphics Design & Creation

6.      Voice Talent Recording

7.      Original Music or Library Music tracks 

8.      Editing

9.      Motion Graphics & Special Effects

10.  Animation

11.  Final Edit, Mix, and Master

12.  Dubs (Copies) or other Distribution

What role do new media technologies now play in promoting artists? How has this changed traditional practices? To what extent is this an example of "we media"?

New media technologies such as internet devices have changed the means of advertising music artists. Downloads via the internet now play a much larger part in the consumption of music than old media technologies such as CDs and vinyl’s, it is therefore extremely important that artists promote themselves as much as possible via web 2.0. By doing this their listeners can have access to their music on their phones, ipads, laptops, consoles and many more devices. “NMTs” can also help build reputation and recognition of artists visually too; sites such as Youtube offer a place for artists to display their music videos, interviews and other related work e.g. adverts for television programmes or other synergy related visuals they are involved in – allowing anyone with a computer connected to the internet to watch them. Their fame can be reinforced further through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook where their fans can follow their activity and work more than ever before. Lastly NMTs can also offer a platform for marketing and sales of the artist’s and record label’s merchandise i.e. via online stores where fans can buy clothing, tickets and other products. Before these technologies existed artists would have got most of their promotion through their record labels, they would be in charge of marketing etc. (and still are) however advertisements would instead be on television, posters and billboards  and their sales relied almost entirely on vinyl, CD and cassette sales figures.

DW: Is the music video a commercial, porn or an art form?

When considering the nature of music videos there are a vast range of characteristics which you must examine.  Artists may have their own visual style and/or motif on display within a music video e.g. a hairstyle which they always have. This helps construct and reinforce their “star image”, therefore acting as an advertisement – when the viewer sees this motif or style they associate it with the artist(s), and their reputation builds; for example Elvis Presley’s hairstyle or Michael Jackson’s glove (this also relates to Barthes’ theory of grain of voice, however this is visual and not audible).

In relation to this point, values of a celebrity lifestyle are frequently displayed to us via music videos, somewhat acting as a commercial – product placement. Commodified items such as expensive vehicles, properties, brands etc. are often shown to make both the items and the artist appear more desirable and therefore encouraging viewers to follow the artist or want what they see in the video. Often conventions will be associated with genre, which the audience expect for example hip-hop artists will frequently be seen in branded clothing, accessories, footwear and vehicles as oppose to perhaps indie rock where the video is likely to be more performance focussed and illustrative.

In recent years music videos appear to be becoming more sexualised than ever before. Voyeuristic treatment of women is often seen in music videos old and new, it may make the video more appealing for male audiences and help repeatability. This voyeurism is sometimes criticised as negative and perverted, especially for example if the women in the video have very little clothes on – it may well qualify for being softcore pornography. Ritualisation of subordination reinforces this further as it encourages the viewer to think less of women – as an “object” of lust and fantasy rather than as a human with feelings and emotions perhaps.

Directors and artists may deliberately use women in this way to attract attention and exploit the male gaze. Having said this, if the artist or director is female they may not use women in this way, as Mulvey says it denies women agency. It is therefore perhaps strange seeing female pop artists such as Rhianna and Nicki Minaj deliberately scantily dressed and infantilised because it is almost suggesting they want men to view them in that way and nothing more, giving a bad message to their large audience of young viewers.

This is not the only way sexuality is used in the modern music video, dismemberment and the artificial look is frequently used to create lust and desire for male viewers – enhancing the male gaze. This objectification of the female body can be related to the commodification and promotion of luxurious products as referenced earlier – turning women into objects of desire. This concept is used more in some genres than others; dance and hip-hop music videos tend to use this technique heavily, perhaps because they have a larger male audience than other genres whereas in rock and alternative music videos they tend to be more focussed on the artists and their performance. It depends entirely on what effect the artist wishes to create.

Whether or not music videos are an art form or not is a bigger debate. Because product placement and sexualisation of women is so clearly and easily seen in music videos and “art” as it were is much more difficult to recognise. Auters such as Spike Jonze, Hype Williams and David Fincher are able to translate the music they hear into visuals via the process of synaethesia, is this not an art form in itself? Although some writers for example Theodore Adorno would argue that music videos are just another culture industry which churn out undifferentiated, generic and simplistic productions to feed false class consciousness.

 This said however, in the same way a painter paints a picture, a musician makes a piece of music or a director shoots a movie, should auters not also qualify to be named an artist? All of these so called art forms require a vision and sufficient talent to achieve the vision, and if music video directors such as Jonze and Fincher can do this effectively and compassionately to display their vision in the same way that any artist or musician can, then there should be no reason why they cannot be called artists and their work a form of art.

In my opinion you cannot say whether music videos fall under any one of the three categories commercial, porn or art form because every video is unique. Yes some videos may be mainly one of these things, but then there are others which have all three mixed in, some music videos are illustrative, some are disjunctive, some are amplified but none are the same. Therefore you cannot put every video under one category or media form because their content is so broad. Just like art there are no rules with film making, the director of the video and the artist collaborate together to create something completely their own. Although some videos may carry heavy similarities to others the message each one carries is independent.



DW: Music videos as art

1. Steve Aoki & Afrojack – No beef (directed by Punit Dhesi)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksocjhxX_DQ     

• Lots of clear slow motion shots
• Stop motion animation
• Use of green screen
• Cutting rate increases, flicking from one scene to another with pace of music until “drop”.
• No story or narrative, just advertisement and promotion of themselves, their lifestyles and branding as well as cameos of famous people.

2. The Pharcyde – Drop (directed by Spike Jonze)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co3qMdkucM0

• Complete video done in reversal
• Very long takes, artists must learn the words backwards (lip sync in reverse)­
• ­Completely performance based, focussed entirely on the group and their image.

3. Dub Phizix and Skeptical – Marka (Directed by Tom Doran)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ydQ-qPD324

• Pro filmic effects such as the fire and the coloured contact lenses to enhance the mood and authenticity of the video.
• Grainy filter/effect to make the video more creepy and effective.
• Light levels/contrast altered to make the light more yellow, complementing the fire and making the video more “spooky”.

4. Jay Z – 99 Problems (directed by Mark Romanek)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uikJTnmtgw

• Shot entirely in black and white, uses a lot of slow motion shots too
• Relatively fast cutting rate used to display the area/town (Brooklyn NYC) as well as the type of people who live there, what activities they do etc. Perhaps a promotion/way of exposing the lifestyle and culture within the neighbourhood or “ghetto”.
• Large reference/prevalence on religion and also criminality.

5. Wiley – Numbers in action (Directed by the “we’re us” team)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkYJuv82ME0

·         Relies entirely on reversals and key framing in order to have multiple editions of Wiley in the shot.

·         Location/set is very simplistic and is purely for practical purposes, there is no promotion of anyone or anything other than the artist who is the only character in the video. There is no reference to any brand or objects.

·         The video may be seen as a concept video whereby the artist and director are experimenting with their ideas and at the same time making something unique.

6. Sean Paul – Temperature (directed by               )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2MmuA1nI4

• Very clear and well framed visuals.
• Narrative of the song is related to the video entirely in that it shows different temperatures, as well as items related to those temperatures i.e. in cold weather wearing thick clothes and blue backing, hot weather wearing less clothes and an orange background. It is an illustrative video.
• Concentration mainly focussed on artist and girls dancing.

7. Kreayshawn – Gucci Gucci (Directed by Joeseph Zentil)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WJFjXtHcy4

• Shots include tracking and lots of handicam, as well as close ups and mid shots mainly used to display the artist and her style.
• Locations of Rodeo Drive in Hollywood aimed at exposing the area e.g. designer shops as well as the artist’s lifestyles and activities.

8. Major Lazer – Keep it goin’ (Directed by              )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWCdG0RacIk&feature=related

• Use of animation over real life people, very unique look
• Shots of dancing and “clubbing” to promote having a good time
• Slightly dark filter to add a dark tinge and make the video more atmospheric, also reinforces the views of space and the galaxy which can be seen in the background of the video.

Group: Mini-pitch Feedback

After presenting our mini-pitch for our music video, our class gave us some feedback to help us improve our ideas:

• Make sure we get enough footage - as our song has such a fast cutting rate we might run out of shots if we don't get enough footage
• Film DJ equipment in the dark so the bright lights are illuminated and looks more professional
• Film the slow part in the day time and the fast parts in night time

They also commented on ideas that they liked:

• the piano part at the beginning of the song as it is a contrast to the rest of it
• reversal shots as they will be very effective
• the fact that it's bright and colourful will mean that it will always be interesting and eye-catching

MG: Instituitional Context

Who is responsible for making branding/marketing decisions?

The decisions are shared between the artist, the artist management and the record label. The record label fund the branding and marketing so they will have their say in where it is promoted or how much, in order to keep in with their budget but also to increase sales. The artist and the artist management will work alongside the record label and have their say by coming up with the ideas and the material to promote, in order for the record label not to advertise them in a way in which they do want to be.

What role does the music press play in promoting artists in a digital media age? Are they still relevant? Give specific examples from the UK press.

Due to the revolution of the social media, artists whether amateur or mainstream, are promoted and advertised through peer influence on websites such as Facebook or Twitter after being uploaded for free onto sites like Youtube or Soundcloud. This therefore means that the music press is very specialised and is only consumed by those who are avid fans of alternatives types of music meaning that is does not play a huge role in digital media age.

MG: Are music videos commercials, porn or art? Discuss.

•  Music videos can be interpreted as commercials as artists are promoting certain messages throughout their videos, whether it is performance- based, narrative-based or concept-based.  For example, the music video for ‘We Found Love’ by Rihanna is narrative-based as well as performance-based and endorses a certain stereotype throughout. Young girls and women admire Rihanna, and what she presents in her video will be seen as acceptable and attractive, even if it is not morally right. 

• At the beginning of the video there are short shots of Rihanna and her romantic interest in love and hate scenarios intercut in a synchronous relationship with the beat of the music. This advertises to her audience what relationships are supposedly like and gives them a false expectation of men and relationships due to the way they are shown in such extreme contrasts. The use of handicam at the beginning of this video also enforces this as it makes it more personal and realistic.
• The synchronous relationship between music and visuals continues as the music tempo increases and clips are shown of drugs, pills and dilated pupils in a faster cutting rate. This is then promoting that the use of drugs is okay and almost glamorous as someone as famous and as admired as Rihanna is taking them. The use of slow motion and time compression are also used to emphasize a synchronous relationship between the music and visuals, symbolising how drugs can affect you and how exhilarating the feeling is to be under the influence of certain drugs.
• Rihanna's portrayal of her character: having sex, violently fighting with her boyfriend, drinking, smoking and under the influence of illegal drugs is not an appropriate role model to young girls and women but due to their idolisation of the famous singer, they will assume that these activities are acceptable and this could lead to further problems in our society.
• Music videos can also be portrayed as porn as women are often exploited through the production of music videos. Laura Mulvey’s concept of ‘The Male Gaze’ enforces this and has been heavily influential in feminist film theory. The idea behind ‘The Male Gaze’ is when the audience are forced to regard the action and characters of a text through the perspective of a heterosexual man, denying women agency, meaning it degrades them to the status of objects. ‘Stupid Girls’ by the artist Pink is a parody of how women present themselves in celebrity society and how she believes that they exploit themselves in a negative way.
•  The voyeuristic treatment of the female body is emphasised in this video through Pink’s reconstructions of different celebrities. For instance, where she is on a date at the bowling alley and she sees her date staring at a girl jumping up and down with her breasts out, she pulls a tag under her arm which then inflates her own breasts so that the boy will take more interest in her due to the size of them. This suggests how girls will now go to extreme measures to get noticed and highlights the idea of ‘the artificial look’ which Goffman et al found popular in music videos. This is also shown in another part of the video where Pink is getting plastic surgery in order to improve her appearance.
• ‘Dismemberment’ is also emphasised in this video. There are close-ups of bottoms, breasts and bodies in bikinis where they become objects for consumption. There is an amplifying relationship between the lyrics and visuals: as she sings about how she believes girls are objectifying themselves and how they act absolutely ridiculously, she dresses as certain celebrities and mocks them. For example, where she is mimicking Jessica Simpson washing a car, she is dressed in a bikini and dances “provocatively” to the camera, presenting the fact that she is there only for male pleasure.
• Pink also shows how women commodify themselves by the way they work so hard to have the perfect body, such as when she goes into the toilets stating that she’s eaten ‘over 300 calories that day’ and throws up in order to be thinner. This enforces the idea of ‘the male gaze’ as she is trying to advertise her body to men. This is also shown when she is at the gym and takes off her top, revealing her in a sports bra to show her cleavage in attempt to get the attention of a personal trainer.
• The way that the young girl at the beginning is watching TV and, at first, wants to learn how to become one of these idolised celebrities, presents how the media is having an effect on younger generations by promoting this sexualisation of women. However, Pink’s aim is to change this by showing how fake and stupid these celebrities actually are.  This is achieved at the end of the video by showing the girl deciding to play with a football rather than make up, dolls and Barbies.

• It could also be argued that music videos are art, as they are ‘perfectly formed, contemporary moving image form: quintessentially based on reinvention, reimagining, never standing still; always looking different; being in flux; moving’ according to Matt Hanson in ‘The End of Celluloid’ (2004). He states that ‘what is in vogue this year should be completely different from the year before’, meaning that every music video is different and therefore is art, as vogue could also be interpreted as art.
• For example, the video ‘Single Ladies’by the artist Beyoncé is very simple and minimalist but still very effective andartistic as it is shot entirely in black andwhite in a blank studio location. Thewhole video is of long takes, integratedwith fast cutting rates of Beyoncé andtwo dancers performing a dance routinewith the use of lots of panning shots and zooms. There is always some kindof movement in the video making it extra eye-catching and impressive, implementing the idea that it is of an art form.

• However, music videos like ‘Sorry for Party Rocking’ by LMFAO present a different form of art as it is set in a futuristic location with cartoon effects and a colourful colour scheme. There is a frequent use of split-screen, green screens and handicam to present chaos in the music video. It is a complete contrast to Beyoncé’s music video however; they could both be interpreted as art due to the way that Hanson mentions that different music videos ‘inhabit that crucial space between the commercial and the experimental and acts as the crossover point’ meaning that they can still appeal to the same audiences even though they are so contrasting.

DW: Questions on Photoshop

2. Photoshop is excellent for creativity, as the possibilities are virtually endless. The vast amount of editing, altering, adjusting, re creating etc. of pictures that can be done allows maximum creativity with what ever picture you choose to manipulate. When encountering problems you can always undo any errors, or if you need advice/help on how to accomplish something i.e. blending a picture you can always look for help online or from a teacher and it can be easily combated, this also expands your knowledge on the programme and how to use it.

3. The techniques I used included: Magnetic lasso, magic wand, eraser, bevels, blend, adjusting light and contrast levels, text, text shadowing and most likely others which I have forgotten! I used the effects to improve and alter the images into the format I wanted them to look on the poster.

4. When looking back at the poster I have created, I believe I have addressed the brief well. It has helped me understand and widen my knowledge on how to use Photoshop, what will look effective and what will not. I believe the aim of the brief was to use the small project as a preliminary task, in which you can learn how to use the software on a basic level, simply to improve your understanding and prepare you for when we use it to create our digi-packs. I believe I have done this effectively.

5. In terms of advice I would give myself/what I can take from this preliminary task is to not have too much going on in what you create; sometimes simplicity is more effective, unless of course the advert which you are aiming towards is based around a mountain of images and colours etc. but you can’t have both (a mix of simplicity and “chaos”) it has to be one or the other to make the final output work. It is easy to make a simple photo look professional using the programme, even from doing very little to it. I mustn’t always feel like I have to alter images a great deal in order to improve them.