Music Video Theorists

 

 

 

 PAMELA ROBERTSON

• This theory is known as the 'Madonna Studies'.
• This theory was influenced by the 'Queer Theory', and the work produced from Focault Madonna is seen to be emphasising on Feminist critiques, particularly one in particular eing Judith Butler.
• One quote Paula Robertson stood by was:

"Is Madonna a glamorized fuck doll or the queen of parodic critique?"

 

Roland Barthes

He stated there was an enigma code. This is when you hold back sufficent infromation frow the viewer being the audience in hope that it will enable them to ask questions and to hopefully consider their own explinations of what could have happened before finding it out.

 

He stated there was also an action code. This is when the producers attain interest and tension from the audiences persepective when they are not aware of what will happen next.

 

Andrew Goodwin

 He believes that 6 main features make up a successful music video.

 A relationship between lyrics and visuals should be shown. The visual could completely contradict what the song is trying to say, but as long as a type of realtionship can reach the audience, the music video should remain successful.

 There should also be a relationship between the visuals and the music itself. Not only taking lyrics into consideration, but the tempo of the song should also be backed up through visuals.

 A considerable amount of close-up's of the lead singer should occur through the music video. This allows us to connect with the singer and concentrate closely on what they're trying to say.

 Genre's of music are often very diverse and complex to explain within music, the video should show this through iconography.

 When females are used in video's, it is effective to show them through voyeurisms, as it shows a female being a "part of a whole" which is often shown as the male in the video.

 Many references of intertextuality will occur within music videos to give the audience different ideas and meanings behind their video.


He believes that this can be achieved:

Through beats, hearing the sound

Technical aspects of music videos i.e. editing pace etc

Narrative and performance

The "star image"

Relation of visuals to song and/or lyrics

  Steve Archer

 A strong relationship between performance and narrative needs to occur.
 The video should flick between the two.

 A choreographed dance may occur throughout the video, to show the band/artist can perform to a high standard, it needs to be aesthetically pleasing in order to attract their audience and impress.

 Band members should be shown for similar amounts of time throughout the video so that each individual is seen, not just the lead singer.

 Close up's on instruments are important to

 

John Stewart

• Says that the music video which is being made must include the aesthetics that could be used on a TV commercial.
• Should also include large amount of close ups of the artist/band. Front lighting should be used in order to focus on and clearly show the stars face.
• Visual references should come from a range of sources, mainly from cinema, fashion and art.
• The video should allow more access to the performer than a stage performance could do.
• The mise-en-scene should be used to show an inspirational lifestyle which the audience would want.

Paul  Willis

Paul Willis (Sociologist) did a study of 12 working class boys from a comprehensive school in a comprehensive school in the midlands.

Willis states that the vast majority of young people involved with particular genre's of music such as pop are from working class backgrounds. Therefore, knowing this he states that these pupils have an inability to process and articulate the meanings represented in a verbal manner i.e. discussing it.

Willis states that the rise in popular music culture is an way of expression for working class youths, who are inable to express themselves in other forms.

He states that popular music could be classed as a new form of media literacy and learning for groups that are traditionally seperated and marginalized.

Sigmund Frued

Known for his work within Psychology, most theories proposed during a time of sexual repression. His theories on sexual relations and the way in which people look into sexual things is often seen as over reaching, however this theory can be added to music promos when reviewing certain objects.

He refers to the notion that pleasure may be attained by visualising sexual objects, in the case of when the object not aware they are being watched. This technique is used vastly in particular genres of music videos and is refered to as Voyeurism.

Laura Mulvey

 

Feminist theorist who states that in sterotypical main stream Hollywood films, that women are gazed upon by males and  judged on the sexual presense they display, rather than their inside beauty.

• This theory see's all females from a stereotypical males perspective as "disposable pleasures" rather than any other real relevannce to society.
• The gaze of the camera is always shown from the males perspective.
• This theory can also be shown in things such as television and perfume ads.
• However, this theory is a dated theory due to theory linking back to artists such as Madonna, whereas there are other female individuals to date e.g. Rihanna