Editing music video practice

Gender Representation in Music Videos

Two music videos will be analysed in order to discuss the representation of gender and whether they conform or subvert.

 

When studying this screen grab from the music video, Maroon 5, Move Like Jagger, it becomes evident that it subverts the stereotype of females being objectified in music videos. We can denote the lead singer, Adam Levine, located in the centre of the screen and through the rule of thirds we connote him being important to the scene. However denoting the outfit; topless, wearing only track suit bottoms, this could connote to the idea of female gaze as he is being objectified. Though the video can be seen as a parody of Mick Jagger's role in the  music videos of The Rolling Stones, where he used a similar idea of female gaze. Jagger played with gender conventions through the costumes he wore and his use of eye make up in the 70's and 80's. There is also a similarity between Adam Levine and Mick Jagger as they both appeal to female audiences and this appeal is used to attract audience attention. Both display feminine traits in the way they use their bodies to attract attention. The voice of Levine is quite feminine as it is relatively high pitched, however his tattooed torso and muscles connote masculinity, this may be an attempt to reach out to a more masculine audience. We denote a slight low angle which conforms to the idea of Levine being in power, which subverts to some of the other connotations that connotes a more feminine character. This tension between the feminine and the masculine is depicted through the close up of the singers face looking back at the audience; his gaze connotes his masculine power and dominance to the scene and this undermines the more feminine images created previously due to the shots cutting up his body.

Looking at the screen shot above we see Levine through the mise en scene with no top on, his trousers are barely seen giving the illusion of him being naked and therefore more vulnerable (feminine). This mixed with the connotations of his stance, with his chest pushed forward and his hands over his chest, which is a more conventionally connotes femininity. Though this view is tempered firstly by the juxoposing of Levine's tatto 'sleeves', usually viewed as connoting masculinity, and secondly, the low angle mid shots connote masculine power and superiority. Through gender convetions in music videos these elements would conform to the idea of male superiority. The lighting focuses the audience's attention upon Adam Levine's pale skin, toned muscles and tattoos, picking him out of the darkness which surrounds him, this in conjunction with the rule of thirds, has us as the audience positioned to focus on Levine's body as he exhibits himself. These displays of masculine and feminine attributes link to Levine's star persona.

Nicki Minaj's video, 'Super Bass', seems to more overtly and intentionally subvert and conform to feminine ideals while playing with masculine conventions. The video looks at the idea and the difference between empowerment and exhibitionism.

Looking at the screen grab Nicki Minaj (left),  through the mise en scene we can identify her importance to the scene and the space, this is also seen also in the cinematography of the video. The artist is central to the scene, using the rule of thirds, this clearly puts her in a place of power. The voyeuristic pleasure of the audience is stopped by her strong gaze to the camera, this avoids her being objectified and subverts the conventions of the Rap genre.

In contrast to the first screen grab the row of female bodies conforms to the stereotypes of the music videos of the genre. The audience can only see the female bodies, not their heads and faces, the mid shot focuses on the cleavages,behinds and legs of the women. They are depersonalised. These points conform to the idea of the objectification of women and Goodwin's theory of the male gaze.

Unlike the two previous screen grabs this one does both, conforms and subverts. It conforms through the mise en scene, the costume of the skimpy swimsuit reveals Minaj's cleavage which relates to the objectification of women for the satisfaction of the male gaze. However in contrast, through the rule of thirds, she is in the centre of the screen against a backdrop of semi naked men, seen through a mid shallow focus shot. The semi naked men works merely as backdrop images as they are depersonalised as the focus of the shot does not allow their faces to be seen clearly. This disempowers the male and endorses Goodwin's theory about the power of the female gaze in music videos. This subverts the stereotype.

   

Richmix

 

These are images from Richmix, a media trip that went on to see a pre production and music video break down. The visit was organised to enable us to get an overview of how to create a music video, we also looked at the codes and conventions of a music video. They discussed many elements of generic music videos, they suggested that as a rule of thumb not to use comedy within music videos. However, one of the speakers, the head examiner for Media Studies, Andrew Graham, said that you can use parody. The example he used was a past students work who had used the code and conventions of a stereotypical boy band video, e.g.   West Life or Take That and had parodied them. 

Another aspect of the trip was a talk with a music video director, Jake Wynne, who had directed videos for the Stereophonics. He gave us an insight into the making of a music video, which we would be making later on in the day, for the song 'Leg Me Entertain You' by Robbie Williams. The pictures above were taken during the music video session. We were put into three different groups and each group performed for the same video in different ways. This meant that there was a lot of footage to play with to make a different and interesting music video.

Conceptual video (performance)

This is the video for the song "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" by Coldplay. The video is a mix between conceptual footage and performance. There are links between the meaning behind the lyrics and visual aspects in the music video, which is demonstrated as the words to the song appear as the artist sings them through paint an such. Having links to the lyrics is common in the pop genre another example is Trains, 'Hey sole sister'.

Music video song

 

This is the song that I wish to do, through it has a video I want to create my own in a total new way, using stop motion, and other techniques that are discussed throughout the blog. 

Below is the conversation that I am having with Rizzle Kicks asking for permission to use the song Miss Cigarette. I'm am using the website Facebook, due to the wide access that it provides, I have also used this to contact two other bands, The Temper Trap and Bon Iver but have yet to get confirmation. Though all these are signed bands, only Rizzle Kicks's Miss Cigarette song has a video. None at the time of posting this blog are particular huge bands, Rizzle kicks has had the song 'Down with the Trumpets' in the top 10 and The Temper Trap had a song in the top 20 with 'Sweet Disposition'.  Bon Iver is the most mainstream of the three bands.

Approach the artists

Evaluation of student work

There are two main strong points of the music video, one, the mise en scene and the other editing. The editing is particularity good in this student video, denoting the 'Minority Report' style computer screen which is completely created during the editing process. This was used to good effect as it linked all the different sections of the music video by the character 'dragging' the clips in. Also, denoting the mise en scene performance, are effectively filmed, with good lip syncing, giving this scene an authentic look. The only weakness is that the performance is all the same with very little variation, meaning these scenes become a little monotonous. There is a good use of close up and mid shots of the band. Through the mise en scene props and lighting, I denote the dark room with use of glow in the dark paint which is used well to change the tempo of the video and show good contrast between the dark and light sections of the music video. There is also good use of editing to the beat of the music. Generally I enjoyed and liked this music video through I would say that certain sections much as the 'minority report' style computer scenes were slightly to long.

This music video is mainly performance, mixed with some conceptual, which is created through the stop motion. The performance for this video is its strong point, the lip syncing is good and the band looks like they can actually play the instruments. The stop motions are used to good effect to break up the performance within the music video but does not overshadow the performance. I denote a wide range of camera angles and shots, mainly close ups of each of the band members. Through the lighting we denote an excellent location change, the lights go dark and come back on illuminating a different location. However overall I personally think the video is a little boring due to the lack of other things happening other than performance and stop motion.

This music video is the 'on tour' type of music video where the clips are supposedly taken from a bands tour. The strong point of this music video is the mise en scene; there is a good performance, good lip syncing, through some of the band, when they play I denote that they appear to be parodying other similar genre band performance. There is a good variety of locations; in the car, the party area, the performance area. Also the 'on tour' narrative is easy to follow and recognise. Through the cinematography I denote the good use of close ups on both the instruments and the band members. There is a constant use of lighting and lighting change which gives the performance an authentic feel, which keeps to the conventions of this type of music video. I personal like this music video due to there being a wide range of shots and it is edited to the beat reasonably well. One thing that I would improve would be the lighting in some of the scenes, such as in the car.

Music Video Analisis

This is the song Mykanos by Fleet Foxes, I like this music video due to the interesting use of stop motion. The lighting used at the bottom of the picture due to the shadows created from the origami is interesting as it creates a focal point. Another positive element of the video is how the music and the images are synchronised, the images change to the music but not in a way most music videos do, where the images reflect the music. The micro aspects of the cinematography and mise en scene are forfeited due to the type of video. This may be the only negative, that the video seems to focus on music video techniques and is purely conceptual due as the video has no obvious links to the lyrics. The editing techniques could be said to be the stars of this video. Even though this video does have a scene of narrative it is not linked to the lyrics. The band creates mainly county music, with songs such as Ragged Woods and Sun Giant, the bands appearance gives of the 'country' look, this is due to their long hair and long beards. This is the chosen star persona of the band, which with links to the audience their music would most likely appeal to, a 25-40 white male audience, most likely American due to the nationality of the band. Other bands that this audience may like could be Bon Iver and Band of Horses. The secondary audience for this band would most likely be 18-24 region, this is due to them maybe being a popular band, though the 'country', 'folk' music genre is not generally a mainstream type of music. They would be white male and female, most likely British, due to the band being received well here.     

Music video analysis

This is the song 'The Hand that Feeds', a song by NIN(Nine Inch Nails), this is a solely performance music video. Through the mise en scene, we see costume and performance, all the performers look similar to the lead singer Trent Rezner, this is due to him playing all the instruments in the band. This links to the star persona of the musician, his costume, though conventionally plain black t.shirt and jeans, the t shirt is tight which shows his muscles and displays his masculinity. Much like most performance videos, through the cinematography there are multiple close ups of the band and the instruments. There are slow zooms and fast camera tilts, this is a technique that I like as it makes a potentially mundane performance video interesting and captivating. This along with the energetic performance from the band means it retains the audiences attention. A similar performance video that I  like is Adele's 'Someone Like You'. It is edited using a blue filter and that along with the fast cutting creates an interesting video. A negative is that it is slightly repetitive. Overall I prefer a mix between performance and music video. Some of the techniques used in these performance videos e.g. close ups, fast pass tilt and camera movements, I may incorporate into my media production.

The primary audience for the NIN would be 35-45 white American males, the reason for the higher aged audience is due to the band having been going on for over ten years, which would generally raise the age of the target audience. The audience would be male due to the the genre; metal, rock, heavy metal, which is generally linked to a male audience. The secondary audience would be 20-40, with a social standing of most likely lower working class to lower middle class.

Year 12 Media Production

Youtube

Youtube was used multiple times, and is refered to as digital technology. We used youtube to gain a wider perspective of the media production film that we created. We used the film we posted 'Psycho', directed by Hitchcock, and incorporated the ideas gained from these film. During the film the victim is killed without actually being seen, the sound and lighting all suggest that the audience is witnesses the murder but this is not the case. We used this technique as the victim is killed in the elevator. One disadvantage of using youtube is that around the school, besides the Mac Room, there is limited places that you can assess this website. We used youtube because it has quick assess, multiple choices, also there are prior comments of the films/clip left by past viewers, this gives a wider range of comments that can be used as pointers for your film. This also links to when the media production we created was posted on youtube, this has 27 views and contained comments which will help with the pre production for A2.  

Video Commentary, Blogger

Through digital technology, we used blog spot, this was used to document work completed in post production and also pre-production, this allowed the group to gain feedback for the work, allowing us to improve the work we have done. An example of when feedback assisted in the completion of the media production was during the final section of work, we had some incomplete footage, Miss Molenyeux suggested the use of a freeze frame which we used to fill the space left by the incomplete footage.  The blog also can be used to share work with other group members thus allowing for easy distribution of work. An example were this was used was during the pre production of the media production, as we considered the locations for the film. We posted the film on the blog and as a group we commented and decided upon the locations for the film. One problem of blogger is that videos sometimes failed to upload and uploading work is slow.  This became an issue during the final section where we had to comment over the media production on youtube. The video uploaded but later when I was going to work on the commentary, the video failed and I was unable to do the work. This was due to the servers crashing. One positive to using blogger was the use of an easy interface, allowing easy understanding and use of the blog. For example to create a new blog you just press 'new blog', the same with seeing the blog, you just have to press 'view blog'. Through there was problems with uploading, there was an easy way to upload videos, by putting in the URL into the the upload sections.  During pre production we posted film trailers and clips from films that we referenced or used techniques that we used in the media production.

Music Video Views

This is the song 'Prophet' by the band Rizzle Kicks. I like the way in which the video is created, which is like stop motion, possible pictures taken repeatedly then synced to fit with the music, this is a technique that I like and according to comments on the video this technique is called twixtor.  Another aspect of the music video that was successful was the editing; syncing the pictures with the music, light drawings or light manipulation throughout the video. For example in the beginning scene one of the band members has a halo made of light. Another strong point of the video is the mise en scene, there a multiple costume changes and location changes, this gives a nice energetic flow to the video and keeps it from being dull. There is an interesting mix between literal and performance.  The use of lighting is used to good effect to represent good and bad; one band member stands in high key lighting, in contrast to another band member, who stands in low key lighting. This could be easily incorporated into my media production. I would say that one weakness of this clip would be that the syncing is generally good but sometimes it's off, which could confuse the viewer.  Their 'twixtor' technique may be one that I will consider using in my media production.

The primary audience would be 16-25 years due to the band appealing to a younger age, it is similar to the band members age themselves. They belong to the popular genre of hip hop and rap which allows it to branch into other age and ethnic groups. Black British males is one such group, this would be due to the ethnicity of the band and also due to the area where their music is popular, which has a high black population. The secondary audience be aged 26-32, due to the fact that the band's music may not appeal to a more aged population. The gender would be a mix between British black and white due to them being best received here.