3. WE ARE
INTERESTED IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF
MEANING
A N D S U B S E Q U E N T LY H O W Y O U C A N U S E
T H E T E C H N I Q U E S F O R Y O U R S E LV E S !
4. KID ROCK
‘AMERICAN BADASS’
• Watch the video linked here and make notes on the following:
– Who do you think Kid Rock is targeting with his music videos?
– You can see the broader purpose at work through the way he presents
himself – what is his brand?
– This is not by accident – this is tightly planned to appeal to an
audience that will engage and buy his music
– Think about the visual/technical codes employed – types of shot,
movement, costume, performers, etc
– Remember, it’s all deliberate!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt84J7U75e0
5. KID ROCK MV NOTES
• Who do you think Kid Rock is targeting with his music videos?
– Stereotypical American rockers
– Straight Males
– Rock fans
You can see the broader purpose at work through the way he presents
himself – what is his brand?
– Wild and free
– Loud and out there redneck
– Plays into stereotypes
Shots were fast and quite abrasive which fits with the fast-paced style of
the song
6. PURPOSES OF MUSIC
VIDEOS
• There are 3 core purposes to music videos…
• What are they?
– To promote artist album/single sales
– Promote an image of an artist
– Promote artist to an audience
• Is the core aim for any act/label is to extend their audience?
• How do labels and artists fulfill these purposes?
– They achieve this by creating music videos to appeal to the wanted
demographic, making the visuals enticing and often, thematically
aligning with the theme of the accompanying song
8. PURPOSES OF MUSIC
VIDEOS
• allow the band the availability of not having to play live
• allow the audience the advantage of interpreting the song
through the use of the video playing in the background
• To endorse products to make them more popular and to
increase sales
• reinforce a political view or social message
• feature other artists from there label as a means of promotion
• Are there any more….?
9. PURPOSES –
MAINSTREAM/NICHE
• The next two bands provide a contrast in styles, musical genre,
approach and representation
• Make notes during each video and discuss in about how each
artist is represented and what this indicates about how they use
music videos
• What is production quality of the video? What techniques do
they use? Think about what you can see and what this might
mean
• The discussions should highlight the contrasts in strategy and
audience for each of these groups
• Then compare and contrast your findings for each group
[the answers are on a later slide! Don’t peek!]
12. ONE
DIRECTION
• Representational
• Predominant CU shots
• Repeated formula
• Clearly understandable
characteristics
• Mainstream
• Easy to follow – audience can be
more passive
• High budgets
• Closed meaning [unless you
have an oppositional viewpoint]
• Larger audience
• Built to make money
• Non-representational
• No CU of artists
• Obscure/artistic intentions
• Niche
• Not easy to follow – audience
needs to be more active in
engaging with it
• Low budget
• Open meaning
• Smaller audience
• Artistically derived
• More challenging to watch
• Built to be creative
ANIMAL
COLLECTIVE
13. BRANDING
• Bands create a brand or style that is easily recognisable to their fans
or potential purchasers of their music
• Their videos are an extension of this, reflecting a combination of
their style, ideas, etc
• This will, intentionally or not, hopefully create a brand [not always
completely unique] that is visually distinctive
• This often falls within the conventions of a genre, to enable
consumers to easily identify which artists and groups they identify
with and/or prefer
• Broadly put, the ‘brand’ of an artist or group is what you use to
define them. What do they stand for? How do they look? What
styles and techniques does their work employ? Is this consistent
across their output or does it change? Has the artist changed over
time? Why might this be?
16. MUSIC VIDEOS
KEY STUDY POINTS
Key background information:
• Camerawork
• Editing
• Academic reading: Andrew Goodwin
• Genre Characteristics
• Intertextuality
17. MISE-EN-SCENE
• The more you study moving image texts, you will come across the
phrase ‘mise-en-scene’
• Mise en scène – literally “placing on stage” in French – is a common
term in film analysis and criticism circles.
• To explain it simply, mise en scène refers to what we see
onscreen in a film [or in this case a music video]. It’s the film’s
visuals; meaning, all of the elements that appear on camera
their arrangement.
• Therefore everything that the director and artist has chosen to
include in a video we can assume is deliberate therefore we can
discuss the meaning of this relating to the artist
“Everything in the frame can carry meaning.”
https://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/mise-en-scene-in-film-afk
18. CAMERAWORK
• As with any moving image text, how the camera is used and
how images are sequenced will have a significant impact upon
meaning.
• Camera movement may accompany movement of performers
(walking, dancing, etc) but it may also be used to create a more
dynamic feel to stage performance, by for instance constantly
circling the band as they perform on stage.
• The close up does predominate, as in most TV, partly because of
the size of the screen and partly because of the desire to create
a sense of intimacy for the viewer. It also emphasises half of the
commodity on sale (not just the song, but the artist, and
particularly the voice)
19. EDITING
• Though the most common form of editing associated with the
music promo is fast cut montage, rendering many of the images
impossible to grasp on first viewing thus ensuring multiple
viewing, there are videos which use slow pace and gentler
transitions to establish mood.
• This is particularly apparent for the work of many female solo
artists with a broad audience appeal, such as Dido.
• Often enhancing the editing are digital effects which play with
the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the
audience. This might take the form of split screens, colourisation
and of course blockbuster film style CGI.
20. ANDREW GOODWIN
• Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
e.g. stage performance in rock video, dance routine.
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
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, telescopes,
etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos, artists
etc).
22. GENRE CHARACTERSTICS
• Musically each genre is definable by their sound, structures and
techniques
• Music videos follow this, generally, and reinforce the brand values
of the artists and to place them within their genre
• When you look at something from a genre, you should be able to
quickly tell if it’s typical of that genre
• By matching a definable genre this helps artists reach the right
audience [or if they are vague, to explore different aspects of a
genre]
• If we can assume that the aim of an artists, at any level mainstream
to niche, is to reach an audience and sell records/etc then being
identifiable and fitting into a genre is important
23. SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTIC
• According to Rick Altman in his book ‘Film/Genre’ you can look at
the features of a genre as follows:
• Semantic – the signs or conventions; the building blocks –
iconography, setting, costumes, etc
• Syntactic – the arrangement/relationships between the blocks
and/or the structural and deeper meanings
• Broadly from the breakdown of what you see and then how you
link them together and infer meaning you can develop a wider
description of the genre
• As a starting point you can list the semantic points quickly and then
build up the meanings of these later/over repeated viewings/across
a number of examples
24. GENRE: HIP HOP
CHARACTERSTICS
• Watch the following hip hop mash up of the history of the
genre’s most iconic videos and make notes on what you can see
[how the camera is used, what the performers dress like, use of
colour, editing, etc]
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AJm9XhidiM
• Answers to some of this on the next slide, DO NOT PEEK!
25. GENRE CHARACTERISTICS
HIP HOP EXAMPLE
How many did you get? Be honest!
• Low angled camera shots
• Crowd/group shots – men often part of a group
• Sports clothing/depictions of physical prowess
• Mise-en-scene signifies status – expensive clothes/items/etc
• Partying/hedonistic/extravagant behaviour dominates
• Close ups of artists – often gesturing/gesticulating
• Voyeurist depiction of women – both in male and female led tracks
• ‘Adult’ themes or behaviour – ‘issues’ with law enforcement agencies
• Objectification of women – men in power often, women interchangeable/faceless –
misogyny
• Did you spot more? What are they…
26. INTERTEXTUALITY
• Visual reference in music video coming from a range of sources,
though the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion
and art photography.
• Essentially, it’s where a product [in this case a music video] is
influenced in it’s style, look, etc by another product, which could
be a film, tv show, arts, etc
• In the early days of MTV fashion references was prevalent. This
sometimes takes the form of specific catwalk references and
sometimes even the use of supermodels, as by George Michael
in both ‘Father Figure’(Morahan/Michael 1988) and ‘Freedom’
(Fincher 1990).
27. INTERTEXTUALITY - CINEMA
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Madonna Material Girl (1985)
Madonna’s Material Girl is heavily referential to the Marylin Munroe film
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in it’s look and choreography
Doing this takes not only the look of the original text, it also takes people
associations for this and combines it with other reference to create a new
28. INTERTEXTUALITY –
FASHION & PHOTOGRAPHY
Robert Palmer Addicted To Love
(1986)
Shania Twain Man I Feel Like A
Woman ( 1999)
Robert Palmer’s video from the 80s was highly referential of fashion [and 80s
attitudes], Shania Twain subverts this and creates new meaning and
something more relevant to the 90s.
29. INTERTEXTUALITY –
VIDEO GAMES
• The influence of video games will predominate for the younger
audience with the more plasticised look of characters emerging
– (as seen for example in Robbie Williams’ ‘Let Love be your Energy’
dir. Olly Reed 2001 and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers ‘Californication’
dir.Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris 2000)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Californication 1999
Robbie Williams Let Love
Be Your Energy ( 2001)
These videos look
pretty awful by
modern
standards, can
you think of
better ones?
30. INTERTEXTUALITY -
SUMMARY
• John Stuart’s description of the music video “incorporating,
raiding and reconstructing” is essentially the essence of
intertextuality.
• Using something with which the audience may be familiar to
generate both potentially nostalgic associations and new
meanings. It is perhaps more explicitly evident in the music
video than in any other media form, with the possible exception
of advertising.
31. STYLES AND TECHNIQUES
• In the following section you will see examples of the different
styles prevalent in music video production
• Your task is to list each style in your notes with the example
given and a brief description for each – you will need this later
to help you when you construct your case study!
32. INTERPRETATION
• Literal and non-literal interpretation of the meaning of the song
• This could be from the lyrical content or from the musical theme
or tone
• A relationship between some aspect of the track and visuals
needs to exist – this is often easiest by making more obvious
interpretations
• Goodwin breaks down the relationship between the song and
video as follows:
– Ilustration – the video has a more literal relationship with the song,
it illustrates what is being sung about
– Amplification – the video builds on the themes of the song and
moves from merely illustrating it – it develops the themes and
reinforces the message [if there is one]
– Disjunture – the video appears to operate at odds with the song
and creates new meanings by doing this – commonly this happens
more with more niches acts of artists with no saleable ‘face’ like
dance acts, etc
33. STYLE, CONVENTIONS AND
TECHNIQUES
• Styles: popular music genres; in-concert and ‘as live’ footage;
animation (stop motion, digital); interpretative; narrative;
impressionist; surrealist; pastiche; parody; referencing; homage;
influence of commercials
• Representative v Non-representative videos and how they relate
to genre is worth considering when looking at styles of
music/video
35. PARODY
• Video work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or
a work for comic effect or ridicule
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE
• Beastie Boys – Sabotage
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM
• The Lonely Island – On a Boat
36. REFERENCING/HOMAGE
• Videos that have a reference to another artist or song or
product
• Again, overlaps with parody and pastiche
• Homage is close to referencing and pastiche, but constructed in
a more reverential way
38. EXTENDING/CONSOLIDATING
SONG’S MEANING
• To extend or consolidate the meaning of a song or text is to
build on the information within the song [either musically or
lyrically] and provide a visual aspect to reinforce the artists
intended meaning
• This is also what Andrew Goodwin would explain as
‘amplification’
• This is where a video may not literally link to a video’s lyrics, but
use imagery and techniques to extend or further explain the
content of the video
39. TERMINOLOGY &
TECHNIQUES
Terms and explanations you can use in your case study:
• Cutting to beat – whereby the video is edited using the beat of the music – commonly
each beat indicates the cutting from one shot to another.
• Using the pace of the track to guide camera movement and choreography [or action and
dancing] is also prevalent
• Effects – special effects, CGI, etc – sued to created sequences not possible in the real world
• miming and lip sync/playback and lip sync – method to achieve convincing ‘as live’ and
simulated performance of singing [whether by the artist or other performers]
• multi-mage – use of multi-images on the same screen
• camera movements; camera angles – similar in convention to films/TV, the use of camera
conveys/implies different meanings and is often snycopated with the track
• chroma key – use of green or blue screen technology to be able to composite
background/foreground around performers
41. EXTENDED VIEWING TASK
• During the following videos, note the name of the artist/track and write
down anything you notice in the video that links to what we have already
looked at today, think about:
– Styles
– Techniques
– Purposes
– Intertextuality
– Camerawork/editing
– Genre Conventions/Characteristics
• The intention here is to expose you to some videos you may not have seen,
or that are outside your own genres of choice. They are visually interesting,
sometimes challenging but all ideal for analysis.
• By watching them and having a think about what you can see and how they
realte to the music and what meanings are created for you, it will allow you
to extend your critical skills and begin to prepare for the Task 3 Case Study
42. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – A-PUNK
DIR. GARTH JENNINGS
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XC2mqcMMGQ
• This video employs a clever one shot technique, where the
peformers mime to a slowed down version of the song to
facilitate the movements and changes. It also contributes to the
jerky nature of it, which is a side effect of speeding the footage
back to normal speed to re-sync with the track.
43. DANNY BROWN – GROWN
UP
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHfWY0is3rE
• The theme is about growing up and the use of a child performer
matches this perfectly. It also provides an entertaining
juxtaposition to the actions he’s performing.
• The match cut at the end to the grown up Danny Brown is really
well done.
44. HOT CHIP – I FEEL BETTER
DIR. PETER SERAFINOWICZ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvSjYYep3t4
• The director subverts the conventions of boy band videos to
memorable and surprising effect.
• If you don’t know the band, you won’t see the twist coming.
• Also, it’s strangeness adds to the re-watchable nature of the
video and produces something people will share with others for
the effect.
45. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM –
OH BABY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gIhrPGyu6U
• Directed by Rhian Johnson [Brick, Looper, The Last Jedi and
Knives Out]. Takes the central premise of the song and creates
narrative around the loving relationship and subsequent
tragedy [with sprinkle of sci fi]. It helps that it has superb actors
in it.
• James Murphy of the band said that the video was so good that
it didn’t become something that supported the song, the song
became something that supported the short film.
• An exercise is how to say a lot with only a short time and giving
the audience room to fill in the blanks.
46. ‘THE GREEKS’
IS TROPICAL 2011
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwrbyVaC6EU
• Video works to initially amuse but then shock. Ultraviolent cartoon
imagery, juxtaposed against kids playing. Prefaced a
controversional set of videos by the directors and the band
• Preceded their debut album in June 2011
• Working with MEGAFORCE – French production team
• So far has 3.5 million views on YouTube, 10 million plus on Chinese
equivalent – the video was a viral hit on release providing the band
with increased profile and publicity
• Won a UK Music Video award, D&D Yellow Pencil award, etc
47. BONOBO - KERALA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Q4gqBUs7c
• Starring actress Gemma Arteton, video operates in every
shifting loop with strange, unexplained occurrences. The video
leaves lots to the audience to put together in terms of
meanings.
• The video is also ‘non-representational’ which is where the artist
is not present in the video a common convention in more dance
orientated videos.
48. IDLES –
MERCEDES MARXIST
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W6zK9givao
• Initially amusing, but then approaches themes of a more serious
nature.
• The mise-en-scene and subtlety gives rise to various
interpretations.
49. SUMMARY
• Context is important when analysing media products
• Compare and contrast artists within and outside a genre –
highlighting in characteristics
• Consider where an artist is in terms of their profile, are they
mainstream or niche, etc.
• Use the Goodwin material as a framework if you’re stuck.
• Remember, semantic and syntactic
