The document provides guidance on analyzing music videos from critical and contextual perspectives. It discusses examining how meaning is constructed through techniques like camerawork, editing, interpretation of the song, intertextuality, and genre conventions. The document also explores how music videos are used by artists and labels for purposes like branding, identity, and sales. Key points of analysis include the target audience, visual and technical codes, and how elements are deliberately planned.
Python Notes for mca i year students osmania university.docx
Music video lecture 2019 no media
1. MUSIC VIDEOC R I T I C A L A N D C O N T E X T UA L
P E R S P E C T I V E S
2. 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 !
3. KID ROCK
• 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!
5. PURPOSES OF MUSIC
VIDEOS
• There are 3 core purposes to music videos…
• What are they?
• Is the core aim for any act/label is to extend their audience?
• How do labels and artists fulfill these purposes?
7. 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….?
8. 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 pairs how each
artist is represented and what this indicates about how they use
music videos
• The discussions should highlight the contrasts in strategy and
audience for each of these groups
13. 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
14. 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
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
visuals; meaning, all of the elements that appear on camera
and their arrangement.
“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. 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
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
25. GENRE CHARACTERISTICS
HIP HOP EXAMPLE
• 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.
• Fashion 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).
28. INTERTEXTUALITY –
FASHION & PHOTOGRAPHY
Robert Palmer Addicted To Love
(1986)
Shania Twain Man I Feel Like A
Woman ( 1999)
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)
31. 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.
32. 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
when you construct your case study!
33. 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
34. 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
40. 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
in a more reverential way
42. 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’
43. TECHNIQUES
• Cutting to beat – whereby the video is edited using the beat of
the music – commonly each beat indicates the cutting from
shot to another.
• Using the pace of the track to guide camera movement and
choreography [or action and dancing] is also prevalent
44. TECHNIQUES
• 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
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
is often snycopated with the track
• chroma key – use of green or blue screen technology to be able
to composite background/foreground around performers
45. 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
48. HOT CHIP – I FEEL BETTER
DIR. PETER SERAFINOWICZ
49. ‘THE GREEKS’
IS TROPICAL 2011
• 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
• Is Tropical worked with MEGAFORCE on further videos in 2013,
‘Dancing Anymore’ which was removed from YouTube for it’s
graphic sexual content
• Also worked with Richard Kern and were the first Western band to
ever play in Mongolia
53. 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
