This document analyzes a music video production based on various film and media theories. It discusses how the video conforms to some conventions of music videos, such as using amplifying relationships between visuals and lyrics, while challenging others like using purely performative elements. It also examines how the video utilizes theories around voyeurism, narrative structure, intertextuality, and ideological discourse to both reinforce and rebrand the artist's image. The analysis draws on frameworks from theorists like Barthes, Goodwin, and Dyer to understand how the video engages with issues of authorship, narrative closure, and constructing a star persona.
2. BRIEF
• The production of our campaign attempted to
conform to conventions of music videos, by using
theories, such as Barthes’ binary oppositions and
Goodwin’s arguments concerning the relationship
between visuals and lyrics. while challenging other
music videos conventions, like the use of lip syncing to
create intimacy between artist and audience through
meat shots, such as the introduction of characters in
Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood’. This was achieved by the
creation of a purely narrative based music video
creating clear artistic continuity with magazine
advertisement and Digi Pack.
3. GOODWIN’S CRITICAL FRAMEWORK
• Goodwin’s critical framework can be clearly
applied to our music video and is evident as
we have executed our video to utilise his
theory. We produced an amplifying
relationship between lyrics and visuals, while
at points the visuals were directly relatable to
the lyrics. An example of such an event is
during the first scene where the protagonist
can be seen to take a pill, directly referencing
the line, ‘Take an Adderall to take the edge of
the crazy’ this line becomes increasingly
important as the video becomes a display of
events of the apparent effects of drug taking.
At the point the pill is taken the visual colour
saturation changes reinforcing this
amplifying relationship.
4. • The use of colour grading strengthens the relationship
between lyrics and visuals. However, our video largely
consists of amplifying relationships, as evidenced
through the use of camera work such as to reflect the
lyrics, an example of this is the use of a pan up until the
camera reaches our protagonists face to create an
audience affiliation with the character through the
desire to be positioned with her, before a cut to the
shot of the fire to reinforce the lyrics ‘don’t look back,
in case of fire’. This is a lyric we have utilised
throughout the music video as well as using clips of the
protagonist running away.
5. • Goodwin's reference to voyeuristic media texts link into our
attempt to portray gender in a way which causes ideological
discourse. I believe the use of POV shots was particularly
voyeuristic as it directly positions the audience with the character.
Thus creating a binary opposition with the fetishistic shots we
could’ve use
• Looking into the form of our music video the structure of a purely
narrative video is unconventional as the vast majority of videos
have an element of performance, to give the opportunity for the
director to add meat shots to create intimacy between characters
and audience, thus adding to the artists star image, such as the
shots in Sharron Jones’ ‘I learnt the hard way’
6. • Our Use of text illustrates the narrative nature of our
video, drawing parallels with Kendrick Lamar’s ‘These
Walls’, another narrative based video, it adds to the
narrative video, to create the effect of a small film, as
music videos tend not to have titles, or credits.
• Our promotional campaign as a whole largely
conforms to the conventions of the genre, through
the use of visual motifs and iconography
• Intertextual references were made within the video,
to the funk genre, such as the ‘UP12 FNK’ (uptown
funk) number-plate, this helped create cohesiveness
through our products with the original album.
7. • We also challenged the conventions
of the genre, as the video we
produced was purely narrative, this
is something the artist, Mark
Ronson has never done before, thus
adding to the initial aim of
rebranding, as this new video
format adds to his meta-narrative.
• The integrated title on the digipack
is also unconventional, as usually a
stand alone title is created
alongside the image.
8. • Our Texts are polysemic. Thus allowing us to tap into Barthes
death of the artist book, which states that the auther or
director of the video is no longer solely responsible with
making the video, but the audience is. Introducing the concept
of an open media text.
• Our Text is open because there are varying connotations which
can be drawn from the girl and her actions.
• Despite our text being open, our video does have some form
of narrative closure, Utilising Pam Cook’s theory, the Enigmatic
Ark, as the text is resolved with the intercutting of the fire
during the final sequence, highlighting the isolation of the
character, and referencing the events in the rest of the video,
suggesting there is a consequence to the protagonist’s actions.
• The pills also link the first and last scenes, linking cause and
effect.
9. • We wanted to introduce narrative fuzz to
increase the repeatability of the video,
intimacy between audience and character
is created through the characters frequent
looking through the camera lens. The final
scene does offer some closure, however we
do not know the cause of the house fire.
• To contribute to Dyer’s star image theory
we drew inspiration from the cinematic
techniques pioneered by historical
directors, thus adding to Mark Ronson’s
meta narrative, making him look like a
music video pioneer, an example of this is
the use of jump cuts.
10. • Semiotics can be used to deconstruct text. Our use of
semiotics predominant purpose was to fulfil Dyer’s star
qualities.
• An example of this is the fire, being an iconic sign of
anger and rebellion. This metaphor continues
throughout the video, and the whole campaign,
supposedly showing the volatile nature of the girl, and
simultaneously showing the volatile nature of youth.
• We wanted to create ideological discourse in our
campaign. Our products challenge the dominant
ideology towards gender in music videos.
• This was achieved by challenging the ideology of women
in music videos simply being half of a relationship, as
seen in Sharron Jones’ ‘I learnt the hard way’ whereas in
our video the girl is a standalone protagonist.
• This Ideological discourse is displayed throughout the
campaign, with the fire on the digipack relating to the
damage a girl can do through the metaphors of
rebellion and youth.
