representation in music videos..

1. in music videos…
Representations

2. What does representation mean?
 Representation is used to present a group or an
individual person. A way to understand the
concept of representation is to remember that
watching a TV programme is not the same as
watching something happening in real life. Media
products can re-present the real world by
showing something that looks like reality but is
not. Its important to think about how a group or an
individual person are being represented to the
audience and why.

3. Key representational
categories…
 Gender
- Objectification of women (the male gaze).
- Or men as objects.
 Age and class
- Youth, wealth and beauty – ways of advertising.
 Ethnicity
- Rise of ‘urban’ and ‘r&b’ – rejection of racism from the
past.
- Black and white mix – two markets coming together.
 Region/place
- Typical representation examples:
- Ibiza – dancing, partying and clubbing.
- London – grimey and dull.

4. Example…
 In rap videos women can be
represented in a way that
objectifies them to seem more
like sex objects rather than
people. It is typical to see black
men being represented as thugs
as they are seen being covered
in tattoos, smoke pouring out of
their mouths etc. Some people
may look at this and think they
are cool as they are showing off
their money, cars, women etc
however many people look at
this negatively too. This kind of
representation will make different
types of audiences feel different

5. How we are going to use
representation in our music video…
 We want to represent our artist in a way that shows she is
youthful and carefree. We would like to show her having fun in a
number of places which is meant to show that she can have fun
anywhere and anytime. It is important that we represent her as
young and happy because our target audience will most likely be
a similar age to our artist which means she may be
impressionable on the audience. Its also important to show her
having fun in a number of locations because the audience may
be familiar with some kind of locations and then when they are at
them locations they can be reminded of our artist. Also, to see
her having fun is all these places may make the audience feel
happy which is an aim of ours.