Presentation on the theories that my music video follows for my A2 Media Coursework Evaluation.

1. REPRESENTATION
THEORIES

2. MALE GAZE THEORY
I ensured that my video wasn't sexual in any way and
made sure that my video didn't reflect the theory of
Laura Mulvey. This is because I didn't want to give the
wrong message to the audience that would see the
video; I am aiming this at quite a young audience and
didn't want them to think that being sexual is the way
to do things. This is also because people can interpret
things differently and may think that being sexual will
get them popular. I think that this happens a lot more
in videos done by female rap artists as they a lot more
sexual in the language of their songs; e.g. Nicki Minaj,
Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks, so wouldn't be
conventional if I did it because it doesn't happen in
indie pop music videos - the lyrics are the more
important part. To do this, I used clothes that fully
covered the artist’s body, and also used a lot of long
shots and medium close ups so that there was no way
that the shots could be misconstrued as portraying
the artist in a sexual manner.

3. STAR THEORY
I do think, however, it follows Richard Dyer's
Star Theory because I have created a persona
for the artist. Although the artist isn't acting like
someone she isn't to be liked in real life, she is
playing the part of the character that is isolated
and lonely. This means that she is trying to fit
into a mould that has been created (the
character) but is doing it for narrative purposes
so that she can create an interesting and
entertaining video. I think this theory is
reflected in my video as well because the video
has a positive message and is saying that
people should love themselves for who they
are; this will make the audience feel good about
themselves and therefore could be seen as the
artist conforming to social norms because she is
trying to get people to like her by saying
positive things.

4. STEREOTYPES THEORY
In my video, I have used different outfits to
portray specific stereotypes that I wanted; this
helped to develop the narrative and make the
story more relatable for the audience. I used
Mean Girls as an inspiration for my video and
one outfit that is used to illustrate the ‘popular’
social group of girls is anything that is pink. This
is the reason that I directed the actresses to
wear this colour as this film is very popular with
teenagers – this is the main audience that I am
trying to aim my products at, so they will be
able to associate with the actresses who are
playing a specific role in my video and be able
to relate it to the film. This shot from my video
is also a perfect example of how I have used
stereotypes in my video as the two actresses
have their backs to the camera, illustrating how
they are ignoring everyone – even the audience
that are watching the product.

5. STAR THEORY
I do think, however, it follows Richard Dyer's
Star Theory because I have created a persona
for the artist. Although the artist isn't acting like
someone she isn't to be liked in real life, she is
playing the part of the character that is isolated
and lonely. This means that she is trying to fit
into a mould that has been created (the
character) but is doing it for narrative purposes
so that she can create an interesting and
entertaining video. I think this theory is
reflected in my video as well because the video
has a positive message and is saying that
people should love themselves for who they
are; this will make the audience feel good about
themselves and therefore could be seen as the
artist conforming to social norms because she is
trying to get people to like her by saying
positive things.

6. NARRATIVE
THEORIES

7. TIM O’SULLIVAN
Because my product contains a narrative within
the video, I believe it reflects the theory stated
by Tim O'Sullivan: that all media texts tell us
some kind of story. I have tried to demonstrate
the idea that the artist is trying to fit into a
particular group by changing herself and being
fake. I have done this mainly in the mise en
scene as the artist wears clothing similar to the
actresses and then nearer to the end, where
she disregards these thoughts of being popular,
I have used an editing technique to illustrate
the artist's ideology changing in a creative way.

8. HOLLYWOOD NARRATIVE
Pam Cook states that there are three things that
the standard Hollywood narrative has:
•Linearity of cause and effect with an overall
trajectory of enigma resolution
•A high degree of narrative structure
•A fictional world that contains verisimilitude
especially governed by spatial and temporal
coherence.
I think my video follows this theory because of
how it has a structure; there is the artist at the
beginning trying to conform to the conventions of
a particular social group, there is the realisation
that to be liked she just needs to be herself, and
then the ending in which she changes how she
looks to be more comfortable within herself and
reject the idea of how everyone changes
themselves to fit into a mould. I also believe that
my video contains verisimilitude because of how
it contains things that the audience can relate to
– therefore making the product effective.

9. EQUILIBRIUM OF DIEGESIS
Due to this theory set forth by Todorov; it states
that the narrative of a video has a beginning,
middle and end. I think that my video follows
this theory because of how it has a beginning, a
middle where there is a problem of some sort
which the protagonist has to overcome and
then an ending where the artist has chosen
whether to do something or not.

10. CATEGORIES OF GENRE
Kate Domaille states that every story ever told
can be categorised into one of eight narrative
types:
•Archilles
•Candide
•Cinderella
•Circe
•Faust
•Orpheus
•Romeo and Juliet
•Tristan and Iseult
I think that my music video would be
categorised into the Cinderella narrative type
because of how it contains a narrative where
the dream ends up becoming true at the end. I
wanted to create this type of video because I
wanted to create something really positive that
people would be able to relate to.

11. COMMERCIAL EXHIBITIONIST
This is the theory by Sven Carlsson, who stated that videos
are either performance or conceptual. In my video, I think
that this theory applies because of how it is mainly a
performance piece as it contains singing, although dancing
is not an element I have included. This is because I haven’t
tried to be artistic in the choices for my video but have
instead tried to portray the artist as an entertainer; this
makes her look appealing as she isn’t only singing the song,
she is part of the narrative and is performing and lip
syncing. I have included some shots that could be
considered artistic because they don’t particularly relate to
the narrative of my video and are there simply to make it
look interesting by creating something that is aesthetically
pleasing.

12. NARRATIVE/PERFORMANCE/ABSTRACT
In my video I wanted to follow conventions of the
indie pop videos I had already watched and enjoyed,
so that my video looked professional. After watching
existing products, I decided to not create an abstract
video because this isn’t something that indie pop
artists create very often. This is the reason that I
decided to create a narrative video, because I already
had an idea of the type of video I wanted to create
due to the song I had chosen to create my video to.
After looking at my finished product, I have realised
that the video I created is more of a performance
video, with aspects of narrative. I think this makes my
product effective because it makes the video look
really interesting and keeps the audience entertained,
and also includes a story which makes the video more
memorable. Combining these two types of video
makes the product look really professional as this is
quite conventional in the industry and artists quite
often mix types to create an interesting video.

13. AUDIENCE THEORIES

14. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
By watching my music video on any social
media platform, the audience are being active
and are choosing to do watch it; they aren't
being made to and it is their choice. They may
be watching it because they have heard positive
reviews on it and want to see what the fuss is
about; supporting the Uses and Gratifications
Theory set by Blumler and Katz. The audience
could also be watching it to give themselves
confidence, as they may already know the song
and its meaning so watch it because they are
feeling down.

15. RECEPTION THEORY
Stuart Hall states in his theory that media texts
are encoded by the producer of the product
with their values and messages. This means that
the product has a desired effect by whom it has
been produced by, which may not be
understood by spectators who see it.
•The dominant message of my music video is to
be confident within yourself and not to change
anything about yourself so that others will like
you.
•The negotiated message of the video could be
that the message of the video is being
stereotypical and giving a specific group of
people a bad image, but they like the message
of loving yourself and being true to who you are.
•The oppositional message of the video could be
that the video is stereotypical and that everyone
should be seen as equal, so reject the message
completely.

16. HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY
Due to the Hypodermic Needle Theory, I think
that the message of my video that would be
understood would be the dominant one. This is
because this theory states that the media
injects messages into an audiences head and
they believe anything they see and are
influenced by it. Because of how much the
radio is listened to, TV programmes are
watched and YouTube is searched on and
videos are watched, I think that my video and
song would be consumed thousands - and
possibly millions - of times and therefore a
message would be injected into the audience;
whether this be the dominant, negotiated or
oppositional message.

17. GENRE THEORIES

18. SYSTEMISATION
This theory by Steve Neale states that “genres
are not ‘systems’ they are processes of
systemisation” and the processes of
systemisation are: locations, costumes, props,
transport and narrative spheres of action. In my
video, I have used a variety of costumes
(different styles and patterns of kimonos, shirts,
shoes, pink cardigans), locations (town, tunnel
and plain white wall to name but a few) and
props (the stick that the artist hits against the
fence in one of the shots). I think that it is
important to have variety in a music video to
keep the audience entertained because
otherwise they would simply switch the
channel over or stop watching it on YouTube
and watch something else instead.

19. CULTURAL CATEGORIES
My video supports this theory because of how
it uses codes and conventions that are similar
to that of other indie pop music videos that
already exist in the music industry. I have done
this to produce a product that is similar to other
indie pop products and to ensure that it looks
of professional quality. I have used genre to sell
my product to a specific audience because they
will be able to associate my product with others
in the same genre because of familiar codes
and conventions. Because of how my product
looks, people will be able to be active and
decide whether or not they want to consume
my product in order to fulfil a particular
pleasure – which also relates to the Uses and
Gratifications Theory.