Carol Vernallis Theory

Carol vernallis theory from molmayrobinson

Banana Phone

 Below is the music video which I made for the song Banana Phone, I had to complete a number of different shots and then put them together in a sufficient order, going along to the music.



Women in music videos

In lesson today we looked at the different types of women which are protrayed in music videos, the example of these are shown below:
Burlesque Girl stereotype characteristics:

• Feather Boas
• Fishnet stockings
• Corsets
• Show hats
• Gloves

An example of a burlesque dancer style in a music video is in Bad Romance in the Lady Gaga music video, as you can see from the pictures below, both of the two are wearing similar outfits. 

The stripper characteristics:

• Bra and G-strings
• Stripper type shoes
• The open crouch - crouching with legs open
• Bum shot
• Poles, or walls

Below you can see that Beyonce has taken the stripper role in this music video, Beyonce often wears stripper like clothing, or does them kind of dances.

The final stereotype is the gangster hoe, the characteristics of these include:

• A cap
• Bling
• Bikini tops and short shorts
• Tattoos and piercings
• Sexual positions

A key example of this is Nicki Minaj, when you think about the gangster hoe Nicki Minaj usually comes to mind because of her sexual music videos.

Representation

In the different music videos there are different representations of women, however, most of the representations which are shown are women showing their sexuality and showing their bodies in a revealing way, by doing sexual dances, or wearing risque clothing, to hope to sell the songs, there are some different theories which have been made of the time for why this is done, this includes... 


Exhibitionism: Female performers being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of and inviting sexualised gaze, an example of this is Nicki Minaj in her music videos, it seems as though she is in control of how she acts and she actually wants to be seen as a sexual object.

Voyeurism: Sigmund Freud concluded that erotic pleasure can be gained by looking at a sexual object, this is usually done when the object is not aware that it is being watched (usually a female in a music video) this is the opposite to exhibitionism.

Raunch Culture: Andrea Levy goes against the increasing sexualised culture which objectifies women in her book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. She states that women are encouraged to see themselves as objects and to see sex as their only source of power, whereas this should not be the way it is. 

Male Gaze: Laura Mulvey proposed that because filmmakers are often male, the presence of women is often for the purposes of display rather than narrative. This is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a make gaze (regardless of the spectator's gender) one that is or may feel like a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display who is effectively objectified and passive. In male performance videos the voyeuristic treatment of the female body is often apparent, with the use of dancers as adornments to the male star ego.

STEREOTYPICAL TO REPRESENTATION
Blurred Lines - this video is very stereotypical to what you would expect a music video to be like now days, in the video the three men are fully dressed for the whole video and in smart/nice clothing. However, the women which appear in the video are always in very revealing outfits, in what looks to be underwear. The girls are dancing around the men and looking as though they are obsessing over them, therefore making the three men look as though they are superior to them.

COUNTER-TYPE TO REPRESENTATION

Ex’s and Ohs – this is a counter-type to usual music videos and instead of showing girls in inappropriate outfits and dancing, whereas in this music video for once it is the opposite – the girl is fully clothed and the male characters are the ones who are not wearing any clothing and are the ones who are also dancing provocatively. Which therefore is different to what you would usually expect to see in a music video. Most of the time the males look as though they are more dominating than the female characters and in this video it is opposite.

 

Production Diary

Above is the production diary for our prelim task of wonder wall.

Features of a music video

-Performance
-Artist/band lip syncing
-Narrative
-Repeated Locations
-Quick Cuts/ Multiple Cuts and transitions
-Dancing/ movement
-Choreography
-Cconcept
-Unusual locations
-Lyrics match visuals
-Mise En Scene styled to genre

Cross media task

ED SHEERAN

The first picture above is from the album which Ed Sheeran bought out, and the screenshots below that are from the music video which he brought out, following the release of the album; named Drunk. Throughout the music video the use of orange is at a high, this fits in with the album cover, which is bright orange.As you can see from the two screenshots orange is shown, in the first photo there is a orange tinge to the whole clip, as well as this, you can see his orange (ginger) hair, which might be the reason for why he chose to have the album cover as orange, to fit with his stlye. He also has messy hair in front of his face in the whole video, this is to once again fit with the album cover and connect the both together. In the second picture it is the cat playing on the guitar, which is the colour orange, to once again fit in with the album cover.

ELLIE GOULDING

You can see that the album cover and the music video are linked, this is because the theme of pink is featured throughout the whole of the music video. It is seen on her hair, as well as in the clothes she wears, in the album cover the main theme which stands out is the colour pink. As well as this, the genre of love is shown, and pink is a commonly used colour to show this emotion and therefore it fits in well. Also, in the screenshot I have posted from the music video on the left you can see a sunset, this is synergy to the album cover because the fade of colour from pink to purple makes it look like a sunset. Finally connecting the album cover, magazine artical and music video together is the hairstyle, in all of these three she has got her hair in the same type of style to link them all together.

Star Profile

Goodwin's 6 conventions

Goodwin's 6 conventions

1. Do the visuals match the music

2. Thought Beats

3. Genre related style and iconography present

4. Close- ups of artist to make a star image to promote band image

5. Voyeurism often major part

6. Intertextual references to other media, especially in comedy videos.

Grading music videos

In class today we first got given the mark scheme on how to mark music videos, we then annotated and highlighted on the mark scheme so that we would be clear on what it meant. After going through the mark scheme we then looked at some past videos from other schools. The first video which we looked at is the one below, which claims to have full marks, but however we marked it and thought otherwise.

I gave my thought of the grade which this music video would have got, by looking at the mark scheme, I believe the grade which it would have got is a level 4 and would have been around 34/40.

• The whole video had dark colours, which made the mood seem dark, dull and depressing. This definitely fits the mood of the song which is quite an emotional, sad piece. But however, although this is good because it fits together, in some points in the song it actually gets happier and starts to build back up, but even at this point the colours are still dark and cold making it still seem sad. At this point they could have had a chance to make the colours warmer and not so dark but they missed the opportunity and therefore it didn't go as well.
• The performance of the boy who was singing was really good the whole way through, as he put in his fullest amount of effort and tried to make sure it was a performance. But however in some parts it seemed as though the miming didn't match up because in some points he almost tried to hard to make it into a performance so that when there was slow parts in the song he was still singing as though it was a dramatic part, therefore not making it look like it matched up correctly.
• Some of the chasing sequences don't match up with the genre, this is because it is meant to be quite a indie song but instead it has been made to seem more urban, by the urban settings and the fast pace movements.
• The narrative was a clever idea, but I think it was confusing because too much happened and there was too many different people involved which therefore made it difficult to follow. 
• The shots were good, this is because there is a large amount of different kind of shots by the way they have positioned the camera, as well as this there has been different positions in the frame, this therefore makes the music video look very professional and similar to those which are already out.

The second video which we looked at is the one above. I do not think that this video is anywhere near as good as the first video, but still does have some good points about it. I think I would score this video a grade 3 but probably a high level, around 26 or 27.

• The video looks more like a film opening instead of a music video in some of the parts, this needs to be worked on to make it more clear.
• I think that the time-lapse which is used is over used, as many of the music videos which I have looked at have used the same technique of doing a time-lapse, I think that this effect is definitely over used and actually makes it look cliché.
• The tap scene in the beginning of the video is interesting and makes the viewer interested as to what is going to come up, as it is fast paced and goes with the music, but however after this clip has been shown the video quickly changes and becomes more slow, which doesn't really fit with the pace of the music.
• When the male is singing and he is standing still, he is placed in front of a black background, this looks really effective as they have made sure that he is well lit up. I like the way that this looks and think it adds emotion to his singing.
• The narrative is good, but can be a bit slow, it is a good idea to do a story but it can result in the video looking film opening like, just as this one may have.

I also had a look at this video above. I thought it was a really interesting concept and different to others which I have looked at. This is because they have really tried to play around with different materials and effects. I think this video would probably be a level 3, in the middle of level 3, probably about 24-25/40. This is mainly because it can get quite boring when the location stays the same throughout the video.

• Some of the times the boy performer doesn't have a straight face when the glitter or feathers is being thrown over them, this makes it look as though it is a joke, whereas the song makes it seem like it is a serious matter, they should fit together more.
• I really love the effects, especially when the glitter is thrown over the couple and it rewinds.
• Although the shots are interesting and they have done different things, a lot of them are quite dull and the fact that every shot has been filmed in the same location makes it seem more boring, and they could have added some different places.
• I think some of the shots look quite armature for example when they just zoom in on certain parts, like the girls shoulder, I do not think there was much need for that and looks like it is just gap filling.
• The speed of the transitions from the different shots look very effective as it is all changing very quickly, this fits in really well with the speed of the song and the feeling made from listening to it.

• I really love how the singer is a different person to the people who are performing.
• I think that the performers play a really good part and I think the narrative is a good amount so that it seems like a music video instead of a film opening, which is good.
• The camera work is really good in this video and the quality is really amazing.
• I think the

Music, Lyrics, Visuals - Solsbury Hill

The task which we did in lesson today was that we listened to a piece of music, which had a music video and then had to close our eyes and imagine what visual video would go well with the piece of music, we looked at the song called Solsbury Hill. The video which I thought of and what others in the class thought it could be like were very different to what the video was actually like.

My idea was that the video could be of a time-lapse throughout of different cities which are busy and bright with a lot happening and then there is the singer standing alone in the middle of the busy city singing this song. Therefore showing that he is quite isolated and possibly hurt, from the lyrics which I heard.

The other idea which was given on my table was that a family are all going on an adventure, possibly in a campervan and doing things like exploring and different activities in the video. They could do things like swimming in lakes and just around quite natural places, like fields.

Lollie had the idea that there would be a man who was in an airport trying to find someone, who could possibly be a close friend or maybe a lover. This is because it could seem as though the song is about love or heart break because of the lyrics ‘my heart was going BOOM, BOOM, BOOM’, therefore these visuals could fit in with the music.

Lollie also had the idea that the visuals could show a group of friends in a car exploring and travelling down a long and bumpy road having adventures together in the video.

Harry’s idea was actually to have an animation which was pretty different to ideas of others and he thought of having an eagle in the animation and the camera showing its travels and where the eagle went. The reason for the eagle was because one was mentioned in the first line and therefore the idea could be continued on in the video.

The final idea which was shared in the class was Ben’s idea, this was to have a group of Hippies who could be in fields and at a campsite, around them would be dandelions and peaceful things and they could be drinking and smoking weed for example. I could see the hippies wearing tie die t-shirts like stereotypical hippies would be wearing and just fitting with the nature kind of theme.

The actual video differed quite a lot from the ideas in which I had and the ideas which the rest of my class had and therefore I was quite surprised when I saw the video as I did not think it would be that way. The actual video was done in a very arty way and is meant to look very indie and different. I don’t think that the video necessarily makes sense that much and actually seems as though there is a large amount of different clips which are mixed in together when they shouldn’t be. But in a way I do think it looks pretty cool and different compared to other videos. Some of the ideas which my class had about nature being used was correct to an extent as there was a lot of plants shown, as well as fields which fitted with that theme. As well as that, my table said about the theme of family being used and actually it was used when the past videos were shown and you could see the family playing and being together so that was kind of correct.

What music means to me

Both the songs Creep (Radiohead) – 1993 and Wonderwall (Oasis) – 1995 – Although these songs came out before I was born both of these songs are real family favorites in the Robinson family and I enjoy the love the both of them.




Get this party started (Pink) – 2001 – I love this song and it has good memories because in year 3 me and Alicia performed it in the talent show by doing a synchronized dance and came third place.

Suberbass (Nicki Minaj) – 2010 – I love this song, especially the rap part and me and Alicia know all of the words to the rap sections in the song.

Performance, Narrative, Concept

Performance based music video

Performance music videos is footage of the band/the artist of them actually performing the music. This could be a live performance from when they were doing a concert or it could be a staged performance. The singers are the main focus of the videos and are usually shown the whole way through. The most common videos made in the performance style is indie and rock. The costing of the videos are not usually very high because it does not involve too much editing and work to be done to the video, as they want to show a realistic video. The negative to this style is sometimes it may look boring as you are just watching them perform and therefore they will have to be pretty well known for people to be interested in watching the video.

Performance videos contain:

• Shots of the artist performing.
• Could be a live stage performance, including shots of the artists as well as the audience.
• Could be real life situations, like talking, fooling around and warming up.
• A lot of close up shots are shown.
• Particular visual style, with props, clothing for example.
• Could be in an unusual place, for example a rooftop.

Narrative based music video

This is a music video when a story is often told throughout the lyrics or just suggested in the lryics, for example if there is a break up they usually try to act out the lryics. Most of the time the narrative based music videos are love stories are they are usually emotional songs which need to show the story to make it seem even more emotional and have a better effect. A narrative is often like a small film which has a beginning, a middle and an end and will often follow on from the story which is shown from the lryics.

Narrative videos contain:

• Very fast paced, with lots of shots and different cuts.
• It can often use intertextuality which means that it uses refrences from othr films, videos or TV.
• The story can often contradict, so that the lryics and the video are not parrellel to eachother.
• It could either be the artist who is involved with the story on the video side or people who are completely seperate.

Concept based music video

Concept videos are usually based around one idea or a concept and are different and unusal and seem surreal for the audience. This is done because it creates attraction because people might be surprised at the video and some people actually like the randomness and possibly weirdness of the video. The artist needs to make sure that the video is interesting as it can often get boring if it is not done correctly. A lot of the time the vdieos contain different styles so that it will keep the audience entertained. There are two different types of concept videos, these include thematic and symbolic.

Thematic

The thematic style of a concept video is when there are a lot of different common themes in the music video, as suggested by the title, this will depend on the genre of the music. or example if the song is by a rap artist then they often show a lot of street images which link well with the theme of the songs.

Symbolic

Symbolic videos have lots of symbols to build up meaning, for example by showing a graveyard it could show the theme of death. Often there are lots of different images shown to create some meaning or contradictory. The lighting of the video can be used a lot to suggest what the mood is supposed to be. For this genre it is usually very fast paced so that there is only a few seconds for each short so that there is more meaning. 

Concept videos contain

• They can actually contain anything as it usually pretty random.
• But, they are usually very unusual, to shock the audience and therefore keep them watching.