Michel Maffesoli's theory

Michel Maffesoli is a French Sociologist who discovered the theory about 'Urban Tribes.' According to Maffesoli urban tribes are micro groups of people who share common interests in urban areas. These small groups of people tend to have similar views on the world, dress sense and behaviour patterns. They also share a common interest in urban areas. 

An example of a urban tribe would be the 'Punks.' Shown below, famous for their bright mow hawk hair styles, extravagant make up styles and leather clothes. They all seem to share similar ideas about music taste, listening to rock and punk music together. Drugs, drinking and sex can also be seen as an important part of their life styles.

Myself i think i would belong to the 'Rahs' tribe. Males and Females who follow high street fashion within shops like Topshop/Topman and New Look. Sometimes they follow more expensive clothing lines such as Jack Wills. People from this Urban tribe are normally from a more Upper Class background although this has probably been downplayed since birth. This group is very apparent within society and people who follow this tribe are either loved or loathed by people outside of the group.



Different groups with consume music in their own way. For the 'Rahs' we consume music by listening to the radio while doing our make up in the morning. Through our Iphones while on the move and maybe using music channels on TV in the evenings. Music is quite key and an interest but isn't necessary. It is more apparent on weekend nights when socialising and partying is involved.




Different music genres are linked to Urban Tribes and this is normally recognised within society. For example the 'Chavs' - Council house and violent are known for wearing tracksuits, fake Burberry and consuming lots of alcohol. They would listen to rap/grime music. You will normally see them consuming this media by playing the music out loud on their mobile phones or loud while driving around in their cars. An example of a song a 'Chav' might listen to is shown above. It is called 'Who's Dat,' and it is sung by DJ Cameo and Paperbwoy feat The Grime Wave. The artist's in the video represent the same Urban Tribe by wearing tracksuits and heavy chains.

An example of another Urban Tribe is the Metal Heads. Similar to Punks but a lot darker and more Gothic influence. They are known for dressing mainly in black leather and Doc Martin boots and wearing lots of silver metal on their bodies and clothes.They would listen to heavy metal rock bands like Slipknot or My Chemical Romance.Consuming their favourite music would probably be through using their headphones and Ipod or at a Rock or Metal Concert. To the right shows a video from the Heavy Rock band 'Slipknot' called 'Psychosocial,' the video reflects the Urban Tribe well as the video is very dark and gothic. The costumes and fire in the background add an element of danger and fear as they are quite creepy to look at. The singers also scream some parts of the song in a husky scary voice which adds to the effect.

Frame by Frame

Before doing my full music video I did a preliminary task to gain a bit more experience in filming a music video and editing it. Above shows the finished edit of Miley Cyrus's song '7 Things.' 

What went well ?

-All of the props and costumes we needed to copy from the original video were things we already had from home.
-The background of the video (grey screen) was easy to find, we used a photography studio we found in our college.
-From an editing point of view the continuity is quite sharp, the clips all seem to run smoothly one after the other to give it a professional look.
-In the original video it was all shot in the same location, so we managed to do all our filming quite quickly in the same place.
-I think the soft lighting works well as it doesn't look too harsh and is more airbrushed and clean like how the lighting in a music video looks.

What would I improve for next time?

-The lip syncing is a little bit off time in some parts of my video. To improve this next time I think it would have been better to actually sing the part of the song and then mute the clip in editing to make sure the movements of the mouth are in time and they look more realistic.
-Include either clips from the original video of the band playing or film my own so that it is even more like the original video and gives the audience something else to look at.

 
 
Below shows screen shots comparing the original Miley Cyrus video and my re-make.

The lighting used in the Miley Cyrus video is quite simple, it looks like it was filmed in a studio with soft lighting to highlight areas of people's faces. The lighting is quite flattering and plain. As you can see in the screen shots below we tried to copy this grey background with soft lighting in our studio. It did work well but I think we should have used more soft lighting around the face of the person singing to highlight their face and almost airbrush it, like in the Miley Cyrus video.


We also tried using similar props to the original video to match the look in the Miley Cyrus one. This include a rose, teddies, a mobile phone and a snow globe.

 

Narrative Theory

Todorov, the Bulgarian Philosopher developed his own ideas about Narrative structures of media texts. He came up with a theory which was the norm to him and what he believed to be correct. We can apply this to music videos.

His theory starts off with an Equilibrium- this is where everything is normal and as it should be. There is then a disruption to the Equilibrium- this upsets the normal balance of life. Then something effects the hero- this is the recognition of the disruption. There is then an attempt to repair the disruption and the hero continues on with his quest. Equilibrium is then restored, not exactly the way it was before but the hero defeats the villain.  

An example of a music video that agrees with this theory is from the band Blur for their song Coffee and TV.

Click here to watch the full music video.

The Narrative begins with the family being happy and all together this is the Equilibrium. However then the Son goes missing, this is a disruption to their normal equilibrium and upsets the family. Pictures are posted on milk cartons to help to track him down. As shown in the screen shot above.

The milk carton then tries to cheer the family up with his dancing as he sees how upset they are. This is where the milk carton or the 'Hero' recognises something is wrong with the families equilibrium. He becomes upset because he sees how upset they are so he goes off on his mission to find the missing person.

The milk carton then attempts to repair the disruption, he goes on a quest to find the missing man. He speaks to different people- shown in the screen shots to the right to see if they have any information for him to help find the missing man.

The milk carton then discovers the missing man playing in a band. He brings him back to his family and they are over joyed. 

This is the part where the
Equilibrium is restored. However it isn't exactly as it was before because the milk carton then dies.




An example of a music video that disagrees with Todorov's theory is Coldplay's song 'The Scientist.' It tells the story of a couple that are in a car crash. However it goes back in time. Chris Martin, the lead singer walks backwards through out the whole video. Back in time until he reaches just before the crash happened. It doesn't go in chronological order like Todorov's theory states is correct.

Other Narrative features that music videos use could be:
Multi-stranded... where different of different narratives are woven together.
Fragmented... where different parts of narratives that may not be woven together are put in any order.
Flashbacks... a part of the narrative that portrays something that has happened in the past.

Postmodernism

Modernism was a Social/Art and Political movement that aimed to reinvent culture that people felt had become outdated. This was roughly between the 1890s-1960s. In reaction to this from the 1970s Postmodernism occurred. 

Postmodernism was a break of the rules, the breakdown of the barriers between genres and styles. In media texts things were mixed up, for example time, space and narrative. Fiction, reality and representation were blurred together also. People became more used to a mediated version of reality rather than a reality itself. This is called Hyperreality and is there theory from Bandrillard.  

There are different ways in which a music video could be seen as Postmodernist. If one media text makes a reference to another this is called Intertextuality. A parody is when someone mocks something else in an original way. A Homage or Pastione is when an artist works in a style that imitates that of another work, artist or period. This is a self-conscious imitation. Finally a Bricolage is mixing up and using different genres and styles.  


   

Goodwin Essay

For this essay I am going to look at the music video for 'Princess of China,' the collaboration between Rihanna and Coldplay's Chris Martin. This video was directed by Adria Petty and Alan Bibby. 

This track is from the pop genre, the video doesn't show as obviously as some pop videos from artist's such as Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift that it is from the pop genre. The video does include characteristics to indicate it is from the pop genre. Rihanna wears revealing clothes and camera angles focus on this to encourage the viewer to look at her in a sexualised way (voyeurism.) This is shown in the screen shot above when she wears a tight black dress with the majority of her thigh showing.  

There is also a 'love story' part to the video where Rihanna and Chris Martin stand head to head and sing to each other and look into each others eyes. A music video with scenes like this which show clear feelings and emotions are the majority of the time from the pop genre as pop songs tell more of a story.

The title of the song is 'Princess of China' the whole of the video relates to China, with the mise-en-scene, locations it is filmed and the Chinese symbols shown on two occasions at the start of the video. 


Some parts, but not many in the video match the lyrics to the visuals. For example when the Rihanna says 'Burning Bright' in the first verse of the song she wears bright colourful clothes to match the lyric. 



Another example where this is present is during the chorus. The lyric is 'Let me go.' Rihanna and all the other dancers stood behind her wave their hands out to make them look almost like butterflies flying away.




Parts of the video co inside with the speed of the song. The start of the video is a good example of this because it is a slower pace and Chris Martin walks to the beat of the music. Then after this during more up beat parts of the song the video flashes between shots of different locations to keep up with the pace.

Chris Martin is an artist from a band who rarely collaborates with other artists. Rihanna does sometimes duet with other artists but these have only been R&B artists, where as Chris Martin is from a pop/indie band. The video is similar in ways to their normal work. Lots going on, different locations and things to look at. Rihanna normally relies more on dancers in her videos, which is also present in this video but not as heavily. Camera angles focus entirely on the two of them so that they are promoted as artists.

Rihanna's music video's normally show her in a very sexual way. To the right shows two screen shots from her videos 'Rude Boy' and 'Hard' through out these videos she dances and wears clothes to encourage people to look at her in a sexual way. The camera focuses on parts of her body like her chest and bum to also encourage this. However Princess of China is only one of her video's that doesn't really encourage voyeurism. It could be because of the male influence in the video, to make it seem like more of a subtle love story. This video is very different to Rihanna's normal work, it doesn't include any intertextual references to other work or other artists work.

During this video there isn't really a narrative story to follow, it is more of a performance based video between the two artists.

In conclusion, this video between Rihanna and Chris Martin is from the pop genre, it isn't like Rihanna's normal work and is also out of the ordinary from Chris Martin's normal work. The video doesn't follow a story line but is more performance based with emphasis on the settings and mise-en-scene during the video.

 

Analysis of album covers

Album artwork is very important to an artist and gives indications about the type of music it is that they produce. It also is a selling point to encourage costumers to purchase their product.

Here is an example of famous album artwork from the band Green Day. The text dominates a lot of the cover so that it is clear who the artist is. The text is in bold font that really stands out to the eye to give it quite a harsh look. The colours used are black, red and white. The black and red suggest it is from the Rock genre as these colours are normally associated with the music. The image of a bloody heart also suggests it is from the Rock/mental genre because of the negative images associated with a 'broken' heart.

The next cover i want to look at is one from the artist 'Nicki Minaj.' The main part of the cover is taken up by the close up image of the artist. She has very extravagant make up on using lots of different colours, mainly pinks though. The background behind her consists of paint splatted walls in bright happy colours. This suggests that her music is from the pop genre because of all the bright pretty colours that are normally used in a pop music video. Bold colours, especially pink are associated with this genre of music as it's very fake and happy like the songs they sing. Again the colours of the text are mainly pink and if not are in a rainbow colour selection, to suggest the music is happy, fun and probably the sort of music people would like to dance to. The font is made to look like it has been painted on to co inside with the paint splatted wall in the backdrop of the photo of Nicki Minaj.

This next cover to the left is from Rihanna's album 'Talk that Talk.' The cover is quite simple, it just consists of one picture taking up the whole cover. There is an 'R' in the corner to stand for Rihanna. She is such a famous artist that she only needs her initial to be recognised as who she is. Having her picture as the cover also promotes her as an artist even further. The misce-en-scene in the picture could be seen to encourage the viewer to look at Rihanna in a sexual way. The animal print top and the bright red lipstick she wears encourages voyeurism. She also looks directly into the camera, sticking her tongue out too encourage this further. The title of the album is writing in small typed font along her arm to not distract away from the main image of Rihanna. The cover might not be as obvious that it is from the pop genre as Nicki Minaj's because it doesn't use the pretty pink colours she does but the mise-en-scene and everything about the image of Rihanna suggests it is from the pop genre.

Pop, Indie and Rock music video conventions

Music Video Conventions- Pop

Music videos use lots of different conventions (mise-en-scene, camera angles, etc) to illustrate to the audience what music style the song is. Normally it is made so obvious through these features that you can tell what genre the song is even while there is no sound.  

Pop music videos use conventions to illustrate their genre such as:

- Voyeurism , in the treatment of females mainly but sometimes males to encourage the audience to look at the person in a sexual way. 

Examples of this can be seen in Cheryl Cole's music video for 'Under the Sun.'

The video uses lots of close up but quick shots or pans across her thighs, chest area and bum while wearing tight fitting, revealing clothes and heels. This suggests to the audience she is trying to be flirty and to look at her in a more sexual sense. 

Also in the second screen shot there is a low mid shot focusing on her thighs. Behind can be seen the legs of three school girls in their knee length skirts and high white socks. The sexuality of Cheryl's tight skirt and heels is made more obvious to the eye because of the innocence of the young girls costumes in the back drop.  

- Dance routines, pop video normally use very energetic, lively dance routines with lots of extra characters. Camera angles make sure they use lots of close up shots on the artist to make it clear to the audience who the actual artist is.

Beyonce's - 'Run the World' has lots of extras in the filming of the video as seen in the screen shot to the left. They perform together in a large group as it is more exciting for the audience to look at. However the costume used makes it apparent to the audience who the main singer is. Beyonce dresses in bright yellow, where as the backing dancers all wear the same black shorts and top combo. There are lots of different outfit changes through out the video but Beyonce always stands out so she can promote herself as an artist to the audience.  

Camera angles in the music video of 'Run the World' have a lot of variation. There are lots of panning shots and wide angle shots like in the screen shot above to show the setting of the video and all the dance routines. But as shown in the screen shot to the right there are plenty of close up shots of Beyonce to show to anyone watching the video who doesn't know her that she is in fact the artist of the song and to promote her as an artist to encourage people to listen to and buy her work.

Music Video Conventions- Indie

Indie music videos are not that different to pop videos. Pop videos seem to use in general a bright, candy coloured colour scheme where as indie videos use very natural, earthy colours. This can be seen to the right in the screen shot of Ben Howard's music video for 'Keep Your Head Up.' The colours used and the setting are very peaceful and tranquil and try to reflect nature.

 

Locations of Indie music videos normally include scenes filmed in beaches, parks, lakes, rivers, etc like seen in the screen shot to the left the artist collects water from a river. This gives it a more chilled feel to the music rather than a rock or pop video that normally have quite manic videos with a lot going on in them. 

 

 

Shots still include close ups of the artist playing an istrument, normally a guitar or singing so that they are promoted as an artist in the same way a pop artist is.



Music Video Conventions- Rock

From looking at Rock music videos from different artists they all seem to be very similar. They all include performances if they are in a band. Shown in the screen shots from Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven.'

 

Perfromance is more apparent and important in a rock video compared to a pop or indie video. It promotes the band and shows more about what they can do.

The colour pallet in a Rock video is a lot darker and uses a lot of red and blacks. It makes it quite obvious to the audience before they've even listened to the song what genre it is going to be from.