A2 Terminology

Terminology


Homogenous Group: A group that all have the same characteristics

Mediation: The selection and construction of material in how it is given over to audiences via editing and point of view

Hegemony: Traditional stereotypes that are reinforced and circulated as common sense to audiences

Marginisalisation: How stereotyping can lead to someone or a social group being ‘placed’ on the outside of accepted cultural norms

Ideology: An overarching set of ideas often uses as a form of social control

Moral Panics: Issues in society that often lead to the blaming, and marginalisation of a scapegoat

Deviancy Amplification: Associated with moral panics, this explains how the media exaggerate a negative representation to ensure a dominant shared reading

Liberalisation: A more diverse, tolerant, equally acceptable approach

Pluralism: Again, more liberal suggesting and range of different, challenging representations

Web 2.0: Interactive internet media e.g. blogs and social networking

Manifest: Obvious, on the surface meaning

Cultural Stereotyping: The stereotyping of social groups in society by the media

Prosumer: A producer and consumer of media

Passive Audiences: Audiences that accept and do not challenge representations

Iconic: Well known and respected

Aspiration: Looking up to something or somebody

Encoding/Decoding: Putting meaning in, taking meaning out

Dominant, Negotiated and Oppositional Readings: The intended meaning of a text, where meaning is uncertain or where audience have decoded a completely different reading

Anchorage: How meaning is made more definite

Binary Oppositions: Where representations are deliberately different to construct further meaning

Latent Meaning: Less obvious meaning

Memes: Internet ‘stars’

Star Profile

Representations in music videos

Voyeurism - is the subtle exposure of sexualised images which are not too much in your face but are still very noticeable.
I have used the video above to show an example of Voyeurism as Era is wearing a see through top with a black bra which is unmissable, however she is covered in a coat and no shots are directly of just her boobs which shows a more subtle approach to how women are sexualised but not to extreme measures.

Another representation would be Male Gaze which is the extreme exposure of sexual images among a music video.


This Rihanna video is a good representation of Male Gaze as throughout the video Rihanna is constantly naked and covering her chest looking like she is a vulnerable and sexy women. To contradict this Mikky in the video is fully clothed head to toe and is not at all sexualised in anyway.

Another is Exhibition which is where women control their sexuality and are very powerful within themselves,


I have used the Beyonce video to portray this as she is able to choose what she can wear and men will still find her sexy as she is so iconic and well known people have already seen her in next to nothing and now there is no longer a big need to. She is able to wear a big jumper and little knickers and still look great.

The last is a Ranch Culture which is how many videos are filled with sexual images, which is a high majority. For example these videos below show this.

Music Timeline

Music video genres

Pop -
Constant quick cuts to show them all happy and having fun along with having lots of bright and out going colours in order to make it stand out. Lots of choreographed dancing and movements. Pop music has a high expectation for their music videos to be fun and crazy, this video outlines this expectation. The establishing shot of this video already gives you an indication that the video maybe quite crazy but still very fun as Hayley is in a boat with 2 men on a river of balloons.


Dubstep -
Really random cuts and camera transactions, which fits with the music but also contrasts as it is such a random but fun song. Although this song has a story there is so real narrative to it and does not tell a real story. However this is fine because Skrillex have to keep to their reputation of having random music followed by random songs.



Country -
The cuts are shortened in this clip as well as the limitations of the editing as country music is not always as crazy with their videos unlike others are like pop and rock genres are. This is because it would not fit the music and the lyrics as they are usually more relaxed and gentle unlike the ones above.

Carol Vernallis' Music Video Theory

94 cuts are used throughout the video. A large majority are at the beginning and at then end where the two girls are fighting in a dance style.
There were a numerous amount of close ups when a new character is introduced so that you are able to see there face and identify what they look like.
The face paint on all the people create an interesting effect throughout the video and leaves you wondering what it is about and why they are doing that. Editing was used to create bright colours to go with the masks and the overall theme of the music video.

Carol Vernallis' Theory -

1. Narrative
The video is a visual response to the music cuts in time and rhythm with the soundtrack. There is not always a balance between the narrative and performance


2. Editing
May match the musical phrases or the beat. Cuts are generally to the beat of the music


3. Camerawork
Extreme shot types are common (e.g. extreme close ups), also mid shots and close ups are used on the main artist to create star image

4. Diegesis
A world within the video is created and revealed slowly

Music, Lyrics and Visuals - the relationship

In todays lesson we listened to the song 'No rest' by dry the river and expressed our initial ideas of what we thought the music video of the song would look like. We next had a class discussion about our ideas and analysed the lyrics.

My initial idea-
The initial thoughts I wrote down whilst I was listening to the song were:

Indie
Depressing
Sad love song
Pleading for love
Gig image
Male indie band
Quite rock and roll genre'd
Overall my initial thoughts on what the music video would look like were a male orientated indie band playing this song at a gig. The narrative seems to be about a man pleading for love from a women who he lost.



The class' initial ideas-
There would be a wedding, flashbacks of the main singers life, street performances, the lead singer regrets a break up so stalks the girl to get her back, choreography in a barn, binary opposites of dancing dinosaurs in a field contrasting with a quiet campfire, hazy performance with an audience, the lead singer walking down an everlasting corridor with photos of a relationship with some cracked photos.In today's lesson we listen to the song No Rest by Dry the River and created ideas of what we thought the music video would look like. We then had a class discussion about our ideas and analysed the lyrics.

Lyrics analysis-
"No Rest"

I used to be a king alone 

(used = past tense - looking back) (king = power over others, capitalism, in control)

Like Solomon or Rehoboam

Ancient kings
And in the eaves, the Corvidae
Did jealous keep my picture frames
And everything did oxidate in place.

Negative

But then you came, a single cell

(came = past tense)
With astrolabe and carousel
And algebra and symmetry

(Confusion, disorientation = complicated imaginary)
And none of this was lost on me

(lost = alone, lonely)And I could see how still I’d been before
(still = calm)

If I don’t eat, I don’t sleep at all
Like limbs in procession,
Like so many birds

(birds= indie, nature, calm, freedom)Stampeding like oxen,
Our hearts are a herd

I loved you in the best
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best

Did you see the light in my heart? (optimism)
Did you see the sweat on my brow?
Did you see the fear in my heart?
Did you see me bleeding out? (struggling)

I loved you in the best
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best…

After analysing the lyrics, they confirmed to me that the song was about a sad love story and that the lead singer was struggling and very confused.

Actual video - 

After watching the music video and comparing it with my initial thoughts, they were in complete contrast. This music video is a concept as the visuals do not match the lyrics, there is no performance or narrative involved. When watching the music video, I now realise that the soundtrack is too slow and calm for a gig environment/performance music video.

From doing this task, it had given me more of an ability to visualise what a song would look like if it was a music video. This technique is useful when choosing the song for my music video as we will be choosing a song with no music video - so we have to make up the visuals.

I feel with a music video the visuals need to match the genre, for example, if the song has a genre of pop - the visuals must be fun and exciting to match the upbeat genre. With our music video, we plan to match the tone of the music with visuals which match.

Music Features

What music means to me

7 Years ago - this song was one of the first things I ever really heard and actually enjoyed and due to this it has always been one I've liked however it's not my taste of music anymore. It was the song i would listen to with my sister and we would try and make up some kind of dance. This song was always able to cheer me up if i was down.


5 Years ago - this song reminds me of my year 6 school trip and I listened to this song 24/7 the whole time I was there and it never got old. It makes me smile every time i hear it as i think of all the fun i had and also when i twisted my ankle but still managed to have a great time. This would be the song that me and my friends would always sing and dance to.

  Now - my music genre has changed quite a bit now and find myself liking different kinds of music and ones that are slightly random. However my genre is varied and I do not have one particular one that I enjoy the most. This song always makes me want to jump up, dance and have a laugh!

Andrew Goodwin's six different conventions

1- Parallel music is shown in the video below as the lyrics match the visuals as the song is called 'Make me wanna die' and the visuals portray a very dark and gloomy sensation in connection to what she is saying.
 

2 - Thought beats. This videos lyrics are very sincere and enables you to imagine what is going on without even seeing it. These lyrics make people think deeper about the way they are and realize that they are all in fact 'beautiful' no matter what way they are.


3 - Genre related style. In this video it uses mise en scene costumes to relate it back to the rock genre that it portrays. They do this by wearing black outfits and having fire effects surrounding them.
 

4 - Multiple close ups, In this video it has many close ups of the singer as she is new to the industry and will need her face advertised so that she can become known.


5- Voyeurism. This video is a good example of voyeurism of women and how they are portrayed as sexual objects and a bit of fun.


6- Intertexual references. This video is a remake of an original song which was produced years ago, it has been re-done in order to re-vamp it.