Choosing a song

Choosing a song has been a hard process at first I wanted to do Naive by the kooks , the video would consist of an ex boyfriend following his ex around however the group as a whole didn't feel that the song was the right way to go, we then thought of Example's Playing in the Shadows', the song seemed to go well wtih the idea of rebellion a young guy creating trouble within his surrounding  while a young girl waits for him at home. this idea seemed to hit a ressinence with the whole group and we all thought the whole neo-noir, dark and twisted feeling would go really well however we hit a wall when we realised that the video would only work at night and we as a group didn't have the knowledge or equipment to make the lighting itself work. After this the group was really stuck in mud as we had no idea where we wanted go apart from the fact that we wanted to do a song that wasn't about love as we thought lovewas to conventional theme and it would be difficult to get two actors to potray a couple in or out of love. Finally we came up with the idea of Eminem's 'Beautiful' the song was perfect it had a great message and had the dark, sombre tone we were looking for. we liked that the song was about showing your true self and not letting others tell you who to be, plus the lyrics enabled us to use may conotations and the in end we decided that Eminem's Beautiful was the perfect song for us.

Deconstructing album covers

Media studies: Eminem Album Cover

·         The title is presented on the top of the album in block form with the letter E backwards much like what Eminem does with his own name on the album this denotes that it is an Eminem album without having his name as we see Eminem’s signature backwards E, this connotes a sense of everything being slightly out of place and backwards on the album itself it also connotes that everything on the album cover isn’t quite right. The name itself encore suggests that people want more and that he is giving the people more of what they want, the connotations are that it is his final performance of the show his last encore and this may go with the fact that Eminem was becoming addicted to prescription drugs at the time and was also having writer’s block.

·         The CD cover presents  a long shot of someone who looks like Eminem take a bow on stage he is wearing a blue suit with a red tie which matches the curtains in the background with the blue curtains opening up to the red curtains,. This has strong connotations  as blue is quite solemn colour it is usually associated with tranquillity and a sadness, it is a very calm colour and may represent the exterior Eminem puts on for everyone, however the dark red colour usually  represents anger, rage and passion and this may represent who Eminem really is underneath the calm exterior. With the blue curtains rolling back to reveal the red curtains  may connote that encore is an album in which Eminem is peeling back his calm exterior and is letting loose with his true self meaning that some of the songs on the album  will be no holds barred.

·         On the album cover we see Eminem or someone who looks like Eminem  in a blue suit with his head bowed , this is quite unusual as we usually don’t associate Eminem as someone who wears formal clothing this may show that Eminem has become someone he is not  and also maybe that this is what people think he should be a white man in a suit with no personality his head is bowed so we can’t really see his face properly and his name is not on the album this is like curtain call the album in which we also can’t see Eminem’s face, this may have been done as a way of selling the album rather than the artist

·         On the album we also see an audience closes to the camera they are made of mainly white middle aged men and women, this is also strange as they are exactly the opposite to Eminem’s target audience, this may have been done to show the abstract feeling of the album itself and also may be a way of  putting a finger up to the people who hate is music and who he represents this is seen through Eminem almost bowing in a mocking way before the audience almost saying that here I am, this is my music do your worst.

·         There are two spotlights placed right on Eminem as he is on the stage this denotes that all of the lights are on him and all are looking at him and seeing what his next move is and also may be to try and high light the importance of the album itself to Eminem as  at the time it was looking like Eminem’s last album.

·         The album covers main colour is blue which may symbolize the sad undertone of the album itself and also the sadness that it may be Eminem’s last album.

Narrative based videos

There are three main types of music videos  that are made in the music industry they are:

• Concept based videos
• Performance based videos
• Narrative based videos

A narrative based music video is a video which follows a story line( or a narrative) throughout the entire video. It usually has a fictional protagonist played by the singer or an actor solely created for the music video, the characters in the video are usually mute so that there is a focus on the song and not the video alone.

The  protagonist usually has a dilemma or problem which they face throughout the video or they would have a story arc throughout the video and the lyrics sung by the singer or band would usually represent the protagonists feeling or their situation 

An example being Bruno Mars 'Grenade' 

The video consists of Bruno Mars as the protagonist as he draws a piano through Los Angeles in order to play a love song to his girlfriend. In the video we see Bruno Mars drag along this heavy piano which may symbolize his relationship as being a heavy burden which he alone drags we see along the way many people look at him  and laughing and questioning him for carrying this piano and almost trying to make this relationship work, he is attacked by a gang who knock the picture of his girlfriend out of his hand however he picks it up as to show his persistent to get to his girlfriend but also to make the relationship work however when he reaches his girlfriends house we see her and another man kissing on the window sill which connotes that she is very openly cheating and does not feel the same way for the protagonist that he feels for her. he turns his back and walks to away as if to turn away from the relationship however he still carries the piano which connotes that he still has this heavy burden upon his heart he ends the video as he carries himself and the piano and himself onto the train track which finally connotes the end of the relationship and evrything to do with the relationship.

Examples of Intertextuality in Music Videos

The influence of video games will predominate for the younger audience with the more sophisticated look of characters emerging,as seen for example in Robbie Williams's 'Let Love be your Energy'  which was directed by Olly Reed and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers 'Californication' which was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.Also another  style which has predominated throughout music video's is the Japanese style of 'Anime'  with the success of TV shows such as Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z and Digimon the intertextuality between the two media texts was bound to occur we see this in Linkin Park's Breaking the Habit, Directed by John Hahn, and also Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger and directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi, a veteran director for Toei animation.                       

                                           Californication by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers (2000)

 Let Love be your Energy by Robbie Williams (2001)

Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park (2003)

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk (2001)

Media and Audiences

Hypodermic Syringe
It assumes the audience are passive and that all members of the audience are the same and respond in similar ways.

• It makes simplified judgement about the audience.
• It is this theory that blames texts for specific events

'Demonised Media Text'

• Child's play (1988) was blamed for the influence of the Jamie Bulger's murder because of its way of making child like objects become objects of violence.
• Mailyn Manson was blamed for the Columbine High School shootings in which two senior students went into their school and killed 12 students and further injured 21 other students, Marylin Manson was blamed for his imagery and lyrics within his music however it has been said that neither of the students were fans of his music.
• Natural Born Killer's director  Oliver Stone was  sued for inciting violence within his film however the case was later dismissed. the film has been connected to other  murders and massacres within america including the Columbine High School shootings in which one of the killers used the film as a way of secretly planning the murder.

Cultivation Theory

• This theory considers the way the media affects  attitudes rather than behavior. The media is seen as part of our socialisation process
• Through repetition; attitudes, ideas and values may become 'normalised' or 'naturalised' i.e if you watch enough films which justify the use of violence you may feel that violence is something which is normal and justifiable.

Problems
The theory doesn't really look at other things in life which affect a persons behaviour i.e socialisation within the the home or outside the home.

Utopian Solutions Theory

Richard Dyer's Utopian Solutions Theory

Inadequacy	Poverty	Confusion	Exhaustion	Isolation
Solution	Abundance	Clarity	Energy	Community

This theory assumes that media texts gives people a choice of compensation for the inadequacies in their own lives.

An example of this solution being put to use would be an anti-smoking campaign in this there would be clear motives based around Dyer's theory e.g better health, better family life, save money, understand the facts.

Feminist Film Theory and Audiences

Laura Mulvey's 'The Male Gaze'(1975)

• Cinema reflects society.
• Therefore cinema reflects a patriarchal society.
• How does a patriarchal manifest itself in cinema?

Erotic Desire 

Mulvey argues that women have two roles in film;

• As an object of erotic desire for the male characters.
• As an object of erotic desire for the audience.

The Gaze

• The 'gaze' of the camera is the 'male gaze'.
• The 'male gaze' is active however the female is seen as being very passive.
• Within the narrative male direct their gaze towards the female characters.
• The spectator is made to identify with the male gaze , because the camera films from the optical point of view,as well as the point  of view of the male character.
• Thus creating three levels of the cinematic gaze - camera, male character/s and spectator- that objectify the female character.

Problems with the theory

• The theory assumes that all women are presented as erotic desire throughout film however their are female characters who are supposed to be anything but an erotic desire.
• With the turn of the century, women have gained more equality with men and now are being represented as heroes, villains comedians in film.
• It also assumes that this may also apply to male characters being seen as the erotic desire.

User and Gratification Theory

U&G

Users of the media use media texts to satisfy their own needs. the theory looks at the idea of the audience being in control of what the media industries and that media texts are based on our own needs as human  beings. the theory is based around Maslows heirachy of need.

  Top of heirachy

• Self Actualization- being content in yourself and knowing who you are 
• Ego- this is recognition from others, prestige and status
• Social (Belonging)- Acceptance ,being part of a group, identification with a successful team.
• Safety/Security- Physical safety, economic stability, freedom from others
• Physiological- Physical survival needs; food,water,sleep,warmth,exercise

Bottom of heirachy

Problems with U&G theory

• We may not have a choice about what we watch.
• Neglects any aspects of effect theories.
• Neglects socio-economic factor.

Performance Based Music Videos

There are three main types of music videos  that are made in the music industry they are:

• Concept based videos
• Performance based videos
• Narrative based videos

A performance based videos are music videos which mainly focus on a singer or a band performing the song. This is mainly to the camera however at times can be to an audience i.e a recording of a an actual real life  concert performance in front of an audience.
Performance based videos are usually used by rock bands such as ACDC and Linkin Park in order to give the music a rock concert feeling  and make the viewers seem more involved.
An example is Maroon 5's 'Sunday Morning' which starts off with the bands song being played at a karaoke contest then it shows the band recording the song this done to mainly sell the band and the song rather than the video and also to make it seem like a documentary or a behind the scenes on Maroon 5

Concept Based Music Video

There are three main types of music videos  that are made in the music industry they are:

• Concept based videos
• Performance based videos
• Narrative based videos

A concept based music video, is a music video which has no structural based narrative and the lyrics do not fit the music video. However the video has a certain concept in which the entire music video is based around, this is usually quite an abstract concept which gives the video a unique selling point, for example  the video may use many visual effects throughout the video to give the  entire video its unique style.
An example of this is Alex Clare's 'Too Close', the video first released to 'Youtube' on the 15th March 2011, it opened to a small number of viewers however after the internet explorer 9 advert campaign the video accumaulated ove 3 million views. The video consists of Alex Clare sitting on a stool singing while two kendo fighters do battle in an urban deserted factory as the backdrop. This may have been to sumbolize the concept of love being a battle or the coflict in his mind on whether breaking up is the right thing to do.