Intertextuality

Goodwin's theory states that music videos often contain intertextual references. This means that music videos refer to other existing media products, such as film or T.V. This can help to create and build meaning within a music video as the audience is already familiar with the concept that the particular video may be portraying.

For example, viewer's of Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' will be able to easily understand the narrative and themes of forbidden love due to the video referencing the Shakespeare play 'Romeo and Juliet'. These references can be found in the lyrics 'You were Romeo' and 'My daddy said stay away from Juliet', as well as the period costumes worn in certain scenes. The 'Romeo and Juliet' references take place in the artist's imagination, creating two parallel narratives, one set in the past with explicit 'Romeo and Juliet' references and one in the present that modernises the story.



Another example of intertextuality is Madonna's 'Material Girl' that references the film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', specifically the musical sequence 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend'. Madonna is shown in a very similar pink dress to the one originally worn by Marilyn Monroe, this creates a clear link between the two products. The composition of certain shots is also very similar, with both Madonna and Marilyn Monroe being surrounded by suit-wearing men.

   

This technique could prove to be very useful in making our narrative of being 'hypnotised' and wanting to escape more clear to the audience, providing we find a relevant source. However, it could also be quite limiting for our music video as it would draw comparisons to an existing product, taking away our product's individuality. As our target audience is described as 'individualistic', it would, perhaps, be wiser to create a wholly unique product as this would be more appealing to them.

Creating a 'Star Image'

I found the music video for HAIM's 'Forever' to be very inspirational. The video's shots are predominantly of the artists, identifying them as the most important element of the video. The emphasis on the artists helps to make them more memorable and recognisable, creating a 'star image'. This video is very similar to our music video, as we have also mostly included shots of our artist.

We want to ensure that we include many close-up shots of our artist in order to conform to Andrew Goodwin's music video theory that states that close-ups help to create a 'star image'. By making our artist a 'star', she will be more recognisable and, therefore, more popular and successful.

 Our video is currently more performance-based as we are yet to complete filming in some of our locations, such as the Capel Manor Maze. So, at the moment, our narrative isn't very clear. HAIM's video has also shown me that, despite being performance based, a narrative or idea can still be conveyed. This has made me less anxious about not having an obvious narrative in our music video.

Erving Goffman

Goffman's theory describes how men and women are usually presented in advertisements. Typically, men are presented as superior and dominant through strong body language whilst women are frequently presented as weak and submissive, usually seen in sexual poses. He also highlights the prevalence of female dismemberment, individual body parts, such as legs or lips, are shown with little regard to the person they belong to, thus, turning women into sexual objects. He also states that male authority is presented through voiceovers, usually sounding powerful and confident. Voiceovers are predominantly by men.

The advert below by 'Gucci' is an example of Goffman's theory in practice. The man is presented as powerful and professional as he is wearing a suit, compared to the woman who is wearing an extremely short dress. Furthermore, the woman is also in a provocative position, emphasising her sexuality.

Roland Barthes

Barthes likened a text to a ball of threads needing to be untangled, each thread standing as a different approach to how a text can be interpreted. A text can be open (with multiple approaches) or closed (with one clear approach). Barthes' 5 narrative codes are as follows:

Hermeneutic Code:

Any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery, this is achieved by avoiding the full truth or providing partial answers.

The Enigma / Proairetic Code:

Builds on tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates that something else is going to happen, this gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

The Semantic Code:

Connotation within the story that provides additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning.

Symbolic Code:

Similar to semantic code but acts at a wider level, organising semantic ,meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.

Cultural Code:

Refers to anything founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.

Ferdinand de Saussure

Here is a useful Slideshare that I found that explains Saussure's theory of semiotics:

Applying this to music videos:

In this shot from 'Snap Out of it' by the Arctic Monkeys, the signified is the idea of sadness, this is shown through the signifiers of the black nail varnish (black has connotations of death, mourning, sadness) and smudged makeup and tears (showing that the woman has been crying).

In this shot from Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud', the sign of the dancing woman signifies femininity and sexuality, the silhouette emphasising her body. The sign of the colour red also signifies sexuality as red connotes passion and love. 

Categorising Our Adience

After analysing our audience survey results, we have decided to target 16-24 year old females. Whilst our survey provided a lot of information about this group, I thought that I could further analyse the likes and dislikes of this demographic by applying various audience theories. it is important to have a thorough understanding of our audience in order to create a music video that they would find appealing, this is crucial for our product's success.

According to Young and Rubicam's Psychographics Theory, our target audience would be described as 'aspirers' and 'explorers' as these categories included younger people and students. 'Aspirers' are described as materialistic and orientated towards appearance and fashion, whilst 'explorers' are described as individualistic. For this reason, we are using fashionable locations, such as Brick lane and Camden, and fashionable costumes that channel the 'individualistic' grunge style.

Our survey revealed that our audience mostly watches music videos during their leisure time. This would mean that, according to the Uses and Gratifications Theory, our audience will most likely consume our product as a form of entertainment and escapism (diversion) as well as to form a sense of 'personal identity' as a result of relatable characters. As we are using locations and costumes that would appeal to our audience (as described previously), our music video will become more relatable and therefore, satisfy the audience's needs on a greater scale.

Audience Theory

Today we looked at audience theory in order to gain a deeper understanding of the specific needs of an audience. This will be useful to us whilst creating our music video as we will need to cater to a specific audience.

Demographics:

The demographics theory divides the adult population into six different categories. These categories describe the income and status of different groups, assigning each group a letter.

A - Higher management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals
B - Middle management, teachers, creative and media people, for example, graphic designers
C1 - Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses, specialist clerical staff - white collar
C2 - Skilled manual workers, plumbers, builders - blue collar
D - Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
E - Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers


Psychographics (Young and Rubicam):

This theory categorises the population based on behaviour and personality traits. Young and Rubicam developed the '4C's Marketing Model', the 'C's standing for 'Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation'. This is a very effective marketing tool as it helps companies to pinpoint a particular audience based on the probability of them liking the product.



Uses and Gratifications Model (Katz and Blumler):

This theory suggests that audiences consume media texts to fulfill specific needs. This theory assumes an active audience that makes active decisions about what they consume, based on their social and cultural setting. The needs described are as follows:

Surveillance - Our need to know what is going on in the world, for example, watching the news in order to be notified of dangers, this makes us feel safer.

Personal Relationships/Social Interaction - Our need to interact with other people. Forming a connection/relationship with characters in film and television.

Personal Identity - Our need to define our identity and sense of self. We choose to consume media texts that have similar beliefs to those we hold. We can identify and relate to characters or their situations.

Diversion - The need for escape, entertainment and relaxation. Media offering an escape from daily life.

Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze Theory

Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze Theory' describes when, in film, the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. this is achieved through the sexualisation of women, for example, close-ups of body parts take away women's identities and presents them as sexual objects.

Here is an informative SlideShare that I found that describes the theory in detail:

 

The Male Gaze Theory can be seen in many music videos, for example, Arctic Monkey's 'Do I Wanna Know?' and Nicki Minaj's 'Annaconda'. This shows that the sexualisation of women is an issue across genres, from indie to pop.



Above is an extract from 'Do I Wanna Know?' that shows the camera starting at a close-up of a woman's bum before zooming out to expose the rest of her body, with her face being the last part to be shown. This implies that a woman's face, or 'identity' is less important than her body - the close-ups of her individual body parts draw more attention to these areas.



Above is an extract from 'Anaconda'. The overtly sexual movements of the artist and performers, combined with sexual lyrics and revealing clothing, has reduced these women to sexual objects - their body parts are emphasised for the enjoyment of a heterosexual male audience.

Despite the Male Gaze being apparent in 'Do I Wanna Know?', an indie song, the sexualisation of women is less common within the indie genre as these music videos usually contain a serious narrative. As our music video is from the indie genre, it would not be relevant to include revealing costumes or close-ups of body parts. Our music video also contains the theme of female empowerment, with the protagonist being presented as being both reckless yet sophisticated, an uncommon representation of women in the media, sexualising the character may contradict this idea.

Richard Dyer Star Theory

Richard Dyer's 'Star Theory' suggests that a 'star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed out of a range of materials' by the media, for example, advertising, film and magazines. As the star is 'fictional', they are not limited to the music industry and may introduce trends to their audience. The 'star image' is likened to a brand, the star is created in order to generate a profit. For this reason, many stars branch out into the fashion industry, releasing clothing lines or make-up ranges.

A 'star image' is created through recurring themes within their products, such as a particular fashion style, images, fonts and logos. These motifs make the star more recognisable, memorable and successful.

Here is a helpful SlideShare that I found that describes Dyer's theory:

 

It is important to think about creating a 'star image' within our music video in order to make it more memorable and, therefore, more successful. We have already taken steps to create a 'star image', for example, our storyboard contains many close-up shots that emphasise the artist, making them more memorable. We have also chosen to include 'grunge' locations and costumes, this could be a recurring trend for our artist.

Goodwin's Theory

Theorist Andrew Goodwin states in his book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' that "Music videos ignore common narrative as they are essentially advertisements. As consumers, we make up our own meaning of a song in our minds: a music video can anchor meaning and gives the record company/artist a method of anchoring meaning". He identifies the key features of a music video as:

• Genre Characteristics - Relevant style and iconography.
• Relationship Between Lyrics and Visuals - Lyrics are represented with visuals, they can be illustrative, amplifying or contradicting.
• Relationship Between Music and Visuals - Suitable atmosphere for song, shots can also be edited to the beat of the music.
• Multiple Close Ups of Artist - The demands of the record label are fulfilled in order to create a 'star image'.
• Frequent References to Notion of 'Looking' - Screens within screens, mirrors, voyeuristic treatment of the female body. 
• Intertextual References - To films, T.V. programmes etc.