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. 

Digipaks

A Digipak is a style of optical disc (CD, DVD, etc.) packaging typically made from cardboard with one or more plastic trays attached that can hold discs, it is an alternative to the standard jewel case packaging.



Digipak - Loud (Rihanna)

Jewel Case - Born to Die (Lana Del Ray)

The advantages of Digipaks over jewel cases include:

. More eco-friendly as less plastic is used
. More compact as they are made out of cardboard instead of thick plastic
. Easier to store and transport as they are lighter and thinner
. More hardwearing - jewel cases often shatter or snap
. More room for graphic display

Digipaks are also a lot more versatile than jewel cases, made from 300gsm card, they can have a matte, gloss or spot varnish, with lamination and embossing also available. The standard dimensions of a 4 panel Digipak are 139.5mm x 6mm x 125.5mm, they are also available with 6 and 8 panels.

Digipaks will usually contain:

. Album name
. Artist name
. Track list
. Featured tracks
. Logo
. Parental advisory label (if necessary)
. Social media information
. Reviews / Quotations
. Copyright information
. Produced / Written by information

Tame Impala - It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

'It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards' perfectly fits all of the key characteristics of an abstract music video - there is the clear repetition of images as well as a vivid colour palette whilst not containing a perceptible narrative or lip-synching.

Applying Andrew Goodwin's theory, this music video is typical of its genre. As expected for a psychedelic rock/pop song, there are bright colours and geometric shapes and patterns. The constant movement within the shots also helps to add to the 'trippy' atmosphere. There are also multiple links between the lyrics and visuals, for example, when the lyric 'It feels like we only go backwards' is heard, the shot zooms out and the images move further away, they appear to be 'going backwards'. 'Call my name' is accompanied by the visual of a talking mouth. The repetitive lyrics are mirrored by the repetitive images, particularly the reoccurring 'human head' motif. There is also a link between the music and visuals, for example, the shots are cut on beat and the movement of images is in time with the music, matching its pace. Whilst there are no close-ups or shots of the artists, the name of the band appears at the start of the music video, reminding the audience of their brand and enforcing the 'star image', albeit in a more subtle way.

Even though this music video is of a different genre to the one that we hope to create, I have found it inspirational. The video has a psychedelic feel and repetitive images link to our song choice, particularly the lyric 'hypnotic taking over me'. The bright colours would also suit the upbeat tone of the song. I think that the group could find similar images in our Brick Lane location that have been graffitied on walls. I also like the spiral movements within the video, I think that we could incorporate this technique by having spinning camera angles, this would add to the theme of hypnotism.

Below are stills from the music video displaying the bright colour palette and geometric shapes that I want to emulate in our own music video:

    

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.

Framing and Composition - Camden Shots

Whilst filming in Camden, we spent a lot of time framing each shot, ensuring that each had interesting visual elements that conform with framing and composition rules, such as the rule of thirds and diagonal lines.

We used the rule of thirds when composing this shot. The main focus is the clock so we made sure that it was at one of the intersecting points of the grid. I like the black space on the right-hand side that contrasts the bright orange and blue lights on the left, the clock in the centre of these two sections, I feel that this places more importance on the clock as the focal point. I also like the repetitive aspect of the vertical lights that draw the viewer's eye across the frame, again, leading to the focal point.



Perspective was the most important element of this shot. The high angle combined with the lines created by the edges of the walls lead the viewer's eye to the centre of the frame, where the focal point of the artist is.





We used the eyeline rule for this shot, my eyes are exactly 1/3 of the way down the shot. We also centralised the focal point to emphasise its importance.





We used leading space on the left-hand side of the subject (our artist) to add fluidity, the diagonal line created by the bottom of the wooden door also helps to add movement as the eye is drawn across the frame, from left to right, towards the focal point. We also used the idea of surrounding the subject as a way of drawing attention to it, the painted 'Jack Daniel's' image acts as a frame whilst also helping to balance the empty space around the subject.


I like the repeated diagonal lines within this shot, created by the lights on the tunnel ceiling. This adds movement and draws the eye across the frame, this element of movement is also supported by the ripples in the water and the off centre positioning of the focal point (the artist).





Again, we used the eyeline rule for this shot, ensuring that my eyes were 1/3 of the way down the frame.








We used the rule of thirds to make this shot more interesting. The tunnel ceiling lying 1/3 of the way down the frame and the railing starting 1/3 from the bottom of the frame. We also ensured that the boat was roughly where the grid lines intersect. Diagonal lines were also used to add movement.




We contradicted the eyeline rule in this shot as we wanted the character to appear more vulnerable and lost, fitting with her mindset and the music video's theme of escaping.







We played on the perspective of this shot in order to create movement across the image. The diagonal lines help to emphasise the movement within this shot (the shot actually pans across the bridge).