Analysing Music Videos

This is the music video for the song "what do you mean'. The analysis will be according to Andrew Goodwin theory on the features of music Videos.

1.

Firstly we see a close up of Justin Bieber to show his star image and sell him as powerful and to act as a promotional tool for Him. This close up is shown alongside a high angle to show that he is the singer in the song and represents him as the star and to make the audience focus on him and his looks.

2.

Here, a wide shot is used to show a contrast between the two people shown in the shot, we see that the women in the back is not wearing any clothes. We can see that the women is showed in a more sexualised manner, of which this is done deliberately to attract a male audience to listen to this song. This shot also represents a gender inequality, allowing male views to objectify the female in the music Video, whilst the male artist retains more powerful.

3. 

this shot of Justin Bieber Kissing the girl is used to portray him as a sex symbol, it also is used to sell his star image and sell him and dominant and attractive. This also highlights the ideas of male gaze as 'sex sells'  and thus portraying him in a powerful manner. The colour within this image is a shade of red which connotes the idea of love, which again is used to match the performance to the narrative. The red colour is also used to portray the idea that he is no longer a teenager singer and is now grown up and dominant.

4. 

Here, Editing techniques such as cut to the beat and quick cuts are used to match the tempo with the visuals. 

5.  

discontinuity shows that the music is not working in order and keeps repeating the same scenes, in this case discontinuity editing is used to repeat the sex scenes which is shown multiple times within the music video, from different angles. The idea that the audience keeps seeing this scene also links to the idea of Voyeurism as the audience likes to watch. This again highlights the idea of sexualisation and to promote the male gaze as 'sex sells'

6. 

Discontinuity editing is again used, as the music stops half way through to make the music video seem more like a film. This is now a common convention in big artists as they can afford to dramatise the music video and draw attention to the artifice of the music video

Conventions of a Music Video

Andrew Goodwin in 1990 wrote dancing in the distraction factory which broke music videos down into easily definable features.

He stated that most music videos shared similar characteristics or conventions that demonstrated how they were different form television programmes or films.

• discontinuity editing techniques are employed. This means shots can be repeated, the narrative or story of the video doesn't need to make sense and many different locations cab be used to sell the artist and the song. 
• It is only the length of a song and generally features no dialogue just music.
• It is a promotional tool for the artist and therefore features close ups designed to sell the artists star image.
• lip syncing is generally a key feature and is employed to sell the artists looks and image.
• Lyrics tend to match the visuals 
• Music videos tend to be cut to the beat of the song. Music matches the visuals.
• The male gaze is always employed in music videos as 'sex sells'. Women are generally viewed in more sexualised manner with more scantily clad clothing.
• Music videos play intertextual reference to other media products (e.g. they are often influenced by films)
• Scopophilia (the art of watching or being a voyeur)

Analysing Bad Blood music video:

• through the use of the mirror appearing we see a long shot of Taylor swift demonstrating the notion of scopophilia as we see that she is being watched through the mirror
• further notions of scopophilia is seeing her reflection in the broken glass
•  the use of the title and font in rent is reminiscent of the film pulp fiction, showing the inter textual reference point
•  Close ups of her in a sexualised position is used to sell her star image 
• more sexualised shots 
• we can clearly see that its cut to the beat as when she says 'hey' the shot changes
• editing techniques such as slow motion, dissolves and jump cuts as well as split screen are used repetitively throughout as many of the shots are used over again.
• sword fighting is also cut to the beat
• There is a mixture of performance and narrative 
• Every time there is a chorus, it goes back to close ups of her to reinforce her star image, as well as showing that she is the one that is singing the song
• Lyrics match the visuals when she is singing bad blood and there is a fight on the screen
• arrange of different locations are used to sell her star image including her on a bike, in a boxing ring, being operated on etc.
• Through the use of fire and the girls shows and inter textual reference to films like charlie's angels.
• Low angle shot is used to sell her as powerful.

Welcome to A2!

Here is where the posts for my A2 media Studies begin.

This is year i will focusing on Music Videos, music video analysis and creating a product for a new artists, including:

- Digipac

- website

- music video 

These will be designed in order to appeal to their intended target audience. 

The genre of music I personally like is Pop, rap, hip hop and R&B. My favourite artists include singers such as Justin Bieber, Beyonce and Ed Sheeran