Media Studies Induction Blog

Andrew Goodwin’s Music Video Theory Goodwin’s theory states that there are some key aspects to a music video: Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean in our own head). Relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The narrative and performance of the song. The technical aspect of a music video. The star image which is demonstrated through camera shots etc... Genre conventions and iconography. Voyeurism Intertextuality, parody and pastiche There are 3 ways in which visuals are used to promote a song: 1.        Illustrate: music videos use certain images and shots to explain the meaning of the lyrics to the song and the genre. 2.        Disjuncture: the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video. 3.        Amplify: This is when the images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly throughout the music video and is ingrained into our vision. Goodwin believes that a music video can promote its song throug

Analysis of Madonna’s ‘4 minutes’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘LoveGame’ Both music videos feature artists that break various conventions and stereotypes through the performances and narrative. In Madonna’s ‘4 minutes’ we see a certain narrative being established. Although it is not a linear narrative, we see that as an overall music video there are certain elements that tell a story on Madonna attempting to save the world. There seems to be a clear emphasis on binary opposites between human versus time as the number ‘4’ is featured repeatedly throughout the music video. The editing of the song adds to the ‘race against time element’ as we see Madonna continuously jump and travel between cars and various objects and places such as supermarkets and treadmills. The editing is fast-paced and mostly ‘cuts to the beat’ thereby conforming to American music videos. These features add to the ‘time-ticking’ aspect as they act as obstacles in Madonna’s path yet she is able to overcome it ever so easily.

Pink’s music video stupid girl encapsulates many ideologies that seem to contrast with each other. The dominant reading of this text is feminism which is explicitly shown through the mise-en-scene. We see that in the initial 10 seconds, a young girl has to choose between the stereotypical female which is portrayed as the devil or a non-stereotypical female which is portrayed as an angel. The binary opposites clearly capture the producer's meanings and highlight that to be women you cannot possess stereotypical traits. This is evident in the entire video, despite being a dominant feminist reading, portrays the stereotypical women in a negative light. Throughout the video, Pink herself takes on the role of several stereotypes of Caucasian women in American society and uses them as a mouthpiece to convey her message. The fact that they are portrayed negatively suggests that although it may be a feminist reading, it contradicts several values and beliefs of other waves of feminism.

In the 1950s Tide print advert, we see a clear representation of women.   Firstly, we see that the Tide advert has lots of red fonts as well as a distinctive theme throughout the advert. The colour red in colour psychology suggests power and dominance. Here we can clearly see that although the colour red may be associated with females and feminine adverts, it may also suggest the dominating nature of the product and its superiority. The product is shown being hugged by a woman happily smiling which may represent the regressive attitude that a woman loves household chores and will continue to fulfil domestic duties.  Secondly, we see that the tide advert personifies the product as a man. We see that the product is specifically personified as a man as the bold red font reads “Tide’s got what women want”. Here it is evident that the advert is using the characteristics of the man such as power and dominance (hence the colour red) to persuade the readers of the print advert to buy

Narrative Theory Narrative is created to appeal the audience. It entices the audience.  Most themes are consistent in old folk stories even if they are from different cultures.  Vladamir Propp studied Russian folk stories and discovered 31 character functions.  Propp discovered that there are 7 character types in most folk stories :  The Hero  The Villain (struggles against the hero)  The donor/enabler (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object) The helper (helps the hero in the quest) The Princess (often sought for during the narrative)  The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil) The dispatcher (character who sends the hero off)  Todorov discovered that narratives are created in 5 stages :  Equilibrium → Disruption of equilibrium → Recognition → Repair → New equilibrium Levi-Strauss : Binary Opposition Narrative always has a conflict (Good and Evil) and will usually end with a resolution between the confl

In the Bollywood film Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) we see that in Aman Mathur’s (Shah Rukh Khan) entry scene there are a variety of continuity editing techniques used to create a strong entry scene and build up Aman as a character.   The scene starts off with 2 parallel tracks which are continued throughout the 3-minute run. We see  Jennifer Kapur (Jaya Bachaan), Naina’s mother with her two children crying and praying for an angel to come. This is then cut to a shot of Aman standing on a boat near a river. The following set of shots enforce the message that Aman will be the children’s “Angel” in some way. The shots are from various angles and only show the back portion of Aman. This creates a sense of mystery and keeps the audiences hooked as they want to know more about Aman as a character. There is a use of a tilt from the top to the bottom of Aman to further create mystery as well as a pan. These two camera techniques highlight that Man will be an important character in the play as his