Exploring Representations in My Video

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NARRATIVE: Levi-Strauss' Binary Opposition

When we consider the use of stereotypes, it is often evident how a binary opposition is at play: how we describe a stereotypical poor or working class person, for example, is broadly the opposite of how we'd describe a middle or upper class person. 

Scenes within dramas often reflect a use of this idea, with clashing pairs (male, female; rural, urban; rich, poor; heterosexual, homosexual; good, bad; dominant, submissive etc.) of opposites, in other words binary opposites, sparking conflict or tension. 

The importance of these ideas is that essentially a complicated world is reduced to a simple either/or structure. Things are either right or wrong, good or bad. There is no in between. 

Queer theorist, Judith Butler (performativity of gender), also argues that the binary opposite of gender is problematic. 

Binary opposition can be applied in the narrative of music videos. This can be seen in the examples Bring Me The Horizon - Sleepwalking, Bring Me The Horizon - True Friends, Chase & Status - Flashing Lights etc.

In the music video for Chase & Status - Flashing Lights, there are two female characters, one is quite reserved, conservative with a fringe, connoting shyness; and the other is very confident, rebellious, extroverted, wearing a fur coat connoting egocentrism. 

She is oblivious however, in her own world, always wanting to be rebellious and fun not being a realist about things. So in the end of the music video, she gets killed by the other girl from being drugged. 

NARRATIVE: Propp's 7 Character Types

Vladimir Propp was a soviet scholar and folklorist who analysed the basic plot components of fairy tales to identify their basic narrative elements. He did this by breaking the fairy tales into different sections.

Through these sections, Propp was able to define the tales into a series of sequences.

At first he had divided them into 31 different sections. However, he soon realised that those 31 sections could be resolved into 7 broad character functions.

My own:

These are the seven basic character types also known as archetypes:
From the study of fairytales:
1. The Villain (antagonist) - struggles against the hero. 
2. The Donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3. The Helper - helps the hero in the quest. 
4. The Hero - reacts to the donor, saves the day, weds the princess. 
5. The False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.
6. The Princess or Prize - the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and father cannot be clearly distinguished. 
7. The Dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off. 

Applying this theory to films:
Star Wars
1. The Villain (antagonist) - Darf Vader, he wants to rein terror across the galaxy and defeat Luke Skywalker.
2. The Donor - Obi-Wan Kenobi presents Luke with a lightsaber, a weapon only worthy of a Jedi.
3. The Helper - Han Solo, alongside Chewie he accompanies Luke on missions.
4. The Hero - Luke Skywalker, he wants to become a Jedi and defeat the evil Darth Vader. 
5. The False Hero - ? 
6. The Princess or Prize - Princess Leia, needs saving from the empire.
7. The Dispatcher - R2D2, he lands near Luke's home with a message from princess Leia.

Applying this theory to music videos:
This theory can be applied in music videos. The example Matrix & Futurebound - Don't Look Back includes many of these archetypes. The villain (antagonist) in the video is the boyfriend to the main character. He is sleazy and immature. 
The boyfriend of the main character, his friends and the main character are going to a club together in a limosine. You can see as they are in the limo, the boyfriend's friends are laughing ridiculously together and look child-like this connotes immaturity. As they step out of the limo and head up the stairs to the club the boy friends are pointing looking at the girl's butt (she is walking infront of them up the stairs).  

REPRESENTATION: David Gauntlett's 'Identities Constructed'

"Identities are not 'given' but are constructed and negotiated". Negotiated because identities partially depend on how others react to us (and how we think others think about us). We construct identities for ourselves through choices with hair, clothing, the media (music, TV, social media etc.) we consume. "Identity is complicated. Everybody thinks they've got one. Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society."

NARRATIVE: Kate Domaille's 8 Narrative Types

Every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. Each of these narrative types has a source, an original story upon which the others are based. These stories are as follows:

1. Achilles: The Fatal Flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously flawless, or almost flawless, person e.g. Superman

2. Candide: The indomitable hero who cannot be put down, e.g. James Bond

3. Cinderella: The dream comes true, e.g. Pretty Woman

4. Circe: The Chase, the spider and the fly, the innocent and the victim e.g. Terminator

5. Faust: Selling your soul to the devil may bring riches but eventually your soul belongs to him, e.g Wall Street, Devil's Advocate

6. Orpheus: The loss of something personal, the gift that is taken away, the tragedy of loss or the journey which follows the loss e.g. The Sixth Sense.

7. Romeo and Juliet: The love story, e.g. Titanic.

8. Tristan and Iseult: The love triangle. Man loves woman... Unfortunately one or both of them are already spoken for, or a third party intervenes, e.g. Bridget Jones' Diary, Pretty In Pink.

REPRESENTATION: Chomsky's Propaganda Model/5 Filters

Gramsci links naturally with Noam Chomsky, whose 'propaganda model' argues that the media do not seek to accurately represent the world around us, or to fulfil the democratic function of providing information that enables us to make informed democratic choices and scrutinising the powerful - instead they exist to encourage support for the dominant elites at any given time. He argues that any counter-hegemonic content tends to be marginalised or excluded from most media, particularly the mainstream, mass media, through five 'filters':

1. Ownership
2. Funding
3. Sourcing
4. Flak - anything counter-hegemonic will be attacked and criticised by other media (wild, challenging ideas being attacked). 
5. Anti-Communism (anti-left-wing) and Fear

REPRESENTATION: Gramsci's 'Hegemony'

Gramsci was a 1930's Italian Marxist. Like Marxists, he generally believed there is an elite which dominates wealth and power, and exploits the 'masses' to create his wealth. He argued that power is achieved and exercised not just through brute force (police, army etc.) but as much through culture. He suggests that the ideas which have become to be seen as 'common sense' tend to reflect the views and strategies of the elite, although hegemony is always unstable and open to counter-hegemonic challenge. 

INDUSTRY: Web 2.0

Web 2.0, simply, is what people call new ways of showing or using things on the internet (the current state of online technology). 

It's considered beneficial because it is easy for people to publish their work, connect with other people and share and exchange information. Web 2.0 is mainly about user-generated and interactive content. e.g. wikis, blogs, social media. 

Before Web 2.0, internet users could just read information on web pages. With Web 2.0, users can interact with the site and add information and also have greater collaboration among content providers, enterprises and other internet users. One of the most significant differences between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 (the traditional World Wide Web - WWW), the previous version, is that information on websites is not only written by the website author. Originally, data was posted on web sites and users simply viewed or downloaded content. Increasingly, users have more input into the nature of the web content and in some cases have real control over it.

The internet technology which is used for Web 2.0 is not different from the old internet technology, but the ways people use the web/internet has changed.

Examples of Web 2.0
Wikipedia
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter

There are many theorists which explore the concept of 'web 2.0' and 'convergence' such as Julian McDougall (2005), Tim O'Reilly (2005), Dan Gillmor, David Gauntlett and Henry Jenkins. 

AUDIENCE: Four Quadrant Theory

There are four quadrants in audience:

1. Males under 25

2. Females under 25

3. Males over 25

4. Females over 25

In the film industry, a four quadrant film is one which appeals to all four major demographic quadrants of the movie going audience. Films are generally aimed at at least two such quadrants, and most tentpole films are four quadrant movies.

The same can be applied to music videos. Although, the audience in mind mainly depends on the genre of the music in the video. So a song in the genre of electropop would attract an electropop audience (females under 25 - 2nd quadrant). The music video for that song would also have to attract this same audience because the song for the music video is in the genre of electropop. 

The music videos for an artist, e.g. Halsey, have to attract Halsey's already established audience, which is females under 25 (2nd quadrant).

GENRE: Carol Vernallis 'Experiencing Music Video'

Carol Vernallis (2004) 'Experiencing Music Video

Carol Vernallis argues that music videos derive from the songs they set. The music comes first - the song is produced before the video has been created - and the director normally designs images with the song as a guide.

'In music video, what is concealed and what is revealed serve to encourage multiple viewings by engaging the viewer in a process of reconstructing, interpolating or extrapolating a story behind the scenes that are actually visible. When the narrative mode is present even fleetingly, it creates an aura of mystery, a sense that things need to be puzzled out'. 

Videos use ellipsis in such an extreme fashion that causality is often absent.

"Music video presents a range all the way from extremely abstract videos emphasising colour and movement to those that convey a story. But most videos tend to be nonnarrative. An Aristotlean definition - characters with defined personality traits, goals, and a sense of agency encounter obstacles and are changed by them - describes only a small fraction of videos, perhaps one in fifty. 

'I argue that the lyrics constitute no more and no less than one of many strands a video must weave together.'

GENRE: Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin Relationship Between Lyrics, Visuals and Music:

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. 

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). 

5. There is reference to the notion of looking (mirrors, screens within screens), particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intertextual reference to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.

NARRATIVE: Todorov's 5-Part Narrative Structure

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset. 
Everything is balanced evenly - there is no problem - everything is calm.

2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action.
Something happens to upset the balance - chaos - things have gone wrong. 

3. A recognition that there has been a disruption.
What has upset the balance is recognised. The characters see what has changed. 

4. An attempt to repair the disruption.
People make an effort to bring the balance back - to restore equilibrium - the characters will have to work to make things different.

5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium.
The balance is back - equilibrium is restored - all the problems are sorted out. 

NARRATIVE: Roland Barthes' 5 Codes

EASSC:
The Enigma code - the audience is intrigued by the need to solve a problem. 

The Action code - the audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem.

The Semantic code - the audience is directed towards an additional meaning through connotation.

The Symbolic code - the audience assumes that a character dressed in black is evil and forms expectations of his/her behaviour on this basis.

The Cultural code - the audience derives meaning in a text from shared cultural knowledge about the way the world works.

AUDIENCE: U+G Theory

WHAT I CAN APPLY
I believe that the my music video that I will create will fulfil the 3 gratifications - personal identity, personal relationships and escapism. People in the audience (mainly females aged 15-24) will be able to relate and identify with the main female protagonist on the screen. People (males and females aged 15-24) will be able to relate to the actions of the couple characters in the video for example going to fast food restaurant together, kissing, touching each other, it will be a talking point. They would relate to the kinds of things shared and done in the relationship on screen.  

The Uses and Gratifications theory is the idea that the members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory approaches why people actively seek out specific media forms to fulfil their needs. The audience choose the media to meet/fulfil their needs. These needs can also be described as specific gratifications. There are 4 gratifications. 

These gratifications are:

1. Escapism/Diversion - Escape from everyday tasks/problems.
2. Personal Identity - This means self understanding and trying to relate to people in the media (characters/actors).
3. Personal Relationships - A talking point. The audience relate with the kinds of relationships shown in the media e.g. by relating to the issues risen in the relationships shown or the kinds of things shared and talked in the relationships etc... 
4. Surveillance - This means using media to find out whats around us and to be informed with information.

Katz and Blumler's variation (development) of U+G

These two people tweaked McQuail's theory. 'Uses and Gratifications' (Katz and Blumler) research has identified many potential pleasures of genre, including the following:

One pleasure may simply be the recognition of the features of a particular genre because of our familiarity with it. Recognition of what is likely to be important (and what is not), derived from our knowledge of the genre, is necessary in order to follow a plot. 

Genres may offer various emotional pleasures such as empathy and escapism - a feature which some theoretical commentaries seem to lose sight of. Aristole, of course, acknowledged the special emotional responses which were linked to different genres. 

Goals for media use can be grouped into five uses. The audience wants to:

1. Be informed

2. Identify with characters of the situation in the media environment 

3. Simple entertainment

4. Enhance social interaction

5. Escape from the stresses of daily life. 

REPRESENTATION: Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze'

How I Would Reflect On This Theory in my Work/Influence On My Work:
I would possibly think to exploit this theory in my own music video e.g. by having Close Ups of a female getting touched by a male character.

Laura Mulvey is a british, feminist, film theorist.
She created the "male gaze theory" in her 1975 essay called "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema".
The 'male gaze' consists of three perspectives:

• the person behind the camera 
• the characters within the representation or film itself 
• the spectator 

Mulvey believes that gender power asymmetry is a controlling force in cinema and constructed for the pleasure of the male viewer, which is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideologies and discourses.

The male gaze theory happens when the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man e.g. having shots of the curves of a woman's body. 

The woman is usually displayed on two different levels: as an erotic object both for the characters within the film and for the spectator who is watching the film. The man comes across as the dominant power within the created film fantasy. The woman is passive to the active gaze of a man. This adds an element of patriarchal order, and is often seen in "illusionistic narrative film". 

Mulvey argues that, in mainstream cinema, the male gaze typically takes precedence over the 'female gaze', reflecting an underlying power asymmetry.