Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Laura Mulveys Male Gaze Theory
Laura Mulvey and her theory of the Male gaze influenced by the works of Freud, is key to the Feminist Film theory movement and has been of great influence since the mid 1970's. Mulvey argues that in classic hollywood films in particular women are merely represented to provide visual pleasure to men , and the audience is constructed in a manner where they are all expected to be men. This male gaze is both voyeuristic and fetishistic. Her concept of "to-be-looked-at-ness", exemplifies that women were merley shown on screen in classic hollyowod in order to provide men with visual pleasure and have an erotic impact. Mulvey argued that the typical key protaganist within a classic hollyowod film was male and the audience members where similarly typically expected to be men. The typical male audience member is alligned with the films protagonist, by identification, admiration or aspiration. Therefore the audience member gains narcissistic pleasure from identifying with the films protaganist,placing themselves "in the shoes" of the films hero. Further the infulence of Freud an influnetial pyschoanalytic theorist to Laura Mulvey's theory is the idea of castration anxiety which is what a person unconciously think. For example if a woman was not objectified in the way she was in classic hollywood or placed in a position of lower authority a male would not feel as powerful.
Many videos use this however in ours we tried to use the male gaze theory in a mild manner. The genre we chose (trance) does not generally use videos with Laura mulveys male gaze theory. However it is used in a lot of Music videos such as R&B videos and pop.
Many videos use this however in ours we tried to use the male gaze theory in a mild manner. The genre we chose (trance) does not generally use videos with Laura mulveys male gaze theory. However it is used in a lot of Music videos such as R&B videos and pop.
Music Video Inspiration
This music video shows to characters running around the beach, jumping from the cliffs and into the sea, the woman and the man are tied together. The mise-en-scene is similar to that of our music video as we have used natural elements and scenery, our music video also follows a narrative around different parts of the beach like this music video does. The genre is also similar to ours as it is in the trance genre.
Alternate Costumes
These are images of the new costumes, we decided to change them slightly towards the end to keep the video interesting and the change in costume also represents the change in the characters towards the end of the music video, to keep in relation to the narrative aspect. We have chosen to use animal print as it is a natural element much like the sand, sea, sky, sun and moon that we have used to far in our video.
We have taken these pictures while we were doing the costume and make up for shooting the final part of our music video.
Rough Cut
This is the first draft of our music video, we are continuing to edit and add more footage, We plan to improve our video and add new footage to improve the quality of the video. In order to improve our video we are adding more lip syncing to the video and changing the narrative slightly to show some development and change, we are doing this by changing the characters outfits to show a change in emotions and maintain the music video's level of interest for the audience.
Questionaire Answers
1) What type of genre would you like to watch the music video for?
Dance; 4
R&B; 4
Trance; 2
POP; 3
Gothic Horror; 1
2) Do you usually watch music videos for entertainment?
Yes; 9
No; 1
3) Are you a fan of the trance genre?
Yes; 7
No; 3
4) What kind of props do you think we should use in our music video?
- Objects relating to the song
- Guitars
- None X2
- Different outfits
- Glow paints X2
- Sticks
- Photos X2
- Car X2
- Paint
5) Which of these shots would you expect to see in a trance music video?
Close up; 6
Long shot; 4
Establishing shot; 5
Aerial shot; 4
Pan shot; 5
Other; 1
6) Would you expect frequent shots of the main artists?
Yes; 7
No; 2
Some; 1
7) Do you expect the use of transitions between shots in music videos?
Yes; 8
No; 2
8) What type of mise-en-scene would you expect to see in a trance music video?
Beach X3
Party X3
Young People
Changes in outfit
Dance routines
Exaggerated make-up
Cars
Houses
Forests X2
Different locations
Dark lighting
Flashbacks
Colourful surroundings
9) Would you like to see a narrative within the music video?
Yes; 7
No; 3
10) Would you prefer the visual footage to relate to the lyrics of the music video?
Yes; 7
No; 3
We created a questionnaire to hand our to potential viewers of our music video, we did this in order to get a wider perspective of ideas from other people outside of our group, with a wide range of taste in music genres. From these results we can see that most people like the trance/pop genre of our music video and that 90% of people asked watch a music video for entertainment, from these results we know to make the video entertaining. We additionally know that the audience would like us to use props such as paints, glow paints photos and objects in relation to the lyrics of the song. We have also learnt that the audience would lie us to use frequent shots of the main artist, but not for this to be the main focus of the music video, we would combine the artist shots with a range of medium, close up, pan and zoom shots. Most people also expect a trance music video to use transitions combined with a narrative and the footage to be in relation to the lyrics and genre of the song. Finally, the viewers would like to see the mise-en-scene to include a beach, a forest or a party scene most. After these more important surroundings people would enjoy seeing colourful outfits which change throughout the video, dance routines, exaggerated make up, well used lighting, flashbacks and colourful surroundings. From this questionnaire we have found that the audience has similar ideas to our initial ideas, and we would like to both include and elaborate on these ideas during the creation of our music video.
Dance; 4
R&B; 4
Trance; 2
POP; 3
Gothic Horror; 1
2) Do you usually watch music videos for entertainment?
Yes; 9
No; 1
3) Are you a fan of the trance genre?
Yes; 7
No; 3
4) What kind of props do you think we should use in our music video?
- Objects relating to the song
- Guitars
- None X2
- Different outfits
- Glow paints X2
- Sticks
- Photos X2
- Car X2
- Paint
5) Which of these shots would you expect to see in a trance music video?
Close up; 6
Long shot; 4
Establishing shot; 5
Aerial shot; 4
Pan shot; 5
Other; 1
6) Would you expect frequent shots of the main artists?
Yes; 7
No; 2
Some; 1
7) Do you expect the use of transitions between shots in music videos?
Yes; 8
No; 2
8) What type of mise-en-scene would you expect to see in a trance music video?
Beach X3
Party X3
Young People
Changes in outfit
Dance routines
Exaggerated make-up
Cars
Houses
Forests X2
Different locations
Dark lighting
Flashbacks
Colourful surroundings
9) Would you like to see a narrative within the music video?
Yes; 7
No; 3
10) Would you prefer the visual footage to relate to the lyrics of the music video?
Yes; 7
No; 3
We created a questionnaire to hand our to potential viewers of our music video, we did this in order to get a wider perspective of ideas from other people outside of our group, with a wide range of taste in music genres. From these results we can see that most people like the trance/pop genre of our music video and that 90% of people asked watch a music video for entertainment, from these results we know to make the video entertaining. We additionally know that the audience would like us to use props such as paints, glow paints photos and objects in relation to the lyrics of the song. We have also learnt that the audience would lie us to use frequent shots of the main artist, but not for this to be the main focus of the music video, we would combine the artist shots with a range of medium, close up, pan and zoom shots. Most people also expect a trance music video to use transitions combined with a narrative and the footage to be in relation to the lyrics and genre of the song. Finally, the viewers would like to see the mise-en-scene to include a beach, a forest or a party scene most. After these more important surroundings people would enjoy seeing colourful outfits which change throughout the video, dance routines, exaggerated make up, well used lighting, flashbacks and colourful surroundings. From this questionnaire we have found that the audience has similar ideas to our initial ideas, and we would like to both include and elaborate on these ideas during the creation of our music video.
There are man different versions of this song, out of these we have chosen to use the 'Chicane Feat Natasha Bedingfield- Bruised Water (Adam K & Soha)' remix version, although we have chosen a remix of the original song, we plan to still use inspiration from the original music video created for the initial version of the song. We have decided on using this because we feel that the order of the music will fit in better with our ideas for a music video in comparison to the normal song. The pace of this version of the song additionally makes it easier to create a fitting music video with a range of camera angles and shots. We plan to use the first 60 seconds of music and no singing to build up the background to the song, so the viewer can both understand and be intrigued by our video.
Original Music Video
This the the original music video for the song that we have chosen, we plan on doing something different to this video while keeping the same ideas of having an easy to follow narrative, we would like to make an original yet interesting video for the song.
Genre Research
This is a screen grab of multiple screen grabs from music videos over the last ten years, I used Photoshop to cut all of these images together. We have looked at successful dance videos from the year 2000 up to the present day, this is in order to look at typical conventions of dance music videos. This can help us to include typical dance aspects in our own music video, as this will be what fans expect from a dance video. We chose most of these music videos from the nominees and winners of the 'MTV VMA Music Awards'.
2000 - Destiny's child music video uses colour themes where the mise-en-scene all matches in colour, these change between the basic primary colours throughout the video. Then towards the end of the video, the colours combine together towards the end of the video. The characters are repeated throughout, the females change costumes often, perform a dance routine where cars are in the background, this video also has a loose narrative story line.
2001 - The Lady Marmalade music video uses exaggerated glamorous make up, with references to the classical looks of the 1920's-1940's. The video also idolises women, as it shows them all getting ready, doing their hair and make-up etc. Additionally they all perform a dance routine within the video.
2002 Kylie Minogue's music video has a matched pace to the pace of the song, her costume changes throughout the video, into outfits which are quite revealing, she has backing dancers to support the routines she is performing, and the video often goes back to shots of Kylie driving a car.
2003 In Britney Spears' music video, she is the main focus for the start of the song, she is shown driving a car and then performing a dance routine with her at the front and centre of the dancers, the camera follows her while she is moving around the maze like building, all the while she is successfully lip syncing. In order to oppose one of the typical conventions of a female dance music video, Britney is wearing masculine outfits consisting of a suit and a hat. The music video also has a narrative throughout the video.
2004 Usher's music video has a narrative about him and a girl in a club, he also performs a dance routine which is expected of both a dance video, and a Usher music video, as dance routines are an aspect closely associated with Usher. The video has shots of people in a club dancing, with changes in coloured lighting. When Usher is performing solo, he is surrounded by blue lasers, when the other artists perform later on they are surrounded by green lasers. The concept of lasers is something which Usher has also used in many music videos. Finally the pace of the video follows the pace of the music, as at the start the video footage is slowed down to reflect the pace and associations with the video.
2005 The Lose Control music video uses a narrative and shots of cars, much like many other dance music videos. This music video has all of the dancers in matching outfits, all lined up and doing the same routine in the same time. The background to these dance shots are dark and simple, with a lot of focus shots of each artist.
2006 The Nelly Furtado video has simple dance routines performed by each artist against a differently coloured light brick wall background. It also has people inside of a club dancing, with a narrative of the perusal of women. The camera has close up shots of the artists lip syncing to the lyrics of the song.
2007 the Fedde Le Grande music video uses a consistent lilac coloured background, the same room, costume, dance routine and people throughout. The video uses a range of shots through the video. The females in the music video are objectified as they all have seductive outfits, playing instruments.
2008 The Forever music video uses conventions such as a car and a highly advanced dance routine. The car is used at the start of the video and the main artist is shown driving the car, much like Kylie in her music video. The song is very fast paced, so the editing of the video, the pace of the dance routines and the speed of the car all closely relate to the song. This music video also has a narrative about a woman at the club, and rescuing her when she needs it later on, thus relating to the lyrics 'won't let you fall'. The camera also uses close up shots which Chris is lip syncing, and him singing and dancing surrounded by coloured lights circling him, showing he is the focus or 'meat' of the video.
2009 Akon and David Guetta's music video has a narrative much like many of the music videos, it is about the perusal of a mystery woman. Therefore the whole video focuses highly on the idolising of the woman at the pool party, and identifying the woman from the picture at the start from her tattoo. The camera shots in the music video all focus towards women dancing dressed in bikinis. The video uses shots of a party and people enjoying themselves, and switches to a gig performed by the artists.
2010 The Swedish House Mafia video starts with close ups of the music equipment. The video then changes to some close ups of an eye as the lyrics start in the song. As the eye blinks, the Dj mixing board is reflected in the eye. The video then uses birds eye high angle shots looking down on a party, the camera focuses very little of people's faces. This video shows very little signs of narratives or controlled dance routine.
In conclusion, a large amount of dance music videos over the last decade use conventions such as cars, dance routines and a narrative, we could use some of these aspects within our music video. Additionally most videos use matching outfits, which change through the video, use of bright contrasting colours, different coloured lighting to change the mood of the video, to show something has changed and in some videos the lighting changes colour when the artists change through the song. We could use all of these aspects to help with ideas for our music video.
Audience Profile
The audience for our music video is going to be teenagers as that is the age group of the type of trance genre is aimed at, as teenagers like quite up beat fast pace music and thats what 'bruised water' is like. We are going to aim our music video towards teenagers by using the setting as a beach as we think this is a place were teenagers can relate to and most likely go to. The teenage age is around 13-19 so as a bigger age range we need to think carefully about not making our video too young or too old.
Risk Assessment
When filming our music video we will all have to consider the risks involved before filming it. For instance, when we are first on the beach we will have to make sure the tide doesn’t look like its going to come in and we will have to make sure that wherever we lay down there isn’t any glass etc. that we could cut ourselves on. Also we will have to walk around the areas of Crimdon that we are shooting in and make sure there is nothing in our way that we could fall or trip over while the characters are walking around. As we are filming in the surroundings of trees and the wooded area also, we will have to walk round the area before we start to make sure there isn’t any logs or twigs that we could fall over as we run onto the beach in our video, this will make us be aware of our surroundings and the dangers we may face if we don’t plan out our sequence’s properly. As we are making a fire for our music video when we are in the woods, we will have to be careful that it doesn't get out of control or over the top that we can't handle it, as this will be dangerous. When we are filming at the top of the cliffs and the bridge we will need to make sure we take extra precaution not to fall or trip. We will also have to watch out for each other when filming, as we won’t want the person who is filming being knocked over by one of the actors and then damaging the camera equipment. We will have to plan out were the person who is filming is going to stand after every shot to make the shooting and running of it flow into each scene of the music video, so we make it look as professional as possible.
Glow Paint Colour Scheme
We are planning to use different coloured neon and glow paints in our video, before buying the paints we have used some glow sticks to test what colours we should use together to create more of an effect than they would alone.
Downloading the song for our video
We used 'Zamzar' to download the song for our music video, we needed to copy and paste the link from Youtube and then the file was converted into an MP3 so we can use it for the anamatic, rough and final cut of our video
Goodwin's Theory of Analysis
Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form:
- There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
We plan to make our music video very conceptual, instead of it being mainly performance based, we would like to make our music video very original and different to many other videos that are popular in the modern day. While making the video we will be keeping typical dance video aspects in mind so we keep with the genre of our song, we would like to use bright neon handprints, colours where both characters we have created in the video has a wide range of coloured handprints on their outfits,we also plan to use fast paced and close up shots, the shots will all be edited together to fit with the timing of the beats of the music for example the shot will change every time their is a dominant beat,we will also fit our footage to the pace of the song.
- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
While planning our music video we planned to create a video which illustrates and amplifies the song, the ideas for our music video are related to people being emotionally upset, much like the main lyrics of the song 'I bruise easily'. As a result of this we have created our costumes, all mise-en-scene and lighting while keeping the idea of being emotionally upset in mind.
- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography
We plan to keep the 'typical' aspects of dance genre videos in our own music video, as a result of this we plan to use, bright neon colours, coloured handprints on our costumes, colours where both characters we have created in the video has a wide range of coloured handprints on their outfits,we also plan to use fast paced and close up shots, the shots will all be edited together to fit with the timing of the beats of the music for example the shot will change every time their is a dominant beat,we will also fit our footage to the pace of the song.
Additionally, the first mix of 'Bruised water' uses natural elements as a main component of the story line, the character in the video needs water to live as the is a mermaid, also Chicane's 'Saltwater' the video starts with a person walking on the sand at a beach, we follow them using a handheld camera for realism. We then follow them into the ocean, which is a main aspect of this song, we also cut between the natural aspects and footage from a club. However in the initial 'I Bruise Easily' the video simple follows a story line, however we have been inspired by this video by the dark lighting when the main artist is lip syncing, we have also used natural elements in our video such as water and sand much like other Chicane music videos.
- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist.
We plan for our music video to include 'meat' shots of the main artists lip syncing to the lyrics of the song. We have also filmed a large amount of close ups, including pans and tilts with the artists in main focus, we are planning to use these shots and cut them together quickly to create a fast pace for the footage, which will fit with the song. We are including a narrative story line which will entail following each character while they go through a loose story. Many other music videos use loose story lines to keep the story interesting but also not difficult to follow, as the first purpose of a music video is for entertainment.
- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc.
Most dance music videos include voyeurism, we are planning not to include this in our video. This is mainly due to most dance music videos being based around people getting ready, going out and enjoying themselves. However we are including a narrative story line within our video, we wanted to make our music video very original and different from the typical music video as we believe this will be more challenging.
- There are likely to be inter textual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.
Our music video has similarities with the first music video of the mix between 'Saltwater' by Chicane and 'I Bruise Easily' by Natasha Bedingfield, the music video cuts between shots every time the louder and more dominant beat plays in the song. This shows that fast paced shots and cuts are also part of the dance music genre. The original music video also uses the idea of someone suffering (the 'mermaid') and the end of the song showing a solution to the problem.
- There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
We plan to make our music video very conceptual, instead of it being mainly performance based, we would like to make our music video very original and different to many other videos that are popular in the modern day. While making the video we will be keeping typical dance video aspects in mind so we keep with the genre of our song, we would like to use bright neon handprints, colours where both characters we have created in the video has a wide range of coloured handprints on their outfits,we also plan to use fast paced and close up shots, the shots will all be edited together to fit with the timing of the beats of the music for example the shot will change every time their is a dominant beat,we will also fit our footage to the pace of the song.
- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
While planning our music video we planned to create a video which illustrates and amplifies the song, the ideas for our music video are related to people being emotionally upset, much like the main lyrics of the song 'I bruise easily'. As a result of this we have created our costumes, all mise-en-scene and lighting while keeping the idea of being emotionally upset in mind.
- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography
We plan to keep the 'typical' aspects of dance genre videos in our own music video, as a result of this we plan to use, bright neon colours, coloured handprints on our costumes, colours where both characters we have created in the video has a wide range of coloured handprints on their outfits,we also plan to use fast paced and close up shots, the shots will all be edited together to fit with the timing of the beats of the music for example the shot will change every time their is a dominant beat,we will also fit our footage to the pace of the song.
Additionally, the first mix of 'Bruised water' uses natural elements as a main component of the story line, the character in the video needs water to live as the is a mermaid, also Chicane's 'Saltwater' the video starts with a person walking on the sand at a beach, we follow them using a handheld camera for realism. We then follow them into the ocean, which is a main aspect of this song, we also cut between the natural aspects and footage from a club. However in the initial 'I Bruise Easily' the video simple follows a story line, however we have been inspired by this video by the dark lighting when the main artist is lip syncing, we have also used natural elements in our video such as water and sand much like other Chicane music videos.
- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist.
We plan for our music video to include 'meat' shots of the main artists lip syncing to the lyrics of the song. We have also filmed a large amount of close ups, including pans and tilts with the artists in main focus, we are planning to use these shots and cut them together quickly to create a fast pace for the footage, which will fit with the song. We are including a narrative story line which will entail following each character while they go through a loose story. Many other music videos use loose story lines to keep the story interesting but also not difficult to follow, as the first purpose of a music video is for entertainment.
- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc.
Most dance music videos include voyeurism, we are planning not to include this in our video. This is mainly due to most dance music videos being based around people getting ready, going out and enjoying themselves. However we are including a narrative story line within our video, we wanted to make our music video very original and different from the typical music video as we believe this will be more challenging.
- There are likely to be inter textual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.
Our music video has similarities with the first music video of the mix between 'Saltwater' by Chicane and 'I Bruise Easily' by Natasha Bedingfield, the music video cuts between shots every time the louder and more dominant beat plays in the song. This shows that fast paced shots and cuts are also part of the dance music genre. The original music video also uses the idea of someone suffering (the 'mermaid') and the end of the song showing a solution to the problem.
We decided to practice our costume ideas, we put paint handprints on some pieces of scrap fabric to test how they look once they have dried, we then used a range of coloured paints to decorate our costumes. We then got some plain skin coloured tights and dyed these shades of purple, pink and blue to represent bruises. We also wanted to paint our arms the same colours, however we decided that it would be easier to paint knee high tights and draw hand details on these, as this would save time when shooting. We also have bought some tealight candles and we will be using these in jars on our video for extra light that will fit in with our genre. We also tried to make a skirt using pieces of scrap stripy fabric, however this did not turn out as we planned so we replaced this idea with the skirts decorated with handprints.
Music Video Inspiration
This video has inspired us to include jerky movements and editing, a dark theme and a spooky feel about our video. We would like to make our video original and look different in comparison to the average music video, much like 'Rihanna- Disturbia'. This video was highly successful because it was unlike all of the other popular videos at the time of release.
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