Audience Profile

Audience Profile

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin is currently a professor of cultural studies at the university of San Francisco. Goodwin is also the author of a very well-known book on Music Television and cultural theory ( Dancing in the distraction factory: Music Television and cultural theory). In addition to this, Goodwin also publishes many articles on media and culture theory. His theory relating to music videos identifies 5 aspects that should be found when analysing a music video. These aspects also make a successful music video. the steps are the following:

• Relationship between the music and the visuals.
• Relationship between the music and the visuals
• Iconography
• Star image
• Voyeurism
• Intertexual references

Vox Pop

Narrative analysis

Song 1


This music video is an example of Strauss' theory of binary opposition. This is because it is displaying the opposition between the old generation and the new generation as well as the opposition between outcasts and friends. In addition to this, the video displays many aspects of Andrew Goodwin's theory as it has a link between the lyrics and the visuals at 0.20 . At this point the protagonist gets up in the morning and the lyrics are 'but i know where to start' therefore connoting the idea of  fresh start with morning. Again at 0.26 the lyrics link to the visuals when the lyrics are 'you say i'm too young to understand' and show a child looking up at the adult which firstly shows innocence and secondly shows that the adult is more emotionally intelligent then the child as she is looking down at the child. Another factor within Goodwin's theory is that a successful music video must have close ups of the artist. This is evident in the music video as it is showing Avici in a close shot at 2.46. Todorov's theory is also shown in this music video as the three stages of a narrative are included. Firstly, the two characters are shown to be sleeping and everything is okay. This is the stage of equilibrium. Then, they wake up and go outside thereby realising that they are in a place where they do not belong. This is the stage of disruption. Finally, they find the place where they really belong and go back resulting in new equilibrium.




In this music video, there are many narrative theories within it. Firstly,  at 1.44 we see the artist in a close up which is part of Andrew Goodwin's theory. Also, the lyrics are linked to the visuals at  2.19 when the lyrics are 'dancing through the fire' and the artist is just shown to be looking at images on the wall of tigers roaring whilst holding a stick lit with fire. Another theory made prominent in this music video is Todorov's theory of equilibrium. This is because initially, we see two characters turning up in a jungle. This is the stage of equilibrium. After this, we see the disruption as the male gets eaten by the tiger. The final stage of new equilibrium is shown when the female protagonist becomes the queen of the jungle and becomes friendly with all the wild animals. 

Parents fear 'sexualised music culture'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24836571

 

This article is expressing parents views about the modern pop culture and potential  negative effects it could have on their children. Artist's such as Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears have been mentioned and parents are afraid that the 'sexualised culture' has gone a bit too far.

Analysing music video of inspiration

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE- MIRRORS

This music video is an example of a performance and a narrative, which makes it a hybrid.

CONNOTATIONS

The connotations of this music video are represented within the mis-en-scene. An example of this is at 7:40 when the lighting is dark which makes one side of Timberlake’s face shadowed and hard to see. This may be reflecting his emotions such as loneliness and mystery. In addition to this, at 3:35, I can identify an aspect of Andrew Goodwin’s theory as the lyrics match the video and the lighting also goes dark, which connotes mystery and curiosity. In addition to this, 

SYNERGY

Swarovski ring being advertised as box is shown in a close up at 4:48

NARRATIVE THEORIES APPLIED TO VIDEO

Claude-Levi Strauss’s theory of binary opposition is prominent in this video as we see a contrast between old and young people.

Todorov theory of 

Music Video Timeline

Audience research survey

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9 Key Frames

Lyric Analysis

Evaluation of A-Level music videos

                    

This is an interesting music video and I have chosen to evaluate it as I could spot many positive and negative factors within the first view. I believe that the concept of the music video is good and many aspects within the mis-en-scene are of a high standard. For example, the lighting at 0.17 is very effective as it is shadowed which denotes the genre of the song. Also at 1.06, the lighting is effective and again at 1.14 where the shadow is very prominent showing the theme of loneliness within the song. The lip syncing of the song is impressive in most of the video for example, at 2.36-2.42 where the lyrics of the song are being traced very carefully. Within the video, there are many areas which could be improved such as the camera quality in some parts of the video for example at 0.50. This is a negative thing for the quality of the video as it disrupts the verisimilitude of the scene.




          
This music video was interesting to watch as it had a very unique concept to it. Firstly the mis-en-scene of the video was impressive as the costume of the protagonist is very bright and bold which links to the genre of the song. In addition to this, the lighting of the video is also bright which again reflects the genre of the song. Andrew Goodwin's theory is also applied to this video as the lyrics and the visuals have a relationship. This is a positive factor about the video as it shows good research skills. At 0.55 the effect applied to the video is good because it reflects the subject and whats going on. This is because the girl is seen to be running away in her dreams and the effect is therefore blurry on the edges and therefore very dream-like. Overall, the camera quality was excellent and  the locations used were very symbolic and recognisable.

Genre Shopping List

This is a genre shopping list created to show all of the things we need to look at for our chosen genre. As a group we chose to challenge this genre, therefore by looking at the conventions we knew what to avoid and challenge.

Diamond nine

In class, we were studying the factors which help to promote a music video. We were then asked to put into order what we think is the most important factor to produce a successful music video.

Laura Mulvey

Mulvey's theory of male gaze is a very feminist theory. This is because she believes that all audience must view women in the media from a heterosexual man's perspective. Mulvey also believes that women in the media are objectified and seen as inferior to men. She says that in patriarchal society, 'pleasure in looking has been split between active males and passive females'. She uses the example of movies where the protagonist is usually a male and takes on lead role, usually telling the female role what to do.

Propp's theory

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic in the 1920's. He grouped folk tales together as he believed that they all had common characters and a 'narrative function'. He then developed a general set of the following characters: 

• The villain (struggles against the hero)
• The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
• The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
• The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
• The false hero (perceived as good character in beginning but emerges as evil)
• The dispatcher (character who makes the disruption and sends the hero off)
• The hero  (victim/seeker/winner, reacts to the donor, marries the princess)

Tzvetan Tdorov narrative theory

Tdorov was a Bulgarian literary theorist that came up with the idea that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium. This is when life is 'normal' and the protagonist is happy. Tdorov believed that an outside force disrupts the state of equilibrium which then has to be fought against in order to return to a state of equilibrium.

Strauss binary oppositions

Claude William Strauss was a french anthropologist in the early 1900's. He developed the idea of 'binary oppositions' which means that the way we understand certain words depends not so much on any meaning they contain themselves directly, but much more by our understanding of the difference between the word and its 'opposite' or, as they called it 'binary opposite'.
For example, our understanding of the word 'young' depends on the opposite word portrayed by the media which is 'old'. A music video that displays this binary opposition is the song 'wake me up' by Avicii.

Andrew Goodwin theory applied to music video