Richard Dyers 'Star Theory'

Richard Dyers 'Star Theory'

Stars as construction- Many artists are moulded(made) by record labels into being different versions of themselves. For example: Miley Cyrus was part of the Disney channel which is kids channel where kids shows are shown but now Miley is being told act in a very sexual way. In her music videos such as 'We can't stop' she tweaks and licks anything thats next to her in a sexual way. She can either choose to listen to the record label or to not be a singer anymore. The record label are just after the money and do not care about the singer, they just use the performer to attract audiences to make money. They higher stylists, etc to style the singer.

Stars as products- stars who fill in the small gaps in the market by selling their own branded products. This could be clothes, headphones, shoes, etc. An artist that is considered meaning who is really big and famous would have a large target audience. On the Left hand side, Rihanna has a River Island collection as well as Beyonce has her H&M Summer collection. This is a huge advantage for the stars themselves and their record label. They make a lot of money by selling their own branded products which is target to young females like themselves.


Stars as embodiments of ideologies and culture- Ideology is a set of beliefs based on cultural values, economics and politics. For example: Nicki Minaj is an R&B singer, rapper and pop singer. In her R&B songs she sings about love and relationships. She embodied the culture of wearing bright coloured hair weave, lots of bright makeup and to look more sexy. She behaved like a barbie, called herself Barbie and her fans Barbs which is a short term phrase for "Barbie". She made young females to dress "WoW" and to act like Barbies. Nicki has ups and downs with her fashion, she would sometimes have casual casualwear which signifies to females that they can wear whatever they want to be empowered and not just be object to males.

Stars as personalities- in order to be successful, artists have to connect with the audience on a personal level, as well as through their music.  I admire and respect Beyonce because she first started off with singing Gospels songs. It brings a connection to us Christians as we worship the most high, the Lord Jesus. It brings happiness and joy spirit when listening to Gospels music. When I listen to Gospel music it makes me stronger as a person and makes me have no doubts on who I want to be.  

Styles and Conventions of music videos.

Styles and conventions of a music video.
There are many styles and conventions used in music videos to engage their audience, to make money, a form of promotion, etc.

Kanye West - Only One
Kanye West created 2 music videos for his song  Only One as he is sending out a message to the audience about his life. As his Mother past away a few years ago, he made this song for her, he song talks about how much his mother means to him and that his mother will always be his only one. One of the video shows all the times his and mother spent together and showed how proud she was of her son Kanye West. Showing all the times they sent together through out the music video shows how close his mother and himself were.  Many people who has lost there mums can relate to this song as they would know how it feels to lose somebody so special. Also, in the other video he decided to put his daughter, baby North as this also sends another message the audience, this is his mother not getting the chance to meet her granddaughter and he sees his mother's happiness within his daughter laughter. At 27 seconds of the music video there is a scene where Kanye West is with a tear to his eye and wiping it away, this shows how much he misses his mum and how much he loves her.

Beyonce- Pretty Hurts. In this music video, it shows how some females could be unsatisfied with the way they look to impress others, to win a specific competitive environment and or to be better then the rest. At (14 seconds) of the video a lady is trying to fit in a dress that is really tight for her. In the song she says "perfection is a disease of the nation...." in my opinion this means most females want to be perfect within their appearance. In the video even though females are perfect just the way they are some females take it to the extreme by starving themselves, having plastic surgery/ Botox and all sorts because they are not satisfied with the way they look. So the message that Beyonce is sending out is asking "Are you happy with yourself?" which you should be happy with who you are. Also, Beyonce sends a message to the females that no matter how you look like you should love yourself and you should be motivated and have confident within your skin than to harm yourself.
 Furthermore, most people think that Beyonce is the most beautiful women, however in the music video she was nervous when she was asked whats her aspiration in life, she was nervous (at 3:58)so this shows that's it okay  to express how you feel and its okay to be who you are. Also, Beyonce  became 3rd in the contest which subverts the stereotype that she is the most beautiful women in the world.


                                                                                     

Surreal

Surreal is an abstract type of music video where there's no clear narrative or messages.

This video is an example of surreal as there is no message or narrative, anything and random parts of the performer body is filmed as they are covered in coloured paint which is patterened on.

Year 12 skills development.

Year 12 skills development 

How creative were you last year?

I shared my ideas and thoughts in the group when filming. In the group I made sure that my group and I had a variety of camera shots to choose from when we put our film together.

What digital technology did you use last year?

Last year I used a camera to film along with a tripod to support the camera from shaking when filming, a phone to take pictures of the characters to include them in my character profile (to introduce the characters), and a Mac computer to use the Final Cut Pro software to put the scenes in the right order together. There are many sections to choose from such as special effects, transitions, sounds/sound effects, you can cut some scenes/ trim, change a person's action to slow or fast motion. There are so many options to choose from to make a great video. I learnt a lot on how to produce a film. 

what research and planning did you do last year in order to be successful?

I researched on different types of thriller films as we had to focus on the thriller genre, however we decided to use sub-genre which is combing two genres together. Example: Thriller and Romance. I researched on different thriller films in order to pick up ideas for my film and to have an idea of a story-line. As a group we managed to use our unique ideas, not just the ideas we found from other thriller films. In our planning we included what the narrative could be, what costumes could be worn and explained why, the type of make-up that was put in our planning was a pale look of the victim to signify that he/ she is terrified and traumatized to what could happen as  the opening title sequence is about a protagonist killing victims and keeping there bodies in a basement. 


What conventions did you apply to your coursework?



In my coursework I spoke about what angles and shots I used in my opening title sequence and I explained why they were used.  Example|: a close up shot was used in my opening title sequence to see the characters facial expressions and reaction which is called a reaction shot.  
In my opening title sequence a shadow effect was used by putting the camera in a certain angle for the characters shadow to be shown. Furthermore, in our theme we included suspense, chase, crime and supernatural events to make it more realistic. Character, feeling thrillers create, i8conography

These are examples of thriller genre films.

Representation theory.

Representation theory.

Reception theory- There are 3 major reception readings. I chose Body Party song by Ciara as in this music video for the dominant reading Ciara will always have a dance routine with some grinding and some other sexual movements, Some audiences find the singer very attractive. For the negotiated reading audiences could find this video fine for viewers, they would find Ciara very hot as stated earlier. For the oppositional reading viewers could be against the music video as it would have bad influence on younger children. Some parents would not allow their younger female children/child to view such explicit music video. Also, some people may find that all females should be hot, sexual and sex object to men which some females could find embarrassing and uncomfortable when in a certain environment.

The Male Gaze Theory-  Females characters are sexualised, camera work will show body parts that are considered sexual. This theory is used to describe when the audience is put into the perspective of a (heterosexual) man. At (2:17mins) of the video there is an example of The Male Gaze theory. Throughout the music video there are so many females wearing tight clothing, platform heels, hair extension, coloured makeups, jewelry. These females are shaking their bums in front of males and among themselves which can also symbolic lesbianism because the girls touch eachother. 



Voyeurism Theory- is present in many music videos, the pleasure of looking at females that will frequently objectifed using camera work. In male performance video, females are often adornants. Ideas become more complex when we see the male body on displays and we might raise questions on how females viewer is invited. In Rihanna- Pour it up music video there are strippers swinging and dancing on poles, there is a lot of booty shaking. 





Ways of seeing theory. For example- Many African individuals can relate to these types of music videos as they understand the culture and dance. It is targeted to young people who like this type of dancing and who understands it. Also, its for everyone to listen, some can relate to it and some can't but would still find it great and would want to learn the dance moves.

Genre theory in music videos

Genre as a system theory.
In different types of genres, many people have expectations on what a music video would have. Media texts meet audiences expectations through generic conventions. Jon Berger argues that the way and texts are interpreted are based on the interpreters perception, belief, pas, history and interpretation of events. 

Below I will give examples of specific music videos that conform to the repetition and difference.

This music video on the left is called Trust and Believe song by Keisha Cole.
The music video is a story about a females hear that breaks as her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend. Many young people can relate to this story as this conform with Jon bergers theory which I stated earlier "ways of seeing". In many R&B music videos you will always expect to see  a story line that has to do with relationships as well as in the Iconography you would expect to see the style of the singers performance in the video, wearing expensive looking clothing, and shoes branded shoes/heels and the singers hair groomed.

Moreover, audiences would also expect to see huge, expensive, cars, as well as luxury houses with swimming pools with a great view, gardens. In an R&B video audiences would expect to see the performers singing on the street, singing their souls out. At the end of Keisha's music video, her boyfriend dies in a car crash with the best friend after they were caught again in bed. Most people would expect something bad to happen at the end of the story because the Keisha was really heart broken, hurt and many females would not forgive.

This music video on the right is called Foolish song by Ashanti. The repetition in R&B is that it is often about relationship, being in love and arguing. Similarly to Keisha Coles's video Ashanti's boyfriend cheats on her. There use big mansion house with swimming pools, Hammer cars, the blinging jerwerys   Where as her Ashanti's boyfriend was also a drug dealer that she later on finds out about with disappointment. And also there difference is that at the end of Ashanti's music video at 4:03 she stays with her boyfriend which this subverts there stereotype of what people would expect, people would expect her to not be with him anymore.  

Furthermore, hybrid genre is a combination of two or more stylistic, themed categories. Such merging may occur in art, music..