Laura Mulvey's Triple Gaze Theory

Triple Gaze Theory

 Laura Mulvey's theory is that there is a triple gaze that takes place in the media. This is where a woman of erotic desire is on screen, there is a man looking at her, the camera is looking at the man, and the audience is looking through the camera. This is showing that all eyes are on the object of erotic desire, on this occasion, it's the woman who is more often than not wearing very little. This is done to gain more of an audience and this will mostly apply to males who buy or download the song or film. For example, in the film "Dr No", there is a famous scene where Ursula Andress comes from the sea and we see Sean Connery staring at her. This is a classic example of the triple gaze theory as it is Ursula Andress being looked at by Sean Connery, being looked at by the camera, being looked though by the audience.

 In music videos, there is practically always the object of erotic desire flaunting themselves around and more often than not, it is a woman. In the Rihanna video "Shut up and drive", there is the obvious reference to sex throughout and there is Rihanna, along with other scantily clad women, laying all over cars and bending over while the men in the cars look at them. Again, this is an example of the triple gaze theory as it is Rihanna, men, camera, and audience. 

An artist that I would use as an example of the triple gaze theory is Christina Aguilera. In her videos, she is always the centre of attention and is viewed as a sexual object. There is always at least one man looking at her while she's dancing around or not wearing much. In her video for the song "Candyman" she is either wearing an extremely short little pink dress, a navy outfit, or other old-fashioned clothes, all of which draw attention to herself.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

 During the process of making my music video for the Elton John & Kiki Dee song "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", I have learnt a lot that I can take with me for when I make my own music video later this year. I have learnt that you must have a variety of shots in your music video in order to ensure that it is not boring for the audience to watch. When I was filming, I found that it was more effective to sing out our and then match the audio of the song to the images I have recorded. I have also found that there must be a use of fast editing when the beat speeds up and when there in an interval in the music. Also, when filming music videos, you must ensure that you film the person/people singing all the way to the end of the song several times so that the lip syncing links up well with the song.
When filming a duet, I have learnt to take shots both with two in the shot, and just one person at a time as it varies the shot types and makes the video much more interesting. Also, it is a good idea to have an equal amount of words per person as it allows the two performers have equal screen time.
 When I was editing the music video, I found that it was easy because I had filmed up to a certain point and then made the decision that I should stop filming there. This then gave me the ability to put the shots together simply and quickly, and also effectively.

I have learnt that when editing the music video, I should perhaps stick to singing the song numerous times instead of just up to a certain point. It would benefit me greatly as it would make linking the shots up even easier. Also, I would have preferred to have a wider range of shots to cut to throughout

the duration of the song.

Record Labels

Major Record Labels

The music industry is dominated by four multi-national corporations:

   Universal

·          Sony Music

·          Warner Brother
        EMI

These are referred to as “The Majors”. The majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as; Film, TV and Electronics.

Major-Independents

Most of these “Majors” own, or license, a series of smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genres.

·          Columbia

·          Island

·          Syco

·          RCA

·          Virgin

These companies are known as “Major-independent”.

Independents

There are a huge number of small companies with little or no financial connection to the majors. These companies often concentrate on a small number of acts, within specialised niches in the industry.

These are called "independents". An example of a highly successful independent is "Domino Records".

 It is often the case that record labels begin as independents, but then are bought by a major and then becomes major-independents.

Foo Fighters Animatic

 When making the animatic, we learnt about the different shot types that are good to use in music videos and we learnt that there needs to be a good variation of them in order for the video to look like it makes sense. Also, we learnt about editing to the beat. I noticed that as the song gets faster, the speed of the editing increases and it becomes faster and more entertaining.

Potential Tracks

Potential Tracks

There were a few potential tracks that I was contemplating but in the end I have decided to go with Samantha Jade's song "Soldier". The tracks I had earmarked were the following:

Samantha Jade- Soldier
Chasing Thrill- Fast Like You
Aerolyn- Between Lions And Men
Starset- My Demons
P-Holla- Who Cares4
However, there were a few of these songs that were rap songs and I was told that I cannot use rap songs as it would make the lip syncing process difficult as I would have to keep up with very fast lyrics and music.

Looking for an Artist

Styles of Music Video

Style of Music Video

 Animation is a style of music video occasionally used by artists for their songs. Some artists stick to the idea of animation throughout all of their videos. For example, "Gorillaz" use digital animation in the majority of their videos, for example in their song "Feel Good Inc.". An example of stop motion animation used in a music video is Peter Gabriel's video for "Sledgehammer".



Cinematic is a story based video used on a grand scale. This is a video such as the video for the song "Stan" by Eminem and Dido. This is also the in the style of a narrative based storyline, another style of music videos, something which the video for "Stan" also accounts for.



Parody is a type of video where the artist(s) take the mickey out of another video or artist in their video. A good example of this is the video for the song "Walks like Rihanna" by The Wanted



Studio based is a style of music video where the artist(s) perform the video for their song in a studio. An example of this is the song "Idiot Walk" by The Hives.



Pastiche is a style of music video where the artist(s) work within another artists genre. A good example of this is the song "Hey Ya" by Outkast.



A concert based video is a style of music video where the song is being performed at a concert in the video. An example of this is the video for the song "Snow" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers.



A surrealist video is a style of music video where the video appears to be very surreal. It is used in the song "Once in a lifetime" by the Talking Heads.



An impressionist video is a style of music video where it is left to interpretation as to what is happening. An example of this is the song by Gotye called "Somebody That I Used To Know".





A homage video is a style of music video that is paying tribute to a genre, for example Michael Jackson's song "Thriller" which pays tribute to the horror genre.

Blog 3: Purpose of a Music Promo video with special reference to synergy

Purpose of a Music Promo video with special reference to synergy

 The purpose of a music promo video is to promote a song and film or product and the song itself. It creates publicity as everyone will hear about either the song or the product and will therefore be more likely to want to buy it. Also, when it eventually sells and people buy tickets to the film or they buy the DVD, then the song and film combined will make a lot of money and it will increase the sale. The song will be well known for the film it is advertising and will then promote the artist, the single, and the album that the song is on. Persuading the audience means that they will buy CD's and download the song, and this will raise awareness of the artist and it will boost the singers' profile. This will lead to the song being showed on a music channel, on a CD, on websites such as YouTube, and it is available to download on apps such as iTunes. If there is a film in which the song is played as either the theme song or just in a scene, or in a TV programme, then it could raise awareness of the song and lead to audiences downloading the song or buying it.
 When the song is shown on TV (whether that be a programme or music channel) or in a film, it illustrates the song and potentially sticks in audiences minds and they will associate the song with the clip they have seen. Occasionally, audiences will really like what they hear and the popularity of the song will increase. When a song is played over the top of a clip of there is a clip to illustrate a song, then it can really pull on the preverbal heart strings. This means that audiences can experience different emotions when listening to the song as the audio is parallel to the images. This gives the song the ability to tell a story and show the audience what is happening. It also gives the artist an image and they will be known for that image and that will be partly how they're known. It creates a brand identity unique to the artist and this is a theme that will occur in posters, music videos, and public appearances.

Music Video: The Brief

A2 Music Video - The Brief

Your task is to produce:

¡ A music ‘promo’ video

¡ Up to 5 minutes

¡ Either working on your own or in a group of up to four members

 You also need to produce:

¡ A ‘digipak’ for its release on DVD

¡ A magazine advertisement for the DVD