Music Video Theory

Music Video Theory

Semiotics by Roland Barthes:

This is the study of signs and symbols. This consists of a denotation and a connotation. The denotation of a sign is its literal meaning, they signify connotations of the object.

In music videos, semiotics can be used along with the mise-en-scene, costume etc. 

In my music video, my character is dressed like a normal man in his twenties. The clothes he is wearing are achievable and believable to the audience. The house is a small little flat which is what someone of him age may be living in. The t-shirt he is wearing is black, this shows he is rather mysterious, he could possibly be evil but we don't know. The colour connotes the feeling of fear and the unknown. This could imply that he is angry partly due to fear of something, like fear of being alone. The coat he is wearing on the beach is blue, it shows he is lonely. The blue connotes sadness and regret, this may be what the character is feeling.

Structuralism by Levi Strauss:

This is the study of rules that show a structure, these are normally hidden and go unnoticed by an audience. Strauss developed the idea of binary opposition but decided overall it was ideology. 

There is a boy and a girl within my video which show a small part of binary opposites. A lot of the video is reminiscing back on good times. It shows the opposition of happy and sad. This is a huge part of structuralism. It allows us to see the character with both of the emotions. Going from emotional turmoil to happiness.

Reception Theory by Stuart Hall:
Hall created a encoding and decoding model which argued that media producers encode prefered meanings into their work. However, the meanings they imply may be taken in different ways by different groups of people. 
There are three different positions in Hall's model, these are:

• Dominant-Hegemonic Position - the audience accepts the encoded messages and the ideological assumptions behind the ideas.
• Negotiated Position - the audience accepts the ideological assumptions but disagrees with the aspect of the encoded message so changes the meaning to fit with their own experience.
• Oppositional Position - the audience rejects and ignores both aspects of the encoded message and the ideological assumption. 

My music video is encoded with the message that my character is missing someone or needs them. Throughout the video he portrays this with anger and loneliness. This could be taken a different way, he may just be angry at the home interior and that's why he is throwing pillows and knocking things of off shelves. It could also be taken in the way that he doesn't have anyone rather than he is missing someone. The loneliness is portrayed in the beach scenes. To some people he may just be a man that likes sitting on the beach.

Genre Theory by Steve Neale:
This is about what genres are and about why they were actually created in the first place. Neale argues that a genre has specific codes and conventions which go with it, they may however have some overlap through certain genres (making them hybrids). So genres are not fixed and they are constantly evolving. Intertextuality is something that this theory refers to, the genre theory has links with other things like advertising and marketing. 

My music video contains the genre theory throughout. I follow the conventions of the rock music video genre. There is an element of performance as well as narrative which is hugely common in videos by artists of the genre I am doing.

Postmodernism by Jean Baudrillard:
This is the idea that society has moved beyond modern times, this being in art and culture as well as in the belief in progress. Baudrillard said that modern times are based upon the production of goods whereas postmodern times are more organised around the idea of simulation (the play of images and signs). We are in a new world of hyperreality, for example Disneyland. This is a fantasy land and is more real than real, it controls how we think and behave. This was something I didn't really focus on within my music video.

Narrative Theory by Tzvetan Todorov:

This is how the story fits together as a whole, in general all narratives follow the same steps and ideas. All narratives move from one state of the equilibrium to another brand new equilibrium. There is usually a disruption that drives from the old equilibrium to the new one. There is normally some sort of character transformation value. For example, a character shows their heroism and defeats a villian. In music videos, this theory is used more so in music videos that are narrative centric. 

My music video is fairly narrative with some performance thrown in. I have used this theory throughout with the narrative side of things. It has a storyline that it pretty easy to follow along with.