Key concepts of a music video

Star Image

The star image is Richard Dyer's theory for the grouping of materials that establish a star;

'a star is an image constructed from a range of materials'

This closely shows the relationship between products that affects the selling of a product. This can include lyrical themes in songs, album covers, media coverage of the artist, live performances, and music videos.

In particular, music videos often change directors between each one but still contain elements and successful ideas that were used in the previous video. This reinforces the existing 'star image' and sometimes furthers this to expand the image by including new talents, etc.

Voyeurism

Voyeurism is the idea of the males gaze in music videos, which is usually done by including a female within the music video and manipulating the camera to meet the desires of the male gaze. Theorists such as Goodwin suggest that female performers will become the target of the male gaze by using camerawork and editing to get close up shots of the body and showing a sexual treatment of the star. This can also be reinforced by the use of dancers in male artists videos in order to show the attraction to the performer.

In female artists videos, the idea of voyeurism when the male body is shown is confusing as it raises questions about how the female viewer will interpret and respond to the images shown. In some female artists videos, they do use this gaze to show that they are independent and that they can be sexually provocative and in control of the situation.

In music videos, voyeurism is shown through the use of split screens showing characters watching the video or CCTV or webcams. This style has become frequently used in music videos by RnB and Pop genres which focus on the 'star image' of an artist.

Intertextuality

The intertextuality of music videos often includes soundtracks to films and television programs which include a story line linked to the plot in the film - and often using clips and characters.

John Stewart suggests that the references in music videos through intertextuality usually come through from cinema, fashion and photography. This can include catwalk references and news with the use of supermodels and mannequin style females which also present and support the stereotype views shown in the media and in some songs.

The sources of intertextuality will grow with the changes in technology. John Stewart also suggests that video games will begin to influence the contents of music videos in terms of editing and graphics to aim at a larger audience.

Narrative and Performance

Music Videos often have an incomplete story line so the clips are broken and separated to show a potential narrative to the video. These clips can sometimes be re-arranged and placed in incoherent orders to make a substantial plot hard to discover and make sense. This often reinforces the idea of a multiple viewing in order to understand the video and all its parts.

Steve Archer suggests that there is a formulae to making videos.

"Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a part of the artist's performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualization and the 'repeatability' factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as a narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lip-synch close-up and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to assure us that the band really can kick it."

By using these shots, it allows shots to establish eye contact with the audience and provide an intimacy which would not be otherwise available at a live event given by the band. This can be applied into my music video, where we used the cuts between establishing shots and a performance of the song as well as including a band member in the establishing shots.

Often the mise-en-scene, can affect the impression given by the music video and give a sense of authenticity with the stage performances in a music video. This is also important when using intertextuality within the music video with references to film - as doing a performance on the same set can create the link needed to link the two together.