STOP WHERE YOU ARE MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

TITANIUM MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS.

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

Video	OK Go - The one moment	Ariana Grande - No tears left to cry	Ed Sheeran - Perfect
Which genre? How do you know? What generic features do you see (e.g. dance routine: dance/pop music) Sound – genre, instruments, lyrics, emotion	- Pop music - fun, entertaining, interesting and engaging to watch	- Pop Artist is known for her pop music. Break up song	- Pop Very popular artist Love song
Performance/narrative/concept? How much of each? Which parts? (e.g. performance in chorus, narrative in verse) How does this link to genre?	- Performance/ concept - Singing to the chorus - Concept of bringing out colour within boring, plain objects.	- Narrative/Concept/ Performance. - Singing throughout - Film based - opening is like a film. - Concept that the world is always moving and she can’t stay still as she keeps falling.	- Narrative - Story of a couple and their love for each other which matches the lyrics of the song. - This is good for the genre as it shows a physical version of the words sung.
Representation DRCAGES SETTINGS THEMES	- Colourful - middle aged men - plain, white studio - explosions	The character is represented as sad, lost, confused, fierce, struggling. The setting is very abstract, full, bright	The couple are represented as the best couple in love. New love, fun, exciting, packed with adventure. They are a young couple
Camera shots – which types? What variety of shots is there? What are shots of? Are there shots of artist? How many? What are they doing/type?	-Slow motion wide shot to see everything happening  - Variety of directions, low shot, high shot - Tracking, level	- Tilted angles - Sideways - Upside down - mirrored faces - A lot of panning around her throughout	- Follows the couples story - pan around the main characters with close ups to show expression for each other. Artist is in nearly every shot as he is also the main character.
Editing – How are camera shots edited? What is the pace like? How does the editing fit the music?	- Slowed down from high speed.  - Continuous - no breaks - explosions with the beat	- lighting in back ground is blurred showing distortion. - The character is usually centred in the middle in every shot.	The pace matches the song with the story in chronological order so that it is easy to understand.
Mise-en-scene – comment on costume, setting, hair, props, make up, facial expressions etc. How does this fit genre?	- Plain background and costume. - Colourful when objects explode	Different costumes in different settings showing a variety of personalities. She is very glamorous	The story is set in the mountains so they are wearing layers of clothes. Even though the setting is cold, their love warms them up.
How does the artiste want to be seen? Does it link with any of their other videos? Who does the video appeal to?	- Uplifting - Creative	- emotional - Strong -  fashionable - relatable	- Relatable - desirable - Popular - loved up - experienced

MUSIC VIDEO INTRODUCTION

- Many music videos include performance of the artists as part of the video.

- Music videos developed from clips of performances.

Narrative based:

- Often the video tells a story either that features in the lyrics or is suggested by the lyrics.

- Like a mini film - Beginning, Middle, End

- Can be used for intertextuality (films)

Concept:

- Based around a single idea and are usually unusual or obscure, even surreal for an audience. The unusual content is an attraction to many consumers which draws them in.

- Thematic; lots of common themes in music videos depending on the genre of the music.

- Symbolic; Use of symbols to build up meaning. Use of montage - lots of images to create meaning which is sometimes contradictory. Lighting is often used to suggest mood. fast paced - often only few seconds per shot. Pictures can support or contradict lyrics.

Performance:

- features band or artist performing live.

- can be the artists in real life situations.

- Often includes close ups.

CAN BE A HYBRID OF MORE THAN ONE

Andrew Goodwin - Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics; stage performances for metal bands, dance routines for pop groups.

- Typically music videos are 3-5 mins long, they frequently include quick cuts, stylisations, fanciful and often erotic imagery, and computer graphics.

- Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.

CHARITY CAMPAIGN POWERPOINT

ASA AND CHARITY ADVERTS

What do these terms mean? And how are they related to advertising?

Definition

Legal

Permitted/related to the law.

Ethical

relating to moral principles or the branch of knowledge dealing with these

Recap – who are the ASA? What do they do?

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation.

Read through the ASA codes specially aimed at charities. Highlight and summarise the key findings that charity advertisements must adhere to

Charity advertisements: An understanding of advertising content

Read and highlight the information below. Summarise what you have learnt in the table.

The Ideal Victims

●        Charity campaigns constitute a very unique type of advertising, since they attempt to generate action on the behalf of the sufferers.

●        In order to serve this cause, these texts attempt to manipulate the audience’s internal emotions and intend to generate responsibility and feelings of compassion or sympathy using images of suffering others.

●        According to Kinsey(1987) advertisers have a longstanding awareness of the fact that images of particular sufferers can be especially effective in getting audience’s attention.

●        Taking into consideration the fact that the proximity created by the media constitutes both social and physical approximation, and donating is a form of pro-social behaviour (any action intended to help others - the desire to help others with no expectation of reward), spectators may feel more inclined to donate when particular sufferers are presented.

●        Christie (1996: 384) defines the ‘ideal victim’ as a ‘person or a category of individual who when hit by crime, most readily is given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim’.

●        Höijer (2004: 517) notes that in general, children, mothers and the elderly are more suitable as ideal victims than men, since solely in the case that victims are identified as genuine and real, and thus are connected with innocence, they comprise candidates for compassion.

●        Pictures can generate compassion for two reasons: these victims are perceived as more vulnerable by respondents and thus deserve their help, or respondents may feel more compassionate about these sufferers through their own experience of being more open or vulnerable.

Negative versus Positive Appeals

●        A considerable number of consumer research studies agree that negative information and images are more attention-grabbing and convincing than positive communication efforts

●        The effectiveness of negative appeals is mainly attributed to the fact that they are more likely to breach spectator’s expectations, by moving beyond messages that are framed in a positive way, thus generating greater scrutiny

●        These appeals render the viewer a witness of the horror of suffering

  When people are confronted with threats of undesirable future social alterations, they tend to adjust their behaviour in an attempt to deter the threat, which most of the times leads them to support the cause of the charity

●        On the other hand, the use of negative appeals has been the subject of severe criticism. At the centre of these critiques is the argument that these images, by dehumanizing the sufferers, are for the most part responsible for causing sentiments of compassion fatigue to the audience

●        However, despite criticisms against them, evidence suggests that this is still the most efficient way of appealing for imperative action – hence its long-lasting existence in the public communication of suffering

●        ‘Positive appeal’ campaigns reject the representation of sufferers as helpless victims and focus on their agency and dignity.

●        Advertisements incorporating positive messages are more effective since they result in the spectator feeling more favourable towards their subject

●        Moreover, positive appeal images offer the spectators the opportunity to watch the results of their actions. Getting to see that their actions can actually lead to substantial change in the sufferers’ lives, highly motivates viewers to undertake the actions suggested by the advertisements

●        However, ‘positive appeals’ approach is not without disadvantages. It has been argued that these images as well, generate a different type of-compassion fatigue. Showing smiling faces of children, creates an impression that ‘everything is already taken care for’ (Small, 1997: 581-593), while these images may ultimately lead to inaction based on the assumption that ‘these are not really people in need’

Type of Action

●        Most times charity advertisements request for monetary donations so as to fund the work of NGOs. These requests can be segmented into requests regarding a specified amount, requests for an unspecified amount, requests for a bequest etc.

●        Loyal donors that develop long term relations with aid organisations are more likely to respond positively to any type of request, than those who are uncommitted

●        Requests for money that do not specify the amount are less likely to generate positive responses, since donors consider them as less concrete and trustworthy.

●        When the donor is only given the opportunity to respond to suffering by offering money, this could impede his/her moral response.

●        Particularly significant to the issue of audience’s reaction to humanitarian appeals is Cohen’s research on denial (Cohen, 2001; Cohen & Seu, 2002). Taking a different approach, Cohen focuses on what he calls the ‘black hole of the mind, a blind zone of blocked attention and selfdeception’ (Cohen 2001: 6), referring to the different ways of avoidance people use to shelter themselves from unpleasant realities and their responsibility towards the sufferers. Following Van Dijk (1992), Cohen crucially asserts that denial may appear in different forms: from defensive strategy to a strategy of normalisation and neutralisation.

The Ideal Victim

Charity adverts have unique advertising

Aim to manipulate audience’s emotions by showing images of sufferers

the ‘ideal victim’ is a ‘person or a category of individual who when hit by crime, most readily is given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim’.

children, mothers and the elderly are more suitable as ideal victims than men, since solely in the case that victims are identified as genuine and real, and thus are connected with innocence

Negative versus Positive Appeals

negative information and images are more attention-grabbing

When people are confronted with threats of undesirable future social alterations, they tend to adjust their behaviour in an attempt to deter the threat

the use of negative appeals has been the subject of severe criticism as they dehumanized the sufferers

the most efficient way of appealing for imperative action

Positive appeal’ campaigns reject the representation of sufferers

, ‘positive appeals’ approach is not without disadvantages. It has been argued that these images as well, generate a different type of-compassion fatigue. Showing smiling faces of children, creates an impression that ‘everything is already taken care for’

Types of Actions

These requests can be segmented into requests regarding a specified amount, requests for an unspecified amount, requests for a bequest

aid organisations are more likely to respond positively

Requests for money that do not specify the amount are less likely to generate positive responses, since donors consider them as less concrete and trustworthy.

Look at the following charity advertisements. Using all your knowledge of advertising – legal and ethical issues, the law, advertising techniques, the 4Ps, USP, advertising content – annotate why these charity adverts were banned.

Look at the following charity advertisements. Using all your knowledge of advertising – legal and ethical issues, the law, advertising techniques, the 4Ps, USP, advertising content – annotate why these charity adverts were banned.

ASA 2012 Report

People in the UK had a number of concerns about charity adverts they saw on TV; these were:

•       can go too far in their portrayal of violence, suffering or hardship

•       often make people feel guilty or uncomfortable in a way they considered inappropriate, especially ones [that are graphic] distressing and even offensive

•     [graphic/shocking ads] are particularly problematic if encountered unexpectedly or repeated excessively

•       Targeted their children (in particular anim al welfare ads) and put pressure on parents to donate money or do something about the issue

•       Appear on children’s channels

•       Prompted children to ask parents to adopt pets from shelters

•       Affected children emotionally or led to conversations that were not necessarily age-appropriate

Look back at the advertising techniques that are successfully used in adverts. Which ones do you think apply specifically to charity adverts? Why?

Vulnerable characters – audiences feel sorrier for them as they are innocent

Direct address – Speaks to the audience and is more personal

Emotive language – to make the audience aware of what is happening to the victims

Capital letters – Stands out more

Relatable – The audience is more likely to donate if it affects them personally so by being relatable it targets the viewer individually

THE BIG ISSUE ARTICLE

Institutional Factors and Marketing

First published in 1991 The Big Issue has gone from strength to strength to become the world’s most widely circulated street newspaper. It officially belongs to the hybrid genre of entertainment and social business and as such, runs regular reviews on films, book releases, theatre, music and art but no television listings – the entertainment aspect attracts advertising revenue while the editorial content is often critical of big business, banking and commerce and champions the political cause and role of the individual within society. David v Goliath narratives are common as downtrodden groups and disparate individuals fight corporate giants but the magazine has come under some criticism for its ‘flashy style’ as a street newspaper and as being overly commercial.

When John Bird and Gordon Roddick founded the magazine their aim was to offer homeless people, or people at risk of homelessness the opportunity to earn a legitimate income by selling the magazine – the cost of the magazine is £2-50 with £1-25 going to the trader. This was the primary objective of the magazine as an independent publication to offer a public service and to try and improve a social problem which they saw as endemic – John Bird MBE remains the Editor-in-Chief and still writes a regular column at the back of the magazine. Recently (January 2013) he appeared on BBC1’s discussion panel show Question Time surprising some viewers with his admission that he is a ‘working class Tory’. Other writers in the magazine Bird works with include professional journalists and new and established writers.

Bird’s own background was pivotal to launching The Big Issue – he was homeless at the age of 5, residing in an orphanage between 7 and 10 and had a spell in prison as a teenager. After leaving prison he slept rough on the streets of London before returning to prison in his late 20s. Four years after founding the magazine in 1995 he launched The Big Issue Foundation, a registered charity to further help the homeless. The Foundation provides magazine vendors with information, advice, guidance and support on a range of issues.

As an independent publication (published by The Big Issue Company Ltd.) it needed, and received £25,000 start up capital, donated by The Body Shop (the founder of the Body Shop, Anita Roddick was the wife of co Big Issue founder Gordon Roddick). At its peak The Big Issue sold 300,000 copies in 2001 but as sales declined over the decade (along with the circulation of all print media) it re-launched with a new look and new columnists including controversial Premier League footballer Joey Barton. Weekly circulation (every Monday) has improved to around 58,000 and presently there are 6000 registered sellers all over the UK with acknowledgement that there are also rogue traders (without large red jackets and clear id badges) who have ‘acquired’ copies of the magazine illegally. Most of the vendors conform to the male (85%) homeless stereotype, are 18-46 with broken relationships and subsequent problems given and the major reason for their homelessness

Audience Appeals

Undoubtedly there is an element of emotional fulfilment in buying a copy of The Big Issue – this feel good factor associated with charity giving has to be identified as one of the key appeals of the magazine. In making a purchase you may feel better ideologically knowing you are helping rough sleepers and the homeless. This is why ‘carers’ using psychographic research are targeted by the magazine. Using a different model of audience, the Uses and Gratifications model Surveillance very much applies as one of audience pleasures gained from reading the magazine. Information is available on socio political issues but also the entertainment aspect in that you can read about a current issue but then indulge in reviews and analysis of culture.

The target audience of The Big Issue also enjoy the fact that it speaks to them, in terms of modes of address ‘in their own language’ using an elaborated language code assuming a level of intelligence and cultural capital. This balanced approach cloaks up to a point any encoded ideology and massages carefully the readers’ understanding of key issues. Articles and stories assume some prior knowledge e.g. in the edition October 8th 2012 a piece on the American Presidential Debate required some knowledge of the American constitution and political history. Shared ideological beliefs is also a key appeal for the audience as notions of personal relationships apply – in the same edition an ironic advert for ‘Dick Sapphire’ lectures on how to make money targets the audience’s left wing, liberal leanings as they are aware the lectures are written and performed by comedian Rory Bremner­­, known for his strong political opinions on issues ranging from Health Care to Education and Politics. These are all areas audiences would expect The Big Issue to cover.

The reader is made to feel ‘independent’ by the reactionary, sometimes controversial approach the magazine has, against dominant mainstream culture. Even the adverts do not follow mainstream conventions with copy including National Book Tokens, ‘Let’s Trek for Children’ and Safer Medicines. There is an element of the alternative here with the caring, liberal audience appreciating the lack of adverts for high street brands whose primary objective is commercial gain. Along with this, even the celebrities found within the magazine are associated with more realist human interest stories while at the same time remaining aspirational as figures the target audience can identify with and relate to. The central story, “What’s your Revolution?” is a rhetorical question challenging the target audience making clear linking to the Communist Russian Revolution – this is an attempt by the magazine to return to left wing political values.

•       The connotations of the Russian Revolution are evidenced by intertextual reference to Constructivist art which references the cultural capital of an ABC1 demographic – the fist, stars and design are common to this art movement.

•       “Time to make a change” has a double meaning by referencing a need for political change but also by referring directly to new writers – Alex Salmond as leader of the SNP has obvious credentials to write for a politically motivated magazine, Bob Crow is the reactionary, left wing General Secretary of the RMT known for bringing railway workers out on strike while the Archbishop of York is an outspoken block cleric on issues of multiculturalism and homosexuality. The controversial Premier League footballer Joey Barton is included as a controversial figure who has been subject to considerable criticism and media speculation.

•       Dame Stephanie Shirley is the only female writer on the front cover which anchors the male dominated narratives and viewpoints contained within the magazine – Dame ‘Steve’ Shirley (adopting the name Steve to help her in the male dominated business world) is a businesswoman and philanthropist whose work has focussed on creating work opportunities for women with dependents.

Genre

•       As a hybrid magazine of entertainment and social business key entertainment conventions include reviews on television, film, book releases, theatre, music, the arts (see some display adverts). As identified before these entertainment aspects draw in advertising revenue as this is one of the key appeals of the magazine (see above). Front covers are nearly always entertainment based with frequent use of celebrity to anchor a narrative – see front page deconstruction below. The Big Issue remains an unusual hybrid as entertainment magazines are rarely hybridized with social business and as such this positions the magazine as having a USP.

•       In terms of social business, the magazine runs so called ‘serious stories’ – social issues e.g. AIDS in Africa, Wikileaks, liberal politics, ‘David and Goliath’ stories which commonly focus on individuals and their struggle against corporations in classic binary opposition. Definitions of social business are businesses that are associated with working for the benefit of the people e.g. Charities, Education, Healthcare, Housing…This is clearly identifiable as a key convention of The Big Issue as it places this as an ideological imperative. Businesses foregrounded often associated with a more caring approach include Virgin, Innocent Smoothie, Co-op Bank, Organic Milk, National Book Tokens, Skillset and the University of the Arts. Critical of big business, banking and commerce the articles are often anti-government, state control and use of power. Despite the unusual hybrid The Big Issue retains some of its generic features including regular articles at the back of the magazine by John Bird and a guarantee of a ‘big splash’, colour cover that is challenging and provoking.

Representation

•       Pluralistic representations reflect the fact that the magazine is independent – it offers a diverse range of representations but a key focus on minority groups e.g. the homeless which positions it as a media text that like The Guardian, foregrounds narratives about minority groups. Connotations of being politically liberal and socially aware and against mainstream representations are written into the magazine despite the prior admission as identified earlier of John Bird’s Conservative political sympathies. The Big Issue wants however to be seem as the antithesis of right wing political ideology and this is evident from front covers and content analysis.

•       In relation to gender the magazine has a male dominated narrative despite the alleged 59% readership (according to The Big Issue). I personally rarely see the magazine purchased by female consumers and the content seems to stereotypically target ‘male issues’. This is a problem for The Big Issue as it wants to appeal to both genders. The magazine is sold not exclusively but commonly by male vendors and homelessness in terms of statistics is a ‘male problem’. As difficult as these statistics are to interpret there are many, many more homeless males in the UK than female and as a result ABC1, educated male consumers are more likely to be aware of this.

•       Representations of Age is interesting - The Big Issue allegedly has a younger target audience according to the magazine’s own demographic analysis but many articles suggest a need for cultural capital associated with an older demographic e.g. one article on William Shatner as James T Kirk would present ‘problems’ for a younger reader. In this regard however statistics indicate that homeless people in the UK are more under 45 than over 45 with a significant percentage under 35. Representation of art and culture are preferred to mainstream entertainment which again would stereotypically attract an older audience with a positive focus on representations of working class culture despite the middle class readership.

•       Compared to any genre of magazine The Big Issue has low production values but compared to most other so called Street Magazines has higher production values. Again, as with most magazines The Big Issue is sustained by advertising revenue and by The Big Issue Foundation and supported by www.bigissue.com. The cover is often flamboyant, revealing a high level of cultural and political awareness (see above covers which use intertextual links to an Alfred Hitchcock film to link to budget cuts and debate on the power of television) but also understanding the cover is the main point of sale. The Big Issue is sold (points of distribution) in city centres, built up urban areas, train stations and shopping centres with the bulk in London where there is a high percentage of Romanian vendors. The magazine, although dealing with national issues is up to a point globally published being available in Australia, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Namibia, Kenya, Taiwan and Malawi where content is bespoke to country and culture.