THEORIES

IN MUSIC VIDEOS
Michael Shore
Critiques music videos and states that all music videos use at least one of the
following:
recycled styles - intertextuality
information overload this means that the music videos have too much going on and not a
definitive narrative. For example Bonnie Tyler total eclipse of the heart too many random
characters/ props/ mise-en-scene
Surface without substance no meaning or narrative behind shots, random shots to look good
enhances the music
Image and style scavengers- borrow mise en scene from previous time periods.
Decadence showing off wealth
Immediate gratification -
Speed, power, girls and wealth
Clichd imagery
Soft-core pornography
Adolescent male fantasies
ENIGMA CODE & ACTION CODE

Enigma Code Action Code

Refers to any element that An action code refers to plot
is not explain and therefore events that imply further
raising questions that narrative action.
demand explanation.
Example of Enigma code/ Action code

Charlie Puth// We Don't Talk Anymore

Questions to ask
Do the two protagonists know each other have they ever met?
Were they in a relationship? If so why did they spilt up?
Why is split screen used?
Tzvetan Todorov
Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a structure
consisting of three parts.
1. They begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced
2. Something then comes along to disrupt that equilibrium
3. However a resolution is finally met , when equilibrium is re-
established.
Vladimir Propp
Developed Todorovs narrative theory into narrative arc theory.
Claude Levi-Strauss: Binary Opposition
Believed constant creation of conflict /opposition propels narrative.
Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual
(light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate,
control/panic), and to do with soundtrack.
For Example :
Good vs Evil
Black vs White
Boy vs Girl
Peace vs War
Civilised vs Savage
Democracy vs Dictatorship
First world vs Third world
Young vs Old
Man vs Nature
Example of Binary Opposition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb24RrHIbFk
A few binary oppositions found in this music video:
Homosexual vs heterosexual
Civilised vs savage
Young vs old
Black vs white
Empowered vs Victim
Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin as identified the following features of music videos:
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics for example you
would typically expect a stage performance in metal video of a
dance routine for boy/girl band.
2. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of
close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop styles which
recur across their work.
3. There is often reference to the notion of looking (screens within
screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly unhealthy treatment of
the female body.
4. Intertextual references to films, TV programmes, other music
videos are commonly found.
Example of Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Coldplay Hymn For the Weekend

Genre Genre
characteristics : characteristics :
Mainly Mainly
performance performance
from pop Band from pop Band
and Pop Artist and Pop Artist
Close-ups of the
Notion of looking :
artists.
Beyonc being
Both Beyonc and
watched I a cinematic
Chris Martin (lead
style adheres Laura
singer of
Mulvey theory male
Coldplay)
gaze
Steve Archers Theory
There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between
narrative and performance in music promos.

Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the

song by the band

A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artists

performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid
visualisation and the repeatability factor.
John Stewarts Theory
The music video has the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of
close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the stars face.
Visual references comes from a range of sources, most frequently
cinema, fashion and art photography.
incorporating, raiding and reconstructing is essentially the essence
of intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be
familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings.
The video allows more access to the performer than a stage
performance can.
Mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an
aspirational lifestyle.
Sigmund Freud's Theory
Voyeurism - Refers to the notion that erotic pleasure may be gained
by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the object is unaware
of being watched)
Many music videos use this notion - via cameras, images within / of
images perspective of the viewer, CCTV, views through opened doors,
windows, etc
Example of Sigmund Freud's Theory

Fountains of Wayne Stacys Mom

The blinds are
purposely separating
the shot and he
camera to get sense of Here the shot
the Voyeurism shows the
teenage
Similarly the shot protagonist
shows the outside of move the
the building and the curtain aside to
blinds to make the admire Stacy's
audience aware that Mom
the POV is from the
teenage boy
Laura Mulvey's Theory
Because filmmakers are predominantly male, the presence of women
in films is often solely for the purposes of display (rather than for
narrative purposes).
The purpose of this display is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in
spectators, which presumes a male gaze one that is a powerful
controlling gaze at the female on display, who is effectively objectified
and passive.
Another part of her male gaze theory suggests that women are only
portrayed as one of two possibilities. Either a virginal innocent
character or a sexy whore (her words, not mine)! This is called the
virgin / whore dichotomy
Example of Sigmund Freud's Theory

Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag

presence of The music
women in films is video begins
often solely for portraying the
the purposes of school girl as a
display virginal
innocent
character
presumes a male
however by the
gaze
end the scene
female on display,
at the dance
who is effectively
portrays her as
objectified and
sexy.
passive.