1B

Genre

Genre: Pixie Lott – All About Tonight

• Pop
• Narrative at the beginning at home getting ready
• Performance in chorus
• Lyrics – female confident – direct eye contact
• Studio setting (green screen)
• Connotates realism (gets ready and then goes partying) 

There are many types of music genres ranging from pop to rock. I have based my music video around the pop genre; I have chosen this genre as I believe this genre to be of a great success over the years. Music videos can be characterized into three broad typologies, performance, and narrative and conceptual.

My music video includes both narrative and performance/dance routine. By including both narrative and performance/dance routine highlights to the target audience that the artist not only can be in a narrative which could relate to them also but also highlights a performance and there capability to perform and sing which is what the audience would expect from the artist when singing at a concert. During the narrative side of the music video, the audience can see that the main artist is getting ready to go to a party as emphasized in the lyrics “all about tonight”.  It also follows Andrew Goodwin’s theory of being a relationship between the lyrics and the visual. This is highlighted in verse 1 where the audience can see the artist taking out a new pair of heels and putting them on.

Marxist Reading is also shown throughout the music video as it advertises the artists performance of how she is able to sing and perform a dance routine which is quite upbeat, this makes the audience want to see her live as they will believe she will make it interesting by dancing and putting on a show.

I have made sure that my music follows the basic conventions of a pop genre music video by including a variety of colours – for example the makeup on the artist is quite bright which draws the audience in and makes her well known to the public for this. Also by including a dancing makes it a fun video and how the audience visualise parties to be like today.

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Question 1B – Genre

Genre is a means of categorising different texts and being able to place them in a particular group based on codes and conventions as well as producer/audience relationships. My A2 production of a music video is generally associated with pop music.

Daniel Chandler theory is followed throughout my music video, through the characters as the artists shown in the music video are trendy and have fashionable clothes which are usually found in pop music videos to make artists appeal to the audience. The lead singer and dancers make the music video more interesting to watch as it follows a simple clear narrative which is combined with a performance in the chorus where the artist is dancing with her friends.

David Chandler’s theory is applied to my music video in numerous ways. Firstly the song fails to give the audience the complete narrative. This means that only a gist of the narrative is being told and then at the end the audience tend to make up their own idea of what is being told or happening.

Andrew Goodwin theory consists of 8 principles:

-       Relationship between lyrics and visuals

-       Relationship between music and visuals

-       Genre characteristics

-       Intertextual references/influences

-       Notions of looking

-       Direct gaze into artists life

-       Demands of close up

-       Narrative

Most of these principles are applied to my music video. Andrew Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore common narrative, as it is important in their role of advertising. Due to my music video being a mixture of narrative and performance it makes it easier for the audience to watch the video over and over without losing interest. My artist acts both as a narrator and a participant, this helps to increase the authenticity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. This is clearly highlighted through numerous close ups of my artist miming to camera, this also makes the music video appear more real to the audience.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, as the lyrics sang by my artist are mimicked in the video, an example of this is ‘I bought a new pair of shoes’, my artist is seen walking down the stairs in white stilettos and straight after there is a mid shot of her walking down the road as the lyrics ‘I got a new attitude when I walk’ is sang. Another example is ‘I’m going out with the girls’; there is a shot which clearly highlights two girls ready to go out. Relationship between music and visuals is also applied as you can see there is a dance performance for the chorus which fits in well with the beat of the song.

There is a direct gaze into the artist’s life, as you see her getting ready as any typical teenager would do. This is highlighted with her putting on makeup, doing her hair and putting on jewellery. Finally there is constant close ups of my artist throughout the music video which also supports Goodwin’s theory.

David Buckingham says that “Genre is not simply given by the culture; rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change”. I believe that my music video supports past examples, especially the original music video. This is due to the fact that the dance routine used in my music video was implemented using the original music video. 

Narrative

Narrative: Pixie Lott – All About Tonight

Pixie Lott’s song “All About Tonight” is from her second studio album Young Foolish Happy. It was released digitally in the UK on 2^nd September 2011 as the albums lead single.

My music video is a linear narrative as it is a story told in order in which events happen, i.e. at the beginning my artist (Filipa Ferreira) is getting ready to go to a party and then she is seen partying all night.

 It follows Todorov’s theory of an equilibrium – disruption - new equilibrium. This is shown from at the beginning of the music video my artist is getting ready to go out for the night, she is seen putting on her makeup and doing her hair etc and then the disruption is where she ends up meeting all her friends “I’m going out with the girls” and is partying all night and then the new equilibrium is where they are all lying down tired from partying all night.

Roland Barthes theory of the Semantic code is also applied to the music video as the audience see my artist with bright colourful lips which connotate fun and love as expressed in the lyrics “Ready to show all the boys what I got
I'm letting go of the hurt”.

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Question 1B – Narrative Theory

Narrative theorists usually are not usually interested in what happens in the story but more importantly how the story is told. Todorov presents a model for exploring an entire narrative from beginning to end, music videos however due to their experimental nature, may choose not to present an entire narrative but may in fact focus on one stage within the story.

                                                                                           

A linear narrative is the most simple and commonly used narrative structure. Some narrative music videos can include many twists and turns in the plot within this structure and the audience may still need to work hard to find out what’s going on.

Music Video

My music video follows a linear narrative as it is a story told in order of which events happen, i.e. at the beginning of my music video, my artist is seen getting ready to go to go out with her friend. She is seen putting on various types of jewellery and make up, and styling her hair with her friend.

Todorov’s theory of an equilibrium – disruption - new equilibrium is also applied in my music video. The equilibrium is clearly shown at the beginning of the music video of my artist getting ready to go out for the night, she is seen putting on her makeup and doing her hair etc and then her best friend arrives round and they get ready together.

The disruption is where she ends up meeting all her other friend “I’m going out with the girls” and is partying all night. The audience can see that they are all heading towards a night out in a group.

The new equilibrium isn’t very clear to the audience as they don’t see them arriving at the party as the main narrative for the music video is my artist preparing to go to the party and then arrives at the scene and you just see them closing the doors to the party.   

Roland Barthes theory of the Semantic code is also applied to the music video as the audience see my artist with bright colourful lips which connotates fun and love as expressed in the lyrics “Ready to show all the boys what I got I'm letting go of the hurt”.

Vladimir Propp argued that narratives always have certain character types who perform certain actions. Therefore he believed that most music videos feature stock characters, this applies to my music video as my artist is shown to be a stereotypical teenager wanting to go out with her friends and be in complete different world. My main artist has bright blonde hair and she wears bright make up to stand out. She has a few changes of clothes throughout the video which in every one has different shoes also. The use of changing the outfits a few times link in well with the narrative.

“A high degree of narrative closure”, Pam Cook’s theory doesn’t apply much to my music video as my narrative is quite basic and real, for example most teenagers meet up with their friends to get ready to go out and they go partying etc and this is what my music video is all about, it’s all about having fun with friends and letting your hair down for the night.

Finally Laura Mulvey’s theory of the narrative being delivered through the eyes of a male is also applied throughout my music video with the variety of close ups used to emphasise my artist, this is clearly shown on close ups of my artists face highlighting her eyes and lips which stand out from her blonde hair.

Representation
Audience
Media Language