'Urban Tribes' Analysis

Michel Maffesoli:

Michel Maffesoli is a 'French Sociologist' who discovered the theory of 'Urban Tribes'. According to Maffesoli urban tribes 
are micro groups of people who share common interests in urban areas. These groups of people tend to have ideas and views of the world, dress sense and behaviour patterns. They also share a common interest in urban areas, for example: 

Rahs love to party and are proud of their roots, kitted out in the best of British heritage brands e.g. Ugg Boots, Onesies, Labels (Jack Wills) etc.

My Urban Tribe

The urban tribe, that I feel I'm the most close to via uktribes.com is the 'New Casuals' which is part of the aspirant sector. According to the website, 'New Casuals' are lads with a passion of underground beats, understated fashion and going out for a pint with friends. 3 key words to describe new casuals are: Football, Style and Chilling. I believe that I fit in to this category because I am fascinated about certain fashion, such as chinos and T-shirts, I'm always going round a friend/relatives house to watch football and I'm interested in listening to brand new music, from mainstream music, such as pop, hip-hop etc. to underground music, such as dub step and 80's etc.

How does my tribe consume music?

For the urban tribe of 'New Casuals' would discover most of the new music from YouTube, for example, the UKF Dubstep channel releases a new track every couple of days, which gives the audience a chance to listen to new material. They may also watch TV music channels, which adopts shows such as 'Top 20 Fresh New Hits' which 'NEW CASUALS' can listen to new music from. They would rarely read the newspaper to find out music stories, as they tend to focus on underground music, rather than the mainstream. They would also listen to the radio to capture new material.
     An example of a song of which new casuals would like to listen to would be 'Hannah Montana' by Migos (Borgore & Protohype remix) because it is a new track and it's not recognised by many people in the mainstream.

 I will now apply the use of consumption of music through 3 other different urban tribes and apply them to a music video, which they would enjoy and which fits their social attributes towards society.

FAN GIRLS:

'Fan girls' are an urban tribe based in the 'mainstream' segment of uktribes.com. They are hopelessly devoted to many mainstream pop icons, so therefore becoming a big fan of a particular pop artist. They would be socially addicted to Twitter (with the idea of reading a particular artists tweets) and they would read magazines such as Smash Hits and Top of the Pops, in addition, consuming music videos through mainstream music channels, e.g. 4Music, BuzMuzik etc. 'Fan Girls' are separated into different kind of groups, depending on the artist they are fondly in love with, for example, Justin Bieber fans would be known as 'Beliebers' and One Direction fans would be known as 'Directioners'. 

   The video I would pick to describe 'Fan Girls' would be 'Justin Bieber - Baby' because 'Beliebers' are one of the most popular 'Fan Girl' groups and 'Baby' is one of Justin Bieber's most known hits.

CHAVS:

'Chavs' are another urban tribe listed in the 'mainstream' segment of uktribes.com. They are best known for their dress style, with trainers of the best names: Nike, Adidas, Puma alongside big name hoodies and tracksuit bottoms. Their main social interaction is with other chavs on the streets or at local parks or shops etc. They would tend to listen to many big name rappers, such as Lil Wayne, Drake, Waka Flocka Flame and Eminem, as well as other mainstream rappers via YouTube and music channels, such as Channel AKA.

   An example of a video they would enjoy would be 'Jay-Z and Kanye West - Paris', two big names in hip-hop/rap and a musical number in the mainstream.

EMOS:

'Emos' are an urban tribe, listed in the 'alternative' segment of uktribes.com. Emos tend to wear dark clothing, from head to toe, most prominently a 'wacky' style haircut, as well as black lipstick and black leather jackets. They would consume heavy rock, as well as 80's style punk music. They would mainly consume this genre of music through magazines and music channels, such as 'Kerrang!' (music channel and magazine), 'Scuzz' (music channel) and 'Classic Rock' (magazine). 
   A typical emo would listen to music from artists such as Bring Me The Horizon, Pierce the Veil and My Chemical Romance. An example of a video they would consume is 'Bring Me the Horizon - Go To Hell, For Heaven's Sake'.

  

Video: Key conventions of Music Video in Pop, Hip-hop and Rock

Carol Vernallis' Theory of Music Video

Carol Vernallis' theory is explained in her book 'Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context'.

I have decided to look into Carol's theory, as it would give me a clear idea about whether to include this in to my construction of music video. This could help me develop my skills in making my music video in a professional manor and will hopefully help me to identify the typical conventions that music video contains, depending on the genre. There are 4 key concepts within genre, which all relate to the way Carol's idea of music video is constructed. They are as followed:

- Narrative
- Editing
- Camera Movement and Framing
- Diegesis

1) Narrative

- The video is a visual response to the music.
- There is not necessarily a balance between narrative and performance.
- The narrative is not always complete.
- The structure of the video may appear disjointed.
- Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative.
- They may not be a clear resolution (closure) at the end.
- The video may pose questions that it doesn't actually answer.
- There may be a narrative of theme running through the video, but in a montage style.

2) Editing

- Editing may match the musical phrases or the beat.
- The video may break or disrupt many of the 'rules' of continuity editing.
- Editing may be really obvious, to draw attention to themselves, rather than to invisible, continuity editing.

For example, you may see:

. Jump cuts.
. Breaks of the 30 degree and 180 degree rules.
. Cutting against the movement and within the lyrics.
. Fancy edits or cuts.
. Extreme jumps in time and space and also the changes in pace.
. Juxtaposed frames and graphic matches.
. A style of editing that runs through the video and is distinctive to that video.

You may not see:

. Smooth transitions.
. Matches on action.
. An even pace throughout.

3) Camera Movement and Framing

- When it comes to shot types, extremes are very common.
- The styles of framing and movement runs through the video and is distinctive to that video.
- The camera may move in time with the music and may also move on the lyrics.
- The master shot is used frequently, as well as close-ups.

4) Diegesis

- The diegesis may be revealed quite slowly.
- Actions are not always completed, but may be interrupted by disruptions in some way.
- Character of object movements may move to the music.
- There may be gaps in the audience's knowledge of diegesis - in time and space, music, performance and narrative.
- Some frames may be more important than others.
- There may be many repetitions e.g. musical phrases, the beat, other musical elements, images, colours, camera positions, themes, lyrics and performance.



Conclusion:

In comparison to Andrew Goodwin's theory of music video, Carol Vernallis has a more relaxing approach to her theory, whereas Andrew Goodwin's theory must match up within the 6 aspects of his theory. Carol Vernallis talks about her views of her experiences on watching many music videos, whereas Andrew Goodwin points out the features of particular music videos and their genres. 

  

Music Video - Progression Task

Steve Neale - Genre Theorist

Born on the 9th of January 1958, Stephen Roy Albert Neale (Steve Neale) is an analytic philosopher and specialist in the philosophy of language who specializes mainly about meaning, interpretation, information and communication. He states that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference; this is what pleasure for the audience is derived from'. He believes that you must stay within certain boundaries to prevent the audience from confusion and boredom. He also suggests that there should be an even balance between the ideas of repetition and difference, otherwise the audience will immediately become frustrated and will lack interest and become disorientated. 


I will now post 3 music video, which backs up Steve Neale's idea of repetition and difference in genre:

DEMI LOVATO: HEART ATTACK -

The first video I will apply to Steve Neale's theory is 'Heart Attack' by Demi Lovato, which is a song of the 'pop' genre. However, her typical genres for her songs are a selection of pop, rock and r&b. We can tell the song is of a pop genre, due to it's catchy lyrics and the star image of the main artist.    First of all, the lyrics of the chorus is casually repeated 'If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack'. This creates a somewhat catchy, memorable feel to the song, which means that the next time they hear the song, they will easily remember the lyrics, therefore gaining interest. Not only is the song lyrics repeated, but also the mise-en-scene features of the music video. For example, the video features a constant use throughout the whole video of a white backdrop, which then cuts to a black backdrop. As well as this, the artist appears visible when Demi is seen in front of the white backdrop, covered in black ink on her chest. This makes her appear more visible, so the audience can see who she is and also brings up the idea of 'voyeurism' due to her see-through clothing and exposure of her chest. 

Another example of repetition used is the use of close-up shots to show the artist's face. This gives the audience a clear idea of who she is, so people can 'figure out' who the artist is in upcoming music videos.
    Finally, the lyrics 'You make me glow'. Shown in the visuals when the lyrics is sung is of a wide/establishing shot of a rock band, with their guitars and drums, with the ceiling lights suddenly turning on.  

This aspect relates to Andrew Goodwin's theory of music video, where the lyrics match the visuals, as shown in the picture for 'Heart Attack' (left). This is repetitive because this shot appears everytime the lyric is sung by Demi Lovato.



THE SATURDAYS - WHAT ABOUT US:

The next video I will apply to Steve Neale's theory is 'What About Us' by The Saturdays, which like 'Heart Attack' is a song of the pop genre. Once again, we can tell the song is pop because of the upbeat music present and the catchy lyrics and also presents the star image of the band. 
   First of all, there is a repetition of the close-up shots of each member of The Saturdays. This appears mostly in the first part of the video, where the girl group are seen walking down an empty, urban street. This gives the audience once again to gain an idea of the members of The Saturdays close-up, so we can recognize them in future videos. This feature is seen most predominantly in the chorus, where all members of the group are singing the chorus. This is shown via loads of close-ups of all the members, as well as fast-editing.

However, amongst all this, there is a difference to the setting of the music video, which ultimately makes the video more appealing, rather than just a music video, filmed in the daytime. The first half of the video is filmed in the daytime, showing scenes of the girls walking down a street, going shopping, playing pool and chilling next to an outside swimming pool in the blazing sun. The second half, however, is filmed in the nighttime, showing scenes of the girls dancing in an astroturf, with the outdoor lights on. Not only is this appealing to the audience, but also suggests the life of a teenager in the summer (chilling with friends, going shopping and partying all night with friends).


PSY - GANGNAM STYLE:

The final music video I will apply to Steve Neale's theory of 'repetition and difference' is the YouTube phenomenon 'Gangnam Style' by PSY. Watched by almost 2 billion people worldwide and has almost 8 million likes, no wonder 'Gangnam Style' is proven popular to a worldwide audience. The music video is of a pop genre, due to it's recognizable lyrics, crazy dancing and star image of PSY. 



 
















First of all, let's talk about a repetition, which is most prominent in this music video. In these 4 images (above) we can see PSY and extras performing his signature dance move to the camera, which is featured throughout the whole clip. However, he is shown performing his dance moves in different locations, making it a lot more exciting for viewers to watch, including some scenes which shows the somewhat humorous side to the video; no wonder this video proves to be so big worldwide.
      The use of repetition is also shown and heard in the lyrics 'Oppan Gangnam Style'. Like the other 2 video's as shown above, these lyrics create a catchy, memorable approach to the song, so when this song is played again, it can be understood a lot easier, due to those catchy lyrics. This approach, therefore, gains interest to the viewer.

We can understand that a difference about this video is the huge selection of locations used to stage the video and it's popular dance move. However, a more unique difference to the music video is the use of props in scenes, where there is no purpose to them. In this screenshot (above) we can see that the setting is of an indoor tennis court, with 2 girls playing tennis...but...what is the purpose of the shopping trolley located on the left hand side. This creates a sense of humour to this video, which obtains interest for the viewer, because of the obscurity of a shopping trolley in the middle of a tennis court. The audience would describe this approach as 'random' because on the unsuspected prop in the particular scene of the video. This idea is one of the reasons why this video is so popular and how, out of millions of music videos, is ranked the best in the world, due to the amount of likes of YouTube and of the amount of viewers of the video.

Andrew Goodwin - The Theory of the 'Music Video'

Andrew Goodwin's theory is made up of 6 main principals, which can be adapted to the construction of music videos. I will talk about each main principal and include an example from different music videos.

- Links between lyrics and visuals
  
Andrew Goodwin's theory suggests that the lyrics of that    particular song must make reference to the visuals that is seen on screen. This must be included at all times, so the viewer can understand the meaning of the song by listening to the lyrics and watching the visuals.

 An example of this is from the music video for 'Friday' by Rebecca Black. The opening lyrics of the song are '7AM waking up in the morning, gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs', which for these lyrics, visuals of the music video comes and enforces the lyrics that are being sung at that moment in time. 


- Links between music and visuals

According to Andrew's theory, the links between the music and visuals varies between different genres of music, as well as the tempo of music and different beats. For example, in the rock music genre, we can see a band in a performance space with the musical instruments (guitars, drums etc.) performing the track, which corresponds to the music being played. 

   

In the music video 'Killing In the Name' by Rage against the Machine, this feature is easily identified throughout the whole. On a plus note, the people in the audience and the band themselves are swaying their heads, as well as their arms to the beat of the music. The link between the music and the visuals in this picture is very well constructed together.


- Genre Characteristics

The genre characteristics of a music videos depends on the particular genre. For example, in a rap/hip-hop video, you would expect the artist(s) to have characteristics, e.g. they would wear jewellery, hoodies and urban clothing, as well as be associated with drugs/money, women, cars, guns and possibly dangerous dogs.
An example of this is shown in 'Buzzin' by Mann ft 50 Cent. On the left, we see 50 Cent donning the urban clothing, the jewellery and money, as well as the car in the background; and on the right, we see a woman, who is shown in the video dancing sexually to get attention from men, and once again, we see a modernised car in the background, which could suggest wealth.


- Notions of looking (voyeurism)


Notions of looking plays on the idea of gaze and the way someone in particular is seen. In many music videos, we see the artist looking directly in the camera, focusing on us (the audience). An example of this is voyeurism, which focuses on the treatment of women, as well as the system of looking.

  
A good example of this is 'I Know You Want Me' by American rapper Pitbull. As shown in these 3 shots, voyeurism is present due to the fact that the women are presented as sex objects and the audience's gaze is for pleasure and to attract a large male audience. We can tell this by their limited amount of clothes, sexy dances and gestures, such as the 'come here' movement of the fingers, which draws the audience into the action.


- Demands of the record label

Andrew Goodwin states in his theory that the demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close-ups of the artist and they may develop motifs, which will incur in all their work. In most music videos, the artist of the song is usually the protagonist of the music video, which means that they will feature more in the clip than anyone else e.g. the backing artist etc.

 In the music video for 'Sex on Fire' by the Kings Of Leon,the lead singer is predominantly featured in almost every single camera shot of the music video, whereas the rest of the band features every now and again, especially in the chorus. Because the lead singer is the most recognisable member of the band, as shown clearly in the music video, this will appeal to the bands target audience.


- Intertextual references

Some music videos may feature intertextual references, meaning the presence of other texts from other music videos, TV shows, films etc. 

A clear example of this is shown in the Eminem video for 'Just Lose It':

Near Left:
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Far Left:
Eminem - Just Lose It



The 'Just Lose It' video shows intertextual reference to the music video 'Billie Jean' due to when Michael Jackson walks along the pavement in his video, it lights up. This shows that Eminem was inspired by the 'Billie Jean' video and wanted to include his own, more humorous and mimicked side to the scene of the clip.
Another example of an intertextual reference is the MC Hammer scene that Eminem has constructed in the music video. We can tell this by the clothing he wears, which strangely enough looks like the clothing that MC Hammer wore in his video for 'U Can't Touch This'. The backing dancers are also present in 'Just Lose It' which is similar to the MC Hammer clip. Once again, this scene has a humorous side to it, as the lyrics have changed in 'Just Lose it' from 'Stop......Hammertime' to 'Stop......Pajama Time'.


Conclusion:

I believe that the Andrew Goodwin theory of music videos works really well and I believe I can include these features in my own music video construction. However, not all music videos include every single feature of Andrew Goodwin, but they all must include at least one of these features (maybe 2) to become successful worldwide. 

       

3 Music Videos That I Like

In this blog, I'm going to do a textual analysis on 3 music videos of my choice, of which I find effective and I like. The reasons that I like these music videos is due to the way the producer approaches his/her use of camera shots, editing techniques and the use of mise-en-scene.


PSY - GENTLEMAN

For me, I think the music video for 'Gentleman' by PSY is very effective because it adopts a variety of camera shots, editing techniques and muse-en-scene, which makes this music video very enjoyable to watch.
   First of all, the music video has a huge and varied amount of camera shots, for example, close-ups of PSY and a woman looking at each other in a sexual way.

The main purpose of a close-up  in any form of media is to show a characters emotion about something or someone and this is very well established here. This could suggest that PSY and the woman have a close relationship with one another and they are seen by the audience to be more than just friends. Another example of a camera shot used a lot is the long/establishing shot of PSY dancing with his crew to the beat of the song. Therefore, the audience can identify what's going on in the video, due to that particular camera shot. As this song is of a pop/dance genre, the long/establishing is perfectly used to understand the conventions e.g. the song is a dance hit, so it should feature dancing etc. 
   The genre is also established by it's use of fast editing. An example of this comes from the first chorus from 1:01 to 1:16, where there are 13 shots in the space of just 15 seconds. In addition to this, the music video also features slow motion, especially at the moments when the song builds up to the chorus, as well as at the beginning, when PSY walks up the road, with the elderly backing stars. The music that goes along with it is just a bass beat with a bassline, which then continues with the main melody of the song, when the visuals roll as normal, without any sow motion. No effects have been used in this music video, which is very surprising in the pop/dance genre.
  Finally, the mise-en-scene is used widely in this clip.

Considering the song is of a pop/dance genre, the music video must have key conventions with this genre. One of the main key conventions, which is shown in this video, is the use of bright colours, taking whether the clothes of the characters, the lighting as shown in the bottom picture or bright objects, such as the bright green turf in the bottom picture. The characters are dressed in fashionable and mainstream clothing, which fits around the genre of music because of its popularity with kids and adults alike.


WIZ KHALIFA - BLACK & YELLOW

For the music video for 'Black & Yellow' by Wiz Khalifa, the use of camera shots matches the convention for the hip/hop genre. I like the music video because it is a song that I love and the music video establishes a varied use of key conventions for the hip-hop/rap genre of which is vital for the music video to be successful.

First of all, there is a low-angle/long-medium shot of the main artist standing in front of several tall buildings. This shot makes the artist looks bigger in size, therefore the audience may feel scarce towards him. This ultimately suggests a steretype to a person, who is a chav/gangsta. 

The scarce identity of the chav is illustrated again in this establishing/long shot (right). The main artist is seen with a gang of man walking towards the camera, suggesting that they are approaching the audience, considering us to be scared of them. This feature is seen in many hip-hop videos, as well as this one.

An aspect of editing is shown throughout most of the clip, which links to the key convention of a hip-hop genre music video. Especially at the beginning of the clip, there are a few cutaways from the artist to the urban scenery of the music video. There are also some cutaways of many aspects of the hip-hop genre, for example, close-ups of several women and jewelry  Surprisingly, from 1:11 to 1:34 (the duration of the second chorus) a use of fast editing is shown, where there is a total of 18 shots in just 23 seconds, which is very obscure, considering the song has a slow tempo of 82BPM. No visual effects have been used in this video.
    Finally, the use of mise-en-scene is fully established in the clip. The hip-hop genre conventions usually consist of the presence of cars, jewelry, girls and the clothing of the characters in this video, in addition, the setting. All of these features are shown in this music video, therefore, if someone watches this clip, they can understand the genre of this song is hip-hop, not just because of the music, but the visuals also.


MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - I DON'T LOVE YOU

Finally, I have chosen to analyse the music video for 'I Don't Love You' by My Chemical Romance. Once again, it is a song that I enjoy and it also has a wide range of conventions, regarding the rock genre. 
   First of all, there are some effective camera shots, which matches up to the key conventions. As shown in the screenshot of the video above, there is a wide/long shot of the whole band, playing their instruments, which coincides with a particular key convention of a rock genre music video. This shot makes the audience suggest that the music video is a rock genre and also get a clear idea of who the band members are and possibly recognize them. 
Another important shot is the close-up shot, which is featured widely in the video, especially with the lead singer Gerard Way (left) and one of the characters in the music video (right). Considering the title of the song is 'I Don't Love You', this is more likely to suggest a narrative to this music video. These close-ups of them feeling sad considers the fact that the song is a very sad song. The moral of the story to this song is about a girl that 'doesn't love a man like she did the day before' which is easily identified as a lyric in the chorus. 
    From 1:14 to 1:35 (the hook to the song)the shot changes only 14 times in 21 seconds of the chorus. This is shown well, considering the song is of a slow tempo. As well as this, the song is shown in a narrative and so there are a few cutaways of My Chemical Romance to a different scene of a couple, shown intimacy for each other. This automatically shows the narrative to this song via visuals. The couple's story in the clip is shown using slow motion, to accompany the tempo of the song. This is very effective because we can look into their relationship better and we can follow it a lot smoother.
   Mise-en-scene is shown very well in the clip. As shown in the screenshot of the band above, they are all wearing dark coloured clothing, which matches the narrative of this sad story. For an example, people wear dark clothing to go to a funeral because they lost someone they loved dearly and this song shows the sad side via clothing. An important aspect of rock music is the use of music instruments in the shot. In many rock music videos, including this one, music is identified with the band playing the song in the music video. This is an aspect of the key convention of rock. Finally, the video is filmed in black and white, which was a brilliant idea, therefore, they could tell the story in a dull, dark way, as well as arty and in the past.