Music Theory

Laura Mulvey - Male gaze theory

The Male Gaze is a feminist theory written by Laura Mulvey, this deals with how an audience views the people presented, particularly the women. She argues that they are seen as objects and that 'in film audiences  have to 'view' characters from the perspective of men'.  She stresses about how dominant the presence of the male gaze is within the mainstream Hollywood films, this is because most film makers and directors are male, so the film is presented though the view of a man, made to satisfy and reflect their views subconsciously. 

Laura Mulvey argues that the 'male gaze' regulates women to the status of objects, sexualising them, this is because the camera may zoom into or linger on the curves or intimate areas of the female body. This view of women can also be shown by the way the women are presented, such as having the number of women to men much higher and their clothing which can sometimes be very revealing and sexual.

A music video which supports Laura Mulvey's theory is 'Ben Benassi- Satisfaction', this is because of the amount of close ups which focus on the women's body parts, such as their legs, breasts, bums and legs.The women are wearing very little clothing and are covered in what looks like oil, this combined with the close ups of quite sexual body parts makes the video more appealing for a male audience. The colour red is a key theme throughout the video, seeing as the women are wearing red clothing and have red lips, this is a very 'sexual' and 'intimate' colour. Whilst the women are using power tools which is stereo typically a men's area of profession, rather than giving the women equal power to men, it appears that the music video is a man's 'fantasy' having women doing the DIY, this encourages the view of women being sexual objects for men. 

As well as close ups, tracking shots of the women's bodies and slow motion is used throughout the video to emphasize their movements, particularly when showing a women drilling into the ground, a long shot is used at first, then a close up of her breasts, emphasizing her 'bouncing' body, this would grab the males attention. The artist is not shown in the music video, but his voice has a very strong presence and is very dominant, controlling what the women are doing, encouraging them to act seductively. This music video is definitely targeting the stereotypical male audience, using the combination of barely dressed attractive women and power tools, both aspects seen as being very masculine.

But on the flip side, there is a large proportion of female artists and celebrities who would use sex to increase there sales of albums and there name in the music/celebrity world, for instance Rhiannon's video for the song S'n'M, the use of "secret" sex tapes that are "acidentley" leaked to the public, which go viral within hours because at the end of the day sex sells, and when you are already famous lots of people will follow what videos you post and as they share the videos through social networking sites such as Facebook  Twitter and YouTube the celebrity gets there name out there and gets into magazines making them gain more audience, money and become more and more famous.

Chosen song

For my A level video i have chosen to do the song "cannonball" by Damien rice, i chose this song when listening to a friend playing it a at a small concert, i decided to look into the music video and the video is made up of random shots of clips from TV and collections of videos  none of which contained and lip syncing shots of the band or followed and concept or narrative. this was perfect for me as i could create any type of video for the song and it wouldn't be the same as the original video.As the artist was only a small time solo record est he didn't have a budget for a director to create the video, hence all of the random clips, he instead spent all of his money into production of his album and distributing it around the world. In Ireland the single was issued as a CD maxi single in may 2002 on the artists own label "Damion Rice music". it contained a remixed version of the track by Paul p dub and mark spike stent, plus a demo, a live track and an instrumental, In Britannia the single was released in October 2003 by the 14th floor records on a standard CD and enhanced CD which included a B-side track moody Monday  the music video for cannonball was packaged in a gate-fold card sleeve with a poster, the second CD contained live versions of the hit song, Amie and the blowers daughter recorded live at the union chapel there was also a limited edition one-track inch single pressed.

Research into Music genre

Folk rock/ Alternative rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music, In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s. The genre was pioneered by the Los Angeles band The Byrd's, who began playing traditional folk music and Bob Dylan-penned material with rock instrumentation, in a style heavily influenced by The Beatles and other British bands. The term "folk rock" was itself first coined by the U.S. music press to describe The Byrd's' music in June 1965, the same month that the band's debut album was issued. The release of The Byrd's' cover version of Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man" and its subsequent commercial success initiated the folk rock explosion of the mid-1960s.Dylan himself was also influential on the genre, particularly his recordings with an electric rock band on the Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde albums Dylan's July 25, 1965 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric backing band is also considered a pivotal moment in the development of folk rock.

The genre had its antecedents in the American folk music revival, the beat music of The Beatles and other British Invasion bands, The Animals' hit recording of the folk song "The House of the Rising Sun", and the folk-influenced song writing of The Beau Brummel's. In particular, the folk-influence evident in such Beatles' songs as "I'm a Loser" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" was very influential on folk rock.The repertoire of most folk rock acts was drawn in part from folk sources but it was also derived from folk-influenced singer-songwriters such as Dylan.Musically, the genre was typified by clear vocal harmonies and a relatively "clean" approach to electric instruments, as epitomized by the jangly 12-string guitar sound of The Byrd's. This jangly guitar sound was derived from the music of The Searchers and from George Harrison's use of a Rickenbacker 12-string on The Beatles' recordings during 1964 and 1965.

Music video Directors

Russell Mulachy 

Russell Mulcahy is an Australian film and music video director, he was a very successful and prominent director in the 1980's and worked with many famous artists such as Bonnie Tyler, Elton john and Duran Duran  His work is very recognizable by his use of fast cuts, tracking shots and glowing lights in his music videos. He also directed the music video for The Bugles Song 'Video Killed the Radio Star' which was the first video to be aired on MTV, this shot him to fame in 1979.

Nick Egan

Born in 1954, from an early age Nick had a creative mind, he studied art, music and various creative subjects that fueled his passion for creativity. When he became a music video directer he worked with some of the bigest names in the 1980's, He went on to direct close to one hundred music videos for many of the top names in the music industry including INXS, Oasis, Duran Duran, Sonic Youth, Kylie Minogue, and Mick Jagger.

Emil Nava

Emil Nava is a music video and commercial director, he works on huge budget music videos in the 21st centery, the styles of work vary from artist to artis but his style still remains in all of his work, he was recently nominated for Best Director at the UKMVA's, he has directed music videos for a number of artists such as Ed Sheeran, Palmola Faith, Rita Ora and Tinchy Stryder

Analysis of music videos

  Green day wake me up when September ends

Wake me up when September ends is a punk-rock song from the artist/band greenday. The song was released in mid 2005. This version of the music video is a longer extended edition (almost a short film) telling the story of a teenage couple and how the boyfriend leaves to serve in the army. The director of the music video was Samuel bayer how directed many other videos for the band.

The music video starts with a wide/ establishing shot of the teenage couple standing in a field (as shown at the top) as the video begins it cuts to s more close up ‘intimate’ shot of the couple as they begin to condensate, during this period of time there are many camera angles of there faces to show different expressions caused by the conversation. Because the music video uses a lot of dialog (diagetic and some non-diagetic) the viewers understand the key plot/ characters in the video. After this there is a quick few shots of the lead singer of the band before cutting back to a wide/ extreme long shot of the couple in the field piggy backing in the dusk of the sun ( suggesting peaceful and happiness which then contrasts later in the video)

After this scene it shows the couple walking past a take away stand as the camera tracks them as they pass other people in the shot. (this tracking highlights the main characters in the scene) then the couple return to a home where they embrace in romantic kissing on the sofa which then cuts to a shot of a birthday party where the two begin eat and laugh ( setting the scene and feeling of romance and joy) and then a silhouette of the bands lead singer comes into shot against a red background being very contrasting (black and red) this is followed by a long shot of the band spread out of platforms across a studio.

In the next scene (as the singing starts) there is a shot of the girl sat on the sofa and then cuts to the boy sitting in a green top which then cuts to a marine drill sergeant giving orders to those who get of the transport bus, which then shows the viewers he has joined the marine corps. The shots of the girl on her own with her ring on her finger suggest isolation and loneliness without her boyfriend. There are then multiple close ups of marines having there heads shaved expressionless which then cuts to a shot of a marine in uniform with a helmet on in the background there is the stereotypical image of a war torn city.  As the song builds to its climax towards the guitar solo there is a large explosion against a building as this happens there is a shot of the band with sparks dropping behind the stage. This then is followed by multiple shots of marines sheltering behind a hummer for cover against fire. As the tempo of the song changes we begin to hear the diagetic sounds from the scene of gun fire and explosions before it cuts to the shot of the girl in the bathroom washing her face.

This is then proceeded by a close up of the marine about to move from cover and then sees a fellow marine running before being shot in the leg and falling to the ground, then towards the end of the film of shows the girl walking by herself to some old ‘bleachers’ and sitting in isolation suggesting her loneliness and venerability  before cutting back to the fallen marine and then the additional sound of the original conversation from the start of the video between the couple and then the camera pans upwards towards the sky before cutting to a fading black editorial.

The Verve- Bitter sweet Symphony

The music video for this song was released in 1998 and is of the band's vocalist walking down a busy street lip syncing the song, this video was obviously filmed on a set or on a hired street where all of the people are actors but the surroundings are very realistic and believable. Overall the video is quite simple, but this is what makes it memorable and easy to watch, I like the style of the video by the way it grabs your attention.


This video is similar to the music video for Massive Attacks song 'Unfinished Sympathy' released in 1991, this video is filmed all in one shot which is more impressive, being much harder to plan, set up and film without mistakes. The Verve's music video appears to be a copy or interpretation of this video's style, though the verve's video is not filmed in one shot.

This is also very similar to the a modern interpretation of the song "i got a feeling" by the"black eyed peas", the music video is preformed by a Canadian university and is filmed all in one shot much like the video by massive attack, as it is filmed in one shot the planning and synchronicity of all of the parts must be 100% in flowing with the music even though this effect is hard to create it also makes the video very enjoyable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zcOFN_VBVo

Iconic music videos

In General i believe that Micheal Jackson create some of the most creative and controversial videos in the history of music video production to this current day, this video "thriller" in particular switches between a strong film based narrative and the song which can make the video much more gripping and more appealing to its target audience  also as it included such a strong narrative this then became the platform for music videos and revolutionized the way we view and create music video, which then encouraged more bold and striking videos to be created using a similar narrative theme.



The song "The Scientist" by British band Coldplay for me is one of the best music videos created due to how it was filmed and edited, the lead singer of the band "Chris martin" learned how to sing the whole song backwards so when they came to make the video it was about time traveling backwards and they simply re-winded all the filming so when he sung it was the correct way when the music and lyrics we added, this simple and creative idea had never been attempted before and gained massive online views of over 42 million due to the creativity of the video.


The music video for the song 'i want to break free' by the British band "queen" was another controversial video from the 70's-80's period where the band are all in drag playing the roles of females in a modern family, the song was about wanting to break out of everyday routine so the idea of using the frustration of women s rights issues in the 1980's made for a massive hit with there music video, by making a video that ties into current affairs and modern society can boost popularity for the video/song as the target audience consumers can feel like they can relate to the band or artist.

Music Labels

Here i have researched into 4 of the main music labels, 3 of which are international labels and the 4th is a private independent, i have represented the information as information boxes which i screen captured from Wikipedia shown in the corresponding links :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AudioPorn_Records

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Music_Group

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMI