Music video theories

Music video theories

Michael shore’s theory
Michael shore criticized music promos with a number of different criticisms for music promos and to some degree he is correct with his theory. For most of the criticisms he has identified we could find many examples of his criticisms which proves his theory is correct in some ways. Michael shore’s theory does work when referring to Plan B’s single ‘She said’. The adolescent male fantasies are one of the criticisms that are used in the music promo with the use of girls wearing little clothing helping to prove this criticism is true. The clichéd imagery is also present from the cheesy and cringe worthy dancing that exists in most music promos. It is present in the Plan B music promo when the jury begin with the dancing in the courtroom. Soft-core pornography is also present within this music promo as the use of girls wearing little underwear and showing women being objectified by portraying them as a bit of fun for the man in the music promo.

Laura Mulvey’s theory
Following on from Michael shore’s theory and some of his criticism being present in the Plan B ‘She said’ music promo it helps move onto the Laura Mulvey theory with the way women are used in the music promo. Laura Mulvey suggests that women are objectified by the media and are used as either an innocent or a ‘whore’ character. In this case the latter is the one used and is a true part of the ‘male gaze’ statement that Laura Mulvey refers to, this means that all women are represented in the media as how men would expect/like to see women to please all males and this helps adhere Michael shore’s criticism of adolescent male fantasies.

Barthes theory

Barthes theory entails the use of enigma codes and action codes for the audience to think about during the music promo. The enigma code is referring to something that is unexplained that will cause the audience to raise questions. The action codes are the answers to these questions and occur as the music promo goes on and reaches its climax. A good example is by Coldplay ‘The Scientist’. The enigma codes are him being homeless and also the promo being in rewind. The action codes are the lyrics of ‘we’re going back to the start’ and also the car crash right at the end. As for the Plan B music promo the Barthes theory does work. The enigma codes at the start of the promo are interesting to look at; the questions the audience will be asking will be why is he in the prosecutor’s box? Why is he being questioned by police? Why are two different women being shown?  The action codes help answer this questions as the music promo goes on, the lyrics are an action code with the lyrics ‘she just feels rejected’ meaning that he rejected one girl and she has had him done for rape. The bedroom scene helps back this up as the male character looks disappointed when the ‘victim’ is trying to get round him again.

Binary Opposition

Binary opposition refers to the contrast/opposites that exist within the music promo’s to help boost narratives. The opposites can be visual or even lyrical, the visuals that are important to look out are things such as love/hate or good/evil. The Plan B music promo portrays good binary opposition. The good/bad and also love/hate is used because we see the good guy pleading his innocence when we see the evil woman getting the male character done for doing nothing wrong. The love/hate is also used because one minute the pair of character are making love and then we see them falling out after what looks like a one night stand and hate seems to be present.

This still shows a sexual attraction between a male and female character and the use of the lift blocking the audience view is a good use of mise-en-scene and creates the message of should this be hidden? This is an example of an enigma code. The costume choices are also interesting, the white shirt of the male represents his innocence and the dark clothing of the woman is used to represent her evil side. An example of binary opposition.

This image shows the male character now in prosecutors box and the use of costume again is important, the grey suit provides the audience with the message of his innocence being partially taken away but not using a black suit is effective for the lyrics as he’s pleading his innocence to the jury but isn’t truly innocent as he has cheated on his girlfriend/wife.

 

This is the female character seen in the lift with the male character and the facial expression and mise-en-scene is important here. The facial expressions provide a guilty look upon her face as she won’t look the male character in the face and the black dress represents her danger and the red lipstick to represent this and he evilness.

 

This still is the example of the Michael shore’s theory with the clichéd imagery in music promo’s, the cheesy dancing that exist is present here and this is a criticism we would expect to see in this type of music promo.

This still is of the male characters real girlfriend in the gallery and the use of a white costume and her placement on screen helps represent her innocence and angelic look. She has been cheated on but is still standing by her man by being there for him.

 

This still represents the binary opposition with the love/hate , the male character realises he has done wrong where-as in contrast the woman  is still loving and wants more from the male character.