THEORIES

Andrew Goodwin


Goodwin has identified key features which distinguish the video as a form:

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics
• A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music
• Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography
• Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist
• Voyeurism is presented in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc
• There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and television, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans

Within our video we have decided to link the lyrics to the visuals as the lyrics will illustrate the visuals, we also have thought of doing a lot of close ups of the artist, this is so the audience can relate to her.


Laura Mulvey 'Gaze Theory'


She introduced the concept of the male gaze as a feature of power asymmetry. In films it occurs when the audience is put into perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may linger on the curves of a woman's body, for instance.
The first is the perspective of the male character on screen and how he perceives the female character.
The second is the perspective of the spectator as they see the female character on screen.
The third 'look' joins the first two looks together: it is the male audience member's perspective of the male character in the film. This third perspective allows the male audience to take the female character as his own personal sex object because he can relate himself, through looking, to the male character in the film.


These theories haven't really affected how we will represent the main character, as the emo/punk genre is all about being different and expressing yourself, so the 'male gaze' theory doesn't really apply to our video.