How to improve my Media Essay Writing

Plan my response before writing.
Explore points in greater depth, (how you reference previous artists and products).
Keep a formal tone.

Assessment

Why is the public row between the music artists Sinaed O'Connor and Miley Cyrus important in understanding the relationship between artists and between artists and audience? Explore with reference to the representation of women, media institutions and the role of the media.

 

In response to Miley's latest music video, Wrecking Ball, Sinéad O'Conner voiced her thoughts with bitter honesty. Sinéad's rant touches upon numerous feminist controversies within the musical industry. The bitter reality is that the portrayal of women, through media, is, in the long-run, incredibly superficial, and sexualised. Big media industries do capitalise upon the simple fact that... Sex sells. 

Laura Mulvey, feminist media theorist, introduced the concept of the male gaze. Essentially, what it is, is that media texts targeted towards men typically commodify women. More than that, it has become almost expected of the media to present women as little more than sexual objects, to attract the male audience. Lynx is a capital example of this, commodifying females, suggesting to the target audience of heterosexual males that if he were to buy the product, he'll get the women, also. This commodification of women is a fail-safe for advertising companies, and it's extremely apparent in the music industry. 

Let's be honest, music artists that are popular in this day and age are incredibly reliant on sexual image. Artists like Rihanna, Nikki Minaj, Katy Perry, and Miley Cyrus are all designed to satisfy the male gaze. Singing sexual songs, and wearing skimpy clothing. 

"Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you."

Miley's Wrecking Ball is clearly taking advantage of the concept of male gaze, to grab an audience. But beyond this, what it does is draw publicity, from it's controversy. 

It's unanimous in the music scene, and in any media arts scene, that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Miley's apparent nakedness has captured everyone's attention. Miley's Wrecking Ball is certainly memorable. Perhaps, as Sinéad O'Conner argued, for all the wrong reasons, but the point of the matter is that it accomplishes precisely what a music video is set out to do. To publicise the artist. 

Miley Cyrus has a history. Previously a Disney star, taking the eponymous role in the hit teen series, Hannah Montana, and becoming an idol for young girls everywhere. Here, I believe, is where the majority of the controversy lies. Miley Cyrus's downright turn from child-friendly Disney, to the impure, heavily-sexualized Music Industry. Though it's not unheard of, for Disney stars to turn, it certainly causes a scandal in the press. For example, huge controversies previously surrounded Vanessa Anne-Hudgens (High School Musical), among many others. It seems Disney stars are eager to break free from the fetters of child-friendly programming. 

But this rebellion is much more pronounced in female stars, than in the male stars of Disney. Male stars tend to fade away from the public eye. While male stars, (Zac Effron for example) do go on to more adultish things, they are hardly ostracised, unlike Miley Cyrus with her supposed betrayal of Disney. 

Miley previously being a figure for girls to look up to, causes much outrage in audiences. A common argument being that she 'must continue to be a positive role-model' as her fans may continue to follow in her footsteps. Miley Cyrus has been labelled as a bad influence.

But is she doing any worse than the other powerful women in the music industry? 

The absence of clothes is nothing new to music videos. Many women wear little to no clothes. It's almost the secret to success. Sexualisation is at the core of modern music. So, while Miley's morality may be in question, she's doing little more than what is expected of women in music, in order to get into the public eye. Artists like Björk have used nudity in their music videos, and they're widely acclaimed across audiences, and thought of as inspiring and artistic. Why is Miley different?

The reception of Wrecking Ball has been incredibly skeptical, and arguments have been revolving around how the video is little more than purposeless sexualisation and smut, while other videos have used nudity in a more conceptualised and meaningful way. However, there is meaning behind Miley's Wrecking Ball. It may be hard to grasp, due to the sheer eccentricity and surreal nature of her video, (heck, I don't know what the hammer-licking is supposed to mean), but the song and video are meant to (metaphorically, I hope) convey Miley's relationship with her ex-fiancé. The two separated, which left Miley feeling stripped of love; naked. 

Wrecking Ball may have been received better, had the video been not so horrendously exaggerated. It possessed a relatively meaningful concept, (numerous music videos have little meaning at all, these days), a weighty budget, and a talented star. But, tragically, the music video is not interpreted as meaningful or inspirational, but rather, smutty and scandalous. The video was seen as a farce, and has become the butt of jokes. 

In Sinéad O'Conner's letter, she admits to being swindled into the industry's sex-promotion scheme, and expresses her shame for doing so. Her letter does address Miley with respect and genuine concern, offering her wider knowledge of the industry to advise Miley Cyrus. I personally find it endearing, and it shows that though music is a very competitive business, musical artists can be (though certainly not always) warm-hearted and helpful to one another (not only for their own personal gain). Miley did cite Sinéad's Nothing Compares as inspiration for Wrecking Ball, so for Sinéad to respond to this on such a personal level requires incredible honesty and faith that Miley may listen to her opinion. (I sincerely hope she will.) 

However, it is a great injustice to Miley, for this video to be scandalised and receive such harsh feedback, due to it's content. While it's very easy to take a naked woman swinging on a wrecking ball as it demolishes a small concrete room as a joke, the audience may not fully comprehend the deeper emotions behind the video; the inner toil of Miley, spilled out through the lyrics. 

(We Can't Stop, however, deserves every bit of harshness.)

Additional Music Video Analysis

This is my most favourite song, so be gentle. 
And such a sweet and lighthearted song deserves a sweet and lighthearted music video. And that's exactly what this is. 

With incredibly bright colours and vivid movement and characters--- golly, it's sugar for the eyes. 

It builds a grand and bright world full of colours and oh my god just happiness just pure happiness are you seeing this even the flowers are smiling. Takashi Murakami would be proud. 

With elements of performance, (the singer being animated), this video is mainly reliant on concept. Which, to me, is quite a missed opportunity, because the lyrics do convey a narrative, and it'd have been very cool if the video conveyed a narrative too. 

But for what it is, it's an incredibly bright and jolly video, for a bright and jolly song. 

I'd like to think the premise of this video is some kind of homage to Toontown, (Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 1988), because, come on, it's pretty much parallel.

Like, really parallel. Right down to the bunnies. 

But that aside, it's certainly a call back to the 1920-30's era of animation. Round-- childish-- and very fairytale-esque. 

For whatever reason-- I don't like this music video. Well-- I like it, the animation is-- nice. And I like the idea of using the oldern-cartoon style-- but--
Not for a song with such adult themes in it.
It's just wrong.
Blasphemous, even.
But regardless, the animation is very well done-- And it is a very clever idea.
Following a cherubic kid, straight out of a fairytale, following them throughout their messed-up, but deceptively child-like surroundings. 
Of course though, much like many music videos, it's been done... better.

MIKA's Lollipop takes a similar premise, following a little girl through her slightly dodgy fairytale world. With clear references to Red Riding Hood, and Alice in Wonderland, it's much sweeter and more wholesome than the previous music video. And hey, it's also got bunnies in it---

Oh. 

That's right. Lollipop also delivers it's more adult messages, though much more subtle than the previous video. Because nothing in music is sacred and honestly child-friendly anymore. 

The song, while seemingly childish and sweet, does deliver a message regarding the definition between lust and love. It seems that most music videos these days usually go down one route or the other, so it's nice to see a music video exploring the definition between the two. 

The animation, while basic, is very sweet and endearing. And just like the previous one, colourful and childish. 

Animatic and Sketches

Work in Progress; Animatic for 'U DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE'.

Drawn in SketchBookExpress

Compiled in iMovie

Animation Practice

Done as an experiment on Flash, with the school computers. During post-production, I will need to come into school a whole lot, to animate for the actual video, considering this incredibly brief animation took up the span of 2 lessons. That's a lot of time, that.

The Uses of Animation in Music Videos

As it's unanimous that we'll be using Animation in our music video, and as I'm chief Animator-- (I'm the only animator), I'll be looking at some examples of animation in music videos.




Firstly, Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer.
Let's face it, this is a trippy video. I love it, but it's mad.
There's certainly no narrative to it at all, so it's solely concept-driven. And, well, performance too, considering Peter Gabriel's ridiculous face is right in the middle of it all.
There's a use of mixed media, of course. But for the most part, it's based upon stop-motion. And when it isn't, it's camera tricks.
We may or may not incorporate some of these tricks in our music video---
It might be cool to do so, but-- Sledgehammer is really weird and aged. We don't want our music video to be so, too.




Ah, here is something modern. A recent single from Arctic Monkeys brings along this visually intriguing music video, Do I wanna know?
The beginning is simply S-waves to the music, but with the chorus, it evolves into something much more interesting. The waves morph and transform into and out of eccentric characters and vivid movements. An interesting concept, definitely, and it's stunning to view. The fluidity and the way the movement compliments the music is incredible. The video gradually gets more and more ridiculous and fast-paced as it reaches the end. Again, an incredible finish to a great video. It reminds me of Disney's Pink Elephant's on Parade, in the way objects are morphing into each other, and how it both visually stunning, and baffling.



This is my kind of music video. It really tugs on the heart strings, right?
Okay, it's utter madness. But of course it is. It's japanese.
The crazy Japanese 90's Techno Artist, Denki Groove put out this single in 1999, and boy howdy, is it nightmare fuel. While it may not be animation-based, I had to mention it at some point, because of the sheer eccentricity. When it was established that we were going to be making music videos, this was exactly the kind of video I had in mind. I'm sorry to admit that, but it's true.
With bright clashing colours, and a cluttered room in a dark and ambiguous atmosphere, it very much clouds the mind. And a music video that leaves the audience with such a strong reaction, is a great music video in my book. Try to watch it without finishing it thinking: "...What the---"



Studio Killers has quickly become one of my favourite musical groups. The beat and melodies are incredibly catchy, sure, but the music videos are stunning. Talk about eye-candy.
Like Sledgehammer, this video also utilises mixed media, but of course, in a vastly different way. The lead singer, Cherry, is an animated CGI model. She was brought to life with 3D animation software. Her surroundings and additional characters, however, are brought to life in 2D. While it brings about a beautiful contrast to make the lead singer stand out in the video, the two media coincide beautifully, truly blurring the lines between 2D and 3D.
The group is similar to British musical group Gorrilaz, in that the group members are represented by animated characters, rather than themselves. The two other members in the group are represented by the fox, (Goldie Foxx) and mink, (Dyna Mink), shown to be playing the music in accompaniment to the singer.



If ever a music video built an atmosphere, this would be it. Incredibly memorable, and outstandingly heart-wrenching, Bedshaped, from Keane, is truly remarkable.
The dark and gloomy colours--- the slanted surroundings-- the queer, odd-ish design of the character. All of these help form the weird and isolated world of the character in this video.
Mainly reliant on concept and narrative, but still retaining some small aspects of performance, the music video follows a strange and outcasted character, and really conveys the feelings of anxiety, loneliness and fear to the audience.
Though the video is mostly stop-motion, there are parts of 2D hand-drawn animation, and so, it is also a mixed media video. The hand-drawn animation however, especially towards the end, is free-moving and fluid, juxtaposed to the stiffness of the plasticine figures. Also the brightness of the ending is a beautiful juxtaposition to the darkness of the beginning and middle of the video.

Analysing Music Videos

How to analyse Music Videos
Andrew Goodwin identifies 5 key aspects of music videos that we audience should look out for, which are:
-Thought Beats - Seeing the Sound
-Narrative / Performance
-The Star Image
-Relation of Visuals to Song
-Technical Aspects of Music Video

First Step; the music itself.
Second; the voice of the song.
Thirdly, the artist's image or mode of address.

Songs fail to give us the complete narrative.
We only get a jist of the meaning, and are free to create our own interpretations.
It doesn't have to show a complete and coherent narrative.

Star Image is one of the most vital aspects of an artist's success.
Artists keep a signature look and attitude, but it's common for an artist to change their image to keep up with the times and trends.

Relation of Visuals to Song
Illustrate
Amplify
Disjuncture

Technical Aspects
Camera Work
Movement
Special Effects
Editing
Setting
Costume
Authenticity



Lassy Gag

Lassy Gag oh my god

Lady Gaga acts as the narrator of this music video, addressing the audience directly. She sings about a chaotic night full of drunken antics, and the video quite rightly reflects this. In relation to Andrew Goodwin's theory, (which I have to reference, no matter how much I protest), the music video very cleary illustrates the music. The visuals remain very true to the lyrics, apart from the one line 'what's the name of this club?' when it's apparent they are in a house. But this might be due to Lady Gaga's drunkness, which is very clearly stated in the song and represented in the video by her harrassment of a inflatable whale.



Now for something completely different.
This is J-POP sensation Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's first hit music video, PONPONPON, establishing her as a sweet, girly idol, albiet a very excentric one.
The music video doesn't convey a coherent narrative, but nor does the actual song. If you have the great fortune of understand japanese, the lyrics are preppy, sugar-sweet and encourage friendliness and goodwill to all men. While the music video doesn't very much convey the last point, it very much conveys the first two. With the pink, girlish set and bouncy dance moves.

Performance, Concept + Narrative

Performance
Focus on the Band/Artist, performing the featured song.

Owl City - Fireflies

Narrative

Communicating a congruent story through the video.

Katy Perry - Last Friday Night

Concept

Exploring certain ideas and issues through the video. 

t.A.T.u. - All the Things She Said

Shot by Shot - GANGNAM STYLE by PSY

Original

PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일) M/V

 

Our Remake

SCI, Tarryn + Kia

 

Music Video Analysis: Take On Me (a-ha)

While this music video is like 27 years old, it's the best, for two main reasons.

1) It's visually awesome. Especially for it's time. 

2) It mixes two things I love. Comic Books, and 80's Music. 

heehee

So this music video follows the story of a girl who happens to be reading a comic book in a café and totally has the hots for this comic character when the comic book just so happens to come to life. 

And she's taken into the 2D-world, and falls super in-love with comic character, you see. 

Then, tragedy strikes when the café owner interprets the girl's absence as that she left without paying and so she tosses the comic book in the bin and so the comic book world falls into chaos. 

The girl manages to escape back to the real-world, and runs out of the café to see what happens next in the comic-- And handsome comic character appears to have been whacked one-- or killed-- But-- 

Handsome comic character breaks from the comic, and becomes real. 

And they all lived happily ever after. 

The shot above, simply, introduces the male protagonist of the narrative. Though it's a drawing, and not-- you know-- live action, the extreme close up of the character's features allows the audience a slight sense of intimacy with the character yousee. 

The beginning sequence, (0:00 - 0:37) presents to the audience the world of the comic.

And then, our female protagonist.

Who is typically pale and cute and girlish. But not completely girlish because I mean

she's reading racing comics clearly meant for boys so

that's a bit of smashing stereotypes which is great. 

Now here's the beautiful part where things start getting really cool. 

That 2D-world hand reaching out into the 3D-world. It's just incredibly clever how they entwined live-footage and hand-drawn animation. This mixed media is beautiful to watch. 

And here's another really clever part. They're really playing around with the whole Cartoon/Reality, and it's utterly brilliant. 

What's this? A threat? Here comes the conflict. May I say how I love the drawing+animation style, and how wonderfully sketchy and choppy it is, but how beautifully it flows together. 

There's not really at all much to say about morality and representation, because it's... 

From the 80's-- 

Simpler days, n'all. 

The two characters are not at all explored in terms of class, or regionality. All that can be inferred is that they are a male and female, both late teens to young adults, and their clothing and hair very much reflect the style at the time. 

The lack of depth of the characters puts the narrative into full focus. While a music video is a brief amount of time, and not the idealistic time to introduce a well-thought-out character, I do wish the two characters were explored slightly more. 

The music video follows a simple, straightforward narrative, establishing a few, one-dimensional characters...

And follows it through until the end.