Research into Diversity-Miss Miller

Research into Diversity

05/09/2014

Vazl

“Why would an artist chose to create a diverse music video?”

Firstly diversity can be seen as making a music video that is rebelling to the standard convections for the music genre. For example a pop video that does not contain voyeuristic images and is filmed in locations that exclude the conventional discothèque.

There are a range of various factors that when combined, create a Music Video diverse.
Possibly the first common factor for such a video would be for the video to stand out from the other videos by not following any of the standard conventions of the genre it belongs to. There is a recent tendency for the use of a sequence of alternative clips In order to make the video stand out as the audience will remember how it did not fit with the music theme or lyrics. Thus uniqueness is achieved, however it does mean that for some artists, this technique might get them out of their comfort zone as sometimes such a video is too confusing for the audience to understand which might put them off and break the relationship that he has built with them. Nevertheless many artists have considered this as an easy way to enter the mainstream charts as more viewers would wish to watch it more than once in order to understand what the video is on about. Some artists that use such as Lady Gaga use this tactic in order to hit the mainstream river and possibly attract niche audiences.

For this type of a music video, there are two main video producers that use the two most famous variations of such a technique.
The first one is called Micheal Gondry. Born in 1963, the French director was famous for manipulating the main element of a music video (which is Mise-en-Scene). He owns an Academy Award for “Best Original Screenplay” which was for contributions in both the Film industry and the Music video industry. He has worked with artists such as Daft Punk (My favourites). However, there are two artists which one will look at. First is the Pop star Kylie Minogues with the song "Come into my world" and the second is the rock band White Stripes (Another favourite group) with the song 'Push the Hardest Buttons". According to critics, Gondry's videos are more conventional to the genres but stand out from the crowd, while the second video producer which will be mentioned in detail later on is more of the extreme revert when it comes to music conventions.

The first Gondry music video "Come into my world" by Kylie Minogue, is a box standard pop video for the normal music video viewer. However, to fans of the genre and artist, the video severely differentiates from others in the genre. Straight away, the audience would spot a noticeable change which is the location of the shoot for the video. While the location is not glamorous such as: California, the small Italian town used represents a fresh look for the pop music video. Another difference would be that Kylie is wearing more causal clothing which while very stylish and being of European chick, is not the fancy outfits the audience is used to see from her previous videos.
Another point would be that, while the video does not contain dance routines (A standard convention for a pop video) it follows a routine of her day as an Italian girl. The difference being that after her daily routine finishes, she is duplicated. Thus the same routine has been used to reflect the concept of the song "come into my world". There are also so many inter-textual references such as the Italian brand clothing or the display of a Smart passing by. There  is a direct link between lyrics and visuals as the music and visuals are constantly repeating themselves. This music video follows mainly the Narrative and slightly the Performance segment of Goodwin's theory, as the artist is doing a routine in front of the camera which can be categorised as a performance.

Meanwhile, “Push the Hardest Buttons” is conventional to the rock music genre as it sticks to the common theme of a rock band.For example, during the video the band was wearing casual clothing while there was a lot of Performance (Use of instruments such as a Guitar and etc.). The video also follows Goodwin's theory (The segment that states that visuals are linked with the music) as every time there is a beat, the frame of the video changes to more or equivalently less music equipment on the screen. The overall video is quite a conventional as it is very realistic, relateable video for audiences as it is set in city location/ on the subway somewhere in America.

Chris Cunningham, born in 1970, is the other music video director. Cunningham produced mainly music videos for eletronic genres which include artists such as Aphex Twin.
Aphex Twins (AT's) videos produced by Cunningham have a very complex narrative that is hard to  understand for audiences. This makes it appeal to the audience as they are constantly trying to figure out what is being displayed. Both videos have an unconventional view through there narratives. Cunningham's work features close ups of the artist face in order to promote him further, due to the demands of the record label. They tend to follow the same pattern of being unconventional and rather have a dark/evil theme. This would keep the audience out of there comfort zone, which in turn could make them more edgy or uninterested to carry on listening.

As we can see, there are various similarities and differences between the style of the two music video directors. Cunningham has a more extreme approach while Gondry has a more moderate approach as he does follow some conventions of the genre. It should be said that Cunningham's videos have a less structured narrative and seem to be more darker in emotion, while Gondry's is the complete opposite as it is more life like and cheerful.

In Conclusion artists might choose to have a diverse video as it will be remembered by the audience, or that they might like the idea that the artist has changed his style which stops him from repeating himself and entertaining the audience. Nevertheless, the artist must remember that there are negatives as well as positives within the choice for such a video. For example one problem might be that there might be no emotional impact on the audience from the video as it is too confusing for the audience. Nevertheless, it would be a good idea for once in a while for the artist to release such a music video in order to shaken up his image.

Research into Censorship-Miss Miller

Research into Censorship
01/09/2014
Vazl

When it comes to Censorship, there are three types of groups: Those who oppose it, Those who support it and those that do not mind both decisions. But what is Censorship? Do we really need it? Well, censorship is when you modulate a new part or a scene from a book, film or lyric from a music video due to it containing inappropriate behavior or any references that can be harmful for ages 18 or less. This is why censorship is used to protect young aged audiences from behavior that is violent and unsociable. The UK has a regulator (known as Ofcom) that regulates the competition for UK communications industries. Thus it has an invisible hand over TV and Radio networks. 

However some viewers and listeners (Such as me) find it pointless as a child can find anything on the internet. And while Ofcom does regulate the  artist's videos as well, songs such as Robyn Thicke`s Blurred Lines that require age on YouTube do not stop the viewer to see it. This is because younger viewers do understand the concept of lying and as neither Ofcom or YouTube can not see personally the person that is typing and prevent him from viewing the song.

Music Channels, such as MTV have made the artists produce censored versions of songs that either contain pornographic material or harmful references. Some songs such as Rihanna`s "We found love in a hopeless place" were moved for the after 7 Watershed. Another example is from MTV again from the music video 'Gay Bar' by Electric SIX. In the beginning it was banned on MTV because it contained sexually suggestive content such as: Hammers, naked men splashing the singer`s bubble bath, pole dancing and funny shaped pumpkins that were synchronized with the sentance "I have got something to put in you". However a more acceptable version was released later on which swapped lyrics such as: "Lets make a War...Start a Nuclear War" with sounds of whips over the said lyric.

Thus we can see that not everyone is happy with the decisions by the TV Station or some OFcom decisions. This why I have categorized the following views in the following order in order to ease the viewer with the different opinions.

The first Category is from the artist (In our case Eminem).
The song 'Stan' by Eminem was censored due to the use of inappropriate language. The artist says "Shut up bitch...". This statement can be seen as degrading for women as it portrays them as being the weaker sex and suggest that they should listen to what the male sex would say. This is why this statement was censored. Many other parts of the complete lyrics were also censored. For example, 'suffocates' and 'die' were also removed in order to keep the song clean.
However, in an old interview, Eminem mentions that during Shakespeare's era, men  have been talking about "thrusting maids against the wall". However, does that mean that Shakespeare's work should be censored as well? Should it really be taught in the classroom?
Well no as even though his songs represent everyday life from his childhood. He also argues that at a young age he listened to banned music such as "The Chain Gang" but turned out to be "all-right". Thus it can be argued that there is no need to ban or edit the lyrics of a music video just because children might listen to it as they are also smart enough to not follow what the artist says.


The next Category is Record Label.
When it comes to artists such as: Eminem, Record Labels are extremely careful and advise or make him soften his lyrics. They also encourage his lyrics to have a personal feeling to a particular event that has happened in his life, and therefore the audiences can understand him and his feelings about an event and that he is not trying to offend a certain cult.In the interview mentioned above, he mentions how in one of his songs, he says 'drown yourself' in a sarcastic tone to say that the audience shouldn't follow everything that a celebrity does, just because it looks cool.
The record Label reinforces Eminem to speed up his lyrics when he swears a lot in order for the audience to be unable to understand what he is singing in the song, thus making the audience search for it on the internet in order to understand what the lyrics mean.

Category 3-Parents for Censorship
Well according to these parents, music videos should be censored as most music videos contain inappropriate lexicon and phrases that can harm the younger listener or viewer. Song titles that are quite disturbing such as: 'Rape me' by Nirvana and 'Turn me on Mr.Deadman' by Union Underground are perfect examples of why these parents support censorship. They are also the reason for the organisation called 'Parents Music Resource Centre' (PMRC) to be created. One parent member commented on the power that artists have these days with "Some artists can't handle freedom of speech...They abuse power by putting lyrics that are not appropriate, in the song.". Another parent commented on the effects that some of these lyrics cause "younger kids to listen to these stations and music and might get ideas from all the references about sex, drugs, and violence. Kids of this generation are already doing these things at around age 12 and 13. Kids in the next many years to come will be doing it at a possibly even a younger age than they are now."

Category 4-Parents against Censorship

And here is the group of parents that argue that censoring music videos due to foul language or harmful references should not be censored because if the parent watches the music video their precious gift and help them separating the correct from the incorrect it should be okay for the child to watch inappropriate music videos. This type of parent also believes that music is just a form of entertainment and therefore should not be taken literally. One parent commented: "People should not judge about someone else's artistic expression. Everyone has the right to express their opinion. If you do not agree with them or find the music offensive, don't listen to it. Music comes from emotions and people should be allowed to express them. Lastly a parent when asked about crimes from deprived areas, commented on the actions that such actions should not be related to songs in any way..."One of the main reasons people say violent lyrics should be censored is because it encourages people to commit crimes. But people vith violent tendencies and mental instability are already born that way or became that way without violent music. Music cannot be blamed for people's crimes because anything could've triggered a violent rampage."

Category 5-BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 has a very young target audience (between 14-34years). This is why it had the Christmas song "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl  was banned because it used the word 'faggot'. Nevertheless, the song was baned only on BBC R1 while the other BBC Radios carried on playing it. Foul language might lead to influencing the younger listeners would be played after the young children went to bed. This song also promoted drug use of the young woman when the male singer says, "You're an old slut on junk, Living there almost dead, On a drip in that bed." This is promoting drug use that on Christmas Eve is what you should do by having a drip while being in bed. As a public broadcaster, BBC R1 has a policy of not playing songs that contain references regarding sex or  product placement. Thus on these bases alone, songs like Kassabian`s "Eeaz-Eh" and Frankie goes to Hollywood`s "Relax" were banned on the charge of Sex References "Being watched by Google" (Lyric from "Eeaz-Eh"). Although the band was not happy with the decision and went to court with it, BBC R1 did not "disappoint" society in its defense. Following court the song was moved to the late Watershed in order to protect the main target audience.

Category 6-MTV

Meanwhile, MTV try and protect their Viewers by changing particular lexicon in a song. A common example is the use of censorship and change the word 'suicide' to 'in denial' in order to protect the younger listeners from hearing any negative language that may be used. Another action that MTV can take is by changing the sound effect of gun shots to cash registers so as to not frighten the listeners. An example would be the earlier example of the song "Gay Bar" by the "Electric Six", where the word "Nuclear War" is swapped with the sound of a whip. MTV also expresses its view that parents should have more control in what their children listen to but not 'bubble wrap' how life works.

Finally Category 7-Fans

The fans of many particular artists are young children, especially when it comes to rap music and rock groups. This is why many parents attend the concert with them in order to make sure that the language used is appropriate for their child to see. Also some concerts have age restriction in order to keep the child safe and the older fans happy that their favorite band does not have to play the censored versions of their favorite songs.

So! In Conclusion the general overview on the censorship of music videos is that on the radio vulgar language would be censored to protect the younger audiences, and also nudity and provocative clothing on music videos are taken out or the song would be moved in the watershed hour in order to not influence the "youf" of today. Artists believe that they should be left to express themselves and that children should not be underestimated. Also while some parents think that artist can not handle the freedom of writing, other believe that the parent should be with their child in order to explain what is right and what is wrong. And that radio`s and TV`s have special hours to make society happy.
However, I personally believe that music videos should not be censored as the parent should bring up their offspring in a balanced environment (Such as the one in which I was). Yes there is vulgar language but sooner or later the child will learn it after someone has said it. Thus it would be better if the child learns what it means and use music as an entertainment purpose and not a lifestyle.

Thus I intend on following the censorship rules to a certain point in my own production in order to bring a music video that contains a balanced viewpoint to the young and old.

Research into music channels-Miss Georgiou (Updated)

Music Channels
4/7/14
Vazl

Music channels have been an important factor in the promotion of music videos. Channels such as: MTV, have provided the audience with videos that represent conventions of their music video genre. Later on, branches of the MTV corporation such as VH 1 started to release music videos of a set genre in order to supply a niche audience with a channel dedicated to them in order to attract more viewers that like the set genre. This way, it eased MTV with the songs they can release as each channel follows a set target audience. For example, MTV has a target audience of 11-35 year olds. Meanwhile, VH1 pike up the older ages (18-45) which results in more revenue for the MTV network as they would not miss out on the extra viewers.

Music channels:
-MTV
MTV's Target audience is between 11 and 35 year olds. It plays a variety of chart music under the following category: pop, indie, rock and country video songs. This way it can cater for a mainstream audience as it will only play music popular for everyone. The most played artists are Ed Sheeran, Iggy Azella and Tinnie Tempah. The idea of the logo is quite brilliant as its colours are very simplistic which implies that they do not want to offend anyone. Another feature is that the TV is written in a graffiti font which implies to the audience that the channel is also aimed at entertaining a younger audience. The channel is owned by MTV Network or Viacom after 2011. it owns several channels: MTV2, MTV Jams, MTV Hits, mtvU, MTV Tr3s, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, CMT2 and CMT Pure Country^3.


-VH1
VH1's aim was to focus on the lighter, softer side of popular music, including such musicians as Olivia Newton-John, Kenny Rogers, Carly Simon, Tina Turner, Elton John, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Sting,Donna Summer, Rod Stewart, Kenny G, and Anita Baker, in hopes of appealing to people aged 18 to 45. It uses a similar approach to MTV with its produce of fresh videos which are softer for the audience. As with MTV, VH1 produces songs of the following genre: pop, indie, rock and country video songs. While the logo uses similar colours to MTV (which indicates that the TV is indicating for being unoffensive), however the font of the logo is more curvy and less graffiti like which indicates that the TV channel is aimed at small niche groups that listen to songs from older periods such as the 80`s and 90`s.

4 Music:

4 Music It is the only Channel 4-branded channel within the Box Television network. It is available on Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and Smallworld Channel. Similarly to VH1, it is a sister channel (But not of the same network as VH1 is) of the Box Television Network. 4 Music has the following sister channels: 4seven, Channel 4, Film4, E4, More4, Heat, Kerrang!, Kiss, Magic, Smash Hits, The Box. This suggests that the network that own 4 Music is interested in becoming a network conglomerate. 4Music`s playlist targets audiences of the age group 16-34years. The music that is aired on this channel is mainly chart based as it keeps the audience up to date whit what the most popular songs are. However, while the other music channels have one or two chart playlists, Channel 4 uses a multi-based playlist which targets separate niche target groups. Lists such as “The UK Airplay Top 20” and “UK Hot 40”. The mainly aired artists on the channel are: Calvin Harris, George Ezra, Will.i.am and The Saturdays. The logo is appealing to the target audience because it uses bright pink to appeal to the eye of audience members that are custom to seeing such colours at the disco. The memorable logo with graffiti writing further aids the audience to memorise the station as it uses simplistically shaped objects and the usage of using the '4' as the background.

Interestingly, Viva started life in 1993 as a German music TV channel which promoted mostly English-language music videos to the German markets. From the licensing contracts the channel sent a message to its public that it refuses to play major German-speaking artists to them. Time Warner executives Tom McGrath and Peter Bogner assembled a group of record labels that included its very own Warner Music, EMI Music, Polygram Records and Sony Television along with Frank Otto, Apax Partners, and Austrian producers Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher of DoRo Productions to spread the channel outside of Germany. The British channel was officially launched on 26 October 2009 by Alexandra Burke, with an exclusive live performance of her single "Bad Boys". Viva's target audience is mainly in the age group 13-23 which is similar to the two previous channels. The music genre that is aired on the British television is mainly urban music which includes top music artists, such as: Usher, Pharrell Williams, Sam Smith, Jason Derulo and Snoop Dogg. Currently the company is owned by the Viacom network, which is also known as MTV Network. According to the official top chart, the current top 5 artist are: Nico&Vinz, Kiesza, Magic!, Nicky Minaj and One Republic. The logo used is a much more advanced derivative from the original German logo which reminded the audience of the German battery company “Varta”. The logo uses bright colours in order to attract the younger audience. The florescent green and pink are contrasting one another to make the music channel more reminiscent to colours used by the “yoof”. Another reason was that MTV wanted to use these two colours as they were fresh to show that they want to attract younger audiences that can watch more appropriate content. Also It was fresh as the channel taken over by VIVA was too confusing. The block letters used symbolise the making of a bold claim that the channel is exciting and that it is “Cool” to look different. 

Kerrang! TV is a digital television station owned by Box Television, which is loosely connected to the magazine, Kerrang!. It`s target audience is 16-205 year olds. As of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos that are selected from the voting of the audience via SMS (Text Message). The TV station's playlist is mainly nu metal and pop punk/skate punk, although with some unusual exceptions. Certain bands, such as Tenacious D and Limp Bizkit get higher than average play rates, due to higher rates of text requests. There are also 30 minute segments that often cover artists that are on the playlist, with large numbers of videos. Currently, most noticeable are Green Day, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore and You Me at Six. The station unusually guarantees to play a requested video, however, it may take some time for the video to be played. Often, they will show video countdowns. The station has an annual video countdown called the Rock 100, which covers the 100 most requested videos on the station (Rock or otherwise) in the previous year, and with links between blocks of tracks given by one of the featured bands. In 2005, Good Charlotte presented the Rock 100 from a strip club in Manchester. In 2009, Charlie Simpson voice-overd the show with clips from people's vote in the Download festival.
The logo if the TV channel is brilliant as it is supposedly representing a ticket for a festival. This is trying to imply that the viewers of this channel are massive festival fans and that they like to listen to alternative music groups (Which can be usually listened on a festival).

A music channel that is dedicated to the target audience in which the individual is interested would make him feel special as he would listen to songs that he has been accustomed to since he has been a teenager and there would be no music that he might dislike.

From the analysis of the music channels, I have learned that it is important to choose the appropriate music channel as it would allow us to gain the highest amount of our targeted audience.