Applying Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze to my A2 coursework

The Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey can be applied to my music video in a number of ways. In summary, the theory explains how the audience of a media text are positioned as a male viewer where the females on the screen are seen as desirable and physical objects to be admired. This is achieved through camera angles and costume. The costume of the artist is my music video portrays her as innocent as she wears a white skirt which can symbolise purity. This may be attractive to the audience as she seems ‘hard to get’. Another way in which the male Gaze is achieved in my music video is through camera angles. The camera follows the artist as she walks in front, turning around and giggling at the camera. This could be seen as a flirtatious action which teases the audience and makes the artist seem even more desirable. However, my music video also subverts the argument of the theory for many different reasons. The music video is not aimed at men and is instead targeted towards teenage girls who can relate the artist and the song. This challenges the theory because the camera will position itself as the target audience of the music video and not a heterosexual male position. However, as discussed in previous blog posts, the artist could try to appear more appealing to the male audience to widen her popularity. Also, the protagonist in the product is the artist who is female so the audience will be encouraged to identify with her. Therefore, the artist cannot be seen as an object if she is pushing the narrative and playing an active role in the text.

Applying genre to my A2 coursework

Genre is the categorising of texts to indicate to an audience what they will be experiencing. Genre plays a big part in media productions as there are certain conventions that they have to meet and develop. The genre for my music video is country/pop. I have made a music video for Taylor Swift's 'Never Grow Up'. There are many ways in which my music video supports and subverts stereotypes of genre.

Nick Lacey's Repertoire of Elements supports my genre. The artist, Taylor Swift is played by Abbie Taylor. The artist conforms to stereotypes of the genre through her character's costume. Cowboy boots, denim, checked shirts and cowboy hats are normally associated with western media products and the country/folk image. My artist wears a white skirt to display her innocence, a checked shirt, a denim bodice and cowboys boots to meet these stereotypes of the genre. The element is the main way of communicating to the audience the genre of the music video was purposely planned.

Again, some of the iconography featured in the music video can be seen as meeting the 'criteria' of the country genre. The artist plays a guitar which lots of country singers play, and in acoustic versions of pop songs, guitars are often used. However, I have deliberately subverted stereotypes of the country genre to make it more modern. For example, a fiddle, banjo and harmonica are all instruments associated with the genre but I chose a song that doesn't include them to attract a wider audience as these instruments are not normally featured in popular music. Christine Gledhill can be applied here as she quoted 'Genres... are not discrete systems, consisting of a fixed number of listable items'. This relates to my product because I have not included the 'list' of things that are normally considered to make up features of the country genre. 

Props such as cactuses and horses can also be said to be obvious characteristics associated with the genre theory. However, I did not use these in my music videos, not only because they were unaccessible but I don't think they relate to the song and will be attractive to the audience. These 2 features could be mocked and are not appropriate in the modern country/pop music videos. This is supported by Steve Neale, who said ‘difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre' which means that repetition would not attract an audience. 

Difference is important to genre because it keeps the audience interested and means that they won't expect what is going to happen and get bored. In my music video, difference is also applied when it comes to the setting of the shoot. I shot my music video on a beach but the country genre would stereotypically be associated with a desert, farm, bayou, or a location in deep South America. Although I didn't fit the conventions of the country genre through setting, I did use a natural setting which is appropriate for the vibe of the song. The conventional settings were inaccessible to me also. 

My narrative also subverts the country genre in some ways. Country songs are often happy and about love but my song itself is subverting this genre as it is about reflecting on youth and growing up so it has a sad tone to it. However, lots of country songs are about childhood and this is relevant to the lyrics. I have used found footage and anachronic flashbacks to convey the artist's childhood.  

I have considered using a sepia tone in the editing process of my music video which would fit the style of country. This is because it creates a vintage effect which can be linked the the country genre. 

7/11/14- First Shoot

Below are some shots of my artist getting her make up done ready for the shoot. I was unable to get any pictures of us actually filming because it was only Abbie and I on location. The shoot was not very successful because for two reasons. Firstly, I collected the video camera from the technicians and they told me the camera was fully charged. However, when we arrived at the location and started filming the camera had low battery. Therefore we had to use the back-up camera to film. Also, the weather was bad and it was raining a lot so we had to wait for it stop before we could go out and shoot. When we were shooting it was very windy. However, we did get some of my footage filmed which was a good start.

Risk Assessment

I have made a risk assessment as a way of showing my preparation for possible problems that could occur. I have evaluated the likelihood of the issues happening and the precautions that should be taken.

Risk	Level of Risk (1 being unlikely, 2 being a possibility and 3 being likely)	Course of action to prevent risk
Camera runs out of battery	2	I will bring a back up portable camera with me in case the main camera does not work or runs out of battery. I have a battery charger so will make sure that the camera is fully charged before the shoot.
Bad weather	3	This is something that I have no control over and will be a major issue because my shoot is all outdoors. Unfortunately, this means I am going to have to rely on luck on the day of the shoot but will need to check the weather forecast on the day of the shoot and decided whether to reschedule or not.
Cast or crew can not attend shoot	1	The cast and crew may have other priorities, which may mean that they cannot attend a shoot. There is also the possibility that they get ill or another problem occurs which means that they cannot come to the shoot. To prevent this risk as much as possible, I will contact the cast and crew asking which days they are available to shoot to fit in with them. Therefore, there is more likelihood of them turning up to the shoot. I will also notify the cast and crew the day before and the day of the shoot.

Shooting Schedule

Below is a copy of my shooting schedule. Some of the dates still need to be confirmed as the artist and characters are not sure on future plans as of yet but I will record the date that we filmed in my blog posts for each filming session.

Date	Time	Shots	Location	Crew	Actors	Equipment
31/10/14	12pm- 1:30pm	Test Shots	Lakegrounds	Rachel Howard	Abbie Taylor	Photo Camera Guitar
7/11/14	1: 30pm- 3:30pm	1-4,9,18,20,22,26-29,31,34,43,48-49,52-55,64 (Abbie singing)	Beach	Rachel Howard Lauren Hampton	Abbie Taylor	Video Camera Photo Camera Guitar Speakers Tripod
8/11/14	7pm	42	High Down Fireworks Night	Rachel Howard		Video Camera
10/11/14	3:30pm-5:30pm	Same as 7/11/14	Beach	Rachel Howard	Abbie Taylor	Video Camera Photo Camera Guitar Speakers Tripod
14/11/14	3pm-4:30pm	Same as 7/11/14	Beach	Rachel Howard Lauren Hampton?	Abbie Taylor	Video Camera Photo Camera Guitar Speakers Tripod

Costume

 

 The photo on the left is the costume that my artist will be wearing in the music video.

 The photo on the right are the shoes Abbie will be wearing. These shoes fit in with the country genre as they are cowboy boots are a typical accessory piece of attire that Taylor Swift would wear.

 I have kept the make up natural and the hair messy for the music video to keep in with the Taylor Swift look. I think the natural look is appropriate for this music video.

 The photo on the left shows Abbie modelling the whole outfit together and the photo below is a close-up of the bottom part of the costume. I think that the checked shirt makes the look more casual yet edgy but fits in with the country genre.

 The white skirt is just above the knee so is appropriate for the 'star' image and portrays the innocence of the artist as she grows up.

 

The tie-dye top with rips in the back is edgy and cool.

 

The denim crop top underneath is acid wash so looks worn out. I think it the denim fits in with the overall look that resembles Swift and contrasts with the top worn over it.

Test Shots

31/10/14

I arranged to meet up with Abbie to do some test shots. Although I've already scouted some locations to film my music video, I thought it would be best to practice setting up some shots with the artist to see how they would look for the final product. We went to the lake grounds and tried out different shots such as close-ups, medium shots and wide shots to see what worked best and captured the essence of the video's meaning. I thought the tree was a good use of representation, as it symbolises growth which is relevant to the song's meaning. I also made good use of the spectacular views that Portishead has.

Storyboard

Below are the photos of my storyboard which is a visual guide to the plot of my music video. Some of the shots are repeated but they are all numbered, and labelled with a time-per-shot as well as the lyrics that are sung for a particular shot. The storyboard is in chronological order. 

Applying narrative theory to my A2 coursework

As explained in previous blog posts, the concept of my music video is about the process of growing up. I am using the soundtrack 'Never Grow Up' by Taylor Swift to narrate my story. The basic narrative of my music video is the artist singing about how people take childhood for granted and she is seen with her 'younger self'.



My music video subverts many popular narrative structures. My product does not follow a clear, linear plot, nor have a clear-cut beginning, middle or end. However, Allan Cameron's theory can be applied to my product as the music video included found footage, such as baby videos, which can be described as anachronic. I have decided to use anachronic footage to show the comparison of the 'young' and 'old' artist and to show what the artist is reflecting on as she sings. It helps to reach my target audience because it is a personal side to the artist that is 'never seen before' footage which is exciting for the audience and emotionally connects with them. Although my music video is a mix between the artist being young and old, it doesn't follow a chronological structure.




The artist is showing



Claude Levi-Strauss can be applied to my music video. The artist and her younger self are binary oppositions representing old and young. This binary opposition can be seen as a representation of the symbolic code put forward by Roland Barthes. Although the characters are not in conflict with each other, the importance of the opposition is to show how things change and the differences that are made through the development of growing up. Although the characters are both seen spinning on a round-about, jumping, dancing and laughing, even similar costume, the obvious difference  is their physical build, as well as the younger character can be portrayed as naïve compared to the older character who is seen looking out onto the view, reflecting on her life. Jacques Derrida stated that binary oppositions are never equal and my music video shows how the artist is a lot more mature then her younger self with more emotion.



In conclusion, although my music video does contain elements of narrative, such as the use of binary oppositions to represent the meaning of growing up, it can be difficult to apply theories to media products like my own, as it does not follow a clear structure.