The Theory of Spectatorship

In today's lesson, we looked at the idea of Spectatorship, how it is used in the Music Industry and the different views people take when reviewing a music video.There are three main spectators; Passive, Negotiating and Libertarian spectator.

Passive
Preferred reading:  The audience takes the preferred meaning of the media text intended by the director. They accept the message and values of the text without questioning it, which is usually associated with pleasure. 
For example, if a preferred reading watches the film Pulp Fiction, they might think it is very excited and the characters are extremely entertaining and pleasurable.

Negotiating
Negotiated reading: These readers understand the meaning behind the text, but continue to retain their own views and believes. They are very active in the position of deciding whether they like the text or not.
For example, if a negotiated reading watches the film Pulp Fiction, they will understand the concept and might enjoy watching Vincent and Jules as criminals, however they might maintain their belief as the film is sending out the wrong message to the society.

Libertarian
Opposing reading: They reject the intended purpose of the media text, as the response to displeasure. They belief that they are different interpretations to the media text. Libertarian are more of the critics to a media text.
For example, if the viewer was watching the film Pulp Fiction, they would find everything in the film as very childish and dis-pleasuring.

After looking at the three main spectator, we watched some music videos and applied the spectatorship to them.

The first example we watched is Call On Me- Eric Prydz

Passive: A passive viewer would find the music video good because it has a lot of beautiful women acting sexually while exercising. There would look at the video only at face value, how the director intended for it to be consume.

Negotiation:  A negotiating viewer would understanding the purpose of the video, which could be trying to encourage it's audience to join the gym or take exercising. They might also take the view of "it is just a music video, so I am allowed to watch it and enjoy myself". However, they might hold the view that the sexualisation of the video was unnecessary and inappropriate.

Libertarian: An opposing viewer would hold a strong view against the video. They would say that the video is unnecessary and inappropriate because there was no point of acting like that as it is unrealistic and sexist.

Beyonce: Best Thing I Never Had

Passive: A passive viewer would see this video at face value and interpret  Beyonce character as beautiful, pure and probably perfect as she is about to be marry. Teenage girls might envy her, and would want to be similar to Beyonce.

Negotiation: A negotiating viewer would question the perfection of Beyonce's character to a certain extend, as they would say women wouldn't walk around in their linger before their wedding for everyone to see; it's a bit to perfect for reality. however, they might like the fact that message from the video is empowering and she looks beautiful in her wedding dress.

Libertarian: An opposing viewer would say that the video looks to perfect to be real and it tries to objectify women. They would also say that the characters in the video have been airbrush and the lighting is unnatural.

We used Marilyn Mansoon - Tourniguet as a third example of the spectatorship. This video is obviously very controversial and has been band in several countries around the world because of it's unambiguous content..
 Marilyn Manson- Tourniquet

Passive:  A passive viewer would take the intended interpretation and say that it's about being alternative and celebrating difference. the video expresses emotion and some teenagers might find it cool because it challenges the mainstream music style.

Negotiating: A negotiating viewer is that he should be allowed to be comfortable with his individuality. They might appreciate some camera work and video content, but other viewers might find the content such as bug eating extremely uncomfortable.

Libertarian: An opposing viewer would say that it is good the video was banned because it causes problems in the society.


We also looked at how the spectators would respond to characters within a media text. We looked at three main responses; recognition, alignment and allegiance.

Recognition: This is when we translate the character into a credible and convincing person. The viewer bring their own knowledge and understanding to the media text. For example; Beyonce's video is meant to give the audience the idea of perfect ending and weddings.

Alignment: This is when we feel and relate to part of a story through the characters. For example, we feel a connection to Beyonce as w woman who has recovered from heart-broke and is getting marry.

Allegiance: This is when the film is made so that the audience should have loyalty to the characters, consciously or not. For example, the audience are made to feel sorry for Beyonce through out the video.

Spectator in our video: 

 Hypothetically speaking, before making our video, we started thinking of ways that our music video would be consume by the three spectators, Passive, Negotiating and Libertarian. 

Passive: A passive viewer would take our video at face value. The  typical audience for the metal-core genre is likely to be both male and female teenagers who understand and are involved with the metal- core lifestyle. They would like the relationship between the two characters and possibly enjoy the idea that she gets attention from two of the members from the band. The passive viewers might appreciate the metal- core conventions such as the "live performance". 

Negotiating: A negotiating viewer would both appreciate and criticize our video. They might find the relationship between the band members "sweet", can also appreciate the life performance. However, the negotiating viewers would criticize our video by stating that the teenagers in our video are represented in an unrealistic way.

Libertarian:  An opposing viewer might hold a strong view against our video because they would state that it is unrealistic. They would criticise the narrative for it childish nature and condemn the use of "fuck", which would be printed on Ian's arm in the video.


 Response in our video:

I think our video is definitely appropriate to the concept of different responses within the music industry.

Recognition: I think the teenage audience would be able to relate to the band members as the are teenagers as well. The relationship between the characters is also believable as most teenagers go through similar situation.
Alignment: The audience can feel and relate to band members and the metal-core lifestyle through Robynne (the female character in the video). They understand the burnt lyrics, Ian carving the word "fuck" on his arm would be presented through Robynne who is  given prevalence regarding editing.
Allegiance: The audience is given loyalty to Ian's character who is going through a break up with Robynne. Despite not knowing the cause of their breakup (which could possibly Ian's), the audience might still sympathize with him and remain totally loyal to him through out the video.

Theory: The Male Gaze

In today's lesson, we looked at the theory of  "The Male Gaze". We also looked at how prominent it is in the media industry especially how it is used in music videos.

The male gaze is a feminist theory that was developed by Laura Mulvey in 1975. She put forward the following arguments of the male gaze. They include;

• She stated that the audience are always put in the position of the heterosexual male position when viewing a a media text such as a music video. This is the idea that the mainstream media text is to reflect and satisfy a heterosexual male unconsciously. 
• She emphasis that the camera is always put on the curvy position of a woman's body and there are presented largely in context of the man's reaction to the event. 
• Male characters in the video objectifies women and make them the objects of their gaze. Women watching this text are then forced to take the position of a man. 

In class, we watched the video "She's so lovely" by Scouting for girl and analysed how the male gaze is used in this video.

• The song is filmed from a man's prospective and we see the men's reaction to her presence, all staring at her, and the audience see her through close-up shots.
• There is also close-up of her legs as she walks into the room. They is also close up of her lips which is a stereotypical sexual element of a woman.  
• She gets the most prevalence during editing, but we don't see her reaction when she is treated like an object by the men.
• We see the man slapping her bum as a joke, and the man responding very superior to it but we don't see her reaction to it, which the audience might consider sexual harassment.

Examples of controversial male gaze covers

Nuttin' to Do - Bad meets Evil (1999)

                                                                               The Strokes - Is This It (2001)

2 Live Crew - As Nasty As They Wanna Be (1989)


These albums cover were very controversial because they objectify women in all of them. These are good examples for the theory of "The Male Gaze" and in used in media, particularly in the music industry. They show that the theory can be used to challenge women and objectify them.

The "The Male Gaze" is used other ways in terms of context which still manages to attract it's niche audience and extends it's target audience to a slightly wider population such as teenagers.

They include;

Beyonce - Dangerously in Love

Christina Aguilera - Stripped

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream


As seen on the three album covers, the context of the album covers are different but women are still shown in a voyeuristic way which supports Mulvey's theory  of The Male Gaze.  Unlike the controversial album covers which were of male artist, these are all of female artist who also aim to target female teenage audience. This might explain the reason why The Male Gaze used is more tone down but we would question why they will use sexual/naked pictures of themselves when it is aim at teenagers. The theory of 'the Male Gaze' is not only to attract men, as seen on the three cover but also to attract a more diverse audience.  It aims to attract women by objectifying women in a way that other women feel they have to look like that or look attractive that way.

The reality is that this images are incorporated in our minds in such a way that most teenage girls don't look at it when buying the album because in a way we already expect it to be there and so it is not as significant to us anymore.

However, the Male Gaze can be subverted such as the man a is being objectified rather than a woman. When the Male Gaze is challenged, they usually become controversial. Examples of converting male gaze include;

Prince - Lovesexy

The Rolling Stone - Sticky Fingers

Apex Twin - Windowlicker



These three album covers are examples of challenging 'The Male Gaze'. It is important to know that we understand the Apex Twin cover as an idea of a man in a woman's body which in a way is still trying to objectify women as the breast are very visible and could almost be seen as the central and focus of the album. The Lovesexy album subverts the theory of male gaze as we see Prince on the cover nude. This image again would be thought of as something a woman should be doing and not a man which goes on to emphasis the theory of the male gaze how easy and normal it is to objectify women. The Rolling Stone cover really tries to challenge the male gaze as the audience is able to see the man's erection through his trouser. The cover is very uncomfortable as we are not used to seeing men being presented in the music industry in this way. 

We decided that we will use only some concept of the male gaze in the music videorather than on the album cover. This is because it is unlikely to see the theory of the male gaze being used in the metal-core genre. Artist from this genre are more likely to use pictures of the nature or other elements of the metal-core genre conventions. In addition, this genre is unlikely to use the male gaze as their music is always focused on their inner emotions. Some aspect/artist uses the male gaze, for example 'Bullet for My Valentine' used it in 'waking the Demone' music video and the girl is shown as the reason for the conflict and bullying among the boys at the end of the video. However, metal-core does not use the male gaze to the extend in which other music genres uses it such as R&B and hip hop.

The influence of the male gaze would be seen in our music video through editing. The female character (Robynne) would get prevalence to the camera work in scenes such as fighting with a male character and sitting in the park with another boy. Furthermore, the male gaze would be seen through close- up shots of her face and other parts of her body.

We decided to include the male gaze in our work because we are aware that some parts of the metal genre uses similar aspects. However, we plan to keep the male gaze to a minimum so that it would not be exposed through out the video.

Textual analysis of Music videos - Metal-core

After deciding on the genre and band, I decided to analysis some music videos and album covers from the metal-core genre. My aim was to see the generic conventions that are mostly always included in an metal-core music video and see what should be on an album cover.

These album covers are "The Fall Of Ideals" by "All That Remains" and "blessthefall" by Witness

"Define The Great Line" by "Underoath" and "The Poison" by " Bullet For My Valentine"

All That Remains - This Calling
Metalcore/ Death Metal
2006
Video Characteristics

• band playing guitar and drums
• man chained/blooded 
• light head banging
• unnatural sunlight only on artist
• underexposed lighting and dark and grey costumes.

                                                                               


















What is the relationship between the lyrics and visuals?
At the start, we see a ground and then, we immediately see the artist screaming which in effect wakes someone in a cave chained down on a chair. The lyrics " My flesh is weakening" matches the visual of the man that his flesh is chained to the floor. The Lyrics "I steel my nerves for temptation at hand again" matches the visual of the man getting up from the chair and moving towards the door, even though he is chained to his flesh. 

What is the relationship between the music and visuals?
There are two rhythms of musical pace through out the music, the verse melody which is usually screamed, and the chorus which is usually sung. These are very important in the metal-core genre. The head banging works well with the music as it goes in time with the heavy beats and melody. The conventions that relates the music to the visuals include fast editing between the band members performing and the actor in the room, which gives the audience a disconcerting feeling especially in the scenes where the actor is pulling him self away from the chains. Other conventions include camera angles, and the band members are seen from a high angle, while the acctor is seen from a low angle even though he is chained. This might signifies his strength. The artists are filmed in different angles through out the music which also adds to the relationship between the music and visuals.

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
There are various close-up shots of the actor through out the music video. At the start of the song, as soon as the band starts singing, there is close-up of the actor's face as he opens his eyes. There are also close up shots of the man pulling himself away from the chain which the audience sympathise with him.There are also close-up shots of the lead singing as he screams and the all band members head banging, and are key conventions of metal-core genre and lifestyle.

Are there any intertexual references?
This video makes reference to some movies such as The Underworld and Blade. This could be seen as a convention of this genre as they are always dark and sinister.

Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base?
It is has a mixture performance and narrative. It is partially performance based with the music matching the visuals. The video is also narrative based with the man struggling to escape for freedom.


 Blessthefall - What's Left of Me
 Post-hardcore
2009
Video characteristic:
Long hair
Shouting
Vintage footage of performance base (some scenes)
Headbanging
Monotone colour scheme (some scenes)

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
There is no relationship between the lyrics as visual as the music video is performance based and so, we only see the band members performing in a studio settings.

What is the relationship between the music and visuals?
Through out the video, there is a relationship between the music and the visuals as we hear heavy drumming and can see the band members jumping and headbanging on stage, which are very important conventions in the metal-core genre. There are also scenes were the music becomes shaky and we can see that through hand-held camera work.

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
 The audience see generic conventions of the metal-core genre in close up such as headbanging, close-up shots of  a band member singing. There are also long shot and mid shot which is seen with match-on-action showing the drums and guitar being played.

 Are there any intertexual references?
The video has an idea of behind the scenes footage of photo shot as we can see both the artist and the producers on the video.

Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base? 
The music video is performance based as we only see the band members performing on in a studio.This is a usual convention for the metal-core genre as it is most common for narrative and performance base.


Underoath - In Division
Metalcore/ Post- metal
2010
Video characteristics

• Headbanging
• white and black footage
• Use of water
• Long hair

 What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?

The song starts with the lyrics of "I lay in a bed of resistance, chained to either side, this matches the visual scene where they show a picture of a family on the wall. The family looks 'awkward' to be around each other which makes the audience feel uncomfortable. There is also the idea that they are stuck with each other and have no where to go, and so matches the lyrics of "chain to either side". 

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
Fast editing are used during the harmony while there are slow editing are use during some of the chorus. There is also the use of soft beats with still images of water, a family image on the wall which the song is based around it and the band members. As the song quickens, we see panning shot and head-banging of the band members.

  Are there any close-ups of the artists and star image motifs?
They are a lot of mid long shots of the band members performing which is used along side match on action as we see the band members jumping from different angles. The star image motifs are close up shots of the lead band members (Spencer Chamberlain) under water while singing.
 
Are there any intertextual references?
The video makes a lot of references to water which the audience could almost get the idea of "The Titanic" in the where the actors were drowning. 

Is it performance based, concept based or narrative based? How much of each? 
The video is performance based with various footage of the band members playing instruments in a studio settings before the video continuous of them playing in water.


Bullet For My Valentine - 4 words (to choke upon)
Metal-core
2005
Video characteristics

•  Headbanging
• white and black footage
• long hair
• monotone colour scheme

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
 The lyrics starts with "betrayed one more time", which looks like the band members are talking directly to their fans, they might be asking for their trust and support. The lyrics "Soon I'm the one on attack" could be also matched with the scenes were the fans are trying to get on stage to meet the band members.

 What is the relationship between the music and visuals?
 Heavy drums and guitar playing is matched with the fans and the band-banging their fans. The fans are also moving to the rhythm of the song of by jumping and head-banging.

 Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
 There are a lot of close-up shots of individual band member singing. The close up shots are emphasised around their mouth as they scream. They are also mid long shots of both the band members and the fans, and the audience is able to see the stage setting fans. The star image motif is of the band members playing the guitar which is seen in a close up shot.

 Are there any intertexual references?
 The video gives an idea of what it's like performing in front of a life audience.

 Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base? 
 The video is live performance of the band performing to their fans on stage.



After analysing some metal-core music videos, I decided to analyse Payphone by Maroon 5 to see how they use the above elements such as relationship between lyrics and visuals, and intertexual references. 

Name of track: Payphone

Artist: Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa

Director: Benny Blanco and Shellback.

  

Payphone is a pop and hip hop music, and was sung by Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa. It was released on April 16 2012 as the lead single from the album Overexposed. This video takes a total approach of how a hip hop would look like such as using guns and police chases.

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?

The audience get to see the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals at the start but as the music video progresses, the audience see otherwise. For example, at the start of the music video, Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5 was stood at a phone booth singing the lyrics that had direct reference to the payphone 'I’m at the payphone trying to call home'.                                                                                  

 

     However, the relationship between the lyrics and visuals fades as the video continues. The start of the video was a flashback of what happened to let him to stand penniless at a phone booth. In the flash back, the audience see robbery in a bank and police chases on a high way. The lyrics does not have a relationship with the visuals because the lyrics talks of a break up of a relationship and the video shows a man (Adam Levine) running from the police after been mistaken for an armed robber.

What is the relationship between the music and visuals?

The relationship between the music and the visuals is unusual. The music and lyrics would be viewed as a break up song or possibly romance, but the visual indicates different. If someone was to watch only the visuals without the sound, they could imagine a different music to reflect the song. This visuals of payphone could be compared to “Bonnie and Clyde” by Jay Z and Beyonce where they are been chased by the police. There is a scene of the song where the audience see the police chasing and stopping a car.                       

  Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?   

Payphone has very few close-ups as compared to compared to 'Bonnie and Clyde'. The first close-up shot is that of Adam Levine as he sits bored in an office. A lady then walks passes his desk and the camera is directed and focused on her to show that she might also be a lead character in the video. There is also a close-up shot on Adam Levine’s lips as he sings the lyrics into the phone. 

Are there any intertexual references?

When the audience watches the music video of payphone, they get an idea of watching a movie. Examples of intertexual films that could be reference to this music video include Fast and Furious, Taken, Wanted, Salt and S.W.A.T.

                                A shot from Fast & Furious, similar to the accident in Payphone
                                   

 Is the video performance base, concept base or narrative base?

The video is a narrative based performance about a man (Adam Levine) who is mistaken by the police as one of the robbers who are robbing a bank. As he tries to rescue himself and a girl in the office, police see him with a gun and thinks he is part of the robbers and so start chasing him. The music video could be seen as post-mordern, story within a story as it’s a flash back of what happened that made him end up in a phone booth penniless.

 Finding from metal-core analysis
After analysing a variety of metal-core songs released in different years, I found that almost all the songs have generic conventions. This will gave us an idea of what metal-core conventions we could include in our own video when doing our storyboard, and we are open to the idea of challenging some of the metal-core conventions.