HR: Music Video Deconstruction

Institution and audience

All or Nothing by Theory of a Deadman



How might this video be consumed?

• The song was only released as a mainstream single for top 40 and hot AC radio stations across Canada and U.S.A and has not been released in rock format.
• It has generated over 2 million views on YouTube so this web 2.0 has enabled the band to gain access to a more international audience outside of U.S.A and Canada.
• It has been released as a radio single and formatted in CD in the album Scars & Souvenirs and on digital download on websites such as iTunes. As it has not been shown on television, they have had to rely on new media in order to gain sales from the track.

What is the institutional context of this video?

• Theory of a Deadman are signed to Roadrunner Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group that  concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands and also 604 Records where their records are distributed in Canada by Universal Music Group. This means they get the advantages of having two different distributors so their music is promoted in a variety of formats, but mainly using new media.
• The genre Theory of a Deadman usually focus on is alternative rock, post-grudge, acoustic and country so this means different types of record labels will in interested in distributing and being a part of their band.

Genre and narrative

Lullaby by Bethan Mary Leadley


What are the forms and conventions evident in the video using Goodwin theory?

• The genre of this video is acoustic so they usually opt for a narrative based video so the lyrics can be amplified. In this video, the conventions have been kept as there is no performance and the story is on the artists point of view as she is the one who wrote the song which was about her.
• There is a link between the lyrics and visuals as it is about relationships and this is reflected in the video as a couple are hugging and holding hands in the streets, but as the lyrics say "I'm feeling sad and I don't know why" he is resistant of her. It's as if she is holding onto the relationship as long as she can. This video is therefore an amplification of the track.
• There is also a link between music and visuals as the cutting rate is in time of the guitar strums, and the colouring of the track is quite saturated and dull to give an old film feel to it.
• There are plenty of close ups of the main singer so this ties in well with Goodwin's theory.
• Inter textual reference is used through the social networking site Facebook to show that he is cheating on her to help move the narrative along.

Could this video be considered art?

• I think this video could be considered artistic as the facial expressions lets you make up your own mind on how the narrative is going to move along and what the characters are thinking, and to me art is adaptable depending on how you think something is portrayed and this music video definitely does that.

Media Language

Resistance by Muse

What is the "message" or purpose of the video?

• The music video is completely performance based apart from the beginning which shows a big queue of people probably lining up to see the band perform.
• The actual song is based on the novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell which is about a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind control, dictated by a political system. 
• Another reading could be about coming out as homosexual and how society is not used to it. It is about the limits of the love and what the outcome could be if it become exposed because it is considered not natural. it could also represent forbidden love because of the meaning of the lyrics.
  

What visual techniques are used to do this and why?

• The queue of people can represent the public mind control from the "Nineteen Eighty-Four" reading as they are all lined up queueing for the same thing - the same way of life
• The silhouettes of the band walking forward represent the dictators as they are the ones in control the operation and who the public are waiting to listen to on-stage. The fact they are shown visually higher shows they are a higher status to the public as all eyes are on them.
• Boxes on the stage show lots of lines of writing. This could be seen as the documentations in "Nineteen-Eighty Four" and how they want the public to behave.

Is there any intertextuality/references to popular culture?

• In this particular video there isn't as it is all performance based, so they are using this to help promote their and and to improve the image of the band by showing that they perform live without any help from machines or gimmicks.

Representation

How to be a Heartbreaker by Marina and the Diamonds

How is the artist represented?

• In this video, Marina and the Diamonds is playing the part of a player. Usually males are represented as this by having girls surrounded them, but instead Marina is shown in a shower with topless men dancing around her.
• She is shown as desirable as she is coupled up with very different types of men.
• Her trademark heart on her cheek and this is very relevant in this video as the lyrics say "wear your heart on your cheek" in reference to talking about feelings: "but never on your sleeve"

What is the ideological discourse?

• This video challenges gender representations as the female artist is playing from a point of view what society thinks about a man's morals, ie they cheat on their partners and don't get hurt because of it.
• As the song slows down, she snaps back into the thoughts of a woman: "Cause girls don't want, we don't want our hearts to break in two"  This is shown by a costume change of a long sparkly dress and a location change to on a beach at night. It also cuts to the shot where she is on top of a man looking down on him upside down.
• She is shown as uninterested in the male she is with when she is against the wall because she is looking at her phone, probably texting another one of the males in the video. This is an ideological discourse as women are normally the opposite because they get attached emotionally to males and won't go chasing after others.
• There are many close up of the males in the video. This includes their stomachs, faces and pelvis'. This is an example of Mulvey's male gaze, but instead of females it is males because this video switches the roles around to make men the sexual object instead of the women. The males in the showers are topless and are wearing small swimming trunks to help make them seem more attractive to the female audience.
• Overall, it shows the women are the dominant ones in a relationship, but it breaks this barrier when the song slows down to show the feelings of women and how vulnerable they are. It is almost making fun of the males point of view about control and feelings, as shown when Marina is holding a plate with a decapitated mannequin head covered in fake blood on it. But it is about relationships and how men do not take them seriously. It also stereotypes that all men are players and cheaters.