Representation of Abuse

Throughout music videos, abuse is a subject briefly brought up if not never, it is a subject more touched upon in film and television as they tend to represent real life settings, where as music videos are an escapism to a peculiar scenario or to view the band performing. Songs have been released upon abuse and they tend to not release a music video to them, a key example of this is Polly performed by Nirvana, the song was based upon the true story of Gerald Friend, who kidnapped a young girl of 14 after a rock concert, tortured and raped her, she was able to gain his trust by saying she enjoyed it and when he stopped for gas she got out the vehicle and attracted the attention of nearby people, the lyrics video can be viewed below.

                              

Kurt Cobain took on the role of the villain in attempt to reveal the true nature of rape as a violent act but, a lot of people didn't view it in that way, fans were confused by what Nirvana was doing as Cobain took time to speak out against male chauvinism and those who weren't fans interpreted it in the opposite way it was intended, as a pro-violence against women.
So if a music video had of been released to this, would it have increased the negative credibility of the song originally or would it have caused a change and fans and others would have understood the true message.
Music Videos of this particular genre (Alternative Rock, Grunge) mostly have a performance element which can be shown in their other music videos but, as it is also merged with Alternative they may have a narrative reflecting upon the lyrics. if a performance element was going to be used would it demote the true meaning of the lyrics and in turn cause fans to mindlessly sing along with no true perception. However, by using a narrative story reflecting the lyrics, would be horrific and most likely be banned in countries globally and reduce Nirvanas credibility.

This shows how difficult it is to produce a music video about abuse and although the lyrics to our music video weren't about abuse, in such a horrific way as 'Polly' it would still be difficult to interpret our ideas.

Abuse in the Media
Abuse is most commonly portrayed via leaflets and television adverts, within these two aspects of the media abuse can truly be shown for what it is, these are used as a more hard hitting style which provide the viewer/reader with information on how some live and use this as a way to let them help.
There are a large number of leaflets including; domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abuse etc... These leaflets include information on where you can go to get help, telephone number, others who suffer the same problem as you and what can change. The difference between this and a music video? Music videos almost have to be stylised up, they can't portray abuse for what it truly is, sometimes they will but on these occasions they still aren't taken as seriously as other media types. Why? Because at the core they still are music videos, showing an abusive video along with a song isn't going to capture the viewer in the same way a true life story would.

Websites
A number of websites are used which are their to help individuals which are suffering with abuse, unlike leaflets these go into more detail, an example being http://thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk/ this provides a link to which you can talk to someone and gain help and insight.
Comparing this to a music video which is not based so much on fact but instead on fiction, in which the viewer could find almost insensitive.
Websites provide re-enactment scenarios of abuse taking place, video/write up, this can make some individuals aware that abuse is happening to them/others they may know, when they themselves are not fully aware.
There are two main sides to the representation of abuse; the harsh reality on websites, leaflets, television adverts etc. which portray abuse in its true form and have people their to help and music videos, movies, TV shows etc. which are there mostly for entertainment purposes while still getting the message across.

I believe our music video was carried out in a way which allowed the message to come across of abuse but, not in an too distinct way which could have caused some people to think was "over the top" Without the use of physical abuse some individuals may be oblivious to the fact that the video is about abuse, this is due to the fact that some people don't believe mental abuse to be as harsh as physical.

Representation of Gender

Throughout time women have been seen as people who should be seen and not heard, that they are merely their for males to look at, this is view of females is still around in todays society and some females choose to embrace it and play further on it.

Laura Mulvey a british feminist film theorist stated that woman were objectified in film because heterosexual men were in control of the camera. And thus developing the theory of The Male Gaze. This can also be stated for music videos, television, magazines etc... women are still used as an object of desire throughout them, when it comes to music videos most female artists choose to take control of this and still pose themselves as diserable but through their own means.

The term 'Gaze' first came into popular use by Jacques Lacan in the early 1950's, around this time film noir became increasingly popular, film noir focused heavily on the male gaze, the male character was seen as the protagonist and the female character would be the femme fatale. This female character was one which was always viewed in the point of view of the male, a view of longing and wanting.

Our music video doesn't make refrence to the male gaze at any single point, as our main character was a 13 year old girl and the other character was her father, the male gaze would not be appropriate. Our music video was strongly narrative based with no performance element. Many music videos that have a performance element include the male gaze, our video was more about real life and what individuals go through on a day-to-day basis. Children all go through a stage in their lives when they don't believe they fit in and feel the need to escape. It was important that we kept to this point and clearly highlighted how alone she felt and her innocence. These are two key features that women shown through the male gaze do not connote.

Clothing: those who are seen as objects of longing are usually presented in minimal clothing or clothing that enhances sexual characteristics which is designed to appeal to the male audiences, our key character wore a white dress displaying her innocence.

The use of black and white highlights to the audience the two main points; the good and the bad, with the young girl highlighting what is good, while we have the male character dressed in black presenting bad.

The male character was also very much unlike those you would see in a situation when the male gaze is portrayed. He appeared as a silhouette in the doorway towering above both the camera and Ellie, rather than moving through the frame or seen watching the woman, the shot is from Ellie's POV and as far as we can see looking directly at Ellie and us. He was submerged in darkness this supplied enigma to the character, this provided fear, for one of the greatest fears is the fear of the unknown.

The setting and mise en scene of our video was very normal thus portraying the scenario accurately, to a passer by the house would seem like any other and yet inside it had so much darkness and a young girl who felt so alone.

Male Gaze in todays society



 

Do I Wanna Know? performed by Arctic Monkeys, it is computer animated and yet even these animations display the male gaze by portraying females in an objectified manner.

The music video stays with one straight line across the screen, as the beat kicks in the line changes acting as if its an oscilloscope. displays sound waves, this continues on. This opening doesn't suggest to the audience what is to follow. It proceeds to be about females in an almost provocative manner.

At 1 minute 36 seconds this sound wave line changes to become a pavement for an unknown character to walk on, for the first few seconds we don't know who they are but the viewer can establish that they are female due to the high heeled boots. The camera then slowly zooms out to display the rest of the female's body. This draws our attention to solely her. As the camera continues zooming out it reveals a woman in very short shorts, with long hair and only a small top on. Her legs are spread as a tire comes rolling through. Even though this is an animation it still complies to the male gaze theory, this is that the woman is displayed on two different levels;

• as an erotic object for the characters within the film/clip
   
 
• as an erotic object for the spectator who is watching the film/clip
 

The camera still continues zooming out to reveal more female characters each of who bend over their individual tyres, this is placing them in a provocative position. As one tyre is then pushed, the camera follows the tire where it is stopped by a woman's boot, the camera then pans up her body to reveal her in a pose with the wind blowing her hair back, looking control, the viewers focus is entirely on her and she poses as being desirable.

 

The scene then morphs back to the sound wave, which vibrates according the lyrics.

"Been wondering if your heart's still open and if so I wanna know what time it shuts." As these lyrics are played the sound wave transforms into a pair of female legs which begin seperate and then cross over to change into a vertical line, throughout this video all the lines change into females, the sole purpose of this video is to attract the male gaze.

"Simmer down and pucker up" a pair of lips morph into the centre of the line, the video here is relating to the lyrics like other Alternative genres do and still highlighting features that males find attractive about females. As multiple lines appear to vibrate on the screen they then transform to become the fingers of a female character, they sweep around the screen to show a naked woman with her back to the camera who then swings her large buttocks into screen, highlighting another element that males find attractive. As the video is animation, certain features are not restricted due to the fact it's not actual females acting, although it still implies the same thing. The animation continues round to show multiple slim woman who then transform into the sound wave lines, the idea of the perfect woman is being shown via different key shots.

 

Smoothly the lines change into the lines on a racing track flag (Starting flag) a female is then shown, this female being different to the others and thus appealing to different male audiences, of a larger build, more of the normal type of woman and not the dream fantasy, and yet still wearing minimal clothing.

Her posture shows her leaning forward and prepared for action.

The audience then follows the line forward, were is continues moving to the lyrics, two bumps appear in the middle which then cut into a female. The outline out her body is shown with no detail but it is apparent to the audience that she is naked, her position shows her sitting back with her back arched and her toes pointed, this is a very seductive pose used throughout media. I believe this shot represents the male gaze best as it's almost erotic and even though the character is animation she still comes across as being human in her pose, the audience is drawn to this character.

At 3 minutes 1 second another woman is shown holding a cigarette which she then takes to her lips and inhales, smoking is deemed very attractive to some people and so this is further amplified here. By having a plain black backgroud and the female characters being made of a white line, the viewer cant help but have their eye wander to them. Then as the cars move forward the central one smoothly transforms into a womans buttock in jeans, again highlighting the male's gaze, the camera slowly moves out to show the rest of her, this allows the audience to capture each part of her.

 Transitions are used well in this video as each animation adapts well to becoming something else.

Another element making this of the Alternative genre is that the band themselves do not appear in the video.

Towards the end of the music video the animation becomes entirely different showing a man getting shot in the head and a number of animals, this is a complete contrast to the rest of the video and therefore shocks you when it usually would not.





Analysis chosen genre - The Funeral, Band of Horses, Conventions of Genre

Every genre whether it's film, music, television has it's own particular conventions. Some directors choose to conform to these coventions while others choose to expand and develop, challenge or break and even sometimes merge two genres together. With our own music video we found it difficult to truly understand what the genre was. After listening to other songs we finally established "Hurt Me" as being 'Alternative/Indie Pop'. The term Indie can be percieved very loosely. Indie is usually placed infront of another genre when that song breaks the conventions of its kind very slightly. This is why it was then difficult to establish another song which is the same as our particular genre is always evolving and assimilating.
I choose the song The Funeral performed by Band of Horses, I believe that listening to the song briefly and the video some may not find similarities between this and my chosen song, however, unlike other music solely to the pop genre such as Rhianna, Lady Gaga etc... you will then notice how Band of Horses have incorporates certain conventions. The song is of the Alternative genre which is part of our chosen genre.




What are the conventions of the Indie Pop genre? It's difficult to define what the conventions are because they are forever changing and evoloving due to the mix of so many other genres. The things we can fully establish; Alternative videos are usually completed with a low budget, this may not be the case for all but from viewing the video above and then comparing it to others such as Scream performed by Michael Jackson ft Janet Jackson which cost $7,000,000 in production costs we can persume that the Alternative genre doesn't spend so much money on production. Another element suggesting this is that the characters within the music videos never appear to be wearing glamorous clothing and having multiple clothing changes. Instead they wear normal everyday clothing and only change when necessary. As well as this the band doesn't tend to appear in the video. The video is solely on a narrative story which reflects upon the lyrics, from this it is believed that bands/artists of the Alternative genre prefer the audience to just enjoy the music and not fully be concentrating on who is in the band and what they are doing.
This music video is set in the 1970s and is about a man who spends his time drinking and eventually meets his end when he is hit by an on coming truck. The reason for his drinking can be interpretated in different ways, at 1 minute 4 seconds into the video a black dog is shown in the mans glass.
Did the mans dog die thus causing him to take up drinking due to his despair or woes the dog represent the mans depression and loneliness...

The first shot the audience see of the music video is of the inside of a car with one hand driving the car, enigma is slightly used here as the persons face is disguised from us but, the individual appears to be wearing a jacket and shirt so we could presume he his male. The other key element that captures the audience is that the video is in black and white but not clear HD crystal clear which would be expected of the 21st century but instead a grainy almost blurred version, this helps emphasise the fact that it was set in the 1970s. The camera then cuts away to reveal a perfectly ordinary man driving the car, not particularly young, wearing a bowler hat which would be part of an ordinary day outfit during that time period, this focus on realism is on the conventions of the genre. The use of black and white is a choice we made for ours. Black and white can be used for a number of reasons; adds glamour, represents the scene being something as being set a long time a good.
We used black and white in our music video but, this was not to add the look of glamour but instead as a way to represent the good (white) and the bad (black) the good being the young girl and the bad being the father, these two variables are forever conflicting and merging together.
Cut aways are then used to different shots of the man driving the car, the music is very slow at the time with no vocals present, these shots fit in well with the music as everything appears calm. The camera moves as if it is handheld, this makes the video seem more intimate and as if we are viewing a piece of history instead of a recently made music video.

The camera then moves to provide a shot looking through the car windowshield were it pans around to reveal other vehicles. The cars which are visible to eye look old fashioned and not up to date, not much else can be interpreted from this scene as sunlight is dazzling in through something which may be a bridge, obscuring the rest of the scene from the viewer. This can be seen as enigma although usually enigma is used by shadowing something in darkness, the white light is symbolic for his future death "go into the light".

Shots then display him driving his car, a mundane activity which would be entirely normal, thus sticking to the conventions. A shaky shot is then shown of a bar sign with the letter B obscured by sunlight. The use of the handheld camera effect makes the viewer think that the man had someone with him recording his events of his last day.
The vocals start as the man is seen drinking, this is when it can be fully established that the man is merely a character and not a member of the band. This conforms to the conventions as the video is purely narrative and the band itself do not perform. A range of shots are used to the left and right of the character watching him as he drinks. It makes the viewer feel like they are intruding on something, the lyrics at this point are very solemn and slow "I'm coming up only to hold you under
And coming up only to show you're wrong". A woman is then shot submerged in darkness, the woman knows nothing of this character and are leading male doesn't interact with her so she can be viewed as another individual watching him just like us. Although the video is in black and white the majority of this scene is in black with only the two characters and certain objects standing out, black is seen as bad, which could be showing us that this individual will slowly loose himself in this darkness.
Shot reverse shot is then used between the woman and male as they both bring the drink to their lips and drink, perhaps it's not just the male character drinking his woes away. More shots follow of the protagonist, his movements appear jerky almost mechanical at one point, a birds eye view shot of the glass in then shown, the dog appearing in it, as mentioned earlier. We still dont know if it is solely about his dog or as he looks down into the glass he sees all his worries and losses. This fits in well with our music video as our character is unhappy with her life she is looking for a way to escape, she finds it by running away and he finds it by drinking.

The camera remains being handheld moving within every scene
 with jolting movements yet still almost precise in their actions, the character then picks a song on the juke box as the main beat and chorus of the song commences. Instead of having a dramatic scene, dance routine, band performance etc.. which is shown throughout most pop genre videos, the scenes instead overlap each other, for example the male is drinking at the bar and a glass is shown reflecting over the scene. This hightens the videos originality and places itself in the Alternative genre. This contines throughout the chorus displaying every normal action and object displayed within a bar, after time the man slowly moves out of the sunlight to stand and walk out of the bar. His shadow is shown clearly on the floor, as if he himself is split into two people as he leaves. 
The character is shown getting back into his car with it then cutting away to a zoomed in shot of him drinking in the bar, reinforcing the fact that he has been drinking and shouldn't drive. To this point shot types have all been very similar; mid shot's or close ups of the character or object moving in a jerky motion. As he drives alone, cut aways are shown to reveal other shots of him, almost as if he is remembering his lifetime.
Then at 2 minutes 48 seconds the music video links back shows the beginning of the video, (the man driving looking content) this is shown as the music slows back down, repeating also the lyrics from the beginning. As it continues more of the beginning is played but then splits so the scene cuts between him carrying out the orignial scene and still driving looking intoxicated and falling asleep. As it nears the end shots become shorter as a large number of shots are shown, cutting between each other, providing a build up, during the last 20 seconds this is amplified on hugly when the shot cuts between the car and the on coming lorry.
The camera begins to move in a lot more violent manner, this thus makes the viewer even more aware of the companion in the car with the male however, the leading character does not seem aware of him even being there and is instead mesmerized in his own state, barely conscious of his own movements. In relation to the music this makes the viewer wonder that he has fully accepted that he wants to die and has so planned his day up to this one moment, 'At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral At every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral.'
Instead of showing the crash the car moves around in jolting motions becoming different shades of black which still gets the message across that the male character did die, this also adds to the effect that their was another in the car and that they too were part of the crash and that someone years later found the camera and played the video thus causing this music video.
Videos of the Alternative genre have to be unusal and they themselves are always entirely different from one another, for I, myself have never seen a music video similar to this one and that itself is what makes it part of the Alternative genre, it's not what would be popular choice (dancing/band playing) but, instead they hit on more hard hitting subjects, such is the same for our video.

Location Shots/Costume/Casting

LOCATIONS
Our music video was shot in few locations these mainly comprised of:
Mousehold Heath, Norwich, we shot views of the entirety of Norwich City skyline as well as are outside spinning shots, (I held the camera and spun to create a shot of unease to the viewer but also as if our main character was having fun.) We also captured shots me running up the hill holding the camera, we wanted a lot of shots to be as if we were seeing the world through our characters point of view. Filming was also captured of nature such as; trees, plants etc...
While walking to Mousehold Heath we also shot shots of things we believed were relevant to our video, such as the river and parts of the cathedral.
The inside shots were filmed at Holly's house such as the lights flashing scenes, the fireplace and our character running out of the door.
A field nearby was then used to film her walking and also running, these shots are viewed in the video as her finally 'breaking free' from her family into the world.
And finally the dinner table shots as well as a few outside shots such as the dogs were shot at Billy's house.

COSTUME
Our young girls main character first is shot wearing a white dress, this portrays her innocence and
also helps highlight to the audience how young she is. As the video continues on she in then shown to be wearing a black dress (this is when she is outside) this also shows how she has escaped and lost her innocence.

CASTING
When it came to casting our main character, we needed someone who was young and yet was old enough so that they would not feel intimidated/scared when it came to filming this also meant that either Holly or I needed to know the individual. In the end we decided on Ellie (Holly's boyfriends little sister) she captivated all the characteristics we needed for our leading character; she portrayed innocence, pretty and was able to adapt herself to any shot we placed her in. Others would usually use an individual who has blonde hair (angelic) Ellie has dark brown curly hair but, I believe this suits our video even more as in black and white her hair is a contrast to the mostly white background and the white dress she wears at the beginning. Also at the beginning we have the lamps being turned on and off, once they are turned off she is able to merge into the darkness with her hair.