Thursday, 11 February 2010

Anaylses of "Russian Roulette" by Rihanna

I am analysing “Russian Roulette” by Rihanna. This music video was directed by Anthony Mandler. Russian Roulette fits into the pop music genre. The video gives off a sense of suspense, and being scared.
There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visual aspects, the visual matches the lyrics throughout the video.
There is a bit in the video when Rihanna sings “he says close your eyes sometimes it helps” when she sings this, in the video she actually closes her eyes.
The video cut to the beat very well there is a lot of sharp beats to the song and the video keeps it well, it makes it intense.
There are no solo instruments in the song.
The video changes pace with the song well, there is a bit about 3 minutes in where the beat changes and the visual changes with it. It work very well.
There is a lot of close ups of Rihanna in this video you can almost always see her face. The video is attractive and snappy, when you watch it you don’t want to miss anything, it is addictive.
Rihanna does a lot of her videos like this, she has changed her image over her career.
She does give off a sense of sexiness, with the way that she is dressed and her body language.
This video is narrative based and performance based.

Analyses of "Stole" by Kelly Rowland

I am analysing ‘Stole’ by Kelly Rowland. This video was directed by Sanaa Hamri.
‘Stole’ fits into the Drama genre, there is a lot of high school drama init. It has a strong feel of emotion and sadness. There was a lot of passion went into making this music video.
The relationship between the lyrics and the visual aspects is tight. The visual matches the lyrics throughout the video. There is a scene in the video where she sings
‘Greg was always getting net from 20 feet away (20 feet away) He had a try out with the Sixers Couldn't wait for Saturday (Saturday) Now we're never gonna see him slam’
and it shows a boy ‘Greg’ playing basketball and then he gets shot.
Also about 1:18 into the video the lyrics say “they were crying to the camera saying he never fitted in he wasn’t welcome he showed up to the parties we was hanging in the guys were putting him down bullying him around” ends at about 1:30. At this part of the video the lyrics match perfectly.
The video cuts to the beat of the music well went the music increases the video becomes more intense.
There is a small part of the video that has a electric guitar playing, as that is playing the lyrics match it.
When the music’s pace increase the videos becomes more passionate and strong to keep up with the changing pace.
From 2:51 till 4:05 the video changes with the music.

It is a powerful song and video. It shows a lot of key points of a teenagers life, how hard it can be and how different people deal with it. And how one event can change a persons life forever.

Kelly Rowland has only done one video like this one, the others that see has done are more up beat, so I wouldn’t say that she was changing her image just that she was showing that she understands.
There is no sexual display at all in this video.

Star Image

The importance of star image.

Stars want to have a big image and loads of fans, so they create a character that everyone will love. Just like Lady GaGa, she has created a image of avant-garde.

Star image also effects the audience in many ways:
· Emotional Affinity which means that the audience feels attached to the star
· Self Identification which means the audience puts themselves in the same situations as the star
· Imitation which means that the audience see the star as a sort of model and want s to be like them
· projection this is a worst form of imitation where the audience becomes obsessed with the star it could become quite dangerous

Star vehicle

Star vehicle is the image constructed by the videos and publicity around the star.
For example:
· newspapers
· concerts
· TV interviews
· Albums

Star vehicle also helps the star change from image to image like Cheryl Cole, she was part of Girls Aloud, she was able to go from a member of a group to a solo artist.

Star Power
• Economic Power – more money to say what they want, do what they want and have what they want
• Artistic Power – they have creative control on there own image and how it is projected to the media, so they have it there way
• Ideological Power – they can influence there audience, like cloths, opinion etc they can try and change people

Target Audience

Audience and the text

All media text is produced with a intended reader. That is why it is important for the producer to consider:
· Content of the text is suitable for the intended reader
· Style of the presentation, is it appealing to the audience and will they understand it.

Expectations and pleasure

Repetition
The Audience play a key role in the media text by demanding repetition and difference. We learn this lesson at a young age., that is why we reject things that are not convincing to the type of video that we are watching.

Music video producers need to be aware of the target audience and the idea of preferred audience
There is a large difference between the target audience and the preferred audience
Target audience is the people you are aiming your video at. The preferred audience is the people that actually watch it.

Gender
The different interest of men and woman are obvious. If a woman was watching a spot channel they would now that it is not aimed at her because of the type of adverts and phrases . same if a man is watching a woman’s programme they would now that it wasn’t aimed at them, because of the adverts and chit chat.

Music Genre

Dance music

Dance music is made to accompany dancing. This music is commonly played in nightclubs, raves and parties. Over time this genre has been split down into trance, techno and house.

R&B

This genre was made by African American people in the 1940’s to 1950’s, it had a lot of different meanings. 1960’s R&B contributed a lot to the development of the rock and roll genre, and the term R&B was then used by white groups. The 1970’s R&B was used as a cover term to describe soul and funk. 1990’s the term contemporary R&B is mainly referred to as modern versions of souls and funk.

Hip Hop

Hip Hop is a culture movement that was creates in New York in the 1970’s by African Americans and Latino Americans. There are four main categories with in Hip Hop, which are Rapping, DJing and break dancing. Other categories include beatboxing, hip hop fashion and slang vocabulary. Hip Hop has now spread across the world.

Rock

Rock was developed in the 1960’s. In the 1940’s and 1950’s rock was called rock and roll. Rock music if is made with unique instruments which include
Guitars
Drums
Keyboard This made the music unique and interesting.