Laura Mulvey and The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She identified the theory of the ‘male gaze’ within film and television. She argued that in classic Hollywood films, women were represented to provide visual pleasure to men, and the audience was constructed in a way where they were all expected to be heterosexual men. Mulvey also argues that females are only ever given passive roles, and women characters are never given roles that will directly change the outcome of the plot (e.g. the man always gets to “save the day”).  Here are some examples of the male gaze:

This image was used as an advertising campaign for a new perfume by Chanel. Keira Knightly is a famous actress who has always played roles that would fit into the “male gaze” theory. Here she has been photographed topless with a hat covering her modesty. This is a perfect example of Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze. Although the perfume that is being advertised is for women, this proves how the male gaze has been used so much that women aspire to be like the women who are objectified by the male gaze.

I thought it was important for me to look at different music videos and identify if the male gaze theory applies to them. I decided to look at Scouting For Girls – She’s so Lovely.

The first image of a girl in the video, shows just the bottom half of a womens legs wearing high heels. This automatically sexualises the women without the audience actually seeing who or what she looks like.

The audience knows that the women has arrived at the bowling alley (can tell this from mise-en-scene, bowling shoes) and is walking through, and the camera shows the man who is cleaning the shoes stop what he is doing and directly look at this women. Also emphasising how good looking the women is.

The camera then finally shows the women, who is in slow motion. This also sexualises this women by lingering for longer than is necessary. This gives the impression that everyone around her is looking at her too.

In my music video I am going to use Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. As the lead singer is a female, she will be wearing a dress which shows off her figure, this will obviously fit into the male gaze theory. The two ancillary tasks that we create will also fit with this theory as the images we use will be of the singer in a dress exposing her legs.

After more shots of the lead singer staring at the women, the shots then change to close ups of different parts of her body. This is clear evidence of Laura Mulvey’s theory. Many music videos, films and advertising campaigns use the sexualisation and exploitation of women as a selling point.

Reply from Sony

After sending two emails that came back undeliverable, I decided to ring RCA Records to see if they could give me an email address that I could contact in regards to copyright issues and permissions. They gave me an email address for a lady called Shirley, who was a separate legal adviser that worked for Sony (RCA is a label on Sony). I then emailed Shirley asking for permissions and this was her reply.

 

I then emailed Shirley back thanking her for her quick reply, and promising that I will stick to the things she has said (e.g. not allowing anyone else to view the video besides me, my teacher and the exam board).

Regulating Bodies

What is OFCOM?

OFCOM stands for the “Office of Communications”. It is an organisation that regulates TV and radio sectors, ensuring people who watch TV and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material. OFCOM also protects people from being treated unfairly in television and radio shows.

Under 18s – sexual content, drugs and language

OFCOM feel it is very important to protect under 18’s from harmful and offensive material. They understand that younger viewers can be easily influenced by what they watch on TV so have created laws that programme makers must abide by.

• They believe that programme makers should always consider the impact that the representation of the use of illegal drugs, the abuse of drugs, smoking, solvent abuse and the misuse of alcohol, may have on younger viewers.
• OFCOM would not expect programme makers to allow frequent occurrences of material that condones, encourages or glamorises the use or abuse of these substances

OFCOM also regulate the amount of violence that can be shown within a programme. They are concerned in areas with the use of accessible domestic implements such as knives, or other offensive weapons.

Offensive language is also an area of concern for OFCOM. They understand that it is a feature of British life and in certain contexts it has an appropriate place in broadcasting. However, there is a concern with the harm it may have to young children who may be watching. There is a concern that children may imitate this offensive language even when their parents or carers have told them it is wrong.

A variety of music videos are watched by children. However, OFCOM are concerned where song lyrics may cause offence, and ask broadcasters too possibly use track remixes or edits. Some videos will only be shown after watershed if OFCOM believe the video will cause serious harm and offence to young watchers.

Under 18’s – employed in film/video

OFCOM takes extreme caution and has rules that all broadcasters must comply with if any under eighteen appears in or participates in a programme. Broadcasters must always take into consideration the child’s welfare. If a participant is under sixteen, OFCOM asks broadcasters to ensure that there is consent from a parent, guardian or other person over eighteen. When given consent by parents or guardians, OFCOM believe it is the broadcaster’s duty to make sure the parent understands the full implications of their child’s participation. Programme makers are told to highlight both the positive and negative likely outcomes from participating in programme.

Flashing Images

Flashing images can cause seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. This is why OFCOM have specific guidelines for broadcasters who use flashing images in their programme. OFCOM say that all broadcasters should give a clear warning before the programme starts that flashing images may occur.

My Music Video

After reading through OFCOM’s guidelines, I have realised what I can and cannot put into my video. I was not planning on showing drug use, violence or sexual content in my video so these guidelines don’t apply and have not changed my plans. As the song I plan to use has no strong or offensive language, these guidelines also do not apply. I will be using under 18’s in my video, so I will have to ensure that no harm can be done when filming. I will also not be using under 16’s so will not have to worry with asking for their parent’s written consent. I will also need to be careful to comply with guidelines regarding to flashing images. In my video I want to have a series of patterns of change of colour, so I will have to ensure that the speed of the changes complies with OFCOM’s rules.

Textual Analysis – Eliza Doolittle, Rollerblades

Why I chose this text - I have chosen to do a textual analysis of Eliza Doolittle’s “Rollerblades” because this is the genre of music I plan to create my music video for. It is an upbeat and happy song similar to the Diana Vickers song that I want to use.

Brief Description - The video shows Eliza on a relaxing bike ride through New York City. She is followed by a man similar to her age who keeps disappearing every time she seems to turn a corner. The audience later realises that this is a ghost of a past relationship and by the end of the video, Eliza leaves with her friends.

Analysis - 

Mise-en-scene

The location is set in New York City; the audience knows this by the mise-en-scene, with letter box’s saying “New York Press” and yellow traffic crossings.

The costume, make-up and hair all have a casual vibe. She is wearing denim shorts and a white vest top, this helps to identify the heat/warmth of the city reflected the happy tone to the song. She is also wearing a bright pink bra that can be seen which also helps to reflect the upbeat song.

There are many props used throughout the video, including the bike that Eliza uses, the balloons that the ghost of a past relationship gave her and the ice creams that the ghost buys for her at the end. All the props are brightly coloured to show significance to her past relationship. The bright colours also fit to the conventions of a pop video as it helps to reflect the upbeat and happy song.

The lighting throughout the video is natural daylight, this also adds to happy tone of the song.

Cinematography

The camera shots used in the video are mainly close ups or mid shots of Eliza singing. This helps to put an emphasis on the lyrics that she is singing. There are only two or three long shots used in the video, and one of them is a long shot but develops into a close up as Eliza is riding her bike towards the camera.

Develops into this shot…

There are many tracking shots used in the video of Eliza pedalling down the street. This helps to identify how far she is travelling and allows the cuts to be longer as she is going in the same direction singing into the camera.

Editing

Jump cuts are used to create an ellipsis when Eliza travels around a corner and ends up in a different location but it is slightly later in the day.

As Eliza travels around the corner, it jumps to this shot…

The editing pace of this video is very fast, with no more than 3 seconds between cuts unless a tracking shot is being used which lasts up to 7 seconds. There are also no dissolves or special editing techniques used in this video.

Sound

The sound throughout is non-diegetic as it is a song added after editing. But there is diegetic sound used at the end when Eliza is laughing with her friends. There is also diegetic sound used at the beginning of the text when the sound of the bikes wheels can be heard.

Who is the target audience for this text? – From watching the “Rollerblades” video I have come across a slight problem. I have found that the songs target audience is different to the videos target audience. The song is an upbeat happy song about a girl moving on from her past relationship, proving that the target audience for this will be females aging between 16 and 21. The video, on the other hand, isn’t necessarily gender orientated. There is a part near to the end of the video where Eliza is seen dancing underneath a hosepipe. This creates sex appeal which will then attract a different target audience of young males.

Creates sex appeal

Representations of social groups

There are two social groups that are represented in this text: Young females, and young males. Young females are represented as happy, care-free and strong. Eliza (the young female) is moving on from a past relationship, throughout the video she is smiling whilst singing the lyrics about moving on. This represents her as a strong independent female, who doesn’t need a man to make her happy and that she is not going to be upset about the break up.

The second representation is of young males. They are represented as passive, pursuing, and caring. The ex boyfriend in the video, follows Eliza, always walking behind her emphasising how she has moved on from him. He also gives her a bunch of balloons (e.g. presents) showing his caring side but also showing that he is the one pursuing her not the other way round.

Summary – Doing this textual analysis has helped me to decide what I want in my music video and what I do not want. It has also helped to reassure me in the conventions of a pop video so I know what is important for me to recreate within mine.

In the “rollerblades” video I thought that the connection between the song and the text was very effective. When you first watch the video it is hard to tell what the meaning of the video is, it just looks as though Eliza is randomly cycling around a city. Once I watched the video a few more times, I began to understand the connection and I think it was a clever and effective way of doing it. The video shows Eliza moving on from rollerblades to a bike, which is a metaphor within the song about her moving on to better relationships.

I also found that the bright colours that were used throughout the video worked very well. The colours kept the song and the video upbeat even though the lyrics weren’t necessarily happy as they were about a split from an ex-boyfriend.

Props - Bike

Costume - Jewellery

Props - Balloons

Although there were many things I liked about the text, there were also some things that I disliked. I particularly disliked the mixed signals that were sent out about who the text was aimed at. The song is about moving on from a past relationship, which would have the target audience of young girls, but the video has a clip within it which has been created for sex appeal, which would therefore then be aimed at a different target audience.

In the text that I create I will avoid sending out mixed signals like this as I believe it could cause confusion with the audience. I will work out the target audience for the song, and then keep the same target audience for the video.



Difficulties with gaining Permissions

I found it very difficult to find an email address for the record label as there website does not have a "contact us" page with there contact details. I managed to find two different email addresses for RCA records the first being, admin@bmgonline.com and the second, info@rcarecords.com. I sent my email to both of these addresses but they both were returned to me as undeliverable.

Email 1

Email 2

History and Developments of Music Videos

What is a music video?

Music videos are created and produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Most modern music videos are made as a marketing device to help to promote the sale of music recordings. Music videos became most popular in the 1980’s when MTV was created and based its company on showing music videos. Before the 80’s, music videos were referred to as “illustrated song” or a “promotional film”. Music videos can be made in a variety of different styles using a mixture of techniques such as animation, live action filming, non-narrative and abstract.

MTV

MTV is an American network based in New York City that was launched on August 1^st, 1981. The original purpose of MTV was to be “Music Television” showing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, guided by on-air personalities known as VJ’s (Video Jockeys). MTV had a huge impact on the music industry and popular culture, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced and both artists and fans found a central location for music events, news and promotion.  MTV have faced criticisms for the moral influence they have on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism.

Technological Developments

When MTV was launched in 1981, the first music video shown was The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”. The second video shown was Pat Benatar “You Better Run”. Between these two videos, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR.

The main purpose of MTV when it was first launched was to play music videos 24/7, but throughout the early-mid 2000’s, the overall play of music videos was greatly reduced. And in 2008, an average of just three hours of music videos per day was played on MTV. This is blamed on the rise of the Internet as a convenient outlet for the promotion and viewing of music videos.

YouTube is a video sharing website created in 2005 that allows users to upload, share and view videos. Many music videos are now uploaded onto this site allowing more people to view the video as many times as they want whenever they want. This has meant that the viewing of music video channels has reduced rapidly.

Affordable and faster equipment has also made a huge influence on the music video industry. Cheaper laptops, software and filming equipment has allowed upcoming and aspiring singers, song writers and film makers to create there music video to a high standard to show off their skills. YouTube and similar social networking sites have allowed these people to share their music videos with the public including people high up within the music industry looking for creative and talented individuals.

Conventions of a Pop Video

I have looked at 3 different music videos that are all the same genre of music that I want to create my video for. I have used these videos to help me develop and understand what conventions and similarities each video has, so that I can design my video to fit with these conventions.

• Use a variety of different camera shots such as long shots, close ups and mid shots. Evidence of this is shown in the screen shots below of Eliza Doolittle’s song, ‘Rollerblades’.

Close Up

Mid Shot

Long Shot

• Close ups are often used to emphasise the lyrics of the song that are being spoken. An example of this is in Lenka’s video for ‘The Show’.

• The pace of editing reflects the pace of song. In Eliza Doolittle’s song ‘Skinny Genes’, the pace of editing is in time with the music with no more than 3 seconds between each cut.

• Bright colours are often used in pop videos contrasted with indie videos who normally use black and white.

Eliza Doolittle – Skinny Genes

Costume, Props and Mise-en-scene all use a variety of colours

Lenka – The Show

Make-up, Props use bright colours

Eliza Doolittle – Rollerblades

Props use bright colours

Permissions

For our coursework we wanted to create a music video to the song ‘Jumping into Rivers’ by Diana Vickers. As this song is copyrighted we needed to get permission from the record label to use it in our coursework. To gain permission we decided to send an email stating what the song would be used for and promising that only myself, my teacher and the exam board would be able view the music video on a password protected online site. Here is the email I sent:

Re:      Tavistock College A Level Music Video Coursework

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are creating a music video for our A Level media studies coursework at Tavistock College.

We understand that you are the owner of the copyright in the musical composition “Jumping into Rivers” by Diana Vickers and want to create the music video to this song.  We want to use the entire song in the video as we need to create the video to the music.

Since we are on a limited budget we are hoping that you will allow us this use without any charge. If this is not possible, please let us know what fee would be required for this use. The video we create will only be seen by our teachers and the exam board. I will only upload the video to an online site called blogger which will be password protected allowing only me, my teacher and the exam board to view it.

If you could send a conformation email, this will indicate that you will agree to permit this use without payment of a fee.  Please let us know if you have any questions concerning this license.  Also would you please let us know as soon as possible if this song cannot be licensed so that changes can be made to the choice of song we use in our coursework. You can reach us in care of Darren Bird, Tavistock College, Crowndale Rd, Tavistock, Devon, PL19 8DD, 01822 614231, dbird@tavistockcollege.devon.sch.uk

Thank you for your help with this matter and we look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Truly,

Charlotte Sloman and Jess Hodges

Song Choice

The first decision we needed to make was what song we wanted to create a music video too. Once we had decided we would then write to the record label that the song/artist was signed to asking for permission. Here is a list of songs that we considered:

• Rolling in the Deep – Adele

• Marry You – Bruno Mars

• Jumping into Rivers – Diana Vickers

• Pack Up – Eliza Doolittle

• Lonely – Indigo Nights

We decided that the type of music video we wanted to create would be best suited to either Diana Vickers ‘Jumping into Rivers’ or Indigo Nights ‘Lonely’. We then went on to find out which record label Diana Vickers was signed to and prepared to write them an email asking for permission to use this song. We decided that if we had no reply from RCA Records then we would then consider using ‘Lonely’ by Indigo Nights. Indigo Nights is an unsigned local band which we know the members of. This makes it easier for us to ask for permission to use this song in our video.