PREP Explain how music videos use media language to promote their artists. Refer to the pair of music videos you have studied from the list below in your answer.
Our music videos are Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag Avril Lavigne Sk8ter Boi
HOW TO ANSWER: Media language points to consider:
the prioritising of the star / the group; the privileging of the star / the groups in the frame
authenticating the star's performance / the band's performance to show their skills
the use of close ups; lip syncing to camera; eye contact with the audience
Music videos can use media language to promote their artists through many ways such as when they focus around one person for the video or a group of people who are all intertwined somehow such as in Wheatus's Teenage Dirtbag we mainly see the life of a boy who has been mistreated and bullied his entire life and we see the other main character, a popular cool girl who doesn't know he exists. Through out the video we see the roles change for the girl as she dumps the cool guy and she is now another teenage dirtbag with him. Everyone is then invited to a school dance or prom, he does not have anyone to go with so he ends up there alone on a table with some "nerdy" people who also could not find a date. As the night is continuing the band which has been practising throughout the video are playing up on stage and as they start to get onto the chorus "im just a teenage dirtbag baby..." she is shown in the shot walking up to him and she starts singing "and im just a teenage dirtbag baby, just like you". The two main characters then embrace as they are shown as now becoming a couple. Another example of a way that music videos can use media language to promote their artists is through the way that the main characters are always lip syncing everything that the person is singing about in the background. This is the case in Teenage dirtbag when the girl gets up for the first time and starts to sing. Finally, another way that music videos use media language to promote their artists is through eye contact with the audience, this can be shown in Sk8ter Girl by Avril Lavigne when she is always watching the camera as the she sings and it almost simulates being in an audience and having the singer stare at you while you are dancing.
A question like this requires an analytical answer rather than a descriptive one. Look the points below to help you improve your exam technique.
ReplyDeleteWheatus – Teenage Dirtbag (TD) and Avril Lavigne – Sk8er Boi (SB)
• SB’s use of lip syncing to camera promotes Avril Lavigne as the artist as she is singing to the audience directly
• SB’s use of multiple close ups of Avril Lavigne, further emphasising her status as the artist and her distinctive grungy ‘look’ which she is known for
• SB’s use of a range shots of Avril Lavigne looking directly into the camera to connect with her audience
• Avril Lavigne’s dominance of screen time allows for the audience to understand that she is the artist.
• TD’s sweeping use of pans to show the band performing as a collective emphasising their musical skill and to promote this to their audience
• TD’s use of MCU of the individual band members playing their instruments to further emphasis their status as the main artists
• TD’s increased pace in edit as the video reaches its climax, accompanied by the adoring fans, promotes the band to the audience as we see them being appreciated by fans.