Creating a brand (Dyer's 'Star Theory')

Stars as constructions: Rita Ora

In 2008 Rita Ora featured on Craig David's song 'Where's your love' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKQbmuH1Opg) alongside Tinchy Stryder. She was later signed by Roc Nation in 2009. Rita Ora has clearly been manufactured by her record label as there was a big change in her image and attitude. These changes can be demonstrated through the analysis of screen grabs from Craig David's music video that she featured in in 2008 and a more recent music video of her own since she has been signed.

Craig David - Where's your love' ft Rita Ora
&Tinchy Stryder (2008)

This screen grab shows how Rita Ora used to dress before she had been signed by Roc Nation. As you can see it is very plain, dull and boring as her outfit consists of average black and white clothing. She clearly was not very glamorous. Also in the music video she was represented as a very sweet/innocent young lady through her smiles and cute dance moves.

Rita Ora - Radioactive (2012)

This screen grab highlights Rita Ora's full construction by Roc Nation. She is showing much more skin than she did when she wasn't signed connoting Roc Nation want her to have some sex appeal. The record label have also made her wear brighter colours. Her body language in this long shot has signified that Roc Nation want her to appear more bold, fierce and feisty, to allow an independent woman representation.



Roc Nation are branding Rita Ora as a sexy, fierce and independent woman. This fits her position in the music industry as she is now very much in the mainstream and can therefore be a role model for the teenage girls in her audience.


Stars as products: One Direction

One direction were founded on The X factor, they finished third in 2010 but were still signed by Simon Cowell's record label - 'Syco Records'. They were signed to fill a gap in the market as there were no young boy bands in the music industry at the time. One direction have become very mainstream as they have got a big fan base in Britain as well as America. They are branded as sweet, pretty boys and their audience consists mainly of young girls. All members of one direction are superficial as they are there to provide entertainment for their audience (young girls) and this means they cannot be themselves but they have to portray a good perfect image.



Stars as embodiments of ideologies/cultures: Biggie Smalls

Biggie smalls was a star because he embodied a gang culture and his feud with rival Tupac Shakur also increased his fame as both rappers together created an east/west divide in America. This east/west divide was well known around the world and others from different parts of the world adopted this gang culture. Biggie Smalls had a great influence on young males at the time and even now as his branding of a big gangster with lots of money and girls makes young males aspire to have the same, as Biggie Smalls gained respect for these things people today in particular males want to be respected in a similar way.



Stars as personalities: Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus was originally a star as a product, when she was the main actress in Hannah Montanna. As this programme was on Disney Channel, it was crucial that she maintained a 'good girl' image for the benefit of the programme. As Miley Cyrus grew up she ruined that 'good girl' image as she started to be herself and show her true personality through her music, music videos and social networking.

In this screengrab we see Miley Cyrus as 'Hannah Montanna' dancing innocently in school with her friends. Dressed as a normal American school child would as it is very appropriate clothing.




In this music video of Miley Cyrus' we clearly see how she is being herself as a young adult partying and having fun with her friends. She is wearing revealing clothing, that is extremely figure hugging. Throughout the music video she also does a lot of explicit dancing. This shows her progression from a produced star into a star as a personality. As the music video and the song allowed Miley Cyrus' audience to see what she is really like and an insight as to some of the things she does with her friends, mainly revolving around partying.

Style and conventions of music videos content

Performance
=Entertainment presented before an audience by the artist/s. 

The institution used this performance style of music video as it seems most appropriate for the title and lyrics in the song. This performance styled music video shows a more passionate side of the artist - Demi Lovato as we see her body language is very bold and sharp but also very natural looking to show her fans that as the song continuously repeats - 'this is me' it emphasizes that she is remaining true to herself. The performance impacts the audience as it allows them to really feel the emotion and vibe of the song, because through the performance we can see that Demi Lovato is putting a lot of heart and soul into the song connoting that it means a lot to her for her audience to understand her better and the meaning of the song.Therefore the audience may listen to this song for informing purposes as they gain information of Demi's personality through her performance. If I was to make a performance style music video I would make sure that the song is a song with a deeper meaning that the artist/performer could sing soulfully to keep that audience engaged.

Narrative
=A story or account of events and or experiences. 



The institution decided to make a music video with a narrative for Kelly Rowlands song 'Stole' because the song is about teenagers that have been severely bullied until they commit suicide. Therefore they felt that the music video should have a narrative to reinforce how serious bullying is and the possible results of it. The narrative in this video has an impact on the audience as a lot of emotion develops from watching the lives of those being bullied leading to their suicides and people grieving after their deaths. The song is a very sad song that is accompanied by a very sad narrative in the music video to make the audience aware of bullying. This informs the audience that bullying can seriously effect individuals. If I were to make a music video with a narrative, I would make sure that the song I decide to use fits the narrative in the music video to stir the right emotions within the audience.

Interpretive
=Lyrics are almost directly matched with the image.



The institution that made this music video decided to use an interpretive style because the artist - Rebecca Black is a teenager singing about it being Friday and how happy she is about it. Therefore it is effective to allow the image to match the sound to show a day in the life of an average teenager. This interpretive style music video impacts the audience as they are likely to mainly be teenagers and therefore can personally relate to her daily activities and night life. I could use this style in my music video to also literally portray my artists life and their daily routine.

Impressionist
=Lyrics are not directly matched with the image but the image provides the same mood/tone of the song.



The institution has used an impressionist style for the music video to Ushers song 'Confessions Part 2'. They used this because although the images in the music video don't match the lyrics, the mood of the music video as a whole fits the mood of the song. The mood is very solemn, this is portrayed through the colour palette through the use of blacks, greys and browns. This impressionist style music video impacts the audience because they will watch the music video and automatically get a sense of sadness as the video is very dark and the pace of Usher's movement is very slow. This gives me a good idea of how impressionism is used within music videos, so if I did decide to use this style for my music I would carefully consider the mise-en-scene, editing and sound as it is done in this music video.

Surrealism/Abstract
=Unexpected surprises, extreme juxtapositions, usually no link between the song and image.




The institution that made this music video chose to do it in a very surrealist and abstract way as the whole thing was very surprising through the use of juxtapositions. For example we see an old innocent looking granny walking her dog in a ghetto looking area where a screaming ghostly face appears on a television on the ground. This was very unexpected. There were also some dwarf men in school dresses saying come to daddy which is a big juxtaposition. This surrealist/abstract style positively impacts the audience as they can watch the music video for entertainment as it is very interesting and therefore engaging, it's far from boring. When I make my music video if I too chose to do it in a surrealist/abstract way I now know that it can be as spontaneous and surprising as I want as long as I consider the target audience.

Animation
=The rapid display of static images to create an illusion of movement.


 
The institution has used animation throughout this music video as it is a break from reality. The bright colours and interesting mise-en-scene within the animation makes it very eye catching and engaging. The use of animation impacts the audience as they can watch the music video for entertainment because the animation creates something new and different to most music videos.

Intertextuality - Referencing
=Including images/scenes/sounds from other well known texts and incorporating them in your text.




The institution referenced the film 'Dreamgirls' in Beyonce's music video for the song 'Listen' because the song also featured in the film and was also performed by Beyonce herself, so the institution incorporated a reference from the film into the music video to almost promote the film through a well-known mainstream artist. The referencing in this music video impacts the audience as it adds an extra layer of meaning and understanding to those in the audience that have seen the film 'Dreamgirls'. Those that haven't seen the film will still be able to watch the music video with good understanding and no confusion. Some audience may wonder what 'Dreamgirls' is and go on to research it, in that case the referencing through the music video would have been successful and beneficial as the film would gain more publicity.