Star Image

The star image concept was created by Richard Dyer. His theory proposes that celebrities are merely images constructed to appeal to their target audience and genre and for the purpose of financial benefit. He also proposes that stars need to be an equal blend of both ordinary and extraordinary to set them apart from their target audience as what we should all aspire to be but must also have a side that the audience can relate to and not be so prodigious that their demographic feel like they could never reach the same status.

There are four categories used to create this image:

Construction:

Construction states that the image is created for audience and is based around them being likeable and appealing to the target demographic. They are essentially not created to function as a real individual but a product. This image is usually created by the record company.

Cultural Belief's / Hegemony:

These types of stars are created to reflect and promote the popular current beliefs of society. This makes the artist relevant in popular culture and creates a role model that the target audience can look up to and replicate. 

Audience and Institutions: 

This type of star image is created purely for the production of money so the record company's focus their efforts on producing artists that will be the most commercially popular and base their artists on what they think they audience will want so that they can produce the highest profit possible. 

Case Study, Halsey:

Halsey is an example of an artist that fits into the different sub-sections of star theory. Halsey began her career by posting cover songs on YouTube under her real name, 'Ashley Frangipane'. In 2014, she recorded a song called "Ghost" and posted it on SoundCloud, this song gained Halsey attention and she signed with the 'Astralwerks record label' and is still represented by them. Her debut concept album, Badlands, was released on August 28, 2015 and has been described as an angry feminist record. The album included three singles, New Americana, Ghost and Colors and as a five track remix EP called "Complementary Colors". 

Halsey adopts and androgynous style, sporting short hair and often wearing gender non-conforming clothing articles in her music videos (see above) and concerts, though her style can vary depending on the situation, her more feminine side can be seen in videos such as ‘Colors’ for example. This style emits a certain sense of confidence and authority that we all strive for and she a personality that screams "do not mess with me" and this is heavily reflected in her music which she says is about "sex and being sad". Her stage name 'Halsey' is an anagram of her real name and also the name of a street in Brooklyn where she spent a lot of her youth which show her audience that she stays true to her roots whilst still maintaining her own sense of identity.This paints her as an original on trend artist that would appeals to her growing target audience of alternative teens.

Halsey has been consistently open about her background, sexuality (bisexual) and mental health (suffers from bipolar disorder) and how this translates in her music and the type of content she produces. This sense of honesty allows her fanbase to feel more connected to her as an artist and enables her to reach a wider audience who can relate and feel empowered by her to be unapologetically themselves. She is both something to aspire to wards being like but still genuine enough for her fans to relate to (Richards Dyer's perfect blend of ordinary and extraordinary).

I believe Halsey fits Richard Dyer's Star Theory as he says "it can be argued that stars are representations of persons which reinforce, legitimate or occasionally alter the prevalent preconceptions of what it is to be a human being in this society." which is essentially what Halsey does. She blends together youthfulness, sexual magnetism, creativity as well as disregard for social values and consumption of sex, drugs and material goods (things that Richard Dyers considers essential for an artist to embody). Halsey's on trend and edgy persona gives off a youthful vibe that the teenage audience to identify with her and the themes that run through her songs of teenage rebellion and emotional turmoil and the content of her music videos (mainly 'Colors' and 'Ghost') could be viewed as sexually provocative and appeal to both men and women alike. They fact that Halsey is so vocal about issues affecting both race, LGBT topics and issues affecting women reinforces and promotes the opinions currently emulated by society and popular culture. 

Male Gaze

The Male Gaze theory was first developed by Laura Mulvey, in 1975, who proposed that the asymmetric gender power that exists in society controls the way media depicts females and femininity for the pleasure of a heterosexual male.

The Male Gaze theory refers to the way in which media (art, literature, popular culture) depicts women and the female form. There are three perspectives that should be referenced when talking about the male gaze; the perspective of the person behind the camera, the characters within the media and the consumer of the media.

Typical features of a music video involving the Male Gaze theory would be lingering camera shots (moving slowly when showing a female and focusing on her curves),use of slow motion when following a woman's movements and longshots may also be used to show a woman's full body and display her clothing or lack of.

An example of this is Fifth Harmony's 'All In My Head (Flex)' music video. We see all three of these different shots come into play, for example slow motion is often used when focusing on females provocative movements and we also see many longshots showing off their swimsuit clad bodies.

Another example is Ariana Grande's 'Dangerous Woman' music video. The artist is depicted wearing lacy lingerie and though a lot of close angles shots are used instead of longshots the video focuses on her figure and the camera moves slowly to create the idea of a lingering gaze. The use of handheld camera shots creates a voyeuristic feel to the video which is characteristic of the male gaze.

Correlations Between Lyrics and Visuals

There are three different categories of that relationships between visuals and lyrics can be divided into three distinctive categories, according to Andrew Goodwin whose ideas we discussed previously, and these are:

Amplification

Disjuncture

Illustrative

Amplification:
Amplification involves taking a deeper look into the meaning behind the song whilst still maintaining links to the lyrics. Whilst other music videos sometime move away from the songs topic this type of video 'Amplifies' it. These types of videos are usually narrative based but can involve aspects of performance. An example of Amplification being used in a music video is 'Homecoming' by Kanye West, where we see West walking the streets of his hometown much like in the lyrics:

Another example is REMs 'Imitation of Life' video (it really is an imitation of life which shows in a very stylistic way all how many events take place at the same time in all different types of peoples life's):

Disjuncture:

Disjuncture is when the music video visuals have no real link to the song lyrics or contradict the song completely. These are often narrative videos but may feature performance occasionally. An example of a music video that uses disjuncture is the Artic Monkey's 'Fluorescent Adolescent':

Another example of a music video that features disjuncture is Coldplay's 'Paradise': 

Illustrative:

Illustrative music videos often have visuals that explicitly reference the lyrics of the song, this is the simplest video technique of the three and the easiest to follow for the viewer. An example of this type of music video is Owl City's 'Fireflies' (The word Fireflies appears on the radio display) :

Another example of this is Demi Lovato's 'Skyscraper' (The lyrics talk about glass and we see the artist standing in front of a square of glass):

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the way in which one media product may reference another.

This tends to happen quite frequently in music videos as media inspires the production of other media. The inclusion of intertextuality can also help to increase the popularity of a music video as the inclusion of popular culture creates a more interesting and familiar media. References to any kind of media such as books, social media, films, TV, iconic figures and other artist works. intertextuality can also present itself in the form of advertisements and promotions.

Kanye West’s controversial 'Famous' video is a reference to Vincent Desiderio's painting 'Sleeping'. As you can see from looking at side by side comparisons of the media there is a direct correlation in how the wax works have been laid out and the positioning of the people in the painting. 

Another example intertextuality is Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' music video which references Romeo and Juliet both lyrically and visually, as it adopts both the style of the era and storyline. 

Songs written for movie soundtracks usually create music videos that reference the film the song will appear in, for example Death Cab for Cutie's song 'Meet Me On The Equinox' appears in the Twilight franchise movie New Moon and the music video feature footage from the film.

The song doesn't have to be in a movie to make reference to it however. Iggy Azalea's music video for 'Fancy' makes references to the 90's film Clueless especially in terms of fashion and setting.

Genre Conventions

Pop:

Pop music videos are often more extravagant than most indie or rock videos as due to the high popularity of the style have much higher funded budgets. The idea of a pop music video is to advertise the artist and the song and usually have a very upbeat and positive tone to them. Pop music videos are often performance oriented but do usually contain some kind of narrative which classifies them as hybrid music videos. Successful music videos tend to feature choreography (Single Ladies – Beyoncé) that often perpetuates into the rest of pop culture and may turn into an internet meme (Hotline Bling – Drake).  As Star Images are much more prevalent in pop music the way the artist is portrayed is very important in the filming of the video. This high budget type of production allows for the use of top of the range filming equipment and ground breaking special effect techniques to create a very high quality piece of media.

Indie:

Indie music videos don’t usually focus on the idea of Star Image as much as pop videos tend to, indie music isn’t gimmicky and puts more emphasise on the meaning of the lyrics and the sound of the music and because of this are usually narrative based. Concepts about the world and society are included in indie music videos and they are often hybrids of narrative and performance though indie band performances are usually filmed on a smaller scale (e.g. A garage vibe) than pop videos. Though indie music is increasing in popularity the videos are usually still small budget so feature less special effects and high budget backdrops.

Rock:

Rock videos, like pop, generally tend to focus on the band or artist and favour mostly performance based footage over narrative with the song lyrics synced to the artists mouthing. Rock videos don’t just focus on the lead vocalist as a lot of pop videos do though and they feature the rest of the band often playing their instruments (e.g. Pretender – Foo Fighters and Heart of Fire – Black Veil Brides). If a story-line is introduced into a rock music video they are usually hybrid videos featuring aspects of both performance and narrative based videos.

Hip Hop/R ‘n’ B:

Hip Hop and R ‘n’ B are new and emerging genres in popular culture and have only really began to gain interest in popular culture since the 90’s. This newfound popularity has caused a lot of hip hop/R ‘n’ B music videos to take on a lot of the characteristics of pop music videos due to the large budget and type of audience they are trying to reach. This genre of music often plays about with the idea of creating a star image (Kanye’s persona) focusing more on wealth and prosperity, reflected in the mise en scene and costumes used in the video, than likability as some pop artists do. The large budgets used in such music videos like (insert music video) helps to create that idea that the artist lead a lavish lifestyle and have intimidating personas. 

Categories of Music Vidoes

There are three main types of music videos:

- Concept based

- Performance based 

- Narrative based

Concept Based Music Videos:

Concept based music videos usually hone in on a certain idea about the world and society and such ideas are often portrayed metaphorically. Concept videos are usually quite unique and utilize various ambitious editing techniques to characterise thier work. An example of a conceptual video would be the Bring Me The Horizon 'Throne' music video:

Another example is Taylor Swift's 'Out Of The Woods' music video:



A even more obscure and cryptic example would be Wolftrons 'Sugar Skulls' video:

Performance Based Music Videos:

These types of videos usually focus solely on the music artists performing throughout all or almost all of the video. Direct address is frequently used in these types of videos and allows the artist to make a connection to the audience. Mise en scene in performance videos usually consists of either a stage or recording studio/garage. This type of music video style is low budget and may be popular with bands who are just starting out and building up a fanbase/franchise. Many different camera angles of the artists are used in performance videos, which is good as it makes the video more visually dynamic which is needed as videos set in one place can become tedious. Close-ups of the artists looking/singing into the camera and playing their instruments are often repeated to maintain the connection with the audience and convey the emotion of the song, these types of shots reinforce the artists star image. The use of live performance excerpts is a popular technique used in Rock music videos more than it is in Pop. An example of this is Black Veil Brides 'Fallen Angels' music video:

Another example is Demi Lovato's 'Get Back' music video:

Narrative Based Music Videos:

Narrative music videos usually follow a storyline/plot throughout and tell us a visual story. The artist may or may not appear in the video (in this case star image is less important) alongside actors who may portray other characters within story. If a narrative video style is being used then the visual content will usually go hand in hand with the lyrics so that the storyline makes more sense for the viewer though this isnt always the case. Narrative videos that completely stray away from the lyrical content of the song may have a more encryptic meaning which creates intrigue in the audience. An example of a music video that does this is The Artic Monkeys 'Flourescent Adolescent':

Another, less cryptic, video example is Adam Lambert's 'Never Close Our Eyes' music video:

Hybrid Music Videos:
Obviously not every music video fits into one category, a lot of the time artists take aspects of each of the categories and mold them into one music video. These types of music videos are known as hybrid videos. An example of a hybrid music video is Avril Lavigne's 'Complicated':

This music video is a blend of both performance and narrative styles.

Another example of a hybrid video is Demi Lovato's 'Here We Go Again' which is also a performance and narrative blend:

Animated Music Videos:
Animated music videos can either be entirely complied of animated scenes or animation can be featured less prominently with only a few short snippets being included. An example of this is The Killers 'Miss Atomic Bomb' which inlcudes both animate and unanimated scenes:

Another example is The Spice Girls 'Viva Forever' which brings animation into the real world:

Kanye West's 'Good Morning' also uses animation:

6 Features of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin identified six different features of a music video that characterise the product:

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics  - this theorises that there are repetitive patterns in the music video content of different genres (eg. aspects of stage performanc and excerpts of footage from live concerts in rock music videos)

There is a correlation between the music and the visuals (the tone and atmosphere of the visuals is reflective of the music) - an example of this may be the visuals in a music video becoming more chaotic as the music becomes faster or more upbeat.

The demands of the record label include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the need/want for an artist to develop motifs and build thier own creative style to be associated with - This is a marketing technique where an artists music video has a definitive focus on them as the star in order to create a strong brand and popularity surrounding them. Music videos like this are usually very centered around the upkeep of the artists star image (eg. the 'bad boy' or 'girl next door')

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals - this is where the is a visual connection between the content of the video and the lyrics of the song. This portrayal can be presented through disconjuncture, illustration or amplication. 

There is frequent reference to notion of  voyeuristic treatment toward  the female body - this type of reference is usually used more commonly by female artists and often involves the hpersexualisation of the female form.

Inclusion of intertextual references to other films, TV programmes, music videos, etc - music videos often make reference to other media in subtle ways; they may choose parody other media or take a more pastiche approach to the references.

Through comparing my current knowledge of music videos to these features I would say that there is definitley some truth in Goodwin's theory but the ideas are also slightly out-dated. This theory was published in Goodwin's book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' in 1992 and the massive steps in technological advances that have been made since then, in terms of media, has had a huge impact on how music videos are created and viewed and has allowed artists to take more creative risks with the content they put out. As a result of this there is no longer a cookie cutter mould that all music videos conform to.