Star Persona

Star Persona

‘A star is an image, not a real person that is a constructed form range of materials’

-          Richard Oyer

 Media materials

·         Film

·         Reality TV

·         TV interviews

·         Magazines

·         Radio

·         Digi packs

·         Press – news papers

·         Internet – social networks.

‘Stars represent the cultural hegemonic ideal, either conforming or challenging’

-          Richard Oyer

‘Celebrity magazines are all about who the stars compare the ‘ideal’ and how we compare to the stars’.

-          Richard Oyer

‘Stars ideologies that are conveyed through media materials’

 (Examples of ideologies conveyed by stars are materialism, sexuality, rebellion and romance).

Example of a Star – Lady Gaga

Her USP is her controversial music and outrageous costumes and make-up.

The beliefs she tries to convey are of freedom, whether it is to an individual or freedom of sexuality (as she states she is bisexual herself and a gay icon) She set up the Born this way foundation where it helps young people who are bullied need self-confidence and look at developing a career. This helps with her persona as she is very different from other pop stars and wants to have freedom.

The publicity surrounding Lady Gaga is currently positive when concerning her star persona.  Her image of being outrageous (the famous Meet dress) which some people strongly detests plays up to her controversial image. The audience are very much divided to whether they like her not. As this is conflict it generates gossip in the press, giving Lady Gaga free advertisement in effect.  However in the future this may be a problem as Lady Gaga is always on the borderline she may offend a lot of people, even her own fans or people who are potential fans. For example, the single ‘Judas’ offended many christens. As a large portion of Americans are christens so she could be offending most of the public, as some see the song as blasphemes she could offend the unreligious public as well.

 

Goodwin's Points

Goodwin’s Points

Voyeurism – The audience are seeing the artist or people in the video without the person knowing.

Selling the artist- Where the artist or the lead singer gets the most screen time in the video.

Lyrics/Visuals- Where the lyrics correspond with the images.

Music/Visuals – Where the music corresponds the visuals, such as when the video image cuts on the beat.

Intertextuality- Where the band, or artist, is featured in the video to promote a product which appeals to their audience.

Genre- the mise-en-scene matches the genre of the music. This means the clothing, hair, make-up and setting fall into the category suited to the artist or band’s music style.

Example- Oasis, ‘Wonderwall’

Genre- Costume and hair plays to the classic Britpop music (the hair almost homage to ‘The Beatles’ hair cut). It is also notable that they show all the band playing, not just the lead singer.

Voyeurism – At the beginning of the video, the camera zooms in on someone picking up a guitar who we can assume to be Noel Gallagher, the guitarist, unaware that the audience can see him.

Music/Visuals – The editing gets quicker toward the end of the song and they are seen playing the music on their instruments. This is similar to lip syncing which is also present in this video.

Intertextuality- There isn’t really any product placement however they do show guitars which are branded. Oases, a Britpop band, are aiming at the music loving audience hence the focus on instruments. It also can be perceived as cooler image to have rather than selling products like an advert.

Selling the artist- We can see that the lead singer gets the most screen time (mostly lip syncing) however as Oasis are a band we do see shots of the other members playing their instruments.  

Analysing Pop ballads music videos

Analysing Pop ballads music videos

Definition of music video – A videotape performance of a recorded popular song, usually accompanied by dancing and visual images which interrupting the lyrics.

Pop ballads

Beyoncé – Halo

Mise-en-scene – The lighting of this video corresponds with the title and the lyrics of the piece. Light is very bright almost a white colour which is supposed to represent heaven where angels come from, hence the link with the title ‘Halo’. The costumes that Beyoncé wears are simple as not distract from the song but still stylish. It is trying to give of the impression of a perfect everyday life which links with the narrative of the song itself.  In the climax of the song (the middle eight) we see the artist in a white, very expensive dress. This is suggesting that she is like an angel which goes with the theme of the song and will appeal to fans who like how naturally pretty she is. The make-up is very natural to reinforce this idea of natural beauty and to go with the idea that it is everyday life.

Editing - The transitions for most of the video have fade, to make it appear softer however toward the end there are more jump cuts to appear more dramatic. There is parallel editing between her lip syncing and clips of her with a man. We can assume by the domestic things that they are doing that it is flashback, which are looked on fondly as they are very happy. 

Cinematography- Most of the camera shots consist of close ups as Beyoncé is a global pop star and they want the audience to be aware that it is her video as people more likely stay and watch because of her.  The close ups also give a feeling that it is more personal as we can see the expressions clearly.

Special effects -There are not that many special effects because it is a very simple video. However, there is use of slow motion in water to show the dress flow. This is probably very conventional in ballads to show more drama. Subsequently this part is show at the climax of the song and going into the last chorus.
 

Adele- Someone like you

Cinematography – A tracking shot is used to match the pace as she is walking. It doesn’t move away from the artist face, this is similar Beyoncé as Adele is also a global star, and the fans want to see her as much as possible. It is also a ballad so it is an emotive song.

Editing – There is purposely not that much editing in this video because it stays on the artist although when it gets to the last chorus it cuts to a bar with a man’s silhouette over a projection of Adele’s face. The fact that the man is faceless doesn’t give him a personality which makes the audience sympathise with the artist as we can see her sorrowful expression on the projector.  This is different to ‘Halo’ as this song is about a regretful break up.  ‘Halo’ on the other hand, shows the man’s face because the couple are happily together.

Mise- en-scene – There is a black and white filter out on the footage to recreate the feel of old noir films. This gives the audience the kind of melancholic mood that matches the song. The setting is the cityscape, by a bridge and river. We can assume it is London because that is where Adele grew up.   Being in a city gives it a modern and stylish appearance which is can appeal to all ages.  The hair and make-up is pretty much the same as she is in all her videos and appearances she makes in the media because then it makes her instantly recognisable. Adele isn’t really one of the pop stars renowned for her dress style; she is sold on her singing talent.

Special effects – There are not that many special effects because they do not want to distract and intruded on the melancholic tone of the video. There is one subtle effect as there is a filter placed on some shots to give the appearance of an old movie.

Convention in female artists’ Pop ballads

-Slow motion, a special effect used at the climax to make more emotive.

- Close ups of the artist lip syncing to advertise the artist and show more dram and emotion from their facial expression.

- Flash backs to tell a story.

- No flashy lighting or dancing as it matches the downbeat and slow tempo ballad. It wants to focus more on the artist singing ability and create a more dramatic atmosphere.

- Muted or black and white colours, to again suit the sombre mood of the video or to be more realistic as ballads are meant to relate to the audience.

Characters appearance

I think that the clothing for our artist should be a simple dress something you would wear casually because the song is generally simple characterized, and when we would get to the shot were she goes into her “dream”, the clothing could be changed into a rich dress or even a costume. The simple dress or casual wear would probably be matched with the coloring of the mood or the setting of the scene. For example if the mood is sad the clothes would probably be consists of mainly dark colors. As for the rich dress, it would be probably to have a dress with bright colors that would match with the background of the shot for example white to match with the clouds? I feel that we could really change the mood of the scene just by changing what the character is wearing and also how the audience perceives them.

Promo Package

Some existing promo packages.

All of the photographs link with colours to create the feel for the CD. We like how there are a close-up and a mid shot of the artist but with minor details as well (roses). We also like how the setting is matched her look, her selling point.

Both of the photographs are of the similar artist however both of them are different albums and are matched similarly but also differently. For example notice the name of the first of her albums "Lights" and the photograph itself is colored, also the background is a little bit blurred out from the artist, we like this because the artist is really standing out and also how she is looking away gives an indication of bright future, but the song "lights" lyrics are about abuse. The second photograph is similar photograph to the first one except its black and white and the shot of the artist is different. In the photograph it seems like the artist is looking at us but it's not completely obvious, the shot is matched with the song "starry eyed" which gives the implication of the artist looking at us in "non direct" way. We like this photograph because it represents the artist "starry eyed" it is conventional to the song lyrics.

Another promo package photograph of Cheryl Cole being on the front cover of a magazine. In the picture the artist is represented in the usual way we would expect a pop genre artist to be represented. The artist is dressed in the "pop fashion" bright and revealing clothes making her sexy appealing to both men and women. Also the artist is looking directly at us in the photograph which makes us want to look at her. We like this poster because the artist is represented in a "happy setting" which is quite bright and is sort of role model to us what the real pop star should look like. 

Here is an example of Ellie Gouldings 'Lights' album/digipack. It is very simple using black and gold very rick colours but uses the lighting to make it stand out and we like how it links to the name of the album. It appeals to a young audience with the modern effect with the lights edited on.

'Thinking Straight'

This is what I meant by the line moving to the beat representing 'thinking straight' obviously taking straight literally. Not only this but i like the use of colour as well and how it makes the artist stand out.

Inspiration

I like the use of colours at 0.38. The attention is still on Beyonce but the colours bring out the music. Its fun and i like how the use of colour links the whole video together and makes something quite interesting when otherwise it wouldve been repeated. I also like how the use split screen to almost represent two people or conflicting personalities. I like how well lit beyonce is at 1.12, it really brings the colour out but makes her powerful against a dull background.