Creating a brand

"Star Theory"

Stars as a construction:

Tulisa

Tulisa is a good example of a artist who has been shaped to be seen as more acceptable in society and with her music. Tulisa started off in a group where she was the only female, however as time has gone on the group have split up and Tulisa has continued as a solo artist. Her look has changed massively from being a chav to becoming more glamorous and being placed at number one for FHM's sexiest women. Her music has also altered from taking the back seat in N-Dubz to becoming a star known around the world who has featured in songs with well known artists like Tyga. Tulisa has been altered as an artist to be more appeal able to a wide mainstream audience and in some places be seen as a role model for young girls.

Stars as a product:

The Saturdays

The Saturdays are a good example of stars that have been made into products. The Saturdays were put together through a record label to fill a gap in the music industry due to the splitting up of Girls Aloud and the Spice Girls. The girl group was set up to appeal to a mainstream audience where they are now trying to break the US and become known around the world. However other girl groups will be created (e.g. Little Mix) and can put the Saturdays out of their Business if they continue to develop and expand as a band.

Stars as ideologies/cultures:

Beyonce

Beyonce is seen as an artist who has very strong beliefs and ideas as an individual. In many of her songs we see her talk about woman and being independent and strong minded. This is shown through nearly every album she has released over the years such as "Who run the world(girls)" and "single ladies" that emphasizes how strongly Beyonce feels about women being individuals and not relying on men with everyday tasks. Her ideas and beliefs are shown through the way she sings(e.g. her tone,lyrics) and her strong presence on stage(e.g. her dancing,body language)

Stars as personalities:
Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is a good example of an artist that is known mainly for their personality. Ed Sheeran is well known for his strong vocals and use and talent with instruments. He is a good example of an artist that will not change because of hes record label and all of his song choices are based purely on him as an artist. Even though hes style and brand is like an artist with a niche appeal, his talent and personality means that he has become mainstream and is very popular across the world. Ed Sheeran's role in the music industry is very real and he has done little to himself to make him seem more desirable as an artist (e.g. hasn't changed his appearance or his style) which makes him very individual and unique.

Style and Conventions of Music Videos

Performance




This video is a clear example of performance from the artist, here we see the singer at a variety of places around the world where he has performed he's concerts. This has a clear link with the title of the song as it is called "All around the world" and clearly shows and advertises the artists concerts. This is a good way for the artist to get publicity which will help get peoples attention and make the audience feel more involved with what he's concert is like if they cant make/afford one. Sometimes in this video you do not always see the artist performing and footage of the concert is shown which is seen as a bit different compared to some other videos that is pure performance from the one artist.

This style is a good way for the artist to get recognition for their music, as you can see the real talent of the artist and it means people are more likely to listen to their music if they can see them perform it. 

Narrative

In this video we see a idea of a short film incorporated with the music. We see the two artists who play two roles in the narrative which sometimes you don't see as the artist and actor are two separate people. However both artists play characters of two men who are losing their girlfriends in a natural disaster. This style is a good way as you can really set the mood of the music by making a back story with it which also helps to establish the genre. This style is good for the audience as it makes them feel more involved with the music as they are watching more than just a music video as it has a story behind it. 

Narrative would be a good style to use as you can really create a back story for an artist and it is easy to get the mood and genre of music across to the audience. 

Interpretative

In this video we literally see the artists using actions that signify the lyrics that we can hear in the song. This style is often used to make the song feel cheesy for the audience as it often makes them laugh at how literal the lyrics are. For example we see the men swinging their chain and throwing it over their shoulder as this is what the lyrics say. All of the men in the video also are wearing chains round their neck which further emphasises the lyrics in the song.

I probably wouldn't consider using this style as it can make a song seem cheesy even when you don't try to. This would also be harder to create as you have to be very obvious so that it matches the lyrics with the visuals.

Impressionist

This video is a good example of impressionism, the lyrics have no relation to what is going on visually but all of the visuals are cut to the beat and tempo of the music. The video keeps the audience intrigued as it is unusual and has no relevance to what is going on with the music and the lyrics.  The way all of the dancing and  the cuts fit with the beat and tempo of the music makes it interesting to watch as it isn't boring and matches the style and genre of dance. However this does go against what we normally see in a dance videos as it uses the idea of being sexual but turns it into comedy through the use of hairy costumes. This style is a good way for artists to be creative as they can simply throw anything together that fits the beat and mood and it will make it into a interesting yet entertaining video. 

This style is a good way for you to be able to have a lot of freedom with what you want to create, the difficulty with this would be finding a song with a noticeable beat that it can be edited and filmed to.

Surreal/Abstract

We see the singer who is seen as the "Earth" in this video, she performs to the lyrics throughout the song however we only see her head, this introduces the artist to the audience and the use of abstract helps set up what that artists genre of music is like. The back drop of ink flows with the pace of the music and the small dancers or "intruders" are seen at the bottom of the video where they dance to the same rhythm and beat in the music. This artist is more likely to use this style as it fits with the tone of her voice and the lyrics of her songs often fit the unusualness of the music video. 

This style is interesting to watch as the audience never really know what to expect throughout the video which makes it more exciting to watch. Abstract videos mean anything can be filmed where there is no real purpose to the video but it still fits to the beat of the song which means there is some relation between the music and the video.

Animation

In this video we see all animation apart from when we see a male performing and singing the exact words. We see in the animation that the main character is the main singer and this is when we also see the actual singer without the animation. Animation is a good way to create humour or to tell a story, this sometimes is good for artists that don't want to appear in their own music video. This is a good style for the audience to watch as it is different to seeing a typical narrative style, and you can also be very creative with what is shown 

I probably wouldn't use animation as it sometimes takes the seriousness away from a song and it doesn't always work with some genres of music. However some animation in a music video makes it look quite unusual and could be a good feature to have

Intertextuality

In this song by the Sugar babes we see referencing to the film love actually. Referencing is normally seen when a artist has made the soundtrack for a film and the music video includes snippets of the film. This helps promote both the artist and the film all in one go. This is good for the audience as it often emphasises the film as the song is normally related to the film or has a similar story. For example this song is a love song which is being used in a film that is revolved around romance, so this song works well together. 

This style would be hard to use as we don't have anything to reference to and the other styles in intertextuality are also hard to use as it can make songs seem cheesy which i don't want to happen even if i was to use a pop song