Case Study on Madonna - Material Girl

As Part of my Research into codes and convention used/portrayed in music videos, I have conducted a case study of Madonna's 'Material Girl'. I have embedded a video of 'Material Girl' below which can be viewed. 

Case Study

Madonna states the time that this music video was recorded was how she was feeling at the time. The narrative of 'Material Girl' is simple as the song is about a lady who is inspired by materialistic things such as cars, money and jewelry. This is shown in the as the men who 'lust' for her in the video are constantly giving her jewelry, flashing money and driving her around in expensive and prestigious cars. Madonna has copied some of the uses of 'Mise En Scene' as Marilyn Monroe who used the same setting and clothing in 'Diamonds are a girl's bestfriend'. Possible reasons for using similar characteristics of Marilyn Monroe's video are that Marinlyn Monroe was a well known Hollywood star and she took pride in her material possessions. 

The music video of Material Girl is both Narrative and Performance based. 

• It is Performance based as the costumes, setting, and in general Mise En Scene stands out. Also the characters throughout the music video are very dramatic and this can be seen from their actions and dancing throughout.
• It is Narrative based as the lyrics of the song dictate her love for materialistic possessions and this is shown in the performance side of the video.

Star Image is represented through the costumes worn, as speculated a 'Material Girl' is likely to be proud of her possessions and the costumes worn throughout the video by the characters as well as Madonna are likely to be designer clothes. Madonna is seen wearing expensive and sparkling jewlry which contributes to her 'Star Image' as it makes her the centre of attention as her costume is unique and very difficult not to notice. Another thing that adds to this is the fact that the extra characters are wearing black suits whilst Madonna is wearing a bright red costume which stands out, yet again making her centre of attention. The heavy use of jewelry defines the title 'Material Girl' as the jewelry is materialistic hence the title. However, the costumes are not the only thing that contributes to Madonna's Star Image. The use of the Ferrari Mondial QV makes her look prestigious as the car itself is a rare, expensive and prestigious car to have and in one of the scenes in the video she is seen being driven around in this car. The fact that she is being driven around yet again portrays her to be a star as its as if she has her own 'chaffeur'. 

Madonna has used the technique/convention of 'Intertextuality' by using the same setting, costume and storyline of Marilyn Monroe's 'Diamonds are a girl's bestfriend' (as mentioned earlier). Intertextuality is the reference of a text to another text. Some may say that 'Material Girl' is a tribute to the late Marinlyn Monroe as the storyline references Marilyn Monroe is many ways such as her being a materialistic Hollywood Star. Examples of Interetextuality include the background (red) throughout the first scene and the costume which Madonna is wearing. 

Marilyn Monroe's 'Diamonds are a girl's bestfriend'

Madonna's 'Material Girl'

There is use of 'Voyeurism' in Madonna's Material Girl at the start of the video where the two characters are talking in the cinema and Madonna is onscreen performing. Another scene that includes voyeurism is the scene where Madonna is seen in the changing room talking on the phone. The addition of this convention makes the audience feel as if they are seeing everything in first person, this gives the audience the feeling that they are involved in the music video and they are seeing everything themselves. However it also makes the audience feel as if they are seeing/hearing things they shouldn't, as the phonecall should be private and in this sense the audience feel as if they are intruding and invading her privacy.

To conclude, Material Girl is a great video in the sense that it uses many of the conventions listed above in a way that makes the audience notice Madonna as a 'Material Girl'. As mentioned earlier, this video was recorded based on how she was feeling at the time, the composition of this video is brilliant in the aspect that it expresses her feelings and her state of mind and at the same time tributes another star, the late Marinlyn Monroe.

Star Image Analysis of Madonna - Material Girl

In today's lesson, we watched the music video of Madonna's 'Material Girl' and analysed different conventions used in the music video. The analysis I conducted was on 'Star Image', the anaylsis can be seen/read below on the Powerpoint Presentation.

Star image from mahesh-101

Close Textual Analysis of NWA - Straight Outta Compton

As part of my media coursework, my teacher set me a task in which I had to pick a video from 'NME's Top 100 Music Vidoes' and talk about the codes and conventions used in the music video. I decided to choose NWA's 'Straight Outta Compton', this video was number 31 on NME's Top 100 videos. Using Adobe Premiere Elements 10, I added a 'Voice Over' which in other words means I narrated the codes and conventions used in this music video Please note the sound quality is poor due to the mic used to record.
It can be viewed below:

What is Genre?

Today in Media, we looked at 'Genre'. Genre refers to a category, and in music terms Genre can be identified through the characteristics of the song and/or music video.

Are the texts defined by Genres?

Yes, I feel that all texts are defined by Genres as each of the texts are differentiated from each other. For example, three types of genre that are differentiated are Thriller, Comedy and Action. However, although these genres may be differentiated, a text may include elements of some or all of the different genres.

Also, texts such as music are defined by Genre. Examples of music genres include Rap, Hip-Hop, Garage, House and R'n'B. Every music text is differentiated by genre and this can be defined through the instruments used in the instrumental, the flow of the artist's lyrics and the context of the lyrics. For example, Rap lyrics tend to tell a story, therefore the lyrics will be in chronological order and the artist will have either a fast or slow flow. An example of this can be viewed below:

Do texts use Genres?

Yes, texts such as Music and Films. In order for these Genres to be differentiated, these texts use genres so that different audiences can watch/listen to different texts. The use of Genre in texts helps to provide a meaning to the text which can attract different types of audiences. Examples of different genres used in texts can be viewed below:

This text uses Genre to differentiate itself from other texts. From analysing the characteristics of this text, this text can be identified as Rap. The flow of the lyrics is common in Rap, this video is both Performance and Narrative based.



What is the Purpose of Genre?

The purpose of Genre is to differentiate different texts and to also provide a meaning to a text. The use of different Genres helps to attract different target audiences. Genres are described to be 'dynamic' in the sense that the boundaries are constantly changing due to the different types of genre.

Defining what Genre my Opening Sequence is

Last year during my AS year, one of the pieces of coursework we had to complete was to produce our own Opening Sequence. Through the use of certain characteristics, we defined our opening sequence as 'Thriller'. The conventions we used were common Thriller conventions such as the filming effect 'Film Noir' which creates a tense atmosphere through the visuals of the filming. Other conventions that helped us to define what genre our opening sequence is were the location used throughout the filming, we decided to choose a deserted location as this is also a common thriller convention as the use of this helps to create a sense of mystery.

Analysis of 'Will Smith - Summertime'

As part of my research on music videos, I have picked the video of 'Summertime' by artists Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff. This song is of the rap genre, I have written down my anaylsis of this video which talks about the codes and conventions used and their representation of the genre.

At the start of the video, the use of the 'Disk Scratch' (usually conducted by a DJ) effect gives away the genre as this effect is predominantly used in 'Rap' music. The smooth flow of the artist's lyrics is also a giveaway as the narrative of the lyrics is similar to that of all Rap lyrics. The lyrics narrate the day to day activites the community take part in during the season of Summer in Philadelphia, the use of this technique is known to be very common in Rap music as Rap artists 'rap' a certain story through their lyrics. The use of the location/setting in this video is also a characteristic of the genre as the artists are representing where they come from, this is also very common in rap videos.

Throughout this song, the relationship between the lyrics and visuals can be seen as the lyrics of the video are narrating a happy and joyfull time for the artists and the visuals are linked to this as the lighting is natural. The use of the natural lighting helps to represent the characters' moods as the Summer day represents the joyfull and happy mood that the characters are feeling at the time. At certain intervals in the video (the beginning and end to be specific), there is a split screen effect which splits the artists' bodies in half which in a way is quite funny as one half of their body moves quicker than the other. This in turn brings comedy into the video, again representing humour and joy.

The two camera shots used throughout the video are 'Close Ups' and 'Medium Shots'. Close ups of the artists are a common camera shot used throughout the video, there are several Close Up shots of the two artists as they travel through Philadelphia and whilst they are rapping. This is a common technique used in rap videos, the artists are shown to be the main part of the music video. However, there are medium shots of the extra characters used in the music video whilst they are dancing/performing.

Throughout this video, there are no intertextual references.

Overall, this video is both Performance and Narrative based. This however is not a common technique in rap videos, as rap videos tend to mostly be Narrative based. Therefore it is debateable as to whether this song is part Hip Hop as Hip Hop videos are based on Performance as well as Narrative.

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos

As part of my coursework, I have looked at a series of music videos which consist of different genres to anaylse the codes and conventions used in them. 

From my research, different genres of music have different codes and conventions for their music videos. The first genre I looked at was 'Rap' music, I looked at Rap artist's such as Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, G-Unit, 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Nas, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. From analysing their music videos, I have learnt that in each of these artists' videos, the artist will use the 'hood' (town/place where artist is from) as the setting in each of their videos. 

Below, I have uploaded a video of myself and a friend talking about the codes and conventions of music videos in more detail.