Summary of audience thereoist & theories

Richard Dyer: Summary of theory

Richard Dyer argues that there’s a difference between a ‘Pop Star’ and a ‘Pop Performer’. Pop performer is a person or people that may or may not be famous or have a celebrity status/image but performs music. Pop Star is where an image is constructed to an audience

·       Industry and audiences

Pop stars, in the industry are created, shaped and used to make money from the audience. This money is made from ownership parties e.g. record labels, management, representatives. An example would be shows such as ‘X factor’ or ‘American Idol’ where stars are re-created similarly to cater to the audiences. Market of audience may want something different in comparison to another market therefore an ownership party will need to ensure that they cater to all different audiences.

·       Ideology/Culture/Character/Personality

Pop stars have cultural attitudes that the audience may also share, this creates a sense of familiarity. An example of this would be Selena Gomez wearing the purity ring. Also pop stars have the power to start fashion trends such as Rihanna’s red hair. Pop Star supports hegemony.

Goodwins

Andrew Goodwin argues that they’re 5 key aspects of music videos:

·       Thought beats – Seeing the sound

·       Narrative and performance

·       The Star Image

·       Relation of visuals to Song

·       Technical Aspects of Music Video

Goodwin splits the thought beats stage into three steps.
First step is to focus on the structure of the song, for example the chorus.
Secondly, take into account the artist(s) voice of the song. The voice would be unique and used as a form of identification that can relate back to the star image.
Thirdly: the mode of the address. The narrative in the video can be interpreted as a story, leaving the artist to be the storyteller.

Goodwin describes the songs as not fully producing the full narrative, he argues that the audience tend to create their own idea of what’s being portrayed.  Goodwins says that the narrative and performance need to work together in order to keep the audience interested.

The star image is a very important in a music video as the star image is commonly portrayed through the music video. Star image has a very important part to play in the music video.

Relation of visual to song, there are three ways that music videos work to promote a song. The most common way is to illustrate is when the video uses images to portray the meaning of song. Amplify is when the illustrations are repeated constantly through the video, so that it is cemented into the audiences mind.

Technical Aspects is referring to the se of camera movement, angles, sounds, mise-en-scene, etc. This is essentially is the creation and maintenance of the music video.  The mise-en-scene enures the authentic look and make it look professional.