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Other theories:

John Stewart’s
theory:
Another theory that compliments the ‘scientist’
promo is John Stewart’s theory and specifically the part which says “Music
promos allows more access to a performer than a stage performer does” and I
think that statement is definitely true, especially In Coldplay’s scientist;
the music promo (and any promo) lets the performer and the audience connect
together more emotionally as its more of a one to one basis especially in
‘scientist’ , as the song is already deeply emotional and hard hitting and as
the main artist looks towards the camera and then at the person watching the
video, giving the sense of closeness and a connection between the two, whereas
a stage performer is conveying their song to lots and lots of people in like an
arena and that one to one emotional connection is kind of lost and doesn’t
allow ‘access’ as much as it does when In a promo.

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Claude
Levi-Strauss - Binary opposition:
Binary opposition is
very evident in ‘scientist’. Binary opposition in this promo is shown as
something visual and it pretty clear to see; in every music promo the story
seems to always be in chronological order from start till end but instead of
chronological order the promo has the story going from the end in which the
main artist is sad and beaten up about the crash with his wife, then it goes to
where the crash happened and then to what caused the crash, all while singing
in chronological order (this in itself is binary opposition of  the visual story going backwards but the
singing going forward normally) but then the weird non-chronological end to
middle to start story line is complete binary opposite to that of normal
conventional promos such as the one seen in similar song ‘bitter sweet
symphony’ in what has the same walk and sing style but in the right
chronological order.

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Narrative theory:
Barthes theory of enigma codes and activation codes:

When it comes to the narrative in Coldplay’s
‘scientist enigma codes and activation codes are extremely evident. Firstly the
enigma codes (as the summary says above enigma codes are part of the narrative
that creates mystery and gets the audience asking questions) the enigma codes
in this promo are at the start, the first ones are: people will wonder why the
main artist is laying on an old mattress in the middle of a city, why is he
traveling backwards and singing in normal order, why is he looking so sad and
beaten up, and why is he singing about going back to the starts (start of
what?) (That kind of thing that has the audience asking questions). The
activation codes are also very evident (activation codes are those scenes or
actions that help the audience get their answers for the questions they were
thinking about after the enigma codes) when they come along in the promo they
are very evident; the main artist finds his way to the crashed car and gets in
and then the bomb drops (activation code) the body of his wife/girlfriend is
shown outside the car (this answering the previous enigma codes of why he is so
down and beaten up and why he was singing about going back to the start) but
this also brings more enigma code as the audience will wonder: how did they
crash and what was they cause? , this again then dealt with as the promo
carries on to show the activation code- serving to not his the truck and the
lady not having her seatbelt on when she too off her coat.

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Music promos contain soft-core pornography:

Like the adolescent male fantasy criticism I have to
disagree when it comes to ‘scientist’ as it isn’t the  type of genre of music that would contain
this kind of feature as it is a very emotionally deep and hard hitting thoughtful
song dealing with a big issue of death and not some rapping style song that
loves this imagery.

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Music promos contain elements such as; speed, power,
girls and wealth:
Another criticism that I disagree with when it
comes to ‘scientist’ as firstly the song is actually quite slow paced and
emotional so it isn’t speedy at all, secondly the only power the promo really
has is the powerful emotional story that is being portrayed, thirdly there is a
girl but she is shown normally and not in any sexual way but a family friendly
kind of way and lastly there is very little if any sign of high wealth as most
of the costume and props are quite scruffy and ‘normal’.

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Music promos contain adolescent male fantasies:

Again disagreeing with this statement as
‘scientist’ is not in the genre of music that would contain this kind of
feature, it is a very emotional and deep song to do with a death of a
girlfriend/wife, definitely not a promo that would have that kind of imagery.

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Music promos have decadence:
Again for when it comes to ‘scientist’ I have to
disagree with this criticism as decadence means very stylish and expensive
looking and I can’t really see how the promo looks very stylish or expensive (as
it is supposed to look quite gritty and sad as the song is very emotionally
deep and not happy in which there might have been more stylish or expensive
looking) the whole promo is quite dark looking in contrast and the actor looks
a little scruffy and sad (especially at the beginning of the promo when he is
seen lied down on the old mattress)

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Music promos are image and style scavengers:
Like the first point it is clear to see that ‘scientists’ does
adhere to this criticism as it does take the promo style of that of ‘bitter
sweet symphony’ and ‘kingdom of rust’ (walking towards the camera, but in fact
away from the camera in this case, while lip synching), also we can see aspects
from other genres being copied such as the costume as the start and middle on
the main artist ( blue jumper and jeans that are quite smart yet a little
scruffy and then in the middle he gets a black lever jacket) this seen in most
boyband clothing and singular male artists such as Gary Barlow.

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Music promos contain information overloads:
Like with the statement above again I have to disagree with
this statement when it comes to ‘scientist’ as the song isn’t ‘in your face’
with a lot of things happening at once, in fact it’s really only got one thing
happening , the main vocalist/artist singing towards the camera while walking
backwards away from the character. Also the tempo of the song itself is quite
slow and easy to follow whereas some songs are fast paced and hard to follow.

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Music promos have surface but not substance:
With this statement I have to disagree as we can see (in
‘scientist’) clearly that none of the characters, settings or props seen in the
promo are very flashy, eye catching and wealthy looking giving this
stereotypical ‘flashy’ look pop videos portray as the ‘normal’ but in fact does
have substance as it is a very emotionally involved song about a man who had
lost his wife and the sadness of life after that (the character seems sad and
down nearly all the time- not like the super happy characters seen in pop
videos) this helping the audience relate to the song and characters more.

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Comparing
‘scientists’ to Michael Shore’s criticisms:

Music promos have recycled styles:
With this statement it does actually relate to
this promo as it is clear to see it has taken inspiration from other songs such
as the ‘verves- Bitter sweet symphony’ and ‘kingdom of rust’ as the main
artist/vocalist is shown in a setting walking towards/away from the camera
(with eye contact most of the time) lip-synching as he walks also. (in the
scientists case the main vocalist is filmed walking backwards not forwards so
they have but an extra spin on the conventions gotten from the 2 example songs
‘bitter sweet symphony’ and ‘kingdom of rust’.

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Deconstruction of the music promo ‘Coldplay- scientists’ using
different theories (Michael shore’s criticisms, one narrative theory, binary
opposition and two other general theories)

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Laura Mulvey – Male gaze theory:

Another part of her male gaze theory suggests that women are
only portrayed as one of two possibilities. Either a virginal innocent
characters or a sexy ‘whore’ (sexual object).

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Sigmund Freud’s theory:

Voyeurism – refers to the notion that erotic
pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the
object is unaware of being watched) Many music videos use this notion – via
cameras, images within/ of images perspective of the viewer, CCTV, Views
through open doors, windows etc.

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John Stewart’s theory
1)The music video has the aesthetics of a TV
commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the
stars face.
2)Visual references comes from a range of sources,
most frequently cinema, and fashion and art photography.
3)‘Incorporating, raiding and reconstructing’ is
essentially the essence of intertextuality, using something with which the
audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new
meanings.
4)The video allows more access to the performer
than a stage performer can.
5)Mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to
emphasise an aspirational lifestyle.

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Steve Archer’s theory:
Suggests there needs to be a strong and coherent
relationship between the narrative and performance in music promos. Music
videos will cut between narrative and a performance of the song by the band. A
carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance or an
extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’
factor.

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Andrew Goodwin:
1)Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routines for girl and boyband
videos)
2)The demands of the record label will include the
use of a lot of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which
recur across their work (a visual style)
3)There is frequently reference to the notion of
looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc.) and particular voyeuristic
treatment of the female body.
4)There is often intertextual reference to films,
TV programmes and other music videos.

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Claude Levi-Strauss – Binary Opposition
Binary opposition: Constant creation of
conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution
of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or
conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack.

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Tzvetan Tordarov
Russian theorist, Tzvetan Tordarov suggests that
all narratives follow a three part structure. They begin with equilibrium,
where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that
equilibrium, and finally reach as resolution, when equilibrium is re-
established.

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Narrative theories:
Barthes enigma codes and activation codes:
When it comes to this theory, Barthes came up with the idea
that music promos contain enigma codes and activation codes: enigma codes
refers to any element of the video that is not explained and therefore, exists
as an enigma, raising questions that demand explanations, most media texts hold
back details in order to increase the effect of information. Activation codes
refers to plot events that imply further narrative action. For example, a story
character confronted an adversary and the reader wonders what the resolution of
this action will be. Suspense is created by action rather than by a reader’s
wish to have mysteries explained. It applies to any action that implies further
narrative action.

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Music promo
theories:

The first theory I will look into is one by Michael Shore
(1984) and his theory is one that criticises music promos and he suggests every
music promo involves these characteristics:

·music promos have recycled styles and
characteristics that are pulled from other genres from the past and present
(for example using similar clothing from a genre in another music video of a
different genres)

·music promos have surface but not substance
(music promos look good and eye catching but really don’t contain much
reward/satisfaction for the audience)

·music videos have information overloads (to many
things happening at once, so much so that the audience can’t get their heads
round it)
·Music videos are image and style scavengers
(similar to the first bullet point, it means certain music videos take images
and styles from one genre and use it for their own such as clothing)

·Music videos have decadence (Music videos have a
lot of style and look extremely expensive not only by the way they are produced
and edited but also with the Mise-en-scene inside the promo)

·Music videos contain adolescent male fantasies (they
contain aspirations of what an adolescent male would want such as money and the
‘perfect life’ that is normally depicted in most videos and also fantasies in
the female area (maybe following the Laura Mulvey- male gaze theory you will
hear about later)

·Music videos have these elements: speed, power,
girls and wealth

·Music videos have clichéd imagery (imagery that
is seen in most music promos, that has been taken/scavenged and used in another
video)

Music Videos contain soft core pornography
(imagery that could be classed as soft pornography such as naked women or men
in sexual ways)

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When it comes to different music promos there are always different theories that
have been made up from people many that complement the music industry and some
not so much (criticise it). In this document I will be running through a few of
the theories and give you a brief summary of them and then will use them to
deconstruct a music promo.