Music Video Research: Product Placement & Synergy

Product Placement is the act of placing real life products into fictional media texts. Product placement is commonly used in the most famous media pieces across the planet, the most famous of these is the countless brands of lager that are shown in James Bond films.

However, product placement is also found quite often in music videos. Examples of this are in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" which showcases different brands such as "Wonder" bread, the "Beats by Dr Dre" and "Miracle Whip".  The products she has chosen to place within the video have been carefully selected to show a representation of the artist and the type of brands in which she would wish to be connected with i.e. Diet Coke; a drink that is seen as being stereotypically for younger women etc.

As well as these examples, this music video also shows examples of synergy as it references other media texts. The video for "Telephone" pays homage to pieces of film by using the "Pussy Wagon" from Kill Bill and by copying the final scene from the film "Thelma and Louise", the female protagonists in each of these films are represented as being strong and independent which would suggest that she wants to be associated with such characters and films.

Synergy is the act of placing references to other media texts into a specific media text. For example, a music video could use a scene within it that is a direct reference to a film etc.

Music Video Research: Focus Group

 

Below I have shown the focus group that we carried out to gain ideas for how we should carry out our music video.

We collected together  a group of our target audience and pitched the ideas that we had for our music video to them and asked them to give us their feedback on the ideas they found that they would like the best and why they thought that way. We used this as a platform on which to build the main idea of our music video.

 

Music Video Research: Digipak Analysis

 

Below, I have shown the video of myself and my group analysing the digipak for David Guetta: Nothing but the Beat 2.0.

 

 

Music Video Research: Intertextuality

"Intertextuality is the shaping of a texts meaning by another text. Intertextual figures include: allusion, quotation, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche and parody."

Intertextuality can be used for numerous reasons. One way in which it can be used in music videos is in the way which shows the artists cultural standpoints. For example in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" music video, the Feminist film "Thelma and Louise" is strongly referenced in order to show that she is a strong and independent woman and feels strongly towards feminist vies.

Another way in which intertextuality can be used is in a way to make a mockery of other media texts. Artists sometimes create scenes which look similar to other music videos etc. within their own music video but change vital points within that scene to make a mockery of the original. For example, in "Energy" by Drake, there is a single scene in which he mocks Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" by creating a makeshift Miley Cyrus character which he as morphed with his own face.