DW - Music Video Theory

“Music videos are simply a tool for promoting an artist”. With reference to a promotional campaign, how far do you agree with this statement?

I have chosen Biffy Clyro’s promotional campaign of the 2013 album ‘Opposites’, including the album cover, advertisement, and music video of the song “Opposite”. The genre of the band is alternative rock, and they have strong meta-narrative that runs through their work. The band - and Simon Neil especially - are shown to be weak and fragile, as he is beaten and killed in a lot of their videos, for example “Opposite” and “Biblical”. However, they are also shown to be a strong, powerful group, for example “Black Chandelier”. This is also connoted through the music, and their ability to write and perform a variety of songs; the softer having ‘weak’ music videos, and the harder having ‘powerful’ videos. Biffy Clyro’s promotional campaigns mainly focus around art and promotion, avoiding the soft porn category. All their recent music videos from the ‘Opposites’ album have a high use of CGI and special effects, and are shot very artistically to tell a strong narrative. Although they feature topless in a lot of subsidiary media, this is because of their band image when they play live, and not to draw in sales/views like female pop artists today.

Music videos can be defined in terms of genre of the track and the encoding of formulaic conventions, as described by Goodwin (Dancing in the Distraction Factory, 1992). Godwin discussed the relationship between lyrics and visuals. In relation to the ‘Opposite’ video it is clear that the music and visuals have an amplified relationship, as Simon Neil sings the song throughout most the video, and it also cuts to visuals that relate to the lyrics for example when he sings “I cant stop bleeding here”, it cuts to him laying on the ground bleeding, covered in shattered glass. Although this sounds quite illustrative, the video features a car and car crash which is unmentioned in the lyrics, hence the amplified, more creative approach. Goodwin also discussed the demands of the record label, which are very apparent in the video. There are a lot of close ups of Simon Neil, and on occasion close ups of the rest of the band. This positions the audience with the band, making them feel closer to them. There are also visual and aural motifs. The style of music and grain of voice are obviously very apparent to be Biffy Clyro, and there are also a lot of visual motifs, that are common throughout all the videos from the album, like the bright lights, but soft colouring. These portray the video as being conventional, however another feature Goodwin described was the notion of looking, voyeurism and fetishism. The video could be seen as unconventional in that the band (the only people featured in the video) do not break the fourth wall.

Deconstructing the signifiers constructed in the digipak and album cover enables audiences to evaluate the text in terms of representations. The linguistic signs are very limited, with the words “Biffy Clyro - Opposites” in the top left corner which could connote the diversity of songs on the double album, both hard and soft. The iconic signs are more important, as it shows a tree bent over, with glass bones hanging from the branches, and 3 birds of prey waiting in the top left. This juxtaposition of signs draws on social myths, endowing a desolate and isolated meaning into the album before it is aurally consumed. It takes use of the dominant reading path, positioning the writing in the top left of the page. It also uses the theory of white space, as although the back group is predominately sky blue, it uses a light/ark contrast between the background and foreground, drawing your eye to the tree and also further connoting isolation.

When looking at the advertisement, there are also signifiers that we can deconstruct to evaluate the text in terms of representations and ideologies. When analysing semiotics, the linguistic signs are the height chart and the black boards, connoting them being imprisoned for some reason. The iconic signs include they're beaten up faces, blood on their bodies, tattoos, and sinister smiles. All together, this juxtaposition of signs connotes the idea that they are in going to prison for some violence related incident. This reinforces the stereotype on youth of reckless behaviour, and enforces a dominant ideology on age. This shows their harder side, and reflects their more powerful music, in contrast to the album cover which promotes the idea of an opposite, but mainly an isolated, lonely feeling.

Biffy Clyro fall under the alternative rock genre, and are not typically represented in a voyeuristic or fetishistic way, instead they are depicted as a style within a narrative. This style varies between hard, powerful rockers, and weak, vulnerable people. Dyer’s theory on the star image revolves around two paradoxes, and describes how subsidiary media is used to construct the idea of a star, who is then used by the record label to promote sales. In the music video the band conform to both of Dyer’s paradoxes. Neil is shown to be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary, by going from walking down a path to floating in mid-air during a car crash. He is also shown to be simultaneously present and absent, as he is in frame for most the video, however he does not once break the fourth wall by looking into the camera. This causes them to seem incoherent, leading the audience to strive to complete their image by consuming their subsidiary media. The advertisement conforms to another part of dyers theory, and the deconstruction of star values. Biffy Clyro are shown to be youthful and sexual because of their topless bodies, and also angry rebells with a disregard for social values, due to the fact they are shown to be in prison. One important part of the advertisement is the connotation of them being locked away, and that they are guilty of something, and the cuts imply it is to do with violence. This causes incoherence, and the audience strives to find more about the album and their advert, by purchasing and consuming their subsidiary media, leading to continued consumption. Dyer’s theory and concept of the star image does not apply much to the album cover as the band are not present, therefore the paradox of being simultaneously present and absent is shattered. However, this in turn will cause an audience to consume the album as they may be intrigued to find out and complete the band image.

After deconstructing a promotional campaign using several theories, it is evident that at the end of each theory it returns to the idea of promotion and increased consumption, especially when looking at Dyer’s theory of the star image. It is evident that in popular music, the record label constructs an image and uses this to their advantage to achieve continuous consumption. For popular music, I agree that the music video and promotional campaign is a strong tool used to promote an artist. However when you look outside of mainstream popular music, and look into DIY/indie record labels, the music video can go from a promotional tool to an art form. In conclusion, I strongly agree with the statement for popular music and culture, however it diversifies the lower down the music industry you go.