Music video Evaluation

                                Evaluation for Music Video Analysis

Process

The first step in my research I took was analysing music videos. I watched three videos, the first of which was ‘Tip Drill’ by ‘Nelly’; the second video I watched was ‘Lap Dance’ by ‘N.E.R.D’ and the third was ‘Windowlicker’ by ‘Aphex  Twin’. After watching all three videos I made lists of all the codes and conventions, which I could see throughout. I also made lists of the reoccurring themes I saw in all three. This part of my research was successful as I gained a clear insight into commonly used conventions and themes and how they use them to attract their target audience. The next step I took was looking at online sources for other people’s opinions on how women are sexually demeaned in RnB music videos. After looking at a few websites the best I found was a website that had fifty quotes from Naomi Wolfs book ‘The Beauty Myth’. From this website I managed to gain a good number of quotes that reinforced my argument I was making. If I was to do this part of research again I would look through more websites along with many forums as well to not only gain the opinions of writers or famous people but the general public themselves.

After I had done my online research I took to reading. I didn’t read that many books and mainly focussed upon two. I regret this decision because I did not read through enough books which means I got less information top back up my argument. If I were to go back I would go to the Coventry University Library like I did for my last essay so that I could get as much information as I can in one day.

My primary source of research was a focus group. We had six people sit down and watch all of the music videos we were focussing on. We played each video then asked questions and recorded the answers that were given. This proved effective because they were reinforcing the research we had already taken. If I were to do the focus group method again, I would have one focus group of females and one of males. This way I could get the opinion of both sexes to gain a deeper insight into what both opinions are on the demeaning of women in the videos. If I were to do primary research again I would also do the recorded reactions but also make surveys for the groups to fill in. This way I could get a lot more opinions as some people in the group didn’t have anything to say about the videos because they may have been uncomfortable talking about it. With the surveys this would give those people a chance to voice their opinion on paper and it would stop me from loosing out on some possibly good opinions.

Outcome

The result of my research techniques proved to be effective. This is shown in my essay as I have discovered some good theory from writers such as ‘Laura Mulvey’ and ‘Naomi Wolf’ into how women are sexually demeaned in RnB music videos. I have applied these theories into my own primary research to conclude that women are treated as sexual objects in the videos and how they are demeaning towards them. As I said if I had read more books by feminist writers on the subject then I would have had more resources to work with and to get more information on, and I will learn from these mistakes for future research projects. Also my procedures of note taking proved very effective. Whilst watching all three videos I took notes of the codes and conventions, which I picked up on throughout. From these I noticed very similar themes that run through all the videos such as a strong use of water such as pools or the ocean, expensive alcohol and half naked women to name a few. I discussed these themes in detail as to how they can encourage a younger audience to accept them as reality.     

Another really effective piece of my research was my primary sources. This was the results from a focus group we held to discuss the music videos. Again the outcome of the focus group proved effective due to there being a strong opinion on the videos, especially ‘Nelly’s’ ‘Tip Drill’. The strong opinions really helped reinforce my research, especially from the one girl in the group as she voiced her opinion the most out of the group. This showed me that women do have more of a voice than men over the sexist attitudes portrayed in the videos. As I said before if I was to do another focus group I would have one group of all females and one group of all males. This way I could get opinions from both sexes on how they think women are treated in the videos. I would also give out surveys to fill in as well as some people in the group did not speak at all so this way people could voice their opinions on paper.

To conclude I think that all of my research methods proved effective in my final essay. This is shown through the good amount of theories I applied to my own and also the way I used my own primary sources taken from the focus group to reinforce them. There are things that I have mentioned that I would change or that I would do more of and I will learn from these and use them in future research projects.