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.
