Maffesoli's 'Urban Tribe'

According to Maffesoli 'Urban Tribes' are micro groups of people who share common interests in urban areas. These small groups of people tend to have similar views on the world, dress sense and behaviour patterns. They also share a common interest in urban areas.

An example of Urban Tribes is 'Indie Scenesters' as shown below. These are famous for wanting to get the new music before it becomes popular and this becomes their life. Being in the leading edge group this is a very influential group right now and are affecting our cultural choices and are those types of people who want to get involved whether that be through music or another form of media.

The whole idea of personal classification into 5 main groups then splitting into sub-groups has been used by many producers to target a particular audiences taste and readings of media.

Main Groups:

• Mainstream
• alternative
• Leading edge
• Urban
• Aspirant

Sub-Group examples:

• Chavs
• Boy Racers
• Nerds
• Skaters
• Hipsters (the list goes on...)

I would think myself as a 'Boy Racer' because my life revolves around my car and everything to do with cars. Modding, Red-lining and bursting ear drums. As a boy racer I'm highly influenced with my attraction to Dubstep and electronic music. The whole culture is brought about over a love of cars and speed, its almost like a private club for fast car owners and yet is similar to that of a gang such as chavs or townies. This group isn't very apparent within society and yet people who follow this tribe are either loved or loathed by people outside of the group.

Different groups incorporate music in different ways. For 'Boy Racers' we tend to listen to our music through our cars either on a CD or through our USB sticks in our stereos. The louder the music the better and therefore it isn't necessarily the tune that is the centre of attention but where the sound is coming from i.e. the massive sub-woofer. 

Different music genres are linked to Urban Tribes and this is normally recognised within society. For example the 'Chavs' - Council house and are known for wearing tracksuits and consuming lots of alcohol. They would listen to rap/grime music. You will normally see them consuming this media by playing the music out loud on their mobile phones or loud while driving around in their cars. For example "Bassline Junkie" is a song by British rapper Dizzee Rascal the artist in the video represent the same 'Urban Tribe' by holding large speakers and rapping about the drugs culture in Britain.

An example of another Urban Tribe is the Metal Heads. Similar to Punks but a lot darker and violent in their manner. They are known for dressing mainly in black leather and Doc Martin boots and wearing lots of silver metal on their clothes.They would listen to heavy metal rock bands like Slipknot.Consuming their favourite music would probably be through using their headphones or at a Concert. A song associated with them would be "Psychosocial" which is a song by American metal band Slipknot and incorporates lots of guitar, screaming and pounding metal sounds. 

Another Urban Tribe is that of Goths, whom have traits within their very nature to act similar to eachother in that they have obsessions over death, violence and depressive moods and also an interest in Old Victorian attire and literature. They are very much associated with dark hair, dark make-up and dark clothes, usually with some kind of symbolic looking artefact either on their clothes or as an accessory. Tending to wear a lot of lace and victorian style attire. Often listenign to very dark music where it can either be high tempo such as screamo or a very slow and suicidal themed song in which usually involves death or something similar. Marilyn Manson is a big influence to this group and also an influence in fashion as well as music taste.

Stuart Hall's Audience Response Theory

Stuart Hall's Reception Theory says that media texts are encoded by the producer, meaning that there is lots of hidden messages that the producer has deliberately decided to incorporate into their work. However the text is then decoded by an audience and they will see the piece of media in a different way, not necessarily in the intended way it was meant to be seen.

According to Stuart Hall their are three different ways the audience will decode a text.

• Preferred Reading - How the producer wants the audience to view the media text.
• Oppositional Reading - When the audience thinks the opposite of the preferred reading and creates their own meaning of the text.
• Negotiated Reading - A middle ground between the two readings in which the audience accepts the producer's views, but incorporates their own views on parts as well.

He says that there are lots of different reasons why an audience will see a text differently and it is up to the producer to target the right people if they wish to gain one of these readings either for publicity or the fact they create an enjoyable piece of media. The different reasons could be because of age, culture, gender and even the mood in which the audience are in the time of watching the clip.

Steve Neale's Music Video Theory

Steve Neale's theory on genre. He believes that genres are instances of repition and difference, but difference is critical because repition would not create a large audience. He believes that the tradition in music videos are heterosexual. He says that females are only the subjects that can be viewed erotically and that women are often viewed as the erotic figure. Steve Neale also states that males have been viewed as more of a sexual icon since the 1980s both in film and music videos. However Neale says this is down to the genre and even saying that it is women who tend to have less clothes on than men in music videos to portray their sexual nature.

Music Video Comparison - Alternative Rock Genre

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that came about from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s. Most commonly associated with distorted guitar sound, transgressive lyrics and nonchalant attitude. It's main descendant is from punk rock being this "out-there" style of rock.

Demons By Imagine Dragons

I really enjoyed this music video as it is so different from many other music videos created. It was designed to be a powerful thought provoking video of the stories of people who have suffered and the song is their relief from this suffering. The video released in May 2013 was dedicated to a young lad called Tyler who was fighting cancer at the time. It portrays multiple stories of the members of the crowd at a gig listening to the song, it shows how personal the song is to every individual and how it means something for everyone. The use close ups on the crowd members then to the flashbacks of their lives during each verse a new crowd member is shown which shows how widespread the message the song is portraying is.

The use of a crowd at a gig and the band all playing is classic of the rock genre and shows exactly what the bands genre is; and yet the song being so different changes the genre to that of an indie-rock as the normal genre conventions are too different to be just of the rock genre.

Not necessarily the beats of the music but the lyrics themselves are in time with when the shots change and it shows how the lyrics relate to whats being shown. For example the lyrics "I can't escape this now" is in the flashback of the soldier where he can't escape the moment and he must fight on and yet as the lyric finishes he is stood back in the audience as though the song has let him escape from the situation. 

I feel like a music video like this touches everyones heart. With making it personal and generic at the same time by choosing certain members of the crowds stories and situation it allows the audience to become personally affected by the lyrics as well as what is happening. It creates a powerful message which with the final scene of the lead singer looking into the camera emphasises the connection to the audience as though he is looking into you.

Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon

The video released in October 2009 was a big success with record sells for the alternative rock genre, I really like this video and song as it is different from many songs released at the time. It became really iconic of alternative rock at the time. 

The story follows that of the lead singer as he tries to deal with mental visions as he begins to wake from what looks like a nightmare. So when the music begins he is led down as it says in the lyrics "here where your laying" as though he is the person he is talking about. Whilst the guitar follows the transitions of shots and the drum beat follows the guitar so unlike most music videos it doesn't follow the beat but that of the change of guitar.

The use of many band shots and focus on the band members makes this video iconically rock based and this leads to an audience knowing that the genre is rock and yet the difference from the original genre conventions and how the song sounds leads to it being a alternative rock and this leads to the music video being changed in many ways and doesn't mean the video has to lead by any specific conventions.

The location of both the story and the live performance of the band is in the same place and this leads to a connection between the band and the song for the audience as the lyrics relate to whats happening in the story of this nightmare possessing him and the music is obviously played by the band but this being in the same place is as the the characters in the story are reacting to the song being played by the band. The similar lighting makes the connection obvious. 

Biblical By Biffy Clyro

This music video was released in March 2013. The song itself is a story of how the two sides of a person can always lead to destruction of himself. As he replays he life over and over again the same moment he still comes to the last conclusion of getting beaten up even though the first time he was being a rebel and breaking things then he was the caring person giving money to the receptionist etc. This is why the song was called biblical as though it is the two sides of Jesus, The disruptive rebel king who dissed authority and then the healing Jesus who gave money to the poor; either way he still got crucified. Such are the lyrics "baby if you could would you go back to the start".

There isn't any portrayal of the band itself and this means that it isn't obvious as part of the rock genre just by looking at the music video except the use of the chorus coming in with relation to what is happening in the music video such as when he rips open the curtains and the moment where he smashes the window are all in time with the chorus and the drumbeat so the audience automatically relates this to the video.

Analysed Music Video

I will be analysing a music video based on Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos, from his book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (1992). He identifies a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form:

-There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics)

-There is a relationship between the music and the visuals (again visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the music)

 -Particular genres may have their own music video style and iconography

-There will be a demand on the part of the record company for a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist.

-There is likely to be reference to voyeurism including systems of looking (screens within screens,binoculars,cameras etc.)

-There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts.

I have looked at the music video Counting Stars by OneRepublic (C) 2013 and compared the music video in terms of Andrew Goodwin's theories on music videos.

The music video being of an indie/rock genre won't completely compare with the theories of Goodwin as they are usually out of the norm of other genres. For example the narrative itself doesn't follow the lyrics themselves except the actions of the characters do follow the beat of the music by stamping there feet and clapping at the same beat of the music. Ryan Tedder the lead singer's dance moves during the video relates to the lyrics as well, where it says "I feel the love and I feel it burn, down this river every time", he makes the action of a running river towards the camera.

The band members themselves are a key focus during the music video being a separate narrative to the storyline. Especially when the main acoustic part is played the guitarist himself is important in a number of closeups and panning shots.

There aren't many signs of voyeurism within this music video as this is usually associated with a pop genre whom tend to portray stereotypical visuals and compare better to Goodwin's theory than the indie genre. However the clothing they are wearing is a typical aspect of their genre which has replaced voyeurism which is instead typical to the pop culture. With bracelets and chains and grunge clothing they are of an obvious genre matched up with their instruments.

Many of the camera shots are similar to other music videos of OneRepublic especially that of when Ryan Tedder is sat on his own in an abandoned room singer the lyrics of the song. The pose is used in many of their music videos such as Stop and Stare (C) 2008 

Researching the Theorists

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

The visual aspects of the music video either amplifies, illustrates or contradicts the lyrics of said music video.

Each genre often has their own music style for the audience to remember and relate to the music also known as iconography. An example of this is certain types of clothes the characters in the music video are wearing, such as a rock band would wear clothes associating to their genre.

The singer/band sometimes design their own identity through iconography such as LMFAO with the introduction of box man whom appears in all their music videos. So an audience will see this and instantly be able to relate to that genre and artist.

The use of shots to create important objects/people for certain symbolism and Goodwin believed this was important to a good music video and the use of close ups in particular should be used.

The Concept of Voyeurism 

Voyeurism is the act of watching people with/without their knowledge. Its usually shown in music videos with intimate behaviour, undressing or sexual activity.

Carol Vernallis Theory

The theory focuses on the 4 main concepts that gives an account to the way a music video is constructed. This consists of: camera, movement and framing, diegesis, editing and narrative.

She states for camera movement and framing that extreme shots are the most common to use. The style of framing and movement can constantly run through and the video is distinctive to that video. The motion of the camera might be in time with the music and also with the lyrics.

She says diegesis may be revealed quite slowly. Actions are not necessarily finished. The motion of character or object might be in time with the music. Some of the frames may be more important to the audience than others in understanding of the narrative or events. There may be lots of repetition to highlight specific important ideas or key events.

She explains that the narrative of a video is a visual response to the music. There is not really a balance between narrative and performance. The narrative may not always be complete and an audience led to fill in the gaps of the unknown. More often than not it is the music which pushes the narrative forward and there may not be a noticeable closure because of this and the music itself may look for answers or pose questions for the audience and this leads to a disjointed narrative within the video.