How A Star’s Image Develops Over Time Through Music Video – Britney Vs Bjork

Britney Spears first appeared in the pop music scene with her first single “Baby One More Time” released at the end of 1998 and instantly became an international success. She is viewed as a role model for the teen market, her persona is identified within an artificial pop mainstream.
She started out with her school girl innocent look with pig tails and shown through a soft focus lens. It used the stereotypical school settings. Her look was much more athletic than sexual but still followed an artificial look.
Her early look was then backed up in “You Drive Me Crazy” in 1999 which helped portray her as a star by having a group of dancer-friends to help make her look popular.
By 2000 in her video for “Oops I Did It Again” her image had begun to develop as she had grown older, we see commodification as she becomes more of a product for men. There are also examples of feminine touch as she touches her face and body, and lies on the floor in a voyeuristic way.
We see an example of meta-narrative of her career when she hits back at the tabloids with her hit “Overprotected” in 2001, her she appears as a much more assertive character. We see more sultry pouts and sexual assertiveness in the video showing she has grown up and is now a woman. This is also represented by the use of close-ups and disambiguation, this is also one of the first times we see Britney not in a costume of some sort; with her staring as a school girl, waitress and devil in previous videos.
In 2002 Britney attempted to widen her appeal and took on a different look with “I Love Rock And Roll” in 2002 we see her seducing the camera with her crawling on the floor, an example of a ritual of subordination. This video is all performance based which is different from most of Britney’s previous videos.
By 2004, in the music video “Toxic” we see soft porn-like conventions and titillating costumes. We see her dominate over men by controlling them with her sexuality, she is a femme fatale.
However Bjork is presented in a very different manner. She is shown as a strange little pixie girl under a controversial light. She is used to sum up Scandinavian eccentricity. She is seen as a creative roll model and uses post-modern techniques in her videos, conveying the image of her niche music.
In the video for her song “Human Behaviour” in 1993 directed by Michael Gondry, whose work echo’s work within a world of folk and fairy tale, subverting traditional ideologies, we see the role of animals and humans swapped round. It uses the narrative of a fairly tale but subverts it, she is seen as an almost quirky fairy, and has a very natural look.
Her video released over 10 years late in 2005 “Triumph Of The Heart” directed by Spike Jones crams in as many intertextual Bjork-based references. It uses another fairy tale like setting and shows Bjork as a feminist revisionary. We see people in the bar help to improve her star image much like with Britney, this gives her recognition as being a popular artist.
We can see the vast contrast between both stars and how the wish to be portrayed throughout their meta-narrative of their careers.

Britney / Bjork Case Study

Britney Spears is one of the most influential teen turned female popstars in the world of ‘pop music’ today and is the type of star that we (as the audience) have begun to expect in todays music market. Britney’s aesthetics and attraction is a main part of her selling point, attracting both men and women of varying ages.

Bjork is a less popular type of star, being famous for not conforming with the world of music, creating her own genre, moving away from popular culture.
Eccentricity is the main attraction with Bjork and the main feature of her music and videos (which are a key part in her image) is to shock the audience and introduce them to something they haven’t seen before, giving them an alternative from the likes of Britney.

Britney’s musical career started when she was just 16 (although she had been involved with Disney since a very young age) and so through this her image started with that of a normal teen girl in American high school. This can be seen in her original video ‘One More Time’ (1998) where she is a school girl dreaming of a life that holds more adventure than the norm.
Despite the young age that she is at the time her sexual appeal is clearly defined within this first film and plays a role throughout with her objectification appealing to the heterosexual male audience whilst her age and type of music appeals to the young teen girls of the time, with whom she has become some what of an idol, particularly with the reflection of life she has shown throughout her songs and videos, showing how she can relate to the audience and her feelings are not that indifferent to their own.
Her changes in person can be reflected with her songs and their subsequent videos, “Oops I Did It Again” (2000) shows her in a dominant femme fatal position, with Britney in control, toying with human emotion and love. This begins to show the less innocent side that Britney has and wants to allow people to see she has.
“Over Protected” (2001) is a song that depicts Britney’s move from teenage girl into womanhood, this is something that the audience can relate to and plays upon the relationship she has with the audience and involving them within her personal life.
Commodification is apparent throughout Britney’s music videos particularly in “Oops..”
in which Britney is shown as a product that sells through her sexual appeal.

Bjork first came to prominence as one of the lead vocalists of the avant-pop Icelandic sextet the Sugarcubes, but when she launched a solo career after the group's 1992 demise, she quickly eclipsed her old band's popularity. Instead of following in the Sugarcubes' arty guitar rock pretensions, Björk immersed herself in dance and club culture her first solo single not only established her new artistic direction, but it became an international hit, making her one of the nineties most unlikely stars.
Bjork became the symbol of postmodernism within the music of the nineties and her difference from the popular norm was unique, attracting the new type of postmodern listeners.

Björk struck up a working relationship with Nellee Hooper, a producer who had formerly worked with Soul II Soul and Massive Attack. The first result of their partnership was "Human Behaviour" (1993). "Human Behaviour" became a Top 40 hit in the U.K, setting the stage for the surprising number three debut of the album. Throughout 1993, Björk had hit U.K. singles -- including "Venus as a Boy," "Big Time Sensuality," and the non-LP "Play Dead," a collaboration with David Arnold taken from the film Young Americans.
Her videos often were part of a collaboration with films of yester years.

The two stars have very different ideologies and audiences, Britney seems more stereotypical within the music industry, her ideology seems to appeal more to the teenage girl, who want to become the new Britney and are content on the popstar image and don’t want to break out from the norm.
Bjork’s ideology is completely different however and she appeals to both sexes because her music is not the key factor, Postmodernism takes the lead role within her music and attracts audiences with the idea of style over content.

The content of the two stars' videos is also very different and although the idea of a narrative performance based video is normally apparent in both, the content is completely differential.
“Human Behaviour” (1993) depicts the difference between Britney and Bjork well, in the video Bjork plays with the idea of Darwinism and the animal and humans are reversed within the video. The video is narrative and concept based and is a clear distinction of postmodernism text.
Britney’s videos are totally opposite to this and are very stereotypical with the whole focus of the video being upon the star and her objectification within the video, showing her commodification as a product rather than an individual.

The ideological views of both Britney and Bjork are vastly differentual. Britney's appeal is mainly aimed at young teenage girls who can relate to her videos and lyrics within their own life, as her music progresses and she gets older her music also starts to bring more relation to women of a similiar age to herself (early 20's)
although britney attracts both genders with her music videos because of her sexual appeal she is able to attract the male audience but because of her dominance that she portrays within her videos she can be considered an idol for the young female audience. 'Oops..' displays Britney in a sexual manner but she is also shown to be in control of the situation, toying with the male role. The power she has with this 'Femme Fatal' role also attracts the female audience and shows britney from a more feminist viewpoint.

Bjorks ideology appeals to not just one gender or age group it is a movement with her style and genre setting her apart from the rest, Bjork defies stereotypes. Men are supposed to be the producers, the ones who can arrange layers of beats and synth parts Bjork competes with the best men in the field. Bjork combines her own form of femininity with the usually masculine world of electronica. She is both conceptual and technical. She creates the trends instead of following them.
Bjork is a idol for all those different who aren't confromist and do not wish to follow guidelines for expressing themselves.

Product Analysis : The Strokes - You Only Live Once

The video is primarily performance based and the opening shots appear to be that simply of the band performing in what appears to be a studio.
The costume is particular and typical of the indy/alternative genre that the band represent, with all white clothing worn with all band members.
There are high and low angles used to give the audience the perception of the band being watched and show the members at all angles for audience satisfaction, allowing them to be viewed as a product.
The camera come in and out of focus on different parts of the costume, showing a chess board printed on the lead singers coat.
There are plenty of ‘meat’ shots of the lead singer but the camera also circulates around and between the band members to show relation as well.
The camera cuts back to a shot that shoes the band through a hole almost as if you (as the audience) are looking in through a hole on the band, this shows P.O.V
There are ‘meat’ shots for all members of the band that show the emotions and expressions of the band members before the camera drops back to a MS of them, showing them performing before cutting to the next member.
The lead singer is almost objectified and shown from many angles with the camera cutting from ‘meat’ back out and encircling the lead singer showing his movements with ECU used a lot heightening the effect that his facial expressions has on the audience.
There are numerous holes in the walls around the room and the camera moves round from one to the other to show the different angles.
At 0.55 into the song the holes start to pour black water out of them into the room and the audience is alerted to the illustration of the video, with the performance becoming narrative. When this happens it is in tune with the pace of the music and the editing gets quicker creating tension which is heightened more so with the lead singer increasing his movements to be in tune with the pace of the music and the camera focuses on his gestures as well as his facial expressions.
There are lots of ‘beat’ shots of the drummer to show that the performance is in tune with the music.
As the song quickens pace and tempo the same is reflected upon the performance with their gestures and facial expressions becoming much more dramatic showing a sense of danger and insecurity within the band.
The water starts to rise creating more tension and drama that the band play off and the lyrics and music start to fit in with the narrative.
The song begins to come to a close as the water gets increasingly higher and the tempo increases showing that the song and the story is coming to a close.
The band still play on struggling through the water, this shows relation between the struggle within the lyrics and the visual.
The band members start to disappear into the rising water starting with the drummer and ending with the lead singer who is left until last to finish the song and the song finishes with his face disappearing beneath the water and the camera cuts back to the original shot through the hole showing the room filled with dark water and the lead singers jacket floating across the room, showing the song has finished.

Bloc Party - So Here We Are - Technical Analysis

00.00 - close up of kele lying on leaves focus is on his facial expression it then zooms out
00.07 - similar close up of matt also lying on leaves and zooming out
00.12 - close up of gordon following the same zooming out
00.16 - close up of russel - however he isnt looking at the camera unlike the rest of the band (this is a trademark of the member)
00.19- close up of kele revolves over the top of his head, this is an interesting and orignal camera angle
00.23 - close up of gorden revolves the opposite way to his body
00.25 - the same happens with matt
00.27 - russels does a similar motion but from a side angle
00.29 - this repeats with kele but the opposite angle
00.30 - this then repeats on matt
00.31 - then repeast with kele agian
00.32 - follows gorden sitting up with a midshot that follows the same movement
00.33 - this is repeated with russel
00.34 - this is repeated with matt
00.35 - this is repeated with kele
00.36-00.37 there are a selection of quick cuts between all the band memembers sitting in the same position looking atht ecamera
00.37 - kele begins to sing toward the camera- peformance
00.37-00.42 there are a series of cuts following the band walking through woods, kele is still singingthe background is blurred bringing focus to the memebersthe cuts are aschynchronous with the music as the song is face passed
The rest of the video follows this quick cutting close up pattern, this brings a very voyueristic feel as we are simply just watching the band walking about. The fast cuts and quick panning make the audience almost feel dizzy and create a sense of confusion. We are made to watch the bands faces this presents their emotions across to the viewers.
The video is more concept based, following the band members, there is slight performance with Kele singing the lyrics.


Kele - lead singer
Gordon - guitarist
Russel - bassist
Matt - drummer

Good Shoes - The Photos On My Wall - Product Analysis

The video opens with a close up of a photo, the camera then proceeds to zoom out to show the singer of the band walking away following the camera as if it is not there.

We see the drummer on the whislt hhe carriers on walking, this is the effect that the band are watching themselves in their own video.

We then see the singer on the tv aswell whilst he carries on walking throughout the house, which appears fairly rundown, almost like a flat of a student.

At the breakdown in 1.17 we then realise that the video has been shot with the singer walking backwards as we see a set of clever effects with the boxes falling and the other people appearingly walking backwards past him.

He then carries on round the corner to the rest of the band,they then perform briefly this was presumably shot backwards. This happens whilst a women films them performing.

They then simulataneously jump, which would be the way it was filmed first.

Throughout the entire piece there is no use of cuts the camera is either being followed or is following the singer.

The video is both narrative and performance based

The Cribs - Mirror Kisses - Product Analysis

The video starts with a long shot of a photocopier with boxes saying the cribs either side, this establishes the video.
When the guitar comes in we see the guitar first in a mid-shot from a high angle in b/w
This then cuts to views of the rest of the badn in b/w also in a mid-shot.
We then see hands come over the top of it, this creates the feeling that the band are just like drawings on paper, this idea is then followed by the guitar turning orange breaking the b/w mould previously set from the video.
The hands then continue to add other arty touches to the background, like the video is a canvas which he is creating work.
Whilst the band play their instruments change colour, the colours used are birght and therefore contrast the blandness of the rest of the video.
The video is also used to express lyrics with "better" and "woah" coming up creating a relationship between song and video.
There is then a top layer of colour, so it appears someone has sketched over the top of the video in an almost graffiti like manner
There is use of disambiguation to show instruments or legs and close ups of the members faces.
The band proceed to perform the song with the video carrying on with various new drawings and colours.
At 1.07 clever animation has the hand appearing like it is giving the lead singer the phone which he then proceeds to shout down.
The costume then also changes from the casual clothes to rough suits and glasses, this look is backed up with newspapers in the background of the room.
There is later use of a 360 rotating camera creating the effect of the band memebers are spinning around.
There is also another clever effect using an etch-a-sketch to make it look like the hands are drawing out the singer on it.
At 2.33 the singer jumps into a black hole for the breakdown of the song this runs in time with the music and the look becomes more old fashioned. For the first time we see the band members in colour although it is grainy.
By the end the band memebers have apperaerd to have completely become drwaings and it ends with a set of close ups of the guitar, then the lead singer and finishes on the bass drum saying "the cribs"
The video is very abstract and uses alot of artwork, it has probably been made by filming the video in a plain studio then transferred into a black and white look, the film maker has then had to draw sketches over the slides to create the effect of an art piece.
The video is all performance based

Product Analysis : Coldplay - The Scientist

The video is concept/narrative based with the concept of the video (the way that it has been reversed) being the most striking feature. The concept is not revealed to the audience until about twenty seconds into the video and up until this point the video doesn’t do much to step out of the norm.
The moment that the audience is alerted to the concept and it becomes clear that the video is in rewind the audience immediately takes interest and makes the audience sit up and pay attention.
The star image of Chris Martin is shown and there are a lot of ‘meat’ shots that show the audience what they want to see, the performer.
The video uses narrative fuzz and conveys the story well (there is no performance throughout), this is not something that is seen often with music videos and when it is it often fails to impress but with this video the effect is perfectly created and holds the audiences attention through the narrative as well as the concept.
The narrative is used well to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics with Chris Martin singing “I’m going back to the start” at the end to show that the story is coming to a close.
There is a meta narrative as well with the fact that the video is going backwards fits in with the narrative of the video well.
The camera follows Chris Martin throughout the narrative and although there are cuts there aren’t many and they are slow and reflect the pace of the song with ‘Beats’ used well.
The video had a large budget and was very complex to film, with Chris Martin learning and performing the lyrics backwards to complete the concept to such a high standard.
The concept of the video is unrivalled, performed well and has repeatability that appeals to the masses.

Technical Analysis : Supergrass 'Pumping On Your Stereo'

0:01 The video starts with the camera showing a LS of the main singer and the two other vocalists faces in the dark. The camera gradually zooms in and the singers can be seen to be voicing the words of the song.
0.12 The camera reaches the stage where it can zoom no further and as the drums and instruments kick in the camera cuts to MS of the drummer showing Visualisation
0.14 The camera cuts back to a MLS of the drummer and the audience can see that everything apart from the head is part of a puppet.
0.15 The camera starts to zoom in again on the drummer and shows that the music is in time with the visual.
0.18 The camera moves across to show another member of the band who is also involved in the performance in a MS.
0.21 The camera cuts back to show the whole band performing and the full elaborate nature of the props are evident to the audience.
0.24 The camera uses a ‘Meat’ cut straight to the face of the lead guitarist, who is show to be singing.
0.26 The camera cuts back out to a LS to show the guitarist performing.
0.30 The camera moves at a high angle across from the guitarist to the drummer.
0.32 The camera cuts to the Lead singer as the main lyrics start to come in, showing good visualisation. The shot is a MS to show the hand movements and to show the brilliance of the puppet.
0.33 The camera begins to pan out showing the puppet moving in the same way as the singer actually would (hand gestures, stomping of the foot etc) and the other members of the band all come into view, with them all performing together.
0.38 The camera moves back to a MS of the singer lingering for a few seconds before cutting quickly to the guitarist and subsequently to the drummer and then to the keyboard player.
0.42 The camera cuts to a MS of the singer who is in a classic rock pose, showing attitude and the star appeal of the singer. The singer performs a classic move by flipping the microphone in the air, something that is elaborate because of the puppets.
0.54 The singer continues to perform classic moves such as clapping with beats but the moves are focused much more because of the skill and nature that they are performed around the puppets.

The video is primarily performance based but because of the complexity of the props and puppets the video is much more elaborate and takes the norm recreating it within the concept of the video. This is a good example of a Disjunctive music video that works well.
The video is Concept and Performance based.

Chosen Song : We Are Scientists : Can't Lose

The party's alright, I might wanna stop drinking
What were we talking about?
My body won't tell my mind what I've been thinking
Before it's out of my mouth

The minute I get upset, that's it, it's over
I'm already out of the room
Why can't I just forget that what I know's gonna hurt?
There's not much else I can do

I'm breaking my own rules, becoming someone else
Well everybody says I oughta get over myself
I'm thinking I can't move
If there isn't somewhere else to go

I've probably made mistakes that I've forgotten
It's all ambiguous now
I'd be willing to take the shape of what you wanted
I could just figure it out

I'm breaking my own rules, becoming someone else
Well everybody says I oughta get over myself
I'm thinking I can't move
If there isn't somewhere else to go

I'm breaking my own rules, becoming someone else
Well everybody says I oughta get over myself
I'm thinking I can't move
If there isn't somewhere else to go

It's changing my issues as far as I can tell
Well everybody says I oughta get over myself
I'm thinking I can't lose
If there isn't somewhere else to go

The song generates a a party atmosphere and is very lively with the lyrics and pace of the song creating a high tempo and pace that the editing will have to keep up with. With the setting of the video it seems plausable that part of the video is actually set within a party to create illustration and visualisation.
There will need to be a concept included to show the sturggle within the singers inner self that is represented within the song and its lyrics.

Music channels

How do audiences consume music channels?

Audiences consume music channels primarily in two ways; active and passive. Active watching revolves around passionately writing something and passive revolves around a rotation of going through channels. Boht of these can then be viewed in two other ways which are focused and ambient. Focused is attributed to an active audience and ambient is attributed to an audio or visual background.
Music TV creates zones that people can explore,to discover new music creating inspiration and stimulation to an audience.
It changes the social currency and is postmodern because it gives a communial feel to the home and lets the viewer be a voyuer without real involvement

Why are they commercially viable?

They are commerically viable because they attrat viewers at any time of the day and provide a constant supply of music which its content wont really change throughout the day. This is very unlike terrestrial channels which are forced to show a variety of programs to accomadate for all types of people. Young people are the main demographic for watching music channels, so companies whose focus group is on young people want to advertise on these channels. Like Creative with the Zen, Emap offered them a deal to have their advert appear on 13 music channels, a viewer who switched channels would repeatedly ecounter Zen activity on the adverts. This was a previously unprecedented event.