Music Video Research Notes

Music Video Research
In this topic, I will be researching different music video theorists (Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis) as well as taking an in-depth look at different music videos and analyzing them, exploring how these theories stand true within modern music videos. After doing this I will create an online survey to ask people what sort of music videos they enjoy and base my final product around these answers and the other research I gather.

Music video analysis and theorist research under different blog posts. See the labels "Research Techniques" and "Music Video"

Survey Results and Analysis
In total I asked 7 questions in my survey some being multiple choice and some asking for the user to type an answer, causing them to think more about their response, giving me a more detailed answer for me to base my video from. I got a variety of answers from my survey helping me see what people were into when it came to music videos.

My questions and the results they gathered:

 Overall my studies show that audiences prefer a performance-based video with quite literal or exaggerated lyrics. This works well with my initial ideas for the music video however I will have to think of ways to meet the consumer's need for performance-based and work it into my ideas I already have for the music video. Next time when using surveys to find out what the consumer likes I would like to expand my queries through more questioning and a wider range of audience, these are the only things I would change looking back at this experience as I believe getting a wider range of answers would do nothing but improve my knowledge going into the planning phase.

Focus Group
During this stage of my research, I have a partial plan for my ideas of what I want my finished product to look like, however, this focus group has really helped me develop these ideas and take them to a further level. For example, this focus group has given me an idea to include a Chinese whispers style to help incorporate different elements of Andrew Goodwin's theory to my music video such as giving it a basic narrative and incorporating small elements of performance through whispering the lyrics of the song. Rather than changing my ideas, this focus group helped me develop more ideas to help incorporate different elements of these theories that I have been researching. 

Concluding My Research

Looking back at my research during this unit I studied different theorists like Carol Vernalis and Andrew Goodwin and analyzed different music videos seeing how their theories apply within newer songs, I looked at what work they published highlighting the different conventions they discovered within music videos and looked at how I would implement them into my work. Some of the key points I took away from Carol's work is the use of editing towards the beat of the song and also the significance of establishing shots to create a world for the audience to connect to when watching, I found this research very effective when producing my music video as it gave me an idea of how I can edit my chosen song together, for example, opening up with an establishing shot showing the audience the warm home that the majority of the video is set within while also giving me the idea of editing the claps within the song to the beat, in doing this I was following common conventions within music videos while also showing off some of my editing skills in the process. Looking at Andrew Goodwin's theory I took away some key points such as the different genres the music videos can have, in doing this I decided on what genre of the music video I wanted on during the pre-production stage of developing my music video, in doing this gives me a more solid plan and by following these genres (in this case, I followed litteral and performance-based videos) it shows I can create a music video that matches the conventions of other professional music videos, giving my product a more professional look. After looking at the two theorists I analyzed music videos looking for key elements of the theories, in doing this I saw how these theories were applied in a practical approach such as the establishing shots to create a world for the audience to connect to. When analyzing music the videos I tried to choose different styles that I knew I could gather different information from and see different elements of these theories so I chose Pressure by Muse, Call Me Maybe by Carley Rae Jepsen and Firework by Katy Perry. In choosing these different music videos I saw examples of the different genres of music videos that Andrew Goodwin mentions in his theories while also seeing similar elements of these theories in the music videos such as editing to the beat and establishing a world. When looking back at this information I gathered I was pretty happy with the results as I managed to discover many different codes and conventions of music videos and learnt how they get applied practically by analysing random videos and searching out where these theorists appear, in doing this it helped me when producing my music video as I knew what elements to include and how to do it such as the editing to a beat and set the music video around a certain genre, so overall I was very happy with this element of my research as I could effectively use it to improve my final product.

The next stage of my research came in the form of asking others questions in what they prefer within a music video and using this data to plan my music video around what the audience would want. Overall this is the weakest part of my research with a low sum of questions and field of answers however I do believe this was still effective when it came to planning my research as I still gathered what style of video my audience liked even if the audience pool was limited. When applying this information to my planning stage I knew what my audiences need where and decided to create a video that works around that. When talking about the limitations of this research it is clear that I needed to ask more people and ask more questions to gather a broader range of information, in doing this it will help me gather a better and more legitimate idea of my audiences likes within music videos.

After this research was complete and I was during the planning phase of my music video I participated within a focus group with other members of my class in which we discussed everyone's basic ideas for their music videos, It was here where  I developed my ideas for my video further, coming up with ideas like a Chinese whispers style video between multiple peoples, in doing this I would be able to have elements of narrative, performance, and litteral within my music video through this telling a story while copying the lyrics such as "Tell me all your secrets" and obviously the elements of performance being the whispering. Overall I would call this element of my research successful as I managed to share my ideas with my peers and improve and develop my ideas before the production began.

In conclusion, I am very happy with the research I gathered and the quality of it as I have managed to gather the information that has helped shape my ideas for this project and improve the quality of my product, next time I would focus more on my questionnaire and gathering information from the public by increasing the range of questions and the people I asked within this section of research, however, I am still happy with the research I gathered and the ideas I developed because of it and I believe it positively affected the outcome of my finished product

Music Video Analysis

Pressure - Muse

When looking at music videos within this unit I analyzed Pressure by Muse. The music video opens up with an establishing shot of a high school at dusk, this quickly sets up the setting for the music video, following statements that Carol Vernallis made in her published theory that due to the short nature of music videos they must quickly establish the setting and the world in which it is set in, therefore in creating this establishing shot it gets the audience accustomed to their setting in only a short few seconds shot. The next shot is a panning long shot of the school hall, revealing more information about this world to the audience, this shot does a multiple of things such as introducing a colour palette within the mise en scene that the rest of the music video follows, while also establishing another key element of the music video, a narrative through the actors speaking and the song not playing yet. The audience (in this case the literal audience and the audience being spoken to in the music video) then get introduced to the high school band, who are being played by the members of Muse, This is when the song begins. At this point, the audience jumps up in joy and begin dancing as the band plays their song, this can reflect the audience's reaction to the beginning of the song as well due to the long introduction before the music began being very unconventional could lead to the literal audience becoming uninterested or at least impatient. Following this the shots begin to pan around the audience as they are now dancing, cutting at regular times and keeping a steady pace with the song itself, which is another element of Carol Vernallises' theory as the video begins to get edited to the pace and beat of the song itself. Following this series of shots is when Andrew Goodwin's theory on music video comes into play as two of the members of the audience begin to ride away together into the empty dimly lit school. This is when the music video begins to establish a contradiction style going against the lyrics and following its own narrative rather than being tied down to following the mood of the lyrics. As a few shots pass and the students find a classroom to sneak into they nock into a computer activating a science experiment, this then turns a class hamster into a small monster including intertextuality as the monster establishes some resemblance to gremlins from the movie Gremlins. The next few shots completely change the mood of the music video as it turns into an 80's horror style with the students that were in the classroom now running away from the monsters. The dance is then interrupted with these monsters attacking all the students within sight as the band still perform their song. Following a few more shots of this, the headteacher who introduced us to the band at the beginning played b Terry Crews (an element of star power within the music video)  runs and equips himself with what looks like equipment from the movie GhostBusters (Another Intertextual element within this video) and returns to the hall to fight the monsters with the song finishing with a final shot of Terry Crews and the band grouped at the front of the hall ready to fight off the rest of the monsters. Overall this music video includes elements of both Andrew Goodwins theory in being a contradiction style video following a narrative while also including elements of Carol Vernallises' theory in the editing towards a beat and in establishing a world in which the audience cares about, as I have explained throughout the analysis while also including other memorable elements such as intertextual elements and the long introduction to help set up a narrative for the audience to follow.

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
When analyzing music videos I looked at Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen as an example of narrative and a performance style music video. The video opens up with a shot of the singer looking out of a window, as the shot pans in it become clear she is looking at man gardening, this first shot of the music video establishes the world in which it is set as the audience can now see what the singer's motives are within the first two seconds, this is an element of carol vernalizes theory in which she states that due to the short nature of music videos the audience has to be introduced into the world relatively quickly to help them understand what's happening, this is especially important in narrative-driven music videos like this one. Within the next few shots the director uses a shot-reverse-shot between the singer and the man in the garden, this reinforces my previous statement of the singer's motivations as this technique is used her to show interest from the singer and what she is looking at. It is at this time that the performance element of the music video comes into play as the singer is shown performing the lyrics casually as she is watching this man from afar. The next few shots in this music video follow a basic narrative of the singer watching this man while avoiding being detected. After these shots and this narrative is introduced towards the audience the video cuts towards the singer and her band in a garage performing her song to what appears to be the camera at this time. This performance and narrative style that this video blends together is briefly mentioned by Andrew Goodwin in his theory, this states that music videos follow the same few styles and can sometimes even blend together, in this case, it being performance and narrative. In between the next few shots of the band playing out of their garage the narrative continues with the singer trying to grab the mans attention through seductively washing a car, this can be seen as a spoof on Mulvey's Male Gaze theory as the singer is trying to show off her body to win over the attention of the man but its set out in a more comical way than other forms of media as she is shown in this shot falling off the car and knocking herself unconscious. When she awakens the narrative continues with her finally grabbing this man's attention and it is revealed that she as been performing to him in the garage the entire time and we are sort of watching it from his perspective. The video ends with the performance finishing and the singer going to finally write and gives him his number, with this being quite literal towards the lyrics as a part of Andrew Goodwin's theory, however, the man reveals himself as gay and the narrative ends.

Firework - Katy Perry
The song opens up with an establishing shot of a big city at night, once again setting a colour palette and mood of the song while also following Carols' theory with introducing the audience to the world the video is set in. As the music picks up the singer is shown walking out onto a balcony with a close-up shot of her dress revealing it to be very fancy, therefore informing it to be a very professional style music video. After this shot, there is a close up of the singer's face as she is singing, this shows the style of the music video to be quiet performance-based and the close up shows that the director wanted all of the attention to be on the singer, this with the dress mentioned earlier can link together to create this idea that she is the only thing the director wants you to focus on, supporting the performance-based style with the attention being on the singer and the singer only. Within the next sequence of shots, multiple narratives are revealed to the audience in a brief few second shots, this can be seen as exaggerative to the lyrics as when the singer begins to mention feeling down and under the narratives appear showing people in bad situations who are feeling this way, This style of the music video is mentioned within Andrew Goodwin's theory as an exaggerative type, in which in the video exaggerates the lyrics maybe portraying them in visuals or through narrative. The next few shots also conform to this idea as fireworks begin coming out of the singer's chest. As the video continues the narratives relive this same experience in some way, with one shot of a man being mugged revealing to have doves under his coat. This exaggerative form of a music video is shown throughout every narrative of this video. Later in this video we see a small example of editing towards a beat, as the masses of people gather on a roof you can see them all jumping towards the beat of the song with their fireworks matching, this is an element of Carol Vernallises' theory coming into play as the video gets edited around the beats of the song.

Music Video

Music Video Brief

The song I have chosen to base my music video on is Summer from the album Smoke+Mirrors by Imagine Dragons. I have chosen this song over some of my other choices mainly due to the different ways I can incorporate Goodwin's Theory into the video, with shots being quite literal towards the lyrics and quite Amplifying of the words in the song, for example one of my shot ideas being an actor opening their eyes to the lyrics "Open up your eyes"  to help create and link it to this literal correlation I mentioned. Some basic ideas I have coming into this unit are a Chinese whispers style music video, with extreme close ups on peoples faces as they whisper the lyrics into another actors ear. On top of this some other idea I have come up with are getting the actors to clap to the claps of the song and editing this in time to the beat, following Carols theory on how music videos are edited. The overall ideas I am going to be following within this music video are; introducing elements of narrative and performance style videos through the whispering of the lyrics and the overall theme of Chinese whispers to help create a basic narrative for the viewer to follow. Therefore this video will include elements of both Goodwin's and Vernalises' theories through the different styles of editing and the correlation of the lyrics and the video that I want to include.


Pre-Production/Plan
When entering pre-production for my music video I decided to properly plan out my shots and ideas to make it easier for me when filming the project, when starting off I created a simple written shot list / timeline that would help me keep track of what footage would go where, however as this idea developed I switched the idea to instead using title screens over my chosen song in Premiere Pro (my chosen choice of editing software) as it was easier to read than a long boring shot list and I thought it would help me judge what footage I would require better. When planning it out like this I gathered a better flow for my music video and a better understanding of what belonged where and when to cut shots.

During this time I could develop my idea for the music video and start filling in places on this shot list with my ideas such as wanting to use a lot of shots outside in the sunny weather to help it match with the lyrics of the chorus, with the song being about summer. At this time I knew that shots of traveling in the sun would work well with the pace of the instrumental that follows the chorus, so I decided to add that into my shot list. Another idea that I came up with at the time was the homely setting of the indoor shots, I knew that in production I would have to film somewhere that looks like a home that people live in as well as promoting warm and positive connotations to go with the rhythm and the style of the song, being very positive and rhythmic, therefore in setting this music video inside of a home and really thinking about the mine-en-scene of the background making it look like a well looked after friendly home it helped match the tone I was aiming for within the music video.

My basic shot list before I moved it onto Premiere Pro.

When planning I opened up Premiere Pro with the song in there and listed my desired shots at what time stamps I would like them at, in doing this it helped me set out my plan for the music video and gave me a better idea of the footage i would need to gather.

Finished Product

Evaluation
During this unit, I produced a music video to the song Summer by Imagine Dragons. when producing this music video I set out a plan to make it in a literal style, matching ideas presented by Andrew Goodwin in his theory. overall I believe my finished product matches this style with the video directly copying what the lyrics are saying at times, This is the element of my music video that I feel works the best and the shots that incorporate this idea, I feel work the best out of my video. Another element I tried to incorporate is within Carol Vernallises theory stating that music video often edits towards the beat of the song, and I feel like I have managed to accomplish this at times during my music video, with an example being the actors clapping to the beat and the cuts that join the different clappers together being in time with the song, In these regards, this is exactly what I was looking to create within my music video, to follow these theorists and develop a video that follows these conventions the theorists' layout within their published work.

Looking at the production of my work it is clear that not everything went to plan and I feel like this negatively affects my music video and can be seen throughout as some shots include different visual tones to others, creating this mismatched look, while also other shots sometimes lacking the warm lighting I would use in other shots. The overall effect this had on my finished product is quite negative as I personally believe it makes my product looks less professional and is the main thing I would change about this project if I could go back, with some shooting days I would not gather as much footage as I needed and in doing so it meant I had to reshoot without some of the equipment used in the first shoot. The other stage of production being the editing of the music video, overall I am pretty happy with the pacing of the shots and when I cut, with at most times there being a clear matching rhythm between the music video and the song itself, however, there is at least one point during the music video looking back at that I would cut down as I Feel the shot carries on far too long, However other than that I believe the editing process went relatively well considering my footage.

In conclusion, I believe that my finished product mimics my brief, with some changes because of my troubled production, and creates a music video that works on the ideas of the two theorists and portrays them in a faithful way, while also portraying creativity and matching the style the song creates. Looking back there are areas that I could have improved upon but I believe my music video portrays the song and my ideas in a faithful way.

Reference List

Imagine Dragons., (2015) Summer
Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTsbz5fW8-M

Carol Vernallis Research

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis is a music video theorist who looks at how music videos are structured, she mentions her research into this topic in her book, The Kindest Cut- Functions and meanings of Music Video Editing 2001. The key concepts of her theory are Narrative Editing, Camera Movement/Framing, and Diegesis. During this theory, she talks about the world in which music videos create and how the lyrics correlate and tie together with the video

When looking at narrative, Carol states that there is a connection between the video and the narrative and that the video is usually portraying elements of the lyrics. She also states that due to the short nature of music videos the narrative may not always be completed and either end up being disjointed, disconnected or fragmented leaving it to the audience to connect the dots when it comes to making sense of what they have just seen. She also states that not every music video has a narrative but all show a level of progression throughout the video that the audience can follow, whether that is through the editing or the lyrics. A clear example of a narrative throughout the music video is Brother by Kodaline in which a young boy tries to come to terms with his brother's death.

When it comes to editing, Vernallis states that one of the most common conventions is the lack of continuity editing, this means there will be no clear progression of shots and that some may seem to appear out of order and or just not relevant to what the audience has already been seeing and therefore linking back to the narrative element of her theory suggesting that the lack of continuity helps build this distorted and broken narrative she mentions. This lack of continuity editing may become noticeable through the use of jump cuts, cutting in time with the beat and juxtaposing frames. Music videos use the element of cutting to the beat regularly an example of one being Turn Down For What by DJ Snake.

Vernallis talks about the different types of shots when on about framing, she explains what are some of the most commonly used shot types in typical music videos with establishing and mid-close shots appearing more common than others, "establishing shots are one of the main elements in a music video" (Vernallis, 2013), with the establishing shots occurring often due to the short duration of a music video and the need to establish a setting within this short time to help effectively tell a narrative. This links in with my next point on diegesis, with establishing shots helping the director create a world open for the audience to view. An example of key uses of establishing shots is in the song Formation by Beyonce, this song uses establishing shots to open the world to the audience showing them where the music video sets place, in this case highlighting the flooding in America.

The diegesis that Vernallis mentions during her theory is the world that the music video is set in, in her theory she states how this is revealed slowly to help the narrative develop, she also mentions that repetition may occur in when it comes to certain frames or styles of a shot. Vernallis also mentions how because music video narrative is never really finished, the audience can have a gap in understanding of the diegesis. An example of a strong diegesis within music video is within Bad Blood by Taylor Swift, this music video shows elements of a strong yet distorted diegesis as the audiences are introduced to this scifi world in which these popstars are superheroes battling each other, although all this is shown not much is explained to us leaving the audience to try and fill in the blanks.

Reference List

Carol Vernallis (2013) YouTube Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema, 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, Page 10.

Andrew Goodwin Research

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos states that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the music video of a song. He talks about this during his book "Dancing in the distraction factory". This connection can come into play within different ways with the examples Goodwin stating being: Illustrating, Amplifying and Contradicting. An illustrating music video would include imagery that closely matches the lyrics and portrays what the song is actually saying. An example of this would be in Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe", in this music video Carley Rae Jepsen is trying to get a boys number, this matches the lyrics of the song which talk about trying to get the boys attention and getting him to call her. Goodwin's next example is the idea of amplifying the lyrics, this means the music video will portray the lyrics in an exaggerated form. This is evident in the song "Firework" by Katy Perry. In this song there is a shot where Katy Perry is singing about fireworks while they explode from her body. This would be an element of Amplifying the lyrics through exaggerating the lyrical messages of this text. The final example that Andrew Goodwin talks about within this theory is contradiction, this element is portrayed through going against the lyrics and what they are saying, it can do this by either going completely against what the lyrics say or by just portraying imagery that may seem unrelated. An example of a song that includes contradiction within its music video is "Pressure" by Muse, although this music video starts off very regular with elements of illustrating as the band is shown performing, as the video goes on the stranger and further away from the lyrics it gets with the ending sequence including a sic fi action scene against gremlin style creatures, this completely contradicts the lyrics of the song and supports Andrew Goodwin's theory that a music video will follow one of these styles.

Andrew Goodwin also talked about the different  genres of music videos, much like the genre of song itself music videos come in different styles, the different genres he mentions in his theory are: Stadium performances, Studio performances, Location, Narrative and Conceptual/ Experimental. Stadium and studio performances are pretty self explanatory and are set in either a live stadium with a reactive audience with shots emphasising the live nature such as shooting the crowds reactions, as of the case of stadium performances or in the case of studio performances they are usually in a professional environment such as a recording studio with shots emphasising their performance. Narrative performances will tell a story within the music video, this could be related or not related to the lyrics however a story will be told, and a conceptual music video will try to represent a thematic idea based on the directors ideas and tends to avoid conventions laid out before it ""experimental" music has come to refer to music that seems radically unconventional, pretty weird, as if to experiment with the very building blocks of musical beauty." (Harper, 2015)

Goodwin also mentions Voyeurism within his theory stating that within music videos include elements that usually the audience wouldn't see such as intimate imagery like nudity or intimate settings like others houses and bedrooms. Goodwin states that we see these more in music video than we would in real life and that directors include these to grab the attention of audiences. "However, it is clear that the shortcuts used by video directors to get the attention of the male audience have rendered vast tracts of music video uninteresting and/or offensive (far more offensive than pornography, in my view) and that this is one very obvious problem that is specific to video itself, since the opportunities for a particular type of boring voyeurism are so much more in evidence here than in previous forms of pop promotion." (Goodwin, 1992)

Finally, Andrew Goodwin also mentions that there is a lot of intertextuality within music video, however he talks about its purpose really only being their to pay homage or even represent some kind of brand synergy. "In fact, it can be shown that music television's intertextuality and its articulation of popular cultural history are often anything but blank. Consider, for example, the variety of ways in which music video clips "quote" from other texts." (Goodwin, 1992)




Reference List

Goodwin A., (1992) Dancing in the Distraction Factory

Jepsen R C ., (2012) Call Me Maybe [Music Video]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic

Perry K ., (2010) Firework [Music Video]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw

Muse ., (2018) Pressure [Music Video]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2eKImKZviw

Harper, A., (2015) What Does “Experimental Music” Even Mean Anymore? [Online]

Available from:
https://www.thefader.com/2015/05/08/system-focus-experimental-music

Jaques Lacan: Lack

Lacan's theory of lack states that Humans will never be content with meeting our desires and will always keep wanting more. Jaques's theory idea of lack causes desires in the person to arise making the person act upon this desire to please the act just like how in Freud's Id the Ego and the Superego theory, the Id causes the ego and super ego to have to react to please the Ids urges. According to Lacan, humans are born into a condition of Lack and spend the rest of there lives trying to fulfil it. "But the important point is that this form situates the agency of the ego, before its social determination, in a fictional direction, which will always remain irreducible for the individual alone, or rather, which will only rejoin the coming-into-being dialectical synthesis by which he must resolve as I his discordance with his own reality." (CriticaLink, 2018).

When a child looks at themselves for the first time in the mirror they will see the 'perfect' version of themselves. This is developed in Lacan's theory as throughout their lifespan they try to live up to the perfect image of what they saw from that very first stage. This is referred to in Lacans theory as the mirror stage. "The image reflected according to Lacan i the 'Ideal' - the stable and autonomous version which the child does not experience itself and hence yearns to be the other." (Nasrullah Mambrol, 2016)

Scene Analysis

In this scene Lacan's psychoanalytical theory on lack is running throughout. This scene opens up with the protagonist accepting a deal from the federal government getting him out of his illegal activities without many repercussions on his end. The context of this scene and how it links to the rest of the film is important in seeing how Lacan's theory applies as at this point in the film the protagonist has everything he has ever wanted, and has surely met his desire that was set at the start of this film, to become rich, However in this scene it is shown that the protagonist although he should be happy to get out while he can with everything he has gained and the starting desire being fulfilled, does not want to get out. This links to Lacan's theory on Lack and Desire as although he has everything he wanted the protagonist is till desiring more and is not happy with what he has. This goes with Lacan's theory as he states that humans will always be filled with desire and its a feeling that will never leave us no matter how much we try to satisfy it, linking back to the mirror stage as in this scene the protagonist is still chasing and desiring to become this unattainable perfect being that Lacan states infants see when they look at their reflections.

Reference

CriticaLink, 2018, Lacan: The Mirror Stage, [online]
Available from:
http://www.english.hawaii.edu/criticalink/lacan/

Mambrol N, 2016 ., Lacan's Concept of the Mirror stage [Online]

Available from:

https://literariness.org/2016/04/22/lacans-concept-of-mirror-stage/

Fight Club Essay

Explore How Fight Club Uses Visual And Technical Significance to portray Sigmund Freud’s Id, Ego and Super Ego Theory

Throughout this essay I look at how the mise en scene of fight club and the technical significance of this portrays the ideas of Freud’s Id the Ego and the Super Ego theory. I will look at this throughout this text while referencing my research and mentioning how it links with the technical and visual significance of a chosen scene.

During the parking lot scene between Tyler and the Narrator, the characters link to different elements of Freud’s Id, ego and super ego theory. This scene opens up with mid shots of the two characters and incorporates a shot reverse shot to jump between the two while they’re talking, at this time in the scene Tyler is trying to persuade the Narrator to hit him, the Narrator seems adamant to at first but with enough persistence from Tyler’s part he eventually gives in to Tyler’s request.  This interaction between the two characters can link back to Freud’s Id, ego and super ego theory, with Tyler representing the Id through his impulsive and persistent nature throughout the scene, not caring for the consequences of his actions while just seeking out what he wants, this follows the theorized characteristics of the id, “it is the childlike, selfish and hedonistic part of your personality, which focuses on the self ” (Lawton, 2015).  While Tyler represents the Id in this scene, the Narrator represents the ego, being influenced by the Id and not being able to resist the urges it presents to him. This is shown throughout this scene through the Narrator trying to resist Tyler’s request to punch him. Again linking to Freud’s id, ego and super ego theory the Narrator is at first adamant to give in to Tyler’s requests but ends up only delaying Tyler’s wishes as he ends up giving into him much like the Ego is said to always end up giving into the Id, “In many cases, the id's impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification--the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in the appropriate time and place.” (Cherry, 2013). Before giving into Tyler the Narrator is looking around and places his bottle on the floor out of the way, this can visually represent the Ego looking first for ways to reduce the negatives of the Ids desire. Other visual significance in this scene comes from Tyler’s restless nature while being turned down from the Narrator such as jumping on the spot and his sporadic movement, this can signify the Id’s restless nature as it seeks pleasure but is being stopped by the ego in control causing the Id to keep on trying until the ego can not stop it any longer. Although the super ego cannot be portrayed through a character in this scene its presence can still be interpreted through technical elements and mise en scene. At the start of the scene both characters are holding glass bottles, when Tyler comes up with the idea to let the Narrator hit him he puts his bottles down which can be inferred as him leaving the Superego and the traditional ideas of society behind, this can be seen through the mise en scene of the scene as Tyler has his back towards the said bottles I am referring to as the super ego.  This idea is also supported through the Narrator as he at first is holding the bottle while denying Tyler’s requests but before he gives in he puts it to the side of him. This sequence can portray the ego following the super ego an rejecting the Id until eventually he gives in and rejects the ideas of the super ego to the side while he gives in to the Id and its ideas. Finally after all of this Tyler and the Narrator are sat on the grass but only holding one bottle between them rather than the three they started with. This can also represent how after giving into the Id, the super ego is less present as the ego is now giving into the Id and caring less about morality and what society expects of it. This links again to the characters through Tyler and the Narrators friendship growing closer and closer after their fight.

In the Scene where the narrator is describing Tyler’s jobs, Tyler is portrayed as the Id. This scene opens up with the characters describing Tyler’s job at the cinema, in this scene the narrator describes job as boring however Tyler starts splicing the film with pornographic imagery for his own entertainment.  This is characteristic of the Id as although there is a lot of risk in doing this, such as potentially loosing his job, he still does it just to satisfy his need for entertainment, “The id is the oldest and most primitive psychic agency, representing the biological foundations of personality. It is the reservoir of basic instinctual drives, particularly sexual (libidinal) drives, which motivate the organism to seek pleasure.” (Daniel K Lapsley, 2011). This attitude that Tyler has in this scene sets him up as the Id for the majority of the film as he is shown the most clearly here, in not caring for the outcome of his actions and going only for pleasure, this is known as the pleasure principle and is what the Id uses to create desire, “In Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality, the pleasure principle is the driving force of the id that seeks immediate gratification of all needs, wants and urges. In other words, the pleasure principle strives to fulfill our most basic and primitive urges, including hunger, thirst, anger, and sex. When these needs are not met, the result is a state of anxiety or tension.” (Kendra Cherry, 2019). This portrays Tyler as the Id throughout this film as he is the one urging the narrator on as the Id would do to the Ego.

In another scene the narrator is speaking to his boss, this scene opens up with the Narrator trying to persuade his boss to pay him without working, This soon escalates as the Narrator begins striking himself trying to pass it on as the boss hitting him. The two characters in this scene can represent the ID and the Ego with the narrator representing the animalistic and instinctual Id, not caring about the ramifications of his actions, in this case beating himself up. Whereas the boss represents the Ego with at first resisting the Id’s desire, in this case its wanting to stop working, but is eventually inevitable in stopping him and ends up giving into the Ids desire, which is described in Freud’s theory as the relationship between these two characteristics. "Although people eventually learn to control the id, this part of personality remains the same infantile, primal force all throughout life. It is the development of the ego and the superego that allows people to control the id's basic instincts and act in ways that are both realistic and socially acceptable." (Kendra Cherry, 2019).  Throughout this scene the Narrator shows his Id characteristics through the seemingly uncontrolled nature of his actions, such as punching himself repeatedly. This links to my statement of the Ids characteristics, as he does not care for the ramifications of this even though he is physically hurting himself much like how the id does not care about the consequences the actions would have on the host. The boss in this scene uses thematic ideas such as the script to be portrayed as the ego. The script helps portray this idea through at first the boss turning down the Ids advances, however as the Id starts pressuring and fighting to get what he wants, the ego gives in, this is portrayed in the scene with the Narrator walking away from the scene smirking connoting he has won.  "It’s geared towards problem-solving and reality-testing, enabling the person to maintain self-control. However, just like the id, the ego is interested in seeking pleasure, it just wants to do so in a realistic way. It’s not interested in right and wrong, but in how to maximize pleasure and minimise pain without getting into trouble" (Cynthia Vinney, 2019).

In conclusion Fight Club Uses Visual And Technical Significance to portray Sigmund Freud’s Id, Ego and Super Ego Theory. It does this through its portrayal of its characters in each scene with one character usually representing an element of this theory. This links to the narrative point of this film that Tyler is the Narrator, this goes with the idea of the theory that the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego are all apart of a single personality, “Although each part of the personality comprises unique features, they interact to form a whole, and each part makes a relative contribution to an individual's behaviour.”(Saul McLeod, 2019) Therefore this supports my statement that the film uses technical and visual significance to portray this theory as it uses its thematic narrative to portray the key ideas of this theory, as I have talked about during this essay.

Reference list

Fincher, D., (1999) Fight Club

Lawton, J-M., (2015) AQA A-Level Psychology 2

Cherry, K.,(2013) The Id, Ego and Superego

Cherry, K., (2019) Freud's ID, Ego and Super Ego [Online]

Available from:

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-id-ego-and-superego-2795951

Vinney, C., (2019) Freud: Id, Ego, and Superego Explained [Online]

Available from:

https://www.thoughtco.com/id-ego-and-superego-4582342

McLeod, S., (2019) Id, Ego and Superego [Online]

Available from:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html

Lapsley, D, Stey P (2011) Encyclopaedia of Human Behaviour. Elsevier.

Cherry, K., (2019) How Freud's Pleasure Principle Works [Online]

Available From:

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-pleasure-principle-2795472

Laura Mulvey: Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey: Male Gaze
Laura Mulvey's theory on the male gaze states that film is constructed for the pleasure of the male audience with elements of film such as the sexualisation of characters only conforming to the heterosexual male, "In such representations, ‘Woman’ is defined solely in terms of sexuality, as an object of desire, in relation to, or as a foil for, ‘Man’." (Shohini Chaudhuri, 2006). This theory states that the camera portrays a males point of view and forces audiences to view it in that way regardless of gender or sexuality.

Some of the technical elements that support this theory are mid/close up shots of women typically shot over the shoulder of the male character, panning and fixated shots on the female body and shots with men observing women passively. These techniques use the camera to promote the female body in an objectifying way, especially through shots only including the female body. This links back to the idea that the camera is the males point of view and that the women are no more than an object for entertainment in these shots with the shots being devoted to only their bodies and not their performance as actresses.

In the Film "Transformers" Mulvey's male gaze theory can be seen through multiple parts of the film, The most prominent example of this can be in the scene where Megan Fox is looking at the cars engine.  This scene opens up with Megan fox opening the bonnet of the car, after opening the bonnet up, Megan Fox keeps holding the bonnet in the air, in doing this exposing her body to the camera. While Megan Fox is in this position the camera follows Shia Leboeuf's character until he gets to the front of the car, from here the camera pans around focusing on Megan Fox's body while Shia's character is clearly shown looking. This is an example of Mulvey's Male Gaze theory through the camera following the camera following the perspective of the male protagonist as he observes Megan Fox's character, In following the perspective of the male protagonist it forces the audience to view the scene from the point of view of him, in doing this it portrays Megan Fox's character and body as an element of desire for the audience and the protagonist.

Reference List

Shohini Chaudhuri ., (2006) Feminist Film Theorists

Michael Bay., (2007) Transformers
Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6L3Ef1JCC8

Sigmund Freud: ID, Ego and Super Ego

Freud Id, Ego and Superego. (Kendra Cherry, 2019)

  

Sigmund Freud: ID, Ego and Super Ego

Freud's theory on ID, Ego and Super Ego tries to explain the different elements of the human personality through 3 main elements, the ID, the Ego and the Super Ego. "Each component not only adds its own unique contribution to personality, but all three elements interact in ways that have a powerful influence on each individual. Each of these three elements of personality emerges at different points in life."(Kendra Cherry, 2019).

The ID is the only element that is present from birth and is the most instinctual, this element seeks for pleasure without thought for any consequences, this is what babies rely on and it is not until they grow that they begin to understand their actions. It stays present throughout life but due to the other elements of Freud's theory is controlled and managed. "Although people eventually learn to control the id, this part of personality remains the same infantile, primal force all throughout life. It is the development of the ego and the superego that allows people to control the id's basic instincts and act in ways that are both realistic and socially acceptable." (Kendra Cherry, 2019).

The Ego is the second element of Freud's theory that is based off of the ID, the purpose of this element is to keep the Id in check and to make sure that the needs of the id are met but kept towards a socially expectable standard "It’s geared towards problem-solving and reality-testing, enabling the person to maintain self-control. However, just like the id, the ego is interested in seeking pleasure, it just wants to do so in a realistic way. It’s not interested in right and wrong, but in how to maximize pleasure and minimise pain without getting into trouble" (Cynthia Vinney, 2019)

The Superego is the third element of Freud's theory and it is based off of achieving social 'Perfection' and trying to meet society needs. The Superego tries to reject all the completely negative thoughts of the Id such as overly sexual or violent ideas. It is suggested that the Superego is created based off of the early parenting of the child, with the superego following the ideas presented by the parents. "In this way the Superego acts like an inner parent, meaning that the desired behavior is being manifested in the child’s normal behavior and the bans are being respected and understood without the need of the parents telling the child what to do." (Martin, 2019)

Scene Analysis

During the parking lot scene between Tyler and the Narrator, the characters link to different elements of Freud’s Id, ego and super ego theory. This scene opens up with mid shots of the two characters and incorporates a shot reverse shot to jump between the two while they’re talking, at this time in the scene Tyler is trying to persuade the Narrator to hit him, the Narrator seems adamant to at first but with enough persistence from Tyler’s part he eventually gives in to Tyler’s request.  This interaction between the two characters can link back to Freud’s Id, ego and super ego theory, with Tyler representing the Id through his impulsive and persistent nature throughout the scene, not caring for the consequences of his actions while just seeking out what he wants, this follows the theorized characteristics of the id, “it is the childlike, selfish and hedonistic part of your personality, which focuses on the self ” (Lawton, 2015).  While Tyler represents the Id in this scene, the Narrator represents the ego, being influenced by the Id and not being able to resist the urges it presents to him. This is shown throughout this scene through the Narrator trying to resist Tyler’s request to punch him. Again linking to Freud’s id, ego and super ego theory the Narrator is at first adamant to give in to Tyler’s requests but ends up only delaying Tyler’s wishes as he ends up giving into him much like the Ego is said to always end up giving into the Id, “In many cases, the id's impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification--the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in the appropriate time and place.” (Cherry, 2013). Before giving into Tyler the Narrator is looking around and places his bottle on the floor out of the way, this can visually represent the Ego looking first for ways to reduce the negatives of the Ids desire. Other visual significance in this scene comes from Tyler’s restless nature while being turned down from the Narrator such as jumping on the spot and his sporadic movement, this can signify the Id’s restless nature as it seeks pleasure but is being stopped by the ego in control causing the Id to keep on trying until the ego can not stop it any longer. Although the super ego cannot be portrayed through a character in this scene its presence can still be interpreted through technical elements and mise en scene. At the start of the scene both characters are holding glass bottles, when Tyler comes up with the idea to let the Narrator hit him he puts his bottles down which can be inferred as him leaving the Superego and the traditional ideas of society behind, this can be seen through the mise en scene of the scene as Tyler has his back towards the said bottles I am referring to as the super ego.  This idea is also supported through the Narrator as he at first is holding the bottle while denying Tyler’s requests but before he gives in he puts it to the side of him. This sequence can portray the ego following the super ego an rejecting the Id until eventually he gives in and rejects the ideas of the super ego to the side while he gives in to the Id and its ideas. Finally after all of this Tyler and the Narrator are sat on the grass but only holding one bottle between them rather than the three they started with. This can also represent how after giving into the Id, the super ego is less present as the ego is now giving into the Id and caring less about morality and what society expects of it. This links again to the characters through Tyler and the Narrators friendship growing closer and closer after their fight.   
 

Reference List
Cherry, K., (2019) Freud's ID, Ego and Super Ego [Online]
Available from:
https://www.verywellmind.com/the-id-ego-and-superego-2795951

Vinney, C., (2019) Freud: Id, Ego, and Superego Explained [Online]
Available from:
https://www.thoughtco.com/id-ego-and-superego-4582342

Martin., (2019) Understanding Siegmund Freud’s Id, Ego and Superego [Online]
Available from:
https://www.cleverism.com/understanding-siegmund-freuds-id-ego-and-superego/

Fincher, D., (1999) Fight club

MovieClips (2015) "Fight Club (1/5) Movie CLIP - I Want You to Hit Me (1999) HD" [Online]
Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5Jp_ag2M8