Four different videos were shown that were of very different styles ang genres. The four videos shown were:-
- Boogie Pimps - Somebody To Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMW6Mw-_UkU
This video was chosen as a topic of discussion as it clearly falls into the stereotype that women are sexual objects, it also uses the unconventional idea of miniature babies parachuting onto this semi-naked woman, this is a video that can clearly shock an audience and be the cause of an interesting discussion.
- Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Az_7U0-cK0
This video is quite uncomfortable to watch, it isn't mainstream and wouldn't be found on everyday music channels, therefore subjecting the audience to such an unusual video would cause contreversy and spark some great discussion.
- JLS - Beat Again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og07i_Qwwp0
This video is a stereotypical pop video subjecting men as sexual objects in order to sell their music. This contrasts greatly with the Boogie Pimps video as it is subjecting men as opposed to women. This is a great opportunity to discover how an audience reacts to the change in role. This became a Top 40 number 1 so it would be interesting to see how the audience reacts to the video in relation to it's song becoming a number 1 single.
- And Michael Jackson - Beat It http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSVrJAbwKdQ
This video was used to show how pop has changed over the past twenty years and to discover how differently the audience reacts to different era's. Also as Michael Jackson is such a big part of music, it is interesting to see how the group view him, is he in a league of his own? Can he be compared to other pop artists at all?
After each video was shown a selection of guideline questions were held and then a discussion followed, the following questions were asked:-
Was there anything about the representation of age/gender/race/stereotypes you found shocking?
What in the video stood out to you? What did you find interesting/effective?
Does the video reflect the genre?
Would you watch the video again? why?
Do you think the video should have an age limit/restriction?
Which audience stereotype do you think the video is targeting?
Where would you expect to see this video?
The video that clearly caused the most interesting divide between the audience was the Aphex Twin video, where one particular member was intreigued by the disturbing images shown in the video and she would be happy to watch it again even though she didn't appreciate the music very much, whereas the rest of the group were disturbed by the video and would not like to watch it again. This shows how creating a memorable music video may not be the way forward, if it is memorable for the wrong reasons, but if the video was not created for mass consumption in the first place but solely created for dedicated listeners/viewers then a video such as Come To Daddy can be very effective.
The Boogie Pimps video did not stem much discussion as it was seen as a stereotypical video that wasn't out of the ordinary especially with how the woman in the video was represented, none of the group appeared uncomfortable or embarrassed by her, nor did they seem interested by her. Whereas when the role changed with the JLS video it was clear that the male members were alot more uncomfortable with talking about how the band members were presented, on the other hand some of the females got quite excited by the video and were happy to watch it again which is interesting as this shows that the subjection of men to women appears more effective than the sumjection of women to men (aged between 16 and 20).
Beat It was hardly compared to the JLS pop video, the audience members insisted that Micheal Jackson could not be compared, his 'brand' could not be held down by any particular label or genre that liks with other bands and his videos are unique and can't be copied or duplicated by anyone else, so what makes Michael Jackson so successful?
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