Star Image

To understand about creation and development of star image, I have looked at and studied Daft Punk, to gain a greater knowledge for my own star's image. Daft Punk's music comes from the dance/ house genre. They are a duo consisting of French musician Guy-Manuel de Homem- Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Daft Punk gained a big fan base during the 1990s house movement in France. 
Daft Punk are known for their use of visual components in their music videos and interviews. For example their videos for their album 'Homework' are well known for memorable characters and the videos places emphasis on storytelling rather than any musical components.Their image has changed over time, during the 'Homework' stage they wore masks to cover up their true identity, but when they are not wearing masks they used animations for example when they appeared in 'The Work of Director Michel Goudry' DVD Goundry is regarded as a music video auteur. Or they even have their faces digitally blurred out so cameras can't pick them out, this means there are very few official pictures that  actually exist where you can see their  faces. 
They are shown to be playing a character as they don't show their true identities. By playing a character this gives them a unique style and excitement about them, this is because you never quite know what their next video will be like and what they'll be wearing/ doing next, for example they started wearing masks then progressed to cartoons and recently they wore a space mask in their recent video 'Get Lucky.' The Robotic-Duo are known as being 'camera shy' as they rarely do face-to-face recorded interviews they are more likely to do radio recorded interviews for example they were recently interviewed by Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong. This gathers more press and a bigger 'hype' around them when they finally do record an interview as it's rarely done. 
During their music video's there aren't many close ups used. This is reinforcing the idea of being mysterious and unknown,  There are close-ups of their instruments used especially an electronic guitar, which portrays an image of they are focused on the music rather than themselves. These close-ups of the guitar are similar of their previous videos where  they were wearing masks which makes them a re-occurring theme. 
The videos from the album 'Homework' also has another reoccurring theme which is that the video are filmed fuzzy, so they are not clear or Daft Punk are glowing which makes it even harder to see who they are, this also reinforces the idea of being unknown. The camerawork is normally panning if there is any movement which focuses manly on Daft Punk's costume (an integral part of mise-en-scene) rather than any close-ups or it only focuses on the instruments they are playing in the videos which they feature in physically. Where they don't appear physically the camera focuses on the narrative.  
Daft-Punk have developed their image in stages for example the mask wearing began when they released their album in 1990s then they moved onto becomming cartoons but they have now began to wear their masks again. The same image has been constant though, this is not showing their true identity, and making people focus on their music rather than the artist itself. This has worked because it doesn't attract unwanted media attention to themselves, it channels the attention to their work. This is important because people remember their sound rather than their phsyical appearence. However their fans will always be waiting for when they do reveal themselves which keeps them interested and on edge for any more new videos. 

Another album cover introducing their cartoon look.

This photo was taken for the interview with Pete Tong, which shows the use of masks

This is Daft Punk's 'Homework' album cover 

Textual Analysis: You Me At Six's Lover Boy

Textual Analysis- Breach Jack

Jack by Breach comes from the Dance genre and because of this genre there are lots of dancing in the video and abstract images. Also the video features fast cutting and different styles of editing.
The video visualises the lyrics because the main lyrics in the song is; 'I want your body, everybody wants your body so c'mon lets jack, lets jack' and then during the video the characters 'jack' and perform a dance routine. The lyrics are also amplified at the beginning because there are extreme close ups on a women's and man's mouth lip syncing the lyrics which then changes to a close up of their face.

There is a relationship between the music and video also because the video is cut to the beat. This is also visualised by the video as towards the beginning there is a man controlling the video with a box and every time he slides it across to the beat the image changes. As the music changes slightly to a quicker beat so does the cutting, for example when the 'ginger button' is pressed the music changes into a different tune the cuts of the video is faster to match the beat.

A screenshot of the man controlling the box

English DJ Ben Westbeech, doesn't appear in his music video, this is a common approach for some DJs as some like to remain unknown to the public. The record company is trying to sell this video as a quirky and unique track. The video illustrates this as the characters in the video are from another furry land where hair is produced all over them,  and this has never been seen before. Which could then correspond with how Breach's image is being offered as something a bit different and modern. As this is, one of Ben Westbeech's first track under the name of Breach, there isn't many video's to compare it with, but Westbeech has released another track called 'So Good Today' and it relates to 'Jack' as the video cutting is similar as they both cut to the beat of the song however Westbeech does appear in 'So Good Today'  unlike 'Jack' which also shows that this video represents a change of image as he has changed his name and recording style.  These pictures below show the  change in video style the one on the left is from 'Jack' the one on the right is from 'So Good Today'

There is a sense of sexual display especially when we first see the ginger lady is also on sexual display as the camera flows around her whilst she sits on the ginger chair and as she combs it looking down into the camera, which is a sexualised look the blonde women. There is also some sexualised dancing from the man and women, as they are emphasising their body 

 
 
 
. Their costumes before it switches to hair can also be judged as being sexual as one man is just wearing a caveman style skirt or the women are just wearing boob-tubes and a small skirt.
To conclude this video represents a new style for Breach and uses an unusual narrative in the video of a 'furry universe' the video editing cuts to the beat which is a characteristic of dance music and is popular among other similar genres. There is also references of sexual display from the voyeurism or from costumes to give the video a sexy edge to it which is also common of today's music videos.

Textual Analysis of Music Videos- George Michael Outside

George Michael's Outside, is in the genre of pop as it is upbeat and catchy. The video itself has a strong narrative with an element of performance within it. The video is based on a famous incident when George Michael was arrested for lewd behaviour in a public toilet which makes up the story line of his video. 

Shots of the outside, showing the lyrics being visulaised

There is a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as; the lyrics emphasis the idea of 'coming out' there are scenes of juxtaposing filmic and CCTV images of people having sex in bushes and by swimming pools, which show the lyrics are being visualised in the video. However the lyrics are also being amplified because of the many scenes in the outdoors, such as  the pictures of the blue sky, the bridge etc. 


The start of the music video in the porno style

The relationship between the music and the visuals gives a humorous impression,  at the beginning the video shows a 1970 style porno film as there were scratches on the film stock and a saxophone plays a sleazy tune. There are also onscreen credits saying ' Eine film bi Hu Jarss' which also indicates the video is a comedy. The camera cuts are fast which resembles the beat of the track as they are constantly changing between different angles of CCTV footage of people having sex. The camera style is 'fluid' which emphasises the swooping surveillance and the flow of the upbeat music as tempo of the song doesn't change the constant quick cuts of the video. 

Close up of George, having sexual eye contact with the camera

There are several close ups of George Michael in a three-quarter profile while he is leaning on a door frame, which keeps inter-cutting with different couples under surveillance. His facial expression is very suggestive which matches the lyrics of his song, and shows himself being sexual and being edgy.  
The overall camerawork focuses on the concept of voyeurism as many of the scenes use CCTV  images which spy on people having sex. As well as the CCTV pictures showing a sexualised image George Michael does also, in one scene a toilet is transfromed into a disco where Michael is dressed as a sleazy cop where behind him is a a group of dancers perfoming a traditional Country and Western Line dance which is popular in some gay clubs. This has an intertextual reference of the 1980s band the Village People. Humour is also invloved by their stupid costumes and location and of course the auidence's knowledge of the real-life incident which inspired the video. 
The music video is narrative based, as it visualises Geroge Micheal's arrest but however it is not serious as there is a huge amount of humour behind it due to George's absurdity and the stupidity of the porno at the beginning. From this video I would like to use the quick cutting which matches the beat of the song. I would also like to include the many camera angles which are also used in this video. 

a shot of some of the CCTV footage that appears in the music video