steve archer music video theory

STEVE ARCHERTheory for Music Video Analysis

BY OLIVER JAMES COOKE

STEVE ARCHER: INTRODUCTIONMedia theorist Steve Archer is renowned for his 2004 MediaMagazine article about Music Videos and the key elements that Music Video producers use as a means to draw audiences into their own respective product. Archer proclaims that the purpose of Music Videos is to distinctly enhance and construct upon the elements of pleasure already experienced by audiences through the music, particularly in visualising the already self-established synaesthesia and association of imagery that takes place within the mind’s eye of the audience. Furthermore, Archer sees music videos as part of an intertextual marketing strategy to attract audiences more successfully, when the main musical product is not seen as satisfactory enough; other elements that Archer collects amongst these are CDs and touring performances. Each of these elements synonymously and collectively appeal to appeal to an audience in the widest possible way, and appeal to a fan’s fetishistic intentions to consume as much related media as possible.


STEVE ARCHER: FIVE KEY POINTSUsing the well-established concepts Andrew Goodwin, Archer extracted and elevated 5 key elements as essential criteria for the translation of music into a clear, successful music video. These elements comprise: 1.‘Thought Beats’ or the visualisation of imagery through synaesthesia.2.Narrative and performance.3.The ‘Star Image’.4.Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture.5.Technical Aspects.


‘THOUGHT BEATS’ The ‘Thought Beat’ process focuses on understanding of the Synesthetic process of music to one’s consummation of it, and the audience’s internal visualisation. Studies into this, as Archer claims, have declared that music is seen as the most important aspect in this regard; construction of an internal atmosphere and general “feeling”. Therefore, Archer says that music videos must develop a similar connection to the audience though clear visual representations. Lyrical content must not be the prime focus of the visuals, though connections and representations through visual metaphors will further accentuate the point trying to be emphasised. Archer furthers his point through citing Roland Barthes’ ‘grain of voice’ theory, in that audiences focus primarily upon a lead performance of a singer, and some element of distinct personal performance should be key throughout the video. Pacing is likewise key to maintaining a stellar general ‘feeling’, therefore, narrative must reflect the tempo and rhythm of the music closely, without fault, to continuously maintain a strong atmosphere and, therefore, marketability. The arrangement of the song will collaborate with ‘grain of voice’ and the lyrics to create geographically-based visual associations and personal associations.


NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE Archer claims that Narrative and Performance are crucial in the sense that music videos need to have a degree of replayability and repetition, as a marketing technique to attract the consumer through a process of continuous familiarisation. However, like many other forms of media, narratives are rarely complete and only a narrative ‘fuzz’ is needed. This, combined with usually complex chorography, give the music video that key sense of repeatability, which will naturally occur within commercial music replay TV stations like MTV. Ultimately, it can be said that both Narrative and Performance give music videos a clear sense of authenticity.


THE ‘STAR IMAGE’ The music industry has clear dependence on few large names to self-fund its own productivity, and there is usually a clear sense of disconnect if the star is not well known or recognised by an audience. Therefore, music videos have a chance at attempting an intertextual presentation of the star as a fully fledged person, and no need to simply focus on the ‘grain of voice’, as within mere music. The ‘meta-narrative’ of the ‘star image’ is crucial in the development of the music video.


ILLUSTRATION, AMPLIFICATION AND DISJUNCTURE Music videos can promote and enhance a song in three distinct ways: Illustration, amplification and disjuncture.

1.Illustration is the process to which a music video simply illustrates the lyrics or genre, providing directly literal imagery. It’s the most straightforward technique where everything is based on the source of the song. This is not a common style of music video, as it can be seen as too simplistic.

2.Amplification is the process to which a music video will enhance the ideas of the lyrics, and is seen as the mark of a true auteur. This way will enhance the original meaning of the song to a point where it will still have a clear link to the original meaning, yet will not change the meaning too much, as disjuncture does. This is the most common music video style as of the present.

3.Disjuncture is the process to which a music video will develop a new collection of meanings in order to assert the prospect of individuality, directly scrapping the meaning behind the lyrics or genre. It is a radical technique used to directly illustrate originality. This technique is seen as ambitious, yet can sometimes appear to give the wider video irrelevance and greater meaninglessness. This is not a commonly-used music video style, unless the genre is unconventional and the director is avant-garde.


TECHNICAL ASPECTS Archer identifies 7 key technical aspects in the production of music videos:1.Speed – The speed of the song, as visualised by camera movement, using the techniques of editing and post-production effects. This creates a sense of intrigue and pleasure amongst the audience, with fast-cutting and montage editing, as well as imagery being colourised and clips being sped-up in the post-production stage, make it so that the images are moving and being displayed where you cannot fully interpret them, increasing the desire for repeatability.

2.‘Meat!’ – This emphasises the voice of the central singer through close ups of the central performer.

3.‘Beats!’ – The music video representing the rhythm of the musical beats through the use of editing. The editing pattern will ultimate run at a parallel pattern to the editing pattern.

4.Lighting and colour – Used to emphasize key moments in the song, showing a development in narrative and increasing the dramatic effect.

5.Mise-en-scene – The setting for the music video is very important for the authenticity of the video, in terms of performance and other abstract concepts.


steve archer music video theory

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