Branding of a Star-Owl City
Owl City is a project created by Adam Young in 2007. Using myspace to display his work to the world he slowly became more popular and in 2009 he released his major label debut album 'Ocean Eyes'.
Over the years he has developed a very distinct style.
CD Covers
Owl City has a unique trend in CD covers and that is Adam Young never appears in them. For example here are the album covers.
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Music Videos
Many of his early songs didn't have a music video and when he brought out the music video for 'Fireflies', the video itself isn't focused around him but more on what is happening around him. Later he brought out another album 'All things bright and beautiful'. He then made several music videos for the songs on the album the most popular being 'Alligator Sky' and 'Deer in the Headlights'.
In both videos the narrative isn't focused on him but once again what is happening around him but he has alot more time on screen. This was quite consistent throughout the early years of Owl City but now he has become more mainstream and has changed a lot of what used to be his unique style.
This is one of his more recent songs, written for the soundtrack of the 2012, Disney film 'Wreck it Ralph'. As You can see the video is entirely focused on him and what he is doing. Rather than acting and creating a narrative for the music video he is simply performing and the camera barely move off him and when it does it is only shots from the film and the set.
Music Video Analysis Considering Mulvery's Theory
This is a music video from the punk rock band Paramore for their song Misery Business.
Throughout the duration of the video there are many different shots and camera angels used. The shots that are most consistent though the video is of the lead singer, Haley Williams, the other main female character. The two are posed as two characters that are at opposite ends of a spectrum. The lead singer being a character on she side of all the students shown in the school and the other character being shown as being singled out, against everyone. The fact that both have many close up shots during the video is almost like they are challenging each other.
At one point of the video there is a shot of a group of cheer leaders, which leads on to clode ups of their upper legs. This converges with Mulvey's Theory of the male gaze as that shot is purely there to arouse the male audience and compel them to continue watching.
The main costumes in the video that are important is between the two main female characters. The lead singer is wearing dark clothes, jeans and trainers. Whilst the other female character is wearing a dress revealing alot of cleavage. The converges and subverts from Mulvey's theory as the female character in the dress is wearing that dress simply to gain male attention. this is further as there is a shot where she is walking down a hallway and one of the male students reacts and moves out of her way. Although this may show the female being dominant, the original concept of wearing provocative clothing for the pleasure of men reverts the dominance back to the men. Further more there is another shot in the video where she pushes a male with an arm in a sling, apparently broken, against a door. This once more displays dominance but she is only dominant over a male that has already been weakened by a broken arm.
The leads singers character wearing dark, almost male type clothing, with no distinguishing female characteristics. She also is the only female member of the band and she receives more time on screen than the other male band members. The video is mainly focused around her and in a way the male members of the band are objectified as they simply are playing instruments in the background. She has clearly shown dominance over the male members of the band emphasizes the narrative of the video.
Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Music Video analysis
Laura Mulvey developed the theory of the male gaze, this describes that the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. The audience sees female characters in a way that said male would. Although Mulvey agrees that women should enjoy attracting the male gaze but it does pose the problem that the male gaze is a form of males showing domination in an situation that that might not necessarily be true.
In this music video Mulvey's theory of the male gaze is paramount. The artist (Kylie Minogue) is clearly provoking the attention of the male characters. She uses her sexuality to draw in a male audience although the song itself isn't entirely aimed at males. By wearing very little clothing and dancing provocatively, she compels the male proportion of the audience to continue watching. Further more in her doing this she appears weaker than the male characters in the video as she is executing all this just to get their attention. In this video there is clearly aimed at what men think of women, it has made to be seen from the perspective of a man. This is clear as many of the camera shots are focused on the features of the female physique, for example the camera lingers on her hips and bum. This not only draws the attention of men but also could be seen as making other women watching the video envious of her sexuality and how much attention from men she draws.
The audience can see from her facial expressions that she is enjoying the attention she is gaining, this further creates for the female audience a sense of envy. Further more the video is not so much to advertise the song but to advertise herself. Having this satisfaction for her ego and confidence to portray herself gains further attention from men. This video conforms completely with Mulvey's theory as the female character is purely using her sexuality to gain the male gaze rather than using other means.
In this video the male gaze is used in a slightly different way. The female character is not only gaining the gaze off the male characters but also this shows her using her sexuality do dominate the males. This conforms and subverts with the male gaze. There are many shots that conform with the male gaze for example one of the very first shots of the female character is of her legs, there's another shot that lingers on her bum. This immediately gains the attention of the male audience. Now she has gained the attention she uses it to dominate over the male characters. Although the video is focused on her, its narrative is the conflict between the lead singer and the boyfriend of the main female character attempting to gain the likes of the female. This almost turns the female character into an object to be won by one of the male characters. This once again shows the dominance the male characters exert over the female character.
The lyrics to the song are somewhat complementary to the woman but at certain points the audience can hear that he is simply judging her by her looks rather than getting to know her. This once more turns her into an object as often an object is chosen by looks rather than other aspects. Once more the female character's beauty and ability to gain the male gaze compels the female proportion of the audience to envy her.
This video totally flips the theory. The main female character, although she does wear provocative clothing, she barely appears dancing with men and is shown to be served by a woman. This immediately shows dominance over the male characters. At no point does the audience see a male reaction to the female characters sexuality. On the other hand the main male character is seen often with a large group of females wearing very little and dancing provocatively around him, showing his control. In the eyes of the female audience the sense of envy has been replaced by inspiration to be as independent as she is. Furthermore she does wear quite provocative clothing like a Lycra, skin tight suit but she does not appear near any male characters wearing this clothing. This shows that she doesn't want to be associated with the common convention of women wearing little clothing, the reason being to attract male attention. She subverts from Mulvey's theory as she has chosen to wear this clothing for her own personal satisfaction.
In all three videos Mulveys theory is shown. Although in some instances the video subverts from the theory, the majority of the time music videos conform with the theory. This is very common in mainstream music videos as not only does it draw male attention but it also widens the audience for the song itself to people who would not necessarily listen to it without seeing the music video.
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