BLOG 7 PROMOTIONAL –CREATING BRAND Purposes or Pop Videos

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Illustrates the song

Appeals to a visual audience

Expresses an individual’s emotions

Tells a story

Markets an image

Creates a brand

“SPICE GIRLS” – BACKGROUND INFORMATION In the mid-1990s, family management team Bob Herbert, Chris Herbert and Lindsey Casbon set about creating a girl group to compete with popular boy bands that dominated the pop music scene in the mid- to late-1990s.

In February 1994, Heart Management placed an advertisement in The Stage trade magazine asking; "WANTED: R.U. 18–23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated?

DOCUMENTARIES ON SPICE GIRLS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2y2xEZjUs

Piers Morgan 23-27 mins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1g-49itJBE

CLOTHES OF “SPICE GIRLS”

Their clothes were "carefully chosen for their first appearance on American TV. :

Victoria in a sophisticated slinky black number,

Emma in a baby-pink dress,

Mel B in her leopard-skin trousers,

Geri in red hot pants, top and bra,

Mel C in her favourite Liverpool shirt and tracksuit bottoms

POSH SPICE – CLOTHES AND IMAGE

SPORTY SPICE – CLOTHES AND IMAGE

GINGER SPICE – CLOTHES AND IMAGE

BABY SPICE – CLOTHES AND IMAGE

SCARY SPICE – CLOTHES AND IMAGE

Every member of the “Spice Girls” had a different look as well as identity to them so that not just on group of girls could relate to them such as sporty girls, but instead every kind of girl that you can think of will have some sort of relation towards the spice girls or one of their identities.

For example girls who played sport would favourite “Sporty Spice”

Little siblings or younger girls would fabourite “Baby Spice”

More dominant girls would favourite either “Ginge Spice” or “S cary Spice” for their fierce character

And lastly classier, more upper class girls would favourite that of “Posh Spice”

Every spic girl had their own look about them to represent this image that they were given to represent, e.g scary spice’s leopard print, baby spice’s constant use of pink clothes etc.

“SPICE GIRLS” – GENERAL NOTES The Spice Girls were sold to us as a group of friends, just goofing off and making top-selling singles together.

They were actually a carefully selected group of strangers chosen, after hundreds of auditions. This is otherwise known at a “Synthetic band” as it was not founded by them and they are not doing it for the music but instead for the money and to make the record label who put them together a substantial profit.

They had endless merchandising and sponsorship deals, and were involved with everything from Pepsi ads to Polaroid ads to Barbie-style Spice Girls dolls.

Everything about them—including their Scary/Posh/Sporty/etc. nicknames was under the control of men or corporations. Geri Halliwell. This is ironic seeing as the band itself were popular under their constant depiction of “Girl Power”

(“Ginger Spice”) almost didn’t make it into the group, because she looked older than the other girls; when they asked her age, she reportedly said, “I’m as old as you want me to be. I’ll be 10 with big boobs if you want.”

CREATING BRAND

Often artists/groups are sold as a brand and the music video acts as a product of the brand, in the hope that the audience will be inspired to “buy into the brand”

For some artists the ‘image’ is of greater importance than the quality of the product. The Spice Girls are a good example of this.

Other times it is the song and the meaning of the song that is sold, and the artists ‘image’ has little to do with the sale of the song. An example of this would be Adele.

COMPARING TWO CONTRASTING ARTISTS SIMILAR AND DISSIMILAR TO THE SPICE GIRLS Lady Gaga

Bad Romance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I

Adele

Someone Like You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQl3WQQoQ0

LADY GAGA Lady is a perfect example of someone who is presented under laura Mulveys views of media. The male gaze is used frequently throughout a lot of her music videos where she is depicted as somewhat of a sexual object under a mans dominant command, or at least this is what seams to be the case in “Bad Romance”

Because of this heavy focus on the high production value music video, costume design, and scenery there is little focus left on the actual production of the song or at least the general sound of the music.

She appears in all of he music videos in very little clothing and with somewhat of an abstract and/or weird twist on that of either the costumes, scenery, storyline or all of the above. An example of this is seen in the unique crown like costumes of “Bad Romance” and the golden bearded man who she is being auctioned off to.

ADELE Adele on the other hand is on the complete opposite spectrum in terms of media and how media presents woman and music in general.

Adele’s music videos focus heavily on only her music and the tone of her voice as well as the lyrics of which she is singing, there is hardly any focus on that of the music video and any effort that is put into the music video is only there to further enhance the impact that the lyrics would have on the listener. An example of this is the black and white colour scale throughout the entire of Adele's widely famous song known as “Someone like You”.

As for Laura Mulveys theory, Adele is not presented through the eyes of a male gaze unlike that of the spice girls and lady gaga. Instead there is quite a lo of camera angles used where the main focus of the music video is her face and her facial expressions, this further exaggerates the seriousness and deep feelings that her songs portray.

The mise – en – scene that she uses also displays this character of not viewed through the male gaze and most of the time she is dressed as that of an “ordinary person” this is so that people can relate to her and take more interest in her and her music therefore making her and her producers more money.