Dyer's star theory

Dyer's star theory 

Stars of construction- Many artist use talent shows to break though and make it in the industry, however along the way they are re-branded to appeal to the audience. An example of Leona Lewis from the X factors, she auditioned 2006. In the audition we denote her to look like an average girl in society in terms of looks and style. She's not over done or under done, she's the perfect person for the X factor to build on and turn her into an artist a mainstream audience will like as she is very pretty and has a good voice. She fits under stars of construction in my view as the X factor has transformed her image to appeal to the audience. She has also built up her career through the media as her time in the X factor gave her a lot of publicity as the media like to write about competitions such as the X factor. The publicity also use her transformation as a base to talk about her. However her voice fitted perfectly in the industry at that time and her voice became her unique selling point as it was completely different to any other artist. In my view Leona became a brand/ representation of the X factor, she will always be referred to as the winner of X factor 2006 however out of all the X factor winners she is the most unique.

You can clearly see the transformation of Leona however its not the transformation in the voice but in the look and style.

Stars as product- Some artist are created to fit the gap in the industry such as Justin Bieber, i personal feel like he was signed to attract a young female audience in order to sell albums, tours and merchandise to make money rather than people actually liking his music. He was also style in a certain way when he broke through to look like he did to attract young girls. In my view his voice can't compete with other artist like Beyonce and Justin timberlake, also brands such as dre beats have used bieber in order to sell more products making him a star as products.

Stars of embodiments of culture/ ideologies- Jay z in my view is the biggest embodiment of rap culture. He has been around for many years and has had a big impact on rap. People and artist look up to him, he has become peoples role model. Jay z has also pressed and brought up talk with his triangle trademark as well as his all black everything, he has pressed the idea of rappers wearing all black. He has also made the Yankees hat more famous than the Yankee stadium. However unlike other stars of embodiment he doesn't push ideologies but in my view he plants them deep in his songs, as most of his music videos have triangles seeded deep within.

Stars as personality- I would say that Beyonce is a star as personality as she gives of a good persona, we denote this in most of her interview with her humble way. Also in her music video she's not to explicit and doesn't do anything that you wouldn't expect her to do. Also she appeals to such a wide target audience as well as business mind. We see her trying to better herself to motivate her audience. She also keeps a lot of her personal stuff to herself but still gives her audience what they want with her tour and music videos. We can denote from her performance at the Whitehorse that she has a soft side and we can also she from her documentary life is but a dream that she is willing to open up to show her real side. Lastly we also she her trying to promote healthy eating with her song move your body.

Style and conventions of music video

Style and conventions of music video

Narrative- Music videos use narrative to help the audience understand the song and its meaning as well as makes the video unique and lets the audience remember. The institution would use a narrative in the music video because it makes the artist video unique and allows the audience to remember the music video through the story not just through the music, tells a story through the lyrics in a short film structure. Also as we see Beyonce, the artist of this song we feel closer to her and feel the experience she's going through. Beyonce as an artist tends to use narratives in her music videos as she likes to give her audience more than a performance. The convention of a narrative is mainly love story in music videos.

I personal feel that a narrative in a music video is very conventional, i would like to subvert this to make  my music video a challenge, but if  i was to use a narrative i would make the narrative clear so that its gets the audience involved so that they feel emotion and sympathy for the main character.


Videos the subvert the genre style-  Videos that subvert the genre tend to be made in order to get the audience talking to create word of mouth. They subvert the genre by going against the common conventions. The institution subvert the genre to create word of mouth and buzz around the video. This impacts the audience as it makes the think as they don't usually expect what they see.

I would like to create a video that subvert the genre because it helps move stereotypes or media views from on genre or style away and allows the audience to be active and think about possible connotations in the video.

Interpretative- Interpretive music video's tend to match the story to the lyrics, interpretative music videos tend to exaggerate the lyrics of the song into visuals. Most interpretative music videos are spread global as the videos are so cheesy meaning everybody wants to view it, institutions use this as a chance to promote the song and take advantage of the audience. The audience use interpretative music videos as a chance to socialise as they are easy to talk about.

If i was to use this style in my music video i would conform to the conventions as i feel the convention of creating a story that matches the lyrics makes this style as well as it would be fun to make as i would exaggerate the lyrics.

Impressionist- This music video matches the images to the mood of the song. Institutions would use this style to empathises the song itself and the lyrics. It also highlights the song rather than the artist, institutions use impressionist as it allows the artist to have a choice whether they want to be in the video or not. The audience can get a real feel for the song with impressionist music videos as they can just concentrate on the music rather than the video.

I feel that impressionist music video would be too hard to create as you have to match the image with the mood and tempo of the song. It would also be hard to create as matching the image with tempo is a very hard challenge.

Surrealism/abstract- Surrealism is something that you wouldn't expect to see in reality, surrealism videos make no sense and is mainly unexpected. The institution would use surrealism because it allows the audience to talk about something as the video is surreal, it creates word of mouth because people don't usually denote videos which make no sense. The institution use this to get people talking and attract new audience. However the audience use these videos for word of mouth, also the audience have to really think about the video to try and get an understanding or a meaning of the video.

I would consider using this style in my music video because you can be so creative and do what ever i want as this style has a wide range. There's no limits with this video as it can be as crazy as you like and still fit the style.


Animation- Animation music videos are made of static images which are made to look like they are moving. Sometimes they don't match the song and sometimes the animation has a narrative. The institution would use animation as a unique selling point as it different from what other artist would use. This would impact the audience as its different, it not real therefore they need to think in a new way. The audience also don't get a feel of the artist as they see images rather than the artist them self.

Animation would be a very hard task in order to create a music video as it takes a lot of time and accuracy. If i was to use animation i would make sure that i had a unique point to my video to attract an mainstream and niche audience. I would also consider using Referencing with animation as that would be different. 

Intertextuality- Referencing is commonly used to promote films in the form of a music video, using big artist. However if the audience hasn't heard or seen the film that the music video is promoting they won't be excluded from the music video, they will still enjoy the music video. But if the audience is aware if the reference they know more and can understand deeper meaning. The institution would use referencing in the music video because it helps promote both parties, the artist themselves and the film or thing they are referencing. If the audience haven't heard the song they can still enjoy the music, referencing also give the audience more than what they want.

If i was to use referencing in my music video i would reference something that is very popular and something that everyone knows as people the audience would be attracted to it. I would also mix referencing with a performance from the artist to keep the audience interested. 

Performance- Concerts music video are when the artist perform live to the audience. Concert show how much the artist can do and what they have to offer in terms of entertainment. The institution would use this music video style as it shows that the artist goes out an interact with the audience and also shows that the artist can do more than perform to a screen. Concerts allow the audience to get a feel of the tour if they missed out or if they can't afford tickets, the music video still gives them an insight.

If i used a performance in my music video i would mix the video with a concert performance with a narrative as i think that just a concert is boring to watch, the narrative wouldn't necessarily have to match the concert. 

Most music video's tend to use more than one style to keep the audience attracted and interested in whats happening.