Evaluation 1st Draft

For my research investigation I chose to research into how men are represented differently in mainstream music 'vs' Alternative 'underground' music. I chose to look at the hip-hop and rap genre because of how it is a very male dominated genre and explored how men were represented depending on if they were a mainstream or underground artist. I first started looking at Matthew Hall and Angela Mc Robbie because of how they looked at traditional gender roles in the media. The stereotypical male was shown to be; powerful, masculine, dominant, aggressive and rebellious. We see these traits represented by male artists in mainstream and underground music however in mainstream music they are much more positive representations and no where near as exaggerated in underground music. I found that underground artist had much more freedom and would tend to represent themselves by exaggerating this stereotypical male representation. Underground artist have much more freedom in what they create because they have gained their dedicated fan base. However mainstream artist are tied to a record label and need to positively represent themselves as the label want them too to be able to still be shown as 'stars' to their fans and be able to sell merchandise and albums. 

For my music video production I worked in a group and we chose to create a music video for a Korean song called 'That XX' by a Korean artist named 'G-Dragon'. We chose this song so it would link with each of our research investigations. I feel that it links well with my research investigation because of how G-Dragon is a mainstream rap artist and I have chosen to go with creating an unconventional underground style music video. 

I think choosing a korean song was a good idea because of how lyrics didn't matter and we could choose a subject which is not normally portrayed in the media and create our own music. Choosing a subject that isn't normally represented also shows freedom which underground music videos show. For the video we chose the subject of mental health and created a small love story narrative out of this. Using a narrative in its self is something that is not normally used in underground music videos because the artists want to express themselves through their actions and lyrics. I found that when looking at mainstream music that even though men were represented as powerful, dominant etc and that women in the video were there to make the power balance shift slightly and for the men to be inferior to the female character. In my music Video I went unconventional to underground music videos by covering up the female character (making her wear a full body covered onesie). We gave the female character a role as the imaginary friend to make it as the male character in the video needed the female character to keep strong and stay happy because of the pain he was going through because of his mental health problems. It is shown in the video through a close up of medication pills at the start to show how he is mentally ill. There are also many editing cuts throughout showing that his unicorn friend isn't real by showing shots of the imaginary friend character and showing shots of the small toy that the male character is holding. I feel that we structured our music video well too show that the unicorn friend was imaginary, however I feel that we could of made the medication aspect of the narrative much clearer maybe with a scene of the male character going to the pharmacy. 

I also went unconventional by how the main male character is an outsider. In the narrative we also use another female character to follow the male and make weird facial expressions every time she sees him. Using this other character shows how the male character is an outsider and different and strange. In underground music videos the male artist/character is normally the centre of attention with all the power. We also show the stereotypical manner of men 'Aggression' through the male character throwing the toy out the window and being upset in the end. I feel that our music video turned out well but found it quite hard to figure out ideas on how to include all our research investigations. I feel that we could've thought of a better way to be able to link all of our research investigations topics together.