Analysis of a Star and Dyers star theory - Miss Miller

There are many reasons as to why n artist may choose to reinvent their image. They may be at a low point in their career and need something new to freshen it up and generate new publicity surrounding them. Another reason could be that they feel they need to be attracting a new target audience in order to further their career. They also may try to enter a new music genre and would reinvent their image in order to fit. The main reason for changing an artists image is always likely to be aimed towards generating more sales. 

One artist that has reinvented their image is the Arctic Monkeys. The Arctic Monkeys started off as a young band new into the indie genre who almost recreated it with their day to day, light hearted lyrical content. But over the years they have transformed into a much more mature rock band who tend to sing about much more serious issues now. They're pace of music has also slowed down and their music has taken on a much darker tone. 

  When The Sun Goes Down - 2006

Fluorescent Adolescent - 2007

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High - 2013

 

In the early music videos Arctic Monkeys released in 2006 and 2007 we see a lot of Goodwins theory applied as they are a new band and are trying to fit into the genre. Firstly in Fluorescent Adolescent we see a clear link between the pace of the music and the lyrics. The pace of the music here is very up beat and fast and in relation to this there is a lot of quick cutting, creating a heavy link between music and the visuals as they are both at a quick pace. Similarly we can see this in When The Sun Goes Down, where the music is at a slow pace at the beginning there are a lot of slow timing of shots, but when the guitar kicks in and the pace of the song is increased the editing becomes quicker; again creating a link between visuals and music.

 In the 2013 music video where the Arctic Monkeys have completed their transition we also see a link between music and visuals however in a much different way. By the time of the release of this music video The Arctic Monkeys had already completed their transition into a much darker group of artists, therefore adopting a much slower style of music. In turn the pace of the visuals in this music video is slow throughout to match the slow pace of the song.

In Fluorescent Adolescent and When The Sun Goes Down the demands of the record label are not clear to be seen. This is because in the early part of The Arctic Monkeys career they were not as well known and therefore their audience did not demand to see them in their music videos; the music was what was in demand. However by the release of Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High, the Arctic Monkeys were a well recognised band around Britain and therefore featuring them in their music videos increased popularity and therefore that is what the record label demanded. As a result of this we see a lot of the members of the band in this video, particularly Alex Turner who the music video is based around.

The final point of Goodwins theory that we can see in these videos is a link between the lyrics and the visuals. In the early videos there a few examples of this as the band were much more edgy then and their lyrics were less meaningful and serious, therefore matching the visuals to the lyrics held less importance. However, as the band grew into a much more serious figure and developed meaningful lyrics, they felt the need to match the visuals to the lyrics. An example of this is in the 2013 music video with the lyric "its 3 in the morning", and soon after we see a shot of his phone and the time is 3:54am. In matching the lyrics and visuals here, the artist is attempting to make the lyrics much more understandable for the audience, allowing them to get there serious tone across.

The new genre that the Arctic Monkeys have joined is rock, where as before they were an indie band. We can see examples of generic conventions of the rock genre in Arctic Monkeys 2013 video in the form of mise en scene. The clothing that Alex Turner is wearing in this video is very stereotypical of the rock genre, he is wearing all black and a leather jacket. Both the colour black and leather jackets are conventions of the rock genre. On the other hand, this music video is quite unconventional to the rock genre as you would usually expect rock artists to be shown playing their instruments in a performance type music video. However here we see a much more narrative/concept based music video.

In the early music videos the artists are portrayed as being young, edgy and light hearted due to their style of music. This also comes across in their music vidoes, especially fluorescent adolescent which is a very light hearted music video which explains the hassles of growing up. In the later music video in 2013, the artists are portrayed as being much more mature and serious, through their new style of music. Dyers theory can be applied in the form of paradox 1, which states the artist must be ordinary and extraordinary. In the 2013 video this is evident as the artist is extraordinary due to their high calibre and the audience are likely to idolise them due to their success. However the music video portrays Alex Turner in an ordinary light as he is walking home through London at night doing ordinary things like trying to get a cab. This makes him relatable to the target audience as he is portrayed in an ordinary light.

The Arctic Monkeys target audience has also changed along with them reinventing themselves. At the beginning the target audience was a much more younger type of people aged 15 - 25 who were attracted to their music which discussed day to day life in there hometown Sheffield. At this stage their music was much more up beat and therefore more entertaining to the younger generation. As they have transformed and become a more serious rock act they have attracted a more mature audience aged 20 - 35. This is due to them slowing their music down and adopting a much deeper tone.

In conclusion, I believe that the Arctic Monkeys are a great example of artists who want to reinvent themselves. They have demonstrated how you can go from being successful in one genre and then be even more successful in another. I believe that their transition is due to the demands that they have given themselves, they felt that they needed to change their music in order to attract a different type of audience. I will use this research to help me with my music video as it has enabled me to see why artits may change themselves in order to generate publicity. It will also help me decide on an artist that has a clear target audience, which is vital as it will allow me to insert the conventions of their genre in the music video.