Star Quality Theory

Richard Dyer is a professor in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London. He specialises in cinema, particularly Italian cinema, queer theory and the relationship between entertainment. He also studies the representations of race, sexuality and gender. Dyer was previously a faculty member of the Film Studies Department at the University of Warwick and has held many visiting professorships in the UK, US, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

He suggests that stereotypes perform a number of functions in media representations as well as reinforcing the idea that there are many differences between different types of people. 

Dyer's "Star Theory" is the idea that icons (celebrities) are manufactured by institutions for money only. He believes that stars are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real emotions. They are manufactured by the industry to serve a purpose which is to make money out of the audience who respond to various elements of their personalities by buying albums and becoming fans.

His theory is split into three sections:

1) Audiences and institutions

2) Constituions

3) Hegemony

1) Increasing the brand's identity benefits the media as they become a name which increases sales in all of the platforms. The institution then models the artist/band around the target audience they choose. For example, Lady Gaga was modelled around fashion and homosexuality which would target audiences who are into fashion and who are homosexuals.

2) This is similar to the audience and institution part of his theory. 

3) AKA 'culture', this is the idea that the audience is able to relate to the star because they have a similar feature that they share or admire. This causes some fans to replicate the star in their behaviour, what they are and what they do. This can also have a negative impact as some stars are often heavy drinkers or drug addicts. For example, in the 60s and 70s, there was an increase of illegal drug use due to The Beatles being open about taking drugs. 

The artists share cultural values and attitudes to promote certain ideas in which the audience are interested in. These values enhance their 'star quality' and is conveyed through beliefs, ideas and opinions outside music. Stars may be famous for also starting a fashion trend in which their fans copy their hairstyle or clothing. 

New idea?

My group and I have come up with a few new changes for our music video. This is our new storyboard including the split screen shots featuring the shoes/feet that we will use for our opening.

Video inspiration!

We found this music video by Example which gave us inspiration to do a split screen shot for our opening. We had similar ideas before we saw this music video and we wanted to include feet/shoes to represent the different days featured. Now we have decided to do a similar shot for our opening including both the characters' feet, not just the protagonist. 

Audience feedback

My group and I filmed our friends' opinions on the ending of our music video. We told them two alternative endings - the original one including the reveal of the character's sexuality and another ending including a pessimistic, realistic ending.

Music video inspiration

I was watching a bunch of music videos in order to gain inspiration for our final project and found one that I really liked. I like it because it's different to other music videos because of the use of animation mixed with real life objects and people. I also really like the bursts of bright colours and use of imagination behind props and scenery.

It's not something my group and I will use in our music video as we do not have the skills to create something this good using animation, but it still inspired me to be more creative and quirky which adds to the originality that we want.

Random name generator

This week's lesson was spent thinking about our band and soundtrack name as we are not allowed to use the original band or song names.

We played a game called Random Name Generator and took it in turns to choose a one each - an adjective, verb and noun. It wasn't extremely successful however we took a liking to one name in particular - The Worn Skies.

The reveal

We have been struggling for a while now on the best way to reveal the protagonist's sexuality without making it seem cheesy and cliché. But last lesson, we finally came up with an idea that we all thought was suitable yet subtle:

So our idea (in a clearer explanation) is basically taking a photograph of the protagonist, his girlfriend and another couple on one of their dates or outings. The males will be positioned in the center with their girlfriends on either sides. This will be seen in the middle of the music video and towards the end, when the audience realise who the protagonist really is, they will see the photograph again. But this time, the protagonist will have folded the photograph so that only the two guys will be seen. This suggests that the protagonist is homosexual.