J.R. Institutional Context

INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT 

DISCLOSURE 

Disclosure are an English electronic music duo, consisting of brothers Guy (born 25 May 1991) and Howard Lawrence (born 11 May 1994).The siblings grew up in Reigate, Surrey. Their debut album Settle, released on 3 June 2013 through PMR, was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards. Matt Hanson considered music videos to be an art which disclosure exemplify with the illustrative video that they have produced for the song ‘you and me’, however in contrast to this many others consider a music video to lack meaning and believe it is simply produced to promote an artist, possibly adding certain qualities to their star image the duo have producing a meta-narrative.

Music Video Still

Music videos can be defined in terms of genre of the track and the encoding of formulaic conventions this is shown in the studies Andrew Goodwing makes (Dancing in the Distraction 1992). When Goodwing’s theory is applied to the music video (You and Me - Disclosure) we witness several features such a fast cutting rate which is emblematic of a Dance song, in addition we are also positioned with a nightclub setting towards the end of the video, another characteristic relating back to the genre of the track and the artist itself as in this nightclub setting we see the band preforming meaning we’re ‘consuming the artist twice’. Also as we are not directly consuming the artist this could be considered that the artist is ‘absent but present’ a term that Goodwing uses to describe current music artists.  In terms of style the track conforms to a more amplified/illustrative interpretation of the lyrics, this helps conform to the genre of the track once again whilst producing visual motives for example her bleach blonde hair which  embedding a rebellious appearance to the track. Close ups aids the visual signifies used in the video as it shows reaction shots which are associated with the story line of the two narratives being caught in what seems to be a financial struggle. Through the voyeurism of the characters in the video we see that there is a fetishism theme running through the which visuals, such a half-naked woman as the opening shot, this may connote the idea that a music video is just a tool for promotion with fetishism aiding this idea. However the artistic approach with the story line introduces an idea that it is not simply just a tool for promotion.

Deconstructing the signifies constructed in the digipak enables audiences to evaluate the text in terms of representations and ideologies. The album ‘Settle’ by Disclosure illustrates the branding tool of the ‘cartoon’ faces which are used in all of their promotional products, furthermore constructing a meta-narrative. The toys boys in this album cover could be interpreted to be the younger version of the two brothers in the duo band of Disclosure, therefore creating a first person mode of address supported by the branding tool which is positioned over the two boys faces reinforcing the idea that this is the two members of the band when they were younger. This paradox of the artists being both absent yet present helps Disclosure become a ‘likable’ band according to Dyer, besides this the album cover connotes the idea that the two brother in the band used to live a normal life shown through the way the ‘boys’ dress in the album cover, a meta-narrative is then created about how the two young boys grew up to become famous DJ’s. Through doing this the duo have now created a para-social interim with the audience which will help promote their image.

Subsidiary media’s such as magazine covers employ semiotics to provide visual signifies or visual signs which are rich in ideological discourse. The duo band of Disclosure (shown) are shown to be positioned in an upside down fashion connoting their rebellious, yet at the same time the text read represents the originality that the two brothers possess, adding to the star image which is vital in promoting their products. The colour of the text is also rich in connotation, the colour scheme of black and blue are often colours associated with teenage boys which indicate the dominant target audience which they aim to please, in addition their clothing also helps signify this idea as their dress code is that typically found in a ‘common’ teenage boy, therefore rather than being over glamorous like mega-pop starts their dress code conforms to their genre of music and once again creating an idea of originality, as their main image presented to us is that they imitate a mischievous pair of brothers.

When looking into the dance genre in the music industry the dominant representations are generally through the music videos exploiting female figures to create a fetishism appeal to the artist, an example would be a half-naked woman dancing to a song in a nightclub. Additionally the dance movement also employ a fast tempo compilation style when creating promotional activity such as a music video, yet we see through the music video (among-st other) by disclosure a meta-narrative is produced through the branding and creates a story line although this challenges the majority of the dance genre we see that it conforms to the paradox of being absent yet present Dyer exclaims is vital when producing subsidiary media within the music industry. In Dyer’s studies he believes that to produce a star in the music industry one must abide by several features which will make them a successful act. With disclosure through subsidiary media we see one of Dyers key concepts come alive, character and personality. Through the way in which the brothers are positioned imply an impish type of personality therefore through producing some sort of character which will add to their star image which is so vital to produce in this modern music industry.

To conclude I believe that through the study of Dyer, we see that music videos are a dynamic way in which a song can be promoted and simply adds to the star image which they create. However to create this ‘star image’ which is considered so vital a mythological set of meanings embedded in stars like Disclosure demonstrates the idea that music videos and subsidiary media are not just  a tool for promotional activity yet embrace values and a set of ideologies which promote a band.