Analysis of Madonna's 'Like A Prayer' music video

In this blog post I am going to be analysing the video below. This video was released in 1989 by Warner Brothers Records. This video has received around 22,000,000 hits on YouTube to date and almost 80,000 'Thumbs Up' along with 10,000 comments. Overall, this video is known all around the world and can be seen as very successful.

What is this music video about?

The music video is based around the idea that Madonna has seen a murder of an assault as a woman and she sees a black man go over and help him (countertype of the stereotype that states that black people would be seen as aggressive) while she runs in fear to the church where she prays to a black Jesus. In other words, the music video shows the tale of a young white woman finding power in interracial harmony and the African American community has its own historical setting. When Madonna dozes off on the church pew she has a dream of being in Heaven and then she is in front of burning crosses. Burning crosses are usually synonymous with the KKK. Here again I believe Madonna was not promoting the KKK obviously but she was again trying to establish the assault on innocence and the context of the burning crosses and the black Jesus fits in perfectly. The cross burnings symbolise the backdrop of hate and what prejudice can create. In this case it was white men attacking a white woman and black man coming to save her. Then the white cops automatically assume since he is black that he did it. 

How is Madonna represented?

Madonna is seen as the centre of the video meaning that it is all about her making the right decision and asking God and Jesus showing her as a synthetic artist and how she is a righteous human being, being a good steward of God. This overall, shows that she is being portrayed as an example towards others (viewers and fans).

Introduction to photoshop

Photoshop is a software, created by adobe, to edit, enhance and or create a new photographic image through the software.

Some users of photoshop say that "It is a skill not a program". This means that photoshop cannot be taught, only learned. In other words a user can only become good and comfortable with the software by using it through practice and experimenting with the program.

There are many basic functions of the program, such as the Lasso and Move. The Lasso function is to select a part of the image (or all) in detail to add or delete from the existing image. The Move function is self explanatory as when selected you can move the image/layer chosen. there is also the Menu's, such as the Select Menu and Edit Menu. The Select Menu allows the user to chose between layers and images, along with enabling them to isolate the layers on that specific tabs. The Edit Menu allows the user to Copy, Paste, Cut and go to the Transform selection, which will grant the selection of choosing if they want to change a specific layer, for example, rotate or enlarge the image on that tab.


There are many do's and don't's when talking about photoshop. First of all it is always a good idea to sort out the idea of what is planned to go in the tab/image, in this case, the digipak. A don't in photoshop it to never 'over' sharpen an image as it can make it look really fake and unrealistic when put onto the photo. Another do is the use of the 'rule of thirds'. This is where the image is split up into a grid and where the lines cross it is also known as hotspots.

My own website and how I built it

http://edwardparadise.wix.com/mysite

This website is based on the British band called Clean Bandit. I created this website while making sure I had the idea of Dyer's Star Theory and Negus' Organic Vs Synthetic Theory. 

This website of Clean Bandit emphasises the organic band which they are instead of the synthetic. This is shown through the idea that there is no face of the band used on this home page. 

Dyer's star theory has been used with my website because I have shown the material about the band, their electronic 'vibe' and the idea that they are doing what they love because they love it not because of the famous reason.

The process of making the website:

My website, created by Wix.com, started off as a pre-created template of a band website and it was edited to make it look as if it was made for Clean Bandit.

After I chose this template of my website I straight away went and added some colour to the website to convey the idea that they are an electronic band. I didn't want to add their faces so I could make sure that it was seen that they were an organic act (Negus' Theory).

When I organised what was going to be the first thing seen on the home page I decided that I would just have their name and that there would be the new song which they released as that was advertised when you enter the 'Official Site'.

I also edited the animation on even the smallest of things. For example with the arrows and how they come to show when the viewer has scrolled down to a specific point. Also, I also edited hyperlinks to Clean Bandit's Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages to extend the websites experience.

Looking at websites

There is much importance of a website and its homepage as this is the most accessible for most of the target audience of which the musician is aiming at. This makes these aspects so crucial as it is going to be the item which grabs the audiences attention and makes them want to explore the site further and learn more about the artist/band.

A homepage of an artist/band's website must include, information about the artist, relevant use of materials (backgrounds and images) linking to the artist or band, tour dates (which allows those visiting the website to easily purchase any tickets where they can see them live) and any music (audio or video) for a sample if those who are on the homepage what to hear the artist's music and make sure they will enjoy it.

Two examples of different artists with different genres are Justin Bieber, who is a well known pop artist aiming at the youth and their generation. This is contrasted to another artist with completely different genre and is called Zac Brown Band and they do country music but their website shows a synthetic band, similar to Justin Bieber's. 

They have both used the same conventions, technical and symbolic. However, it is predominantly symbolic as they bother have got images of themselves (showing a synthetic band) and have the same options to choose from, to view. Technically, they both have a lot of images and videos of the artists.

Overall, the websites as a comparison seem to have similar aspects of conveying the idea that they are synthetic acts and that they are completely different types of musicians (solo and band).

This leads to the conclusion that all websites tend to convey and show the same sort of idea to attract as much of an audience, whether or not the artist is large or small. I have tried to use this idea when producing my own website through the use of Wix.com.

Sigma Research

This research task is about an artist or band within the music industry. My research is aimed at a duo/band called Sigma. They have music videos on YouTube, a website and over 30 albums on iTunes. This is also along with many other ways of receiving their music online, such as Soundcloud.

A music campaign is the combination of different media texts, such as the website, album cover and music video, all of which are meant to raise awareness and artistically promote the artist or band (musician).

This band/duo's genre is mainly dance and house music, which has a target audience of those within a youthful generation and DJ's around the world, especially in England. This target market is given to the youths because the stereotypes of those within this type of age group consists of loud, fun, fast music and partying (a lot).

This duo has a few USP's (Unique Selling Point's), for example, their music style and and music videos. Their music videos and style link with each other as they are both fun and exciting. For example the style of the music itself it fun and is played with parties and making people dance. Throughout the video there is a lot of dancing and partying, along with the use of youthful generations.

All three of these products (website, album covers and videos) linked together in the same way as their USP's do. There is also another reason, which is that there is a high use of colour. This enables the duo to be able to convey the fun and exciting music throughout all three of their media products to their audience and target market (and others who enjoy their music (outside of the stereotype)).

There are specific ideologies with this band/duo, such as, they are seen as a duo who love their music because they love what they do and not because of the idea that all musicians do it for the fame and the money.

Dyer's star theory states that the 'star' artists and musicians (the most famous and most successful ones) are known as and seen to be, according to Dyer, completely different to what they are perceived by their target audience. 

Negus' Organic Vs Synthetic theory is about the idea of how some artists and bands can be one or the other. If a musician is organic it means that they have not adopted their style to receive more viewers and more fame and they are doing what they are doing because they enjoy it. This is the opposite with a synthetic act as that states that they have changed their ways for the record label and their aim is to make money not music.

There is quite little difference between the different products, as stated at the beginning of this post. Along with this, I would say that this campaign, as a whole, has been a success as it has high continuity throughout and represents the duo's music style with the images used.

My Music Preference

My music taste from EdwardParadise

My Introduction To My A2 Blog