How a star’s image develops over time through music video

The star that I am analysing is Avril Ramona Lavigne. Born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million. In 2002, when she was 17 years old, Lavigne broke onto the music scene with her debut album Let Go. The music genres that Avril has worked in are: Pop rock, power pop, pop punk. In her earliest video ‘Nobody’s home’ she is established as isolated, sad and insecure. This is proved as there is a close up of her crying. This creates an atmosphere of sadness. There is a long shot of her trying to get a ride from the cars passing by. This shot displays her as alone and helpless. Also, there is a montage editing of her singing to the mirror and displaying her felling of distress by gripping a hair for example. This enforces the feeling insecurity and instability. Finally, the colour of the hoodie, hair and eye shadow being black enforces this feeling of depression in this video. Furthermore, we see alot of shots of the roads. This creates the feeling of being on the streets. In her later videos we see that she is gradually getting more confident. In the video ‘When You’re Gone’ we get the feeling she has become more self reliant and confident. High angles of her, which make her look innocent. There is a mid-shot her opening her arms to accept the light. This may be a reference to accepting change. Finally, we see in her costume and make up she is wearing black eye shadow but a white dress. This contrasts. In the video ‘Alice’. Avril is strong headed and resilient. This portrayed when she falls down a hole. The falling down the hole is symbolic of failure. However, the visual motif of her climbing out of the hole is played with her saying ‘Can’t stop me now. This shows her resilience. In montage editing we see that she is trying to find a way out. Finally, there is the shot of her sitting at the table with the mad hatter across. This shows that she is confronted with her madness and decides to leave it. Finally, in the video ‘Smile’ we see that she is presented as positive and rebellious. In the video she is like a ghost and picking up the piece and we that people are smiling because of this. The way the record company attempts to sell the star is through the use of use of close up shots and the number of the amount of shots of the artist. In the ‘Alice’ music video there are small section where Avril Lavigne’s face fades in and out constantly in the video. This gives us focus that who the artist is. I consider that the wider cultural significance of the artist is that she is an example of ‘girl power’. However, in here earlier videos she is presented as isolated and insecure. In contrast, in time her videos have become more rebellious. To conclude, when looking as the journey from Avril Lavigne’ s videos from ‘Nobody’s home’ to ‘Smile’, we see that from insecure, isolated and sad to strong headed and resilient to positive and rebellious.