That's a Wrap!: Understanding visual media through the communication of the Hungarian music band "Hooligans"

Absztrakt (kivonat)

Musicians have always been responsible for sharing different meaningful messages and feelings with their audience inspiring them to grow personally or socially. Their means to make their voice uttered are various; they may communicate with their fans via concerts, songs, albums and music videos. Music videos, in contemporary society, have turned into one of the most prominent media that people consume daily. Music videos are a well-established research area with abundant literature in all countries except Hungary. Hungarian researchers have written papers on neither the foreign nor the national music video industry. In the Hungarian media literature, there is insufficient knowledge about Hungarian music videos, their interpretations and their effects on the audience. The current thesis attempts to fill this research gap by analysing the music videos of the most prominent Hungarian music band, Hooligans. A case study approach based on qualitative research methods is applied to gain an understanding of how the audience transfers meaning to visuals, what emotional responses the viewers give to them and whether the music videos are artistic devices. The problem is getting defined from three perspectives: viewers, content creators and media researchers. The study is to emphasise how hard yet beautiful when someone works in the entertainment industry.