Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Choosing a music track
In this lesson we spent a bit of time looking for a music video that we wanted to use for our production. We were given websites with tracks that were not copy right which allowed us to use them. Each member in my group chose three tracks that we liked the best. We then came together to pick a final one. Our decision was a song that i picked called Always on my mind by BigQuan.
Evaluation of student video
Beyonce - Run
the World
The
beginning of the music video, the first shot is located in an open area that
look deserted, there is nothing in the visual apart from the set. During the
jump you see a snap of different locations. A clarified location is outside
Bernard’s barber shop, this is first established when one of the characters
perform a piece of chorography outside in the snow. Another key location that
they used frequently is motorways with cars driving fast and train tracks. Soon
after there is a longs show of the whole group this is used to introduce all of
the characters to the audience and allow the audience to see their location. Another
location that they used is in a tonal this looks effective as they perform
their synchronized dance there. The use of using a number of different location
make the video interesting to watch as there is a lot going on. They use a
bathroom, to create a seductive feel on the audience, a bedroom with money all
over the bed, to represent that she has a lot of money to be able to roll
around it, a complete black set was used with the use of high key lighting,
this was used to make dancers stand out and make them the main focus in the
shot.
There are
a number of different props that they used throughout the video. This helps
make the video more interesting and add to the narrative. Cars are used in the
jump cuts, they are moving at a fast pace to fit with the tempo of the song.
Bottles, ladder, money, American flag appear at some point in the video, they
are all used effectively.
The
costume that they all were is similar to each other as well as to what Beyonce
wears in her video. This shows that they are trying to imitate Beyonce’s style.
The costume is dark, revealing and sexy
all in one. They are wearing all in one outfits this shows their legs
completely they are also wearing leather or fur jackets as well as patterned
tights. The black costume emphases the power and strength that girls have.
At other
parts of the video their costumes change. The main girl changes into an off
white top and in white underwear. The colour could be representing innocence
and good even though her dancing, facial expressions and costume are completely
opposite to what the colour could represent. The last costume change is when
they are in an army outfit. This fits with the narrative of the song as it is
about and army of girls running the world.
The
lighting throughout the video is high key lighting. There are elements when the
lighting is low at different angles, an example of this would be when they are
under the tunnel. The use of high key lighting throughout the video is to make
every movement they perform clear to the audience.
There are
a verity of camera angles in this video each of them portray different things
such as, low angle shots are used when the group are all together to make them
seem as if they are powerful dominant and “run the world” 1min 12sec into the
video there is a low angle shot of the girls walking towards the camera looking
down in the audience, this is an effective camera angle, it makes the audience
feel intimidated by the group of girls walking towards them. Long shots are used to allow the audience to
see the mise-en scene in that shot, as well as the structure that they are
positioned. There are a lot of close ups of the main girl, this is the one with
the ginger hair. The use of close up show her facial expressions and the mid
shot show the audience her body language and how she is portraying herself.
The editing
is of a high standard in this video, it looks like they have put in a lot of
time working on the editing. The start of the video there is a fade in of text
this information is for the examiner board, it fades out after a while and the
video gets started. There are jump cuts from one set to another, in between the
jump cut there is a black screen and a fuzzy effect. This engages the audience
as they don’t know what they expect at this point the pace of the editing is fast.
Jump cut was used to show the passing of time. It showed the main girl at one
point then the second then the third. This was a more interesting way of
getting her from one place to another, rather than the audience just watching
her walk there. An editing technique that they used a number of times is when
the screen flashed and shows the group in two different sets. The effect of
this makes it look like there are more girls. Changing the pace of the editing
is something else that they done. I noticed this when the main girl is in her
scene, at one point she flicks her head the pace of the editing is fast when
she does that but the movement of her hair is slow. She does this coming into
the camera so I think that she is trying to come across scary and intimidating.
The fire in the background is an editing technique that they used, it is
possible that they filmed the girls on green screen and then edited it and
added the fire effect.
I
personally think that this music video produced by A level music students was
of a high standard. I enjoyed watching a re make to Beyonce- Run the world.
They used a lot of effective editing techniques to make their video engage the
audience, their chorography was really good. They used conventions that fit
with this genre e.g. sexual movements, revealing cloths, synergized dancing,
fast pace editing etc
A2 Media Studies - The Killers - Mr Brightside
The
structure to this music video is a narrative as it is telling a story, it is
also performance because you can see the A level students performing.
The
opening to this video is the camera zooming in on an electric guitar. This is
an element of performance.
The first
set that the audience see is in a forest then jump cuts to introduce the first
character a girl in her room then a guy in the bath room. This indicated to the
audience that these two people are somehow part of the narrative. Another set
is in a kitchen this could be used to portray realism. The main location in
this video is the forest where the performance part of the video takes place
then the in a house to portray realism and a naturalistic narrative. There is
another location and that is in a church.
The
costumes that are worn by the band conform to the expectation of this genre
which I would say is rock and have elements of pop as well. They are wearing
black suites with white shirt, tie and one has a waist coat on, the trousers to
their suites are skinny and they are wearing them lower than their waist making
it look less formal.
The
characters in this narrative have a change of clothes but the audience fist see
them dressed casual. This conforms to
the expectation the audience would expect young people to be wearing. You see
them later on getting ready for their wedding so the girl is in a white dress
and the guy has a suite on.
There are
a lot of technical conventions have been used to conform to the expectations of
this genre. Jump cuts are used to cut from one scene to another. The jump cuts
fit the pace of the song. This is key as the visual flows with the audio. The
jump cuts cut from the performance to the narrative. Throughout the whole video
there is a black and white colour effect. This could be used to represent that
he is thinking back in the past of how things used to be and what happened. There
was an effect that was used when the girl and guy were in the care kissing, the
audience could see someone outside the care looking in then he was gone. This
makes the audience feel sorry for him.
The use
of low angles of the couple when they are together could be used to portray the
good time in their relationship as this shot makes them look happy together. A low
angle shot was used after the couple had an argument, the guy was sitting on
the sofa alone this makes him look small and powerless.
When the
camera is on the performance part of the video it pans around the band, to
allow the audience to see all of them. Close up are used to show the audience
the characters facial expressions and emotion.
All the
props use in the video are used to add to the narrative. All the props are used
to portray different things for example the kitchen props are used to create a
sense of realism. The instruments are part of the performance, without them it wouldn’t
be a performance.
over all i think that this music video was really good, the use of black and white clouring was effective. the compination of narrative and performance worked well together. they used a lot of technical conventions this was good as it helped the audience identify the genre through the conventional expectations.
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Codes and Conventions Definition
Codes are systems of signs, which are created meaning. These may
include technical codes, verbal codes and symbolic codes
Technical codes: all the way in which the equipment is used to tell the
story in a media text for example camera work, movement, angles and shot
distance.
Verbal codes: everything to do with language, either written or spoken.
Symbolic codes: show what is beneath the surface of what we see for
example, character actions show you how the character is feeling.
Conventions is widely recognized way of doing something, this has to do
with content, style and form e.g. conventions of a music video might include
length of a song around 4mins and lots of fast pace editing.
Technical conventions: codes and conventions are used together e.g. the
side lighting in a horror is a technical code but this type of lighting is used
in most horrors which makes it a technical convention.
Genre conventions identify which conventions are associated with a
particular genre.
Narrative Theorists and their Theories
Narrative Theorists and their Theories
A narrative
is a sequence of events that happen to let the audience what is happening.
There are several narrative theories’ to analyse.
Tzvetan Todorov
Tzevtan Todorov who
is a Bulgarian philosopher was born 1st March, 1939
in Sofia. Todorov came up with the theory that a story will follow a set
structure to keep the audience engaged and want to continue reading to discover
what happens in the end. A narrative structure is what the audience follows
when they watch a film. It helps them to understand the content of a film and
comprehend the meanings intended by the producer/filmmaker. Tzvetan Todorov
formed the theory of the 'Classic Hollywood narrative'. He believed that a
narrative came in three stages, this was opening with a equilibrium, then
getting disrupted and the equilibrium later getting balanced or either a new or
the opening equilibrium is returned. This theory relates too many films; an
example of this would be “Lord of the Rings”
Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp was born on April 17,
1895 in St. Petersburg to a German family. Vladimir Propp started his theory by broking up fairy
tales into sections. Through these sections he was able to define the tale into
a series of sequences that happened within the Russian fairytale. He discovered
that there was usually 31 functions and 8 character types that he said occurred in all narratives. The 8
character types are:- The villain— struggles against the hero.
- The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and
sends the hero off.
- The (magical) helper — helps the hero in their
quest.
- The princess or prize — the hero deserves her
throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil,
usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he
marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
- Her father — gives the task to the hero,
identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the
narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father
cannot be clearly distinguished.
- The donor
— prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
- The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor,
weds the princess.
- False hero — takes credit for the
hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.
Claude Levi-Strauss
Claude
levi-strauss was a French anthropolo-gist. His research has been adapted by
media theorists to revel underlying themes symbolic oppositions in media text.
They are usually expressed in the form of binary opposites for example
good-bad, hot-cold, light- dark etc.
Roland
Barthes
Roland
Barthes was born on 12 November 1915 in the town of Cherbourg in Normandy.
Roland Barthes' narrative theory claims that
a narrative can be broken down into five codes or sets of rules. These are:Action code- which refers to the events taking place
Enigma code -this is something that is hidden from the audience to create a sense mystery.
Semic code -something that the audience can recognize through characterisation and connection.
symbolic code- symbolism that refers to the connection of a sign . Audience recognition
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