Reflecting On the AS Year

The technical skills that AS Media helped us to develop...

Whilst being caught up in all of the preparation, rapid filming, and endless editing during our AS year, me and my group were gradually learning new things through the experience without much realisation. Now in hindsight it is clear that much progression has been made and we have developed a range of useful technical skills through practical experience.

 

Some of the key skills that we developed include:

Thinking creatively - instigating ideas for the plot/sub-genre of our thriller
Working well as part of a team - splitting responsibilities fairly & accepting all individuals' opinions
Time management - planning shots/locations/mise en scene realistically in advance to filming
Being consistent - keeping control of blogs

                                   

Camera -
Camera angles & shots - Using the biggest variety possible, whilst choosing them appropriately to represent events in the right way (e.g. tracking shots for moving characters, high angle shots to represent victim as inferior in thriller)
Operating the camera - applying the correct settings (auto/manual) - connecting additional features such as microphone and lighting

 

 

                         

                                   Editing -

 

 Operating Final cut pro - cutting clips & editing with continuity

Adding transitions and filters to the video

 

Using CamTasia software - producing short pitches/explanations for the blog

 

Foley sounds - Recording them accurately with camera microphone & editing them in at specific parts of the 

time-line to match images (matching video+audio)

 

RESEARCH: Analysing costume, setting and location

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream 

Genre: Pop
 

Locations: 

In the car

Boxing ring 

Car park 

Bed room

Beach

Streets 

Pool

3 base tracks: 

In the car

Car park

In the streets at the end

Costumes

4 changes: 

One at the beginning in the car and in the car park 

One in the bedroom

One at the end in the streets at night

Another in the boxing ring

Props:

Car 

Car keys 

Sunglasses

Punch bag

Bike 

Skateboard 

Ice lolly

Popcorn

 

The location changes to fit to the verse-chorus-verse structure of the song. This is to differentiate between the verses. The costume links to the lyrics as it's about their love being like a teenage dream so they are dressing younger to show this. It links to the locations as casual clothing - jeans and tops - are what most teenagers wear when they go out. The costumes used are typical to the pop genre as it is mostly based in everyday wear. 

The locations shown are popular teenage hang out spots so it would be fitting to the song as well as the costumes as they are wearing what is known to be 'normal' for these places. 

The props shown are significant to the whole 'teenage' theme to it as they all have something to do with hobbies that teenagers may have e.g boxing, skateboarding, going to the cinemas etc. 

Trey Songz - Heart Attack

Genre : R&B

Locations:

8 different locations 

1 in the hospital

3 outside

4 inside

3 base tracks: 

One of him singing in the white shirt

One of him singing in the red jacket

one of them in the car before the crash

Costumes:

7 different costumes. The changes coincide with the location changes

Props:

Car 

Bag

American football

Hospital equipment phone

Bath tub

Shower

Wine glass

TV 

The location changes quite often, but mostly to the structure. The location and the costumes don't have much to do with the lyrics except for the hospital location. This is because the video is just showing the relationship between the artist and his girlfriend. The costumes could link to any genre as they are varied amongst different styles e.g. Formal wear, casual wear, street wear etc. The locations are just in and around the house that the couple live in but the fact that it is a really big house with modern features is typical to the R&B genre as things are often glamourised in these videos. 

The only prop that I think that links to the lyrics is the hospital equipment as they are trying to nurse him back to health. Everything else is just for the video. Often with R&B music videos, things are exaggerated. If they have a house, in a MV you'd see a mansion, if you have a normal swimming pool, they'd have an enormous one with 3 jacuzzis etc. so in a sense the props used in the video would seem typical to this genre. 

RESEARCH: Establishing a genre

Many genres have certain aspects featured in them to make it more easier to differentiate between them. It is important to do this so the audience can recognise what is what without having to thing to hard about it. Because it is done widely people tend to now play to the expectations given to them. 

For example, in a lot of country songs you'd see a lot of earthy tones to the video and it wouldn't be so extravagant. It would have more of a touch with reality to make it more relatable. 

In hip hop videos, things tend to be a whole lot more materialistic and more luxurious. The whole video would look more glamourised to show how wealth has a great effect on them. For example, you'd see the expensive jewellery, cars, houses, drugs and alcohol etc. You may see things that are related to crime such as them getting involved with the police or guns and other things like that. Another thing is that you'd see a lot of women being objectified for the sake of men. This is because the general audience for hip hop is male and by applying the male gaze theory, it keeps the audience attracted to the music. Here are some examples of these features being used to establish the hip hop genre:

French Montana ft Rick Ross, Drake & Lil Wayne - Pop That

Ace Hood ft Future & Rick Ross - Bugatti

RESEARCH: Branding of the Artist

Artist: Jessie J

Album: Alive

Key features highlighted: Black and white colour scheme, statement earrings, black font, minimalistic

Contrast between front and back - day/night

Single Teaser Trailer: 

Key features highlighted: Black and white theme, earrings, switches between black and white background, same font as track listing.

Music Video Single:



Key features highlighted: Black and white colours, earrings, black costume, font is the same as the track listing on the back of the album, minimalistic: only her in a studio

What features can be seen across all of these media products to create a brand identity?

• same colour palette 
• font
• similar costumes - earrings, clothes

RESEARCH - What is the function of a music video?

We enjoy them, but what is their purpose?

Back in MTV's (Music Television's) launch on August 1st 1981, the broadcasting of the first music videos ever produced came as a shock to all music, TV, and multimedia lovers as it combined video and audio together to create overall viewing pleasure.

Here is the original broadcasting of the amazing 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles (the band responsible for putting their lyrics into a story and starting this phenomenon).

However, time and technology has evolved and today music videos are small products that are produced so very frequently by many artists, that the status has slipped into something that is simply expected and taken for granted by the audience. Therefore, the actual purposes and meanings of music videos are things that are overlooked, many are oblivious to the reasons why artists execute these 3 minutes of performance...

A music videos' function is to...

• (Obviously) Create entertainment for the viewer, through performance
• To highlight talents of the artist - create a fan base (promote gigs)
• To make the song memorable - encourage audience investment
•  To promote the song - promote whole album
• Provide viewer with better understanding of the song by telling story (video+audio) - engage & relate

Overall: the purpose is to SELL both the artist and their material!

REFLECTION: AS Skills

Over the course of the AS year, I’ve picked up a number of skills while making the thriller opening. These include:

· Setting up the camera and learning how to use it

· Using of Final Cut Pro to edit – here we used filters, added text, slow motion etc.

· Using a variety of different software e.g. quark, SoundTrack Pro, Camtasia, Photoshop

· How to use rule of thirds

· How to shoot effect match cuts, jump cuts etc.

· How to apply the conventions to our media product

· Using different technology four our blog e.g. prezi, photobucket, slideshare,Wordle etc

· Using our time effectively as we had a short period of time to film and edit
 

 

REFLECTION: AS Music Video Remake

During the end of our AS year, we practised making a mini music video. My group recreated a scene from I Want To Break Free by Queen. Click on the picture below to watch what we did.

 

RESEARCH: Copyright Clearance

Here are a few screen shots of the letters I sent to the labels of British recording artists, asking for copyright clearance so we could use their music for our video.

Song Copyright Clearance

City and Islington College, 

311-312 Goswell Rd,

London,

EC1V 7DD 

4/09/2013

Island Records
22 St Peter Street,
London,
England,
W6 9NW

Dear Island Records,

I am writing to request consent and gain permission to use part of Jessie J's 'Who you are' under your copyright.

I am a student of A Level Media Studies and for my Advanced Portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a new album track. I would like to request permission to use the above track for this project,

The finished project will not be made available publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes. The holder of the original copyright will be fully acknowledged in the finished project.
If you do not hold the rights for this song I should be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person, or return it to me with the contact details in order that I might approach that copyright holder directly.

Yours faithfully
KWard

Kellie Ward
kelliebward@hotmail.co.uk

[Research] Analysing media language: Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis studied editing and camerawork and observed that:
 

-          Continuity rules in music videos are often broken in order to draw attention to what is happening (in contrast to conventional broadcast)

• Obvious edits are used
• Jump cuts are used 
• Base tracks are used to give the music video structure
• Edited at the pace of music

An example of a music video that follows many of these rules is I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift: 

 

-          -The camera movements are shaky in the beginning which breaks the continuity

-          -There are two main base tracks – when she is in the field and when she is shown against the mirror

-          -The editing is very fast, the shot changes approximately every 3 seconds

-           - Camera often follows her movements

-          -Jump cuts are used when the two main characters are walking together which breaks the continuity

Base Tracks:

 

[Research] Laura Mulvey's Theory

‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly.’

·         In my opinion this quote is specific to music genres such as pop, rap, hip hop and R&B as women are often portrayed in a negative way 

·         In many of those videos particular body parts are dismembered (ie close ups are used to draw attention)

·         However, even in those genres there are artists that challenge these ideas such as Missy Elliot and Adele

A perfect example of this is Robin Thicke’s song Blurred Lines: 

A strong sexual imbalance is shown in this music video and the contrast is very obvious – while the artists are wearing black and are fully clothed, the girls in the video are styled in a way which makes them seem promiscuous and are wearing white. This is an example of binary oppositions as the two ideas are juxtaposed against each other. 

A more subtle example of this is Come and Get it by Selena Gomez:

Even though this music video isn’t as explicit as Blurred Lines, it can still be argued that Selena Gomez is styled in a way which presents her as a stereotypical female figure that is made attractive for the male gaze. Despite the presence of a male figure in the video too, the focus is still on her as his face isn’t shown at all.

 

 

[Research] Music Video Conventions by Genre

According to Andrew Goodwin, certain genres in music have particular recognisable features which are typical for that genre. Therefore it’s important to identify the various music genres and the expectations that relate to them.

For example, many indie rock music videos may just be a video of the band playing, including specific shots such as close ups on the instruments and fast pace editing (or editing to the rhythm of the song)

Here is a summary of some of the popular music genres:

[Research] Examples of Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture

After reading about Andrew Goodwin’s theory about the different music video narratives, I’ve found a music video which illustrates the three different types of relations between songs and music videos:

1.)    Illustration: The Only Exception by Paramore

I have chosen The Only Exception as an example of Illustration as the music video is made in a way that directly reflects the lyrics. In the beginning of the songs, she sings about her father and simultaneously there is a scene of her sitting down with him. The story of the lyrics is portrayed in the video very clearly. 

2.)    Amplification: Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran

Even though the lyrics of Everything Has Changed are closely linked the music video, I still think there is another layer of meaning added – while the lyrics explore an adult relationship, there is an element of innocence that has been added by the portrayal of the children, who are also the main characters in the music video.   

3.)    Disjuncture: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson 

 

In Billie Jean, there is evidently no connection between what Michael Jackson is singing and the events taking place in the video. There is a clip of a homeless man, a lady in her house and Michael dancing which do not relate to the lyrics in any way and create a sense of randomness, since he is singing about his love life.

[Research] Andrew Goodwin's Theory

One of the first theories we learned in our A2 Media Studies course was from the book written by Andrew Goodwin, called ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’. His main argument was that traditional narrative analyses can’t be applied to music videos due to three main factors:

1.)    Music videos are based on songs, which don’t usually have a traditional narrative structure

2.)    In music videos the artist can be both the narrator and a character

3.)    Artists look directly in the camera, to make the viewer feel more involved. This is rarely done in conventional broadcast

 He also claimed that the intertextuality between music videos of the same genre cause us (the audience) to form certain expectations of the particular genre due to those recognisable features: in hip hop or heavy metal videos women are often presented as objects of male desire, and songs written for particular movies often incorporate clips/images from the actual movie 

Music video endings – either builds to a climax or to a constant repetition before fading away

There are three types of relations between songs and videos:

1.)    Illustration – literally tells the story of the song; dance can be used to illustrate moods

2.)    Amplification – when the video of a song introduces new elements which add to its layers of meaning, but don’t contradict the lyrics

3.)    Disjuncture – little connection between lyrics and video

[Research] AS Skills

This was my group from last year - here we were working on our Thriller opening

These are some of the skills I've learned from producing my music video remake and thriller:

[Research] AS Music Video Remake

This is the music video remake that me and my group managed to produce during the last few weeks of our AS course. Despite having to remake only a minute of the original video, we learned many new skills which we will be able to utilize this year.

Carol Vernallis Music Video Theory

                   Carol Vernallis - Experiencing Music Video

In 2004, Carol Vernallis (studying editing and camera-work of music videos) proposed a theory as a result of her observations. Her main point stating that editing is much more frequent in music videos than in regular film, due to connecting the image to the rhythm of the song, making the overall video disjunctive. 


She also pointed out other conventions of music videos, including:

• Jump cuts are used frequently
• Edits are purposely made obvious to the audience in order to draw attention (special effects, text, etc)
• Camera moves in time with the music/beat
• Rules of continuity are broken so that it grabs attention of what is on screen

A current music video which supports Carol Vernallis' theory and proves that these conventions are often used is 'Jason Derulo - Talk Dirty'...

RESEARCH: Analysis of a previous student video

Group 25: Katy B – Disappear

https://vimeo.com/55009648

The audience for this video is females. This is because other females may be able to relate to the lyrics of the song as it may be a situation which is common amongst them. The genre of this song would be Dubstep/R&B. You know this straight away from the tone and beat of the song.

The narrative of the video is disjuncture as all you see is the main character performing the song. There are elements of amplification with the pad locks on the gate and when she seems to disappear. You can see a clear structure of verse, chorus, verse etc. as the locations have changed as well as the outfits. They used a lot of base tracks which they cut from to add to the structure.

There were elements of slow motion to fit to the beat as well as quicker cuts when the music was a bit more up tempo. This is to make the video flow with the song.

The video challenges Laura Mulvey’s perception on representation. This is because nothing is being greatly emphasised and she is wearing what is seen to be typically normal for teens. However there are a few tilted pans of her outfits during the video which could suggest that they want to catch the attention of a male audience.

RESEARCH: Laura Mulvey - Representation

Representation comes across many different areas e.g. gender, age ethnicity etc. The most obvious representation shown in music videos is of gender. Laura Mulvey said

‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly.’

What she basically means when she says this is that when you are watching a female perform, it is watched from a males point of view and what they perceive as being the ideal. The male has a more active viewing role whereas the female is seen as the object for the pleasure of males. This representation is shown most often within the Hip Hop and R&B genre.

The artist’s image in a music video is carefully planned out; from their costumes to their hair and makeup to match the narrative that they are going to be placed in for the song. The audience will then break down the representation and interpret it to their understanding. Because of this, we get used to seeing these representations with other similar artists.

An example of a music video portraying the male gaze on female is in Dance (A$$) by Big Sean featuring Nicki Minaj. The video shows different women dancing on top of the artist and a lot of shots that are repeated are closes ups of the women’s body parts.

Females also play into the idea of having the male gaze on them for example in Dance for You by Beyonce. She is seen to be dancing provocatively for the man to see and also she is dressed in a way to make the man lust after her.

However, there are some artists that challenge Mulvey’s idea on representation. For example, in Who You Are by Jessie J. The video to this is simple and she is wearing casual clothing to fit the mood of the song.

RESEARCH: Carol Vernallis - Experiencing Music Video

Carol Vernallis looked closely into the editing and camerawork within a music video. She found that there were more edits in these videos than there is on film. This is so it can stand out as disjuncture. Also it has been seen that these edits are often done to the beat of the song to create a better connection between the audio and visual.

These are the main points of her observation:

·         The usual rules of ‘continuity’ editing are broken so the audience solely base their focus to what is on the screen

·         Edits are very obvious to those watching e.g. wipes and special effects

·         A lot of jump cuts are used to emphasize the pace of the song

·         Cuts back to the base track frequently to give the video some sort of structure

·         The camera moves in time with the music

Here are two examples that follow the conventions of Vernallis’s theory:

Tinie Tempah - Trampoline

Fuse ODG Ft. Wyclef Jean - Antenna

RESEARCH: Andrew Goodwin - Structure of Music Videos

Summary of Goodwin’s Theory

Andrew Goodwin feels that the traditional narrative analyses don’t really apply to pop videos. Here are a few reasons why:

·         The video is built around the song

·         The artist is narrator as well as the character

·         Artist often looks into the camera to engage the audience

·         The video has closure – climax created which then fades into an end

Repetition has a huge role in music videos. The pictures that are repeated within the music video is similar to the way there is repetition of the chorus or any other line. Also, intertextuality means that we have certain expectations that have been established with other music videos within a genre.

Pop videos are often recognisable due to certain aspects featured in them. Michael Jackson was known for his yelps and twirls in his videos. Another feature is that women are often presented as objects of male desire. Artists such as Beyonce deliberately play up to this to grab the attention of males however they directly look at the camera which in turn ceases them from being passive.

Videos also try and reach out to a wider audience as well as attracting their core target audience. Older bands would often show them when they were younger so the older target audience can relate.

Some videos from songs written for movies often incorporate scenes from the movie within the music video to show the link between the two. For example, Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On from Titanic.

Structure

There are three types of relations between songs and videos; Illustration, amplification and disjuncture.

Illustration:
This is where the video tells the story of the lyric. For example, in Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars you can see him draw out certain lyrics he sings.

Amplification:
This is when the video introduces new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning. An example of this would be in Disturbia by Rihanna. The lyrics to this song is quite dark and so is amplified through the jerky camera movements and the darkness of the video itself.



Disjuncture:
This is when there is little or no connection between the lyrics and the video or where the video contradicts the lyrics. An example of this would be in How Many Drinks by Miguel featuring Kendrick Lamar. In this video, all you see is both the artists performing on the stage which has no connection to the lyrics being sung.

RESEARCH: Function of a Music Video

Music videos started being produced around the mid 70's. Before then the only video that would be seen with a song would be a recorded performance of it. The first music video was aired in 1979 on Top of the Pops – it was the first to replace a live performance. The song is called Video Killed the Radio Star by Buggles.



From this video you can see how much has changed in music videos over the years. They have become more sophisticated to enage the audience more as well as selling themselves as a product.

Music videos differ hugely from other things seen on TV such as soaps and other TV dramas. The main reason for this is because it is much shorter. They also have many different shot types which makes it clear to you that you are not watching an ordinary TV programme. Also the pace of the shots is quicker or slower depending on the tempo and the beat of the song. This is to make it flow better. In a way, they could be compared to movie trailers as they do the same job. Just like the trailer would entice you to watch the whole movie, the music video does the same by showing you a sample of the artist’s work in hopes that you would be interested in more.

The main purpose of a music video is to promote the single, the album as well as the artist. To do this to the best of its ability, the video should sell the song in a way that it is memorable to the audience so it stands out, to give the viewer with a better understanding of the song so they can engage with it, and also by entertaining the viewer by highlighting the artist’s talents.



A great example of an artist do this is Michael Jackson in Thriller. Though it is slightly unconventional being almost 14 minutes long it is a great way of selling the single aswell as the album. In the video you see them come out of the theatre with the word ‘THRILLER’ across the top. This reminds you of the name of the single and the album. Also because it has a long narrative at the beginning it gets you hooked on to it to see what is going to happen once the song starts. The video also features a lot of dance moves which causes it to be memorable to the audience as they are very different and unique, whenever you see those moves you would automatically associate it to the song. This song was so popular that it was played 4 times an hour on mtv and is still known worldwide to this day.