Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Conventions - Conventions of music videos in your particular genre (Ella Croft)
Our music
video has an Indie genre as we are doing “Let it go” by James Bay.
Indie bands
tend to use performance based music videos such as Imagine Dragons with “Radioactive.”
This way the main focus is on
them as performers doing what they love to do. It also keeps the focus on the
actual music itself and the talent that the artists have. We have decided to do
a narrative video following Andre Goodwin’s theory of relationships between lyrics
and visuals. A narrative video is used to tell a story throughout the video by
using a sequence of images and videos that relate to the song. This is done in a
way that makes sense to the audience so they can follow and understand the
relationship with the lyrics.
Mise en
scene is very important for the conventions of a music video. For an Indie
music video you need to have a distinct style. For example: costume is
important to establish who the artist is. For example Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus
wear very outgoing outfits to show how wild their character is.
So an Indie
singer may wear a casual laid back outfit to show that’s what his personality
is. Or if they are an Indie rock singer they would wear black leather jacket and boots.
Makeup is also used to portray a character. Someone in an Indie rock band
may wear dark eye make up to show their genre. It all down to how you want to
be seen as an artist.
Props are also an important convention for a music video.
An example of props being used is in the music video “Pretty Girls” by Britney
Spears she uses a nail file while singing to show the audience she is very
girly.
In an Indie music video a guitar may be used to show he’s musical, or a photo
frame may be shown to show he is heartbroken over a girl.
Camera shots
are used in Indie music videos, close ups are commonly used to show artist
emotions and feelings. Close ups a convention of indie music videos so the artist can be seen in a certain way. Full length shots should also be used to show the setting
of the video and also give the audience a clear view of the artists and their
outfits. This is important in an Indie music video as a lot of artists are seen
as style icons. This is also good to show body positioning so the audience know
how the artist feels in the video.
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
You found me- The Fray (Homework) Ella Croft
You found me- The Fray (Homework)
Genre: I
would say this genre is Indie. This genre is very specific as it has a romantic
theme going on such as “You found me “meaning two people found each other. I
wouldn’t say this song is very obvious with its genre but I would say Pop as it
is a boy band singing about love. Pop music mostly aims at a teenage audience
which this song does.
Conventions:
Lyrics such as “Where were you”, and “I’ve been calling” can imitate a break
up. A romantic break up could be the story line for this song.
Iconography: In the music video certain edits show how the
artist is feeling for example there is a 2 second shot of a female lying on the
floor with her eyes shut with paramedics around her. It then jumps to the main
singer saying “where were you.” This could show that he is waiting for her to
come see him but she has had an accident. The story line could be about losing
someone you love. When the lyrics “Losing her, the only one that has ever
known” it is an edit of him looking down in the dark and then a short edit of
the girl being taken away in an ambulance. This shows his sadness about losing
her as well as the video showing us what’s going on in his head.
Generic
themes: The themes of the texts its self are a little confusing for example the
lyrics “On the corner of First and Amistad.” The word “Amistad” means
friendship which could imply that the girl he is singing about is only a friend
however later on in the song the lyrics are “Everyone ends up alone, losing
her” This could imply that he lost the girl he loves which contrasts with the
quote before. I believe the lyrics are feeling him about his heartache “Losing
her” and his frustration with himself “Who I'm not, who I wanna be.”
Characters:
In the music videos there are two main characters one is the main singer. He is
being portrayed as a sad man who is frustrated about losing the girl he loves.
The other main character is the girl who has been in an accident, she makes it
clear that it is her he is sad about. There are also less important characters
such as a little boy who looks up to him.
Expectations:
I would say the text fulfills the audience’s expectations as it is very clear
that it is a romance with a heartbreak. The lyrics are also repeated a lot to
show the listener that he is trying to tell you something about how he’s feeling
for example “Lost and Insecure” is repeated three times.
I believe that the text does
go with the characteristics of pop music. Pop music usually includes
- Aims to
appeal to a wide audience, rather than any subculture or ideology.
- Verse-chorus
song structure.
- Recording
and production is considered more important than live performance.
- Usually
around 3 minutes in duration.
- Dance
orientated rhythms.
- Attempts
to follow current pop culture trends.
- Focus
on melodies and catchy hooks.
- Chorus
usually contrasts melodically and rhythmically with the verse.
I believe
this song can link to all of these bullet points. However as this song is more
slow paces then a lot of other pop songs this could mean that people can’t
dance to it which is one of the main features of pop music. I also believe this
song is a mic between rock and pop because of the pace and instrumental choice.
Friday, 11 September 2015
Intertextuality - By Ella Croft
Intertextuality in music
In Andrew
Goodwin's theory we came across the word of "intertextuality”. A lot of
artist have made sure they include intertextuality into their music videos to
make specific references to significant events, people or pictures. The term Intertextuality refers to the process
of creating references to any kind of media text via another media text. In
other words Intertextuality for a type of media (film, television, music etc.)
to pay respect to another media text.
Examples:
·
Taylor
Swift- ‘Love story’: the lyrics of this song talk about Romeo and Juliette.
This video is made to look like a modernized version of the story, relating
more to the lyrics of the song.
·
Robbie
Williams- ‘You know me’: This video features the artist being taken to an
‘Alice in wonderland’ style setting with Robbie Williams dressed up as the
rabbit from the film. This creates intertextuality between the film and his
music video.
·
One
of the most well-known examples of intertextuality is Madonna "Material Girl".
In her music video she includes clear reference to Marilyn Monroe in
"Diamonds are forever" in the way that she is portrayed in the
background maybe by the way she is dressed. People who saw this video were able
to know where the reference and inspiration is from because it was such a
ground breaking Marilyn Monroe moment. In the end this gained more viewers for
Madonna as
she related to a Marilyn Monroe who is a role model to many people.
·
The song "Decode" by a popular band called Paramore uses intertextuality in their music video to make it more interesting for the viewer. In this particular music video references from the film Twilight are used. This video uses clips from the film in the music video where it fits with what’s being sung or what type of image they are trying to get across.
I believe
intertextuality is used to attract an audience. Intertextuality would appeal to
the audience as they can relate to what is going on. This is especially popular
when music videos make intertextual links to films such as “Love Story”, “You
know me” and “Decode.” Since films build up such a big fan base. Intertextuality
can be an incredibly effective to deepen the themes and ideas in your music
video, or to show characters in a subtle way.
It’s all about your personal preference and the style of the work you
are trying to show in your video.
I don’t
think I will use intertextuality in my music video as it doesn’t suit the song
I would like to do. If we do use intertextuality in our music video it most likely
won't be something that is extremely well known because recreations of popular
references wont suit our music video of “Let it go” by James Bay. We have
decided not to do so because if we didn’t pull it of correctly it would look
tacky and people wouldn’t understand why it was included.
Thursday, 3 September 2015
Evaluating AS - Research and Planning
Research and planning helped me when I made my magazine as a had a large understanding of everything I had to include such as the codes and conventions.
My research into genres really helped me as I could look into all the genres then pick one that would suit my style. Once I found my genre which was rock I was them able to look specifically a rock music magazines. I was able to look into colour schemes, and costume.
My research into audiences did help me in the long term as I was able to see into what people look for in magazines. Such as what type of information to include. I conducted a questionnaire to see what people my age would like in a magazine. Next time I would like to ask a larger range of ages so that I can attract people other than teenagers.
For my pre-production planning I mainly focused on photography for the front of my magazine. I held a photo shoot and got around 200 photos. I then narrowed the photography down to 20 and went from there. I also looked into what kind of language rock magazines used so I could make it completely clear that my magazine was a rock magazine not confused with pop.
I believe that my planning was effective as I found it very easy in the production phase to just get on with it. I was able to set out my magazine layout quickly as I had spent the time drawing out a ruff idea.
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Prelim evaluation
1.
Research and
Planning is very important for the making of a music video because it lays out
the initial ideas of the video. This way you have a better understanding of
what you need such as costume, props, actors etc. Research helped us with our
production, as we were able to look into the video we were imitating very
closely. We made a timeline of every single little thing we needed to include.
This meant that when the time came to film we had a list of things we needed to
do and didn’t have to look back at the video once. We also had a greater
understanding of the editing that needed to be included.
2. The technology we used for our music video was… A camera for the filming of the video. An
iPhone to watch the video on our phone while we were filming for further
guidance. A mac computer for the editing where we used a software called Final
cut Pro.
3. We had a few technical difficulties with the camera
its self. We had filmed at least half of our video and when it came to looking
at the clips we had created they ere all gone. Since this sent us into panic
mode as we had a very short space of time to create the video. To overcome this
set back we decided to film everything again but on a iPhone 6 to save time. We
had a greater understanding of how to use an iPhone so we felt more comfortable
that we could get it down quickly.
4. Our music video worked out really well as we all
worked well as a team. Everyone had their own individual job to get down
meaning we could get it done really quickly. I believe that our editing and
costume worked the best as we really adapted it to our surroundings and what we
thought would work best with the equipment that we had.
5. This prelim task has helped me learn everything I need
to know about mailing my own music video for example how research and planning
is very important and saves you time in the long term. I will be able to look
back at what I have down to aid me when I complete my next one.
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