Genre Conventions/History of Medium /Conventions of Form

Initial Ideas

As I analysed the lyrics to my chosen song, it was apparent that they were talking about love or drugs.

Initial Idea One

For my initial idea I thought that I could take an abstract approach by using different cinematography and mise-en-scene similar to Rihanna's music video for drug scenes or connoting how my main talent is "out of control" with fast camera movements, fast editing and body movements.

In a similar style to this music video below.

To reinforce the drug use, these fast scenes will be quick 3-5 second long clips, which will be good to repeat as they aren't a long duration. As my narrative will develop showing how alone my actress is and the lyrics "you have forsaken all the love you've taken" represents how people have tried to help and eventually left her; Therefore, by having different shots of her on her own, will reinforce this.

During my video I want to have a male actor to act as the bands lead singer, and lip sync. I will film this in a creative way by having a box light (which I have as I am a photographer) set up and my actor in  front of it lip syncing which will create a figure when I come to edit it in black and white. Here is a diagram of what I have been explaining. 

When in black and white I'm hoping it will be look professional and creative. I got this idea from a music video I saw on a music channel however I can't remember the song which I can't use as a reference. 

The next two ideas are more of a narrative approach.

Initial Idea Two

Beginning - The girl has push everyone away due to drug use which makes her feel alone. This could be filmed by filming a close up on her face when she is walking down a street with people walking past - With them not talking or looking at her shows how alone she is.
Middle - The girl goes off the rails and goes "wild" on drugs. This could be shown by fast cinematography and different shots to connote the effect of the drugs on the girl.
End - The girl decides to turn her life around and gets drugs out her life - feels relaxed and a new woman at a beach.

Initial Idea Three

Beginning - Girl is in Love and pushes the guy away so she is alone.
Middle - Girl goes off the rails and parties which involves "getting" with guys on a night out. 
End - Girl realizes what she has done and wants to get back with her boyfriend. 

The initial idea two and three will include both elements of abstract filming - However I  am going to use the narrative of my Initial Idea Two along with the abstract elements of my Initial idea one.  

Timings & Lyric Analysis to my Chosen Music

Textual Analysis Of 3 Music Videos - Video 3

                                          

I have chosen to do a textual analysis on this music video as it mostly consists of a performance from the band throughout the text, however it has a sequence of shots of girls. This is done in relation to the lyrics by reinforcing them visually.I could relate this to a theorist called Laura Mulvey who believed that cinematography emphasized the way we look at women, how women look at women, and how women look at themselves personally. This video can be an example of her theory as one of the backdrops to the bands set up is a woman looking glamours with her hair in a 1950's hairstyle as seen below.

Women were gaining more independence in the 50's and I believe that the mise-en-scene used (hair styles and costumes) shows how they are becoming more sexually confident as at 2:18 suspenders are in a shot and then pan up her body whilst tracking her hand which is holding a pair of scissors which then cut her buttons off her dress.
This cinematography relates to Laura's theory but it is being used to reinforce the lyrics in the song for example, 

My motivation is gone too soon

Good vibrations all over you
Act like you mean it, you mean it
You gotta story you never tell
Down in the Delta, they’re ringing bells
I’ve never seen it, seen it
Back of my mind, I’m on my way
I see through smiles on every face
I don’t believe it, believe it

‘Cause I’m the super soaker, red white and blew ‘em all away
With the kisses unclean as the words that you say

I don’t mind sentimental girls at times
Miss don’t walk away, walk away

These lyrics suggest how the songwriter is giving up on women as he begins with singing how his motivation is gone too soon, and also how women may lie for example when he sings "act like you mean it". The lyrics talking about marriage implying that the woman/women he is singing about my be married and being cheeky with other men. 

The fact that the chorus lyrics are "sentimental girls" could imply that he's liked/loved a number of girls which he thinks are special to him but they are all the same as every woman in the video is portrayed to be in the way they act; For example, blowing bubbles with gum, cutting buttons off their dresses, and sat on a car bonnet in a sort skirt eating sweets. 

When we get to 3:11 in the video we can see how the colour of the woman in the backdrops eyes turn red which connote how in the singer/song writers views are of women to be evil and mess about with his/mens feelings as there is "teenage head" written on a wall which reinforces how the women are acting childish. 

I feel that not everyone will interpret the video in the same way due to the iconography of short shorts, sweets and suspenders along with lyrics. 

Textual Analysis Of 3 Music Videos - Video 2

My notes from this music video are in the image below. 

The music video begins with a tracking shot of the main talents feet and a shopping trolleys wheels. We associate trolleys away from supermarket grounds with young people "having a laugh" and up to mischief. However, as the trolley is being pushed, it goes over used needles and in the foreground of the shot in the distance which is blurred, we can see white plastic bags. This further reinforces the fact that this music video is shot in a "rough" stereotypical area which is coded for drug use and etc. To emphasize this point, the cinematography quick cuts to a location shot. The camera is still whilst the main talent is pushing large objects in the trolley from right to left of the shot showing the rubbish. 

As the music video progresses, more location shots are used of stereotypical council flats. These shots are used to create realism to the audience due to how we relate chavs, gangs and rough environments from this. In the next shot we are shown the main talent in a square surrounded by the flats, this represents how he is trapped in this environment and is alone. Medium shots are used when we finally see our main talent sat facing the drum kit. When he tilts his head, editing of shots are used to create the day shot to be night, however continuity is present as the main talent is in he same position. We then quick cut and edit back to a day shot (medium shot) - This allows the foreground of an old poster board to attract our attention. When the main talent begins to play the drum kit in front of him, the lights flicker which could connote how a stage would light up when a band begins to play or how playing the drums makes him enjoy himself and feel better regardless of the environment he lives in and is surrounded by.

Throughout this music video there is a slight repetition with the use of close-ups of the main talent, his instrument, the medium shot of the main talent and his instrument and location shots of the main talent in the square (long shot).  High and low angle shots on the other hand aren't use so frequently through the video, however, these being less regular allow the audience to not get bored of the video as even though the frame of the shot itself is different, the way it is shot isn't. This is a good way to keep the audience watching. 

In this music video I have already established the use of stereotypes being coded for in this music video (seen below). However, at 1.55 into the music video, this stereotype of "chav" comes into the shot throwing chips at our main talent; This reinforces the idea of the certain types of people we would establish with council flats.

At 2.50 in the music video, a school girl pours milk into the main talents mouth as he is obviously warm from playing his instrument non-stop. Relating this to Laura  Mulvey's male gaze and how men are more dominant over women... This is shown how a school girl is used rather then a girl the main talents age to show how he is more dominant over the school girl as school girls are seen to be vulnerable and the fact that a medium frame is used when filming her represents how he is more dominant as she is not filling the frame, only a third in some cases. Even though he is the protagonist in the music video we still know how he is more dominant over the young school girl due to our association with the cinematography and a theory which most people think is true (me being dominant over women in general). 

The next shot, in my opinion doesn't allow the music video to have continuity throughout as this is in a different mise-en-scene and looks more abstract rather than the realism used by the for key elements in the rest of the music video. 

As the actor in this music video carries on the play the drums at 3:00 he has played until his hands have bled which keeps the audience guessing weather the song has ended or not as the music as the music stops playing which stops when the actor does too. The drumming begins again after the actor looks at his hands in a proud mannerism.

Finally a man whom of which I presume is living in the neighborhood, lifts his head whilst holding a bat in a mid close up shot which reinforces his anger and the use of lighting creates shadows due to his expression on his face. This represents how sick he is of the music; however the music stops just before he hits the boy playing the drums.This could be a connotation on the society we live in today, instead of asking the boy to move on he'd assault him. Is our society seen this way? I believe this is showing life of a lower social class however involving a matter which we can all take into account which is to "think before we do". This is relating to the theory of Tessa Perkins stereotyping. Her theory suggests how not all stereotypes are negative which is shown by the main talent in this music video as he is playing the drums to block out the reality around him. In this music video he is seen to be the protagonist and the stereotypical chavs and the man with the bat (at the end of the video) are seen as the antagonists for the short period of time they are in the music video. This could also relate to Levi Strauss' Theory of binary opposites as we have both protagonist and antagonist in this music video even though the narrative is limited. It is more of a visual/abstract music video rather than a narrative between the protagonist and antagonist however it helps us to understand the stereotype we'd expect from the location the music video is shot at.

Textual Analysis Of 3 music Videos - Video 1

The opening scene of this video begins with a rectangle in white which is a recognizable logo for the band, beginning with this logo allows the audience to see that the music video is by the band "The 1975" before the artists even appear in the video. Linking in from the logo of the first scene, there is a fade edit used to fade the logo out and the singer in. Doing this reinforces that the song is by this band as this scene continues to show members of the band playing their instruments. This genre is indie/soft rock, the conventions of this video are verisimilitude to rock music as they're usually is a band playing their instruments but this is slightly different as it also tells a narrative by the use of the lyrics and what happens within this video also reinforces the lyrics as when the lyrics 'With nothing but your t-shirt on' there is a woman with no shirt on. 

Within music videos there is a lot of repetition of shots or shots that look very similar to each other for example, in this music video, in the first few shots we are shown the band playing there instruments and the singer singing then we go so a shot of a character (which is representing the narrative whilst reinforcing the lyrics), and then back to the band playing their instruments but then the second time we go back to a character, it is not the same person, this is done because the conventions of the mise-en-scene (the character wearing their hood up and looking upset) allows whoever the audience may be to relate to the video as most people have gone through an argument between their boyfriend/girlfriend and involving men and women in this video allows this to create realism and verisimilitude.  

There are various types of cinematography used such as still shots being, close ups, medium close ups and some long shots. Although the director has used various still shots he has also used tracking. For example when the members of the band are moving of the spot and move their body to the left, the camera tracts to the right - this is done on one of the medium close ups of the chest below.

The development of this narrative is shown through the characters of the video and by the projections on their body. When the lyrics 'If you wonna find love then you know where the city is' A city projection is projected on to a body of a man to link in with the story of the narrative.

Also in this video, there is a projection with the words "sex shop" and triple x projected onto a woman. We would not sterotype women to go and have sexual relations casually, although, as this song is about heart break and sung by a man, this would suggested an opinion of the woman by the audience as a 'slut' or 'cheat'. This sterotype is all treated by the lyrics and mise-en-scene of the video. 

As a general statement, the cinematography is smooth and consists of medium, close up and long shots; however the editing allows this video to looks smooth but the quick cuts from each shot taken. By not staying on the same shot for a long period of time (I this case more than 10 seconds) it keeps the viewer intrigued to carry on watching it. 

I believe the video is edited to be in black and white so that the viewer consimtrates more to the music/natrrative the lyrics produce rather than the narrative in the video. What I mean from this is that some music videos, such as this one have the same narrative in the video as the lyrics; but arctic monkeys have a music video called  'leave before the lights come on' which I found that I consimtrated more on the video than actually listening to the song. In some aspects you can relate the video to the lyrics but most viewers will just understand the narrative of the video than the lyrics. 

This music video consists of 2 out of 3 of the narrative structure. It is a perforamance as for the projections and camera movement but it is narrative which projects the same story as the lyrics do.

Skill Development Evaluation Essay

Within this evaluation I will be detailing my development through different aspects of my media experience in my first year of AS. 

The first step into my AS course work was to research into pre-existing media texts. Researching into magazines developed my knowledge of the usual conventions of this particular type of media text; Also, this helped me develop my use of media language through my analysis work of  front cover pages, content pages and double page spreads. Through this stage of the course my class and I spent a lot of time researching for about 2-3 weeks. I found this beneficial as when I came to plan my music magazine front cover, contents page  and double page spread, I found it simple enough to include conventions of a professional magazine and to notice when and how to apply them within my coursework. The prezi files below show my analysis and some research. In this research I began to look at different magazine texts of the same genre to understand the obvious elements of a magazine were.

I can apply this similar way into researching for my A2 coursework; that being a music video.  I can analyse different music videos of the same genre and pick out if they are more of a performance – artistic- or have a narrative within the video which may or may not match the lyrics (just like analysing different magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads of the same genre). I could also pick out the conventions such as cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing instead of mast head and etc. of a magazine.

In the planning process I believe I developed my creativity greatly then from that start of the course as the examples of professional magazines inspired me and gave me ideas to combine into one magazine front cover, double page spread and contents page. I chose a similar font to vogue magazine, but made it italic to look different. And I also chose some conventions and placed them in the same place on my magazine as professional magazines did to create realism.

For example, this was my first box plan of my music magazine to the left and my final to the right Along with my first and last products, but this was only possible through many experiments on photoshop and much research into media texts.  

For the two images of my final outcome of my magazine and college magazine I answered this question for my AS coursework below and I feel it explains how I have developed my creativity and skills of research/planning and how I have viewed my work.

‘Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

With my college magazine I challenged the conventions of a magazine as you can clearly see from my layout. My text isn't on the left hand side of the magazine and my mast head isn't bigger than the main cover line. I placed a black rectangle box to the right of the page to cover a distraction in the photograph but looking back, it simply looks as a small image. From this preliminary task, I have learnt that it is best to research thoroughly before drafting out a product. By looking at existing products I was able to relate and plan from inspiration of them by looking at magazines of the same music genre. The research for these products, I believe, is the most important aspect to this task as it gives a guide line of what you must include and collect inspiration from them.  The elements you must include are the conventions such as mast head, bar code, main cover line, image, date, price and issue number. From here it’s the other context that makes a magazine, like a website, slogan, plug splash and logos to attract the targeted audience. My preliminary task does not include a price, issue number, it only contains the date. This is a very bad mistake I made and clearly did not plan out as this is one of the main conventions of a magazine!

I didn't experiment much with my college magazine with different use of texts and Photoshop tools as you can obviously see as it isn't very creative. ‘

I believe with the time I had to do many experiments with layouts, text font, colour choosing and the skills I developed from digital technology have helped my creativity to develop. My development in digital technology has improved greatly from the start of my AS course. When I first began I hadn't used Photoshop before and now through much practice I have learnt how to use most tools in the program to create a particular effect to make my work look much more professional and to be verisimilitude to today's adverts/magazines.
Now I know that to produce the best work I can, I must experiment and take some risks. Applying this to my A2 coursework will be to video lots of shots in different frames and movements along with editing using different effects until I produce a product I will be pleased with.

As I person I feel that I have matured in the type of language I use, how I present my work and how I look at professional work when I research; For example, I now look at examples of videos and become inspired to use some shots or ideas which are the same – intertextual/ intertextual conventions. Although, sometimes after I have thought about how I will produce a shot of a similar outcome I realise this may be too difficult as I will be limited for certain props or locations. I certainly feel that I can research and plan well enough to produce a music video of a high standard. Furthermore, I also feel that when I go to university I will be able to apply these skills to my work and when I go on to get a job as I believe these skills are adaptable to different environments and different work.

Story board of music video I am inspired by - summer task