Theories Of Representation

Women

• Women are often sexualised in today's media however you could say in the modern day music video women are hyper-sexualised.
• This is often done through provocative dancing.
• Women asserting their Femininity and expressing themselves sexually.
• This is very damaging and problematic as if a male was seen doing the same types of things it would often be taking very offensively by the audience.

Laura Mulvey

She suggest:

• Women are objectified and connoted "to-be-looked-at-ness" in films.
• Women become an object to desire and are positioned for the pleasure of the male viewer.
• women are positioned for "the male gaze".

Challenging Representation

• Some female artist such as Adele, Meghan Trainor and Lorde nowadays often challenge these stereotypes and rarely sexualise themselves.
• These artists subvert expectations offering empowering lyrics and stunning vocals.

Men

• The more a man conforms to today's stereotypes of masculinity the more he is viewed as a "real man".
• Despite masculinity undergoing a drastic change in recent times the four main themes of hegemonic masculinity of the male sex role are still the same, stoic, aggressive, dependable and not feminine.

Hegemonic Masculinity

• This is the competitive nature of a male to be dominant over other males and subordinate females.
• Common characteristics of this are, drive, ambition, claims to self-reliance, misogynistic and being the aggressor.
• This is very evident in todays music as the male always seems to be the dominate character in most cases such as Robin Thickes Blurred Lines which puts him in control and sexualise women.

Homo-Eroticism

• This is the sexual attraction between members of the same sex however differs from homosexuality as this is just a desire where as homosexuality implies a more perminate role and state of identity and sexual orientation. 

Music Video Study Day - Pete's Tips

On the 26th of August I had been involved in a media music video workshop ran by the chief examiar Pete Fraser and music video director Jake Wynne to recreate Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams (One of Jakes own music videos) and to get advice on our blogs and products.


Pete Fraser gave us some invaluable tips to use while we go through the process of creating this blog and product:

• Regularly take screenshots of progress to allow people to see the developmental process
• Don't copy the original music video as this will lose you marks 
• Plan for everything and plan early as the product and everything else will not come out as well if it is rushed
• Make storyboards (you can and should always shoot extra footage) as this allows us to plan for a 5 minute video even if we only use 3 minutes worth of footage.
• Make sure the actors are well cast and are enthusiastic and professional about putting effort in otherwise the video you create will look bad.
• When filming the performance, make sure the actors are actually singing and playing the song as it will make it much easier to edit and it will look better.
• Plan costumes carefully, don't just wear clothes that you would wear everyday - make sure they fit the genre as this will make it look much more authentic.
• Before filming, make sure the you have all of the equipment with you as if you forget something the whole day could be wasted.
• Make sure there's a fresh SD card in the camera before filming as this could cause big problems when filming.
• Shoot the performance at least ten times for each set-up as it makes it easier to edit and also gives your performance variety.
• Make sure you have plenty of cutaways as this will break up the music video and make it look better.
• Experiment with extra angles and lighting changes as this will add an edge to your video and make it stand out.
• Include lots of close-ups as they are very effective.
• Shoot more than you think you will need as it is better to waste footage than not have enough.
• Avoid really famous artists/songs because they will be too well-known and the viewers will already have preconceived ideas in their heads of what standard it will have to live up to compared to the original video
• Aim for three minutes or just under as this will be long enough and still be good quality.
• Utilise the whole day when filming - make use of natural changes in lighting but make sure they are still in context.
• Each member should make a digipack each and then we can compare them and take the best parts of each one to make the best digipack we can.
• Regularly collect feedback from peers and record it, then reflect on criticism and suggestions to make your products better.
• Record all behind-the-scenes footage, jobs etc as this will make great data for the digipak and website later on.

Music Video Study Day - Jake's Tips

Jake Wynne's Tips

• The video should have at least 100 cuts otherwise it will seem slow and boring.
• Use straight cuts as fancy animations can look tacky and be distracting.
• Film from as many different distances and angles as possible to create depth and variety
• Use lots of close-ups as they are very effective.
• Use a slider motion of performances with the camera for depth and very interesting camera angles.
• Utilise the whole day - make the most of the natural changes in lighting and involve the timing of the day within the narrative
• When editing, synch up and perfect the performance shots first (multi-timeline) then add in the narrative
• Get the whole picture right first then edit tiny details
• The music video should build throughout - there should show a sense of progression
• Film each shot with the length of the whole song
• Film lots of shots of each individual band member as this will be much more interesting than one static shot.

Narrative Reflection

As a group there was very little discussion about the type of music video we were going to create.

We very quickly decided on which song as well as genre and narrative type. We have chosen to do this as it is a genre of music we are all into. Although we then continued to look at other artists as said in the group conversation we very quickly came back to our original idea.

We chose this specific song as it is a very good combination of performance and simple narrative, this allows us to mess around with different settings for the band performance as it is all shot in the real video in one location, and also allows use to change the narrative to how we see fit as it is the traditional love story following todorovs theory as we thought that it is much more effective if equilibrium is restored at the end of the video.

Narrative Analysis

Chosen Genre

Our chosen genre is Alternative Rock.

Here are two examples:





Here are some of the common similarities within both videos:

• Both videos are set in very abnormal locations.
• The costume of both bands is very smart casual.
• There are a variety of close up shots of all members and instruments as well as wide shots getting everyone in frame.
• The different distance shots in the videos are used for very different reasons, close ups are used to give the performers power as the fill the screen, the mid shots are there to give details of what is happening you wouldn't get with a long shot but are also keeping the shot in context as you can see enough to know what is happening which a close up may take away and finally the long shots are in there to give an overall view of the performance and narrative.
• The editing within the videos is very much based on the music and the tempo that it is being played at.

Genre Research

This is a vote that everyone in our class has contributed to to show the most popular genres of music.

Textual Analysis

Narrative Theorys

Andrew Goodwin & Intertextuality 

This is a reference to the fact that some music video made make very clear and some very unclear references to other forms of art. This could be very useful to add into our video as it allows the audience to engage with the video its self more.

Example - Taylor Swift - Love story, the whole song is a reference to Romeo and Juliet.



Todorov

This theory is all about linear story telling how the is equilibrium and then dis-equilibrium and then finally a new found equilibrium. This allows the story to flow very well and makes it very simple and easy to understand making it so that it appeals to a wider audience.

Example -  Could not think of one will add when found

Levi-Strauss

This Theory boils all media texts down to a binary opposition such as strong vs weak or bad vs good which allows the audience to connect with one side and become more invested in the video which is a great thing to use when try to get the audience to be engaged.

Example - Eminem - Not afraid is a clear representation of the struggle between the aritist himslef and the world around him.

Types of Music Video Narrative

Performance Based

This type of narrative consists of only the artist performing the the song within the video on different locations.



I believe this would be very good and simple to recreate as it is only performance based and consists of the band in few locations performing the song with very clever editing to go with the music. This is a very good example of a performance based music video that we could use as inspiration for our own.

Narrative Based



I believe this is a very simple version of a narrative based music video which relates to the music that is being played and I think would be very clever to recreate and I think I can take a lot of inspiration from this to decide what type of music video I will be creating myself.

Combination



This is the perfect example of a combination video as it has both shots of the artist performing and the narrative about Paul Walker (R.I.P) which is a very clever video as it relates both the performance and the narrative even though they could be completely different and i think this would be the most influential in inspiring me for what I am going to create.

Narrative - Andrew Goodwins Theory

Narratives can come in many different forms such as:
Open - In which the narrative of the media text is left unfinished with an open end. E.g. Soap opera cliff hangers
Closed -  In which the narrative of the media text is concluded at the end of the piece. E.g. Soap opera Finales
Linear - In which the narrative of the media text is played out in a very simple and easy to follow      layout. E.g. James Bond
Non-Linear - In which the narrative of the media text does not follow any pattern and is very  disjointed. E.g. Pulp Fiction

Andrew Goodwins Theory

Illustration - The literal meaning of the lyrics is shown within the video.



This clearly shows the band singing the lyrics to the song in many different settings throughout the whole video and what is on screen always relates to the music that is being played making this Illustration.

Amplification - This is a mixture of performance and narrative.



This shows the artist clearly singing in the video however there is also parts of the video that are unrelated to the song itself and are just there and they give narrative to the video.

Disjuncture - This is a totally abstract video unrelated to the song.



This clearly shows the two dancers in the video however it does not relate to the song itself and leaves the video open to its own interpretation allowing audiences to think how they want to about the video.

Genre Theory

Definition of Genre - Genre is something that is used to categorise different styles music depending upon the different forms and conventions contained within the music and its video.

There are many different types of genre which are theorised by people such as Martin Loop who says that not all genres are pure and that they are all blended together. Jim Collins another theorist expands upon this point and defines this idea as a term called hybridisation, and finally Barry Keith Grant theorises about how each different genre is different dependant on the forms and conventions it uses, however as most music contains multiple different conventions and forms from many different genres which means they do not conform to a single genre and are therefore classed as hybrid genres.



This is a good example of a hybrid genre as it follows the forms and conventions of many rock and folk music videos, it is played on very folk like instruments however they are played in such a way unlike and folk music around and sounds much more soft rock. Costume is also a large part of the theme as they dress in a very unique way combining many folk and rock like pieces of clothing.




This is another great example of a hybrid genre within the music itself as this song by Eminem is quite clearly a rap song however it is played over the top of a military like drumming which gives it a much more serious feel combined with the soul like chorus creates a very different hybrid genre.

I will have to consider this all when thinking of the genre of hybrid I am going to choose when I am deciding upon my own band and genre for the music video I will create.

Skills Development

Music Video

To be added

Reflection questions

How is multi-timeline editing different from single timeline?

Multi-timeline editing is much different from single timeline editing a I believe it is much simpler once all the footage is synced correctly to the audio. Once the audio is correctly synced the shots can be edited in any way to create the video you want as long as you don't move them and only work work with the opacity rather than moving the shots around like in single timeline editing.

What tools had I never previously used?

I had used all the tools within final cut that we used this time before however I had never used them on a piece of editing that had multiple timelines for me to work with and edit together.

What did I find easy/challenging?

I found the whole concept of the opacity and the editing itself pretty simple as I am quiet used to doing it from last years project and in my spare time however the only part in which I round relativity challenging was lining up the cuts I was making with the music from the video.

What skills did I develop and enhance?

I think this task helped me get back into the flow of editing and didn't improve many skills apart from my ability to line up video and audio while editing them together.

How can I build from this on my main task?

For my main task I will use many different styles of editing by try test footage to see which works the best to the music video that I want to do and also find different ways to learn new editing techniques such as YouTube tutorials or books.

Group Members

David Spratt

 George Meek

Lang Hall

A2 Fortnight Skills Development

The Video




The Website 

http://joshbellas.wix.com/jamesakameghan

The Digi Pack