Throwing Focus Testing

A group member of mine was practicing various shots and one of them was the throwing focus shot which based on the following shot we've decide to incorporate within our music video as we feel as though it will be effective when used in what we want to show. 

 

Filming Has Begun!

Me and another group member have started to film the first couple of scenes for our music video and and found that the dolly we were going to use was not the best as it couldn't handle the curves in the road and would abruptly stop while we were tracking so in order to get around this we attached the camera to one of the props. Before we did this we did test shots to see how the concept would look and if it actually worked which we think it did however the test shots were done while the prop wasn't moving and here are those shots:

 

This post shows our group experimenting with new camera angles that we hadn't previously thought of such as attaching the camera to the skateboard.

Potential Digi-pak Cover

Sulieman, a member of the group found a software that enabled him to create different graphic designs in an luminous style and this is what he produced the first taking 15 minutes and the second 30 minutes.

These could act as inspiration for us as it could lead to a better digi-pak cover being produced. These images are really bright and eye-catching and it fits the style of our genre as progressive rock bands album covers as they tend to focus on bright flourescent colours and odd shapes that make the cover look very appealing and examples of this are the band "Animals as Leaders" and "Chon" album covers:

Since we are nearing the time we need to create a digipak, a group member took inspiration from bands that he like and experimented with different colours to try and imitate the two bands above.

Contingency Plan

Contingency plan

The contingency plan is intended to describe what would happen if something goes wrong during the filming or anything else. We are going to be using a contingency plan because we will be going to different locations which are far from each other. 

Location:

If there is an issue where the public transport is being unreliable due to diversions or traffic we will have to come up with a possible solution in order to overcome this problem. To overcome this problem one of our members will have one of their parents available to provide transport in order to drive us to the locations. One of our possible filming locations will be a public area where there will more than likely be a lot of people, in this case we need to ensure that all the individuals will be comfortable with being filmed and that we will be allowed to film in this location. For this we will have backup locations in we will look to seek permission to film if the previous ones are unavailable.

Characters:
One of the main issues with the characters may be that they wont be able to be filmed due to illness or any other issues regarding them being able to film. In this case we will try and film other sections of the music video which may not contain that specific character. Another way in which we will look to overcome this issue is to arrange the filming according to a suitable schedule which will suit the individuals needs.

Props/Equipment:
An issue with props will be that we may not have the necessary props available for when we do our filming due to them being forgotten or not bought. One way to overcome this could be by looking to use other possible props which may be similar or film other scenes for our music video until we gain access to that specific prop. One possible issue with the equipment may be that it may malfunction in the sense that it may stop working due to human error or technical error. A way in which we will look to overcome this is by searching for any solutions on the internet or asking any other individuals on how it may get fixed.

Weather:
The main issue with this is that we are filming during an unpredictable season and the weather may cause issues in many senses. one of the main issues will be the rain due to the large amount of rain which will likely be falling and if they rain does start falling we may have issues with filming some scenes and the equipment being damaged. One way in which we have thought about overcoming this is by possibly bringing cover for the equipment such as an umbrella, another solution would be filming other scenes which may be indoors.

For the production we have to have a contingency plan which is basically a back up if something during this stage goes wrong and we need to work around it, the contingency plan will help us in the matter. We had problems with the weather occur and so we had to refer to the contingency plan in order to work around this.

Target Audience Profile

Based on what the group thought about our style of music being mainly instrumental, we decided that it aimed at more relaxed people. It has been said before "Progressive rock is music for musicians" so we took this into account and came to believe that our target audience would come from a musical background and would play an instrument. 

Crew Requirements

The crew requires tells each crew member what their role is during the production and what that role entails the editor(s) has to cut the appropriate shots together etc.

Animatic

This is our animated storyboard which we have created in order to convey a visual representation of our music video.

The animatic is like the storyboard as it shows what the music video will contain in terms of shots however it shows each shot on an individual basis making it clearer what has been planned and the order in which the shots should take place.

Storyboard

This is our groups storyboard which details what we have planned to happen in our music video however as we go along we may find other shots to be more suitable and creative for what we want to show and so we may deviate from the storyboard slightly in order to make it look as good as possible.

The storyboard shows what the music video will contain in terms of shots however this is very flexible and shots may be altered if we believe we found a better, more effective shot to use. It also helps to show the actual story of the media text.

Equipment List

This is the equipment that we will need to use in order to get the shots that we have planned out for our production.

Equipment List Template

This depicts what the crew behind the camera will need in order to make the music video as professional looking as possible such as the cameras enabling the best possible quality to make our video look as much like a professional music video as possible.

Props List

This is our groups props list, it has all the props that will be used within various scenes. Due to the music genre being progressive rock we opted for the actors props to be well used as this genre isn't known to be flashy with their props but rather quite simple things. So we reflected this with our props as we as a group already owned the props and they are well used making them perfect for our music video.

Props List Template

These are the required props for our music video as it helps to conform to the genre as skaters tend to be associated with the rock genre such as garage bands and instruments are in the majority of rock music videos and this is a convention that we did not wish to break.

Costume List

 

                    


































This shows what the people required in our music video must wear in order to help it conform or challenge the conventions of the progressive rock genre. The clothes are quite comfortable and casual which in the rock genre is a convention and it portrays the artist as not being rich despite the audience knowing better.

Music Video Treatment

Treatment
"The Rubber Tramp" by VisonedKarma (Max Showler)

The overall idea for the music video is that it will have a strong performance element alongside a limited narrative. The narrative itself will focus on two characters that embark on a journey seeking recognition for their musical talents. We came up up the idea when we listened to the song, we envisioned this scenario because it seemed appropriate for the style of music (progressive rock). The actual song itself implicates progression and so we thought of this concept. We feel this would be successful as it will relate with our target audience, and possibly other audiences also. It will be different to other music videos because we will be using unconventional camera angles.

Our primary target audience is males aged 16-23, they will most likely play an instrument themselves and may come from a musical background. Their interests will include independent rock groups as well as an interest in art. We decided this by conducting audience research, questionnaires, vox-pops and by analysing the artist himself. The idea of achieving recognition would appeal to most people, especially our target audience as it would inspire them to do the same. The secondary audience would be both genders aged 12-16 who enjoy groovy beats and tunes.

The costumes we will be using are fairly simple as they are a representation of the artist himself. They props will include a guitar and bass guitar they will be illustrating the instruments played in the song. We also include a BMX (or bike) and a skateboard, these will be used as the characters means of transportation. We chose these props because we feel they represented the artist in the best and most honest way. We want the characters to be as relatable as possible therefore the props are used props and nothing is expensive.

Locations include a bedroom, a park, a kitchen and lots of roads. We chose these because they where easy to get to and because they are free to film on. The park we are using is Beckenham place Park it is a huge park with lots of fields and both open and closed areas of woodland. We feel that if the location is similar to what people see everyday then they will feel more involved.

The video begins with the characters phone ringing, this straight away grabs the viewers attention through enigma codes as they ask 'who's calling?' 'why are they calling?'. We came up with this small reference; they song that will play when the phone rings will in fact be the song that the music video is about. The main character will answer the phone then when he hangs up he'll go back to sleep. A dream sequence will start of him playing guitar; shortly after he wake up in a sweat and runs hastily off to meet his friend.

All through the video we see a journey between two friend and how they get together; along with this we can see the recurring images of the main characters earlier dream and this is how we introduce the performance element of the song. The journey itself will keep the audience's attention as they are wondering where the characters are going.

In the end they will be playing to a group of people (their fans) and this is to show how they have being recognised for their talent. We want the last shot to leave an impact on the audience, for it to be memorable. An idea is that the characters would climb a big tree and the audience would remain below, this would represent the characters climb to fame and how they have elevated themselves from the common crowd. We believe this would relate to almost everyone as everyone wants to stand out from the crowd.

This is our music videos treatment and acts as a guideline to what we plan to do with out production piece however it is not set in stone and so some parts may be altered slightly based upon the avialabilty of people and weather conditions is another factor which will affect this.

Filming Schedule

This shows what days and time my group will be filming, it also shows potential days which we can film if need be. Our group has collectively chosen to film on the days listed above, initially the calendar was colour coded to signify definite filming days and potential filming days but the calendar doesn't show the colouring so to work around this we changed the titles of the days to probable filming days.. Already we have had to cancel certain days due to weather conditions which would jeopardise the continuity of the scene.

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

This indicates where and what period of the day we will be filming during and also what props we will be needing and this is useful to us as it helps us to be more organised reducing the risk of forgetting props thus speeding up the production process.

My Exhibitor

I have chosen YouTube as my exhibitor because it is a site used by over a billion people a month and all of those people have different tastes in music. YouTube features many different genre's of music on the site and my music genre being progressive rock is more likely to be seen and  In addition anyone can view other peoples videos and because of that I believe that my music video would be most successful on this site.

Video Exhibitors

In order to get our music video out there we were given the task to research into different music video exhibitors and determine for ourselves which would be best suited to us and I chose YouTube due to the wide variety of people that visit the site daily and how it doesn't cater to one specific genre but rather every and any genre that someone wants to showcase which gives our music video visibility.

Vox Pops

In order to get feedback on our song my group member created vox pops. We wanted to gather information on what makes a good music video and if our song is a good choice and the responses have helped me decide what my music video will contain. All of the people who were interviewed were keen to view a music video of the song, which suggests that music videos do help broaden the audience of the song. This would explain why many pop stars and up and coming artists release music videos. 

Questionnaire

Here is our groups questionnaire on audiences tastes and preferences for our audience research

Click here to take survey

This questionnaire was created in order to find out what our target audiences tastes and preferences were in order to cater our music video towards them and trying to make it as real for them as possible.

Inspirational Mood Board

This mood board that my group and I created was to indicate the potential theme of the music video which was the main artist being alone but by the end of the video he would not be playing alone but have a partner to help him on his way. The images chosen were quite powerful as it draws the audiences attention to one point and they notice that the character present is alone and this is something we would like to do in out media text.

Genre Shopping List

This is our genre shopping list, as you can see it is hard to read due to its size so if you would like to see the mind map in full her is the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6XknUlV2H_bMTY1SEFjc0ZELVk/edit?usp=sharing The genre shopping list depicts what are the codes and conventions of our genre and what we hope to conform and challenge in order to make our music video unique to us. We haven been looking at various alternative rock groups in order to establish the conventions of the genre as while it is rock sub genre it does have features that are not present in rock videos.

This is our genre shopping list, it shows different ideas and conventions of progressive rock. It outlines which key ideas we wish to use. For example the instruments we would use in our music video would most probably be a seven string guitar and 5 string bass as is the convention. The album covers in the mind map inspire me personally because of the graphics design and the strong concept throughout the covers.

In addition we will be breaking some of the conventional camera angles. Costume isn't really an issue although we probably won't have anyone with a tattoo. I think we will film outside in the daytime, because you can get good lighting and there is more potential for developing a narrative for example a journey.

9 Key Frames

9KF The Verve

The 9 key frames task was a way for me to analyse a music video that I found inspirational and I chose Bitter Sweet Symphony by the Verve as The Verve are a well known band but this music video did not portray this as the lead singer was virtually ignored throughout the whole video despite his fame and this portrays the modesty of the rock genre which my group and I wanted to incorporate in our music video.

Our Final Song Choice

Our final song choice is "The Rubber Tramp"

We chose this song despite the fact it has no lyrics to it, as we feel that out of all of our choices, we could do the most with this song. We thought that with the right lyrics there could be a great narrative showing a relationship between the two and we have already started to speculate different ideas for the piece. 

My Song Shortlist

Rizzle Kicks - Traveller's Chant Script (Will Change to Video soon)

RizzleKicks-TravellersChant.docx

YouTube's First Music Awards - Whose in the lead?

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead YouTube nominations

Page last updated at 07:03 GMT, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 08:03 UK

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the nominations for the first YouTube Music Awards.

The duo are up for four prizes with Justin Bieber, Psy and Taylor Swift also being named in the six categories.

The nominations are based on views, likes, comments and subscriptions over the last 12 months.

From today, fans can choose who will win at the awards ceremony in New York on 3 November by sharing the videos across Google+, Twitter and Facebook.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are up for artist of the year, YouTube phenomenon for Thrift Shop and breakthrough prizes.

They are also in the video of the year category alongside Lady Gaga's Applause, One Direction's Best Song Ever and Miley Cyrus' We Can't Stop among others.

Other awards include the response of the year for the best fan remix, parody or response to an original video and the innovation award, which recognises creative music videos.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire will perform at the event.

Avicii, M.I.A., Earl Sweatshirt, and Tyler the Creator will also feature.

In the run up to the ceremony, five music events will be streamed from around the world including shows in Seoul, Tokyo, Moscow, London and Rio.

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Video of the Year

Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney - Epic Rap Battles of History

Demi Lovato - Heart Attack

Girls' Generation - I Got a Boy

Justin Bieber (feat Nicki Minaj) - Beauty and a Beat

Lady Gaga - Applause

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat Mary Lambert) - Same Love

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

One Direction - Best Song Ever

PSY - Gentleman

Selena Gomez - Come & Get It

Artist of the Year

Eminem

ERB

Justin Bieber

Katy Perry

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Nicki Minaj

One Direction

PSY

Rihanna

Taylor Swift

Response of the Year

Boyce Avenue (feat Fifth Harmony) - Mirrors

Jayesslee - Gangnam Style

Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix - Radioactive

ThePianoGuys - Titanium / Pavane

Walk Off the Earth (feat KRNFX) - I Knew You Were Trouble

YouTube Phenomenon

Diamonds

Gangnam Style

Harlem Shake

I Knew You Were Trouble

Thrift Shop

YouTube Breakthrough

Kendrick Lamar

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Naughty Boy

Passenger

Rudimental

Innovation

Anamanaguchi - ENDLESS FANTASY

Atoms For Peace - Ingenue

Bat For Lashes - Lilies

DeStorm - See Me Standing

Toro Y Moi - Say That

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/24614551

Making a low-budget music video

(It doesnt want to show on the blog, so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE8X24soqWQ#t=48 ..... It's a bit lengthy)

I found this video and thought that it was very interesting as it gives in depth detail about how to make a low-budget music video. This I think is important because music video budgets are not getting bigger and are much smaller than what they used to be so for aspiring directors this video would be very beneficial.

Mr Ayoolo - Music Video Director in my School

Mr Ayoolo surprised the class by revealing that he in fact has directed a music video(s) and gave us very useful information that will allow us to create the best possible video. His music video is below:

This music video i think is quite good. This is because it has great shots and the picture itself is very clear and the visuals suit the music and genre of this piece.

One of the most resounding statements he made was "The more footage you have, the more you can work with which will make the final product better and easier to make". In addition to this another key thing to creating a successful music video is by using locations that don't require planning permission and that you can do a lot with a very small budget as all of the locations he used in his music video were areas that he found that were open to the public which looked visually stunning and really suited the music video as it fit what the lyric were trying to convey. He also mentioned that storyboards and actually writing your ideas down is important as it enables you to plan what you are going to do and also gives you a rough idea of what you can expect to see. 

He followed this up by stating that creativity is not limited by budgets as much as we think.  In terms of making this music video budgets were not a limitation and it was made clear that you can make a lot out of a little. The budget he used for this video was very small as it covered travel costs among other little things. The locations were not paid for as they were either already owned i.e the apartment(s) and the locations open to the public i.e the beach. What else didn't need to be paid for was the required costumes as the artists and actress were wearing clothes that they already owned similarly to the apartment. 

The talk from Mr Ayoolo was very useful as it helped to show me what can be done without a major budget and that too much film is greater than what is required as it gives you room to work and substitute shots that may work better than others. 

Pictues of Mr Ayoolo's advice talk

The class and I listening as Mr Ayoolo gives us important advice on what we should or shouldn't do when making a music video as he is talking from experience. You can seen from the full attention being given that he has our attention and that what he has to share is very engaging.

   

Editing to the Beat

In class we were giving an audio track with 4 different types of music and we had to edit a music to the beat. I found this to be challenging as the video we had to edit didn't fit all types of the music as the rhythm of the music was sometimes too slow so i had to slow the actual scene down to fit and at these times the cut was slow due to the pace of the music. However when it came to the rock genre i found that if i followed the beat there would of been irregular cuts as the beat of the song was constantly changing which proved to be quite challenging. While this task was slightly challenging overall its proved to be useful as its helped me to be able to cut according to the beat of a song.

Here is my edit:

Here is the original music video that was used against the different audio track

Essay: Dyer - Star Theory

To what extent does a pop stars image influence their audience?

Richard Dyer is currently a professor of film studies at Kings College London. Dyer wrote a book called “Stars” in 1979 which discusses the viewer’s perception of film and the idea that it is heavily influenced by the perception of its stars. He believed that it was not the film which attracted the audience but the idea of the famous people that are in it and that they alongside reviews and the publicity determine the way that the audience experience the film. 

This has been proven through a series of posters such as "Mission Impossible". Due to Tom Cruise being such a high profile actor, rather than the title of the movie being the most eye catching thing its actually his name that the attention is being drawn too and in addition to that a large side profile of him in essence is the whole of the poster. This has been done because a film is more likely to get an audience if they have a high profile actor that the majority of people like.

The image of a pop star, according to Dyer is the most important and influential thing about them. This is down to the belief that stars are not real but have rather been constructed and seen as artificial even if they are portrayed as being real people. They have been constructed by their managers in a way so that they move from being simply a pop performer to a pop star as it gets them noticed. Why managers speed this process up is because being a "True Pop star" means they have significance and brand awareness amongst a wider market over a period of time. Dyer says that not many starts have actually had that impact which results in artificial stars.

Since many pop stars wouldn't be successful due to a lack of uniqueness which would inhibit them from standing out and making a name for themselves, mangers create an image for them that gives them a unique selling point that would help them to gain fans and fame. Pop stars such as Justin Bieber who is well known and a popular artist and he has that unique haircut which he is now known. This popularity he has influences his fans as its what his female fans will start to want men their own age to start looking like and many male teenagers will imitate his hairstyle after seeing this because of how popular he has become and how well his female fans in particular have received him. This is similar to in the 90's when women started to copy Jennifer Aniston's who stared in the show "Friends", hairstyle "The Rachel"

The fans doing this enables them to feel as though they are close to the the artist by surrounding themselves with that are associated with them. However the artists are constructed and these things they associate with the artist may be constructed and may just disappear due to the artist changing so that they appeal more to their market. 

The image of a pop star  is very influential as it can literally make them "stars". The image of a star is what makes them attractive to the audience, it gives them that edge that actually gets them noticed, without it they would get nowhere. Its what keeps the audience interested in that artist as its what the fans want and like. It also allows them to relate to that artist for example if an artist is seen to support something that their fans support it brings those fans closer towards them as the fans feel as though they can relate to the artist and that they sympathise and understand them even though this may not be the case the audience still believes it.

Evaluation of 2 A level Music Videos

When researching music videos, looking at what other students have created gives an insight on what I could potentially do and the two below have shown me what it is like when a music video conforms to the genre of the music and it is apparent to me that it works quite well as both of the videos depict a story that the music is trying to get across. This has given me some ideas on how I could incorporate a small story into my music video if the genre allows it.


I found that various thing went well with this piece of work. Firstly the performance itself was well constructed. This is because it showed a clear narrative and I could tell that the students behind this has put a lot of work behind it which is something that I will try to do as it really shows in your final piece and its one aspect of the video that made it successful. What i also found that worked really well was the mise-en-scene as it has matched the genre which is Indie. The locations used (large field, coffee shop(possibly) and the park/lake) were all conventions of this genre as these locations are often used when the artist is thinking deeply about something that is affecting them.  The coffee shop works really well as it is a common place for break-ups to occur which happens at the very start of the video which worked very well. I also found that the appropriate us high-key lighting was also an aspect that made the video successful as the characters were always clear to the viewer and it shows that they have thought about the continuity of the shot as the lighting is constant which gives this video a professional feel to it. Another convention that this video conformed to was the artist performing alone alongside the story (singing on the wooden gate). This worked really well as the connotation of this was that the artist had just broken up with her boyfriend and that she was alone and thinking about it while pouring her heart into her song. The edit also suited the pace of the song as they were not fast paced and jumpy but calm and well placed to reflect the mood of this piece. The only negative to this piece was that sometimes the lip syncing was not very prominent as sometimes the words she was mouthing was hard to see.

Similar to the last video this has a very good narrative and the lyrics have an noticeable relationship with the visuals. As the lyrics are being said for the majority of the song the visuals follow the lyrics of the song such as "I was waiting in the queue looking at the board" and the visuals showed an over the shoulder shot of a menu board. What also went well was the stop motion technique used as the main character was walking into the shop, it was executed quite well and it reflected the pace of the lyrics as they are jumpy and this reflected that. The animated text bubble that sprouted up next to the bartender was also a good technique used as it went alongside the lyrics which I think is a good show of their technical skill as it can be quit difficult to pull off and make it look good like they did. The blur effect used was used to reflect the character being drunk as at these times he was drinking alcohol and that it connotes that he could be disorientated as it looked as though he was dizzy. The costume used was also a good representation of the kind of sound of the song. The way the song sounds gives of a cockney accent that was represented by the character stereotypical Cockney Brit.
However what I think didnt work so was there was a lack of continuity. When he as in the fast food shop the girl who was "with" him in the shop had her hair down and was by the counter and wearing one style of clothing but when he saw her "out of the corner of his eye" she was sitting at a table looking completely different that before then and what made it worse was that is seemed as though they had change location completely. In the next scene she was looking the exact same way she looked before which was just not working. Another negative to this was that the lip syncing was often out of time which made the piece seem amateurish.
There are some aspects that i could use as I think they worked well such as the stop motion and the blur effect but what i will have to look out for is the out of time lip syncing. 

R. Kelly: Happy People - Goodwin's Theory Applied

In order to understand Andrew Goodwin's theory fully the class was tasked with creating a presentation that applied the theory to a music video of our choice. I chose to use this music video as R Kelly music videos tend to conform to the theorists that I have learnt and so I found this music video and looked at how it conformed to every section of the theory.

Hype Williams - Auteur Theory

This particular piece of works was putting the Auteur theory into practice and we were assigned an "Auteur" but we had to find out what made them an auteur such as a technique that is unique to them like Hype William's fish eye lens which dominated his music videos until he lost production activity and dropped it. What I learnt during this task is that Auteurs often direct films and their unique techniques can often seep into the film enabling the audience to identify who actually created the film or music video before their name is revealed.

Wait, More Theories - Dyer and Goodwin

The  task at hand was to create posts or numerous posts about the theorist that we can later look back at and use to either challenge or conform against in our media texts. The theories themselves are not as complicated as I thought they would be making it easier to use them when I think they are appropriate.

Even More theories - Auteur and Barthes

The  task at hand was to create posts or numerous posts about the theorist that we can later look back at and use to either challenge or conform against in our media texts. The theories themselves are not as complicated as I thought they would be making it easier to use them when I think they are appropriate.

Auteur Theory

In the 1950s, the French magazine Cahiers du Cinema instigated a new way of 'reading' movies - what later came to be called 'auteur' theory. The idea was that film was a work of art; just like a novel or painting, meaning it is the product of an individual's imagination. It's been used by French film directors like Francois Truffaut who put the focus on the contributions that directors made to the film, in terms of style and creative interpretation. 

“A true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead of just producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material.”

This theory tells us, that every frame, every piece mise-en-scene, has been deliberately composed as a result of a series of artistic decisions made by the auteur and that these are distinctive and creative techniques that they carry from production to production which helps the audience to  identify their work as a director.

 There are many known directors that this theory applies to such as: 

Tim Burton and his dark stylised films with the dark humor that accompanies them. Quentin Tarantino who is known for his pop culture references and mixture of humor, violence and some controversial things such "Django Unchained" and its frequent use of a derogatory word for black people.

Barthe's Theory

Roland Barthe was a french literary theorist who suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. Also used denotation and connotation to analyse images.The codes are:

• Action - A narrative device by which a resolution is produced through action e.g. a shoot out.

• Enigma - Narrative devices which tease the audience by presented a puzzle or mystery to be solved. It serves to delay the story's ending pleasurably.

• Symbolic - this type codes are the connotations of the images or imagery presented i.e the hidden meaning behind it.

• Semiotic - The denotations of the image/imagery which is strictly what you can see.

• Cultural - A device which the audience recognise and associate with a particular part of culture.

More Theories - Levi-Strauss and Mulvey

The  task at hand was to create posts or numerous posts about the theorist that we can later look back at and use to either challenge or conform against in our media texts. The theories themselves are not as complicated as I thought they would be making it easier to use them when Ithink they are appropriate.

Strauss' Theory

Claude Levi-Strauss, examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture  Expressed in the form of binary oppositions. It was adapted by media theorists to reveal under lying theme and symbolic oppositions in media texts. Binary oppositions include:


Old vs Young
Rich vs Poor
Strong vs Weak Male vs Female
Savage vs Civilized
Good vs Evil
Dark vs Light

Based upon those examples given there are many more that can be named and binary oppositions I believe can be seen in every media text. 

Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey coined the term "Male Gaze" She believes that in media texts such as films and music videos, that they were designed by heterosexual men for heterosexual men. The concept of the theory is how the audience view the way females and males are portrayed in the media. 

Mulvey states that they are thought of in 3 ways:

1. How men look at women.
2. How women look at themselves.
3. How women look at other women.

 The Male gaze theory applies when films and music videos relegate women to objects instead of people. IN addition to that the female viewers must experience the secondarily.

Narrative Theories - Todorov and Propp

Todorov's Theory

Tzvetan Todorov stated most narratives start with a state of Equilibrium in which life is normal and protagonists happy. There are 3 stages in his theory:

1. Equilibrium - Where everything is normal and everything is as it seems
2. Disruption  - This is something that has altered what the equilibrium was originally like which could a tragedy such as a death.
3. New Equilibrium - The new equilibrium would be that the death of a character has been accepted and everyone around them has adjusted to it.

However it has been argued that there are 5 stages in this theory which are:

1. Equilibrium 
2. Disruption
3. Recognition of Disruption - The characters in the narrative have actually noticed the change thats occurred 
4. Attempt to repair Disruption - The narratives characters try to undo what has been done by the disruption.
5. New Equilibrium - (or return to equilibrium depending upon the disruption)

Propp's Theory

Vladmir Propp generated the idea that all media texts, specifically folk tales, have 8 character types. These are the following:

• Hero  - the main protagonist who has to  perform a dangerous task/journey that  involves rescuing the princess.

• Princess - Someone who the hero saves from and is usually the hero's prize at the end of an arduous task.

• Princesses Father- Acts to reward the hero for helping his daughter, can often be the daughters hand in marriage.

• Helper - Someone who helps aid the hero in completing their task of saving the princess.

• False Hero  - The false hero is someone that takes credit for the hero's good deeds in order to gain a reward.

• Villain - This is the person who openly tries to inhibit the hero's progress and is normally the one who the princess needs to be rescued from.

• Donor - This is someone who helps the hero on the journey by offering something of use.

• Dispatcher - This is someone who sends the hero on their way.

Music Video History Timeline

In order to understand more about music videos, the class and I were set the task to create a timeline featuring key dates in music video history such as the music video precursor or the creation of MTV and what it has helped me to do is understand where music videos come from and how music in films such as musicals/sing-a-longs was so influential in the music industry.