Sunday 10 July 2011
Filming and Developing
On Thursday, me, Michael and Sean filmed the opening 30 seconds to our version of The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony. This was a process which was quick and easy as we left school for the nearby to school High Street at 10:00 and we were back at school at 10:30! Michael played the part of Richard Ashcroft because we thought they looked similar! Our third take was the one we went for in the final edit because in the first two the side road Michael had to cross was blocked by cars waiting to go onto the main road so Michael wasn't visible in the camera angle! We did manage to get a good take though as we were able to edit Michael walking to the beat of the music.
Creating A Design for a Country and Western Album
As a group, we had to research the Country and Western genre. I designed an album cover showing the convention of the lead singer (who I named Bob Nelson) with a guitar in a city park, even though typically (and in the case of this album as well), the singer is from the Southern States of America in rural landscapes, most commonly, Texas.
On the back of the album, I gave stereotypical names of songs for the Country and Western genre with a twist! Examples I gave included "The Long Road To Houston" and "Yee-ha!" The twist comes in the form of song titles such as "Ohio (featuring Will Smith in the tune of his song Miami)". I did this to depict Nelson aiming at other market segments and becoming less niche.
On the back of the album, I gave stereotypical names of songs for the Country and Western genre with a twist! Examples I gave included "The Long Road To Houston" and "Yee-ha!" The twist comes in the form of song titles such as "Ohio (featuring Will Smith in the tune of his song Miami)". I did this to depict Nelson aiming at other market segments and becoming less niche.
Music Video Selection
Our teacher gave our class a list of about 10 music videos. We were all put into different groups and each group had to choose a music video to recreate the first 30 seconds of. The list included Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up, Black Eyed Peas - Where is the Love? and The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony. We chose the latter because it would be simple to recreate the Verve's lead singer Richard Ashcroft walking down a street in a leather jacket. Another advantage would be that only one camera angle was needed and we wouldn't need to move the cameras around. Also, conveniently, a high street is nearby to the school.
In terms of information about the song, it is recognisable ever since it became successful in 1997 and the music video was used for inspiration in 1998 for the famous Fat Les - Vindaloo, which was also successful. They were both No 2 in the chart, but not No 1.
In terms of information about the song, it is recognisable ever since it became successful in 1997 and the music video was used for inspiration in 1998 for the famous Fat Les - Vindaloo, which was also successful. They were both No 2 in the chart, but not No 1.
Music Video Analysis
About three weeks ago, we started our studying of music and music videos. In one of the first lessons on this topic, we looked at the music video for Owl City - Fireflies. We came up with a lot of ideas on what the music video meant and how it connected to the song. The fact that there are toys children would buy in the music video dating from the 1980's to the present day suggests that the lead singer does not want to let go of his childhood, however it could also suggest that he is generally quite confused as these toys are lively during the chorus (which helps this part of the song stand out more) but they are walking as if they are trying to portray the feelings of the singer.
Friday 8 July 2011
Richard Dyer's Star Theory
Richard Dyer, a theorist, suggested that stars are not real people but created for media use and for grabbing the audience's attention. Each "star" may have their own image containing a USP, eg Katy Perry is going for the "cute" look and Lady Gaga is, obviously, going for the "completely Gaga" look, hence her name. This is proven with her "Little Monsters", which is the name she gives her fans.
Another example of how Dyer's theory can be defined can be found within the name of the media text, ie the star. Madonna Ciccone is not a star, whereas Madonna is. The media creates different personas for the star whilst they still live their normal life in reality away from the media. Miley Cyrus has three different images: Hannah Montana (an icon for children from 4 up to around 12), Miley Cyrus (the star) and Miley Cyrus (herself).
In terms of how a "star" is developed, their first album is usually depicting them as "innocent". This is the case for artists such as Britney Spears. Her first album, "...Baby One More Time" (1998) seems innocent and even depicts religion with her hands in the praying motion. However, her finger around her hand in a seductive way would suggest she may be a "Good Girl Going Bad".
The cover for a later album, "Greatest Hits" (2004), would suggest that she is "not that innocent". She certainly isn't wearing something that would be seen as, for instance, religious.
In terms of Britney's albums, there was the typical story. Her first album was her breakthrough to the public, the second was her biggest, and then, her third album, which was trying to portray Britney as an adult, failed to be as successful as the previous two. The forth one, of course, was successful.
Therefore, the conclusion I have come to is that the image of the "star" relies on things such as TV footage, the way albums are depicted and how they act in interviews.
Another example of how Dyer's theory can be defined can be found within the name of the media text, ie the star. Madonna Ciccone is not a star, whereas Madonna is. The media creates different personas for the star whilst they still live their normal life in reality away from the media. Miley Cyrus has three different images: Hannah Montana (an icon for children from 4 up to around 12), Miley Cyrus (the star) and Miley Cyrus (herself).
In terms of how a "star" is developed, their first album is usually depicting them as "innocent". This is the case for artists such as Britney Spears. Her first album, "...Baby One More Time" (1998) seems innocent and even depicts religion with her hands in the praying motion. However, her finger around her hand in a seductive way would suggest she may be a "Good Girl Going Bad".
The cover for a later album, "Greatest Hits" (2004), would suggest that she is "not that innocent". She certainly isn't wearing something that would be seen as, for instance, religious.
In terms of Britney's albums, there was the typical story. Her first album was her breakthrough to the public, the second was her biggest, and then, her third album, which was trying to portray Britney as an adult, failed to be as successful as the previous two. The forth one, of course, was successful.
Therefore, the conclusion I have come to is that the image of the "star" relies on things such as TV footage, the way albums are depicted and how they act in interviews.
Bon Jovi - It's My Life Analysis
In our practice group, myself, Michael and Sean, we did a brief analysis of the music video for Bon Jovi's "It's My Life", which was made in 2000.
The video starts with a man, who is about 20, watching a Bon Jovi concert on the Internet. He then receives a phone call from his girlfriend telling him that Bon Jovi are in the same city that they are in and he then sees his girlfriend on the computer screen. She asks him to get there in 5 minutes, so he gets there by using "Parkour" techniques, so doing things like jumping over obstacles so he can get to the concert in less than 5 minutes.
This video attracts people because of its fast pace and most teenagers enjoy watching freerunning/parkour so this may have been to expand Bon Jovi's audience into the teenage segment.
Genre: Rock
Audience: My group decided that the audience would be aged 16-30 male, however I personally think that people that age have other musical interests (outside America especially, I have never met a Bon Jovi fan and I am not one myself!), therefore I think the audience would be over 40's American men.
However, in the music video, the male protagonist is about 20 and looks like he doesn't have a lot of money and lives with his mother, which relates to the point the other two in my Media group made about tapping into the younger generation.
The music video isn't typical of its genre as rock videos don't have freerunning in them. The typical convention is having a rock concert in the music video which is explored in this video as well.
Lyrics: Bon Jovi may be suggesting that people should be in control of their own life, and the music video connects to this by having the main character freerunning, suggesting freedom.
Image of the Artist:
The music video is trying to portray people breaking off from society and to live their own life.
M-E-S, Colours, Characters, Locations and Props: The protagonist lives in what looks like a flat with his mother, and this convention is usual in media texts, that is, the protagonist is not particularly wealthy.
The image of the artist is quite casual so people can relate to it. When the man falls through the sunroof of the van, he is surrounded by strong, angry men which relates to the theme of people getting into trouble and a general sense of pressure. Also, the fact that this particular scene has a dramatic edge to it when he jumps off the bridge onto the sunroof, which is in slow motion, makes the music video seem more film-like, which could be to help Bon Jovi's new image as this was probably their first song for a while!
Camera Angles and Editing:
Synchronised Editing: The cutting rate matches the beat of the song to emphasise the pace.
How does the music video start? It starts with a wide angle shot of the man typing on the computer.
Unusual Editing Techniques: Slow Motion and Freeze Frame of the man jumping off the bridge.
Camera Angles frequently used: High angles are used when the man is at home and Low angles are used when the man is freerunning and performing parkour moves. This it to suggest that he is a normal person at home or even unimportant and when he is freerunning he is more important and extraordinary.
Representation: Various representation (e.g. women): the man is the person who has to run across the city and his girlfriend is already at the concert.
The video starts with a man, who is about 20, watching a Bon Jovi concert on the Internet. He then receives a phone call from his girlfriend telling him that Bon Jovi are in the same city that they are in and he then sees his girlfriend on the computer screen. She asks him to get there in 5 minutes, so he gets there by using "Parkour" techniques, so doing things like jumping over obstacles so he can get to the concert in less than 5 minutes.
This video attracts people because of its fast pace and most teenagers enjoy watching freerunning/parkour so this may have been to expand Bon Jovi's audience into the teenage segment.
Genre: Rock
Audience: My group decided that the audience would be aged 16-30 male, however I personally think that people that age have other musical interests (outside America especially, I have never met a Bon Jovi fan and I am not one myself!), therefore I think the audience would be over 40's American men.
However, in the music video, the male protagonist is about 20 and looks like he doesn't have a lot of money and lives with his mother, which relates to the point the other two in my Media group made about tapping into the younger generation.
The music video isn't typical of its genre as rock videos don't have freerunning in them. The typical convention is having a rock concert in the music video which is explored in this video as well.
Lyrics: Bon Jovi may be suggesting that people should be in control of their own life, and the music video connects to this by having the main character freerunning, suggesting freedom.
Image of the Artist:
The music video is trying to portray people breaking off from society and to live their own life.
M-E-S, Colours, Characters, Locations and Props: The protagonist lives in what looks like a flat with his mother, and this convention is usual in media texts, that is, the protagonist is not particularly wealthy.
The image of the artist is quite casual so people can relate to it. When the man falls through the sunroof of the van, he is surrounded by strong, angry men which relates to the theme of people getting into trouble and a general sense of pressure. Also, the fact that this particular scene has a dramatic edge to it when he jumps off the bridge onto the sunroof, which is in slow motion, makes the music video seem more film-like, which could be to help Bon Jovi's new image as this was probably their first song for a while!
Camera Angles and Editing:
Synchronised Editing: The cutting rate matches the beat of the song to emphasise the pace.
How does the music video start? It starts with a wide angle shot of the man typing on the computer.
Unusual Editing Techniques: Slow Motion and Freeze Frame of the man jumping off the bridge.
Camera Angles frequently used: High angles are used when the man is at home and Low angles are used when the man is freerunning and performing parkour moves. This it to suggest that he is a normal person at home or even unimportant and when he is freerunning he is more important and extraordinary.
Representation: Various representation (e.g. women): the man is the person who has to run across the city and his girlfriend is already at the concert.
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