Production Log Week 3

In this third week it was probably our most busiest so far. This was due to us filming our music video and editing it to ensure we had made our lip syncing look realistic so when the final product comes out it was effective and entertaining to our audience. However, we didn't manage to take long with finalsing our editing because before this week had ended we had already finished our editing and ready to upload alongside the other groups who were doing different sections of the song so that at the end it can all be put back together to make one long thrift shop mash up to gain an understanding of the terminology with creating a music video such s the camera works, sound, etc.

Evaluation Of Thrift Shop Mash Up

For this task we were asked to make a parody of the music video thrift shop by Macklemore. In my group it featured myself, Chris and Samantha. The styles that we decided to use for our thrift shop mash up was performance and interpretative. We decided to choose these two styles for our music video because as we had already create dour storyboard we felt that these tow style soy an music video would fit in well with what we originally planned that should happen in our part of our thrift shop music video. Through this it had allowed us to make our music video simple but effect for our target audience as well as our teacher who was making sure we were doing certain aspects that were needed to make it a successful parody. 

In my final production that I will be doing in year 13 I think that these two styles i used for this music video will be appropriate for when i do my final product, this is because i like music videos that are entertaining and can tell a story at the same time which i feel our music video is in a way. A reason that I refuse to not use these two styles of a music video in my final Year 13 production is because i feel that if a music video doesn't have these two styles of a music video then it may not be appealing to the target audience your song is trying to engage and appeal to. I also find these two styles my most important for any music video because music videos need to stand out and to be remembered and i feel but interpreting these two styles it will make it more rememberable in the future.

The song thrift shop is within the genre of Hip-Hop; some of the music video conventions that we had incorporated into our music video was things such as costumes, lyrics and camerawork that were our main priority that we used from music video conventions. The costumes we had used was a yellow hat and a yellow blanket to try and portray my character as an upper class type of person that thinks he's better and bigger than everyone else. Chris' costume in our music video was casual clothes this was because we wanted to show a difference between myself and Chris because despite us being different we have a similar like and thats dancing too music. These were the only costumes we decided to use for our music video this was mainly because we wanted to make our music video seem original but entertaining at the same time which was our original plan before we began filming the music video.



There were not a lot of major problems we faced through our time of pre-production and post-production because before we filmed we had prepared ourselves to prevent any problems that may come our way such as, the clips not uploading to final cut pro, the props not being available, camera not working so we ensure that all of these potential drawbacks were not going to effect us throughout of time of preparing and finalising our music video. Although, a minor problem we had was that Samantha was not available in some stages of filming which made it difficult for us to finish shooting the scenes because it required both me and chris to be in the scene at the same time. This had caused us to hold off filming for about two days until Samantha was back and we could finish our music video. Another minor problem we had in the post-production was making sure we filled up the time we were allocated to perform in because other groups had a time allocated before another group came in. So it was quite challenging to try and make sure that our part of the music video filled up the time we were allocated and that the lip miming was on point and not look bad.

Throughout our time of making this music video, a lot of elements has been successful which has enabled us to finish our music video and map it as good as we could. One of these elements was the use of final cut pro. Previously of when we made our opening sequence we all already had the knowledge needed to know how to sue final cut pro and use certain effects to make our music video stand out. Whilst editing our music video we didn't have any stages where we had struggled or needed someone to help us it was a simple procedure which probably explains why we had finished our editing of our music video quite quickly. Another element that was successful through the process of making our music video was at the beginning when we had first began to create our storyboard and collect costumes and props that were needed. This was a successful element for us because it enabled us to make our music video more entertaining not only for us but for our audience that we were producing this music video for. Our third element that we found that was successful for us was the props we used. This was because at first we wasn't sure that using a wheelie chair would work for showing fun because our initial thought was to use a shopping trolley but unfortunately couldn't get one due to not having enough time. So we was sort of curious whether our not a wheelie chair would work but fortunately for us it did and it seemed perfect for the crab shot and wide shot we intended to use for that scene.

Production Log Week 2

In our second week of A2 Media Studies, we began coming up with ideas that we should sue for the task that is coming up which is making another version of the thrift ship video which was originally performed by Macklemore.  We did a storyboard at first to structure the way we were going to produce our section of the music video. On our storyboard we include roughly 20 shots to make sure we had enough when filming our opening sequence. Also, we found out the groups we were going to be in there were two groups of three and one group of four because our class is small. In my group i found out that i had Samantha and Chris. This will be the first time i have worked with Sam on a project but is my second time with Chris. because he and i made a preliminary task video last year which was a person coming into a room sitting down and having a conversation. So me and Chris already knew one another when it came to filming products which made it a lot more relaxed and enjoyable for us when we are doing this task.                                                                                                                                                                                            

Richard Dyer's Star Theory

Stars as Embodiments

 Bob Marley was an international superstar because through his ideologies of believing in peace and freedom all around the world his target audience began to listen to his music and respect him for the person he was. He made a song which was called ' One Love'. In this song you tend to hear Bob Marley say 'Lets get together and feel alright'. This line of the song basically suggests that all races and cultures come as one and being to love each other which i find is very inspirational because I agree with his ideologies. He tends to repeat the words 'One Love' a lot in this song. This is so that he can make his message loud and clear to his target audience to show that he really meant it when he wanted peace and freedom in the world. Furthermore, in his song 'One Love' it also relates to war between countries. His message for this is to try and prevent war from occurring in the future and make everyone love one another which is his message he tries to send out in most of his songs. This is an example of how stars as embodiments is used within an artist when it comes to discussing his ideologies.

                                                                    Stars as Products

Within the music industry it's not always singing/rapping in front of a camera. They also tend to have  businesses where they portray themselves as an object. An example would be Dr. Dre beats because it benefits both his target audience and himself because it expands his business and makes him more recognisable for his audiences. It is also done so that they can fill a gap in the market to make their product stand out more. Another example would be the band one direction because they sell a to of their market on products like t-shirts and etc to ensure there target audience are always engaged with what they are bringing out to their audiences. Without having products for an artist it would be very challenging for the artist to gain some benefits about what he or she does for living because without a large audience who buys products you sell then you won't be as successful as artists such as one direction and dr. dre.


                                                                Stars as Personalities


In order to be successful within the music industry, artists have to connect with their target on a personal level, as well as through their music. A way of doing this is through social media websites such as Facebook and twitter, or simply meeting them in public. An example of a successful artist who engages with his target audience on a personal level is Ed Sheeran. Here is an example of when he engages with his target audience on a personal level. This is a video of Ed Sheeran hearing a fan singing his song thinking out loud and decides to join her. This is because Ed Sheeran can relate to this one particular fan because he came from a similar situation to her and would think its necessary to help her out. This is an example of when an artist connects with their target audience on a personal level which is the stars as personalities theory within Richard Dyer's theory.

                                                                 

Genre

This is a music video for the song called 'Smile' which was written and performed by an artist named Lily Allen. Throughout this song you tend to see the song being based around a poor, council estate in London. Midway through the song you see two big white men who are dressed with chains, hat, jackets, basically making them stand out to be chavs. This is a representation of white people as being chavs and vandalising property as there is a scene of those two white men destroying a person's house. Through the clothes, editing styles and themes i can tell that this music video represents white people as the dangerous and criminal type of people which is a counter type of the ordinary white male. This makes the audience appealed with what is happening because it is something different when a music video is based in a council estate and doesn't feature any black people who you would usually expect would be involved. In this music video there is fast paced editing used due to their being a lot of action and scenes that are taking place as well as the tempo of the music. Fast paced editing has suited this music video because for me it made want to continue watching because of how the whole music video was when showing whats happening. When it comes to representing ethnicities this would benefit the artist Lily Allen positively because she shows that there is not a difference between the two races and her music video is made more noticeable in the future because she has changed the way how white people are stereotyped and made them look like how everyone in a council estate acts like.

Representation Theories

Representation is the process whereby the media constructs versions of people, places and events in images, words or sound for transmission through media texts to an audience. There will be two theories I will be focusing on mainly throughout this blog post which are Stuart Hall - 'Preferred Reading' and Laura Mulvey 'The Male Gaze' theory.

Stuart Hall had two views the old view and the new view. The old view is representation is re-submitted info, there is only one fixed set of meanings and how we understand the representations after we have expected them. His other view as the new view which was; the audience must investigate representations from within and decide for themselves which I will be doing in this blog post and representations are open to multiple interpretations. Stuart Hall also was one of the theorist behind the Reception Theory. Here is an example of when Reception Theory is used.

This music video is called 'Hate Me Now' which is performed by Nas. As you see in the music video the artist Nas is represented as a vulunreable and weak person as you see him about to being crucified. This is also a countertype of the black rapper artists bevcaue they are usually shown as tough and fearless. This is a clear example of the reception theory because the young adult target audience may see Nas as a different person.


The Laura Mulvey theory 'Male Gaze' is where Laura Mulvey believe women are used in a sexual way to appeal tot he male audience. There is an opposite to the male gaze theory epoch is the female gaze theory which is where Men are used sexually to appeal to a woman target audience. Now I will be showing examples of both the male gaze and the female gaze theory which I have found. Below is an example of the 'Male Gaze' theory.

This is a music video called 'Blurred Lines' which was performed by Robin Thickle and Pharrell Williams. In this video women are represented as sexy and attractive bbyy using close ups of them posing semi-naked whilst wearing red lipstick. The colour red has sexual connotations and by doing this they want women to attract the male audience as well as the msuic itself beacsue it has that old school funk type of music.

The goodwyn's theory is called the 'voyeurism theory'. The word voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females but also, in terms of systems of looking. There are three examples which relate to goodwyn's theory, these are; screens within screens, cameras and mirrors. Below are some examples of the tree exmaples witin the goodwyn's theory.

Screens within screens example - Last Republic - CCTV Music Video

Camera Example - Lady Gaga - Papparazi

Mirrors Example - M2M - Mirror, Mirror Music Video

The next theorist that I will be talking about is the ways of seeing theory by Berger. This theory relates to showing scenes that had happened in the past. For example a music video which features the berlin wall falling down or England winning the world cup. Below is an example of ehrn Berger's theory is useful.

In this music video they tend to show a lot of scenes from the past. These will include the first rocket being lunched and how living conditions were in the 70's and 80's. I think they did this so they can make their music video seem more interesting and appealing to their target audience because thye are doing something different to the usual music video made by Imagine Dragons.

The other theroist that I will now be discussing is Richard Dyer and his theory, 'The Star Theory'. There are three stages within the star theory and these are;Songs as personalities, in order to be successful, artists have to connect with their target audience on a personal level as well as through their music. The next one is Stars as products which benefits the artists. An example of this would be Dr. Dre and hs Dr. Dre Beats which have become massively successful due to the sales worldwide of them. The last stage in the star theory, is Stars as endorsments or ideologies and cultures. Ideology is a set of believs based on cultural values, economics and politics. An example would be an artist strating a fashion trend, to try and get their fans copying the style of clothing they wear.

Styles and Conventions of Music Videos

Interpretative: Is a video where the lyrics of the song match the images shown in the music video itself. Below is an example of a music video when they use Interpretative music video style.

This is a music video done by Eminem called 'Lose yourself'. In this music video you tend to see a lot of what Eminem is rapping about appear in scenes at the same time. This is a clear example of interpretative as the lyrics match with the scenes that us the audience are seeing. At 00:57 in this music video you see the wrist Eminem vomiting through the spaghetti he had just eaten whilst you are seeing this he said the lyrics 'vomiting on sweater, mums spaghetti, he is nervous'. This can make the audience have a clear understanding of the difficult situations he is facing which can make the story a lot stronger and effective to his target audience. Sometimes interpretative music videos can be seen as quite dull and boring because since it's just the artist singing and very interesting scenes the music video can begin to get boring even if the music is good/ However, in Eminem's case his style of music and music videos is not very boring as there is a story to all of his music and especially in this example of Lose Yourself you see what his life was like and what he faced.

Animation: These types of videos rely solely on either hand drawn or computer generated movies. An example would be comic book characters being shown singing at the same time as the artist. Below is an example of when Animation is used in a music video.

This is a music video called 'Do I wanna know' by Arctic monkeys. Throughout the song you see a string like type of animation which basically relates to the sound of the guitar that is played throughout the song. I think that thus would make the audience engaged with this song because it's something different and something that people who love the music genre rock isn't quite used to which will make it more interesting. The artists would benefit from this music video by being remembered for the new animation they had created which will map ether song more understandable an interesting to their target audience. Benefits of using animations in music videos is that you get the freedom to use whoever and whatever you want in your music video so it can be engaging and appealing as possible. Also, it won't cost a lot because if you look at characters from the Simpsons it doesn't cost anything to send their characters to space where in reality it does.

Surreal: Is an abstract type of music video where there may not be any clear narrative or message. Music conventions are not obviously applied. There is usually some sort of artistic element to it, showing the artists creativity and quirky side. below is an example that i found which is an example of the surreal type of music video.

Above is a music video called 'Im not your toy' which was done by the artist La Roux. This video is quite unusual in my opinion because there isn't a clear narrative there are only random scenes in one location where different people are dancing. From this i can tell that this type of music video is surreal in all areas. I find that the audience would be massively appealed to this video because it features a lot of unusual scenes which you wouldn't expect from an ordinary music video like weird costumes, not suite drake ups and scenes which have no understanding off which is what would probably keep that specific target audience engaged with the music. The artist on the one hand would benefit from this well because they have created something different from what other groups had done which makes them stand out more compared to other groups and can make them be remembered for a long time.

Music: The tempo often drives the editing which is basically edited to the beat of the song. Below is an example of when the beat of the song tends to drive the editing which makes the song more engaging.

This is a song called 'Viva La Vida' which is a song performed by Coldplay. From the beginning of the song and throughout you begin to hear the sound of a beat continuously going on throughout the song. I find this a positive aspect for the song because it gives that feeling to continue listening because its something that is very hard to pull of but when is don fit can sound good. I think this would engage the all audiences with this song because it has a continuous beat which is unusual in songs nowadays. From doing this, this would benefit Coldplay positively because they are brining new beats to a slow song which can not only make the song effective but engaging at the same time which would make this song more noticed in the future.

Camerawork: Tends to have an impact or meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist or band. Below is an example of when camera work is used to show a characters perspective or feeling towards the situation.

Throughout this music video 'bonkers' by Dizzie Rascal, you see a lot of high angles and close ups of Dizzie Rascals face. Especially when he said 'Some people think I'm bonkers',it hunk he sued these camera shots there because he wants the audience to know that he is bonkers and he shows it by using these two camera shots and fast paced editing between the two. For this reason is why i think through the use of these camera shots it would keep the target audience engaged with the story he is telling and why he is bonkers which in my opinion would interest me a lot. For the artist Dizzie Rascal this would benefit him positively because it shows that he is expressing his feelings to his target audience in an unusual and different way you would expect someone to come out as which is why this music video will be remembered for  a long time.

Editing: The most common form of editing in a music video is fast paced editing. Below is an example of when fast paced editing is used in a music video.

This is a music video of the band Sweedish house mafia performing 'Don't you worry child'. In this music video they sue a lot of fast paced editing. Especially when the beat drops, when they use fast paced editing they switch between the audience raving along to the band themselves performing. From doing this they are increasing the hype of the song to try and keep their target audience engaged and to be excited whenever they hear this song to make it more noticeable and can be remembered for a long time. From this fast paced editing scenes in the song this makes the artist 'Sweedish house mafia' benefit from this well because it would not only make their target audience appealed to the song  but others as well which would increase their reputation for making songs that are appealing.

Intertextuality:  References within a video to other media products or music that a video's target audience may recognise. Below is an example of when intertextuality is used in a music video.

This is a music video of Katy Perry singing 'Last Friday Night'. This is an example of intertextuality because at the start and at the end of the music video you see credits which make you feel like you have just seen a movie which is a clear example of when intertextuality is used. The audience would be appealed to this music video by the film like effect because it is an unusual way of making a music video which would make this specific song stand out compared to the other songs which tell a narrative. The artist Katy Perry would benefit a lot from this because it shows that she has the ability to think outside the box and make a music video which is completely different to what her target audience are used to seeing. This shows that the conventions are used to a good and entertaining effect for her target audience.

Performance: A video that captures a live performance of a band or artist, showing the excitement of a live event. Below is an example i found of when a good performance is used which had caused excitement.

This is a music video by Imagine Dragons called 'Demons' which basically shows them performing to a live audience and getting them hyped as we can see through the panning movement form the band to the audience. I think Imagine Dragons had benefited well from doing this style and convention of a music video because it allows the audience to see their favourite band up close which would make the audience even more excited and more engaged with what songs they are performing which at the end of the day is what a live performance is meant to be about. Similar to my point previously as the band is there in person it would make the performance more appealing to their audience as they are close to them which any fan of a band would want.

Narrative: A video which tells a story i.e. a chain of events with a beginning, a middle and a end. Below is an example of when a music video uses a narrative.

This is a music video called 'When Im gone' which was performed by a solo artist named Eminem. In this music video Eminem tells a story of his family and how he chose success over them and he shows the struggles that had caused and the problems he faced at home due to him wanting to be successful and not caring about his family. The impact this type of music video would have on a target audience would be a strong and an emotional effect because they know that this could happen to themselves which what makes this music video so good. This music video would benefit Eminem positively because Eminem is basically sharing his experiences through a song which shows that he is a strong character who likes to send a powerful message to his audiences which is why Eminem has become so popular over the years.

Conceptual: Is a broader category encompassing all videos which are  neither performance or narrative based. Below is an example of a conceptual type of music video.

This is a music video made by an artist named Tinie Tempah and is called passed out. This is an example of a conceptual video because it doesn't follow a simple narrative and it doenst fetaure a performance itonly follow sthe title of the song which is Pass Out. There recurring segments in this song's lyrics which includes Tinie Tempah saying 'we can do this until we pass out' and other segments where he would end the chorus by saying 'until we hit the ground and pass out'. This both of these lyrics are used to refer to a person falling unconcious or 'passing out' due to excessive partying and is showing the after effects.

Parody: Is an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect. Below is an example of a parody of a music video.

This is a parody of the music video Shake It Off by Taylor Swift. This is a music video parody because a random person has created their own version of this song to try and create entertainment for their audiences and make it stand out more. Also, it is done to try and make the music video more engaging to those type of people that may not of liked the first version of the song. So they decide to make a parody version to make it more noticeable and engaging.

Cameo: Is when a music video features a special guest in a celebrity where they appear to try and make their target audience engaged with what the music video is about and to make it   more noticeable to other viewers. Below is an example of a Cameo music video.

This is a music video of Jay Z performing his song D.O.A. In this video there is a special appeartence of the american basketballer Lebron James. Through having this celebrity int his video it will make the video more remembered as a good music video because it features one of the best athletes of all time in Lebron James. I think that they have Lebron James in this video because they want to make their music group more known and noticed when it comes to producing more songs in the future. Not only Jay-Z but Lebron James reputation would also increase form this music video so it benefits the artist and the special guest in a similar way.