A2 MEDIA STUDIES MUSIC VIDEO

A2 MEDIA STUDIES: ANCILLARY TEXTS

EVALUATION QUESTION 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop of challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop of challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of the genre are conventions that appear in every music video which are of the same genre. Music videos follow performance, narrative, abstract or a mixture. For example, a typical convention of a pop song video is that it has a narrative which relates to the lyrics of the song. The music uses the video as a support to help the audience understand their lyrics. It also acts as another media platform to allow the lyrics to be understood on another level.

Bordwell and Thompson stated that the plot (syuzhet) in a music video is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of their presentation in the narrative. However this can be in any order. The story (fabula) is defined as the chronological series of events that are represented or implied.  In my music video there is a narrative which in a music video is a start, process, and then end. The narrative establishes the diegesis which is the fictional world established for the media text.

The mise-en-scene is one of the main factors in establishing this diegesis as it helps to create verisimilitude which is very similar to reality for the audience. My music video uses location in the mise en scene to create realistic places that allows the audience to relate to the video better.

My video is also post-modern as it is self-reflexive due to the fact that it is aware of itself as a music video. This is shown by the fact that it contains a music video within it as my artist and main character watches herself in a music video as one narrative in the text. In my music video I chose a narrative to follow the conventions which I also found when I researched into other pop genres in other pop music videos such as Demi Lovato’s ‘Made in the USA’ and Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream.’ [Textual analysis of both]

Stuart Hall’s Reception theory mentions encoding, which is what the producers of a text want the message to be, and decoding, which is the message that the audience reads from the text. The theory states that this message can be the same but also can be different. For this however we need to be an active audience which means that we can either read a message the way it was intended or have our own ideology about it. This choice is influenced by what type of audience we are and the 6 things that affect it which are: age; gender; life experience; beliefs; mood at the time of viewing; and culture.

This theory applies to my own work by using conventions such as having a theme of love and showing this through the linear narrative. [Photo/video clip].

Tessa Perkins Stereotypes theory states 5 rules about stereotypes. They are: stereotypes aren’t always negative; they aren’t always about the minority or less powerful; they can be held about one’s own group; they aren’t rigid or unchanging; and they aren’t always false.

Stereotypes are also are included in my texts to help encode a particular message for the audience which should ultimately make them decode the same message and understand my text. This is shown through the narrative of a boy and girl being in a relationship and breaking up and getting back together again.

I also used characters of the same age as the target audience and the audience that I have got my feedback from. This is so that they can relate to my product more easily. Another way that I made sure that the video would appeal to the target audience was through the use of mise-en-scene, more specifically; costume. The costume that my protagonist wears is what is in fashion at the time that the videos were shot. [screenshots]

There are also typical conventions in pop music videos, in terms of edits too such as slow motion. Slow motion allows one particular moment to be appreciated for a longer time and allows the viewer to see and dwell on the details that you wouldn't normally be able to if the shot was played at normal speed. In terms of linking to the theme of the song; love, it makes the viewer feel happy emotions and also links to the people in the video who are appreciating their moment.

Formal conventions are conventions of ALL music videos. Some of these include the editing matching the beat of the music. Depending on the story/song the editing usually speeds up if the song does or the events in the video become more intense or fast-paced. In my music video, I used montage editing to create a few seconds of fast paced editing which represents some of the memories that my artist is experiencing. [clip] This follows formal conventions by using fast edits to show a more intense and emotional part of the video.

I also followed conventions by matching the edits to the beat of the music. As the genre is a pop music video, these tend to be mid-paced meaning the shots only up to a couple of seconds long. When I first created my storyboard, I planned my shots to last longer which meant that once I had completed my first draft, the video appeared slow and boring. Whilst I then changed my editing to make it faster, it was still to the beat of the music which meant that it still followed formal conventions of music videos. In terms of cinematography, close-ups are almost always used to show emotion of the character. Mid shots and long shots are used to show separation, if it is a love theme, between the two main characters, usually the antagonist and protagonist. In my music video I used high angles on my artist when she was sad to make her appear more vulnerable and make the audience sympathise with her.

As the target audience for my music video is teenage girls, I researched into music genres that appealed to this demographic. Pop music is mostly listened to by a teenage audience. This is partly due to the fact that the lyrics of most pop genre songs are relatable to people of that age. Pop music focuses mainly on love, relationships, and friendships as well as partying and in some cases, being strong and independent. The lyrics to the song by Cher Lloyd - 'Want U Back' are about her wanting an ex-boyfriend back as she still loves him. Ke$ha's - 'Your Love Is My Drug' focuses on love that she has for someone being associated with drugs which are seen as a representation of youth.

It is for this reason that i have chosen a pop genre song for my music video as it is one of the widest ranges of genres in music. It also means that as I am a consumer of pop music, I know most about this genre. The main reason for this is because as I am a teenager I have and insight into what they want to see in a video so I will be able to have input into the ideas that I will use. Also, my artist/main talent in my video is a 17 year old girl which means that the video would appeal most to teens rather than older adults or a younger audience. The song itself also is listened to by people my age (14-20) and so by using people like this in the video it will make both texts appeal to them.

Teenagers are the main audience for music videos which is why using them in my video will make it end up selling more in the end. Pop music videos also appeal to their audience by the use of costume through mise en scene because they contain up to date fashion and current styles which teenagers can buy for themselves. 

The artist usually stars in their videos and if they are a band there is often a scene in the video of the band playing. In my video, I challenged conventions by not following Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze which focuses on the camera shots in a music video which concentrate more on women’s curves and views women as objects. It also is about voyeurism which is when men get pleasure from seeing women in this way. I broke conventions of female representation in music videos by having my main character represented like a ‘normal’ teenage girl her age. This also means that the audience can relate more easily to the artist and understand the message better.

The mise en scene (including props, costume, make-up, location and lighting) all represent the mood/message that the song is trying to show the audience and is made understandable by the music video to help to allow the audience the understand the lyrics. In my music video, I used costume to both connote certain meanings in my text and also appeal to my target audience. I used current clothes that were in fashion at the time of filming which meant that the artist in the video became more relatable with the audience and in turn helped the audience decode my particular encoded message through the video. The colours of both my clothes, location backgrounds and also effects all connote some sort of meaning. I used pink in my characters wellies to show love and passion but also black in the male’s outfit which foreshadows that something bad will happen as black is related to bad and alone.

EVALUATION QUESTION 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

EVALUATION QUESTION 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation Question 3: from Alex Coop

Question 3 feedback by alexandra_coop on GoAnimate

EVALUATION QUESTION 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

First FULL draft(s)

I framed this shot to show Sam on the darker side of the forest and also wearing a black top to connote the bad that will come later on in the video. The position of the two in the shot shows him to be taking up more of the shot and meaning Vicki is in a smaller space to show vulnerability. She is also wearing light colours to connote good and innocence which supports Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites as there is one good and one bad. 

In the parts of the video where i wanted to show Vicki sad, angry or alone i used the room with the grey background to represent the fact that she feels this way and also had no colour in her life. The red on her top can connote two different things: firstly that she is still in love with him even though they're not together and also that she is angry as red can also connote danger or anger. 



This shot is framed in such a way that you can see both of the backgrounds that i used to show the contrasting emotions that my protagonist feels throughout the video. it also shows a barrier in the way of the brightly coloured background that represents happiness and love. 


this shot is similar to the previous but shows the two next to each other. I edited the two different shots to make the left one brighter and the right one less saturated to represent the happiness and sadness in them. 






To show the protagonist/artist's personality i used other things to represent the love in her life rather than just another person. I used animals and photography to present her as a loving character so that when the audience sees her sad they sympathise for her and feel more sad when it happens. 

ancillary Texts

Post Modern Media

Post-modern media [1950’s – now ?]

Features of a post-modern society

·         State of hyperreality (media reality is more real than reality)(simulacra)

·         Style over substance ad content (looks good, means nothing)

·         High and low culture – breakdown of distinction

·         Decline of meta-narrative

·         Death of the author – Roland Barnes

·         Subjective over objective

·         Multiple realities

Post-modern = after/against modernism

“there is not definition of post-modernism because we are still living in a post-modern era”

·         Rise of the mass media

·         Magazines/newspaper

·         Advertising

·         Digital media à no one’s had this before so it helps define post modernism

Exploring the nature and impact
how the key concepts

Modernism looked forward – radio, cinema
everything’s been done in post-moderism: narrative e.c.t so no narrative is now new (e.g. western, romance, aliens)

One main feature of post-modernism is nostalgia
it looks to the past
intertextuality – refers to old texts that have been created and mixes them up to make something new (e.g. western + aliens = alien westerns)

Criticism – philosophers only base their ideas on America and western societies (not Africa and Asia e.c.t.) because they argue that those places are the most advanced

Rene Magrite – ‘the treachery of images’ (pipe painting)

We all get out information about everything from media. It no longer reflects society as it is reality and society
New media

Theorists

·         Jean Baudrilard (hyperreality)

·         Jean Francois (yotard)(meta-narratives)

·         Fredrick Jameson (commodification of culture)

·         Strinati (media is society)

What is post modernism?

·         A series of ideas

·         Greeks love nature (classicism)

·         Nature is perfect (neoclassicism)

·         Scientists wanted to prove it is perfect

·         Feelings are more important that facts (romanticism)

·         Modernism and post-modernism

Technology leads to progress                                        mixes ideas up
fixed ideas                                                                            (backwards narratives)
1 channel in 1950s tv                                                         irony – key feature                                                                                                             100’s channels on tv now

Society fragmented – people define themselves through more things now like hair colour, music taste, fashion e.c.t.
meta-narrative – single organising structure e.g. the church/religion
the decline of the meta-narrative – no one goes to church like they used to anymore
we don’t challenge the media representation

Post-modern aesthetic is the look over meaning/style over substance

In the past there was a clear distinction between high and low culture. High culture was more important and now there is none

Classicism Neo – classicism (the Enlightenment) romanticism modernism

Marxism                                                                               
Nietche à ‘God is dead’
Freud

We are living in post-modernity

Post-war Europe – the cold war (WWII)
industrialised murder
rationalised thoughts brought murder and war
                                 ^--and enlightenment
Cold war
Two opposite (places) meta-narratives (west vs east)

Vietnam war – sent people to war
                          - camera crews able to film the war & broadast back to USA  
Segregation            

Shoot for my ancillary texts

When it came to editing these photos on Photoshop, then i enlarged the picture it appeared that the camera quality was poor and i am now not able to use the photos as i would have liked. this means that i now have to re shoot these pictures for my ancillary texts. However even though this setback will cost me time i know the poses and types of shot i want to have and so re shooting them shouldn't take a lot of time to do. I can also create my whole ancillary text on Photoshop but without using the photos in my final piece. 

Audience Feedback