Theory/Theorists

GENRE-

Definition: a style or category of art, music, or literature.

TOM RYALL-  generic conventions are fulfilled ‘depends on the relationship between the text and audience.’ Conventions = narrative, themes, sterotypes, characters. 
This theorist relates to my work as in my music video I have included a stereotypical heart break narrative through the use of the flashbacks and close-up shots displaying the character's sad emotions which viewers can relate to. Stereotypes are also portrayed by highlighting that the female character in my video is indeed the emotional one, as there is a dramatic and emotional performance when she appears to sing the lyrics about the boy she loves.

CHRISTIAN METZ - Different stages of genre include classic, parody, experimental. 
Within my music video, a classic approach seems to be displayed through the mix of narrative and performance. However, it can also be argued that my music video also takes on an experimental approach through the flashback scenes (this include both the performance and the narrative within one shot which I believe is quite unique and therefore, experimental) 

NARRATIVE-

Definition: a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.

CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS-  Argues that human cultural understanding is
based upon a system of binary oppposites.
This relates to my work as I have included the binary opposites of male and female through the two characters in my music video.

LAURA MULVEY – The narrative is delivered through the eyes of a male. She assumes the watcher in the diegetic world is male, the camera is male, and the audience themselves a re male. 
As the protagonist in my video wears clothes that emphasise her figure and the close-up shots emphasise body features such as her lips suggests how she is being used to appeal to the male dominated audience.

REPRESENTATION-

Definition: The description or portayal of someone or something in a particualar way.

LAURA MULVEY- argues that cinema positions the audience as male. The camera gazes at the female object on screen. ‘pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female’

STUART HALL -he argues that the media appear to reflect reality whilst in fact they construct it. The media constructs what we think, rather than reflecting our own opinions and beliefs. 
My music video represents how the protagonist is the character the audience should connect with and sympathise with as she is the main focus.

AUDIENCE-

Definition:


ROLAND BARTHES - 'Death of the Author' 
The audience is more important in terms of my music video, as the video can be interpreted in many different ways. As the narrative is not entirely clear, the viewer is left to wonder why this particular couple has broken up. They can bring their own interpretations into the story and it is up to them what happens next as the narrative is unresolved - the audience never fins put if the protagonist gets over her heart break.

RECEPTION THEORY -  We use our own personal experiences and cultural knowledge to interpret a text in a personal way.
The audience can use their own experienced to interpret my music video.

MEDIA LANGUAGE-

ANDREW GOODWIN-5 key aspects in music videos.
One is relation of visuals to song- My music video displays these as the flashbacks of the couple connect to the song about love. Therefore my music video illustrates the lyrics.

SEMIOTICS -  Ferdinand De Saussure – regarded as the founder of semiotics. A Sign = signifier / signified. A sign must have both a signifier and a signified. You cannot have a totally meaningless signifier or a completely formless signified. 
The shots of the painting of the rose is my video is a sign that connotes love. As well as the rose itself, the colour red also signifies other meanings such as passion, danger and hurt. This may highlight the break up.

Half Term HW

1A-

In terms of my media coursework, I created a music magazine as part of my foundation portfolio and a music video for the song ‘You’ by the roc band ‘The Pretty Reckless’ for my advanced portfolio. I am going to discuss my work in terms of post-production which refers to the editing process, after I shot for both projects.

Primarily I am going to discuss my music magazine called ‘Outspoken’ which is a magazine for alternative music fans. During my editing process and post production, one of the main things I carried out was the layout of my magazine and putting the whole thing together which I carried out in InDesign. This involved creating columns for the texts and then inserting the images I previously took. I also used the text wrap tool to make my text go around the images – I believe was the most vital tool in terms of my editing. Text wrap makes the magazine look professional, as the layout look similar to existing projects, for example other music magazines like NME.

Further, editing the particular images I used in my work was also part of my post-production. I edited my images in the software Photoshop. Using this software I was able to add effects to the images I had already taken as well as clean up any photos. I edited some of my photos by adding the ‘black and white’ effect on the specific layer. These photos were used to contrast with my other colour images on my double page spread. I believe this mad the overall look of my magazine more interesting and unique. I also removed the background of my images using the magic wand tool. This was particularly helpful when I added the text wrap as the text was directly around my model.

Moving on to my advanced portfolio, I edited my music video in Premiere. This was software I learnt about during A2 therefore it was new to me and I had to learn about the different tools and effects through tutorials. For me, editing the green screen shots was a main part of my editing process. This required me to select the ‘eight. Garbage matte’ video effect and add I to my video. I then re-shaped this to get rid of any excess background. After I selected the ultra key effect and changed the colour to green. I then adjusted the shadow and soften tool until I was happy with overall image, and imported the flashback into the background. This way I was able to include both a narrative and a performance in one scene, as well as drawing attention to the emotional lyrics in the song as the audience can link these to the flashbacks of the couple. I believe this technique is quite unique as it is not usually something shown in music videos in this way.

Colour correcting was another main of my post-production for A2. I used the colour corrector tool to adjust the colour of my model/singer. As she appeared too bright before I believe this did not fit in with the sad theme in my music video. Therefore I made the overall image darker so it looked more professional. I believe this part of post-production was also vital as it helped my images fit in with the narrative of my music video.

In conclusion, post-production has been important for both my portfolios as the software I used helped make my work look professional and realistic.

1B-

I am going to discuss my music video for the song ‘You’ by the Pretty Reckless in terms of narrative. Narrative refers to the way a particular story is told and the structure of this story therefore I will be analysing the story within my video.

Todorov came up with five key concepts that normally occur within narrative structures. There are the equilibrium, the disruption of this equilibrium, the realisation of this disruption, the attempt to repair the damage and final the happy ending. Although some of these stages are presented in my music video, many of them are not therefore my music video challenges this theory. As my music video is about a heartbreak story between a young couple the disruption and realisation of the disruption of the equilibrium is apparent however there is no happy ending. It can be argued that in fact there is an example of equilibrium; however this is displayed within the flashbacks, creating a type of episodic narrative. The flashbacks highlight the happy relationship between the couple and it is clear that these particular scenes are separated from the main narrative and performance as they are presented in black and white. Although my music video mostly goes against this theory, Andrew Goodwin states that music video as a whole should ignore common narratives as it is important for their role of advertising. Taking this into account, my video therefore complies with the typical narrative structures that music videos normally include, in order for them to be successful and so the audience members don’t lose focus. Moreover, the fact my video will have a narrative as well as performance supports Andrew Goodwin's theory, describing the key aspects in music videos. During the performance, the artist will be singing to the camera making a personal connection with the audience while my narrative will be somewhat inspired by the song as it will complement the themes within it.

Claude Lévi Straus is another main theorist, in terms of narrative. He came up with binary opposites, stating that all narratives are based around a conflict between these opposites. One binary opposites that is included in my video is between the male and female. The entire story within my video is based between these two characters – the female who is devastated about the break-up and the male, who as far as the audience is aware, has moved on. Although the female is the protagonist in my video and the male is considered as the deuteragonist, the viewers are more likely to connect more with the female. In my video I believe I have displayed typical female traits through my protagonist as she is clearly emotional and cares a lot about her past love.  Therefore Straus can be applied to my work, in terms of the binary opposites I have included.

Overall, the finished production of my work clearly displays an episodic narrative of a clear story usually presented in music video which has a close relation of visuals to song.

'Give your definition of post-modernism and support it with examples'

Postmodernism is a way of thinking about cultures, philosophy and the arts. More general, it is a concept categorised by a set of theories and ideologies. Popular postmodern traits include intertextuality, pastiche and hyperreality which I will discuss when analysing my case studies ‘Maleficent’ (Robert Stromberg, 2014) and ‘Black Widow’ (Director X, 2014).

 

My first case study is ‘Maleficent’, a film about the untold story of the villain in Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Immediately it is clear to see how this is a postmodern film as it is based on an already existing media text, it uses intertextuality and focuses on a completely different character within the story. It can be said that the film is a recycled fairy-tale from the original – introducing the bricolage technique where work is created using available and existing materials, which is effectively what ‘Maleficent’ does. ‘Maleficent’ is also pastiche, a trait discovered by Freidrich Jameson, as it imitates the work of existing films by including the same characters and locations. Both ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Maleficent’ also include similar scenes, for example when Maleficent goes to visit Aurora as a baby and casts a spell on her in the castle.

 

The film also creates a sense of hyperreality, a motion discovered by Baudrilliard, through the way it is shown on screen. Maleficent has a sense of hyperreality as it is sometimes difficult for the viewer to distinguish between what is real and what is not during the film. ‘Maleficent’ is a myth based on a realistic-looking landscape yet the landscape is in fact a magical made-up land. Therefore the way it has been edited creates a sense of a hyperreality world towards the audience.

 

‘Maleficent’ is also very artificial – another trait as to how the film is considered postmodern, because it uses CGI to create mythical creatures that the audience otherwise wouldn’t see in real life. For example, Maleficent herself is very artificial due to her black wings and horns. There is a scene in particular, where she is flying other the kingdom as a little girl which clearly uses CGI effects as this would never be possible in reality. This also emphasises how the film is a fairy-tale as sometimes postmodern films like to draw attention to the fact they are fictious. However the characters have been edited this way to appear real with the audience so they can engage and relate with them more, as well as what is happening in the film. This also displays how important technology is within postmodernity.

 

Another trait of Maleficent is its claim to moral truth. As the film focuses on the villain as the protagonist, it is sometimes hard to distinguish whether in fact she is the hero. In the original ‘Sleeping Beauty’ it was easy to recgonise Maleficent as the villain however this film takes on more complicated approaches towards the character. For example the scene where Maleficent’s wings get stolen from her childhood friend, the audience automatically sympathises with her and she is seen as the victim. This explains how postmodern films tend to upset mainstream conventions of narratives and characterisations because it tells the story from a different perspective.

 

My other case study is the music video ‘Black Widow’ by Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea. This media text also includes pastiche a sit imitates the film ‘Kill Bill’ through the various props and costumes. Both artists wear leather jumpsuits, like the protagonist in ‘Kill Bill’ the bride, however they are slightly different from the original due to their colour. This suggests how the producers didn’t want to exactly replicate the film, but instead imitate it- a more playful side of postmodern culture.

Intertextuality is another trait within ‘Black Widow’ as from the beginning, the audience is introduced to Michael Madsen, which ironically links in with the original film ‘Kill Bill’ as he also starred in this. Rital Ora’s old label head ‘T.I’ and actor ‘Paul Sorvino’ are also in the poker scene of the video. All of these appearances link to either the film or music industry which the audience, if they recognise them, will be able to make connections with. A more humorous example of intertextuality is the reference to the current song ‘What does the fox say?’ as the restaurant owner says this to Iggy at the start of the video. This is another way the audience can understand the references, as the song was very popular during this video’s release.

 

As mentioned before, some postmodern texts like to draw attention to the fact they’re fictous. This is seen in ‘Black Widow’ where Iggy look directly at the camera to make eye contact with the audience, as well as the many posters that advertise the video within the restaurant. This implies how postmodern texts are hyper-conscious as they directly address the audience.

 

I believe postmodernity will continue to appear within the arts as traits such as intertextuality are now becoming more commonly used and I believe this will continue to adapt in the future, as audiences will accept that modernity no longer exist.