Narraive Research Task

"Music Videos are simply an extension of the lyrics" - Andrew Goodwin

• How could you prove/disprove this?

For example you could watch a music video with out the sound and try and guess the lyics or the story of the song. Then play it with the sound and see how accurate you are.

• What does it mean?

What he means is that a music video doesn't show anything else but "an extension of the lyrics" in other words, they don't depict anything unrelated to the lyrics of the song.

• What is the main idea behind this?

That the lyrics of the song aren't just lyrics there ideas and when the audience hear the song they get one interpretation but when they watch the music video the get the directors/artists preferred reading of the song.

• How significant is this?

It is very significant because it means we have a visual context for what is being said in the song. Often when I listen to a song and I want to know more about what it meant I will go and look up the music video.

• What evidance can you already present for this?

One music video that springs to mind is The Knights of Cydonia by Muse, that is done in the style of an old Western film. The lyrics of the song are done in that style to, as they are quite epic so is the music video. In my opinion this greatly improves a pretty average song.

• Do you agree with this? Explain your answer...

Yes, I do agree with this to an extent becuase no matter if the music video improves the song or spoils it, it will always be an expantion on pre-created content. It always depends of the genre aswell for example a Rap video will show the artists lifestyle and culture whereas a Pop artist might show more literal visual representations of the lyrics.


Carol Vernallis is theorist that suggests that a music video is manufactured to relate to curtain concepts:

• Narrative
• Editing
• Camera Movement and Framing

This is done so that the music video a visual representation of the lyrics of the song, in other words the lyrics of the song reflects what is being shown on screen. Although she does say that they don't show a continual sequence they are just fragments of a story line and they are more traditional shown in a montage form rather than a clear focal point. This is an effective method because it make the audience ask questions and want to know more about the narrative which leaves the meaning open for their own interpretation. This is done which a range of different types of editing:

• Jump Cuts
• Different Locations
• Cutting with tempo of the song/lyrics
• Juxtaposed Scenes
• Graphic Matches

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/paypal12345678/carol-vernallis-music-video-theory

Lip Syncing Task

For this workshop we had to task of making a music video to Taylor Swift, in which we had to demonstrate the skills of editing, framing and composition:

Once we had done this we had to analyse another groups work focusing on the quality of framing and composition and how in sync the music was, I analysed Luke, Patrick and Briony's work. This is the full video:

The results are in the prezi below...



Then we went on to review to process of making the video we looked at:

• Directing
• Framing & Composition
• Editing
• Locations

Composition and Framing Task

Before

After

In this task we were given a theme and we had 20 minutes to go and take pictures, thinking about the quality of composition, of the local surroundings inspired by this theme. In my case it was "Compare/Contrast" I quickly set about finding objects and locations that would work for this theme.

Once we had taken the photographs we reviewed it are work and how we could improve it, we then look at techniques that could help us when we take photos. These included:

• Depth of Field
• Perspective/Leading Lines
• Symmetry
• Angle
• Pattern and Texture
• Negative Space
• The Rule of Thirds

After that I went to my favorite location out of the photos and put this to use, as you can see the composition and framing greatly improved. In the two photos to the left I used the negative space technique thus making a more visually image. The photos to the left show I have thought about angle in the top image a high angle and the bottom image a close up. I felt I have improved my composition throughout this workshop and I'm fast finding out it is a particular skill of mine.

Portfolio Review

David Jeffery-Hughes Portfolio Review

Research & Planning:

Through the research and planning I have gained knowledge and experience of what is expected of a product similar to this, specifically into how you build up a target audience profile.

For my previous project I had to make a 2 minute Gangster film opening targeted at the 15-30 year old market. We watched and analysed several film openings to see the traditional conventions through the use of camera work, editing and mise en scene.

To understand what our target audience wanted we complied a survey using “Survey Monkey” to aim our narrative as much to that age group would expect as possible. In response to the questions we did change some aspects of the opening to fit the age group. From this we learnt that the public’s opinion can change your outcome for the better because when you construct a product it is sometimes difficult to place yourself in the mind of the consumer.

Using Conventions from Real Media Texts

From the research we watched several Gangster films openings. The most common theme was to pop art title/stills. This was when the camera would freeze on a character and a threshold affect would be added while a title shows the name of the character. We used this in our opening with the main character. We also noticed this created a Wild West theme that added the whole stand of element between the two characters featured.

With the mise en scene we made sure the character wore typical costumes for the genre. One character wore a leather jacket and jeans the other wore a long coat and jeans. This is important as we had a short time to establish the characters, and the costume tells us a lot about the character.

In terms of music we were inspired by a scene from "Lock and Two Smoking Barrels" which used traditional folk acoustic music. As the music we used had to be copy right free it was difficult to find such a specific track. Lucky I discovered some local Bristol buskers that created a medley of classical tunes but played on acoustic guitars.

For the camera work we wanted to use a mixture shot types, for the calm travelling scenes we used still tripod led shots. But for the violent and dramatic moments we used a steady cam approach to create suspense.

Using these conventions allowed me to create a visually characteristic British gangster opening that a target audience would be engaged with straight away.


Digital Technology and Post Production

During the development of my 2 minute British Gangster opening I widened my knowledge of Camera equipment. I learnt how to change the settings to increase the quality of a shot such as creating a shallow aperture to create depth of field. I particularly gained experience in creating title sequences in Adobe Premier Pro to make the slip easily into the sequence as if they were on the location. This was useful because it made me think more about how I could make simple lettering a visually engaging addition to the project.

Creativity

Felt my creativity has improve throughout the project, particularly because some of my original ideas were very difficult to achieve so I had to think of simpler ways of making my ideas come to life. I have learnt that your initial ideas will change as your project comes together, so for my next project I will take that into account for when I start to make it.