During my AS media course, me and my group produced a radio show as our media project. Throughout the course i learnt and developed various skills such as researching, constructing and evaluating media work, specifically in the sector of radio. For my A2 i will be undergoing a new project in a different sector, the creation of a music video. During this course i will learn the codes and conventions of a music video and how to create an effective and successful production after doing the correct research into people like Andrew Goodwin.
Moving from understanding genre in AS to A2
Andrew Goodwin's 6 conventions
1) There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals on screen.
Example of the relationship
This is an example of the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals on screen as the lyrics say " i got a feeling its a trippy night" and we see a male high on drugs.
2)Genre Characteristics
Dolly Shot
This is an example as a dolly shot as the camera slowly zooms into the female in shot. This dolly shot is an indication of the focal point of the shot, being the woman as it zooms in and the male artist gets cut out the frame. This is a code and convention of the Hip Hop genre as most male artists in Hip Hop talk about women and so this shot shows that the music video is of the Hip Hop genre as the artist is stereotypically trying to show off his female by zooming in on her.
Low angle looking up.
This shot is a strong example of the genre Hip Hop. The camera angle is looking up at the artist, giving the impression that the artist is talking down to us, the audience making him look powerful. This is an example of Hip Hop as artists in Hip Hop like to show themselves as dominant figures and so the camera angle perfectfully shows this.
Mise En Scene- Colour Composition
The Mise En Scene is also a code and convention of music videos as there are various groups within the mise en scene which indicate the genre. In this case specially, the colour composition of the music video is an indicator and code and convention of the Hip Hop genre because of the connotations of the colours used. Clearly, the vibrant colours give off a psychedelic vibe. This is linked to the Hip Hop genre as drugs are stereotypically a big topic and this theme is given off by the psychedelic colours.
Mise En Scene- Props
Here we see the artist holding his jewellery. This counts as a prop. This is a code and convention as this prop is an indication of the artists wealth. Gold chains are expensive and are common in Hip Hop music videos as artists stereotypically tend to display their financial wealth by the jewellery they have to make themselves look dominant and successful.
Narrative Style
Another code and convention is the style of the music video. In this video the style is narrative, following the story of the artist getting high on drugs and being with the girl he loves. This is an example of the Hip Hop genre as Hip Hop revolves heavily around telling stories and the themes of drugs and women. This is a code and convention as this is an important factor of Hip Hop music videos.
3) The demand of the record label will include the need for lots of close up shots of the artist
Example of a close up
In the video we see close ups of the artists face. This is effective because the audience get to clearly see the emotion/facial expression of the artists face.
4)Repeated notion to looking (in mirrors or to the audience) especially towards the female body in a voyeuristic manner.
Example of when the audience look towards the female in a voyeuristic manner
5)A relationship between music and visuals.
Link of location and music
Another example is the location used. In the music video we see the artist out on a balcony, looking out to the streets. This location is a link to the Hip Hop music as rappers stereotypically highlight the fact they come from the "streets". In addition, the fact he is looking out on the streets gives off the idea that he is a dominant figure in the area, looking out and watching whats going on as he is familiar with the setting. 6) The music uses intertextual references to Tv, books, films etc..
Research
Primary Research:
For our group, the primary research I conducted was observing someone else create and edit a music video. This gave me some foundation for the knowledge of creating a video, and what to add to it when editing it.
Secondly Research
The Male Gaze and the Female Gaze
The Male gaze refers to the way in which visual arts and literature represent the world and women specifically from a masculine view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. The term 'male gaze' comes from the feminist Laura Mulvy. The Female gaze is much different to the male gaze. It is a response to Laura Mulvy's male gaze as it represents the gaze of the female viewer instead.
An example of the Male Gaze
This is an example of the Male Gaze in the music video, Wyclef Jean by Young Thug. This is the Male Gaze as the camera is coming from the perspective of a man looking towards the two females. This is a particular example of the male gaze as the visual artists have deliberately made the females in shot eat sausages as they have a deeper representation of a mans testicles. This male gaze is trying to appeal to a males sexuality.
An example of the Female Gaze
This is an example of the Female Gaze. This is an example of the Female Gaze as the shot is deliberately looking towards the female artist from another females perspective. This has been deliberately set up as the female artist is holding another females leg like a guitar and so the Female Gaze looks at her in an empowering manner, challenging the tendencies of the Male Gaze.
Understanding Representation At A2 Level
Henry Widdowson
Henry Widdowson is a professor in the field of applied linguistics. He states that media text is either representational or referential. He said that representation was an "alternative reality in parallel to the real world". The representational side is when the media is being perceived in a way that is simplistic. The referential side is when its an exact showing of the real word and real people.
Applying Henry Widdowson's theory to a music video
In the beginning of Kendrick Lamar's Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe, we see a shot of a church (Example 1) from a point of view of somebody sitting in the church. This is referential because in the real word the view is wide and we are seeing exactly what we would see if we was sitting in the church. This is referential as this is exactly like the real world.
Example 1
However, we also we a shot of a little girl hiding behind one of the seats in the church(Example 2). This is more staged and representational than referential as this wouldn't necessarily happen in real life. In addition, the shot is in slow motion. This shows this is representational also because life does not go in slow motion and is in real time.
Example 2
Soundtrack being used
Planning When considering the overall narrative or plan of our music video, planning is definitely key to constructing a successful project. Planning can be done in various ways such as a flow chart, story boarding and etc. My group decided to go with a narrative based music video with the song Nightcall by Kavinsky. Here is an example of what we produced during the process of planning.
Storyboard
Construction
Practise Shots
To begin practising the techniques and the essentials of filming an editing, i decided that we should do a practise shoot for a random song. During this, we practised filming multiple shots in different areas so that we could introduce cutaways in the post production stage. In addition, we practised doing different ranges of shots such as mid shots, close ups and etc to show a range in shots. we also filmed different things apart from myself, such as the buildings and sky to make the video more interesting rather than centred all around the performer. To edit the video we used Premier Pro and After Effects.
Capturing Shots
Looking At The Shots
Working On The Cutaways
Using The Adjustment Layer To Create Effects
In after effects, the adjustment layer is where you add all the effects and alterations of your music video. The adjustment layer applies the effect to all of the below layers. I used keyframes to select the specific points and where I want each effect to take place and develop.
After the creating a 50 second mock up video, audience feedback was key to have some constructive criticism to build my project. Audience feedback is important because its key for building and creating a more improved and successful piece of work. In this case, we used the Youtube comments as audience feedback to see what viewers thought of our piece.
Here's what the viewers thought of the first 50 seconds:
Main Production
Preparing for the shoot
Ancillary Task
For the Ancillary Task we were asked to create a website and a CD cover for the artist's song of which we were using for the music video. Here are the finished products:
Comments
Post a Comment