Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Time Management - Target Audience research.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Further Research: Mime Artists, The Soundies and Scopitones.
For our music video we intend to tell a fairly conventional love story of two people going through a hard time in a relationship, but with a bit of a twist. We intend to make these two people mime artists, to create an alternative tale to the conventions portrayed in mainstream media, whilst making it comply to the indie genre by being 'different'. Our initial inspiration for this idea came from the film 'Paris Je T'aime' which is a French film featuring a variety love stories in Paris. One of the stories told is about two mime artists and the clip is embedded below.
Definition and history
A 'mime artist' is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium and uses mime and body motion instead of speech. Mime is established through silent comedy, and in the nineteenth century in Paris, Jean-Gaspard Deburau established the mime character that is well known in modern society: the white faced mime. The twentieth century bought motion picture, a new medium for mime artists. Due to the lack of technology in the early twentieth century, minimal speech could be used in filming therefore mime became a popular platform. Charlie Chaplin became a famous silent film comedian, and became one of the most documented mimes in history.
Although this clip is not the exact mime character we are aiming to establish in our music video, the old film style and general mise-en-scene is similar, as well as other features such as the actors over-dramatic facical expression and bodily language to demonstrate emotion. This clip is in monochrome due to the early period in which is was filmed, and also there are very basic shots used, ranging mostly between two-shots and mid shots. These are kept constant in order to keep the portrayal of the actors emotion simple and understandable for the reader, as in the time this was filmed post production effects and camera techniques utilised in modern technology weren't really established. We aim to replicate this era in our music video to give it an individual and interesting feel, whilst contradicting the polished and perfect look portreyed in mainstream music videos. This old fashioned film style occured in early film from around the 1910's onwards. These films were influencial towards other media platforms in the future, and therefore in the 1940's, the 'Soundies' were born.
The Soundies
The soundies were an early version of music video, which were produced in places such as Hollywood, New York and Chicago in the 1940's. They were played on jukeboxes called panorams or scopitones and played in bars, pubs and clubs. Soundies covered all types of music, from big band swing to patriotic songs. Popular artists of that time such as Doris Day, Lawrence Welk, Gale Storm, Kay Starr and many more made Soundies.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Post-Pitch.
The majority of the feedback from our music video pitch was positive, people particularly liked the stop motion test shoot and the mime idea as the focal point. We received comments such as:
"Use of stop motion - this adds another dimension to the video. Mime characters are certainly original."
"Using mimes to tell the story is very unique"
"Puts a twist on the indie conventions"
Monday, 1 November 2010
Music Video Auteurs.
This video is made up of a lot of stop motion animation, which gives the impression of inanimate objects moving. This is a technique we're definitely going to employ in our music video as it looks entropic and interesting, and will give an extra layer of meaning to the music video. It looks particularly effective in this video as each picture is featured for a very short time frame which allows the animation to look fairly smooth. Fast motion is also applied in various parts to make the time frames even shorter, giving it a 'fast forwarded' effect. There is use of diegetic sound in this music video towards the beginning, and also in the middle of the video where it gives the impression of a television. When this is incorporated into a music video it is usually to contribute towards the narrative, and it plays this purpose in this video. It also keeps it understandable from the point of view of the audience, as without the diagetic sound the 'television' would probably be unrecognisable. This video is also fairly entropic as although the band are playing instruments along with the music, the instruments are made from wool, to fit in with the rest of the video. For this reason, I would classify this video as 'amplifying', as it does feature some redundant features such as band miming, however the 'knitted' element to the video does not relate to the lyrics and therefore adds an extra layer of meaning and entropy.
In conclusion, the work he produces is quite eccentric and entropic, setting his work apart from other music video auteurs by being interesting and original. The music videos he produces mostly follow Andrew Goodwin's narrative theory by being amplifying, meaning that the music video's have some relation to the song whilst having ulterior meanins and ideas portrayed in his work.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Digipak Initial Research.
Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco, Inc.resource, which acquired the original trademark holder, IMPAC Group, Inc., in 2000. MeadWestvaco licensed the name and designs to manufacturers around the world.
History
Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak[2] is often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot"[3] rather than a full plastic tray.
Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVDigipak)[4] is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets. Digipak-style cases grew in popularity among record labels and recording artists in the early 2000s.
Historically, Digipak was only available in large quantities. However, AGI has recently introduced a new product called digipak i-create for the consumer market. Digipak i-create is a web-supported concept that is aimed at the download, music, photo and creative markets.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
The Cultural Studies Approach Perspective on Audience.
- Preferred reading: The audience understands and accepts the values being expressed in the media text, viewing them as 'correct'.
- Negotiated reading: The audience partially accept the values represented in the text, however adapt their reading to fit in with their own experiences and interests.
- Oppositional reading: The audience understands the values being expressed in the text, however objects to or disagrees with them.
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Narrative Theory and Music Video
The music video for Calvin Harris' "Flashback" (directed by Vincent Haycock) has been shot in order to illustrate the lyrics whilst also adding extra depth and meaning to the song. According to Andrew Goodwin's narrative theory, these factors make the video amplifying. This is because the video is partly narrative, illustrating the lyrics in the video, but additionally it adds ulterior meanings and themes to the song. These are themes such as 'past and present', which is an example of a binary opposition, meaning the video also follows Strauss' narrative theory. This theory states that two contradictory values are included in a media text to add depth and structure. These binary oppositions are created through the varied shots and post production edits applied to the video, and are enhanced by the mise-en-scene used. A huge proportion of the music video is made up of point of view shots, which are done to help the audience empathise with the protagonist as they help demonstrate his thoughts and feelings by showing images of what he is seeing. A great deal of these shots were filmed on a handheld camera to show the disorientation of the protagonist by making his sight seem unsteady. The handheld camera is mostly used while the audience are seeing the protagonist in the 'present', showing his unclear vision and confusion regarding 'the night before.' The shots of the past are mostly filmed with a steady cam to show the protagonists clear view at that point in time. This variation in filming helps emphasize the binary oppositions featured in the video. Other frequently used shots in this music video are shots such as mid-shots and close-ups, which allow the audience to gain further understanding of the protagonist by seeing his facial expressions. In these shots it also shows the protagonist miming along to the lyrics, which is common in most mainstream videos as it gives the video an element of redundancy, keeping it understandable and recognisable for the intended audience.
The audience get a good idea of where the video is set due to the use of master shots and wide shots, showing the location and the position of the actors in the video. These shots give a great deal of information about the story line, therefore they successfully keep the narrative moving forward. The genre of this song is 'dance', therefore the wide shots of the 'past' fit in with this genre by showing a club scene, flashing lights and dancing. This serves out a variety of purposes. Firstly, it shows that there was a clear intended audience, and would no doubt appeal to people such as headonists, who perceive themselves as people who live life for pleasure. They would typically fall between B and C2 on the jicnars scale, and would most likely be in their late teenage/young adult years. Additionally to this however, the shots of the 'past' demonstrate dominant ideology, featuring typically 'sexualised' women, alcohol, etc. This is important in the video as it is a mainstream song and must therefore correspond with this by keeping the portrayal of ideology dominant. The binary oppositions of 'good and bad' are also featured in this video, as the reminiscence of the past is represented as 'good', featuring people who appear to having a great time, contradicting the present in which the lead singer appears miserable, demonstrating a 'bad' opposition.
(Below: Example of point of view shot)
Representation: In this video the protagonist is represented as wealthy and shows the ideal image for the intended audience, making them aspire to be like him and therefore admire him. Women are represented as sexually available, which is typical in the genre of dance music videos.
Tzvetan Todorov
Narrative structure: Todorov's theory states that narrative structure will be divided into three sections: equilibrium, disequilibrium, recognition and reparation. Taylor Swift's music video "You Belong With Me" (directed by Roman White) undergoes each of these stages, which naturally makes it a fairly predictive and redundant music video.

Friday, 1 October 2010
Further Music Video Research.
Stop motion video is an animation technique where a series of photographs are taken and manipulated to create an impression of an inanimate object moving on its own. The object is moved in small increments each time a new photograph is taken, and consequently edited in sequence to give the impression of movement.
Our chosen song for our music video project belongs to the genre 'Indie/Alternative', therefore for music video research we have looked at videos also belonging to this genre. Kate Nash's "Foundations" belongs to the Indie genre and throughout the video stop motion animation is used to give the video an 'unpolished' look. The use of stop motion animation also gives the video an extra sense of entropy, as it's not a common feature in conventional music videos and therefore the audience aren't expecting to see it. Entropy is often used in Indie/Alternative videos as it stops them belonging to the stereotypical and redundant images often portrayed in mainstream music videos. The use of this stop motion animation also stops the video being completely narrative and literal, making it amplifying and more interesting. Additionally, the stop motion adds more meaning and emotion to the song as the movement in the inanimate objects is used to help demonstrate the lyrics in the song. It personifies the objects by bringing them to life, therefore whilst the song is not being completely narrated through miming of the lyrics, the stop motion allows the lyrics to be illustrated in more entropic ways.

Friday, 17 September 2010
Music Video and Redundancy/Entropy.
- The video is amplifying, as the lyrics have some relation to the video, however there are a few features which do not relate to the lyrics at all. For example, the milk-carton character has nothing to do with the song, however it occasionally demonstrates the lyrics, like when the character knocks on a door when the line "you can't find the door" is sung.
- The band are featured at the end playing and lip syncing to the music, which is a very common factor in modern music videos.
- The mise-en-scene mildly relates to the lyrics in the song as it shows an average day-to-day location, and the lyrics discuss the normality of day to day life, featuring lines such as "do you feel like a chain store?", "kicked around bored" and "give me coffee and tv".
= Mostly entropic: although there are some redundant factors featured in the music video, the majority of the video features a story line revolving around an animated milk-carton character, which has no relation to the song. In my opinion this is a successful music video as the entropic factors keep it interesting for the audience by making it original and dissimilar to stereotypical music videos. The redundant factors are important however, as they help keep it understandable for the audience.
Girls Aloud - Long Hot Summer
- There is a well choreographed dance routine, which is very stereotypical for female fronted pop videos.
- The band are lip syncing throughout the song, which is also typically seen in mainstream videos as it is what the audience expect to see, keeping it understandable.
- The video features typically attractive females wearing little clothing. This is also normal for mainstream pop artists as it attracts a heterosexual male audience, whilst also attracting a female audience as many women will aspire to be like them. This is done in most female-fronted music videos as it helps sell records by appealing to the majority of people.
- The video is highly airbrushed and editing to create a typically 'perfect' image, which is normal for mainstream music as they have a high budget to spend on video production.
- The the mise-en-scene of a garage is not a stereotypical place for a female to be, and the audience wouldn't expect to see a girl band repairing vehicles.
= Mostly redundant: This video features many typical features of a pop-music video, portraying the band as 'perfect'. This is normal as it attracts a wider audience, who would expect to see this in this sort of video. As a result of this, I think this is a successful video as it lives up to audiences expectations.
The Maccabees - Toothpaste Kisses
- The band are not featured in the band whatsoever, so as a result there is no lip syncing which is unusual in music videos.
- The video definitely relates to the song lyrics, as the main lyric in the song is "and with toothpaste kisses..." and in the entirety of the video people are kissing.
- It is set in a pub which is a day-to-day setting which the audience can identify with.
- The video appears to be recorded on a handheld camera as it the picture is slightly unsteady and gives the impression of somebody's point of view. This gives it quite an unpolished look which is often utilised by 'indie' bands as they work on a lower budget. Also, the entire video is made up of one continuous shot, instead of using a variety of clips merged together through continuity editing. This is not often seen in a lot of filmed work, whether it be television, film or music video.
= Mostly entropic: Although the lyrics relate to the song and the mise-en-scene is fairly average, it is highly unusual for a music video to be made up entirely of one clip. Also the content doesn't change throughout; there is no story line, just a two-and-a-half minutes containing different people kissing. The impression of a handheld camera is also fairly entropic and contradicts a stereotypical "perfect" edited music video. In my opinion this music video isn't as successful as the others, as it begins to become uninteresting towards the end as the content does not change.
Kings of Leon - Charmer
- The band are featured in the entirety of the video, lip syncing and playing their instruments along to the song.
- The video features a lot of fast paced editing, moving from clip to clip rapidly to fit in with the tempo of the music. In my opinion this is an entropic factor as it is unusual for a music video to feature such fast paced edits.
- There are post-production effects which give several clips a 'pulsating' effect, giving the impression of an increased heart-beat which creates urgency and panic, reflecting the screaming in the vocal line.
- The mise-en-scene is typical for a band, featuring a stage and an auditorium.
= Redundant and entropic: In my opinion, the video to Kings of Leon's "Charmer" is equally redundant and entropic. The content of the video is almost entirely redundant, however the editing gives this video a much higher level of entropy, keeping it interesting.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Video Skills Audit.
- Organisation: Make sure there's always someone organising equipment, keep close contact with the other people in my group, plan location and lighting appropriately and allow time for technical problems.
- Make a detailed plan before beginning filming to ensure that everything runs smoothly. E.g. storyboarding, research, reconnaissance, etc.
- Make sure lighting is monitored throughout filming to ensure that it's balanced throughout the video.
- Learn how to use the editing software and practise before editing the film, so it is easier to use and the outcome is more professional.
- During filming, keep timing tight to ensure that editing is easier and the sound and image sync is more accurate.
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Post-Production.

I found this useful because it easily allowed us to manipulate video and sound so we could create a video which was successfully synchronised. It also allowed you to edit clips, so we could apply effects like slow motion to the video. It also allowed us to brighten clips, in which we felt the lighting was too dim. Clipping tools allowed us to manipulate clips to the right length, and made continuity editing more easy to achieve. All in all, this software allowed us to create a more professional replica of the original video.
Final Video
Research and Planning.
Lip Sync Exercise.
During the making of the video, it was clear that storyboarding before hand was important as it kept our knowledge of timing and shot types accurate. In my A2 year i intend to storyboard more so shots are not forgotten and the video is kept professional looking.
This is an example of the storyboarding we did for the Video Production task.Also in my A2, research and planning i intend to do will be:
- Research into other music videos, shot types commonly used, effects commonly utilised, effective locations, etc
- Mise-en-scene: set or location design, plan carefully where video will be filmed. actors/singers chosen, costumes planned
- Camera used, shot type used: steadycam, handheld, etc
- Research into sound, which song would be most suitable for a music video
- Storyboarding
Digital Technology - Video Production Task
During the A2 year, i would like to make sure the lip sync on the main coursework task is more accurate, and i intend to develop my knowledge of shot types in order to create a professional looking music video. I would also like to create my video in a more diverse location.