'Analyse one of your coursework productions in relation to genre'
Genre is very important in any media production, and in my music video, getting the genre of the artist was very important. Both myself and my partner considered different aspects of genre and how we could represent it.
The genre of the music we chose is punk/rock, which myself and my partner chose down to personal taste and also creative ideas for the sound of it. The first thing we did was find influences that best suited our music, we chose bands such as You Me At Six, City Stereo, Major League and Fall Out Boy, this was not just for the sound, we also looked at the narrative they had in their video, the set up of their equipment, image and location. The one we got the most influence from was You Me At Six's music video for Underdog, their narrative features a failing boy/girl relationship, they had the lights behind the band, and the location was a stage and their style was relatively casual, but fitted in with the genre of their culture. We used some of these aspects in our music video, except for style, as we wanted to represent our themes through costume. Chandler's theory applies here as it shows that through our influences that genre is a 'type' and our music video is very typical of a punk/rock band as it in involves alcohol, love and heartbreak.
The members of the band that we used were all male, and there was only one female represented in the video, but when planning it, we didn't want to represent her as feisty or wild, we wanted to portray her as innocent, to put the emphasis on the theme of heartbreak, this is even noticeable when she has gone out and turned to alcohol. We also wanted to represent the members of the band through the genre of typical 'heartbreaking' band members, you can see this through the costume as well, as one of them was wearing all black to represent his guilt. This challenges Neale's theory of 'genre evolving over time' because if you compare my music video to an 80's punk band, you will see many similarities.
Many aspects of our music video are different compared to pre-made music videos, as many of them are not associated with an innocent type of love, where they get engaged etc, it is more about breaking their hearts and the typical 'what happens on tour , stays on tour' which is also a very generic of punk/rock bands, and it has given them an reputation, this makes Buckingham's theory apply to our music video as he said that genre is a 'constant process of negotiation and change' this proves that the conventions and boundaries of genre have changed, as what is seen in my music video, would not have been seen in the 80's. Band's images change over time to make something new, so my music video reinforces Buckingham's ideas.
I think my music video shows every aspect of genre that you would find within a punk/rock music video. I think it helps sell the band very well as the genre of their fans would be open to the concept of having a bad image on their favourite band, as it is accepted in their fanbase's culture.
Friday 20 April 2012
Wednesday 11 April 2012
Easter Homework: Week 2:
4 Specific Examples (AS & A2): Digital Technology, Post-production, Creativity, Research & Planning, Real/existing Media:
Digital Technology:
Photoshop: I used Photoshop in the making of my A2 Coursework, mainly on my Digipak but also on some aspects of the website. I used photoshop to put effects over my photos to make it fit in with the genre of the band.
Blogger: This is where we documented all of our research, planning and also the construction of our products in both AS & A2. I developed by using more digital media examples instead of writing.
Adobe Premier Pro: In AS I used Adobe Premier Pro to edit my prelim task and my final product. I cut the shots down in order and also added effects.
Final Cut Pro: In A2 I used Final Cut Pro, with this we could put shots in order and cut to the beat. It was also very useful when it came to syncing the clips.
Youtube.
Post- Production:
Youtube: In both AS & A2, this is where we uploaded our finished products. This was useful as it enabled us to put our videos on our blogs easier, and was also good when we was recieving audience feedback.
Facebook: In A2, when our music video and ancillary products were finished, we used social networking to gain audience feedback, it was helpful as it specified our target audiences and it was easy for them to watch it and comment. Many of us made 'Bandpages' where we also uploaded finished Digipaks and website links. It gave our audience a direct path to our products.
5. Deconstruct (break apart) the 3x Exemplar essays:
'Audience' Exemplar Essay:
'Genre' Exemplar Essay:
6. Prepare a 250 word essay plan responding to this question:
1(a) In your experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your productions?
Introduction:
Over my two year media course, I have made a variety of products, in AS, I produced a thriller trailer, and in A2, I made a music video, with ancillary products such as a Digipak and a website. In both AS and A2 I used a variety of different digital technologies, which all helped me in different ways.
Main Body:
-The use of Blogger in both AS and A2, how effective it was to be able to provide updates either at home or at school.
- Youtube, In AS and A2 we used youtube to upload our videos, this as the easier for us to get it onto our blogs.
- The progress from using Premier Pro in AS, and then using Final Cut Pro in A2, how they both suited the different products (premier pro--effects and cutting tools; final cut-- cutting to the beat and lip syncing)
- the use of different shot types, use of more closeups and midrange shots in A2, than in AS, having to capture more emotion and the use of syncing.
Creativity:
- Was important in both productions.
- In my thriller, it was impirtant to convey the enigma in the storyline. Also used creativitiy when adding in a couple who were in love, to make the opening sequence more emotional and dramatic. Biggest creative thought was the unidentified epidemic that was following them.
-Editing, use of effects, highlighting emotions such as desperation, anger.
- In my music video, I had to step up the creativity to make the narrative work with the lyrics in the song. Picking out the most popular lyrics, (can't always keep my promises) then relating this to marriage.
- the engagement, the relevance of it to the location (castle=romantic)
- The 'Supernatural' powers of the ring, it appears and disappears, making the characters think they are hallucinating.
-Also in editing, the use of effects (red effect at the end, fits in with the distorted music.)
- The creative use of colours to represent moods and emotions (love--red, black--guilt, white--innocence)
- my ideas of creativity in both came from other influences, and some of my own.
influences; thriller; films such as Shaun of the Dead, 28 Weeks Later. Music Video; pre made pop/punk/rock videos, different aspects came from different videos, (love betrayal; you me at six's Underdog, alcohol, cheating + also the title effects; Asking Alexandria's To the Stage.)
Conclusion:
In both AS and A2, digital technologies helped me in many ways, for instance, in A2 when we was put into groups, technologies like Blogger and Facebook kept us in touch and we could both post our contributions to our product. Blogger helped me in AS and A2 when it came to sorting out what work needed to be done, by making action plans that I could view at home.
In A2, when we 'released' our music video, it is possible that it encouraged our audience to be consumers, as they posted it for everyone to see on social networking sites, where we got comments and likes. Both creativity from past products and digital technologies have helped greatly over both AS and A2.
Digital Technology:
Photoshop: I used Photoshop in the making of my A2 Coursework, mainly on my Digipak but also on some aspects of the website. I used photoshop to put effects over my photos to make it fit in with the genre of the band.
Blogger: This is where we documented all of our research, planning and also the construction of our products in both AS & A2. I developed by using more digital media examples instead of writing.
Adobe Premier Pro: In AS I used Adobe Premier Pro to edit my prelim task and my final product. I cut the shots down in order and also added effects.
Final Cut Pro: In A2 I used Final Cut Pro, with this we could put shots in order and cut to the beat. It was also very useful when it came to syncing the clips.
Youtube.
Post- Production:
Youtube: In both AS & A2, this is where we uploaded our finished products. This was useful as it enabled us to put our videos on our blogs easier, and was also good when we was recieving audience feedback.
Facebook: In A2, when our music video and ancillary products were finished, we used social networking to gain audience feedback, it was helpful as it specified our target audiences and it was easy for them to watch it and comment. Many of us made 'Bandpages' where we also uploaded finished Digipaks and website links. It gave our audience a direct path to our products.
5. Deconstruct (break apart) the 3x Exemplar essays:
'Audience' Exemplar Essay:
- They applied Audience Theory very well, maybe too many examples in some places.
- Included their target audience, and how they represented the culture of their audience in the production.
- It needs more examples of his/her production work.
- L3/4 borderline
'Genre' Exemplar Essay:
- They basically retell their music video production.
- Has hardly any reference to genre theorists
- Talks more about her skills (which is wrong section of exam) than they do about the theories it could apply to.
- E/D grade
6. Prepare a 250 word essay plan responding to this question:
1(a) In your experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your productions?
Introduction:
Over my two year media course, I have made a variety of products, in AS, I produced a thriller trailer, and in A2, I made a music video, with ancillary products such as a Digipak and a website. In both AS and A2 I used a variety of different digital technologies, which all helped me in different ways.
Main Body:
-The use of Blogger in both AS and A2, how effective it was to be able to provide updates either at home or at school.
- Youtube, In AS and A2 we used youtube to upload our videos, this as the easier for us to get it onto our blogs.
- The progress from using Premier Pro in AS, and then using Final Cut Pro in A2, how they both suited the different products (premier pro--effects and cutting tools; final cut-- cutting to the beat and lip syncing)
- the use of different shot types, use of more closeups and midrange shots in A2, than in AS, having to capture more emotion and the use of syncing.
Creativity:
- Was important in both productions.
- In my thriller, it was impirtant to convey the enigma in the storyline. Also used creativitiy when adding in a couple who were in love, to make the opening sequence more emotional and dramatic. Biggest creative thought was the unidentified epidemic that was following them.
-Editing, use of effects, highlighting emotions such as desperation, anger.
- In my music video, I had to step up the creativity to make the narrative work with the lyrics in the song. Picking out the most popular lyrics, (can't always keep my promises) then relating this to marriage.
- the engagement, the relevance of it to the location (castle=romantic)
- The 'Supernatural' powers of the ring, it appears and disappears, making the characters think they are hallucinating.
-Also in editing, the use of effects (red effect at the end, fits in with the distorted music.)
- The creative use of colours to represent moods and emotions (love--red, black--guilt, white--innocence)
- my ideas of creativity in both came from other influences, and some of my own.
influences; thriller; films such as Shaun of the Dead, 28 Weeks Later. Music Video; pre made pop/punk/rock videos, different aspects came from different videos, (love betrayal; you me at six's Underdog, alcohol, cheating + also the title effects; Asking Alexandria's To the Stage.)
Conclusion:
In both AS and A2, digital technologies helped me in many ways, for instance, in A2 when we was put into groups, technologies like Blogger and Facebook kept us in touch and we could both post our contributions to our product. Blogger helped me in AS and A2 when it came to sorting out what work needed to be done, by making action plans that I could view at home.
In A2, when we 'released' our music video, it is possible that it encouraged our audience to be consumers, as they posted it for everyone to see on social networking sites, where we got comments and likes. Both creativity from past products and digital technologies have helped greatly over both AS and A2.
Saturday 7 April 2012
Easter Homework: Week 1:
1. 4 Essay Plans;
Essay Plan 1; Genre:
Intro: Genre is very important in any media production, and in my music video, getting the genre of the artist was very important. Both myself and my partner considered different aspects of genre and how we could represent it.
Main Body:
Para 1: Chandler: Chandler said that genre is a 'type', the genre of our artist was pop/rock and we made our artist very typical of their genre, by involving alcohol, love and heartbreak. These are in pre made products with the same genre, giving them conventions in which I followed.
Para 2: Neale: 'genres evolve over time' which is a concept I agree with, because if you compare my music video of a new pop/punk band, to an 80's punk band, there is a huge change in dynamics, they used harsh effects and gave themselves harsher representations to what I did. This links to...
Para 3: Mittel and Buckingham: Mittel said that 'genre surpasses boundaries' compared to 80's punk bands, I used gentler effects, to represent the love and care the characters felt for each other. This then links to Buckingham, he said that 'genre is a constant process of negociation and change' if a punk music video was to follow conventions, you wouldn't expect to see a loving relationship, as you don't associate them, this proves that genres have changed.
Conclusion: In my opinion, I would say that my music video meets many genre theorists, even though I have twisted many conventions, like the association of love and the effects used, it has also followed theorists like Chandler, as we followed the examples of pre made products.
Essay Plan 2: Narrative:
Intro: Everything is thought to need a Narrative, as many media products use it to present a story and entice an audience, all narratives are different. In my music video, narrative was a huge part of it, as we wanted our audiences to see the connection between lyric and visual.
Para 1: Cook: Cook argues that all narratives have a 'hollywood ending' where everything typically works out through aspects of hyperreality and simulacra. A very typical hollywood narrative is 'boy meets girl' and develops in a number of stages, and ends with them living happily ever after. My music video however, follows these stages, but challenges the 'hollywood conventions' as it doesn't end happily ever after, (titles at the end)
Para 2: Demont: Demont said that there was 8 different stages to Narrative, two of these stages apply to my music very well, which are 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Tristan and Iseult.' I chose Romeo and Juliet as the narrative in my music video tells a love story. The 'Tristan and Iseult' stage on the other hand, is more of a 'love triangle' which to an extent is the truth, as the female character is engaged, but due to an argument she goes off with another member of the band, forming a triangle of love/lust.
Para 3: Propp and Todorov: these two theorists are a big apart of my video, but are underlying. Todorov said that 'narrative has a beginning, middle and end' which is an obvious structure in my music video; Propp on the other hand came up with the ideas of different roles. The characters in my music use only two of Proppian character, which is 'The princess' which is the female character, the damsel in distress in love. and 'the villain' which is the main male character Andy, as he breaks the princess' heart.
Conclusion: The narrative in my music video does follow the structure of these theories, but challenges some of them, especially Cook, as the narrative doesn't follow the conventional hollywood ending, it ends in heartbreak.
Essay Plan 3: Audience:
Intro: Audience is one of the biggest parts to consider when planning and producing a new media product. Each company needs to find their target audience and then put aspects of it into their product, when planning my music video, audience was a very big part of it as we had to identify the audiences of pop/punk music.
Para 1: Hall: Hall came up with the approach of three different readings when viewing a media product as an audience, two of these apply to my music video, which is 'Dominant and/or preffered reading' which is the reading that the producers want you to have, so it is accepted, in my music video, the accepted reading is that the ring is supernatural, appearing when the characters are hallucinating. The second one is 'negociated reading' which means the audience may disagree with the set reading, and might make their own interpretation, this applies to my music video as the boy and girl have an argument over the boy apparenty 'cheating' audiences may disagree with this reading and feel the girl overreacted. The third one 'Oppositional reading' does not apply as audiences will not find my video offensive or explicit.
Para 2: McDougall: McDougall argued that 'it is getting harder to identify a stable group' which in many ways I agree with, as it isn't just one group of people that listen to pop/punk anymore, the conventions of that specific audience have grown. When planning my music video, it was hard to identify the aspects we should put in to help gain an audience, in the end we did but twisted many conventions to find our ideal audience, such as associating love in a pop/punk video.
Para 3: Hartley: Hartley said that 'they must know their audience so they can target them effectively' I agree with this as when planning and producing my media product, I had to know who my target audience was, so when filming I could make sure I included everything, to ensure I enticed them and they would enjoy it.
Conclusion: My audiences do follow these structural theories, as I had to identify who my target audience was and ensure that they would enjoy the product.
Essay Plan 4: Representation:
Intro:
Para 1:
Para 2:
Para 3:
Conclusion:
3. Timed 30 minute essay: Narrative:
Everything is thought to need a Narrative, as many media products use it to present a story and entice an audience, all narratives are different. In my music video, narrative was a huge part of it, as we wanted our audiences to see the connection between lyric and visual.
Cook argues that all narratives have a 'hollywood ending' where everything typically works out through aspects of hyperreality and simulacra. A very typical hollywood narrative is 'boy meets girl' and develops in a number of stages, and ends with them living happily ever after. My music video however, follows these stages, but challenges the 'hollywood conventions' as it doesn't end happily ever after, it challenges Cook's theory. I presented this by putting titles in at the begininning and end, at the beginning of the video, it had the titles 'Once Upon a Time' as this was a happy time for the two characters, but by the end, the relationship is in pieces, so instead of ending it with the genric 'happily ever after' I changed it to 'they lived ever after' as they are no longer together and the engagement was off.
Demont said that there was 8 different stages to Narrative, two of these stages apply to my video very well, the two stages are; 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Tristan and Iseult.' I chose Romeo and Juliet as the narrative in my music video tells a love story, with the girl and boy being in love, getting engaged in a 'fairytale' setting. The 'Tristan and Iseult' stage on the other hand, is more of a 'love triangle' which to an extent is apparent in the video as the female character is engaged, but due to the argument that happens just after, she goes off with another member of the band, forming a triangle, between the love she has for her fioncee, or the lust she feels for the other member.
Both theorists, Propp and Todorov are applicable to my music video, but they interlink as they Todorov said that 'narrative has a beginning, middle and end' which is an obvious structure in my music video, the beginning, which is a happy love scene, middle, tension, the girl turns to alcohol and cheats, ending, they both broke their promises and she was left alone. Propp on the other hand came up with the ideas of different roles in a narrative, depending on the genre, characters are usually similar. The characters in my music use only two of Proppian characters, which is 'The princess' and is the female character, the damsel in distress in love in my video. And 'the villain' which is the main male character Andy, as he breaks the princess' heart. But in many aspects it could be argued that the female character could be considered a villain aswell, as she cheats on the male character and leaves him.
The narrative in my music video does follow the structure of these theories, but challenges some of them, especially Cook, as the narrative doesn't follow the conventional hollywood ending, it ends in heartbreak, not the genric happy ending. It also challenges Propp's theory of 'the princess' as in many narratives, and not just my own, the 'damsel in distress' can also be considered as the villain.
Essay Plan 1; Genre:
Intro: Genre is very important in any media production, and in my music video, getting the genre of the artist was very important. Both myself and my partner considered different aspects of genre and how we could represent it.
Main Body:
Para 1: Chandler: Chandler said that genre is a 'type', the genre of our artist was pop/rock and we made our artist very typical of their genre, by involving alcohol, love and heartbreak. These are in pre made products with the same genre, giving them conventions in which I followed.
Para 2: Neale: 'genres evolve over time' which is a concept I agree with, because if you compare my music video of a new pop/punk band, to an 80's punk band, there is a huge change in dynamics, they used harsh effects and gave themselves harsher representations to what I did. This links to...
Para 3: Mittel and Buckingham: Mittel said that 'genre surpasses boundaries' compared to 80's punk bands, I used gentler effects, to represent the love and care the characters felt for each other. This then links to Buckingham, he said that 'genre is a constant process of negociation and change' if a punk music video was to follow conventions, you wouldn't expect to see a loving relationship, as you don't associate them, this proves that genres have changed.
Conclusion: In my opinion, I would say that my music video meets many genre theorists, even though I have twisted many conventions, like the association of love and the effects used, it has also followed theorists like Chandler, as we followed the examples of pre made products.
Essay Plan 2: Narrative:
Intro: Everything is thought to need a Narrative, as many media products use it to present a story and entice an audience, all narratives are different. In my music video, narrative was a huge part of it, as we wanted our audiences to see the connection between lyric and visual.
Para 1: Cook: Cook argues that all narratives have a 'hollywood ending' where everything typically works out through aspects of hyperreality and simulacra. A very typical hollywood narrative is 'boy meets girl' and develops in a number of stages, and ends with them living happily ever after. My music video however, follows these stages, but challenges the 'hollywood conventions' as it doesn't end happily ever after, (titles at the end)
Para 2: Demont: Demont said that there was 8 different stages to Narrative, two of these stages apply to my music very well, which are 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Tristan and Iseult.' I chose Romeo and Juliet as the narrative in my music video tells a love story. The 'Tristan and Iseult' stage on the other hand, is more of a 'love triangle' which to an extent is the truth, as the female character is engaged, but due to an argument she goes off with another member of the band, forming a triangle of love/lust.
Para 3: Propp and Todorov: these two theorists are a big apart of my video, but are underlying. Todorov said that 'narrative has a beginning, middle and end' which is an obvious structure in my music video; Propp on the other hand came up with the ideas of different roles. The characters in my music use only two of Proppian character, which is 'The princess' which is the female character, the damsel in distress in love. and 'the villain' which is the main male character Andy, as he breaks the princess' heart.
Conclusion: The narrative in my music video does follow the structure of these theories, but challenges some of them, especially Cook, as the narrative doesn't follow the conventional hollywood ending, it ends in heartbreak.
Essay Plan 3: Audience:
Intro: Audience is one of the biggest parts to consider when planning and producing a new media product. Each company needs to find their target audience and then put aspects of it into their product, when planning my music video, audience was a very big part of it as we had to identify the audiences of pop/punk music.
Para 1: Hall: Hall came up with the approach of three different readings when viewing a media product as an audience, two of these apply to my music video, which is 'Dominant and/or preffered reading' which is the reading that the producers want you to have, so it is accepted, in my music video, the accepted reading is that the ring is supernatural, appearing when the characters are hallucinating. The second one is 'negociated reading' which means the audience may disagree with the set reading, and might make their own interpretation, this applies to my music video as the boy and girl have an argument over the boy apparenty 'cheating' audiences may disagree with this reading and feel the girl overreacted. The third one 'Oppositional reading' does not apply as audiences will not find my video offensive or explicit.
Para 2: McDougall: McDougall argued that 'it is getting harder to identify a stable group' which in many ways I agree with, as it isn't just one group of people that listen to pop/punk anymore, the conventions of that specific audience have grown. When planning my music video, it was hard to identify the aspects we should put in to help gain an audience, in the end we did but twisted many conventions to find our ideal audience, such as associating love in a pop/punk video.
Para 3: Hartley: Hartley said that 'they must know their audience so they can target them effectively' I agree with this as when planning and producing my media product, I had to know who my target audience was, so when filming I could make sure I included everything, to ensure I enticed them and they would enjoy it.
Conclusion: My audiences do follow these structural theories, as I had to identify who my target audience was and ensure that they would enjoy the product.
Essay Plan 4: Representation:
Intro:
Para 1:
Para 2:
Para 3:
Conclusion:
3. Timed 30 minute essay: Narrative:
Everything is thought to need a Narrative, as many media products use it to present a story and entice an audience, all narratives are different. In my music video, narrative was a huge part of it, as we wanted our audiences to see the connection between lyric and visual.
Cook argues that all narratives have a 'hollywood ending' where everything typically works out through aspects of hyperreality and simulacra. A very typical hollywood narrative is 'boy meets girl' and develops in a number of stages, and ends with them living happily ever after. My music video however, follows these stages, but challenges the 'hollywood conventions' as it doesn't end happily ever after, it challenges Cook's theory. I presented this by putting titles in at the begininning and end, at the beginning of the video, it had the titles 'Once Upon a Time' as this was a happy time for the two characters, but by the end, the relationship is in pieces, so instead of ending it with the genric 'happily ever after' I changed it to 'they lived ever after' as they are no longer together and the engagement was off.
Demont said that there was 8 different stages to Narrative, two of these stages apply to my video very well, the two stages are; 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Tristan and Iseult.' I chose Romeo and Juliet as the narrative in my music video tells a love story, with the girl and boy being in love, getting engaged in a 'fairytale' setting. The 'Tristan and Iseult' stage on the other hand, is more of a 'love triangle' which to an extent is apparent in the video as the female character is engaged, but due to the argument that happens just after, she goes off with another member of the band, forming a triangle, between the love she has for her fioncee, or the lust she feels for the other member.
Both theorists, Propp and Todorov are applicable to my music video, but they interlink as they Todorov said that 'narrative has a beginning, middle and end' which is an obvious structure in my music video, the beginning, which is a happy love scene, middle, tension, the girl turns to alcohol and cheats, ending, they both broke their promises and she was left alone. Propp on the other hand came up with the ideas of different roles in a narrative, depending on the genre, characters are usually similar. The characters in my music use only two of Proppian characters, which is 'The princess' and is the female character, the damsel in distress in love in my video. And 'the villain' which is the main male character Andy, as he breaks the princess' heart. But in many aspects it could be argued that the female character could be considered a villain aswell, as she cheats on the male character and leaves him.
The narrative in my music video does follow the structure of these theories, but challenges some of them, especially Cook, as the narrative doesn't follow the conventional hollywood ending, it ends in heartbreak, not the genric happy ending. It also challenges Propp's theory of 'the princess' as in many narratives, and not just my own, the 'damsel in distress' can also be considered as the villain.
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