Together we decided that it would be best for myself to be the narrative performer and for Alex to be in the performance shots. This was due to a number of reasons but mainly because I had acting experience so it made sense for me to do the acting and Alex was happy to be in the performance shots.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Audience Feedback
For our audience feedback we sat down with a few people who watched our video to establish what they thought the pros and cons were, what we did right and what we did wrong and what they would have done if it were up to them. We felt this was the most effective way of retrieving audience feedback because it gave us the chance to talk to them face to face and explain why we did what we did. It also was easier than making a questionnaire around there views and by asking open ended questions it aloud a conversation to form which would give us feedback in great detail.
One point which repeatedly came up was that the narrative was slightly to complicated and jumpy to follow over such a short period of time. This was a point we were aware of however didn’t see that it would be that much of a drawback. One of our focus group participants said “I really like how you’ve merged the narrative into the performance shots, it works really well. However the narrative plot is too long to be told over a space of 3 minutes or so.” This was excellent feedback, we replied with the following comment… “We appreciate that the plot is slightly to complex for a music video but perhaps if you watched it a few times, like you would with any other music video, do you think the plot would become clear and you would uncover things that you may have missed the first time?” This was a brilliant opportunity to watch the music video again to see what the focus group said. After watching it a second time they agreed that they found it easier to watch the second time round. Another participant said “the likely hood of watching a music video more than once if extremely high, especially due to the internet and websites such as Facebook and YouTube. So maybe producers can afford to make more complex videos now that they can be watched at almost any moment in anyone’s life.”
The second point which was brought up was about the lip syncing was out in some parts of the music video. This wasn’t due to poor editing but down to the actor we used not being familiar with the song or its lyrics. The focus group said that it would have been a big improvement to the video as it would make it look more professional and sharp. I explained that we did our best during the editing process to rectify any synchronising issues however it was too time consuming to either slow down or speed up sections of footage which may only last for 1-2 seconds. The focus group replied with “Why didn’t you re-film the broken sections of footage?” our reply was “We did think about it and were very close to doing so but with the deadline approaching and final adjustments to be made, to our regret we had to call off re-filming and make good with the footage we had”
Finally we asked our focus group “assuming the adjustments you have suggested were made to this text, how would you rate this video and would you buy the video from iTunes instead of just the song?” to our surprise we were told by a number of the participants that they would spend the extra money on getting the video. They agreed that, with the issues mentioned resolved, it would be a video they would expect to see on TV and online. They also agreed that the costumes, mes-ensense and settings were accurate to that of a genuine video of this genre.
One point which repeatedly came up was that the narrative was slightly to complicated and jumpy to follow over such a short period of time. This was a point we were aware of however didn’t see that it would be that much of a drawback. One of our focus group participants said “I really like how you’ve merged the narrative into the performance shots, it works really well. However the narrative plot is too long to be told over a space of 3 minutes or so.” This was excellent feedback, we replied with the following comment… “We appreciate that the plot is slightly to complex for a music video but perhaps if you watched it a few times, like you would with any other music video, do you think the plot would become clear and you would uncover things that you may have missed the first time?” This was a brilliant opportunity to watch the music video again to see what the focus group said. After watching it a second time they agreed that they found it easier to watch the second time round. Another participant said “the likely hood of watching a music video more than once if extremely high, especially due to the internet and websites such as Facebook and YouTube. So maybe producers can afford to make more complex videos now that they can be watched at almost any moment in anyone’s life.”
The second point which was brought up was about the lip syncing was out in some parts of the music video. This wasn’t due to poor editing but down to the actor we used not being familiar with the song or its lyrics. The focus group said that it would have been a big improvement to the video as it would make it look more professional and sharp. I explained that we did our best during the editing process to rectify any synchronising issues however it was too time consuming to either slow down or speed up sections of footage which may only last for 1-2 seconds. The focus group replied with “Why didn’t you re-film the broken sections of footage?” our reply was “We did think about it and were very close to doing so but with the deadline approaching and final adjustments to be made, to our regret we had to call off re-filming and make good with the footage we had”
Finally we asked our focus group “assuming the adjustments you have suggested were made to this text, how would you rate this video and would you buy the video from iTunes instead of just the song?” to our surprise we were told by a number of the participants that they would spend the extra money on getting the video. They agreed that, with the issues mentioned resolved, it would be a video they would expect to see on TV and online. They also agreed that the costumes, mes-ensense and settings were accurate to that of a genuine video of this genre.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Genre Theory
Within media there are a number of theories about different Genres, Auteurs and Iconography. These are what some famous theorists have said...
John Fiske said "Any programme will bear the main characteristics of its genre, but is likely to include some from others; ascribing it to one genre or another involved deciding which set of characteristics are most important." This statement is basically saying that he accepts that there are hybrid mediums of media however there will always be one dominant genre of that particular medium. For example Lord Of The Rings, in the trilogy there are aspects of different genres for example; comedy, thriller, action and adventure but the main genre is fantasy. This means that even though a film may claim to be a 'rom com' or 'action comedy' it will always represent one genre more than the other. In summery a hybrid media product will never contain a even balance of the two genres.
How This Relates To My Project
The majority of music videos contain two main things, performance shots and a narrative. What makes the video comply with the genre of music is things like, how the characters dress, show emotion, what kind of environment there in and so on. This theory is relevant to our project because there is things in our video which would also fit into other videos from different genres.
Richard Maltby and Ian Craven claimed that "The success of Hollywood is reliant on the combination of predictable elements with variation." What they were saying is that the only reason Hollywood is a global success is because we as the audience go into a film with an idea of what to expect and prefer to to be able to predict what is going to happen. There theory suggest that the audience don't like surprises in regards to not knowing what to expect. Personally I disagree with this theory because over time, as we watch more and more films, we build a natural bank of information containing repetitive aspects of genres. For example if you go to see a film which you know nothing about, 9/10 you will be able to tell what genre of film it is within the title sequence.
How This Relates To My Project
Although we have made our video from scratch, we have followed certain vital conventions necessary to make it obvious to the audience what genre of music video we are creating. For example our narrative is based around a boy and a girl. This is very typical of an "indi rock" video. We also wanted to challenge the conventions in places which i feel we have done.
Auteurs and Iconography-
Auteurs are a group of film makers that were considered to be particularly influential and artistic. What this means is that particular names within all platforms of media incorporate certain personal techniques into the majority of there workings as a sort of signature to show that audience that its there film or music track. An example of this is this Steven Spielberg films there is normally a hue on screen which helps give a better sense of atmosphere. This is how a lot of people identify Spielberg films from others.
How This Relates To My Project
I'm sure you can imagine that this is a very difficult thing to achieve, particularly if only one video is being made. If this project was going on for years and we had to make several video's then there would be a possibility of incorporating a type of 'signature' to our work.
Rick Altman was a strong believer in that people shouldn't categorise films or another platform of media into genres. He said that;
"Genre theory's presumes that viewers pre-read text." "Viewers become passive voyeurs" "Genres are therefore restrictive" "I do not acknowledge of allow for the hybrid"
What he means by this is that by putting media into genres they go in with an assumption of what to expect. He also claims that because of this we as an audience don't fully engage with the media but do nothing more than drift in and out making it impossible to have a proper story line.
How This Relates To My Project
I think it would be impossible to make a music video that doesn't give away the genre of music its covering. If there's no evidence of genre then how do you appeal to your target audience? For this reason we will follow particular conventions of our chosen genre.
John Fiske said "Any programme will bear the main characteristics of its genre, but is likely to include some from others; ascribing it to one genre or another involved deciding which set of characteristics are most important." This statement is basically saying that he accepts that there are hybrid mediums of media however there will always be one dominant genre of that particular medium. For example Lord Of The Rings, in the trilogy there are aspects of different genres for example; comedy, thriller, action and adventure but the main genre is fantasy. This means that even though a film may claim to be a 'rom com' or 'action comedy' it will always represent one genre more than the other. In summery a hybrid media product will never contain a even balance of the two genres.
How This Relates To My Project
The majority of music videos contain two main things, performance shots and a narrative. What makes the video comply with the genre of music is things like, how the characters dress, show emotion, what kind of environment there in and so on. This theory is relevant to our project because there is things in our video which would also fit into other videos from different genres.
Richard Maltby and Ian Craven claimed that "The success of Hollywood is reliant on the combination of predictable elements with variation." What they were saying is that the only reason Hollywood is a global success is because we as the audience go into a film with an idea of what to expect and prefer to to be able to predict what is going to happen. There theory suggest that the audience don't like surprises in regards to not knowing what to expect. Personally I disagree with this theory because over time, as we watch more and more films, we build a natural bank of information containing repetitive aspects of genres. For example if you go to see a film which you know nothing about, 9/10 you will be able to tell what genre of film it is within the title sequence.
How This Relates To My Project
Although we have made our video from scratch, we have followed certain vital conventions necessary to make it obvious to the audience what genre of music video we are creating. For example our narrative is based around a boy and a girl. This is very typical of an "indi rock" video. We also wanted to challenge the conventions in places which i feel we have done.
Auteurs and Iconography-
Auteurs are a group of film makers that were considered to be particularly influential and artistic. What this means is that particular names within all platforms of media incorporate certain personal techniques into the majority of there workings as a sort of signature to show that audience that its there film or music track. An example of this is this Steven Spielberg films there is normally a hue on screen which helps give a better sense of atmosphere. This is how a lot of people identify Spielberg films from others.
How This Relates To My Project
I'm sure you can imagine that this is a very difficult thing to achieve, particularly if only one video is being made. If this project was going on for years and we had to make several video's then there would be a possibility of incorporating a type of 'signature' to our work.
Rick Altman was a strong believer in that people shouldn't categorise films or another platform of media into genres. He said that;
"Genre theory's presumes that viewers pre-read text." "Viewers become passive voyeurs" "Genres are therefore restrictive" "I do not acknowledge of allow for the hybrid"
What he means by this is that by putting media into genres they go in with an assumption of what to expect. He also claims that because of this we as an audience don't fully engage with the media but do nothing more than drift in and out making it impossible to have a proper story line.
How This Relates To My Project
I think it would be impossible to make a music video that doesn't give away the genre of music its covering. If there's no evidence of genre then how do you appeal to your target audience? For this reason we will follow particular conventions of our chosen genre.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Video analysis 3
Scouting for Girls - " This aint a love song"
Camera work - The opening sequence are all narrative shots. It begins with a close up of a passport being handed over at an airport followed by a close up that follows into the distance of a mans feet with a suitcase next to it. The first performance shot used is a close up of the frontman on the microphone with all the other band members in the background. this could possibly have beend one to show his authority and status among the band.
Editing - What i have noticed has become a common theme among all the videos i have analysed at random. Similar to the others this has an interchange of performance and narrative shots. However there is no use of elipsis during this clip possibly because the narrative dosn't need it. There is however the use of juxtapostions in order to show a development within the narrative.
Mise-en-scene - To go against the mainstream an element of the indie genre is that it often contains odd/strange things that could be described as spontaneous. This is shown by the same shot of a man holding a goldfish in complete darkness re-occurring throughout the media with no apparrent or direct link to the performance or the narrative. Additionally the fact that it is in an airport depicts change. The clothing is all sterotypical of the indie genre and there are no sterotypes that are challenged.
Camera work - The opening sequence are all narrative shots. It begins with a close up of a passport being handed over at an airport followed by a close up that follows into the distance of a mans feet with a suitcase next to it. The first performance shot used is a close up of the frontman on the microphone with all the other band members in the background. this could possibly have beend one to show his authority and status among the band.
Editing - What i have noticed has become a common theme among all the videos i have analysed at random. Similar to the others this has an interchange of performance and narrative shots. However there is no use of elipsis during this clip possibly because the narrative dosn't need it. There is however the use of juxtapostions in order to show a development within the narrative.
Mise-en-scene - To go against the mainstream an element of the indie genre is that it often contains odd/strange things that could be described as spontaneous. This is shown by the same shot of a man holding a goldfish in complete darkness re-occurring throughout the media with no apparrent or direct link to the performance or the narrative. Additionally the fact that it is in an airport depicts change. The clothing is all sterotypical of the indie genre and there are no sterotypes that are challenged.
Video analysis 2
Scouting for Girls - " This aint a love song"
Camera work - The opening sequence are all narrative shots. It begins with a close up of a passport being handed over at an airport followed by a close up that follows into the distance of a mans feet with a suitcase next to it. The first performance shot used is a close up of the frontman on the microphone with all the other band members in the background. this could possibly have beend one to show his authority and status among the band.
Editing - What i have noticed has become a common theme among all the videos i have analysed at random. Similar to the others this has an interchange of performance and narrative shots. However there is no use of elipsis during this clip possibly because the narrative dosn't need it. There is however the use of juxtapostions in order to show a development within the narrative.
Mise-en-scene - To go against the mainstream an element of the indie genre is that it often contains odd/strange things that could be described as spontaneous. This is shown by the same shot of a man holding a goldfish in complete darkness re-occurring throughout the media with no apparrent or direct link to the performance or the narrative. Additionally the fact that it is in an airport depicts change. The clothing is all sterotypical of the indie genre and there are no sterotypes that are challenged.
Camera work - The opening sequence are all narrative shots. It begins with a close up of a passport being handed over at an airport followed by a close up that follows into the distance of a mans feet with a suitcase next to it. The first performance shot used is a close up of the frontman on the microphone with all the other band members in the background. this could possibly have beend one to show his authority and status among the band.
Editing - What i have noticed has become a common theme among all the videos i have analysed at random. Similar to the others this has an interchange of performance and narrative shots. However there is no use of elipsis during this clip possibly because the narrative dosn't need it. There is however the use of juxtapostions in order to show a development within the narrative.
Mise-en-scene - To go against the mainstream an element of the indie genre is that it often contains odd/strange things that could be described as spontaneous. This is shown by the same shot of a man holding a goldfish in complete darkness re-occurring throughout the media with no apparrent or direct link to the performance or the narrative. Additionally the fact that it is in an airport depicts change. The clothing is all sterotypical of the indie genre and there are no sterotypes that are challenged.
Video analysis 1
The Kooks- "She Moves In Her Own Way"
Camera work - The performance shots used at the start of the video are all close ups of the band members. This is done to establish the members of the band. The narrative shots however vary in shot type. There are shots of the bands coach driving to establish the location that they are on the move. Then they arrive in a desolate area and the camera pans across to give emphasis on the poorness of the area around them. This is repeated throughout as there is establishing shots looking out across the city and then a close up of a man pulling some shoes out of a bin.
Editing - Similarily to the previous clip i have analysed there is a constant interchange at the beginning of the video between narrative and performance shots. Additionally there is another similarity with the fact that elipsis is used again, however this time elipsis is used to show a change of location rather than emotion. This again though is used to show a development within the narrative section of the video. I found that fact that similar ways of making the video are demonstrated within several different songs but all from the same genre.
Mise-en-scene - Indie music is typified as going against the mainstream. This is shown at the start as they are in an empty area and then the next shot is a guitar followed by the band. I interpreted this as shwoing that despite being in a desolate waste land they still have their guitars and are willing to make music.
Camera work - The performance shots used at the start of the video are all close ups of the band members. This is done to establish the members of the band. The narrative shots however vary in shot type. There are shots of the bands coach driving to establish the location that they are on the move. Then they arrive in a desolate area and the camera pans across to give emphasis on the poorness of the area around them. This is repeated throughout as there is establishing shots looking out across the city and then a close up of a man pulling some shoes out of a bin.
Editing - Similarily to the previous clip i have analysed there is a constant interchange at the beginning of the video between narrative and performance shots. Additionally there is another similarity with the fact that elipsis is used again, however this time elipsis is used to show a change of location rather than emotion. This again though is used to show a development within the narrative section of the video. I found that fact that similar ways of making the video are demonstrated within several different songs but all from the same genre.
Mise-en-scene - Indie music is typified as going against the mainstream. This is shown at the start as they are in an empty area and then the next shot is a guitar followed by the band. I interpreted this as shwoing that despite being in a desolate waste land they still have their guitars and are willing to make music.
Friday, 22 October 2010
The Fray 'How To Save A Life' Video Analyse
Mise-en-scene. - The lighting in this video is very consistant. The only light source is from car head lights or strip lights (in the performance shots only) This creates a blend of shadows and silouets which works well with the song. The head lights create a lot of glare and a high contrast between light and dark. It also seems to wash out any colours that exsist in the house or forest. This is done on purpose to create an atmosphere and help the audience feel involved within the song.
Camera Shots - The video begins with several close up's during the performance shots. This is used to establish who the lead singer of the band is, there is also the use of an extreme close up on the eye. Additionally there is still a wide range of other shots used in this video. For example low angle, close up and establishing shots are all used a number of times in the video, all of which make the video more dramatic.
Editing - The first thing i noticed about the editing is the regular interchange between the performance shots and the narrative shots. the use of quick cuts establishes a relationship between the narrative and the song. There is also several uses of elipsis, i found one moment particularly interesting. There is a girl that is shown several times with the use of close ups and panning camera movement at the start and she seems dull and possibly ill, this links in with the title of the song "How to save a life". This is shown through the use of plain clothing and background. There is a moment during the middle of the video where the girl is then shown wearing a red dress and throwing roses in the air. This represents change and adds to the narrative and shows that the person may be getting better. This idea is furthered due to the tempo of the song also quickening.
Camera Shots - The video begins with several close up's during the performance shots. This is used to establish who the lead singer of the band is, there is also the use of an extreme close up on the eye. Additionally there is still a wide range of other shots used in this video. For example low angle, close up and establishing shots are all used a number of times in the video, all of which make the video more dramatic.
Editing - The first thing i noticed about the editing is the regular interchange between the performance shots and the narrative shots. the use of quick cuts establishes a relationship between the narrative and the song. There is also several uses of elipsis, i found one moment particularly interesting. There is a girl that is shown several times with the use of close ups and panning camera movement at the start and she seems dull and possibly ill, this links in with the title of the song "How to save a life". This is shown through the use of plain clothing and background. There is a moment during the middle of the video where the girl is then shown wearing a red dress and throwing roses in the air. This represents change and adds to the narrative and shows that the person may be getting better. This idea is furthered due to the tempo of the song also quickening.
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