For my media production I staged two focus groups were my audience would give me positive and negative feedback. Firstly this would help us plan the rest of our production and guide us down the correct root in which are audience were swaying to. Once we had completed our finial video we help another screening this is where we received their finial feedback and their understanding of the finished product. We also handed out in our final screening a questionnaire (as seen on blog) to find correlations between social stratifications which would determine their reaction to the music video.
On our first screening we showed a selected audience what we had produced so far, the results we received where useful and interesting and swung how we intended to create our final product. Feedback –
Ciara - "I am enjoying the start of your music video, but i am finding it difficult to understand the story line. I also feel the performance and narrative need to be shown as two different things, this could be done though editing?"
Emily - "I really like your mise-en scene, and how you have managed to create this folk theme to your music video"
James - "i find the actor interesting he is a good looking guy and confident i feel he really helps this music video shape what it is, maybe using more of him in the performance roll would be needed?"
From this feedback we re-thought our editing techniques and put our self in the decoders position this helped us understand what messages people where taking from the video and how we as encoders can create the meaning in a simple manner.
Secondly after we had completed our music video we screened it to a new audience and asked them to fill out a questionnaire (can be found on blog) the idea of the questionnaire was to find out the correlations between social stratification (age, gender, lifestyles ect) and reaction to the video. Some of the questions where constructed in such a way as to attempt to operationalise the Encoding and Decoding model. I found through my questionnaire the older generation did not fully understand the message being portrayed through the song and video due to moral values, but the younger generation were more knowledgeable and could relate to storylines seen in other medias, such a TV soaps and movies. Considering the all the signs portrayed through my music video they are seen as polysemic and people react to media texts in different and sometimes unpredictable ways. I feel the readings we took from our audience could of been influenced, this can be explained through the use and gratifications model, the setting in which the video was watch with a questionnaire laid out in front of the is very different to the conditions they would normally be watched in, this may have changed the typical gratification a person might taken when watching this video. Here are the negative and positives gained from the second screening.
The negatives - teacher 1-" i found the fast cutting scenes to be a little confusing to start with and did not understand the need to show a clock within the video. I also noticed the in one scene the girl was wearing tights and the next she was not"
The positive - Max age 16 - I really enjoyed the video, i found it exciting and i really felt i got pulled into the story."
Teacher 2 - "i found the editing of the video was really key in creating a visually interesting video, and keeping your audience attached. I can see this video appealing to people my age and the younger generation."
On an overview of my audiences feedback I have gained a knowledge of how effective it is to hold these focus groups and how it can push your project in the right direction. I would in future hold more when creating something as they are useful and supply you with knowledge to help you succeed.
Friday, 23 April 2010
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music. When picking my track I took in to consideration of how the genre of my music would work within a music video. Paolo Nutini has been categorised into the following genres folk pop, blues soul and electric folk, reasoning for this would be the style of his music, set in swing grooves, and the use of interments such as percussion instruments, different types of flutes, the bow and different types of trumpets. All of these contribute to creating this folk feel, but the artists roll is to fit in with the genre with clothing and vocals ect. Paolo Nutini’s clothing and style falls into the spring collections with checked shirts, cord trousers, deck shoes and so on.
The music video my partner and I have created contains generic textual features of a music video. From researching Andrew Goodwin and Steve Archer (seen earlier in blog) I have selected certain sections of their research which relate to my music video. We based our music video on a narrative and performance idea, with our main character singing a story in the performance roll, playing acoustic guitar, singing and dancing. The narrative side to the music video was the story he told was visually linked to the audience though images linked with lyrics and the music. Camerawork was important within our video due to the style of our main character, as said earlier the style of folk and Paolo Nutini is very unique to a lot of close ups are used to capture his outfits, his iconic hat, attractiveness and confidence of the singer. Editing the video was difficult due to the tempo of the song we has a great deal of fast editing to do, most folk songs videos flow smoothly or jump to the melody, we chose to use both of these in our music video and create a real groove throughout.
Wanting the audience to fall in love with our video we had to create an aspect of the video that would pull people back to re-watch and really get involved with the music and feel of the artist. This lead me to the Encoder and Decoder Model, encoding a message into my video where I could really show my creativity was restricted due to the decoder not understanding the meaning of the video, Putting myself in the decoders shoes I worked backwards on what I would understand from the video and how much I can twist the story line before the meaning of the song became complete lost within the video and made no sense. I feel the way the music video has turned out it has worked well. After asking friends and family to describe back to me after watching the music video what the meaning of song and video was trying to portray the ideas which had been thrown back where similar yet they all had their own interpretation of what was going on.
The idea of pushing boundaries and creating something new was exciting, yet we were still restricted from being too creative otherwise we would lose our genre characteristics. Conforming to one of Paolo Nutini’s most discussed performance issues was the when he would sing certain words his lips would almost seem as they were not moving, we have taken this on board and used in the end section of our music video. We have also stuck to the themes of autumn based videos appropriate editing and structure of a folk music video.
The Music video created was successfully challenged the conventions of a typical folk video by stretching the story line, creating diversity with in the video, using unknown intertextuality by conforming to the idea of a traditional love story but throwing the twist in, this can link to several films such as, note book, p.s. I love you and love actually. Sticking to folk styles and dress sense I feel this video has cast out a successful feel and viewing feed back has been flourishing.
The music video my partner and I have created contains generic textual features of a music video. From researching Andrew Goodwin and Steve Archer (seen earlier in blog) I have selected certain sections of their research which relate to my music video. We based our music video on a narrative and performance idea, with our main character singing a story in the performance roll, playing acoustic guitar, singing and dancing. The narrative side to the music video was the story he told was visually linked to the audience though images linked with lyrics and the music. Camerawork was important within our video due to the style of our main character, as said earlier the style of folk and Paolo Nutini is very unique to a lot of close ups are used to capture his outfits, his iconic hat, attractiveness and confidence of the singer. Editing the video was difficult due to the tempo of the song we has a great deal of fast editing to do, most folk songs videos flow smoothly or jump to the melody, we chose to use both of these in our music video and create a real groove throughout.
Wanting the audience to fall in love with our video we had to create an aspect of the video that would pull people back to re-watch and really get involved with the music and feel of the artist. This lead me to the Encoder and Decoder Model, encoding a message into my video where I could really show my creativity was restricted due to the decoder not understanding the meaning of the video, Putting myself in the decoders shoes I worked backwards on what I would understand from the video and how much I can twist the story line before the meaning of the song became complete lost within the video and made no sense. I feel the way the music video has turned out it has worked well. After asking friends and family to describe back to me after watching the music video what the meaning of song and video was trying to portray the ideas which had been thrown back where similar yet they all had their own interpretation of what was going on.
The idea of pushing boundaries and creating something new was exciting, yet we were still restricted from being too creative otherwise we would lose our genre characteristics. Conforming to one of Paolo Nutini’s most discussed performance issues was the when he would sing certain words his lips would almost seem as they were not moving, we have taken this on board and used in the end section of our music video. We have also stuck to the themes of autumn based videos appropriate editing and structure of a folk music video.
The Music video created was successfully challenged the conventions of a typical folk video by stretching the story line, creating diversity with in the video, using unknown intertextuality by conforming to the idea of a traditional love story but throwing the twist in, this can link to several films such as, note book, p.s. I love you and love actually. Sticking to folk styles and dress sense I feel this video has cast out a successful feel and viewing feed back has been flourishing.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
For my main task I had to create a music video and to accompany this, a CD cover and a magazine advert to promote the CD release. As an encoder I had to ensure myself what I was producing would fit to the decoders needs, finding my finial products appealing. Once I had created my main task I then moved onto looking and researching into Paolo Nutini’s past CD cover and magazine advert to gain an understanding of the forms and conventions of what was used to appeal to his target audience.
I did not plan all three tasks together, I created my main task (music video) first which determined what the advertisement and CD cover would consist of. Reasoning for this was because I felt if I had created all of them at the same time it would have restricted my creativity on my music video, this was I could change and edit the video to develop the most successful outcome. Although I had not planned all my tasks together I have carried through intertextuality which links all three together. How I linked them together was setting a scene, in the video we have accumulated a autumn feel through the mise-en scene, this was done by the browns and gold from the leaves, when it came to creating my CD cover I used Paolo Nutini’s conventional stripes and my artist had the same clothes on as seen in the video. The picture and colours of the CD cover show off a positive vibe, this has been carried out through all three tasks, and this would attract the decoder’s attention. The main link between the video to the CD and advert would be the artist, the decoder can relate the artist and this helps sell your product.
For my CD cover I took a photograph of our artist in the same clothes he wore in the music video, showing a clear cohesion between the CD cover and the video. This supports and promotes the main text at the same time. The advert links in with a copy of the CD cover placed the top centre of the page. I kept the rest of the page in a dark shade of blue, and this highlights the CD cover and the text on the page (in white). I find the link between my CD cover and advert has been produced well, with the snap shot of the album from page on the advert gives the encoder a sold idea of what they should be looking for in the shops.
I am pleased with my final outcome of my three tasks, I feel they relate well to each other and the links are obvious to my decoder. As the encoder I have done the maximum amount of research to understand what my audience want to see, in the video and ancillary tasks. However if I went back I would have liked to improve the music video and really enhance the autumn feel.
I did not plan all three tasks together, I created my main task (music video) first which determined what the advertisement and CD cover would consist of. Reasoning for this was because I felt if I had created all of them at the same time it would have restricted my creativity on my music video, this was I could change and edit the video to develop the most successful outcome. Although I had not planned all my tasks together I have carried through intertextuality which links all three together. How I linked them together was setting a scene, in the video we have accumulated a autumn feel through the mise-en scene, this was done by the browns and gold from the leaves, when it came to creating my CD cover I used Paolo Nutini’s conventional stripes and my artist had the same clothes on as seen in the video. The picture and colours of the CD cover show off a positive vibe, this has been carried out through all three tasks, and this would attract the decoder’s attention. The main link between the video to the CD and advert would be the artist, the decoder can relate the artist and this helps sell your product.
For my CD cover I took a photograph of our artist in the same clothes he wore in the music video, showing a clear cohesion between the CD cover and the video. This supports and promotes the main text at the same time. The advert links in with a copy of the CD cover placed the top centre of the page. I kept the rest of the page in a dark shade of blue, and this highlights the CD cover and the text on the page (in white). I find the link between my CD cover and advert has been produced well, with the snap shot of the album from page on the advert gives the encoder a sold idea of what they should be looking for in the shops.
I am pleased with my final outcome of my three tasks, I feel they relate well to each other and the links are obvious to my decoder. As the encoder I have done the maximum amount of research to understand what my audience want to see, in the video and ancillary tasks. However if I went back I would have liked to improve the music video and really enhance the autumn feel.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout my project I have used different media technologies this has helped to construct my project. It is important to use different software and hardware to progress and develop skills throughout my project. This is essential for today world with having an understanding in media technologies to be successful within the media industry.
The internet was a large part of my research process accessing different sites to gather information. The internet is beneficial for research but unless you have accessed a official site otherwise you cannot be sure the information you are reading is legitimate. For information about Paolo Nutini, .e.g. his genre, style, record label etc I used his official fan website site which had all the given information about him, as this was an official site the information would be accurate. This was accessed through www.google.com; this also linked me with other websites such as Wikipedia which was useful for when assembly information about the genre characteristics. When analysing Paolo Nutinis music videos I used YouTube which gave me his official videos, this was also useful when it came to looking at other artists of the same genre. Downloading the Paolo Nutini track I used ITunes a safe/legal and official site, I knew downloading it from ITunes would give me great quality and would also be accompanied by art work so when it came to creating my front cover I could look through his older album covers. I feel my skills of the internet have not developed as I was already well equipped of how the internet is run, but my researching skills have progressed and find it easy to gather information and know the correct places to look.
When coming to the planning section I found this rolled into the construction of the video camera and Pinnacle software. I understood how to use a video camera because I have had experience in this before, but the problems which occurred was the camera battery life, which was a lot shorter than expected, this was overcome by the use of our story board knowing what needed to be filmed. Pinnacle was a new software to me and I have no understanding of how to work it, after a few tutorials from my teachers and playing around with the software myself it became apparent to me how it works. The problems I came across using Pinnacle were editing and piecing the videos together, I found deleting a section of video which had already been placed down moved the whole story line, outing everything out of sync, the way a came around this was to use to storylines and lock each track after an edit. Another finding which disturbed my editing process was when we would re-open the program the screen would be black and the software to play the videos would not be loaded, this was time consuming reloading the video every time we used a new station. Editing and creating cuts was simple once you had gathered the understanding of the software, I feel I have gained a much greater knowledge of this program and would feel confident using it in the future.
For constructing my CD cover I used Photoshop software I felt highly confident in, and I knew this would work to my advantage knowing my software and what effects I could use to create a professional looking cover. I have been using Photoshop for several years this is due to my photography, this also fell to my advantage when photographing for the cover, using a studio and my Nikon D60 10.5 mega pixel camera. Creating my magazine advert I used the same program. I used the same techniques from last year in my AS work on how to lay out a magazine advert.
Creating a blog was a first, and did not find it difficult. Planning my blog was a difficult process if by mistake I missed out a section it was not possible to go back and re add a section in. Creating a plan of what I should enter into my blog and when was useful, I feel my blogging skills have enhanced and would be confident setting up a blog at anytime.
Through all the media technologies I have used through my project I have progressed and gained greater knowledge of how to work the software, although some programs have limitations I find this frustrating yet interesting because it gives you a new way of thinking and opens your mind to become more creative.
The internet was a large part of my research process accessing different sites to gather information. The internet is beneficial for research but unless you have accessed a official site otherwise you cannot be sure the information you are reading is legitimate. For information about Paolo Nutini, .e.g. his genre, style, record label etc I used his official fan website site which had all the given information about him, as this was an official site the information would be accurate. This was accessed through www.google.com; this also linked me with other websites such as Wikipedia which was useful for when assembly information about the genre characteristics. When analysing Paolo Nutinis music videos I used YouTube which gave me his official videos, this was also useful when it came to looking at other artists of the same genre. Downloading the Paolo Nutini track I used ITunes a safe/legal and official site, I knew downloading it from ITunes would give me great quality and would also be accompanied by art work so when it came to creating my front cover I could look through his older album covers. I feel my skills of the internet have not developed as I was already well equipped of how the internet is run, but my researching skills have progressed and find it easy to gather information and know the correct places to look.
When coming to the planning section I found this rolled into the construction of the video camera and Pinnacle software. I understood how to use a video camera because I have had experience in this before, but the problems which occurred was the camera battery life, which was a lot shorter than expected, this was overcome by the use of our story board knowing what needed to be filmed. Pinnacle was a new software to me and I have no understanding of how to work it, after a few tutorials from my teachers and playing around with the software myself it became apparent to me how it works. The problems I came across using Pinnacle were editing and piecing the videos together, I found deleting a section of video which had already been placed down moved the whole story line, outing everything out of sync, the way a came around this was to use to storylines and lock each track after an edit. Another finding which disturbed my editing process was when we would re-open the program the screen would be black and the software to play the videos would not be loaded, this was time consuming reloading the video every time we used a new station. Editing and creating cuts was simple once you had gathered the understanding of the software, I feel I have gained a much greater knowledge of this program and would feel confident using it in the future.
For constructing my CD cover I used Photoshop software I felt highly confident in, and I knew this would work to my advantage knowing my software and what effects I could use to create a professional looking cover. I have been using Photoshop for several years this is due to my photography, this also fell to my advantage when photographing for the cover, using a studio and my Nikon D60 10.5 mega pixel camera. Creating my magazine advert I used the same program. I used the same techniques from last year in my AS work on how to lay out a magazine advert.
Creating a blog was a first, and did not find it difficult. Planning my blog was a difficult process if by mistake I missed out a section it was not possible to go back and re add a section in. Creating a plan of what I should enter into my blog and when was useful, I feel my blogging skills have enhanced and would be confident setting up a blog at anytime.
Through all the media technologies I have used through my project I have progressed and gained greater knowledge of how to work the software, although some programs have limitations I find this frustrating yet interesting because it gives you a new way of thinking and opens your mind to become more creative.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Research of advertisements within magazines
I first started looking at other advertisements within magazines and where they were placed. selecting Cosmopolitan i counted up how many pages were adverts and the found the percentage of how much of the magazine was adverts and in this case was 56% which is over half. Most of the magazines income was due to adverts and the cost of the magazine would break even on the cost to produced and distribute the magazine, the adverts are used to salaries and profit.
most music magazines would carry through a theme so the viewer can relate to the CD cover when looking for it, or use the CD cover on the advertisement. A release date is used and sponsors such as itunes, play.com and the magazine title may appear on the advert it's self.
Focus Group
I held a small focus group and selected a few people from my target audience the results were positive.
Joise - "I find this CD cover aesthetically pleasing"
Leah - "This is a very visually interesting CD cover and colours really go well with the theme of the track. I find the artist on the front good looking and stylish, a iconic figure, I feel this would help the cover sell and pull people in to getting a closer look."
Lucy - "professional looking, this was achieved by the copy write section on the back and the quality of the photographs."
The importance of the CD cover
This is the first thing the audience will see, it has to be inviting and interesting. Making sure my CD cover is inviting i am going to use bright colours, yet keeping to the theme of Autumn. Using a iconic figure on the front will also intrigue people into buying your CD, i am going to use the two photos i have selected which i feel will give the album cover a exciting feel.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Photo shoot
Needing pictures for my CD cover, as a photographer i was able to use a studio with lighting and my own 10.5 mega pixel camera, this was a great and will help polish off a professional looking out come. Once i had taken my photographs i had to narrow my selection down and pick an appropriate photograph to accompany my video and show off my CD cover. these are the two finial photographs i selected.
I chose these two photographs because they show excitement and energy, this is what i want to portray though this single. A key aspect of Paolo Nutini's CD covers are they show style, i feel these photographs show this, from the back and front.
Planning Ancillary tasks
Creating a CD cover to go along side my media video i have researched into other album covers created for Paolo Nutini's albums and picked out certain aspects and key elements which follow though in each CD cover.
This was one of Paolo Nutini's first album covers, one this which is very noticeable is the coloured stripes and the powerful back and white images of Paolo Nutini. These pictures show style originality and creativity.
The latest of Paolo Nutini's albums "sunny side up" released in 2009. Again what has carried though for the pervious album is the idea of using these iconic stripes. This is something i picked up on and I am going to use when it comes to designing my CD cover.
Below was our final music video this took several weeks to piece together and the out come was successful. After finishing out music video we held another focus group to discuss the finial out come of our video, this was to a new set of people who my teacher had set up from the youngest being 16 and a few of our teachers. After our focus group has watched the video several times we discussed what they found successful and what not.
The negatives
teacher 1-" i found the fast cutting scenes to be a little confusing to start with and did not understand the need to show a clock within the video. I also noticed the in one scene the girl was wearing tights and the next she was not"
The positives
Max age 16 - I really enjoyed the video, i found it exciting and i really felt i got pulled into the story."
Teacher 2 - "i found the editing of the video was really key in creating a visually interesting video, and keeping your audience attached. I can see this video appealing to people my age and the younger generation."
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
How this effected out finial out come
After our focus group and questionnaire we received a mix view of how are music video was developing, most swaying to the positive side of the video and a few favored the negative approach which was helpful, it helped us find out what we where doing wrong and how we can improve this. The main problem we came across was linking the performance and narrative, we started off with shady montage techniques but through developing our skills i feel i have created a much visually interesting video, the editing fits the themes of folk with a steady swing groove.
Improving on some of the camera work, we noticed some of the shots seemed out of focus or had been cut to short, a short bit of re-filming was needed, this was helpful because we knew exactly what shots we wanted.
lip syncing, at first this seemed an impossible task, and this was picked up on. heading back to pinnacle we re adjusted and found a good technique by cutting frames to fit the visuals with the lyrics.
Early rushes
After capturing some footage we decided to create a focus group who we would show the start of our music video to, this would help us determine if we are heading down the right root to creating a successful music video or heading to an epic fail. After showing our early footage to the class we received several opinions.
i found the finding very dominant with a few oppositional comments, as a encoder I had to rethink my situation and put myself in the decoders position and work backwards know would messages would be taken from the video and how i can show thing from the encoders roll. From the comments received i decided to create a questionnaire for the people who have watch my video to give me stronger feed back my video was and what appeals to them in a music video.
My target Audience
I have to take into consideration how i can make my music video appeal to my target audience, this can be done by costume, setting location and camera angles. costume is a great way to get my target audience interested in my video because Paolo Nutini is seen as a stylish roll model for a lot of the younger generation, so dressing my main character in correct outfit is vital. location is key to creating a good feel within my music video, with an upbeat song and a sunny location. camera angles have to be busy and not to long to keep my audiences attention gripped to my video, the story line also created and interesting viewing due to the normality of the situation.
Monday, 15 March 2010
Filming
Filming – main actor and lyric
The song alloway grove has an autumn feel to it, so the weather and leaves were perfect for we are filming in the autumn, the only problem we had was capturing the right day to capture out filming. Most of the days we had planned to film had been poor weather apart from today. We used a local park, Danorlan, this was again ideal for our scenery as the gold leaves surrounded out main actor.
To keep out main character in sync with our chosen track we took an iPod speaker to play the track while we filmed this will be very helpful when coming to editing because we can connect the sound waves.
We used this section of filming for the base line, so we can play the story from what has been sung from out main actor. This section of filming turned out very successful we captured some interesting shots and an attractive establishing shot.
Due to our planning for this scene we managed to capture all the shots needed.
Going back
After filming our house senses we needed to go back and retouch some of our shaky shots, and capture some new ones.
The note plays a large part in the video, so we try and express this though close ups and the length of the shots. One of the best shots we captured was the to the house
Filming – bed room scene
Our first scene of filming was the bed room scene, here we have this mysterious girl and man, no showing faces so we never become attached to them in the video, giving them no character. Starting with the over the body shot, capturing red underwear symbolising danger, this help us as an audience gain the idea she is dangerous and untrusting. We want these scenes to tell the story of this girl, while we follow the story of Paolo Nutini (our main actor James).
What shots we used and why?
Over the body – similar to over the shoulder but this way we can capture the scenery and the other actor in the same shot. We aimed the shot towards the window due to capturing the morning glaze from the sun peeping though the window, reasoning for this is to give the audience the message that these to have sent the night together, this is also backed with the use of them both being in underwear and how the hold each other in the two shot.
Two shot – both the couple come together showing affection and lust.
Close ups – as we want to create pace and a since of rush we used close ups to show the clothes being thrown into a suit case, then flicking to a bird’s eye view, this has to be the most one of the most successful shots along with we put the camera into the suitcase and recorded while she zipped up.
The note is a large part in our music video as it explains why she leaves our main actor (James) and moves to London.
Tracking shots – we have this though the hall way of the house, following them as they leave.
We took great time in capturing the right shot, having an idea in my head and on paper while filming we found some angles worked better than we had down, so a few minor changes will have to be made to the story board.
Over all the shooting went well, but we may need to go back and touch up on certain parts where the shots have been cut to quickly or camera has shaken.
what i plan to show through my music video
Montage - As we are basing our music video on the folk genre, there are certain aspects which we have to carry through to our video to create this theme. Montage is a key element in creating a successful folk feel to our video. i intend to use a large around of fades to carry the music, keeping our audiences eye flowing. when coming to a up beat part of the track i will use quick cuts and jump shots.
Mise en scene - location is a large part of our music video to create the folk vibe, this links in with the idea of paradigmatic contrasts between the music and visuals. when considering the for our performance side of the video we intended to use a local park due to the has lots of trees and help contribute to the folk and autumn feel. The Narrative side to our story we are hoping to go in the direction of a modern locations, using a town house, scenes of trains, views of town centre and taxi views (views from inside a cab).
Costume - Our main character James has to be styled in a unique and interesting folk themed way. I intend to dress him with checked shirts, skinny jeans with turn ups, deck shoes, low cut t-shirt and a trilby (iconic to symbolize Paolo Nutini).
Mystery Woman - dressing her smart pencil skirt, shirt, jacket, a london looking woman. When in the bed room scenes red underwear will be used to create a sign of danger, the girls face will not be shown because this helps build up the feel of mystery. we also will use a red bag, this is to really get the message across that there is a lot more to this woman than meets the eye.
Mystery man - very similar to the Woman we have a smartly dress man, suit and tie, black and white, showing dull colours just like every other guy, this also created the idea of these to having a very simple relationship.
when looking at the syntagmatic approach we first start of with the relationship between the customs and location, working with location and using appropriate customs to help create the folk vibe.
then we move on to how we work the performance roll and narrative side to the music video together, this will be bound together with clever editing which is soon to come.
James Madgwick - Paolo Nutini
Ciara McEwen - Mystery girl 
Storyboard & Lyrics
Alloway Groove
Coming home again
To see a girl thats prettier than a diamond shining in the sun
Oh what fun!
I wonder if she's been naked in her room since I've been gone
I wonder if she's said to them as she said to me before
However much you use me baby, come on use me more
However much you use me baby, come on use me more
Getting off the train
To see a girl thats sweeter than an apple picked from Adam's tree
Oh glory be!
And I wonder if she's been pressed against an unfamiliar wall
And said to all those men as she said to me before
However much you want me, I swear I'll make you want me more
However much you want me, I swear I'll make you want me more and more and more and more
La-la-la, la la la la
Arriving at the door
Just to be told that the girl I'm missing has been in London for a while
No more northern skies for her
They say she's left a letter up the stair for everyone
It's pinned against her bedroom door for all the world to see and she says
However much I love you, you will always love me more
However much I love you, you will always love me more
And I guess it's true
However much she loves me I will always love her more
La-la-la la la la la
I'll love you more and more, I'll love you more
I'll love you more and more, I'll love you more
I'll love you more and more, I'll love you more
I'll love you more and more, I'll love you more and more and more....
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Planning - Approach with reference to research
Research planning
After researching Steve Archer and Andrew Goodwin I have decided to highlight some of the points which I would like to show through my video. Narrative and Performance based videos was a key element of Steve Archers research, this was highly influential on creating our music video. Having our performance as our main section of video footage and playing the story line from lyrics and music and cutting footage in to create the story.
Links between lyrics and visuals is playing a large part in our music video, the idea we have come to for our video is to create a performance roll for the lead singing and then play a narrative story line against what he is singing about, trying to amplify the meaning of the song.
Due to Nutini's unique dress sense we are having to use a lot of close up shots and really show off his fashion, another item which is important is his hat, this appears in several of Nutini's Videos.
Conventions of Paolo Nutini's Music Videos
After looking at Paolo Nutini's music videos I took certain conventions which were used though out his videos and have taken the ideas into account when it comes to creating my music video. this such as
- dress, clothing, style, iconic hat
- setting, location (autumn feel)
- lip sinking techniques
- editing
Target Audience
a target audience, or target group is the primary group of people that something, usually an advertising campaign, is aimed at appealing to. A target audience can be people of a certain age group, gender, marital status, etc. (ex: teenagers, females, single people, etc.) A certain combination, like men from twenty to thirty is often a target audience.
My Target audience is from 16 - 40 reasoning why we have such a large audience, after doing primary research asking and noting people around school would they buy a Paolo Nutini album because they enjoy listening to them and why do they enjoy listening to his tracks? I then asked the older generations teachers, parents, parents friends and work associates. Both the younger and older generation had similar answers,
James age 16 "i enjoy listening to his music because it plays off a happy vibe"
Jessica age 22 "his songs have a summer feel to them, always make me smile"
Alex age 40 "After hearing him on the radio in 2006 i have alway purchased his new albums each one contains so much excitement"
Creating a video to cater for this large age rage would seem to be difficult but as all of the feed back has been about the positive happy vibes, we have aimed to film on a summer like day, with autumn leaves but throw in a sensitive story line to keep our audience interested and attached to the video.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Semiotics understandings
There are three main types of signs:
- Iconic signs: The signifier is connected to the signified through the principle of resemblance. Iconic signs are obviously important for images, since many images resemble what they refer to – but not always. Consider image on a male/female toilet.
- Indexical signs: The signifier makes you think of the signified because the two are frequently physically connected in the real world (the principle of contiguity). Cause-and-effect links are good examples of indexical signs: smoke is caused by fire and contiguous with it, and therefore the smell of smoke (signifier) makes you think of fire (signified).
- Symbolic signs: [purely artificial] the signifier is linked to the signified only by an arbitrary, human-imposed convention. There is no physical connection or natural resemblance between the English word “dog” and the concept *dog*. Any other signifier could just as plausibly be used to convey that concept, provided a group of people agree to do so, and indeed in German, “Hund” ➞ *dog*; in Spanish, “perro” ➞ *dog*; in French, “chien” ➞ *dog*, and so on.
Useful vocab:
Semiotics The study of Signs
Sign A sign is anything that conveys meaning. A sign is made up of two parts; the signifier and the signified.
Signifier Is the sign itself. A picture, words, music whatever.
Signified Is the meaning taken from the sign.
Denotation Is the first order meaning – the obvious meaning of the sign.
Connotation Is a deeper less obvious meaning – often implied through convention.
IntertextualityRefers to the relationship between texts, where texts reference one another. For example all texts from one particular genre are intertextually linked. A Music Magazine will be intertextually linked to a song that the magazine reviews/features.
Polysemic Literally means many meanings. All signs have multiple meanings. This might refer more to connotative meaning more than denotative meaning. The meaning we take from a sign might be influenced by our, age, gender, ethnicity or the context of viewing amongst other things.
Didactic Didactic texts are more likely to have denotative obvious meaning and are less open to interpretation.
Syntagmatic Syntagmatic connotation refers to the meaning signs make when they work together. For example a caption under a photograph.
Anchorage Media Producers use anchorage to prevent signs from being polysemic. They anchor the meaning of a text by using a supporting to sign. There fore signs work together syntagmatically to anchor the meaning and prevent polysemic readings.
- Iconic signs: The signifier is connected to the signified through the principle of resemblance. Iconic signs are obviously important for images, since many images resemble what they refer to – but not always. Consider image on a male/female toilet.
- Indexical signs: The signifier makes you think of the signified because the two are frequently physically connected in the real world (the principle of contiguity). Cause-and-effect links are good examples of indexical signs: smoke is caused by fire and contiguous with it, and therefore the smell of smoke (signifier) makes you think of fire (signified).
- Symbolic signs: [purely artificial] the signifier is linked to the signified only by an arbitrary, human-imposed convention. There is no physical connection or natural resemblance between the English word “dog” and the concept *dog*. Any other signifier could just as plausibly be used to convey that concept, provided a group of people agree to do so, and indeed in German, “Hund” ➞ *dog*; in Spanish, “perro” ➞ *dog*; in French, “chien” ➞ *dog*, and so on.
Useful vocab:
Semiotics The study of Signs
Sign A sign is anything that conveys meaning. A sign is made up of two parts; the signifier and the signified.
Signifier Is the sign itself. A picture, words, music whatever.
Signified Is the meaning taken from the sign.
Denotation Is the first order meaning – the obvious meaning of the sign.
Connotation Is a deeper less obvious meaning – often implied through convention.
IntertextualityRefers to the relationship between texts, where texts reference one another. For example all texts from one particular genre are intertextually linked. A Music Magazine will be intertextually linked to a song that the magazine reviews/features.
Polysemic Literally means many meanings. All signs have multiple meanings. This might refer more to connotative meaning more than denotative meaning. The meaning we take from a sign might be influenced by our, age, gender, ethnicity or the context of viewing amongst other things.
Didactic Didactic texts are more likely to have denotative obvious meaning and are less open to interpretation.
Syntagmatic Syntagmatic connotation refers to the meaning signs make when they work together. For example a caption under a photograph.
Anchorage Media Producers use anchorage to prevent signs from being polysemic. They anchor the meaning of a text by using a supporting to sign. There fore signs work together syntagmatically to anchor the meaning and prevent polysemic readings.
Stuart Hall - encoding and decoding model
1.The media industry tend to focus on three main areas:
- Institution: The people who produce texts and their reasons for it, the endcoders. Factors considered might be the encoders social background, i.e. religion, race etc, and their available budget for the production. These all contribute to the overall media product.
- The Content: The actual content of the media text itself. Exploring the genre, codes and conventions, narrative and representation.
- Audience: The media industry looks at who the audience are, the impact the text may have on them and their reactions to the media text.
2. Those who create media texts are known as encoders. The encoders create meaning and connotations for their text, keeping in mind an assumption of how the text will be understood and how the targeted audience will receive the text.
3. The audience, also referred to as decoders, will all take a meaning out of the text. This may vary from person to person as they try to understand the encoders intended meaning.
4. All signs and symbols are polysemic and thus all media texts are polysemic. Each individual will decode media texts in a different way. Hall suggest there are 4 key ways in which media texts are decoded:
•Dominant reading: the reader fully shares the text’s code and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading.
•Negotiated reading: the reader partly shares the text’s code and broadly accepts the dominant reading, but sometimes resists and modifies it in a way that reflects their own position, experiences, and interests.
•Oppositional reading: the reader is in a social situation that places him or her in direct opposition to the dominant code. The reader understands the dominant reading but does not share the text’s code and rejects the reading, bringing to bear an alternative frame of reference.
•Aberrant reading: the reader is unable to take the meaning that the encoder put into the text. There is a gap (dissonance) between the cultural assumptions of the encoder and the cultural context of the decoder. They just don’t get it.
5.When creating a media text, all encoders often wants their audience to take a dominant reading approach. To ensure their texts are received in such as way by the audience, the encoder may try and make the text less polysemic and not as open to multiple meanings.
6. Encoders will try to speak to their audience in an appropriate way so that they will understand and relate to the text. This is known as the mode of address. Usually the encoders will make assumptions about the decoders knowledge, interests and perception of the world, encoding their texts accordingly.[Take girl's magazines for example.] These are assumptions are cultural and can have an impact on the way the decoder receives the text.
7. The assumed language and points of reference an encoder uses to connect with an assumed target audience is known as the ‘Public Idiom.’
- Institution: The people who produce texts and their reasons for it, the endcoders. Factors considered might be the encoders social background, i.e. religion, race etc, and their available budget for the production. These all contribute to the overall media product.
- The Content: The actual content of the media text itself. Exploring the genre, codes and conventions, narrative and representation.
- Audience: The media industry looks at who the audience are, the impact the text may have on them and their reactions to the media text.
2. Those who create media texts are known as encoders. The encoders create meaning and connotations for their text, keeping in mind an assumption of how the text will be understood and how the targeted audience will receive the text.
3. The audience, also referred to as decoders, will all take a meaning out of the text. This may vary from person to person as they try to understand the encoders intended meaning.
4. All signs and symbols are polysemic and thus all media texts are polysemic. Each individual will decode media texts in a different way. Hall suggest there are 4 key ways in which media texts are decoded:
•Dominant reading: the reader fully shares the text’s code and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading.
•Negotiated reading: the reader partly shares the text’s code and broadly accepts the dominant reading, but sometimes resists and modifies it in a way that reflects their own position, experiences, and interests.
•Oppositional reading: the reader is in a social situation that places him or her in direct opposition to the dominant code. The reader understands the dominant reading but does not share the text’s code and rejects the reading, bringing to bear an alternative frame of reference.
•Aberrant reading: the reader is unable to take the meaning that the encoder put into the text. There is a gap (dissonance) between the cultural assumptions of the encoder and the cultural context of the decoder. They just don’t get it.
5.When creating a media text, all encoders often wants their audience to take a dominant reading approach. To ensure their texts are received in such as way by the audience, the encoder may try and make the text less polysemic and not as open to multiple meanings.
6. Encoders will try to speak to their audience in an appropriate way so that they will understand and relate to the text. This is known as the mode of address. Usually the encoders will make assumptions about the decoders knowledge, interests and perception of the world, encoding their texts accordingly.[Take girl's magazines for example.] These are assumptions are cultural and can have an impact on the way the decoder receives the text.
7. The assumed language and points of reference an encoder uses to connect with an assumed target audience is known as the ‘Public Idiom.’
Monday, 25 January 2010
Analyzation - Coming up easy - Paolo Nutini
Summary of song
Paolo Nutini is not only a great singer, but a extremely clever song writer. The song 'coming up easy shows off Nutini writing talents and creativity. Hearing the song for the first time most people would jump to the conclusion that it is a love song, but looking deeper into the song lyrics we can see it's in fact a love song but not for a girl, but for Marijuana. Nutini has cleverly written this to get people listening to the meaning of this songs. Nutini has become a lover of Marijuana but his friends can see its slowing him down and the weed has a down side to it, this is reflected in the song and video. In this video the directors Dan & Julian have used a rabbit to symbolize Marijuana, the link i have made though this is rabbit - grass - weed - Marijuana, also the rabbits use of the idea of how the drugs gives you a high, like the rabbit sweet,fluffy and funny. throughout the music video we see a decrease in the rabbits colour, happiness and friendliness, linking to the drug, you get highs but you will also have a comedown. the chorus of the song "we would watch the sun coming up easy as the rain came tumbling down" a metaphor for the drug. other metaphors used were "kiss my lips again and again and again" this was used to show taking Marijuana was a regular occurrence.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Analyzation - candy by Paolo Nutini
Starting with the meaning of this song we hear about a man and woman's relationship, what i take from this song is the woman feels the relationship is not working and she is not in love with the male character, but we hear in the song how the man is trying to prove to her he can be her guy, he she shows him some love. The word Candy is a symbol for love and sex, "give me some candy after my hug". The marriage has been taking place in a run down area, paolo talks about how it can work and that she is a "diamond in the ruff", it does not matter how or where they get married he will always love her and she is still this diamond figure to him.
Camera shots
We tend to see a lot of close up shots of Nutini, for he is an iconic figure, his dress sense is a large part of this stage character, especially the hat, this appears in several videos.
Crab shot - camera moving from side to side tracking family and friends to wedding, the shaky camera work was intentional giving the effect of a subtle unsteady, relationship and the environment of an LEDC.
long shot - this was used to show everyone walking together, the bride is submerged by other woman and the man is clearly seen by the camera, stating he was sure what we was doing but the woman was have regrets.
POV- point of view shot, we see these towards the end, when the couple have come together, everything seems to have fallen into place, we are then shown a POV through a door which see the couple making love (the man getting his candy) these shots pull the video together, conclude the song.
other shot used such as Pans, two people shot, establishing shot, over the shoulder and tracking.
Editing - we had a large amount of fast and sharp cuts flicking between the story line and the artist. at the beginning we experience cross cutting as he tells the story as it progresses into the song we see him performing at the wedding, with low angled shots, giving Nutini power and wisdom for being the over-viewer on the story. Towards the end we have more Fast editing as the chorus of the song builds up, and the couple making love, but as the song comes to an end we have fade editing shots showing passion and love, this is accompanied by close ups and extreme close ups of the couple together, as if their troubles are over. we then see children an image put to us to conclude the rest or the story.
Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene is a french work and means "what you see in the scene". looking at the location of the music video we can see they have used a LEDC (less economically developed country) giving a setting for the video. we can also tell it is a wedding from wedding cake, bride and groom, family and friends, tables settings and many others. we also see in a close up Nutini singing on stage, we see a lady in red is in focus behind him pulling your attention towards her, showing danger about this idea of falling into marriage that it not 100% stable, but on the other hand it can be seen as a love which will grown and become stronger.
Steve Archer & Andrew Goodwin - Key elements
Andrew Goodwin
In Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992, Routledge), has identified the following features of music videos:
In Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992, Routledge), has identified the following features of music videos:
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (eg stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc).
Steve Archer
In Media Magazine 8 has drawn attention to the need to consider the relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.The following are the key elemnts of a music video.
1. Lyrics
Lyrics tend to help establlish a general feeling, or mood, or sense of subject matter rather than offering a coherent meaning. key lines may play a part in the visuals associated with the song but very very very rarely will a music video simply illustrate the lyrics wholesale.
2.Music
A music video tens to make use of the tempo of the track to drive the editing and may emphasise particar sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments such as guitar, keyboard or drum solo.
3.Genre
while some music videos transcend genres others can be more easily categorised. some, but not all, music channels over a period of time, you will be able to identify a rage of distinct features which characterise the video of different genres. these features might be reflected in types of mise en scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.
4.Camerwork
As with any moving image text, how the camera is used and how images are seguenced has a significant impact on the meaning. camera movement, angle and shot distance all need to be analysed. Camera movement may accompany movement of performers (walking, dancing ect) but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performance, for instance, by constantly ciircling the band as they perform on stage.
5.Editing
Although the most common form of editing associated witht the music promo is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple vewing, some videos use slow pace and gentler shot transitions to establish mood. This is partucularly apparent in promos for many felmale solo artists with a broad audience appeal, Such as Dido. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the orignal images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience. This might take the form of split-screen, colourisation and, of course, the use of blockbuster film-style CGI special effects.
6.Intertextuality
This music video is often described as a 'post-modern' form, a slippery term which is sometimes used to mean intertextuality, on of the post modernism's more easily identifiable features. Broadly, if we see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in oder to spark recognition in the audience, we have a working definition of intertextuality. Not all audiences will necessarily spot a reference and this need not significantly detract by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. Arguably, it also increases the audience's engagement with, and attentiveness to product, an important facility in a culture where so many images and narratives complete for out attention.
7. Narrative and Performance
Narrative in songs, as in poetry, is rarely complete and often fragmentary. the same is true of music promos, which tend to suggest story-lines or offer complex fragments in non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again.
The Video allows the audience more varied access to the performer than a stage performance can. the close-up, allowing eye contact and close observation or facial gestures, and role play, within a narrative framework, present the artist in a number or ways not possible in a live concert.
Music videos
The first Music video was created in the 1960's by The Beetles and was first shown on MTV. In the 1980's the music video industry came into their own created new and original videos. Today in 2010 music videos are produced to promote an artists music. Depending on the artist the music videos will change to fit the genre, for example a pop song would be a performance based video including dancing, singing and glamorous male and female artists shown at their best. Narrative music videos stick to a story line which is played through out the video with links back to the artist.
Label
Paolo Nutini was scouted by Atlantic records at the age of 19. Atlantic records quoted
"Born and raised in Paisley, Scotland, Paolo Nutini, is a 19-year-old singer/songwriter who has been blessed with a soulful, passionate voice and the natural gift of being able to tell a story in a song. Nutini has absorbed the soul of the great American R&B singers and channeled it into something original, captivating, and dynamic."
Paolo's first Atlantic release, an EP entitled "LIVE SESSIONS," is an intimate introduction to this compelling new artist via performances captured at a series of small venues in London. Songs such as the bittersweet "Jenny Don't Be Hasty" and the anthemic "These Streets" reveal Nutini to be an artist who knows an awful lot about the vicissitudes of life and love, with a unique gift for expressing the attitudes and experiences of someone both of his age and well beyond it.
Genres
There are hundreds of different genres, a genres is where a band or singer is categorized due to the interments and style of their music. for example Nivina would fall into heavy metal, where as Bob Dylan's music would fall into a hybrid category, where he plays within in different genres such as folk, jazz, swing and rock. The artist i have chosen to use for my music video was inspired by Bob Dylan's music, a folk feel with a modern twist.
Paolo Nutini falls into the different genres of pop rock, folk and blue eyed soul.Pop rock: Pop rock: is a mix of pop music and rock music utilizing a catchy pop style with light lyrics, and typically guitar-based songs.
Folk: The term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. Since the middle of the 20th century the term has also been used to describe a kind of popular music that is based on traditional music. Subgenres include folk rock,electric folk, folk metal and progressive folk music.
Blue eyed soul: is rhythm and blues or soul music performed by white artists. The term continued to be used in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly by the British music press, to describe a new generation of white singers who adopted elements of classic soul music.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Finding a new song
After the difficulty of finding the lyrics for ‘The man’s machine’ by Jamie T, we decided to change our song, along with a whole new genre. After looking around for potential songs we came across Paolo Nutini’s song ‘Alloway groove’. The song is an relaxing, happy and upbeat song which jumped out to us. We decided this is the perfect song for us to create a music video to.
How we started
We started off basing our project around the genre 'indie rock' which we thought would be enjoyable and fun to create a music video to. We searched for possible songs for a while but in the end we lead towards the song 'The Man's Machine' by Jamie T. The song fitted in well with the genre we were looking for. However after we found little research about the artist and the lyrics had not been posted due to the album being released early it was hard for us to make any progress at all. So we had to reassess our ideas.
We also found it hard to identify the main forms and conventions of the genre 'indie rock'. The main forms and conventions of indie rock were originated in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1980s. The term is often used to describe the means of production and distribution of independent underground music. Many indie rock groups consist of an electric guitarist, lead singer, bass guitarist , and a drummer, forming a quadrate.
On researching further, we discovered that Jamie T’s videos consisted of all of the conventions. When looking at the video we found he has very rustic and unusual images, which encourages people to think about the meaning behind the song. A lot of the time Jamie T’s videos are surreal and do not clearly link or represent the lyrics. The postmodern element of ambiguity is reflected here. His videos therefore represent a visual spectacle and engage his audience on this level. They intrigue and provide humour for the audience, therefore his audience await new videos with interest.
We also found it hard to identify the main forms and conventions of the genre 'indie rock'. The main forms and conventions of indie rock were originated in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1980s. The term is often used to describe the means of production and distribution of independent underground music. Many indie rock groups consist of an electric guitarist, lead singer, bass guitarist , and a drummer, forming a quadrate.
On researching further, we discovered that Jamie T’s videos consisted of all of the conventions. When looking at the video we found he has very rustic and unusual images, which encourages people to think about the meaning behind the song. A lot of the time Jamie T’s videos are surreal and do not clearly link or represent the lyrics. The postmodern element of ambiguity is reflected here. His videos therefore represent a visual spectacle and engage his audience on this level. They intrigue and provide humour for the audience, therefore his audience await new videos with interest.
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