Olivia, Molly and myself have chosen to work together to create our final music video. We decided to work together after having a chat in class about what type of music video we would like to do and we all have similar ideas on what we wanted our music videos to be like, none of us wanted to make a depressing music video for example. I think us three working together will be a good mix as we are friends with each other and therefore won't be afraid to speak our own opinions on the music video and nudge each other on the make sure work id done to a high quality by deadline. Also, we all have different expertise which will be useful together such as Molly is more confident in editing but Olivia is good at getting blog posts don, by putting our skills together we can get more done more quick and efficiently. Originally I planned to create a music video with two girls in another class , however I soon released the amount of discussing that will required to get the job done and due to this reason I felt it would be more practical to work with people who were in my class, as it meant there was more time to discussing things, work together, and we had more free periods together where we're able to do extra work and go out of school to get things done such as filming footage for our music video.
A narrative or story is any report of connected events, real or imaginary, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, and/or still or moving images. Narrative works in music videos to show a combination of the story and the plot, the narrative is the story of what happens and how. Linear narrative is the plot and story working in the same way, and non linear narrative does not run in any specific way using random techniques such as flashbacks to aid the story. Conventions of narratives in each of the following genres: Comedy - Can be slapstick / dark humour / wit. Often full of jokes, the narrative can feature somebody who is made fun of. Horror - Conventionally a horror features a storyline where something out of the ordinary occurs like a break in or a ghost in a house. Drama - A drama has a unique way of storytelling and can fall under many different styles like period drama / crime drama. Romance - An example of a typical romance narrative would be a couple falling in love then breaking up and getting back together again. Family - Often a cartoon, has a happy narrative as it must be suitable for all ages, an example is two animals meeting and going on lots of adventures together. Documentary - A documentary is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality so it could have a narrative featuring a zoo. Kids - Similar to family but often following a very simple narrative easier for young children specifically to understand. Narrative theories and how they fit with music videos... Todorov - Proposed that a narrative should have a beginning (a state of equilibrium), a middle (a disruption to the equilibrium) and an end (reinstating the equilibrium). This could fit with a music video with little 'band play' as in the short time of a song it would be difficult to show the stages especially with switching between band play and narrative. Propp - Argued that a successful narrative has 6 stages. 1 - Preparation (the scene is set) 2 - Complication (a problem / evil occurs) 3 - Transference (tries to get help) 4 - Struggle (a fight or difficulty of some sort) 5 - Return (the 'quest' is fulfilled) 6 - Recognition (hero rewarded, villain punished) I don't think this narrative theory would fit with a music video as there is simply too many stages. As much as there can be a story being told it isn't necessarily the same as a tv programme or film. Barthes - Suggested that media texts with a narrative were essentially forms of storytelling. He believed text was essentially a tangled ball of thread needing to be untangled and in this is the form of the storytelling, which could work in a music video. Levi Strauss - Observed that all narratives are based around conflicts between two oppositions, which could work in any music video or film. This theory is much more simple.
Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. These shots are used to create emphasis on the artist, locations and emotions. Close up shots can be used to reflect the lyrics of the song as well as emotions. With camera movement, the use of it is used to follow the movements of the band or solo performer and camera movements used include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots. Mise en scene with music videos refers to the arrangement of performers and props within a scene for the production of a music video. It puts importance on the representation of something, for example in the music video for Maroon 5 'One More Night' the contrast between his time spent with and without his partner is shown by skipping between the two kinds of scenes, displaying the breakdown of their marriage.
Conventions of different genres...
Pop - Pia Mia 'Do It Again'
Pop music videos usually have a very mainstream style, with the people shown dressed in fashionable and stylish outfits. The artists are often portrayed as happy and content and the song is usually linked with love and relationships which is often something relatable to young people like teenagers who are the target audience. Often there is a focus, which most commonly seems to be a woman expressed in a very sexual or seductive way, portraying a sexual atmosphere and often drawing in a different kind of audience. Hair and makeup is used to commutate the views and feelings of the artist and is something which seems to play a much more important role in the music videos from the pop genre more so than any others.
Rock - The Strokes - You Only Live Once
Rock music videos often have characters who are depicted as rebellious, going against mainstream society and fighting conformity stereotypically. This is often shown through confidence and stage presence. The main feature, something which is always particularly noticeable about a rock music video is the passion conveyed through the behaviour of the performer on stage. Rather than in a pop music video there would be more narrative, a rock music video tends to focus more on the actual performance of the band.
Hip Hop - R Kelly - Ignition
Hip hop music videos such as this one often use low angled close up shots, in order to imply the artists power over the audience. The low angle gives the status because it shows power over the audience and the close up highlights their status by showing that they are important enough to have a frame entirely for themselves. The narrative sometimes shows a crowd enjoying themselves like dancing to the beat of the music which gives credibility to the artist by showing that people enjoy the song. There are lots of references to the wealth of the artist through the use of mise en scene such as cars and money physically shown in them, also giving credibility and symbolising status. Men seem to have all of the power in hip hop music videos, women are seen as disposable items of lust and nothing more. Voyeurism is also used in these videos as the general target audience is seen as males and therefore women are portrayed in a very sexual manner to interest men and attract new fans.
We had an idea as to which brief we wanted to do before we started the research however after carrying out some research it has cemented our choice of choosing to do a music video.
The group I am working with is two girls; Olivia and Molly. We are all confident in producing our blogs and carrying out planning and research. We are also all confident in voicing our opinions and this has led to us coming up with different ideas and constantly adding bits to make the idea better. Olivia is especially good at creating original ideas and Molly is good at filming and making sure to include different angles and shots. I feel I am quite good at organising and adding detail into the ideas. However, the main area we will struggle is when it comes to editing the footage together as nobody is completely confident with this and therefore we will try hard to make our idea even better so it makes up for the lack of editing skill.
This year all of the groups ultimate aim is to improve on our piece of work we created last year as we feel we have learnt a lot of skills throughout the process and we think we have picked up understanding of what needs to be done in order to create a higher standard piece of work through listening to our audience feedback. We also aim to improve our editing skills this year as last year we all felt we all had a lot of help from other groups and our teachers. However we would like to keep the same the amount of effort that we put into our work and the level of detail we had in our blog posts.
This student made music video uses a mixture of both lip syncing and a linear narrative, there is an equal amount of both. This music video is one that stood out throughout our research. The main character is a young girl and she is a strong focus for the media product and this allows us to engage with the video and therefore allowing the emotional aspect of the video to come through. There is no dialogue at all throughout the video and I believe that it isn't needed in this video as it would distract from the emotional connection you get with the video. There are also no credits, which I also believe is a suitable choice. There are multiple locations, three, used between the live performance and the narrative but they all have a link to nature and isolation.
Wake Up A2 Media Video
Unlike the first music video this media product doesn't include any lip syncing whatsoever but it contains a linear narrative throughout. There are also credits in this music video and they fit in very well at the start of the music video with the modern design and tempo. Another interesting and very good aspect of this music video is that there is only one character used throughout. There is a lot of point of view shots in this video which allow us to feel as if we are going through the same experiences as the character, however these are well complemented by different camera angles and shots to show the skill of the producer/director. There is no dialogue which is quite common within music videos. There are many different locations used throughout two different countries which I haven't seen in any other music video.
See You Again Media Video
The majority of the music video is lip synced and this is presented through narrative and live performance. There are two main characters in this video and the focus of the video is on them throughout. The narrative allows us to feel a connection with the music video and the live performance seems to be included to control the tempo and represent the sadder side of the song and that is why it is presented in black and white. There are no credits or dialogue in the video which seems appropriate. A number of locations are used throughout but the two more prominent ones are a school setting and the woods.
