Narrative theory and structure...

NARRATIVE... is the coherence and organisation given to a series of facts. The human mind needs narrative to make sense of things as we connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end. We understand and construct meaning using our experience of reality and of previous texts. Each text becomes part of the previous and the next through its relationship with the audience.

Narrative Conventions
When unpacking a narrative in order to find its meaning, there are a series of codes and conventions that need to be considered. When we look at a narrative we examine the conventions of :

•Genre
•Character
•Form
•Time

Comprehending Time
Very few screen stories take place in real time, for example,whole lives can be dealt within the 90 minutes of a feature film. There are many conventions to denote time passing, other devices to manipulate time include

•flashbacks
•dream sequences
•repetition
•different characters' POV
•flash forwards
•real time interludes
•pre-figuring of events that have not yet taken place

JoJo...Too little too late


Above, is a music video with a performance and narrative. The narrative contains flashbacks so the narrative is told in a non-linear way as it is not told in chronological order. There are flashbacks of the couple at the cinema, the protagonist watching her boyfriend play football as she is reflecting on their relationship. The events that have taken place are fragmented with performance shots inserted in between.

Kesha...Tik Tok


However, Kesha's song has a linear narrative as the events are told in chronological order. She starts the day waking up in a bath, and goes out into town and ends the day with a party at night before going back to where she initially started off in the morning in the bath. This also shows repetition as the beginning and ending have the same location.


Barthes´ Codes
Roland Barthes holds the theory of the signifier and the signified. This applies to music videos as we can start by looking at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, bringing to bear one set of previous experiences, and create one meaning for that text. You can continue by looking at the narrative from a different angle, and creating an entirely different meaning.

Barthes also decided that the different angles we percieve things and the way we unravel meanings are called narrative codes and that they could be categorised in the following five ways:

Narrative Structures
There are many ways of breaking down narrative structure. You may hear a movie described as a "classic Hollywood narrative", meaning it has three acts. News stories have their own structure. A lot of work has been done by literary theorists to develop ways of deconstructing a narrative.

•Tvzetan Todorov - suggests narrative is simply equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium
•Vladimir Propp - characters and actions
•Claude Levi-Strauss - constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.

Day One...

On 8th December, we hired out the photography studio in our school to film the studio performance shots for our musis video. We used a white backdrop so that it appeared like a professional studio and filmed many different shots.

We filmed high angle shots, mid shots, long shots and close ups of Elle lip synching to the song. She also had several costume changes each reflecting the pop genre in girly clothing. We used the photography lights for extra lighting to add brightness to the shot and also actually included them in the shot as mise en scene for a studio.

We filmed Elle sitting on a stool lip synching, singing into a microphone from above, laying on the floor from an aeriel shot and many close ups.

We filmed footage from the flip camera and edited the best shots and added some funny shots too to the short clip below...

CD Digipacks research...

Ellie Goulding. This cd cover has been composed so that the artist is the main focus of the image. There is a mid shot of her which takes up most of the cd cover and she has natural hair and make up portraying her as innocent which reflects the pop genre. The background is of a night sky with stars around the artist and on her outfit as it reflects the name of the song, 'starry eyed' so the design of the single cd cover has relevance to the actual song meaning and words.

Kesha. This cd cover also has a mid shot of the artist but whereas Ellie Goulding was centered, Kesha is positioned to the right( rule of thirds). The cd cover has an animated effect so it appears cartoon like with neon colours which reflects the conventions of a pop genre. The text is written in gold to stand out with a glittery effect to appear girly and she has substituted the letter S with a dollar sign $ so it adds an urban outlook. The heart sign substitutes the letter O for the word love so again the design is relevant to the song name.

Lily Allen. The artist takes up most of the cd cover with a long shot and she is centralised so that she stands out. An audience will also be able to immediately tell that it is her album as she is on the cover herself.This is the single cover for her song 'London town' and in the background the mise en scene reflects the song title. There is a double decker red bus and Big Ben which are found in London so the song title has been depicted on the design of the cd cover.

Overall, from my research into digipacks in the pop genre, I found that most have the artist on them and have animations which illustrate the song title, so I will be taking these into account when designing my own digipack.

Practice filming for the 'Studio scene'...

Another practice filming session during a media lesson...

We went to film again but stayed indoors this time and decided to film the scenes in the studio which is a performance style.We went to our school gym as we wanted a plain white wall as it is similar to a white backdrop which we will use when we film our final music video.




We took our research from 'The rule of thirds' into consideration and applied our newly formed knowledge when we filmed these scenes. We played our song in the background when filming and when editing we took parts from our footage so we lip synched random parts which is what we will do in our real music video to break up the narrative.

Rule Of Thirds...

Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect.

As well as using the intersections you can arrange areas into bands occupying a third or place things along the imaginary lines.Good places to put things; third of the way up or third of the way in from the left. It is not advised to place things; right in the middle, right at the top, right at the bottom, away in the corner.




Using the Rule of Thirds helps produce nicely balanced easy on the eye pictures. Also, as you have to position things relative to the edges of the frame it helps get rid of ' tiny subject surrounded by vast empty space' syndrome.


The Rule of Thirds is fairly structured but there are a great many methods you can employ which rely on your ability to 'see' things and incorporate them into your composition.

Practice Filming...

Yesterday, during our media lesson me and my group decided to venture out and start filming. Our locations were local as we stayed around school but varied as we had some shots by the lakes, fences and houses.

Later on, Sophie and Elle uploaded the footage we filmed and edited it to fit the footage in time with the music so the lip synch corresponded with the song playing. They used a black and white effect and adjusted the contrasts so the white and black were more prominent.

We used different camera shots and angles from canted angle to handheld shots.The video was strictly perfomance as it was just a practice to give us an insight into the lip synching and so forth.

I enjoyed the filming part and I think Elle and Sophie did an amazing job with the editing

Questionnaire...

When constructing a music video, it is essential to ensure that the producers, in this case me and my group that we attract and appeal to a certain audience. So we created a questionnaire consisting of open and closed questions to gain feedback from a range of people so we know how to conform to their likes and expectations of a music video

Questionnaire

1.How old are you?
12 – 16 []
17 – 19 []
20 + []

2.Gender?
Male []
Female []

3.Do you prefer a music video which is…
Funny []
Serious []

4.Do you prefer abstract videos or ones that go with the lyrics?
Abstract []
Goes with lyrics []

5.Do you prefer music videos that include special effects/animations etc?
Yes []
No []
Why? _______________________________________________________

6.What aspects of a music video make it more interesting for you to watch? ____________________________________________________________

7.Do you prefer…
Calm/slow music videos []
Lively/fast music videos []

8.Do you like to see dance routines?
Yes []
No []

9.What’s your favourite music video? _____________________________
Why?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10.What’s your least favourite music video? ________________________
Why?_____________________________________________________________________
11.What charts do you go by? (radio 1, kiss 100, UK top 40)?_________________________________

12.Do you prefer to watch narrative or performance video’s? Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Conventions of a music video...

Lyrics:

• Tend to help establish a general mood/feeling/sense of subject matter, rather than coherant meaning.



• Key lines may play a part in the associated visuals but very rarely will a music video simply wholly illustrate the lyrics.

Music:

• Make use of the tempo of the track to drive editing



• Emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments-e.g guitar/keyboard

Genre:

• Some music videos do transcend genre while others can be categorised



• Some music channels focus on a particular genre

Camera Work:

• How the camera is used and sequenced and the significant impact it has on meaning



• Camera movement' angles, shot distance..



• Camera movements may accompany the movement of performers



• Close ups create intimacy with audience-close ups purpose to sell the star and dominates the video

Editing:

• Most common is a fast cut montage



• Meaning is ambiguous at first viewing images could be unclear to encourage multiple viewings



• Use some images, but add digital effects to offer audience different satisfaction-e.g. split screens.

Moving Storyboard...

Storyboarding is a very important element in research and planning for our music video, so for ours we decided to be creative and different.

We decided to cut up little pieces of paper and use these as a shot. We drew our shot and wrote the shot type, the lyrics which will be corresponding with this shot and what will be happening.

We then played our chosen song in the background and filmed the storyboard along with the music and in time as it would appear when we start filming for our real music video so the lyrics corresponds with the storyboard.

We found this was a really effective way to storyboard as we realised some shots would have to be extended to ensure it fits in with the song which was managed to do.

Lip Sync..

Soonish, we will be allocated our group cameras and equipment to start filming ! So, in preparation for this we need to practice certain elements, one being 'lip syncing' and from our research on lip syncing we took all this into account and decided to put our theory into practice. Elle and Sophie created a megamix of different songs from different genres and lip synced to them...




Personally, I love this as they were in time with the music and they took into account the idea of exaggerating lyrics to make it appear more authentic. I think they did a great job and can't wait to experience this when it comes to the real filming for our music video...

Voyeurism...

A voyeur may observe others without them being aware of it by a number of strategies:

• The voyeur may observe the subject from a distance, or use stealth to observe the subject with the use of peep-holes, two-way mirrors, hidden cameras, secret photography and other devices and strategies.
  
• Secret photography may involve the use of normal cameras, but with the photographer being concealed. Sometimes the camera itself is disguised or concealed. The use of telephoto lens enables the distance from the subject to provide concealment.
  

Lip Sync Research...

Lip syncing is a very important element in the production of music videos so before we actually film for our music video we undertook some research and from this we will do some practical lip sync practice which will follow shortly...

• Elle in our group will be 'Pixie Lott' for our music video so she will need to learn the lyrics
  
  
• We need to pay particular attention to pronounciation of the words in the lyrics.



• We found that it works better to mouth what the word sounds like coming out of Pixie's mouth rather than the exact word written in the lyrics as it will correspond better.



• When we go out filming we need to play the song when Elle is singing and then edit it on the Macs in post production and use and uploaded version.



• We need to practice with the tempo so that Elle can keep in time and keep up with the speed with the singing and the beats



• We shouldn't lip synch throughtout the whole of our video but we should edit the best parts and use them.

Induction Day

Unfortunately, on Tuesday 9th November the trip to 'Rich Mix production studios' coincided with my Induction day at Asiana magazine for my work placement. After trying my best to attend both, I had to miss the trip as the induction over ran and I was unable to fit both in.

However, I did enjoy the induction and to my delight my placement has been brought forward to week commencing the 15th November for the duration of 1 week.

I was introduced to the world of the 'magazine industry' , given a tour around the building in Tower Hill, and a talk from the Features Editor.

I was given information on the different departments within the magazine including

• Editorial-which consists of a lot of research and interviews with artists and actors etc.
• Fashion-where I will be assisting fashion photography shoots and inputting.
• Sales-which involves answering phone calls and dealing with companies
• Production-comes towards the end of the production of an issue and is where the whole issue comes together and in which order etc
• Digital-which involves promoting the new formation of 'Asiana TV' with an element of marketing.

We were told to be prepared to say which department we would most likely to work in and where we feel we will benefit from the most. Personally, I would like to work in all departments but I think I would benefit most from working in Editorial as this is involved what I would like to pursue as a career.

This is a link to the Asiana website >>> http://www.asiana.tv/

Not many changes...

Changing our song may seem like a lenghty process we are taking on, but infact we are keeping most of our ideas the same and just applying it to a different song with a different protagonist. The initial ideas on our mind map still apply just with Pixie Lott, a female being the protagonist instead of Example.We will still incorporate the flashbacks on the park bench etc but with Pixie Lott being the artist as we are using her song.

My mood board still applies as it is 'ElectroPop' and although this particular song does not conform to the conventions of the ElectroPop genre, Pixie Lott as an artist overall fits in with the ElectroPop genre as most of her songs are upbeat and fast in tempo.

However, the things we do need to change are our 'band brand name' as IdEst is not an inspiration from Pixie Lott but from Example. Also, we need to change our 'Treatment' slightly in terms of the background information, the illustrations according to the lyrics and the costumes slightly but the locations and initial ideas still apply.

Chosen song&Lyrics&Initial ideas

Our new song choice is Pixie Lott - Broken Arrow. We feel as if this would be a better song as the singer is female and we thought of much more ideas for this to avoid the weather.




Our initial idea for the song is to have our female character in a recording studio with a microphone and headphones for her to sing this song as shes broken up with her boyfriend. The concept will be the same as our old song, with the home video and with the polaroid pictures. These will all be her flashbacks of the good time as she's singing the song, as if we're getting into her mind and will be edited in black and white.

We also thought we would take influence from the song Kate Nash - Foundations, and for the chorus "Like a Broken Arrow" we will use a stop-motion effect of an arrow breaking. Also from the film 500 days of summer, when he looks back on their relationship he can realise where their relationship started to break down. We would like to use this as it shows the weak parts of her relationship and where they started to go wrong. These are all examples of intertextuality.

Song Lyrics

What do you do when you're stuck,
Because the one that you love,
Has pushed you away,
And you can't deal with the pain,
And now you're trying to fix me,
Mend what he did,
I'll find the piece that i'm missing,
But I still miss him,
I miss him, i'm missing him,
Oh I miss him, I miss him i'm missng him

And you're sitting in the front row,
Wana be first in line,
Sitting by my window,
Giving me all your time,
You could be my hero,
If only I could let go,
But his love has still hit me,
Like a broken arrow.
Like a broken arrow.

He's the thorn in my flesh
That I can't take out
He's stealing my breath
When you're around,
And now you're trying to convince me,
He wasn't worth it,
But you can't complete me,
It's the thought that he's missing,
I miss him, I'm missing him,
Oh I miss him I miss him, i'm missing him,

And you're standing in the front row,
Wana be first in line,
Sitting by my window,
Giving me all your time,
You could be my hero,
If only I could let go,
But his love has still hit me,
Live a broken arrow,
Like a broken arrow.

What do you do
When your hearts in two places?
You feel great but you're torn inside.
You feel love but you just can't embrace it,
When you found the right one at the wrong time.

And you're
Standing in the front row,
Wanna be first in line,
Sitting by my window,
Giving me all your time,
You could be my hero,
If only I could let go,
But his love still hit me,
Like a broken arrow.
Like a broken arrow...

Media Trip

On Tuesday 9th, my media class went to Bethnal Green for a 'Rich Mix Productions' studio where they were introduced to the history and production of music videos. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this exciting trip as I went for an induction day at for my magazine placement.

I was very dissapointed that I had to miss this, but after talking with my group they talked me through most of the information and what happened during the trip so I felt as though I knew some of what had happened. They also made a fun short video of their trip to the studio so I felt as though I didn't miss much and was there myself ..!


My group felt that this was very influential and after talking to me abut the trip and what they had learnt,it made us decide that we needed a change of song. We felt seeing as our song was by Example, we would need a male character singing. We felt that this would be too much pressure on our male friend, and that if he felt embarrased or shy infront of us to lip synch then it wouldn't come out how we would want it to and we would not be able to achieve a successful music video.

Also as the song was called "Watch the sun come up" and we were filming at winter, when there's hardly any sun, or warmth, we thought that this was a bad decision. We therefore decided to change our song to a female artist called Pixie Lott and the song Broken Arrow. I will blog about it this further on...

Research on Questionnaires

We have decided to create a questionnaire about music videos so we can collect results and gain feedback to help us when constructing our own music video and so we can ensure that we are using the correct conventions for our audience. We found that the questionnaire needs to contain a combination of of Qualitative (opinions and open) and Quantitative (numbered or multiple choice) questions for an effective feedback.

Below are a few initial ideas for the questions I might use in my questionnaire:


-What’s your favourite genre?
-Where do you hear about the latest music? Radio Youtube
-What charts do you listen to and follow? Kiss Capital
-Do you prefer a narrative or performance video?
-Who are your audience? Classification-age gender occupation
-Where are they? How do they access music videos e.g. YouTube, MTV
-What are their expectations of a music video of your genre-what do they already know about your genre?
-What do they want? How should your product be similar/ different
-What should they want?
-How do you (the music producers) give them what they want so you can sell your product?

Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (stage performances & dance routines)

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (illustrative, amplifying, and contradicting)

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (illustrative, amplifying, and 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 notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intersexual reference (to films TV programmes and other music videos)

Research on 'Audience Theory'

Audience theory -

• An element of thinking that developed within the academic literary theory and cultural studies.
• Focussing specifically on rhetoric, some, such as Walter Ong, have suggested that the audience is a construct made up by the rhetoric and the rhetorical situation that the text is addressing.
• Others, for example Ruth Mitchell and Mary Taylor have said that writers and speakers can target their communication to address a real audience.
• Some others like Ede and Lunsford attempt to combine these two approaches and create situations where an audience is "fictionalized," as Ong would say, but in recognition of some real attributes of the actual audience.
  

Effects Model

The Hypodermic Needle Model - The intended message is directly recieved and wholly accepted by the reciever.

Two-step flow - The people with most access to media, and highest media literacy explain and diffuse the content to others and is a modern version of the hypodermic needle model.

Uses and gratifications -People are not helpless victims of mass media, but use the media to get specific gratifications.

Reception theory - The meaning of a "text" is not inherent within the text itself, but the audience must elicit meaning based on their individual cultural background and life experiences

Obstinate audience theory - This theory assumes that there is a transactional communication between the audience and the media and the audience actively selects what messages to pay attention to. The Zimmerman-Bauer study found that the audience also participates in the communication by influencing the message.

Hypodermic Syringe Effect - The hypodermic needle model (also known as the hypodermic-syringe model) is a model of communications also referred to as the "magic bullet" perspective, or the transmission-belt model. Essentially, this model holds that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in the 1930's behaviourism and is largely considered obsolete today.

Work Experience Placement

Over the half term, I have been in contact with leading fashion magazine company 'Asiana' Magazine in attempt to secure a work experience placement. As a media student, I am not only passionate about the practical aspect including films and music videos; but also the written aspect such as 'Magazine Journalism' which I wish to persue at university.

To my delight, I have been offered a one week placement from 29th November where I will be fortunate enough to be working for the company alongside the production team. Asiana is the main high-end glossy fashion magazine, which also has additonal magazines such as :

• Asiana Wedding









• Asian Woman

In terms of advertisement, Asiana present the 'Asiana Bridal Show' which I attended a few years ago and consists of a fashion catwalk and a wedding fair.

By undertaking this work experience placement, I will gain an insight into the Journalism field of work and the magazine industry which is the industry I hope to have a career in. Next week, I will be attending an induction day which I am looking forward to and will later blog once I've attended.

Mike Posner-Cooler than me

During the half term whilst browsing through the music channels, a song by a new artist 'Mike Posner' with his debut single 'Cooler than me' caught my eye. The music video is strictly a performance video with no specific narrative and I would say it fits in with the 'Electro Pop' genre with an element of rap which our chosen song also has so I felt as though as an audience and a media student I could relate to this song.

At the point of 2:06 seconds the artist puts on his 'shades' and keeps on taking them on and off and as he does this, the video has been edited so that the mise en scene changes each time he looks into the shades.

Later on in the video, someone in the video slaps the artist causing his shades to fly off his face and this zooms into the screen and the shades are used as a transition to take us into the next scene which shows how the shades are a continuous prop used as it is relevant to the lyrics; 'You got designer shades just to hide your face'.

These are a few of the techniques in the song which I took particular interest to and would like to add to our own music video once we reach the editing process.

Starting to Storyboard

Over the past 2 weeks, myself and my group have been storyboarding for our music video. In order to practice for our own one, we chose to storyboard the first minute of a Calvin Harris song. This gave us an insight into what it will be like when we come to storyboard our own one.
Storyboards include; illustrations of what the shot will look like and a description of the shot including the duration of the shot, the shot type and the props and costumes we will use.

From doing a couple of shots, we found this task quite difficult as it needed in depth explanations and a lot of thought and decisions were needed within the group. Although it was a lengthy process to begin with, we realised that in the long run when it actually comes down to shooting the storyboard will be very handy and is also some kind of planning piece.

We are currently in the process of storyboarding which will include scheduling several group meetings during the half term. So far, we are well into the process and will continue to meet to ensure we finish the task.

Performing our treatment

Treatment Research

What is a Treatment?

• An outline of a media production which is designed to give an overview of what the production might include based on a brief and presented to a client/Production team.

• Included written descriptions and images to demonstrate the intention of the production.

• It is used to 'sell' an idea to a client/Production team and is an integral aspect of the 'production process'.

Mood board for chosen genre

Above, I created a mood board on our chosen genre being 'ElectroPop'. I included images containing flourescent and neon colours as they are part of the conventions for our genre. I also incfluded images of the relevant make up and costume used in this genre.

I inserted some images of couples as in a typical 'pop' video the storyline is usually about the theme of 'love' and as we will be conforming to this I thought it would be relevant to add to the mood board.

Final Band Brand Decision

During Wednesday's lesson we decided that we needed to confirm a 'Band name' as soon as possible. So we narrowed our down to our favourite ones which we thought would suit our genre and song the best. We came up with

• Paragon-meaning a model of excellence and we liked the idea of the term not being self explanatory which will attract an audience.

• Idest-The reason behind this name is based on the original artists name Example. The justification for the artist name is from the idea of his initials being E.G which is equal to Example. We thought of the equivalent way for E.G which is I.E. I.E stands for Id Established and we simply abbreviated and merged them together to form our band brand.

Personally, I am satisfied with our band brand as I think it is linked with the original artists name so we took an idea and experimented with it and developed it into an idea of our own. It also quite catchy and leads an audience to want to know the reason behind the name as it is not a proper word. It also sounds quite masculine which reflects the male protagonist in the video.

Treatment Slideshow

Example – Watch The Sun Come Up

Ideas for our Band Brand

We decided to create our own Band Brand and have come up with a few ideas. We decided to base our name on our chosen artiist-Example. We researched that the reason behind this name is because the artist's initials spell E.G so which is why he chose the band brand example.

From this idea we thought of the equivalent-i.e, but struggled to think of a name linked to this abbreviation. So we used example as a base and thought of different words associated with it. We also used thesaurus online as an aid.

From all this there were hundreds of similar words and after discussing them we narrowed hundreds down to a few:

• Exposure



• Prototype



• Illustrate

Personally, I prefer Exposure as I feel as though it has connotations of a camera and reinforces the idea of our music video being a home video and using the idea of a flip book and it as though it is now being exposed. However, the rest of the group were not 100% on the idea and during the next few meetings we shall discuss this band name further and come to a decision in which we are all satisfied with.

Wordles

We created another wordle based on our audience feedback from our treament. We picked out the main words from their written feedback and the larger words were the ones that were mentioned the most. I am very pleased with the feedback from the audience as it is very positive and I hope that we can make our music video so that it turns out to reflect these words.

Wordles

We created a 'Wordle' using http://www.wordle.net/ of our 'brand image'. As our genre is electro pop, we thought of different words linked and associated with our genre for example, upbeat as the music is upbeat. Words associated with our genre are affection and love which links to our storyline. We also included words which our video will be portraying for example, memories and flashbacks. We chose this particular one as we liked the pinky colours and flowy writing as it makes it appear quite girly.

Mindmap and Initial ideas

Above is a mind map of our initial ideas.

Our initial idea is to start with the music video acting as a home video and it would start off with someome putting into a TV a VCR with on the white label, "Watch The Sun Come Up". We would then zoom into the TV as if the "film" is coming alive which is when the music video would start.

We also thought of another idea of calendars and that we would green screen the calendar and have different events happening in different months. Also, to portray the theme of TIME we want to include an analogue clock ticking and then we'll speed it up when we edit it to show time passing.

The main concept is a young couple watching their home video of their romantic events and to make it appear more like a home video we will film with a handheld camera so it appears more authentic. We will also act out certain lines for example; ' You and that red dress'-the girl will be wearing a red dress and several more.

Genres and Sub Genres

Genre is a critical tool that helps us study texts and audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements.

Daniel Chandler ( 2001) - The word genre comes from the French word for "kind" or "class". The term is widely used in literary theory and media theory to refer to a distinctive type of text.


Sub Genres

Barry Keith Grant (1995) - Within genres there are sub-genres which allows music to have the same basic elements, but different components. Genres are divided up into more specific categories that allow audiences to identify them specifically by their familiar and what become recognisable characteristics.

Steve Neale (1995) - "Genres are not systems, they are processes of systematization" i.e. they are dynamic and evolve over time.All genres will have similar mise-en-scene which helps us identify what genre the song is allocated to.

Jason Mittell (2001) - Genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within the industry, audience and cultural practices as well.

Industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Media producers use familiar codes and conventions of that genre to create a music video.

Song Lyrics

Hey, good morning
Hey, it's calling
Hey, good morning
Watch the sun come up
It's calling
I want another day with you

How can I explain it scratchin my brain
How can 10 hours feel like 10 years?
I cry 10 men's tears as it disappears
With the passionate atmosphere
Took your glove as a souvenir
Left the other on the pillow as I stroked your ear
One last breathe of your hair, stared for a second
Then the doorway beckoned
I'm a lover not a fighter
So I didn't fight the fact that I more than liked ya
Didn't matter we were under influence
Made sense this was more than lust
I don't own you, you don't own me
One night only, if only
I could take you back and just show you off
But I guess if I did that, the magic is lost

Pre chorus:
Believe me I wanna stay
But I'm off and away

Chorus:
Hey, Good Morning
Watch the sun come up
It's calling
I want another day with you

Verse 2:
You and that red dress - What a pairing
I kept staring, you couldn't have said less
Cant let my head rest, thinking about ya,
Really wanna look into your catwoman eyes
Turn back time, cause it flies by
You know, them Marty mcfly vibes
See, I can picture the bright lights
Sights and night skies and boats go by
I don't why it happened so fast
When I tried to speak your language I'm happy you laughed
Cause I'm hardly a linguist
Spoke through kisses you didn't speak English
And It was hard to distinguish
Love at first sight or holiday romance?
Don't care I was lost in the moment
I really shoulda missed that flight

Pre Chorus:
Believe me I wanna stay
But I'm going away
Chorus:
Hey, Good Morning
Watch the sun come up
It's calling
I want another day with you
Hey, Good Morning
Watch the sun come up
It's calling
I want just one more day with you

Middle 8:
I don't think I could be dreaming I felt your touch
No I remember you breathing when I woke up
Now all I have are these memories I can't trust
Just one day, wont be enough

Chorus:
Hey, Good Morning
Watch The Sun Come Up
It's calling
I want another day with you
Hey, Good Morning
Watch The Sun Come Up
It's calling
I want another day with you


There are many references to 'time' in the lyrics so we decided to insert the theme of time with clips of calendars and clocks to show this recurring theme.

Discarded songs

Katy B-On a mission: This songs fits in with the 'drum n bass' genre and as a group we didn't all agree on this being our chosen song. Although some of us were for it, others felt that the beat was too repetitive so therefore we discarded this option.

Eminem ft. Rihanna-Love the way you lie: This song was the one that had the most potential initially but after a while we began to find faults with it as we thought it would be too slow and the rapping parts would be difficult to lipsync to so we also discarded this option.

Swedish House Mafia-One: We even discussed the house/electro genre as we were looking for upbeat songs at one point. Again, some of us were for it but others were against it as they thought it would be difficult to create a narrative for it as the original video is purely performance.

Reason for song choice

Watch the sun come up-Example

Finally ! As a group we have all decided on our song that we will be creating a music video for. After discarding a few songs we settled for this one as we thought it had the most potential in terms of camera and editing techniques.

Deciding our Genre and Song

We are currently undecided about our genre and song choice at the moment as we have many different ideas and narrative ideas but we are finding it difficult to merge all our ideas together to suit a song that we all agree on as a group.

So, over the weekend we have decided to each research potential songs with narrative ideas and bring our ideas to Wednesday's media lesson so we can discuss as a group what we like/dislike about each one and hopefully finally decide on a song and a genre so that we can start planning our narrative in detail.

Song and Genre research continued

Marina and the diamonds-Oh no

Recently, I was just browsing through the music channels bearing in mind to look out for anything that could be a potential song for our music video I came across this song. It is completely different to my usual choice of song but it really appealed to me because of the animated aspects in the video.

We also realised that as it is completely a performance video there are several different clips and it is edited so that it goes back and forth to and from the different clips. Some of the lyrics have been animated and included in the video which is completely different to the other music videos i have researched, but I was thinking it would be difficult to create a narrative for this.

Song and Genre research continued

Katy on a mission-Katy B

This song fits in with the 'Drum n Bass' genre and is simply a performance video. I had a few ideas for a narrative come into mind from the lyrics, she sings about 'sip the bottle' and 'lose control' and 'this right here will end too soon'. I thought about having a narrative about an alcohol/drugs addiction as the lyrics would reflect this idea.

Song and Genre research continued

Recently, we took a liking to 'Love the way you lie' by Eminem and Rihanna which fits in with the ' Rap/ RnB' genre. We liked the way when Eminem raps and it is edited so that it looks as though Megan Fox is speaking in Eminem's words which I think we will be carrying forward and including in our music video.



The video has both a narrative and performance video-we thought of a potential narrative for this video being the idea of two different love stories and showing the happy times and sad times of the relationships which reflects the title of 'love the way you lie' as the relationship is broken because of the lies.

Song and Genre research

Above is 'Last ones standing' by Example and fits in with the ' Alternative/Pop' genre. The elements we like in this video are the quick paced editing techniques which fits in with the upbeat music and we would like to include something similar to this in our own music video.

The narrative for this video is that the artists are on the run from the police, but we thought that this was too similar to our AS film opening idea and so we are thinking of a hidden meaning for the narrative, something like a man who has been cheating on several different women and is running from them, but we are still currently undecided.

Representation of Lady Gaga in magazines

Favourite music video

Favourite Music Video-Lily Allen London Town

Difference between Narrative and Performance video

Performance Video

Narrative Video

Ke$ha

" longest running number one debut single by a female artist since 1977"


Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987),better known by her first name Kesha (stylized Ke$ha), is an American pop singer, rapper and songwriter. Her debut single, Tik Tok, released in late 2009, reached number one in eleven countries and set the weekly records for digital downloads of a female artist and total Top 40 Mainstream airplay in the US.By reaching the top in 2010, the song also became the first Billboard Hot 100 number one of the decade and the longest running number one debut single by a female artist since 1977.

At the age of eighteen, Kesha was signed to Dr. Luke's record label and publishing company. Although an active musician since 2005, singing background vocals and writing songs for other artists, her breakthrough only came in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single "Right Round". Before being brought to RCA Records, she had amassed an extensive social media following that was factored in for the promotion of her debut single and album.Her debut album, Animal, was released in early 2010 and debuted at number one in the US.Kesha will open for Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth tour later that year.






Above is one of Kesha's music videos called 'my first kiss' and from this video I noticed editing techniques that have inspired my ideas. For example, the way the clip of the lips change on the beat everytime a new word is said. E.g when they sing my-first-kiss there are 3 words so there are 3 diffferent types of lips.

There are also jerky camera shots which are used with a handheld camera which adds a contemporary feel to it and we would also like to achieve this look in our music video.

http://www.myspace.com/kesha

Kesha's myspace site allows her fans and the public to be updated on her latest wherabouts and songs. As well as her rise to fame and some background information.

Lady Gaga

"second most powerful musician in the world"

Lady Gaga (born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta; March 28, 1986) is an American recording artist. She began performing in the rock music scene of New York City's Lower East and she soon signed with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. During her early time at Interscope, she worked as a songwriter for fellow label artists and captured the attention of Akon, who recognized her vocal abilities, and got her signed to his own label, Kon Live Distribution.

Released on August 19, 2008, her debut album, The Fame, reached number one in the UK, Canada, Austria, Germany and Ireland, and reached the top-ten in numerous countries worldwide. Its first two singles, "Just Dance" and "Poker Face", co-written and co-produced with RedOne, became international number-one hits. The album later earned a total of six Grammy Award nominations and won awards for Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Dance Recording.

In early 2009 she embarked on her first headlining tour, The Fame Ball Tour. By the fourth quarter of the year, she had released her second studio album The Fame Monster, with the global chart-topping lead single "Bad Romance", as well as having embarked on her second headlining tour of the year, The Monster Ball Tour.

Lady Gaga is inspired by glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop musicians such as Madonna and Michael Jackson. She has also stated fashion is a source of inspiration for her songwriting and performances. By May 2010, Gaga had sold over 15 million albums and over 40 million singles worldwide.Time included Gaga in its annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In June 2010, Forbes listed Gaga fourth on its list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also ranked as the second most powerful musician in the world.

From this video, I identified that there is the use of parallel editing so that it appears to the audience that numerous events are taking place at the same time. Also, each time Lady Gaga sings the chorus she performs the same dance sequence for to show continuity and shows a performance styled video.

Further on, there are quick fade to black transitions and jump cuts to build suspense to the highest vocal part of the video. I particularly liked this technique as it also corresponded with the beat of the song.

http://www.ladygaga.com/

Lady Gaga has her own international website and UK website and both are used for posting information on her tours, her photos, songs and videos as well as a biography.

Calvin Harris

"Referred to as the king of electropop"

Calvin Harris born (Adam Richard Wiles) on 17 January 1984 and originated from Dumfries,Scotland.
Genres of music : Electropop, Electro house, Nu-Disco
Occupations: Singer-songwriter, record producer, musician
Years active: 2002–present
Labels: Sony Music, EMI Music Publishing

http://www.calvinharris.co.uk/

Calvin Harris is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer, DJ. Referred to as the King of electropop, his gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the Top 10 singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls". He has written and produced records for other recording artists including Kylie Minogue and his number 1 collaboration with British rapper Dizzee Rascal, "Dance Wiv Me".

His second studio album Ready for the Weekend was released on 17 August 2009 and reached number 1 in the UK Album Charts on 23 August. It contains the number 1 single "I'm Not Alone" the UK Top 5 Single "Ready for the Weekend", which was released on 10 August and the track "Flashback" which was released as the third single from the album on 2 November 2009. The fourth single from the album, "You Used to Hold Me" was released on 8 February 2010 as a CD single and download.

From this video I identified that at the beginning it has a narrative style but in the middle it is mostly dancing. Unlike 'Bad Romance' there is not a dance sequence and instead it appears to be a mixture if all types of dancing to reflect the Dance/Trance genre.

Also, unlike 'My first kiss' and 'Bad Romance' there is no miming along with the song. I took a particular interest in the way the choreography corresponded with the beats in the songs and this is extremely important when constructing a music video of our own.