genre analysis

Media from georgiaroyle

Audience: Symbolic Codes

Audience Conventions

One convention of my music video is performance. This still is from Tori Kelly's All In My Head music video. The audience can then decode that this genre is more about the music instead of other musical artists like Nicki Minaj being seen as a sexual object and all about the image. They also can decode that she's a girl next door type of girl and that she as an average everyday girl playing her guitar doing what she loves. I feel that we should use the performance scenes in our music video as it will show the audience that its all about the pure talent and the music rather than the image that they want to be portrayed as. This shows that she isn't selling herself and more selling the music.

Another convention of my music video genre is narrative, most artist within the genre us a narrative which has a love story in it. This still is from Taylor Swift's Love Story video. The audience will decode this as two young people falling in love and that love is very important and essential. I feel that we could use narrative of a love story in our music video but would find it very sterotypical for out genre. I think that a more meaningful narrative would work better with our genre.

Another convention of is characters, from Taylor Swifts We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together music video it shows that there is a male and a female characters. With Indie Pop songs the music videos are very similar as they normally have so sort of narrative. The audience will decode this as a love story and understand what the music video is about.

Audience: Symbolic Codes

In this still of Taylor Swift, her hair is very natural and just loosely tied up. Her makeup is very natural looking as she only has a little bit of mascara and lip gloss on.
The things that the audience would decode from this is that Taylor is very naturalistic and pure, which the audience can tell from the M-E-S, through the see of her hair and makeup. This also shows Taylor to be like ' The girl next door' which is very simple in the way she looks, in comparison to artists like Lady Gaga, who is very outgoing in the way she acts and how she look, so she is not trying to sell herself to the audience in a provocative way but selling her music. 

In this still of Ellie Golding, again her hair is very natural as it is blowing in the wind and her makeup is also very natural looking. The colors in this still her as well all natural colors with the lighting being a natural lighting used to light up her face and darken the location, focusing on her rather than the location, however the location fits in with the genre of the music video and the artist as it is in a field so again this is a very natural setting to use, which matches her hair and makeup.The audience would decode from this a very similar way to how the previous image of Taylor Swift would be perceived which is a very natural looking girl rather than a out going artist like Girls Aloud.

Editing genre stills

The genre of these stills are rock. The genre is being shown through cinematography by the use of the over the shoulder medium shot, as the focus is on the drum kit and what the artist is wearing (A leather jacket) to emphasize that the genre is rock. Rock is shown through M-E-S through costume, so the leather jacket that the artist is wearing as common clothing in a rock band is leather jackets. The editing shows that the genre is rock as we have desaturated that original picture (top picture) making the still look more like a rock genre than a narrative.

The theory that these stills contradict is Laura Mulvey and the representation of females, as the still is of a female playing the drums and the emphasis is on the drum kit and not on the female so the female is not being represented as anything, however you could say that this supports Laura Mulvey as an important aspect of the still is her jacket, so this is a way that you could say that this still supports the Laura Mulvey theory.

The thing that is effective about the edited still is that it brings the still to life in terms of making it look more like you are in a rock band and the artist is performing as commonly rock bands have low key lighting as so by editing the still we made this happen. The thing that is not effective in the still is that as the drum kit and the leather jacket is black, it looks a bit boring and not very exciting which is not what rock genres are they are loud and in your face, which i found the picture is not, so we could improve this by maybe have a more colorful drum kit, enhancing this and making the drum kt stand out more, making this the main focus, showing more that it is in the rock genre.

I would not use this type of representation in our music video as our song is not in the rock genre, it is in the pop/ indie genre and is a slow song, so this would not fit with what we wanted to show in the music video, however if i song was a lot more up beat and loud, i would use this representation as it would fit a lot better and would make the genre stand out to the audience.

Real Media Comparison - Hollie

PERFORMANCE STILL

A girl playing the piano is similar to Bruno Mars in his When I Was Your Man music video. The similarities of the stills are that both the characters playing the instrument are very concentrated and focused. Differences between the two photos is that our still is more focused on the girls hands and playing the piano. We created this feel as we used a high angle shot looking down on the piano and the hands on the keys, whereas the still from the Bruno Mars music video was more focused on the piano itself and the performance rather than the actual playing of the instrument as we cant actually see if he is play or pretending. This is portrayed by a long shot where also establishes the location ad setting.

For our still, if i did it again i would improve it by adding a shot of the characters face as this would add more emotion and more meaning to the lyrics. We could of also used a different camera angle to show more of the mise-en-scene and the location as this would give the audience a feel of where the character is and the mood of the video.
In the still from the Bruno Mars music video i feel that they should add a shot of his hands actually playing, this would give a real feel of performance and show his talent to the audience.
I think that both the stills reflect the genre of the music video as both shows an aspect of performance and obviously shows the characters playing an instrument. As well as in the Bruno Mars music video it is evident that the character is sing as well.

NARRATIVE STILL

Our still of a girl driving her car is very similar to a scene in the music video 'See you Again' by Charlie Puth and Wiz Kalifa. The similarities are that they are both driving and expressing some emotion whilst driving. I can tell that emotion is being shown as they are both looking out into the distance rather than the road in front. However our still is very different as it is a different angle, as out still is a high angle looking down into the characters car. i feel like our still focused more on the fact she was driving, whereas in the See You Again music video the focus is on the character in the cars emotion as it is a medium shot and you can clearly see his expression.

I think that we could improve our still my making the main focus the emotion that the character is portraying, to demonstrate this i would use a close up of the characters face and show more of her face but still make it obvious that show is driving as it adds to the narrative.
I feel that the real media still could be improved by the maybe adding another shot of an extreme close up of the characters face to reassure the audience of the emotion he is feeling and wants to portray.
The stills reflect the genre of narrative as both stills are telling a story, as the character is obviously going some where and it has a meaning. However, i feel that we could make it more obvious that she is driving and why to make it clear to the audience what is happening.

IMAGE STILL

This still is of two girls doing there hair and make up in a toilet mirror, this is similar to the still from Little Mix 'Love me Like You" music video. They are similar as in both stills, the girls are applying make up or fixing their hair and alter their appearance. However, i feel that the real media still from Little Mix music video is focused of the four of them whereas we were trying to focus on the reflection from the mirror and that girls feel like they have to alter their bodies and appearance. i still feel this message is portrayed through the photo but in a different way and use of the lyrics. The real media example is a long shot to show what the characters are wearing and i feel that the director is creating an image here of the female characters whereas our still is still creating an image but more of trying to be perfect and not already being perfect with their costumes.

We could improve our still by applying the genre to the still and representing the indie rock genre more with the use of costume and props. If i completed this task again i would probably change the angle of the camera and have a close up of one of the girls, as i feel this would create more of an image of the character and the facial expressions this would also create an image of the characters feels towards putting up make up and her look.
The real media example from Little Mix music video could be improved by adding a close up of all their faces or a over the shoulder shot of what they are looking at in the mirror. Thus would create more of an image of their individual characters as they will represent their flaws and present more of their image that the director is trying to illustrate.
The stills reflect the genre of the music video as they both create an image of the characters insecure as they are checking their appearance and altering themselves to fit in with society or impress.

Music Video Genres

Blumler & Katz Theory

Blumler & Katz Theory is called uses and gratifications, which asks the question of why do people consume media? They found that the four most common things that the audience uses for the media are:
Information
Personal Identity
Entertainment
Integration and social interaction

We will use the Blumler & Katz Theory in our music video for entertainment for the audience as people are going to be watching the music video whilst listening to the music. We could also say that they are going to use it for integration and social interaction because we are trying to give a message to the audience and we are trying to fit in with society, instead of differentiating from society.  

Record Labels - Hollie

Record Labels
A record label is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos.There are 4 major record labels, Warner Music Group, Emi, Sony Music and Universal Music Group.

Warner Music Group are American owned
American major global record company headquartered in New York City. The largest American-owned music conglomerate worldwide, it is one of the 'big three’ recording companies (the third largest in the global music industry). The company operates some of the largest and most successful recording labels in the world, including its flagship labels Warner Bros. Records, Parlophone records and Atlantic Records. They have signed artists like B.o.B, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran. 

Emi is mainly a British company British multinational music recording and publishing company, and electronics device and systems manufacturing company, headquartered in London, England.which have signed artists like Elvis and The Beatles. 

Sony Music is an American company which have signed artists like Carrie Underwood, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston.

Universal Music Groups is an American worldwide music corporation that operates as a subsidiary of Paris-French media conglomerate. Universal music claim to be the largest music corporation in the world. It is an American company that signs artist like ABBA, Lorde and The Weeknd. 




I think that research record labels I feel that the best record label for our song/artist is Capitol Records as I believe the genre of the song is indie rock and the record label takes various genres as well as indie rock artist.

Case Studies of Iconic Directors

Case studies of iconic Directors

Green Screening Analysis - hollie

What was easy about green screening?
I found that the easiest part of green screening was transferring the photos onto the green screen and making sure they were in the right position. This makes it much easier to be able to crop the photo if needed and correctly.

What are the difficulties/pitfalls of green screening?
The hardest thing about green screening was making sure that all the small green bits around the artist was all clear. To prevent this from happening we had to fiddle with all the contrast and the lama to find the perfect balance. The second thing i found difficult is making sure that whilst taking the photo the lighting is suitable for the background that i would be replacing the green screen with.

How could green screening be used in music videos?
To portray an image or background that will help create and develop the genre of the music video but making the locations of the music video exactly what the artist and label company want. This is more cost effective making it look great and very beneficial.

What music genres could use green screens? How?
I think my still using a green screen could of come out of a music video with an image genre. i think this because the still has a girl in a hoodie looking over her shoulder surrounded in graffiti, this creates an image to the audience of a very stereotypical gangster.

How could you use it for your music video?
We could just green screening in our music video to portray an image that we couldn't create within a school. This widens our choices of what locations we can use and this will make the music video so much better and effective.

Lastly something that i would improve in this green screen still, is that the lighting of the character is very different to the lightening in the photo that replaced the green screen. So next time i would alter the lighting when we filmed to fit the location/background of the still.



After trailing a range of different shot ideas, we have decided to use green screening in a small section of the music video. We have decided to use this is the scene where two people hold hands, we used to green screen to make the background completely black. We have used it to focus on the people holding hands more than the background as well as fitting in with the genre of our music video. This will be a symbolic and will show the audience the importance of the holding hands as well as linking to the lyrics of the song. This will be effective because it will really concentrate on the hands and not the background.

Green Screen Analysis

What was easy about green screening?
The thing that was easy about green screening was lining up the green screen pictures, and the background picture as we could easily crop it and move the pictures around to make sure it was all in the correct please.


What are the difficulties of green screening? The thing that was difficult about green screening was eliminating all of the green around the pictures, as it was particularly difficult to get the really fine parts of green that were around the pictures. Another thing that was difficult about green screening was making sure that the picture looked like it was in the green screen picture and that it was not an obvious green screen picture.

How could green screening be used in music videos? Green screening could be used in music videos to portray a certain image that is difficult to perform in the real world, for example on the road, it could be dangerous to film and drive at the same time so they would sit in a car and put the image on the green screen of a road to make it look realistic and as if they are driving, just to make the filming process safer.


What music video genres could use green screens? How?
The music video genres that could use green screen could be spectacle. This is because this music video genre is a video which relies on clever imagery, which the green screen could help to do this.


How could you use it for your music video?
We could use it for our media video to portray an image that would be hard to shoot and in a specific location that we could not get too, to make the music video more effective.

Summer Assignment

Annotated Representation

Berger-Ways of seeing: What the audience would see is a boy staring at the camera, as this is what the cameraman and photographer would see, supporting Berger.
Gauntlett- Masculinity in crisis: The artist looks confused and anxious, supporting Gauntlett. This artisti is a new man.

Berger-Ways of seeing: What the audience would see is a boy staring at the camera, as this is what the cameraman and photographer would see, supporting Berger.
Gauntlett- Masculinity in crisis: The artists contradicts Gauntlett as he appears to be a traditional man, in comparison to a new man.

Mulvey- The male Gaze: This pictures supports the theorist Mulvey as she is being represented as being treated as a passives' object as she is standing central and the men are all looking at her.
Berger-Ways of seeing: The audience sees the artists as a sexualised object.





Gauntlett- Masculinity in crisis: These artists supports Gauntlett as they are the new men and they are seen as anxious and confused. Berger-Ways of seeing: The audience see them as young men who are innocent and having fun.

Music Video Genres Analysis - Hollie

Introduction

Hello, My name is Georgia Royle and i am a A2 media student studying media. For our task this year we are creating our own music video. We have chosen the song "Drop your guard" By Jasmine Thompson which fits in to the genre of indi pop. we will be creating our own music video to go along side the song and this video will be our own representation of how we view the song and want to convey that to our audience. Thanks very much for visiting our blog.

Texual analysis- Summer Assignement

Textual analysis year 13 media from St Peters RC Comprehensive

Analysis of Music Video linking to Goodwin's Rule - Hollie

Introduction

My name is Hollie Mugridge, I'm an A2 Media student. This year i will be creating a music video to Jasmine Thompson song "Drop Your Guard" who is currently an unsigned artist. I will also be conducting a lot of research and planning and displaying this on this blog.

Introduction

Hi my name is Shauna Penfold and I am currently studying Media at A-Level. In the A-level media course we are going to be producing a music video, from a specific music genre that we have chosen. Our song is "Drop Your Guard" by Jasmine Thompson who is an unsigned artist. Our research and planning work that we do towards our final music video will all be on our blog here.