Personality task

Personality's and Group update

In lesson today we looked at different types of personalities and what kind of personality we individually have. In the picture below we each discussed with each other what box we thought we fitted into. I personally thought I fitted into the Red category since most of the characteristics fit me. My group disagreed with me and thought I fitted into the Green category more. Following on from this we decided to assign roles to each of our group members, I was assigned the role of editing, finding locations, creating the logo/website and finding the right camera shots and movements. These were assigned to me as I am known to be the most creative member of our group and I have a lot of experience in editing and creating websites. 

We decided to go with Graeme as our team leader because overall he had the best leadership qualities and he has good time management skills. The ideas we have had for our music video has changed a lot already and we are still in discussion about certain things, this is because when we come up with ideas individually and then have a group discussion we tend to develop and change many of the ideas that we have come up with.

Read more

The Carol Vernallis Theory - Editing (Part 4/4)

The Carol Vernallis Theory 

4)Editing 

• Editing will sometimes match the musical instruments or the beat of the song, linking the visual images together this way, the audience realises that the beat/rhythm links in with the visual images and will relate these visual images to other things after watching the video.

• Music videos constantly break or disrupt the "rules" of continuity editing. This is the main convention of music video editing.

• When we see edits they will tend to be quite obvious, in divergence to the "invisible" continuity editing This needs to be really obvious, the edits actually have to draw attention to themselves and a successful music video will do this to assist in breaking the narrative. The most common edits you may see in music videos are:

Jump Cuts

Lack of 30 degree rule

Lack of 180 degree rule

Fancy editing or cuts

Extreme jumps in time or space

Extreme changes in pace

Graphic matches

Style of editing exclusive to the video. 

Cutting Within the Lyrics

Cutting against the Movement

I now have a idea and list of things to avoid and potentially use when editing my video together. I will certainly be using Cutting within the lyrics since it would suit my video rather nicely. 

Read more

The Carol Vernallis Theory - Camera Movement and Framing (Part 3/4)

The Carol Vernallis Theory

3) Camera Movement and Shots

 I will now look at Vernallis's Theory of camera movement and framing.

• When it comes to camera shots, Extremes are VERY common along with Establishing shots, even if they are Extreme close-ups, or at a extreme distance, music videos try to avoid shots such as mid-shots, or a middle-ranged shot. They tend to sit on the the extreme ends of the scale.

• Styles of framing and movement tend to run all the way through the video.

• The camera may move in time with the music, just like the edits as in my previous post this is just for  drawing focus onto the artist.

• Repetition in the music video is really common to portray a message or meaning the style of framing and movement are usually a continuing theme that is distinctive to that video/genre.

A example of over us of extreme shots is this music video -

Read more

The Carol Vernallis Theory - Diegesis (Part 2/4)

The Carol Vernallis Theory

2) Diegesis

Diegesis in music videos is known as the "world" inside the video. It is always revealed slowly allowing interventions, and a story to develop over time. Repetition is key in a music video because it allows the artist to get a message across through the concept of quantity, it means that they can create a world for their song through the video An example of this:

While we are exploring the "world" of the video, we see how are protagonist (Jared Leto) feels, reacts, and does. The theme of war is the point of the video and the message is to stop war, Jared Leto acts as a solider in this video. 

• Movements may move to the music, this can be character movement or object movement, i have used this in my own music video and it  can be seen in the video above too.

• There may be times when the audience does not understand the Diegesis - Gaps in time and space, music, performance, and narrative.

Using this theory, I understand the need to focus on music, and time progression and movement along with the music. I have learned that i need to openly and slowly show the story of my video to the audience.

Read more

The Carol Vernallis Theory - Narrative (Part 1/4)

In the last few days we have been analysing theories of Music Videos. One of the theories I am going to cover is the Carol Vernallis Theory.

I read part of Carol's research which was titled -
The Kindest Cut - Functions and meanings of Music Video Editing.

Carol Vernallis's theory revolve's around four different and important concepts.I am going to break them down. They are:

1. Narrative
2. Diegsis
3. Camera Movement and Framing
4. Editing (I will be submitting a detailed post about this)

I am going to analyse each of these concepts and I will establish what they mean, and how they can benefit my music video since this is research for it.

1) Narrative

• A music video is a visual response to the song and lyrics, not the other way around. The video should be support the lyrics meanings and song, but the artist/star will remain dominant, this is to appeal to an audience.
• There does not need to be a  balance between narrative and performance. A song can have a full video of narrative, or full of performance or a mixture. Most of the time performance takes prominence in order to to show of the star and song more

• A example of a music video that is purely performance is Martin Garrix - Wizard

The video is 95% percent performance, its only real focus throughout the whole video is Martin Garrix and him entertaining his crowd. This is just one example of how a video can be focused on performance rather than narrative, I may use this theme in my own music video. This video is the same it focuses on performance but it has a narrative with it and this gives me more ideas for my own music video.

This video is Fall out boy - Dance Dance

• Carol Vernallis says that there at the end of the music video it may not give a real ending or clear closure for the audience. The narrative is not always finished, It can be a fragment, the story does not have to be finished

• The narrative may appear disjointed - There is no need for continuity in a music video, this would make the audience focus on the video, not the song, trying to follow the story. If the video is jumping from performance to scene repeatedly, the focus remains on the stars and song since it makes the audience aware of the artists.

• Something still needs to drive the video forward, however, it's usually not the narrative, this may cause the video to ask questions it doesn't actually answer, it leaves the audience guessing, and wanting more from the artist.

• There many indeed by a narrative theme running through the video, but usually in a montage theme, throwing it together since continuity is not needed for a music video.

Read more

Group Blog

This is a link to our group blog. 

This is the blog that will share all the research and work that myself and my other group members John, Graham and Liam are all contributing towards. On the blog we will have things such as a questionnaire aimed towards a wide range of audiences so that we can find out what different people are looking for from a music video from the genre that we are using Pop/R&B. 

On this blog we will show our meetings, group decisions, mindmaps, ideas we have put forward and if we decide against them or towards them. I will  post pictures from our filming sessions to show the progress that we are making on this project since this is one of my group tasks. The song that we as a group have chosen is Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me" acoustic version. Hopfully this blog will show the progress we have made from never making a music video to researching the area and finally coming out with a completed video.

Read more

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin in his book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" has wrote about what he defines as the characteristics of music videos. Goodwin has six different conventions and characteristics when looking at a music video.

1. Music videos should demonstrate genre characteristics,
(e.g. People dancing/having fun in a Dance music song, dance routine for a pop girl band)

Since my music video is to fit in with the RnB, Pop music and teen culture/genre, I know from researching from other RnB music videos that my video needs to contain things such as the lead as a male should be idolized. The lead singer should be portrayed as wanted by females or boys wanting to be him. My video will also be a cross with Pop music so from more extensive research i have found that my video needs to have energetic dance moves and a very weak narrative or no narrative at all. I want my video to represent these genres. I don't want to include a complex narrative just a colourful and entertaining video. 

2. There should be a relationship between lyrics and visuals. These can be illustrative, amplifying or contradicting

The visuals in my music video with illustrate and amplify the lyrics coming across. A example of this is when the visuals show the lead singer consoling his girlfriend and telling he everything will be okay, this is in the second verse and the lyrics that reflect these visuals are "don't stress, don't cry, we don't need no wings to fly, Just take my hand". They relate and mirror off each other and i will be using this alot in my video. When i was reading the lyrics of the song  I would just relate scenes in my head in which I wrote down for ideas.

3. There should be a relationship between the music and visuals

All the visuals in my music video are either amplifying the music or illustrating the lyrics. Since the song is acoustic and the only sounds are lyrics or the guitar playing it has been hard for me to incorporate a relationship between the music and visuals. A few examples I have managed to use though are things such as,  the opening of the song in which the guitar becomes louder and as this happens the lights shine onto the lead singers face. I have done this for a impact on the audience and draw them into the main point of the shot.
Another example I have used is the lead singer tapping his foot and hand in time with the strumming of the guitar, this is not a big visual but it make the audience aware of the beat behind the singing.I personality like it when music videos do this, as sometimes when listening to a song, you do not always pick up on some of the instruments playing so I have incorporated it into my own.

4. Multiple close-ups of the main artist; the creation of a star image to promote a brand image.

In my music video there are certainly a lot of shots mostly being close ups and mid shots of the artist, who is representing the figure of Justin Bieber whom has the 'Star Image'.The stars image is the most vital part of music video and how they are portrayed. Goodwin said that artists want to enchant and WOW the audience with the aritsts image to stay current in order for them to remember them. When making my poster and website for my artist each of these was important that they all linked together in some way so my target audience can recognise my visual style immediately. Hypothetically if my artist became successful and a well known music artist, my style and  imagery would become iconic to my name.

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking, there is a voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

In my music video this is the one characteristic I have not been able to implant well. My music video does not contain any females or any objectification of the male body or female body. There is no sexually suggestive shots of the lead singers body as it does not fit in well with the pop genre and a love song. I have broken the fourth wall with my artist as he is always engaged with the audience and wants them to know he is singing to them. The shots of my artist are usually close up with him looking into the camera. In one of the shots the artist pulls his glasses up and stares into the camera to engage even further with the audience and creating a surreal experience with them.

6. There is a intertextual reference to either films, TV programmes, other music videos.

Our costumes used are a direct reference to Justin Bieber, with his modern fashion sense wearing high tops, shades and leather jackets. The dance moves used in the video are also a tribute to Justin Biebers and Michael Jacksons. The start of the music video shows out artist being late to his own music video, so in a sense the audience is watching a music video being made but this is the music video Goodwin said that intertextuality incorporated in a music video make it more interesting and enjoyable for the audience.

Read more