September 14, 2010 New Generic Conventions of a music video
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September 10, 2010 Music video research
Man who can’t be moved
Close ups have been used on the main protagonist’s face to try an get the audience to establish a relationship with him as he is ultimately the main focus of the video
Mid shots have been used to not only help establish the location but also to add some interesting shots of the main protagonist walking through New York.
A long shot has been used as an Establishing shot to depict the main protagonist walking through New York.
The music video matches the lyrics. The lyrics contain a narrative which can be seen during these early shots as he ‘walking back to the corner where [he] first saw [her]‘
The main protagonist in the video is in fact the singer of The Script
The camera work has been cleverly devised to reflect the narrative in the song lyrics. The shot duration is much longer on important props such as on a cardboard cut out and watch which matches the lyrics ‘got some words on cardboard..so I’m not moving’
The most important lyric and title of the song is ‘The man who can’t be moved,’ Some parts of the video has been sped up to show time moving and help exaggerate the duration of how long the protagonist has been sitting on the corner. This can be depicted through the use of the different seasons and his own movement.
Breakeven
The narrative of the music video opens before the song has started.
Effects have been used at the very beginning of the music video such as how the video changes from black and white to colour
Fast editing has been used at the start of the video
The main protagonist of the video is again the lead singer in The Script
Colour effect has been used when the main protagonist is reflecting back almost signifying that it was a lot clearer with her than it is now. The music video gives off a sad and depressing atmosphere which is reflected through the use of everything being in black and white.
Again there are scenes in the video of just the band playing
Effects such as slowing down the scene has been used to give a sense of serenity and tranquillity when representing the protagonists love interest.
A Blurred effect has been used to almost signify the feeling that he cant recall all of their memories together as they have happened to fast
Editing matches beat of music especially at 2.49 in the video
A Motif of the phone has been used as if to signify that he is waiting on her call making the atmosphere of this video a very sad and hard hitting one to almost engage the audience further into the narrative of the story.
The use of Slowing down particular scenes adds to the intensity of the lyrics
As the protagonist is walking away from the woman she then turns black and white as if to tie the beginning of the music video with the end showing how the feelings between them have faded, it almost gives off a sense of foreboding.
Before the worst
The Narrative of the video starts before the song
A variety of shots have been used to show the band playing an empty arena, these shots include a tracking shot, Close ups of the bands instruments and faces and a long shot of the arena which not only shows the band but also has been used as an establishing shot.
Editing has been done in time with the beat
An aerial shot has been used of the arena
The close ups of the faces depict the men as being sad which adds to the atmosphere and mood of the music video as a whole.
when the beat changes so does the lighting which supports the idea that the editing has been done in time with the beat
A variety of shots have been used to show the protagonist, which again is the lead singer, walking down a street.
The narrative of the music video carry’s on after song has finished which ties the start of the music video with the end, almost representing a film like scenario.
Common themes within all three music videos
The main protagonist is always the lead singer of The Script
Shots of the protagonist walking seems to be an extremely common theme
In two of the videos the narrative has started to begin before the music
The editing matches the beat
The narrative of each music video matches the song lyrics
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September 10, 2010 Explore the collective identities presented in the MIA music video ‘Born Free’
The moist poignant collective identity present in M.I.A’S video are ginger males. This collective identity has been used as a tool to inflict or intensify the message in the song ‘Born free’. The message being sent is that everyone is born free so why should people be criticised or made fun of due to either their race, religion, or in this case hair colour? This message is extremely prominent in the video due to it being so closely related to the holocaust and ergo why so much speculation has been made on whether it should be aired on public music viewing channels such as Youtube.
Another collective identity which is an important part to the narrative is the depiction of the military forces. The most unusual thing about the men is that they are wearing gas marks. There could be several reasons for this, one reason could be that they are trying to represent the guards of the holocaust, another more deeper explanation could be that they are trying to hide their faces from the shame of having to round up the ginger boys and then kill them. Another reason could be that the men are seen as being more menacing in a mask as their true identity cannot be revealed. As one can see the true intent of the armed forces wearing a mask is very ambiguous.
Every character in the music video is male, a part from one woman at the beginning of the video, although even here she is represented as weak and vulnerable as she is naked. One reason for the video having predominately male characters is that males are seen to be the stronger gender this represents them as more powerful and stronger than women.
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May 7, 2010 Discuss the ways in which the extract of Doctor Who constructs representations of gender
The camera angles used throughout this extract help to depict the male gender as the superior even though the power changes from the antagonist to the ‘Doctor’. It is not only the camera angles that help to illustrate the dominance of the male gender, other factors such as diegetic, non diegetic sound and mise en scene are equally as important.
The non diegetic sound used during the opening creates a portentous sign due to the dark atmosphere that it evokes. This dark and ominous atmosphere helps to represent the antagonist as being more superior to Martha (the protagonist). The non diegetic ambience plays in the background and through the antagonist’s dialogue. This creates a force behind the antagonist making him seem more powerful than Martha. The ‘ticking’ of the clock also adds to the antagonist’s power. It seems as though he is controlling time making him seem more powerful than Martha whose life is also supposedly ‘ticking’ away along with the clock. The diegetic sound seems to stop when the antagonist speaks; this reinforcing the idea that he is controlling time. There is also the diegetic sound of the ‘sonic screwdriver’ which doesn’t construct any representations of gender but adds to the realism. The ‘sonic screwdriver’ and clock are the two main props used throughout the extract. The ‘sonic screwdriver’ is synonymous with Doctor Who.
During the opening there is a lot of fast editing as the audience establishes each character, however, we immediately see the antagonist as being more superior to Martha. As the extract progresses this idea is reinforced, the editing seems to slow down and the duration of each shot is longer when focused on the male gender which sees him as having more power than the female.
The mise en scene also illustrates that the male gender seems to represent being more dominant than the female. The antagonist and the other male figures surrounding him are wearing suits showing them to be powerful; it shows them as being justified authority figures. The guard is also dressed in black helping to evoke power. This juxtaposes Martha and the other females around her. The protagonist is wearing a casual jacket with black jeans, this symbolising an informal dress code. The audience’s attention is drawn immediately to the antagonist. This depicts Martha to be of less importance compared to the male figure. The females seen standing behind the protagonist is wearing a maid’s outfit which sees them as having less authority than the antagonist.
The location is also extremely significant in constructing a representation of gender. A long shot establishes the setting. It depicts a vast room with hardly any furniture. However the stairs, which the antagonist is standing on, elevates him, again to make him seem more superior. Behind the antagonist are several characters spread across the landing which represents a barrier creating a force which isolates Martha. This idea is reinforced when Martha is kneeling. She has no one around her other than three characters in the corner. This makes her seem extremely vulnerable and this systematically dis-empowers her.
The colours on set are simplistic with no particular colour representing a gender. This has been done so that the audience is not manipulated to which gender is the more superior. However the simplistic design with the mixture of pink and blue lights creates a futuristic look. The lighting on set is fully produced artificially. There is no sun light which creates a claustrophobic feeling, this helps to reinforce the idea of a futuristic world.
The camera angles used in this extract are probably the pivotal factors in highlighting that the male gender is the superior gender. A low angle is used often in conjunction with the antagonist. This juxtaposes the high angle used on Martha. This opposition accentuates the difference between the male and female. The close ups used on the antagonist helps for the audience to relate with him making him seem more powerful. Whereas mid shots are used regularly when focusing on the protagonist. We therefore do not feel as close with her and therefore see her as being less powerful. Through the use of dialogue the audience establishes that the antagonist is in charge of a fleet of ‘ships,’ an extreme long shot is used as an establishing shot to introduce the ‘ships’. The amount of ships helps to accentuate the antagonist’s power as we are aware that he is responsible in controlling the ‘mission’. The transition between the shallow focus to deep focus is used in conjunction with an over the shoulder shot. This has been used so that the audience’s attention is focused on both the antagonist and the clock. It also helps to link them together. A pan has been used to focus in on one of the male protagonists. This is to intensify the situation; however, it also shows his importance. The pan helps to represent the male gender as a significant macro element to this extract. An extreme long shot has again been used as an establishing shot of, what the antagonist calls, ‘My Children’. The amount of ‘alien craft’, again, shows the antagonist’s power as he is in charge of them.
The antagonist orders Martha to kneel. Not only does his dialogue represent him as being in charge but the eye line match of Martha makes the audience feel a sense of pathos towards the protagonist. This accentuates the low angle shot used to illustrate the antagonist as being more powerful. The flashbacks show mainly women dressed in an informal manner. An eyeline match has been used which makes the audience feel sympathy towards them. This represents the female figures as being weaker than the male.
Some of the most significant camera techniques illustrate the change in power form the antagonist to the Doctor. As the Doctor forms into a human a high angle changes to an eyeline match and then finally transitions into a low angle, all the while the low angle, originally showing the antagonist as the most powerful, transitions into a high angle. These transitions move the power from the antagonist to the protagonist, although, the power is still seen to be formed in the representation of the male gender being the more dominant.
As one can see the representation of the male gender is significantly more powerful than the representation of the female characters. This has been done most prominently through the use of camera angles however mise en scene, editing and sound has also played a major part in this representation.
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April 25, 2010 Final Powerpoint
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April 25, 2010 Rough draft of powerpoint
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April 25, 2010 Changes to rough cut
As one can see I have made many changes from my rough cut to my final product. The narrative has changed significantly. Instead of seeing Sophie being strangled it is left to the imagination of the audience, this adding to the suspense. The length of the film was also far too long and so I thought it best to cut out the shots of Sophie walking through the park and talking to her mum, due to this the narrative had to change as well. This time Sophie’s friends do not find her but, instead, I have introduced another character into the narrative. I thought it best to make these certain changes as it entices the audience more as they have to really think about the narrative and therefore adds to the psychological aspect of my thriller.
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