Filming: Tennis and Kitchen scene

Today we filmed the tennis and kitchen parts of our music video. Here is some footage of the filming:

Rich Mix

On wednesday our class took a trip to the media conference, Rich Mix. We were joined by the Rich Mix Education Officer, Thalia Cassimatis, the Chief examiner for OCR A Level Media Studies, Pete Fraser, Liz Kessier and Caorin Hardy from Academy Films.

Pete Fraser started off by teaching us a bit of the history of music videos. He showed us a few videos including:

Frim Fram Sauce


Can't buy me love - The Beatles


Don't look back - Bob Dylan


Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen


Pete then went on telling us when MTV was first introduced into the music industry. MTV was born in 1981 and it was made to be a channel dedicated only to music videos. The film music video ever to be shown on MTV was Video Star by The Buggies.



Other music videos that were popular on MTV were:

Our House


Also Madonna made a big break through for Women on MTV after America got involved in MTV.

Open your heart - Madonna


Michael Jackson made a really big break through on MTV with his big time hit Thriller that was first premiered on Channel 4 at midnight.

Thriller - Michael Jackson


MTV has been very successful and is still very popular today. Today there is a wide variety of music videos from various different music genres such as:

Candy shop - 50 Cent


99 Problems - Jay Z




Method of analysis (from Andrew Goodwin)
-Genre characteristics.
-Visual relationships with lyrics and music.
-Need to sell artist as a star.
-Voyeurism.
-Intertexuality

Many music videos use the concept of star image which means that the artist of the song is featured in the music video.

Next we watched a few videos that are very popular on youtube.

Thriller Dance


Numa Numa- First made a hit in 2004 in Italy and then made it to the US.


Ten steps and tips to make your own music video

Rich mix2

View more presentations from petefrasers

Liz Kessler
Liz works at Academy Films where she runs the music video division and produces videos. Recent Academy videos include:

Numbers in action - Wiley


Criminal - Britney Spears


Pencil full of lead - Paolo Nutini


Before our lunch break we listened to a song called 'No rest' by Dry the river, and in our break as a group we had to come up with some ideas of a music video we could produce for this song. We nominated Charlotte to represent our ideas:


This was the feedback we got from Corin and Liz:


Corin Hardy
Corin Hardy works at Academy Films as a director and producer of music videos. Recent music videos made by Corin are:

No rest - Dry the river


She is the new thing - The horrors


Behold the hurricane - The horrible crowes


Busy - Olly Murs

Questionnaire

This is our questionnaire regarding our storyboard:

1. Does the storyboard work as a whole?
2. Does it make sense?
3. Do you like the idea and concept of the video?
4. Does it appeal to your target age group?
5. Is there anything you would change about the video?
6. Do you like the ending?
7. Are there any specific shots you like?
8. Does it express positive views on female empowerment?
9. Would you like this video on Youtube?
10. Does the video fit in with the song?

Scrabble Practice

Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall developed the concept of audience positioning as a result of examining news reports on industrial strikes. 

He claimed that media representations established a framework for possible responses – this is like setting an agenda for issues to be raised with audiences.

The responses to an audience watching a media text would be likely to fall into

three main categories:

 Dominant readings mean:

Audiences respond to the way narrative is constructed and adopt the points of view implied

Oppositional readings mean:

Audiences reject the way the narrative is constructed, question and challengethe points of view

implied

Negotiated readings mean:

Audiences partially accept the way the narrative is constructed but can see both points of view:

the dominant and oppositional readings

Aberrant readings

is an additional interpretation: where the text is read in a deviant and largely unanticipated

manner, the preferred reading not being recognised at all

Prezi Treatment

Media Treatment on Prezi

Storyboard

This week we finished producing our storyboard for our music video. Here is a video of our storyboard:

The Gaze

Definition from Wikipedia:
The Male Gaze and feminist theoryIn the essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", Laura Mulvey introduced the concept of the "male gaze" as a feature of power asymmetry. The concept has been strongly influential on feminist film theory and media studies.

In film, the male gaze[1] occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may linger on the curves of a woman's body, for instance.[2] Mulvey argues that in mainstream cinema, the male gaze typically takes precedence over the female gaze.

Laura Mulvey

Genre

Our music video conosista of a quirky modern theme which fits in with the indiepop genre. The lyrics to 'Skinny Genes' has a narrative element to it as it tells a story about a relationship.

Voyeurism

Definition of Voyeurism from Wikipedia:
Voyeurism (from the French voyeur, "one who looks") can take several forms, but its principal characteristic is that the voyeur does not normally relate directly with the subject of their interest, who is often unaware of being observed. The practice of making a permanent image of an intimate activity has been made easier with modern photographic and video technology, and is considered an invasion of privacy. However, in today's society the concept of voyeurism has evolved, especially in popular culture. Reality television programs such as Big Brother are prime examples of voyeurism, where viewers (the voyeur) are granted an intimate interaction with a subject group or individual. Although not necessarily "voyeurism" in its original definition, as individuals in these given situations are aware of their audience, the concept behind "reality TV" is to allow unscripted social interaction with limited outside interference or influence

We would like to include voyeurism at the start of our music video by having the girl look at photos of herself on her ipod and listening to the song 'Skinny Genes'.

Contact the Music Producer for permission

Dear Matthew Prime,

My name is Valentina Cutri and I am currently studying A Level Media Studies , the project involves creating our own music video along with our own digi-pak and artwork. I am writing to ask for your permission to use the song Skinny Genes by Eliza Doolittle in order for us to create our music video. The song will only be used purely for our coursework and for education purposes and we have no intention to sell the video, so I assure you there will not be any copyright issues.

If there are any concerns contact me at valentina_cutri@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you

Different Song Ideas

Sandi Thom - I wish I was a Punk Rocker



One of our song ideas was 'I wish I was a Punk Rocker' by Sandi Thom because it's upbeat and thought it'd fit in well with our London theme. Looking at the original music video, we liked the panning shots of her walking down the street as it was similar to what we had in mind.

Ed Sheeran - The City



Another one of our song ideas was 'The City' by Ed Sheeran because it's quirky and it's about the city life which would fit in with our idea of filming in the City of London.

Eliza Doolittle - Skinny Genes Lyrics

I really don’t like your point of view
I know you’ll never change
Stingin' me with your attitude
I've got the mind to walk away

I really don't like your arrogance
Or your policies
You're ninety-nine percent an embarrassment
With just one quality

[Chorus:]
I don't mind it when you [whistles]
Brings out the best in me when you [whistles]
Show your expertise
When the night always ends with a fight
I'm excited that you wind up next to me

I like it when you [whistles]
Can I have some please of that [whistles]
Satisfy my needs
Sometimes I fake that I hate you and make up
So you wind up next to me

I really don't like your skinny jeans
So take them off for me
Show me what you've got underneath
So we can do this properly

I really don't like the way you smile
When you think you're right
But I will forgive you, the yolk is in the middle
And I'm chewing through the white

[Chorus]

dreamt that you were on a train
you were leaving, you were leaving
You made me think of what I'd miss
You were leavin', you were leavin'

I don't mind it when you [whistles]
Brings out the best in me when you [whistles]
Show your expertise
When the night always ends with a fight I'm excited
That you wind up next to me

I like it when you [whistles]
Can I have some please of that [whistles]
Take off your skinny jeans
Sometimes I fake that I hate you and make up
So you wind up next to me

I dreamt that you were on a train,
you were leaving, you were leaving.

Eliza Doolittle - Skinny Genes

As a group we have decided to make a music video to 'Skinny Genes' by Eliza Doolittle as it is upbeat and quirky. The song is sung by a female which makes it easier for us as we can use a member of our group to be in the music video. We also think that the song fits in with the London theme and thought it'd be a good idea to use graffiti and scrabble pieces.

Practice music video

On Monday we finished filming for our practice music video as we followed our storyboard. It was difficult to try and copy every camera shot of the first part of the music video but we did it!

Lip Syncing Practice

In last Friday's lesson we made a lip syncing practice video for the song 'Tik Tok' which we will use as our practice music video.

First Idea

This is our first song choice for our music video.

	What went well	What could you improve?
Digital Technology
Using flip camera.	Quick and easy to use. Also good quality.	A wider variety of shots.
Uploading to youtube.	Able to upload videos on our blogs and allowed others to view our film opening.	More drafts uploaded.
Blogging to track progress.	Show our planning, research and progress.	Blog more often.
Using voiceover.	Fit in with theme and was clear.	Create a few drafts using the voice recorder.
Creativity
Voiceover.	Fit in with film and created an opening storyline.	Plan more.
Flashbacks.	Effective and made our film look more mysterious.	More transitions.
Music made on GarageBand.	Created a mysterious atmosphere to fit in with our film genre.	Add more of a variety of sounds to our music.
Use of fire.	Effective and caught the audience’s attention.	A wider variety of shots of the fire.
Music.	More mystery atmosphere to the film.	Add more variety of sounds to our music.
Credits.	Simple enough to keep the audience focused on the opening storyline.	Use a bigger font.
Research and planning
Film Company research.	Creating logos and effects.	Used a picture in our logo.
Watching other film openings.	More ideas and more creativity.	Too many unrealistic ideas to make our film opening.
Using conventions from real media texts
Watching other film openings.	The Last Song opening inspired us to use the idea of fire.	Too many unrealistic ideas to make our film opening.
Idea of voiceovers.	Created a clear opening storyline.	Could have been confusing.

An example of a music video that features a lead male vocalist

Change Your Mind - Boyce Avenue

An example of a music video that has a narrative element

But It's Better If You Do - Panic! At The Disco

Introduction to A2 Media Studies

On Monday we had our first lesson of A2 Media! It's really exciting and I'm really looking forward to start working on our Music Videos and researching into media!