ANIMATIC

STORYBOARD

USE OF LIGHTING

Key scenes that I would like to feature in my music video are of the artist in a dark room, with spotlights in different positions on the screen, creating effective shadows and silhouette's of the artist's body.

I was aspired to use these scenes from one of my favourite music videos; The 1975 - Chocolate.

 

I found the use of ligthing in this music video very effective and knew that I wanted to incorporate it into my own piece. However, I was worried that I would not be able to produce similar shots to the same effect, and thus decided to carry out research of how to create the best lighting possible for my music video. The following videos have helped and taught me a lot of how to make my lighting succesful.

FILMING TUTORIALS AND HOW TO PRODUCE A SUCCESFUL MUSIC VIDEO

I decided to film my music video with my own camera which is a Canon550D DSLR, this is becuase I am more experienced with this camera compared to the video cameras provided by the college. Furthermore, I feel it will be easier for me to use my own camera as I do not need to worry about when I can rent one out from college, as they do get fully booked, this allows me to film in my own time.

Although, I have previously filmed with my camera, I wanted to gain some more experience and knowledge on the range of effects and styles I could use with my camera, so therefore carried out research in tutorials and guides.
 

Furthermore, I then wanted to carry out research into how to produce a succesful and effective music video, so that I could learn new techniques and skills, so that I could film my music video to the best of my ability. Whilst searching through the internet, I found a series of useful filming tutorials. For example, one of them was the account 'Film Riot' on Youtube. This allows amateurs in the film and photography industry to gain tips on how to create new effects and work a range of software. It has inspired me to create a variety of filming techniques that I could incorporate into my own music video.

NARRATIVE THEORY

Bordwell and Thompson (1997) -
Differentiate between the story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned to accept and that which the audience actually see.

Story = Events in the order of which it happens. Based this on the Russian film theory, Fabula.

Plot = How the story is presented. Based on the Russian film theory, Syuzhet.
(Narratives are made up of both)

Tom O'Sullivan et al (1998)
Argues all media texts tell some sort of story -

• Through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves - not usually our own personal stories, but the use of us as a culture / set of cultures.
• Narative theory sets out to show that we experience when we 'read' a story is to understand a particular set of constructions or conventions and that it is important.

Kate Domaille (2001)
Every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. Each of these narratives have a source, an original story upon which the others are based. These stories are as follows:

1. Archilles -
The fatal flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously or almost flawless person.
eg. Superman

2. Candide -
The indomitable hero who cannot be put down
eg. James Bond,Rocky, Indiana Jones

3. Cinderella -
Dream come true
eg Pretty Woman

4. Circe -
The chase = the innocent and the victim
eg. The Terminator

5. Faust -
Selling your soul to the devil may bring riches but eventually your soul belongs to him
eg. Bedazzled, Wall Street

6. Orpheus -
The loss of something persdonal, the gift that is taken away, the tragedy/loss etc.
eg. The Sixth Sense

7.Romeo and Juliet -
Love story
eg. Titanic

8. Tristah and Iseult -
Love triangle, man loves women but she is taken or vice versa or a third party intervines.
eg. Casablanca

Sven Carlson (1999)
Suggests that music videos fall into two categories:

1. Performance Clips
Shows vocalist in one or more settings (eg. recording studio) but can take place anywhere, this includes song/instrumental/dance performance.

Narrative clip = visual story which is easy to follow
(Pure - no lip-synching)
(Art Clip - No narrative)

2. Conceptual Clips
something else

Pam Cook (19850 - structure of classic narrative

• Linearity of casue and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution.

eg. story moves forward to solve disruption = enigma

• A high degree of narrative closure
• A fictional world that contains verisimilitude, especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence

Tzvetan Todorov (1977)
1. A point of stable equilibrium (balance) where everything is satisfied, calm and normal.
2. Stability is disrupted by some kind of force = creates disequilibrium
3. Recognition that a disruption has taken place
4. Restoration of a new state of equilibrium. Change the state of the narrative or characters so a re-equilibrium is created, so it is not the same.

Barthes (1997)
Narrative works with five different codes and enigma codes to keep up setting problems / puzzles for the audience.

His action code (a look, significant word, movement) based on our cultural and stereotypical understanding of actions to advancing the narrative.

Tilley (1991)
Used the buckling of a gun belt in the Western Genre as a meaning of signifying the preffered reading of a imminent shoot out.

AUDIENCE THEORY

Blumer and Katz - Uses and Gratifications Theory

How audiences choose to consume the media.

• Audeinces watch sad films to connect with emotions etc.
• Audeinces watch comedies to have a laugh.

Passive Audience = Take in what they watch eg. The News
Active Audience = Gives the audience choice of what they want to watch.

If mass audience dont consume certain media then it is not produced.

The 'Uses and Gratifications' model represented a change in thinking, as researchers begin to describe the effects of the media from the point of view of audiences.

The model looks at the motives of the people who use the media, asking why we watch the tv programmes that we do, why we bother to read newspapers, why we find oursleves so compelled to keep up to date with our favourite soap operas, or consume films.

The theory makes the audience active as they choose what they want to consume, they are not forced into consumption. For example, you are in control, the media just creates the product.

Argues the audience needs to have social and psychological needs which generate certain expectations.

The audience use the media not vice versa.

The model is broken down into four different needs:
1. Surveillance -

• Based around the idea that people feel better having the feeling that they know what is going on in the world around them. (We watch the news as we feel it is a reliable source)
• All about awareness - we use mass media to be more aware of the world, gratifying a desire for knowledge.

2. Personal Identity -

• Explains how being a subject of the media allwos us to confirm the identity of ourselves within society.
• Media can form personal identitites which can be seen in music videos/ films. Popstars can become role models, but leads to outcry when one does something wron.
• Music videos/songs allow us to connect with such idnetities and help us fit into society.

3. Personal Relationships -
- Within the media

• We can form a relationship with the media and also use the media to form a relationship with others
• People use tv as a form of companionship which creates an intimate experience

- Using the media within relationships

• Having a favourite tv programme in common can often be the start of a conversation
• Some famillies use sitting around watching tv as a stimulus for conversation, talking to each other about the programmes or related anecdotes.

4. Diversion -

• Describes whats commonly termed as escapism - watching the tv so we can forget abotu our own lives.
• We watch music videos to take our mind off our everyday lives, we want to distract our self from the problems we are experiencing.

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory
States the media texts are encoded by producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages.
Texts then decoded by media.

Producer encodes the meaning/message and the audience become:

• Dominant/Prefferd
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

Dominant -
View media texts the way the producer intended and there agree with it.

Negotiated -
Compromise between dominant and oppositional, they see it from the producers point of view, but also theyre own.

Oppositional -
Rejects the preffered reading and creates their own reading of the text.

How may an audience have a dominant understanding of your product?

• Clear messages
• Audience is the same age so they can relate
• From the same culture
• They can undersyand/relate to the narrative

Representation Theory

Laura Mulvey (1975) - Male Gaze Theory

Depicts how women are portrayed as sexual objects to please men and how they are viewed in the media.

- She states that women are there to be seen and that the use of cinematography portrays them as sexual objects through shot types and movements. In film, women are seen as objects, rather than possessors, which is displayed by the control of the camera.

Her focus is on:

• How men look at women
• How women look at themselves
• How women look at other women

The 'Male Gaze' focuses on:

• Emphasising curves of the female body
• Referring to women as objects rather than people
• The display of women is how men think they should be perceived
• Female viewers view the content through the eyes of a man
• Women are sexualised

The Male Gaze Theory describes how the audience or viewers is put into perspective of a hetrosexual male.

However, some women may disagree and feel icberated.

Examples of music videos which display her theoery:
1. Calvin Harris - Blame

• Women wearing limited amount of clothing
• Appear sexual - underwear
• The male is dominant, sat up singing, whilst the women are his accesories
• The silhouette of female body emphasised by lighting and cinematography

2. Lilly Wood - Prayer in C

• Slow motion, close-up of her bum
• The men are surrounded by women
• Girls kissing each other - appeals to men
• Non stereotypical 'butch' lesbian - what men prefer
• Use of cinematography exhaggerates female body

3. Sam Smith - I'm not the only one

• Woman is inferior to woman
• She is his puppet
• Camera movement down her body

4. Taylor Swift - Shake it off

• Medium shots on female
• Women's costume very limited

5. Iggy Azalea - Black Widow

• Tight clothing - accentuates woman's body
• Men staring at her body
• Camera zooms on sexual parts of body

As all of these music videos do conform to Laura Mulvey's theory, this proves that her
theory is correct majority of the time.


Richard Dyer - Star Theory

To be a star you need certain ideology to meet everyone's expectations.

The idea that icons and celebrities are constructed by institutions for financial reasons and are built to target a specific audience or gorup of people.

Dyer's theory can be broken down into three sections:

• Audience and Institutions
• Constructions
• Hegemony (cultural beliefs)

1. Audience and Institutions -
Stars are made to make money for that purpose alone. The audience consume what they think is the ideal (or made to believe ideal). The institution then modifies the artists image around the target audience.

2. Constructions -
The star is built for an audience and not an actual person, so they can identify with them. They also need to be individual from everyone else so that they can stand out.

3. Hegemony -
We relate to the star because they have a feature that we admire or share with them. This develops from admiration to idolisation. Some people replicate the star, but this can be negative as sometimes they can be bad role models as the pressure of the media its toll on them.

The media constructs who we are.

Tessa Perkins - Sterotypes

Sterotype = Prejudged view of a gorup of people/person, an assumption is made in association with the ideology of the group.

Stereotypes stem from the media, people base all their assumptions on the media as they shape our minds.

Sterotyping contains a number of assumptions that can be challenged.
Perkins identifies five assumptions:
1. Not always negative
2. Not always about minority groups or less powerful groups eg. 'upper class twits'
3. They can be held about one's own group
4. They are not always rigid or unchanging
5. They are not always false

They are about people who we have no/little contact with. This proves that they are not always true.

• They can lead to negative behaviour
• Without stereotypes we would not know our place in society or where we fit in.

Applying Narraive Theory

Beyonce - If I were a Boy
 

In the first 40 seconds of the video, Beyoncé is seen getting ready for work. Her boyfriend has laid out breakfast for her, but she dismisses him by just taking a bite of toast, throwing it back on the table and leaving, making her appear dominant, yet unfair to him. Beyoncé is then seen carrying out the role of a police officer, a stereotypically male-dominated occupation, where she flirts with her colleague. However, whilst her boyfriend is carrying out the stereotypical female based occupation of office work he is approached by a female who tries to flirt with him, yet he pays no attention to her but instead, looks online for some jewellery to give to his girlfriend. This idea explores an uneven balance between the commitments of both partners, a concern that's relatively male based. He then tries to call her and she doesn't pick up her phone which is contrasted heavily when Beyoncé receives the pair of earrings from her boyfriend and acts elated. The earrings are then a focal point in the shot when she is dancing with her colleague who produces a sense of irony as she is clearly ungrateful and unappreciative of her boyfriend’s efforts. This emasculates him and makes her appear unfaithful. When the transition in narrative occurs the audience feel sympathetic for Beyoncé, specifically when we see her cry, and subsequently identify with her representation of how men treat females. The narrative then reverts back to the beginning and her boyfriend is seen walking out of the shot, whilst she has prepared breakfast for him. He then gets into the car, exactly how Beyoncé does at the beginning of the video, and is seen flirting with his colleague. It is evident that she has been imagining if she 'were a boy' in order to try to understand why her boyfriend has been unfaithful. Throughout the video, the editing is arguably unobtrusive, which therefore creates a strong focus on the narrative of the music video for the audience, as opposed to drawing attention to overly distracting cutting. This allows the audience to emotionally connect with the music video. Similarly, the film stock is in black and white throughout the whole video which also draws more attention to the narrative structure of the video, as opposed to the audience being distracted by any colourful codes and conventions of the video. In addition, the black and white film stock creates a more exposed and stripped-back presentation of the narrative, consequently creating an emotional connection between Beyoncé and the target audience.

Tim O’Sullivan argues that all media texts tell us some kind of story. He suggests that, narratives have a common structure, starting with the establishment of plot or theme. Through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves – not usually our own personal stories, but the story of us as a culture or set of cultures. Narrative theory sets out to show that what we experience when we ‘read’ a story is to understand a particular set of constructions, or conventions, and that it is important to be aware of how these constructions are put together.Thus, Beyoncé’s music video is a perfect example of Tom O'Sullivan's narrative theory. As the music video explores the way males stereotypically treat females in a relationship. The audience see's this through the use of a role reversal narrative in which Beyoncé is initially seen acting as the male typically would, which later switches at the end of the music video to expose the fact that she is the one being hurt and mistreated.

Tzven Todorov states that there are five stages to the narrative of music videos. At the the first stage, there is a point of equilibrium, where everything is satisfied, calm and normal. Then, at stage two the stability is disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium. At the next stage, there is recognition that the disruption has taken place; which is followed by the only possibility to recreate the equilibrium through action directed against the disruption, in stage four. Finally, at stage five, there is restoration of a new state of equilibrium. The consequences of the reaction are to change the world of the narrative and/or the characters so that the final state of equilibrium is not the same as the initial state.

'If I were a Boy' does not conform to this typical narrative structure as, from the very beginning the video is in a state of disequilibrium, due to the portrayal of how men stereotypically disrespect women, through the convention of role reversal. Furthermore, it also does not follow some further theories, such as the theory of O'Sullivan et al. He suggests that narratives have a common structure, starting with the establishment of plot or theme. However, this music video follows a structure which is unique compared to other music videos, as the first half of the music video focuses on a negative domestic relationship, and then in the middle of the video, the roles reverse and then the video goes back to a more accurate domestic relationship, yet there is no equilibrium reached.

Kate Domaille says that every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. These stories include: Archilles, Candide, Cinderella, Circe, Faust, Orpehus, Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Iseult. I believe that this theory is true, as the music video 'If I were a Boy' follows the 'circe' storyline, where the female is portrayed as the victim to the male's dominance.

Furthermore, the theorist Vladimir Propp concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only seven broad character types, in the hundred tales he analysed. These include: The villain, the donor, the (magical) helper, the princess and her father, the dispatcher, the hero or victim/seeker hero and the false hero. However, I disagree with this theory that there are only seven broad character types, as both the characters in this music video do not fit into any of these character types.

Sven Carlson suggests that music videos fall into two categories: Performance clips and Conceptual clips. Performance clips contains mostly filmed performance and shows the artist in one or more settings. Also the performance can be of three types, including song performance, instrumental performance or a mixture of the two. However, although the clip is not a performance clip, it does feature a performance element, in one of the closing shots, the artist is shown lip-synching a line to the song. Therefore, the music video is actually a conceptual shot, as it is mainly a narrative clip, as it takes the form of a silent movie to the asynchronous sound of the backing music and it contains a story that is easy to follow. However, it is not a pure narrative clip as it does feature the one shot of the artist lip-synching.

Audience Research Survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GLQLF6B

In order to decipher the range of demographics in regards to music videos. I feel that once I have carried out primary research and researching demographics, I have gained knowledge and understanding of the diverse range of music videos in the music industry and their demographics. In particular I wanted to carry out research into who my target audience would be, therefore I decided to create a survey on the website surveymonkey.com and then was able to post this across social media, in attempt to reach a mass audience to collect reliable results. By using a range of mediums, I was able to gather a large sum of results and I have posted the results that I collected below.

 

 

I began my survey with the simple questions on gender and age, as I feel this allowed me to get to know my target audience, as surveymoneky.com does not display identification. My results from the gender question shows that more than half of the audience were female, this shows that they are more attatched to the content published on social media as a form of advertising. However, this is useful as a feel that females are more appropriate for learning the demogrpahics of my music video.
 I find posting the questions to an online survey is effective, as it allows me to then post and share my survey to social network sites, which enables me to collect a range of responses from people of a range of age groups.


I made the decision to place my age groups in categories of around nine years on avaerage, apart from the two younger catehories, as I believe that my target audience would be based on a more younger audience for my music video, and I wanted to analyse my reults for both under and ober the age of 13 to decipher the maturity levels of the audience. As my results have shown, that the mass amount of people that took my survey were between the age range of 13 to 18, which is the typical stereotype for adoolescent people. I feel that this specific audience group would best suit my music video and be most appropriate for it, and it was this age category that I was most particularly interested in.

I am going to use this infromation that I have collected to deteremine who my target audience will be, for my final music video production. Also I will plan the production of my video around this target audience, so that it will be appropriate for them and be appealing to them. Thus, it is clear that I must make my final video to appeal to mainly teenage females, however I cannot forget that some members of the audience will be male, so I also need to keep them in mind.

 

The results that I collected from this question shows that the highest percentage of people watch music videos often. This implies that music videos do take a big part in peoples lives, and that people are consumed in them regularly. I can infer from this that I need to make sure that I produce my video to a high standard, so that it will appeal to my target audience, as this information suggests that they have watched a wide variety of other videos to compate it too. However, the second highest percantage of 25% was the answer' sometime', this reinforces the fact that I need to make both the song and the video individual, to attract a range of audiences than the one genre I am targeting my audience at. Yet on the other hand, chart and pop artists are capable of bringing in millions of views to a mass audience when published on social networking sites. Therefore, I believe that I would still be able to achieve my goal of attracting a range of music genre's audience.

When I asked this question, eighteen out of the twenty audience members stated that they do enjoy watching music videos. This shows that music videos do take a big part in people's lives as they consume a lot of them, thus this has shown me that it is even more important to cater my music video for my specific target audience. Furthermore, various answers included that they enjoyed watching them, becasue of the way the artists portray their music visually. I found this very interesting, as I am keen to create my music video with many abstract elements, and I have also analysed my lyrics and intend to create the meaning behind my video, different from the original music video. Therefore, hopefully by making the music video different from the ideology the audeince would assume by the lyrics, this will make it very fascinating and interesting to them. Furthermore, although some people have commented saying that they like to watch the artist's perform; other people have stated that they find some music videos artistic, and I would like to convey this style to appeal to audiences in my video. Therefore, this is persuading me to make an abstract music video.

I found the responses to this question useful. Even though only two people out of the twenty stated that they do not enjoy watching music videos there answers are still important. For example, one response was that they do not understand the relation between the video and song. This contrasts with the view from other people that they like to see how the artist's portray their music visually, and this is useful for me by showing that even if I do decide to make my video abstract and convey a message behind the video you would not expect, some people will feel confused by the video. So consequently, I would have to make sure that the visuals to the video do slightly relate to the lyrics, to accomodate the minor members of the audience.

I made the decision to explore the genre of music that people most prefer, due to the fact that I want my video to be appealing to a range of demographics. My intention from this question was to be able to look at the results, and then incorporate them into my music video, so that my music video will not just appeal to fans of the indie/indie rock genre, but to a mass audience of a variety of different genres, so that my video can reach wide recognition. My results show that Indie/Indie Rock and Pop were the two most preferred music genres. I did expect this result, due to the knowledge I have of people similar age to me, varying from around 16-20, who have a keen interest in them two genres. I feel that the other genre's of music, maybe were more popular in other decades and would therefore reach a target audience of a different age group. Where as people who were brought up in the 1990s-2010s have experience a range of pop and alternative music, especially more so now that niche markets have become more popular. This also demonstrates that my target audience definitely is for teenagers, as they are surrounded by that genre of music.

At this point in planning, I am still unsure of what elements I mainly want my music video to feature. Therefore, I felt by asking this question, it would help me with my decision. The results that I collected show that the majority of audiences prefer to see a variety of all three elements. Furthermore, this is backed up by each element roughly having the same percentage of people preferring that individual element. This hsa influence me to incorporate at least more than one element into my video, so that it is entertaining for all audeince members.

I found this question useful, because it helps me understand and get to know my audience better. The results show me that the majority of the audience members are in full time education, which also links with the agr group of the majority of audience members being under 18 and under.

3rd Textual Analysis

Demi Lavato - Skyscraper



The music video begins with a ten second long establishing shot, of what appears to be a dessert and show track marks, setting up the scene. However this is not what the audience would expect initially from the music video, as the audience would expect the ideology to be in a city or built up area, due to the title 'skyscraper'.

After this shot, a cross cut then shows an extreme close up of the artist's face which is effective as through the mise-en-scene, it shows the artist with tears in her eyes and enables the audience to see her emotion. This allows the audience to understand that the mood of the music video is emotional and sad, which matches the sad lyrics. The use of this helps establish the music genre being a soul and pop ballad. Then, the diegetic music begins to play and the common convention of lip-synching from the artist begins, immediately showing that the video has a performance element too it.

A cross cut then takes place to a medium close up of the artist, who is situated in the foreground of the shot, taking up one third of the screen. The shot shows the artist holding her arm across her stomach, this could suggest that the artist is feeling insecure or possibly a gut-wrenching pain that she feels, which could be linked to the pain of the mental abuse in the relationship, which are mentioned in the lyrics. In the background of the shot, you can identify that the artist is by herself, in the middle of the desert. I can infer from this the solitude that the artist feels, as she is by herself in the video, adds to the sad emotion the music video invokes.

In the next several shots that take place in between jump cuts, a range of cinematography including long shots and low angles, show the sun in various of the shots above the artist. This could connote that although the artist in the video feels despondent, the iconography of the sun could be a symbol for providing hope. Particularly in one shot, a low angle first shows the artist blocking the light of the sun; inferring that she believes she has no hope; however a pan across the screen then enables the sun to fill up a third of the screen and brighten up the lighting of the shot, this can connote that although she feels she has no hope, it will eventually come.

The mise-en-scene is very effective in the video, as the man colour throughout the video is white, including the setting and the characters costume, of a white floaty dress. The costume and colour of white symbolises innocence and pure feelings. It is also a protagonist colour and could link to the lyrics, that they are about an antagonistic character and therefore exaggerates the narrative. However, further on into the video, the artist is shown with a black cloth draped around her. This contrasts against the white mise-en-scene of the artists costume earlier on and suggests that although the artist is still a protagonistic character as she is still wearing the white floaty dress, the black cloth symbolises the antagonistic character she is singing about in the lyrics, and connotes that this character is trying to engulf itself around the artist. Yet when a slow edit and pan across the material blow away, this could suggest that the antagonistic character is no longer associated with the artist, or that she has become stronger.  

The video is also effective for linking the four conventions of music videos together. For example, with the use of diegetic sound, it shows the artist lip-synching the lyrics "Go on and try to tear me down, I will be rising from the ground, like a Skyscraper", these lyrics with the use of cinematography, by using a low angle shot on the artist, which makes her appear very dominant and powerful, like a skyscraper, which again exaggerates the lyrics. Furthermore, this is continued throughout the video at various times, when the artist lipsynchs to the lyric "Skyscraper". At this point a long show establishes the artist raising her arms in the air, the shape of the artists body again demonstrates the structure of a skyscraper and connotes that she is also powerful.

The use of editing throughout the video is very effective, with the beginning part of the video containing slow edits which match the pace of the song and thus create the video to appear professional; but also the use of sow edits matches the genre of the song and adds to the emotional narrative. However, as the music video develops, the pace of the editing begins to quicken to the faster pace of the song, this exaggerates that the artist is becoming stronger and more powerful. 

2nd Textual Analysis

Lana del rey textual analysis from rubymoorex