Prelim Task

As a really quick warm up task, I have thrown together a 30 second music video. This is really just to get to grips with filming again, and using editing software, that I haven't used for a while now.

LICENSING: E-Mail to Sony Music Entertainment

To abide by copyright laws, I have emailed Sony Music Entertainment to ask for permission to use one of the tracks I would like to use for my A2 production. The e-mail in full can be seen below.

Claude Levi-Strauss

In the 20th century Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes came together to discuss the way in which we, as the consumer, understand certain words, and how this relates to how we perceive their true meaning as opposed to the meaning intended, rather more that we understand the difference between the work and its 'Binary Opposite', almost like Yin and Yang.

What this meant was simple. Words can be used as a form of symbolism, which represents societies ideas and that the meaning of words was a relationship rather than a fixed thing just a relationship between opposing ideas.

Some binary opposites are listed below;

Good vs Evil
Black vs White
Boy vs Girl
Young vs Old
Protagonist vs Antagonist
Strong vs Weak
East vs West
etc.

In summary the Levi-Strauss Narrative Theory is that conflict is based around these binary opposites, and that these re the central climax of a narrative structure.

RESEARCH : Tzvetan Todorov and Vladimir Propp (The Narrative Theory)

Both theorists took different perspectives when discussing the narrative theory.

Vladimir Propp suggested that in every example, regardless of the narrative, there is always a certain figure that represents a certain role. An example of this is in many films/tv shows where a hero/heroine is represented as a lead role in the narrative. Normally the hero is looking to solve a problem, often, especially in productions derived from DC or Marvel comics, this is a character that leads two lives, one of which is in secret. a representation of a heroine is very similar to the hero, however their are minor differences. Often a heroine can be representative of a meddling female character, such as Catwoman on The Dark Knight Rises, who at first appears to be a villain, through her thieving, deceitful nature, which occasionally lands some kind of inconvenience to the protagonist male, however these characters normally come to the aid of the hero in their time of need.

In every heroic story, there must be a villain. The villain is often presented in dark, or with a distinctive look, such as in The Dark Knight, where the Joker is displayed as a clown, wearing a shabby purple suit jacket and an often be found shadowed, where focus is occasionally focused on the scars on his face. This character will pose a complicated threat to the hero, or their constituency, hence causing the main narrative.

Propp and Todorov both suggested that a narrative structure is present in most, if not all media products. These structures are compared below.

Propp's 7 Character Types - SlideShare

Propp

An example of Todorov's narrative theory from slideshare

http://www.slideshare.net/SathMan1/vladimir-propps-and-tzvetan-todorovs-narrative-theory

1. Preparation
2. Complications
3. Transference
4. Struggle
5. Return
6. Recognition

Todorov

Todorovs theory suggested that all narratives, from all media types, contain five stages, in this order;

1. Equilibrium
2. Disruption
3. Recognition of Disruption
4. Attempt to Repair Disruption
5. A Return or Restoration of Equilibrium

Theorists to look at;

Theorists to look at;

Tzvetan Todorov
Vladimir Propp
Daniel Chandler
Claude Levi Strauss

Claude Levi Strauss

Tzvetan Todorov

Andrew Goodwin

Vladimir Propp

Daniel Chandler

Questionnaire

Gender: Male / Female

Age: ___

1. What would you say your favourite genre of music is? Circle your preferred genre. For others that you enjoy leave an asterisk (*) beside the genre.

(All genres include their sub-genres)

Blues Hip Hop

Country                        Pop

Dance Rap

Drum and Bass RnB

Electronic Rock

Folk Ska

Jazz

Other (Please State) _______________________

2. What do you like about the genre(s) selected in question 1?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Please list some of your favourite artists from the genres specified in question 1:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. When listening to music, do you enjoy watching the associated music video? And, why?

                   Yes                       No

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. If you answered no above, what could music video producers include to ensure they attract all areas of the market?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. If you answered yes to question 4 what do you find attractive in a music video?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What are your 5 most favourite songs from the last year? 

1._____________________________________________________________________ 2._____________________________________________________________________

3._____________________________________________________________________

4._____________________________________________________________________

5._____________________________________________________________________

8. What are you 5 most favourite music videos from the last year? 

1._____________________________________________________________________ 2._____________________________________________________________________

3._____________________________________________________________________

4._____________________________________________________________________

5._____________________________________________________________________

9. What is your single most favourite music video of all time? and why? (Please describe specifically what you enjoy most about the music video, i.e. narrative, visual effects etc.)

Song Name: _________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. How closely should a music video follow the lyrics of a song, in terms of its narrative? (Circle one)

Not At All (Disjuncture*)

To Some Degree (Amplification**)

Relatively Closely (Illustration***)

Very Closely (Almost Literally)

Word For Word (Literally)

*Disjuncture - Contradiction between lyrics and imagery

**Amplification - new layers of meaning added to the song

***Illustration - not always literal

11. Are you a fan of acoustic music?

                  Yes                      No

12a. in an acoustic music video, would you suggest that use of camera filters (i.e. black and white, sepia etc) would be an effective tool to draw in the audience? 

                  Yes                       No

12b. If you answered Yes to question 12a, why does this effectively draw in an audience?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12c. If you answered No to question 12a, why does this not effectively draw in an audience?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Explain what you would you expect to see (in terms of effects, movements, positioning etc) in a video containing acoustic sound?  (Would you expect disjunctured*, amplified** or illustrated*** visuals?)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Disjuncture - Contradiction between lyrics and imagery

**Amplification - New layers of meaning added to the song

***Illustration - Not always literal

14. Traditionally, music videos require several close ups of the star role of a music video (i.e. artist (lead singer) or character). Is this something that you particular enjoy in a music video?

                  Yes                       No                     Occasionally 

15. Typically, music videos centralise a female character, often this can be highly provocative. Is this you agree with the provocative use of women, or are opposed to? And why? 

                  Yes                       Opposed To

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Uses and Gratifications Theory

The uses and gratifications theory is an extremely popular approach to understanding mass communication. It is primarily focused on the perspective of the consumer, rather than a message.

The ideology of uses and gratifications is that audience members are not passive, but do take an active role in the interpretation and integration of different media types and their own lives. The theory suggests that audiences are responsible for the way in which media acts in terms of meeting the consumer needs, putting full control to the audience.

Theory Model

When we choose a media form, uses and gratifications must fulfill one of the following;

• Identity - the ability to recognise the product or individual in front of you.
• Educate - the ability to acquire information, knowledge and understanding.
• Entertain - consumers should enjoy the product that they are consuming, and also a form of escapism, allowing us to forget our worries momentarily.
• Social Interaction - media types have, for a long time, held the ability to produce a topic for conversation within the audience, i.e. who was voted out of Britain's Got Talent.

Uses and gratifications can be seen in many a media types, including music selection. The modern day consumer chooses their music not only depending on the mood they are in at the time, but in order to display some form of belonging, and to some degree, empowerment, or other socially conscience motives.

Internet

Developments in the internet over the past decade have dictated our perception of the uses and gratification theory. The reason for this comes in many forms, including the use of search engines, social media, video streaming and wiki's.

• Search Engines - Online search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing have allowed us to access any webpage on the internet, which allows us to move closer to our idols or role models.
• Social Media - Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have allowed us to socialise whilst online, allowing a great deal more connectivity and togetherness. MySpace especially has impacted on the music industry, because, it allows artists to share videos of themselves to the world, to be discovered, and since many have including Adele.
• Video Streaming - YouTube, BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 on Demand are just a few video streaming sites that allow us to access entertainment whenever we please. YouTube inparticularly   has allowed us to access a world of established, as well as the up and coming, artists, and many, like MySpace, have been discovered via YouTube, and went on to become global hit, such as Justin Bieber. 
• Wiki's - Wikipedia, is the worlds online encyclopedia and is jammed full of wiki's (online information pages) on millions of topics, it is also completely free and can be corrected/updated, as well as being 100% accessible, 100% of the time. 

Another cover idea....

A cover of OneRepublic's 'Apologise' by Corey Gray.





Corey Gray's YouTube Channel

Final Production Idea's

As I conduct my search to find the perfect cover song to use for my A2 Media Studies music video production, I have come across a number of possibilities.

Here are some I found;

Boyce Avenue's piano acoustic rendition of 'We Found Love' by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris





Boyce Avenue's YouTube Channel

Eli Lieb's cover of the Lana Del Rey song 'Young and Beautfiul' from the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby'.

Eli Lieb's cover version of Rihanna and Micky Ekko's 'Stay'.





Eli Lieb's Music Channel

Jason Chen's acoustic cover of Justin Timberlake's latest single, 'Mirrors'.






Jason Chen's YouTube Channel

Megan Nicole featuring Jason Chen covering 'Just Give Me A Reason' by P!nk featuring Nate Ruess (FUN.)



Megan Nicole's YouTube Channel

Meteo's R&B cover of Lana Del Rey's 'Blue Jeans'.






Mateo's YouTube Channel

Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris' 'I Need Your Love' as covered by Beth





Beth's YouTube Channel

Pentatonix's (PTX) of Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra





Pentatonix's YouTube Channel

Alexi Blue and Corey Gray's acoustic cover of 'Little Talks' by Of Monsters and Men.




Alexi Blue's YouTube Channel

P.S. Please leave some suggestions, right now I'm open to such a wide rang of options, and the songs don't have to be cover versions, they can be original.

(Textual Analysis) U2 - With or Without You (Lyrical Analysis)

 Lyrics 

See the stone set in your eyes -  The stone in your eyes could be a reference to the coldness in the look, or the emotion as portrayed by a look, as someone (perhaps Bono) looks toward another (perhaps his wife) which would be the first suggestion of a conflict being the true meaning of the song.See the thorn twist in your side - The thorn in this reference is a metaphor, suggesting there is something that is damaging, or hurting the figure in question (Bono's family). This could be that this person had done something wrong, and is now regretting this decision. The metaphor could be literally translated as an irritant.I wait for you -  When imagining the meaning surrounds the relationship between Bono and his wife or indeed someone/something else Bono is in love with, this suggests that he refuses to give up on the cause, regardless of what they have done, which could perhaps be his wife having an affair/
Sleight of hand and twist of fate - Fate of course is a synonym for destiny, or the written future. This metaphor suggests a sudden change in the destiny of Bono, whereby he is now struggling to come to terms with this, whilst the 'sleight of hand' reference could be surrounded by its origins of magic and trickery. The idea of 'sleight of hand' is that a magician could pull of a trick with no one quite observing how he/she had done so. This reference to me suggests that the Bono is confused as to how these circumstances have come about.On a bed of nails she makes me wait - Again the use of a metaphor. The bed of nails was an ancient torture device whereby a being would be tied down to a bed covered by upright nails and forced to spill information for their freedom. This is suggestive of how Bono has been left to suffer after what his wife has done.And I wait without you - This is the most simple of all the line, that Bono is now alone, and waiting for his loved one to return.
With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm we reach the shore - Bono is suggesting that despite all the troubles that he and his partner have encountered (the storm), there may be salvation (the shore), which will allow a fresh new start to their relationship. Bono appears to be bargaining with his wife, out of desperation. 
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you


And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away      The lead singer of U2, 'Bono', was quoted in 1987, explaining the true meaning of this line reflects his feeling towards the band at times, and that the band, and its culture has meant he and his bandmates had a struggle between normal life and music, in that they had given away all that they had to be a successful group.
And you giveAnd you give 
And you give yourself away

My hands are tiedMy body bruised, 
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose - she's got me with - Another metaphor, suggesting that Bono has taken many blows and left with the affects of this, in this case being mental scars. She (Bono's partner) has him where she wants him, in that he is now weak, and seeking her, and nothing else, out of pure love, which means when it appears she has been unfaithful, Bono has been left hurting but he cannot bear to give her up. Bono also suggests that with his partner having been taken away, or left, he has been left with nothing, and therefore has nothing left to lose, and nothing to fight for. 

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you

Many people view this song as a reflection of the the passion of christ, and that it is written as an Apostolic Psalm in the style of a Davidic lamentation, whereby Bono, is screaming to Jesus that he cannot live, with or without him. Whilst I would argue that these lyrics are simply a reflection of Bono's ongoing conflict between his two lives; family and profession. Whilst U2, are widely regarded as a deep christian band, and tend to intertwine meanings in their music and videos. 

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

Goodwin is an operatic tenor, born in Sydney, Australia. He began to play violin at the age of 5, as his father, a school teacher was a keen classical music fan. He studied the Voice at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia, under Prof. Lev Morozov, coming out as a Bachelor of Music, graduating in 2005, after 6 years in Russia. During this time he was a regular soloist in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, where he travelled to many cities across the country.


In 2006 he began a postgraduate diploma in vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He made his operatic debut in 2006 for Opera Australia as Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff. And has since become a regular soloist for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

A List of his operatic roles include;

Lensky (Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow) Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky
Fenton (Sydney) Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi
Belmonte (Sydney) The Abduction from the Seraglio; also known as Il Seraglio by Mozart
Don Ottavio (Sydney) Don Giovanni by Mozart
Janek (Sydney) The Makropulos Affair by Leoš Janáček
Tamino (Sydney) The Magic Flute by Mozart
Leandre (Tel Aviv) The Mock Doctor by Charles Gounod
Dante (St.Peterburg) Francesca da Rimini by Sergei Rachmaninov
Avvakum (Moscow) Boyarinya Morozova by Rodion Shchedrin
Alfred (Moscow) Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II

(source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Goodwin_(tenor))

Textual Analysis (Camera and Editing) - Lady Gaga (Bad Romance)

The music video for Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' begins with a zooming long shot, from this we see Gaga centrally positioned, amongst a group of contrasting characters, dressed in white and black, as opposed to Gaga who is dressed in gold. This shot is used as the videos first establishing shot, as we are able to establish the focal point of the video's story. The camera is slowly zooming towards Gaga, cutting twice, once to a mid shot, then to a close up of Gaga's face.

We see a low angled shot of several bottles branded 'Nemiroff', which appears to be related to 'Smirnoff' the Russian Vodka brand, which suggests a russian element to the video. We can then see a long shot of several pods, before it cuts to an extreme close up, as Gaga and her dancers come from the pods, in an almost alien outfit, suggesting some kind of imposing alienation.

Shortly after the beginning of the song, the audience can see an over the should shot, looking in to a mirror, showing an image of Gaga dressed in a full black outfit with sunglasses, which is typically an image of a celebrity attempting to hide her face. We can see Gaga sitting on the edge of a bath, with two tall females standing over her, from a low angled shot, which is suggestive of their superiority, almost as though these two women are working for someone, where Gaga is being submissive to their authority.

From a high angle shot we can see Gaga in a vision of innocence, as she looks directly towards the camera, with very light make up, looking very much natural, with tears falling from her eyes. This shot makes the audience sympathize for Gaga as it seems she is becoming very emotional. The name of the song 'Bad Romance' suggests her ongoing relationship is very much on the edge, however hard to let go of, which leads me to thinking this shot is used to portray her ongoing suffering as a result of this 'Bad Romance'.

Towards the end of the music video we see Gaga walking towards a man dressed all in black. Shot reverse shots are used reflecting on the positioning and emotion of both Gaga and the man, as Gaga approaches him. A close up of Gaga reflects an image of this man from her sun glasses, that allows an image of him readying himself by removing his jacket, whilst he remains in a lounged position suggesting his control over Gaga through superiority, suggesting his position as a lover. After this Gaga removes her white fur coat, which gives us these sexual connotations as it appears she is trying to entertain this man, who appears to be a lover, rather than the general argument suggesting his position as a buyer from a Russian Mafia group. Whilst a close up on him sitting forward in interest, as opposed to his relaxed lounge position previously seen.

AMP Objectives and Copyright

AMP Brief

Plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills (AO3)

Apple knowledge and understanding in evaluating your own work, showing how meanings and responses are created (AO2)

Undertake, apply and present appropriate research (AO4)

Copyright 

A2 Media Studies does not support pirated material, therefore, in order to use copyrighted music for a music video production, I must either obtain consent from the rightful owners of the material in question, or use an original cover version.