Analaysis of a student video watched in class (planning)

In class we analysed a number of video's that student's had constructed, one of the video's we observed was to a song called bullet proof by an artist named La Roux which falls into the categorical genre of pop. Through careful analysis of this video I have concluded that the genre was misrepresented throughout the video in that the mise en scene was not indicative of which genre the girls were trying to represent. The only giveaway was the song because it was familiar. The costumes did not highlight typical pop cultured outfits and the locations that were selected did not compliment the genre. From a narrative perspective the narrative did not have a direct link to the lyrics, which could arguably represent disjuncture to an extent; nonetheless the overall concept of the video was missed and the song's meaning was lost due to this objective choice. Despite all of this the editing was of a particularly high standard, there were a variety of shots incorporated and good use of clear cut transitioning. There was also good framing of shots and manipulation of pace in the video. I particularly liked the part where the girls made use of the split screening technique. In addition to this I also like where they put a recording frame on the screen to make it appear as if there was a camera within a camera recording them. Overall from an editing perspective I felt that there were some amazing elements that I would even consider using in my own finished product, however I feel like due to the lack of planning in mise en scene combined the non-illustrative nature of the video the concept  and meaning of the song was lost. As a result of this I feel obliged to take a more illustrative approach in terms of narrative when working on my own music video and will try to ensure that the mise en scene is carefully planned to the best of my ability.

Analysis of Student Video (Research)

After watching a few music videos from previous students, only one really stuck out for me. The song 'Everybody needs love' is vibrant and joyful and the students managed to portray this image across the video. The video was black and white and the colour red was exaggerated throughout.
It featured  a main singer and members of the public singing the chorus and holding up 'Everybody needs love' banners. I think this idea was very original and contributed to the song because it gave out a good message.
The variety of locations and shots kept us entertained and some shots were cleverly repeated in a way so that it wouldn't look boring.

Vladimir Propp (research)

Russian born Vldadimir Propp was a russian  and soviet formalist scholar who analyzed basic plot compmonents of Russian folk tales; identifying basic narrative structures. Vladimir devised a theory concerning the basic structure to which he believed narrative followed in terms of characters and plotting. Vladimir's character analysis consists of a hero, who he believes is seeking something; and a villan who opposes the hero. Additionaly there is a donor, who helps the hero by giving him a magic object and the dispatcher who sends the hero on his way. Vladimir also believed there was a false hero, whom wrongly assumes the role of the hero and the helper who behaves similar to the donor in offering help to the hero. Finally the princess who is the reward for the hero and needs to be protected from the villian. There is also the role of the princesses father.

Concerning narrative functioning vladimir believed there were three stages in basic narrative structure, these structures consist of preperation, i.e the introudctory sequence in which he named the 1st sphere. This is closely followed by a complication in which could consist of the villian harming a family member and the hero typically seeking action against him/her. This structure is defined as being the body of the story and is the 2nd sphere. The 3rd sphere consists of transference whereby the hero is typically tested and as a result receives a helper to conquer the battle they are facing. The 4th and final sphere is subjective of the hero's return.



Trey_Songz_-_Cant_Help_But_Wait_-_Video_Premiere_-
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This video I believe follows the general concept of vladimir's theory in that the female plays the role of the so called "princess" whilst trey songz potrays the role of the hero and the other male plays the villain. In this video we can see that the other male plays abusive partner (villain) whilst the female is potrayed as being the damsil in distress who is in need of rescuing. Which is where trey songz comes in in what is called the second sphere as a complication is established. He is tested by the villain, however nanages to his love interest, rightfully claiming his reward. Though some of the elements of Vladimir's theory can be identified in this video, many of the characters Vladimir believed to be prominent in all narrative's were absent, and after searching for numerous video's I have seen that Vladimir's theory has many flaws in its anatomy.  As  a result I have concluded that it is very rare for this theory to be completely applicable in music video's.

Music Video Analysis(Research)

The following analysis is for the Cheryl Cole music video for "Fight For This Love". Cheryl Cole is a UK female pop artist who is well known around  the world because she is also apart of one of the UK`s award wining girl bands called "Girls Aloud". This song was the first track of her debut album called "3words".

The link to "Fight for this love" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMiy_UsrPDs

Genre

I believe that the video is not a typical female pop artist video. I feel that the whole video has a more urban look to it, due to the fact of the costume Cheryl is wearing and also because of the animated mise en scene. I believe that the only reason that you really know that the song is a pop song is because she has choreographed dancers in the back. This would be unusual for other geners such as rap songs because they might have dancers in the background but they are not choreographed and are usually woman dressed more prerogative. However i believe that the costume is linked to the lyrics of the song because Cheryl is dressed in a fashionable army jacket and boots. This is a play on the lyrics and another connection because of the words "Fight for this Love". This is a connection because in the army the fight for there country which they love and want to protect.

Narrative

I believe that the narrative in this video is very clear and follows a clear pattern of "verse-chorus-verse- chorus". I believe that Cheryl is narrates and participate in the video. She shows the audience what she is going to do and that she will not give up. However i don't believe this video has a Strong narrative like other videos do having visual content in the video which is followed by the lyrics like a story.

Representation

I believe that in this video Cheryl is being represented as an independent woman by the way she is dressed and her movement throughout the whole video. It makes me feel that she is a powerful woman and never gives up in what she believes in. This whole representation reminded me of American urban/pop/r&b group "Destiny's Child" in there video "Survivor". This whole of woman doing everything for themselves and there morals on self believing.

Media Language

On the whole i believe that the media language throughout this video is extremely good & is of a high standard. For example the video is edited very well, all of the shots are connected well and you can rarely see the editing because it happens so fast. Another good feature of this video is that the video itself is edited to the soundtrack(beat).This means that each time a different shot appears it changes at the same time of the beat and not at a random order. This technique affects the video overall because it makes it look like a more high standard video and it allows the audience to follow the video with them being confused.This is also makes the whole mood of the video much more fast paste and up beat tempo. Also throughout the video there is animation used. The use of the animation gives the video more colour and its own special look. Because i believe without the animation element within the video, it would not be a good music video because it would look to bland. Also there would not be anything linking the song to its lyrics accept for the costume.  I believe throughout the video the use of lighting is very bright, accept for when they are just trying to focus on Cheryl's face then the back ground is a bit darker and there is more light focused on her face.

Analysis of Music Video (research)

N-Dubz is a group made up of 3 people, two boys and a girl. N-Dubz Started off as a grime group, but as there popularity grew and they became more famous they became more mainstream and had a wider target audience, I think N-Dubz now fits into the category of R’n’b . N-Dubz is now a lot more appealing to a wider group of people this has lead to there success as a British urban group. The two male characters are the rappers and the female member is the singer.




Although N-Dubz no longer fits into the genre of grime, representations throughout the video suggests that the group is still quite urban. Flash cars have been used in this video, to symbolise wealth; this follows the tradition of other rap and R’n’b videos. The male characters in this video are wearing ‘bling’; again this is used to symbolise wealth. The different camera shots such as close up and mid-shots are used throughout the video. This allows the viewers to see the jewellery the artists are wearing, and it also displays Dappys tattoos. Bling and tattoos are though to be appealing to the main target audience of this genre of music.

As a music group N-Dubz has come a long way, and this video shpws that. The video has been shot in a very nice house. This suggests wealth wide shots and long shots were also used in this video in order to show off the property.

This music video dose not support Mulveys theory; as women were shown as whole and they weren’t ‘dismembered’ in this music video. However the were shown in short clothing but I think they still looked presentable. This music video had a linear narrative and it was an illustration music video.  The lyrics ant this video were linked well together and they told a story.

Additional letters requesting copyright permission (planning)

 

Dear Charles,

I am writing to you as I would like to formally request copyright permission to use the whole song of Katy B’s on a mission.

I am a student of A Level Media Studies and for my Advanced Portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a new album track.  I would like to request permission to use the above track for this project. 

The finished project will not be made available publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes.  The holder of the original copyright will be fully acknowledged in the finished project. 

If you do not hold the rights for this song I should be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person, or return it to me with the contact details in order that I might approach the copyright holder directly.

Yours faithfully

Tyra Hibbert-Williams

tyra_h@live.co.uk

More  letters requesting copyright permission for the following songs/artisits...

• N-Dubz-Say its over

• Tinie Tempah-Pass Out

Short list of potential songs (planning)

We began shortlisting our songs by holding a small discussion, however we found it difficult to think of songs by British artists because the majority of music we listen to is from a foreign country.

Because of this we decided to brainstorm all the British artists we could think of. When we had done this, we found it much easier to narrow down our options to those more suitable.

After narrowing down the artists, we then thought of songs we thought we could make exceptional videos for. Tinie Tempah - Frisky, Kate Nash - Foundations, Roll Deep - Good times and Chipmunk - Opsy Daisy were some of our last options. To help us decide what to pick, we watched the videos of these songs to see whether we could create a video of the same standards or better then itself. With this in mind we agreed that N- Dubz - Ouch, Chipmunk - Opsy Daisy or Kate Nash - Foundations were more realistic measures as the others had very high production videos.

As we couldn't choose our final song, we decided to put them all in a hat and pick one. The outcome of this was N- Dubz - Ouch.