Narrative Workshop (Andrew Goodwin)

'Music videos are simply an extension of the lyrics.' - Andrew Goodwin

How could you prove/disprove this?

Some music videos follow the lyrics and the storyline of the song so that the video represent the message that is portrayed in the song and they use emotion as well like the music video for 'Wrecking Ball' by Miley Cyrus. However, some music video is completely separated from the song, so that the music video almost doesn't have anything to do with the song. An example of this is the music video for 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger' by Daft Punk.


What does it mean?

The quote means that music videos are there to enhance the meaning of the lyrics and the storyline behind the song and are visual representations of the song.


How significant is this?

It mainly depends on the song as some songs can be really ambiguous and vague and people can take different meanings from the song. This is also the same for when people watch music videos as people can take several different meanings from the video. There is also significance with the lyrics as they can be either literal or metaphorical and the music video can only enhance that.


What evidence can you already present for this?

An example that I thought of immidealtly which disproves the theory, is 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke. Whilst the song itself and the video are fairly up-beat, the actual lyrics and the meaning is quite dark and contreversial, but the music video is completley different thus giving the song quite a positive feel.

An example that I feel proves the theory is, 'Run Boy Run' by Woodkid as I feel the video follows the lyrics.


Do you agree with this?

I do agree with this mainly because the music video can enhance the lyrics and make the message thats being sent across more clear. However, I think that sometimes the song can change the meaning of the music video.

Lip Syncing Critique & Review

This is the presentation we created for our critiquing and review.




Here is out video:

Skills Review

Skills Review

 

Research & Planning

We were given the Gangster genre for our film opening which meant that I had to look into the genre and watch several films just to get a general feel for the genre. I then looked at several film openings from each sub-genre (Brit/Film Noir/Mob/Detective) like Pulp Fiction and Sunset BLVD., in order to get a more in-depth idea and it helped me decided what kind of film opening I wanted to make. After deciding that I wanted to create a Film Noir/Detective opening, I looked into the audience and created a survey using ‘Survey Monkey’ with questions like ‘What kind of music would you like to see?’ and ‘Are you interested in 1940’s/50’s glamour?’ I then sent it to a large group of people to get a general idea of the kind of audience that I would be targeting.  I then took the answers I got back from my Survey and used it to create a ‘Voki’ which was a representation of my audience.

During the planning, I created a little narrative so that it was easier to create the film opening and it gave me a guideline whilst I was filming. I then looked into music and sound as we weren’t allowed to use Copyrighted music which meant I had to look around on the internet to find a suitable piece of music which fitted with the film opening and the narrative that went with it. I also had to look at the titles which meant me looking at Film Noir openings and seeing what kind of font style they used, the length of that the titles were up for and general things like that. I then looked at physical things which I would need during the actual filming like planning out the costume that the actor would wear and the props used in the film opening.

The one thing which I wish to improve is the planning. I wish it was more in-depth like I knew what type of camera shots I needed to use and create a storyboard so I knew everything to the tiniest detail making it easier when I filmed.

Using Conventions from Real Media Texts

When I was doing my research for my film opening, we looked at the main conventions of the gangster genre and what seemed to be the norm in those kinds of. I looked at the conventions and how they related to the four main areas (Mise En Scene/Sound/Editing/Camera) I discovered that the mise en scene varied with the sub-genres as well as the sound, but the camera and editing seemed to be very similar. I found that the music used for Film Noir was usually classical music which I chose to show the convention in my film opening. The props used were also fairly similar across all four sub-genres using things like, Guns and Cigarettes.

 One thing I did notice was that women seemed to play a very small part, if any at all, and were normally seen as weak and vulnerable as well as sexual objects. Because of this stereotype, I wanted to deliberately challenge this which is why I made my main character a female detective as well as the victim being a woman, which showed both sides of the spectrum. I found that women play a bigger role in Film Noir movies than any other sub-genre which is one of the main reasons why I chose that particular genre to do.

Creativity

To start off my film opening I created a mood boards and used Mind Maps in order to start off my inspiration. I looked at quite a lot of female icons like Marilyn Monroe and more modern ones like Kelly Brook and Dita Von Teese in order to see what they whereas they are seen as icons.

As well as using mind maps and mood boards, I looked at other film openings but not just specific to the Gangster Genre. For example, I looked at Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’,’ Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and a fight scene from ‘Kick Ass’ in order to get some inspiration and what styles I could take from the film openings.

Ever since beginning the project, I would say I have been seeing things with a more artistic eye and paying attention to Cinematography more when watching movies. For example, I went to see Maleficent during which I looked more at the Cinematography and the effects used in the film.

I think that if I were to do the film opening again, I think I would try more artistic things so that it fits into the Film Noir sub-genre as well as making everything a bit smoother.

Digital Technology

To film my film opening, I used my own camera which was a Canon G11. The camera is a lot smaller than a normal DSLR so it was easier to carry around when I was filming, but it stilled maintained a fairly high quality. Using my own camera proved to be quite useful as it meant I could film whatever I wanted, where and when I wanted to instead of having to wait for a weekend.

The tripod I used was also my own and whilst it proved useful it wasn’t as stable as I hoped as I was filming outside a lot on un-even ground. Also, the tripod was a bit stiff so when I was doing a lot of panning shots, it looked a bit jerky and not smooth which meant I had to re-film it.

For editing, I used Premier Pro, which I found it a bit of a struggle to use at first mainly because I hadn’t used the editing programme before but as I used it more I found that I was becoming more used to it.

Post – Production

For editing, I used Premier Pro, which I found to be very useful, as it allowed me to be very specific with everything that I wanted to edit. The programme allowed me to cut clips at exact points so that it flowed exactly how I wanted it. It also allowed me to change the colour of the clips, so that it was in Black and White. Despite having my final film in colour, I used the effects on Premier Pro so that it was Black and White on my First Draft.

Composition & Framing Task Review

 

The task we had was that we had to create four photographs, thinking about Composition and Framing, which had to present a theme and my theme was Love/Hate.

After showing my first set of images to the class, we talked about the main Composition and Framing techniques which were; Symmetry, Space, Perspective, Colour, Depth of Field, Framing. We were then told to go back out and re-take a few photographs but thinking more about the composition and framing of the photo.

 

 

The First Set of Photos I took:

 In the first set of images, I concentrated more on whether my theme was conveyed, instead of thinking about composition and technique.

 

 

 As we had to re-do some photos, I felt I had think more about variety and how the image is set up rather than thinking about whether the photos represent my theme, which is going to help me when I think about my music video.

 

 

The Second Set of Photos I took:

In the second set of images, I used the same ideas but worked it so that it incorporated some of the composition techniques as well.

 

 

 

 

 

For Example:

 

 

Both of these photos use the same principle but in the second one, I though more about depth of field, so the girl is in focus and everything else is slightly blurred.

 

(First Photo)

 

 

(Second Photo)

 

 

 

 

 

The same with the next two, but I thought more about space and using Negative Space. So in the first photo the two people is placed centrally in the shot, where as in the second shot, I had them positioned slightly to left so it incorporated Negative Space.

(First Photo)

 

(Second Photo)

 

 

 I felt like I improved the photos which didn't incorporate any composition techniques so that they weren't just shot head on and they're was something which became visually interesting.