Here are the fabulous dummy mash up videos we made as a preliminary exercise for the music video.
Please reflect on the product and process. What have you learned that you can take into the real video you’re going to making next half term?
Block C
Block B
Block A (Group 1)
Block A (Group 2)
Block A (Group 3)
Synaesthesia is a way of generating ideas from music – effectively ‘seeing sounds in your head’.
It is a really helpful technique to use when listening to music in order to come up with visual ideas.
When listening to a piece of music you should concentrate on each of the following features in turm:
Here is a Prezi which explains and illustrates these ideas:
Task 1 (done collectively)
Task 2: you have @ 5 lessons and independent study to complete this.
Please listen to music on these site for inspiration:
This presentation should include:
Just some inspiration!
It is always worth looking at OTHER ART forms for inspiration. Photos, art, websites, films, theatre – they could all spark a moment of imagination.
These are just a few links to ‘weird and wonderful’ youtube videos:
Beckett play – Theatre of the Absurd – Quad
Not I – Beckett
Beckett – Acting without words – I High
The Bed Experiment – Theatre of Cruelty
DV8 – Physical Theatre – 3 ballets
Enter Achilles – Dv8 – physical theatre
This is a link to a really intriguing channel on YouTube. Have a look at his videos though – a myriad of ideas perhaps?
Cut and paste the questions above and give some detailed responses to them – what did you learn from the task? what will you take away? how will your production benefit from this exercise? Flag up what went wrong too – this was a learning experience so make sure you have learnt valuable lessons in readiness for your own production.
Remember to use as much media lingo as you can that you have learnt so far – include the terms (conventions, repertoire of elements, blueprint, contract, predictable pleasure, star image, paradox of the star, metanarrative, extraordinary, ordinary, present, absent, genre, narrative, disjunctive, amplification, illustrative, performance, break the 4th wall etc…) and also refer to the product/text with specific moments, examples, outcomes.
IMPORTING THE FOOTAGE AND FOLDER CREATION.
You have this week to film and edit your Dummy Mash Up. We will not be organising this for you. It is a ‘dummy’ run in organisation and production. You may need to use frees and lunchtimes – just as you will with your music video next term.
Before you leave for the weekend have you talked about and organised the following:-
Blogs – there are one or two of you who are already significantly behind. If there is not a positive improvement over the weekend then contracts will be issued and parents contacted. Not a good way to start the A2 – if you are not keeping up now, then it does not bode well for next term. JUST DO IT!
Create a shared pinterest post on how a star of a similar genre to your DMU section is conveyed in the media. How do they come across in their music videos? How are they represented in the media? on Twitter? On Facebook? On fanzones? On websites? In interviews? All of these ideas should help fuel how you are going to represent your star in your section.
How are they connoted, portrayed, represented? This is their star image; Their meta-narrative.
See the sheet below for some theory on star image, representation and meta-narrative and The Paradox of the Star:
Example
Here is an example Pintrest Board for Michael Jackson
YOU NEED @ 15 images AND VARIOUS ADJECTIVES – USE A THESAURUS.
You can see if the drama studio or lecture theatre are free but keep it simple.
Do not over complicate the filming.
Get the right MES (costumes), film the performance in a variety of ways – get the performer to sing and film in close up – get the performer to sing again and this time film it in long shot – get the performer to sing again and this time film in mid shot – get the performer to sing again and use some movement/angles. Then change MES and locations if you want.
Use 2 cameras at any one shoot so that you can double up during performances.
You will then have several different sequences to cut between. SIMPLES!
PROPS – use upturned bins for drums……blow up guitars……electronic keyboards for pianos. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE FILMING!
You only have 1 lesson to get your performer dressed, rehearsed and filmed. You need to be organised.
Sometimes LESS IS MORE!
TASK 1 – Visual Shot List – Joint task
This is to ensure you understand just how many shots are involved in a short 30 second segment.
Reflect: so what do you notice? Is there a predominance of certain shots, edits, transitions? What can you see might be conventional for that particular genre?
Additional: Then look at least 3 other videos of the same genre and find 3 other exciting, inspirational shots, edits that you could use as well in your filming of the performance and add these in at the end of the presentation.
TASK 2 – Annotated Lyrics – Joint Task
TASK 3 – Production Meeting Agenda – Joint task
You need to really start to think about co-ordinating locations, props, sets, costumes and make up. Think about this now so that you have time to get it together for next week’s filming.
Your group will now have been allocated a specific ‘generic’ section of the Dummy Mash Up that you need to research, plan, film and edit.
Taking your ‘genre’ (acoustic, pop, rap, indie rock, girl band etc) you must now research what are the conventional features that are associated with this genre of music video? This ‘repertoire of elements’ (recipe of ingredients) is something you will need to research in your own video and be able to write about and analyse in the exam, so the sooner you start thinking in media term and focus on genre, the better.
Conventions are Crucial. Why? They give predictable pleasure to the audience who will have certain expectations that they want satisfied – the music producers will follow a pre-established ‘blueprint’ (map) that they follow which will form part of the ‘contract’ (mutual agreement) with the audience. However, audiences demand novelty and in order to be creative and to ensure that the video is watched again and again, there has to be something that goes beyond conventional boundaries in order to make it watchable, entertaining, intriguing – new.
Genre document – terms and theorists
Task 1:
Create a collage of images taken from music videos of similar artists of the same genre. Find conventional features – what style of costume, narrative (themes), location, performance style, cinematography (camera & lighting), editing regularly feature in music videos from this genre of music? A clear understanding of these conventional features will inspire you for your Dummy Mash Up section.
Annotate your collage with appropriate adjectives, nouns, adverbs that relate to that genre – edgy, rebellious, emotional, romantic, canted angles and any other words that you associate with the genre I.e. Bass guitar, ripped jeans, festivals, live performance, cover versions, countryside etc.
Once you have done this, discuss your findings with the group so that you can start to iron out and focus on how to make your section ‘conventional‘ yet ‘contemporary‘ or in other simpler terms, ‘the same but different’?
Here’s an example:
Elements of punk, grunge, indie & rock.
Your research and planning into Music Video conventions will include a ‘practise’ performance shoot for a specific genre of music.
We have allocated ‘genres’s to specific groups and each group will perform for their partnered group.
Above is last year’s valiant effort. The aim is to produce a performance video that shows you understand how genre is conveyed and communicated through the use of MES, Camera and Editing and how the star image of the band/performer is represented.
Here are the groups and allocated sections of songs that you have got to work with!
Your first task is to convert the song to an MP3 and place it in a folder in the D Drive of your production computer. Then download a copy of the lyrics and highlight the section you are working with.
Here is a playlist of some of the best music videos made by students from The Sixth Form. They are an example of what is possible and moreover – what works:
Task:
Here are the assessment criteria.
Independent Study Tasks
Here’s a music video we’re going to complete a close analysis of, Katy Perry – Chained to the Rhythm:
You should type up that analysis and embed it into the post called Close Analysis of Music Video.
Here is a blank version of the form you can use.
To supplement this, you must do your own close analysis. Choose another video from the list suggested and use the sheet attached (make your own copy) and do your own analysis.
This work is important as it shows that you are able to deconstruct the narrative, performance, star image and generic & technical conventions of a music video. This will help inform your own production ideas and help prepare you for the exam by starting to use all the terms that you need.
Example
Radiohead – Just
Kodaline – Love Like This
Lana del Rey – Born to Die
Muse – Time is Running Out
Taylor Swift – Wildest Dreams
Christina Aguilera – Say Something
Foo Fighters – Pretender
One of the most important elements of your video will be an understanding of the relationship between narrative and the song.
When you are exploring your sixth music videos you should be considering the relationship between the song and the narrative. It is:
Illustration:
Amplification:
Disjuncture:
Study, reflect, consider, enjoy, be inspired:
This week we’re going to be watching most of the videos from this playlist. They were carefully chosen because as they illustrate many of the conventions typical of this media form.
You need to study these videos carefully so that you understand the following:
You must be understand these things in order to be able the develop and devise videos of your own video and knowingly use, challenge or subvert conventional features.
Complete this form and make a copy yourself and then save as a PDF and upload to your blog.
It is your first piece of coursework so do it well!
Here are some other suggestions but try and get a range of genres and different narrative/performance ratios.
Narrative Only
Performance Only
Performance and Narrative (disjunctive)
Narrative Only
Narrative and Performance
Performance and Narrative
Choose your theme wisely. Choose a Mobile Friendly one so that you can access it easily on any device.
These are some of the more effective looking themes for your new blog:
Take pride in your blog. Remember to do short but illuminating introductions and summaries to each upload, document, insert or link.
Lay it out beautifully – remember you are media students and should be interested in how post represent your understanding. Maintain design continuity regarding the layout, font, font size, headings, bold, post titles etc.
Check your spellings – get someone to proof it on a regular basis. Remember to make attachments PDFs and to use a thumbnail photo as the link.
And KEEP ON TOP OF IT! You (probably) now know how it feels to get behind, start panicking and rush around to try and catch up. Year 13 is a busy year for everything so make a pact: A POST A DAY IS THE WAY TO AN ‘A’!
It is a no brainer; get the marks where they are the most straightforward to pick up.
Good luck and happy blogging.
HELLO AND WELCOME BACK! WE HAVE MISSED YOU!
The good news is, you all made it – the bad news is, the hard works starts right here, right now!
Your A2 blog is going to be a more sophisticated version of your AS blog.
You’ll still be creating posts and uploading / embedding content in exactly the same way.
The difference will be that you will create a static front page, which you will personalise with your star image / brand and use the images, typefaces and designs you have used on your digipack. It will also feature your final products.
The user (examiner) will navigate your blog content under four simple headings. They are:
Here is a document to help you start your new Advanced Portfolio blog.
Here is a link which itemises all the posts on the blog which we expect you to post between now and the end of January 2018:
A2 Blog Content – remember you need to CATEGORISE EACH POST UNDER MUSIC VIDEO, DIGIPAK, ADVERT OR EVALUATIONS in DRAFTS – DO NOT PUBLISH.
The type of opening welcome you need on your static front page is:
Hello and welcome to my A2 Media Studies portfolio. To see my research, planning, production and evaluation work, please use the navigation tabs at the top of the blog.’
‘This is the brief we were set in September 2017’
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together
with two of the following three options:
Here are my finished products:
Many of you will remember that Jack and Elliot showed how they had made sure they ‘tested’ their ideas before filming. They spent time and effort ensuring the lighting and location was exactly what they wanted to prove that their ideas, concept was achievable.
Some of you have fairly challenging ideas in terms of lighting, location and camera work and FX so we are asking you to do some test shots over the coming week and weekend. This means finding the ideal locations and setting up with any required lighting and trying out the shot to see if the vision works.
You will need to complete a risk assessment before you do this so make sure this assessment has been discussed and agreed with your teacher & parents.
FILMING RISK ASSESSMENT – SPECIFIC
You do not need to involve your cast/performers/actors at this stage as you can use each other as models. Also remember that anyone under 18 who appears in your video must get their own parents/guardians to sign the parental consent form.
Here are some very basic Concept videos that Mrs C tried out this summer to prove that she could use the camera for movement in a specific way and also that there were the relevant filters, FX she wanted to use and use of the Prem Pro presets for an imaginary ‘flower music video’ (!). There are also some random photos taken this weekend on a walk around the lanes near her house. The kind of exercise you should be doing this weekend to show where and how you will be shooting your video.