KEY TERMS: LIP SYNC, EDIT TO THE BEAT, FRAMING, VARIETY OF SHOTS, MOVEMENT, EQUIPMENT, MES, ACTING, DIRECTING, STAR IMAGE
Include photos from the day of you ‘filming’ and prepping.
Overview of how the day went – where, when and with whom.
Then about 6 bullet points for what went well and 6 bullet points for where you think you might need to improve on the next shoot and/or if you need to do any performance pick ups again.
ROUGH CUT
KEY TERMS: LIP SYNC, EDIT TO THE BEAT, STAR IMAGE, VARIETY OF SHOTS, VARIETY OF MOVEMENT, POST PRODUCTION, GENRE, REPERTOIRE OF ELEMENTS, CONVENTIONS
Edit the whole song using your performance footage.
Attempt to lip sync and edit to the beat.
You will then see if you need any extra performance shots and you then have ‘something’ to enter in case of dire situations.
This is vital so that everyone knows what they are expected to bring for the shoot – costumes, make up, props etc.
You must include photos for costumes and props. Order on amazon, ebay now. Don’t wait until next week. Visit charity shops. Ask Mrs Cobb as Media have a good collection of costumes and props and so does she. The devil is in the detail – no wrong socks, hairbands on wrists, irrelevant necklaces or earrings! Make every detail count.
Check the background too – is there a random car, rubbish bags, your own camera bags? Remind yourselves of these essential checks on the PMA.
LEARNING INTENTIONS: to explore and identify key filming conventions and performance styles for my genre.
KEY TERMS: genre, repertoire of elements, conventions, cinematography, editing, star image
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE STAR IMAGE!
How the star/band/performer is represented in your video and on the digipak and social media page is crucial in constructing the values, attitudes and beliefs of the artist in the mind of the target audience.
REPRESENTATION, AUDIENCE AND OWNERSHIP ARE COMPLETELY INTERTWINED CONCEPTS!
WHAT IS THE INSTITUTIONAL PURPOSE OF A MUSIC VIDEO?
Music videos are made primarily to promote the star, in order to sell their music, in order to make money…well mostly!
THEY ARE ALSO CONSTRUCTED TO CONSTRUCT A SET OF DESIRES IN THE TARGET AUDIENCE TO BE LIKE THEM, THINK LIKE THEM, LOVE WHAT THEY LOVE, BE INVOLVED IN THEIR LIVES & BUY WHAT THEY SUGGEST.
There are huge synergies between marketing and star image! We don’t just buy a product we also buy into the values of the star image and in purchasing their product emulate them. Media representations of the star image is crucial in terms of raising an audience awareness.
STARS SHOULD BE STUDIED AND ANALYSED LIKE ANY OTHER TEXT!
They are essentially walking talking brands, who use their branding to advertise, publicise and sell to fans. Stars have to remain constantly interesting to keep the fans intrigued – the star image evolves and is constantly reinvented by media companies! In fact Stars could be seen as its own special kind of ‘species’.
Richard Dyer is a theorist you need to learn about. He came up with some concepts about how ‘star image’ works in the media. The link to the concepts booklet is in the menu at the top of the blog. Find it, add it to your drive, print it, LEARN IT!
TASK
CREATE A STAR IMAGE CONCEPT BOARD IN CANVA
Your task is to take the ‘star’ (performer, duet, band, group…) in real life or a similar one, and analyse how they are represented in the media.
Find examples of news stories, incidents, events, digipak covers, music videos, articles, blogs, tweets that all contribute to their ‘star image’. The way they are represented is called their ‘metanarrative‘ (over arching story about them).
This is a link to an excellent example. You should have at least 15 – 20 images/articles and adjectives of how that particular example represents them pinned to the examples.
You can do this task as a group but must all equally contribute to the page.
Once you have completed the board with relevant examples and ADD IN TITLES WITH ADJECTIVES ON THE BOARD, do an individual reflection that sums up their ‘star image’ and how this might influence your own ‘styling’ of your star in your performance shoot.
How do you want them to be represented (angry, rebellious, mellow, empathetic, angry)?
How will you achieve this (visual design, body language, gestures, facial expressions, colours, costumes, props, make up?)
LEARNING INTENTIONS: to explore and identify key filming conventions and performance styles for my genre.
KEY TERMS: genre, repertoire of elements, conventions, cinematography, editing, star image
Instead of a written list of shots we want you to create a visual shotlist of the kind of shots you want to include in your performance shoot. This is a group effort so share a PADLET.com board amongst you.
However, certain genres (types) of music rely specifically on certain types of cinematography as part of the repertoire of elements (conventions, ingredients). For example:
Heavy rock might have canted, hand held camera shots with whip pans a plenty, which helps convey a genre that is energetic, anarchic and rebellious.
Indie acoustic might include smoother, longer, pull focus shots that represent the artist as sincere, laid back and unhurried.
You should study other bands of a similar genre and YOUR OWN and then collate @ 9 screen shots and make some GIFS (FOR MOVEMENT) of conventional shots, frames, angles USED IN TYPICAL VIDEOS OF YOUR GENRE. This way you can begin to learn what is conventional to your genre – remember you have to please your audience so need to make sure your video conforms to their expectations so that it is ultimately, THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT so that it will follow conventions but be different and new and unique enough not to be boring.
You should look at at least 3 – 4 other music videos and then use a collation of shots from them. You will then title the shots with an explanation of the shot i.e.
close up of guitarist’s instrumental mastery represents his skill and talent
whip pans between band members looking at each other underlines their close team work and energy
master long shot of band performing as a unit portrays their oneness
mid shot pan of band members makes them appear approachable and ordinary to the audience
extreme close up of lead singer’s expressive face and vocals etc represents him as extraordinary and intense
Always add in some textual analysis….how does that shot help represent, connote, convey, portray the star and ultimately, the genre?
YOU NEED 9 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SHOT; distance, angle, framing, movement, special.
LEARNING INTENTION: To appreciate the issue of copyright in the Music Industry and ask for permission to use the song for educational purposes only.KEY TERMS: Copyright, permission.
It is important that you are seen to be doing the ‘right’ thing and requesting the permission of the artist to use their song for ‘education purposes’ only.
Tweet, insta, facebook, email them to politely ask, if it would be alright to use the song for the purposes of making a music video for your A Level Media Studies.
This shows that you are aware of the copyright issues that surround many artists’ material being used illegally. They are unlikely to say no but they could say yes and get back to you.
Take a screen shot of the message and upload to your blog.
LEARNING INTENTION: To ensure that all group members understand their role and commitment to the project and to outline their availability to the project outside of school hours.
KEY TERMS: collaboration, communication, organisation, delegation, commitment.
Please spend time this lesson working on your Production Group Agreement. Think about the general (transferable) skills your team will need: diplomacy, organisation, compromise, creativity… as well as the technical skills like choreography editing, costume design & lighting…
Think back to the preliminary video tasks: What technical and personal qualities did people possess that helped you deliver the product and on reflection, where were the problems and what did you lack as a group?
Upload it to you blog and remember to use a thumbnail to attach the link to. Also, please include a brief commentary on:
What is the document that you have uploaded? Use the key terms above.
In what ways will this discussion help you manage the project?
Remember to use pdfs and jpegs – NOT LINKS to GOOGLE FILES!
LEARNING INTENTION: To plan, produce and present a pitch for your final idea to your teacher and be able to outline the performance, narrative etc.KEY TERMS: STAR IMAGE, PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE, CONVENTIONS, NARRATIVE STRUCTURE, NARRATIVE TYPE, MES
You need to:
Meet your group and thrash it out! Whose idea will you go with? One or the other or a combination? If it is a combination, then you will need to create a new presentation using slides from both individual pitches.
Complete the Perfect Production Group agreement. Print, sign and embed. See previous post.
COLLATE A NEW PITCH BASED ON SOMEONE’S IDEA – YOU CAN ADD, DELETE IDEAS, COMBINE IDEAS FROM THE PREVIOUS MINI PITCH.
Remember, to include the following in your slideshow presentation/pitch.
Embed the MP3/lyric video
Embed the lyrics
Complete a word cloud with @ 20 descriptive words, adjectives, adverbs, nouns that come to mind when you listen to the song – synesthesia
Complete a very brief 4 sentence description of the narrative – themes and action, location, actors etc AND IMAGES
Complete a very brief 4 sentence description of the performance – where, MES, who? AND IMAGES
Be prepared to share your vision with your teacher.
You will film your pitch to the teacher then Top and Tail it and put it on your blog.
Then give yourself:
@ 6 x positives that you came away with
@ 6 x targets, aspects to consider
Include the key terms in your intro, reflection and focus forward.
