Media Language

Creative Critical Reflection 2

Standard

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

Task:

  • Video directors commentary on all three products with particular reference to star image & brand values.

You are working in your production group to prepare the video for this but you must contribute equally to the voice over and introduce yourself when speaking. You make some bullet point prompts together, but you must be able to verbalise and explain these concepts & how they apply yourself!

Preparing the video for the commentary.

  1. Create a new Premiere project and import the .mp4 file you exported as your final draft for your music video.
  2. Drop the video into ‘sequence one’ timeline, ‘Unlink’ the sound (A1) from the  video (V1)
    1. You will either delete the sound channel completely or…
    2. …fade the music in and out over the commentary.
  3. Record a commentary explaining the brand image you have communicated in your video, digipack and website.
    1. The emphasis in this voiceover should be how the three products are…visually, thematically, aesthetically, generically, institutionally & ideologically linked into your BRAND or STAR IMAGE!
  4. You must use media terminology to describe production techniques and you used and should also use some terms relevant theory / concepts that you have learnt during the course; e.g:
    • Theory of the Active Audience: preferred / negotiated / oppositional reading (Hall)
    • Stars Image, Ideology & the Metanarrative (Dyer)
    • Semiotics & Structuralism (Barthes)
    • Narrative: Structure, themes, chronology, positioning: (Propp / Todorov, Strauss)
    • Genre: conventions (blueprint), predictable pleasure (contract) & marketing (label) (Altman)
  5. Drop in a jpeg of each pane of your digipack and screen grabs from your web site in place of, (or over) the existing footage.
    1. This means you might have a full screen image or you might layer up the images over the video in V2. This is will be where you are discussing those the specific links between the products and what you were trying to achieve.

Guidance

Please answer the following questions in your voice-over:

  1. How do the products reflect the star image & ideology of the artist?
    • Theorist – Dyer
    • Terms: Star image, Brand, Meta-narrative.
  2. How are the products designed to create a coherent brand identity?
    • Theorist – Blumler & Katz
      • Terms: Social Interaction, Information, Personal Identity & Entertainment
    • Theorist – Hall 
      • Terms: Active audience, preferred reading, ideology
  3. How does design of the digipack and website fit with the video?
    • Theorist Barthes
      • Terms: Signifies, encode, decode, cultural, symbolic, semic…code
  4. What are the institutional/business purposes behind the 3 products?
    • Theorist – Altman
      • Terms: Predictable pleasure, contract. Similar different. Marketing. Fans. Call to Action.

You may, of course, discuss other links and relationships; you should however try to show how there is a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship between the three products and how this is achieved. 

Whilst your DP and Advert will not be directly linked to the actual song in the music video, you must focus on the links between them regarding visual style, genre, star image, representation, ideology and brand packaging of the performer, which will be the same.

Notes for Directors Commentary

Structure of the commentary: Timeline Map

Essential theories – recap:

You will need to plan some bullet points for a script of this voiceover, but you must not read it out word for word! It feel like a well informed discussion between you and your partner/s.  Plan the script first and then divide it up between the group – ensuring you have covered the main theorists and links to be discussed (see above). Once you have the script, you can think about the visuals that you need.

Examples:

 

Examiners hints from the last few years:

Creative Critical Reflection 1

Standard

How do your products use or challenge conventions and how do they represent social groups or issues?

Task: Prezi (Individual Task)

You should describe and analyse your three products with reference to specific examples and use terminology to describe how those conventional features have been used, developed, challenged (designed) by you to construct/represent a specific set of ideas, which is: your brand or mission statement! 

You must then go on to say how your representation (ideology) of your star and issues raised in video were shaped by you.

  • The conventional design features in your video, include examples such as lighting, framing & composition, camera movement  mise-en-scene, editing styles, filters, effects and rhythmic editing…
  • Conventional print design in your digipack: images, filters, adjustments, graphics, colour palette, typeface, stroke, fill, gradients, arrangement (Bring Forward, Back)…
  • Conventional web design: call to action, hero shot, social media tours, interactivity, merch links…

 

Example Prezi

Select images from professional examples and your own texts. Remember you should be able to compare or contrast the examples.

There should be five examples from your music video and three each for digipack and website.

In the video you should consider…

  • images that shows a link between themes in the music and how they are amplified / illustrated in the narrative
  • generically (un)conventional star image
  • images that demonstrates conventional use of camera
  • images that demonstrates conventional use of lighting / colour
  • images that demonstrates (un)conventional mise-en-scene
  • images that show an (un)conventional use of narrative
  • images that show you’ve drawn  inspiration from other music videos & media texts
  • FORMS (technical conventions) of lip syncing, editing to the beat, repeatability, narrative/performance ratio/ type of narrative

In the digipack you should consider…

  • how do the images scheme reflect the genre of music?
    • conventions of photo composition
    • filters / images adjustment
    • colour scheme
    • design of mise-en-scene / art work
  • how is the layout / DTP conventional for digipacks and adverts?
    • typeface selection & size
    • graphics
    • typeface size and selection
    • spacing
    • relationship between image and copy
    • FORMS (technical conventions) i.e. tracks, publisher, copy, album name, performer name, image, advert image from DP.

In the website you should consider…

  • Pages
  • Content (videos, music, album art, merchandise…)
  • Social media links
  • Design & brand
  • Fonts & colours
  • Backgrounds
  • Images

 Examples from previous students:

SASHA BELFORD

HOLLY BROWN

TERMS

Some of the concept / micro terms you should include…remember to use the terms related to Genre:

…conventional, generic, typical, usual, frequent, unusual, subvert, unconventional, challenged, used, applied, developed, manipulated, exaggerated, amplified, increased, augmented,  + repertoire of elements, genre, blueprint, contract, ingredients, star image, audience expectations, paradox of the star, ordinary, extraordinary, semic codes, cultural codes, symbolic codes, mise-en-scene, camera, lighting, font, integration of copy and images, shot distances, composition, editing, camera movement, narrative structure, disjunctive/amplified narratives, character types…

You should also regularly use ‘analysis words’ such as: represents, implies, suggests, connotes, reflects, signifies, emphasises, highlights, underlines, illustrates, shows, contributes to.

And always explain how your have…applied, developed, challenged convention. Also synonyms such as extend, subvert, amplify, exaggerate, increase, improve, extend, copy, contrast, contradict are useful alternatives.  MAKE SURE YOU HIGHLIGHT THESE KEY TERMS/WORDS AND THEN YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ADDRESSED THE QUESTION.

Media Language

Standard

DON’T PANIC! You have been studying media language from the beginning of Year 12. As soon as we started talking about what colors ‘meant’, what particular font you choose and what it says about you, how copy (words) can have layers of meaning and how camera angles can create power or vulnerability, we were studying media language.

The important thing for you to remember it: THIS IS NOT NEW! We are simply putting these ideas into a more academic framework. So, you should remember that when you analyse a professional music video for this next essay, you are doing an analysis of, camera, editing & mise-en-scene; you are just using a slightly more complex vocabulary to describe the codes in the text and how they communicate meaning.

Here is an excellent video which explains what media language is about:

To develop our understanding of Media Language we are going to be looking at Barthes’ theories on the way in which texts make meaning through semiotics and structuralism.

We have already looked at some of Barthes ideas and he is a key theorist to all of your analysis and will be extremely useful to your final exam for any of the Concepts that comes up on the paper.

Here is the handout should use to remind yourselves about Barthes key ideas.

This is a presentation on  Semiotics:

And here is a presentation on Media Language:

Now with your group, consider the key media language codes used in the music video to convey, communicate meaning. Go to classroom and use the template to record your ideas. Always have examples of how you have used camera, editing, MES to convey meaning:

Google classroom has everything for your essay with resources, exemplars, template, theory booklet and submission date.

Good luck.

Music Video – forms and conventions

Standard

Study, reflect, consider, enjoy, be inspired:

This week we’re going to be watching some 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:

  • The media form
  • Technical conventions
  • Features typical to the genre of music.
  • Narrative conventions and structures.

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!

Narrative presentation.

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