Genre

Genre will play a huge part in the planning and production of our music video. We will have to think about what fits within the codes and convention of our genre and what challenges it well. We can do this by looking at existing music videos and analysing how they have challenged and stuck to the conventions of the genre and thinking about whether it would work in the video we plan to create.

Rick Altmans take on genre was that media text fit into specific genre whether it is with music, film, radio, web pages or any other form of media. For example, music can be classified as Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, Classical, jazz etc. Film can be classified as horror, comedy, science-fiction, fantasy etc. This then means that genre is restricted to the set conventions of the genre where there is no room for hybrid genres. This is when a genre challenges the codes and conventions by adding bits of other genres such as a Romantic Comedy film.

Richard Maltby disagreed with this saying that the success of Hollywood relies on predictable elements of a genre with variation. It suggests that to follow the codes specifically to the conventions would bore the viewer and not be as entertaining. Following this advise would be very good for our project as the song we have chosen has hints of a sub-genre.

Jon Friske said that a genre will contain the main characteristics of its genre but will also include some from others and to but each genre in a category would only be possible by deciding which aspects are most important.

I think Jon Friske and Richard Maltby both have theories which would help in the production of our music video. Taking into consideration the song we have chosen, I think it necessary that we research into adding aspects of other genres (mainly R&B) into our video. This will also ensure that we do not bore the audience by giving them a video the same as many others.

Audience theory

When researching into audience we need to look at different audience theories which could possibly influence our media product.

"All the world's a stage and the mean and the women are merely players." As the audience we can be manipulated and can be persuaded to buy products or follow corrupt leaders through propaganda.

The Hypodermic Syringe

The media acts as a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience, who are then a powerless mass as to stop it. The most obvious example of this is when somebody watches something violent, and then does something violent. It is also expected with traditional roles where you watch a woman cleaning then a woman feels they need to clean, or a man expects the woman to clean.

The Culmination Theory

Culmination mean to accumulate or gather over time. One piece of media text will not have a huge effect on you but a constant exposure to a certain thing will make you immune to that one thing. You might not necessarily agree with it but it takes the shock out of seeing it. The first time you see nudity or violence will be a completely different reaction to seeing the same thing for the 100^th time.

Two Step Flow

This is another theory which suggest that it is the discussion after seeing a piece of media which effects you, not the media its self. It says that the discussions and other peoples opinions effect or influence you to change or widen your own. This can be very different depending on the strength of character and other aspects of your life such as experiences.

Uses and Gratification Theory
This theory suggests that you use the media to choose what you want. We all have certain expectations and expect to be gratified by what we have watched. The Choices are…

Information - For gaining knowledge and understanding e.g. documentaries.

Entertainment - Purely for enjoyment purposes such as sit-soms or soaps.

Social Empathy - To have a connection with a character and give sympathy. Following someones feelings.

Personal Identity - to show relation to every day life situations, feelings and appearances. Reality tv shows.

Escapism - to completely escape reality and forget about every day lives and situations.

　

Similar Artists

To gather ideas and inspiration we took time to look at other artists who we thought had a similar style to what we wanted to acheive with our artist. We mainly looked at well known artists whos work are similar to Justins (Pop with and r&b style music). By doing this we can see which trends go well and can also look at how others have stuck to and challenged the codes and conventions of their genre.

Justin Timberlake

In this cover JT has chosen a plain white drop background. He is wearing a tuxeido with hat and stick to show his sofisticated side. However, he then challenges this my wearing black boots and tucking the trousers into them and holding a military pose. This gives of a humourous side to the album making the artist (Justin) come across very likable.
'Justin Timberlak' is written across the middle in a blod font and the surname has been mde orange which looks good and makes his name sound important. The again underneath his name is written again instead this time sayin 'Mr. Timberlake'. This is a clever co-ordination with the photograph, where it shows two different sides to the same person, the sofisticated adult and the funny laid back guy 'Justin'

Rhianna

This Rhianna cover shows theartist in a low light black and white shot with just and initial as any writing. The shot works well with the music on the album as alot of it is dark and minor key'd. Rhianna is known world wide as a pop star but we feel that this cover challenges the convention of her genre hugely by being dark and mysterious but Rhianna being on the cover herself, looking attractive follows them well, wich shows that challenging the conventions drastically can work out for the best and could be something to consider for our own product.

Keri Hilson

Keri Hilson looks attractive, strong and dominant in this album cover which we have noticed has been a trend with the exaples shown. She again has used black and white images however this cover has used alot of image modifying to give an amazing effect of the chair balancing on water. The colours have also been enhanced and changed to give the entire photograph a purple tinge which looks very clever. We both really like this cover and hope to use it as inspiration for our own cover and poster.

Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa is known everywhere not just for being a pop diva but also for her wild clothing and accessory choice! We love the GaGa look and way and hope to use influences of her madness within our work. In this cover GaGa is crawling out of water dressed in black with a mirror head piece on. We think the idea for this cover was for her to be a thief or other villain as gambling is often associated with bad people (Poker Face). She again looks dominant yet glamorous at the same time.

Cheryl Cole

Cheryl's first album '3 words' looks very simple and elegant, as does the portrait used. She has also used black and white photograph just like rhianna did with hers, however it has been given a completely different effect because of the highlighted shading and props used (head piece) to make Cheryl seem elegant. We think the picture really works for the album being produced as the music invoved is not out of the ordinary and does not challenge any conventions. This is one of very little albums where the woman is made to seem weak and small, a traditional take on pop music.

Chris Brown

This album gives more of a R&B feel rather than pop but we thought it important to show which vibes were meant to be within our artist, and in our case it is R&B. Unlike alot of R&B covers chris has not used alot of glamour and bling but kept it simple with a black an whte theme. The water drops give a good effect as does the sharpness of the words used. We like the way Chris Browns pose sends off an attitude, much like the first justin timberlake cover. An essence of R&B will be used within our work much like this album.

Choosing a song

Initially, Jon and i were thinking of creating our own track to co-operate with our music video making the entire product our own. We both have musical backgrounds as well as high GCSE music grades and one of us (Jon) with a talented singing voice. However to do this we would need to spend alot of time creating and tweeking the track to make sure it is of a good quality, as well as creating lyrics and melody and then eventually editing it to create a better sound. This meant that it would be easier and kinder to our main project to choose an already existing track which then gives us time to focus on the smaller details within the film. We also thought that creating our own track would give the music video a more ammature feel, where using a big well known track would bring out the video more.

Cry me a River - Justin Timberlake
After much discussion Jon and i came to a conclusions on the song we were going to use. Justin Tiberlakes Cry me a River. We chose the song because we both liked the beat and rhythm within the song and also felt the lyrics gave us a lot of ways to narrate the video and add a good story to. We asked many people what they thought of the choice to ensure we were choosing a well liked popular song and had mainly positive feedback. Most people said that they really liked the song and that they enjoyed the original music video.

One problem with choosing Cry me a River is that we need to acknowledge copyright rule. Because of this we emailed Justin Timberlake's UK label SONY BMG to ask for permission to use Cry me a River in our music video. We also sent the email to his US home company Jive.

Targets for my production stage.

For my producrtion i need to make sure that i

- Keep all shots steady where appropriate
- Make sure the narative sequence is appropriate to the song
- keep clear the background so nothing is in appropriatly in there

AS Level Music Video Assessments

I have assessed three music videos created by GCSE students to understand the assessment criteria better and improve my own work.

The first music video i looked at was 'Ouch' to be a level two/three. In this video they had a variety of shot angles and kept a steady shot where appropriate. They also framed the shots well and edited well using some effects such asa split screen. I think they could improve adding more narative shots as the only narative scenes they used were without any scenery to show the audience what is actually happening. I also think they should have thought the mis-en-scene through better to get more appropriate costumes and locations.

The second video i assessed was a martine mclucheon song. I would give this a level two because it used good visual effects such as black and white shots, good fading and other transitions. they also used some well framed angle shots tog vie a better effect and feel to the audience of what the person should be feeling. I think they could improve this video by adding narrative shots as there were very few if any. They should also look at the mis-en-scene to have a more appropriate setting and costume as school uniform was used.

The third video i looked at was a Mariah Carey song which i would give a level one. i think they had some good ideas with shot types and angles and thought through a good narrative sequence. soem editing was worth while making the shots black and white. There were also a lot of transitions between scenes. However with mis-en-scene i do not think they used appropriate settings and costumes and there were many things within the backghrounds such as people and moving cars. The camera was often shaky where it was not appropriate due to an unsteady hand. During the editing stage the syncronisation was not applied properly which doesnt work well with the video.

Poster and Album Booklet

To be able to creat both the Album Booklet and Poster we would need decide, research and include within the product:

Album Booklet
Who/what will front the album
photographs or images for booklet pages
Lyrics, artwork, dedications and companies for booklet
colour or pattern
style
any effects we want to include
song and album title
artist or group name

Poster
photographs, images or artwork
where the album can be purchased
release date
name of CD and artist
comments on the album (quotes)