MUSIC VIDEO

MUSIC VIDEO

We have started studying our two set texts in class.

Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag

Avril Lavigne Sk8er Boi

This is where you can see what we study in music videos on our blog.

PREP Watch the two videos again, looking in particular at differences in representation, camerawork and editing.

Your prep is to identify how the two videos differ in their representation, camerawork and editing. Pick only one example of each.

Representation

The representation in Teenage Dirtbag is very different to the representation in Sk8er Boi. Firstly, in Teenage Dirtbag, the main character is shown as quite lonely, unpopular, shy and perceived as your typical ‘loser’. He spends most of his day wishing his crush, Noel, would just notice him for once as he knows he can treat her so much better than her current boyfriend. However, in Sk8er Boi it is quite the opposite. Avril Lavigne is a rebellious, careless teenager who couldn’t be any less bothered about love and even mentions ‘Well, tough, luck that boy's mine now’ meaning she managed to take the girl’s boyfriend with ease. She tends to try to live a fun, care-free life and do whatever she wants.

Camerawork

The camerawork in Teenage Dirtbag is very steady and realistic to how things would be seen on a day-to-day basis. The camera follows the main character around like a film as it tries to focus on the story and it never breaks the fourth wall – apart from the scenes where Wheatus is performing to the camera. However, Sk8er Boi is filmed more like a live concert especially in the scenes when she is performing on top of the cars. The camera is extremely shaky as it tries to keep up with Avril’s fast and energetic pace. The camera mainly tries to focus on the music aspect of the video instead of the story as there isn't much of one.

Editing

In Teenage Dirtbag they use cross-cutting a lot when going from the boy in high-school to the band performing in the gym or at prom. In the scenes at the high school, they tend to be in slow-motion especially when he sees Noel which tells the viewer that this is possibly a dream the boy is having or he likes her so much that she seems like she is always in slow-motion to him. Teenage Dirtbag is edited like it is a movie instead of a music video. In Sk8er Boi, the editing is extremely fast-paced – almost like an action movie. It is also used to highlight how much attention is gathered by Avril and the chaos which is her music and it’s edited more like a concert than a music video.

ROCK MUSIC MAGAZINE

ROCK MUSIC MAGAZINE

Start to familiarise yourself with music genres that you don't know, by first picking a music magazine, either popular or classical music.

Explore the genre (say, Reggae, punk, rap, rock, prog rock, pop, urban, heavy metal, R&B, soul, country & western, orchestral, ...)

Post all of this writing as well as your chosen magazine cover on your blog with your comments underneath.

Rock music is a form of music that evolved from rock and roll and pop music during the mid and late 1960s. It was initially distinguished by ‘musical experimentation and drug-related or anti-establishment’ lyrics.

On this cover, the central splash features the rock legend Jimi Hendrix. He is placed right in the centre of the page in really big and takes up most of the page; even blocking most of the magazine title. This shows him as bigger than life and tells us he is very important.

In addition to that, he is gazing very seriously into the camera almost in a judgemental way. This tells the reader that he takes his music seriously and isn’t afraid to judge others’ music. Also, he is dressed quite smart which proves my previous point but it also suggests that he is a legend of rock so he is dressed like one.

Around Hendrix it looks like chaos which is a big contrast compared to the image of the central splash; almost like Jimi is the eye of a storm which is the craziness of writing that surrounds him. This is proved even more with the way colour is used and how the articles around him are a mix of three different colours yet Hendrix is just in black and white.

However, the writing is quite organised with different quotes and stories around the side of the magazine as well as articles about other artists on the top of the cover to attract people even more.

FILM OPENING

 Media Film Opening

MUSIC MAGAZINES: REPRESENTATION

 

MUSIC MAGAZINES: REPRESENTATION

How does Country Music create representations?

·         What kind of music is the magazine about? What kind of cover style would you and country music fans expect? You could listen to their music as well as look them up.

·         Identify the central splash and describe how they are presented (what they are wearing, how they are lit, the expressions on their faces, how these fit with the type of music)

·         Comment on the use of typography in The Shires coverline.

·         Looking at the cover as a whole, what can you say about the layout?

Firstly, this magazine is about country music. Country fans would expect a western type of cover style. People could be holding instruments and wearing western/Southern United States outfits. The name of the magazine is very big and at the top so that people know what the magazine is about.

In this central splash it has the artists in the centre of the page and is even going over the title slightly. This makes people seeing the name in stores want to see who’s covering it. They are lit in a particular way which makes them seem heavenly as there is a bright light shining on them from above. This may fit this type of music as the majority of people who listen to country music are probably religious and makes the artists seem like they are to be worshipped. But on the contrary, they are wearing very bland, non-flashy clothes; this makes them feel more down to earth and the readers feel like they can relate to them. They also seem to have a calm expression on their faces. This tells the reader that they possibly make serious, relaxing music to unwind to.

Also, the typography of The Shires coverline is very old-fashioned and perhaps western. It looks like cursive writing maybe used in the 19^th century. This tells the reader that the music The Shires make isn’t electronic and loud, but instead old-fashioned and calm.

The cover as a whole is very simple and clean. The central splash takes up most of the page to show the artists importance. The name of the magazine and what’s inside the magazine are at the top as that is what people will see when they are in a store so it will tempt people to picking up the magazine and looking to see what’s on the inside.

THE OBSERVER: GENRE CONVENTIONS

THE OBSERVER: GENRE CONVENTIONS

In yesterday's lesson we analysed the media language of a quality broadsheet newspaper.

Identify as many genre conventions of a quality broadsheet as you can from The Observer below.

On this edition of The Observer cover, there are a few key points to look at. Firstly, on the top of the page there is a skybox/skyline which is an information panel on the front page that tells readers about other stories to make them want to read more inside. On this cover there are three articles featured, all of which are examples of soft news. One article is about television, another is about celebrity culture and the last is about food.

Underneath the skybox is the masthead/title piece which allows readers to easily know what newspaper they are buying and reading; it also includes the date which it was released and the price it was sold for. Then underneath the masthead is the cover headline. This is usually political, hard news as shown in the extract above. It is often the most important story of the day and the one that will attract most readers.

Sometimes underneath the headline there is a standfirst. A standfirst is a block of text that introduces the story and can been seen on this edition as two blue bullet points which is then followed by the byline that gives the authors name and sometimes their job and location (known as the dateline). Next to these is the main body text; this is what people read if they want to find out more about the headline. In the bottom left corner is a pull quote which is a quote from the story which is enlarged and appears within the text. In this case, it is a quote from another article to tempt someone into reading the inside of the newspaper.

Finally, there’s the photograph or graphic; this helps the page look more interesting and can add some understanding of the story or entice someone to read the article. The photograph almost always has a caption around it and gives a brief description of the photograph or graphic.

REPRESENTATION: CUFFS

REPRESENTATION: CUFFS

PREP How does Cuffs represent changing attitudes towards masculinity and femininity?

Pick two examples.

Cuffs represents changing attitude towards femininity and masculinity as it attempts to give equal status to men and women. Also, in 2010 many laws to make discrimination against people because of their gender, race, disability and sexuality illegal. Cuffs, which was made in 2015, was able to use this to their advantage which allowed them to include many characters of different genders, races, disabilities and sexualities to introduce a new and improved era of British television.

Jo Moffat is a good example of gender and women equality as she has an important status as an investigator. Although people argue that her independence is weakened by her affair with Chief Superintendent Robert Vickers, she is represented as strong when she orders the police raid on the party in order to arrest the racist criminals. She also bosses her co-workers around by making them get her tea and food (although this seems to be in a friendly joking manner). Jo has power because of her status in the police force, reflecting the number of women in positions of authority in 2015.

Jack Vickers is a good example of masculinity and gay rights. Because he is the son of Chief Superintendent Robert Vickers, he has been taken onto the police force without completing all the required training. This results in him making a number of mistakes. This initially does not display many traditional male qualities of physical and mental strength and shows him as weak and lacking in dedication. However, by the end of the episode he proves himself as physically tough and shows traditional masculine qualities when he saves Ryan from a knife attack.

BBC: INDUSTRY AND AUDIENCE

BBC: INDUSTRY AND AUDIENCE

BBC’s mission: "to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain".

BBC’s values:

·       Trust is the foundation of the BBC. They’re independent, impartial and honest

·       They put audiences at the heart of everything they do

·       They respect each other and celebrate our diversity

·       They take pride in delivering quality and value for money

·       Creativity is the lifeblood of our organisation

·       They’re one BBC. Great things happen when they work together

BBC’s public purposes:

1.    To provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them

2.    To support learning for people of all ages

3.    To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services

4.    To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom

5.    To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world

BBC’s license fee: 17% – National and local radio. 6% – Online e.g. BBC websites, iPlayer.

BBC’s History: The British Broadcasting Company, as the BBC was originally called, was formed on 18 October 1922 by a group of leading wireless manufacturers. Daily broadcasting by the BBC began in one of the member’s London studio, 2LO, on November 14, 1922.

MEDIA EXAM QUESTION – 30 MINS

Media Exam Question – 30 Mins

In this question you will be rewarded for drawing together elements from your full course of study, including different area of the theoretical framework and media contexts.

How far does Cuffs adapt police drama genre conventions to fit its family audience at 8pm on BBC1?

In your answers you must:

•          Analyse the extract’s use of genre conventions
•          Make judgments and draw conclusions about how far the extract adapts the conventions of police drama to fit its scheduling and audience.

The show Cuffs airs on BBC1 at 8:00pm. This means it is a ‘pre-watershed’ show which is a programme which is shown before 9:00pm on tv; after 9:00pm television channels are allowed to show more mature content as most young children have gone to bed. Because Cuffs is shown before 9pm, it is restricted to what it can show on screen. This could have been particularly difficult as Cuffs is an action-heavy police programme, so the directors, producers, and editors had to be careful when making the series and had to make sure that each episode fit the conventions of family-friendly shows.

I believe Cuffs does well in keeping its content family-friendly throughout the whole show, especially in the scene shown in the extract. Ryan has been called to sort out a fight on a nudist beach. There is a group of men on a stag do, dressed up as Vikings tormenting a bare couple at the beach. Even though the scene is set in such an unusual place and there is a group of (most-likely) drunk men, the show surprisingly manages to keep everything quite clean. There is no inappropriate nudity or explicit language. There is barely any violence and any scenes that include it, manage to hide any blood or gruesome images.  

SECRET CLAREMONT PHOTOGRAPHY LESSON

Secret Claremont Photography Lesson

During the lesson on 18/10/19, we went around the school site taking photographs of areas and features of Claremont that most people wouldn’t notice if they weren’t looking for them. For example, we looked for places which framed different areas well (i.e. tunnel, staircase, etc.). Also, as it was a sunny day, we could use that to our advantage; I took photos of the sun shining through the leaves and shadows scattered on the walls. We looked for places that had good reflections, e.g. windows, puddles, etc. Finally, we went to some of the historic parts of the mansion like Clive’s Bath and took photos of all the antiques and history behind it. I enjoyed the lesson as I got to explore the mansion and go to places I had never been to before which allowed me to see Claremont from a different perspective.

HOW ‘THE LEGO MOVIE’ AD-BREAK PROMOTED THE FILM SUCCESSFULLY

How ‘The Lego Movie’ Ad-Break Promoted the Film Successfully

To promote ‘The Lego Movie’, Warner Bros approached four brands to recreate some of their adverts into Lego. They put them together into a three-and-a-half-minute long ad-break which aired on TV across the nation and really helped promote ‘The Lego Movie’. Six million people saw the break live on TV, and an additional 1 million viewed it on YouTube. After the film had been released, it was shown that the ad-break influenced 5% of opening week’s box office revenue, resulting in a ROMI (Return On Marketing Investment) of £5.96 for every £1 spent. Finally, the break was tested by market research company ‘YouGov’, who said, “it as the best performing ad break they’ve ever measured”, combining the ads into a piece of entertainment which made the break 14% more enjoyable than an identical break featuring the originals.

EMMA PEEL AS A STEREOTYPE/ANTI-STEREOTYPE

Emma Peel as a Stereotype/Anti-Stereotype

Emma Peel as an Anti-Stereotype

Emma is bright and intelligent and a martial arts expert who stays calm in tricky situations. This makes her anti-stereotypical as she isn’t spending her days cleaning the house, but instead writing lectures and practising fencing.

Emma is a young, brave and powerful woman who is up for any fight. This makes her anti-stereotypical as she isn’t calling for a hero to save her, but calling for the hero to stay back so she can get the job done.

Emma Peel as a Reactionary Stereotype

Emma is put in a skin-tight cat suit which shows a lot of her body. This objectifies her and she is basically a sex object as she is shown off like a piece of art.

Emma is objectified during the introductory fencing match when there is a close-up of Emma’s bottom which Steed pats with his foil. This, once again, objectifies her and makes her look like she is something Steed can play with.

CUFFS: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

·       I was worried about the female police officer during the robbery as it showed that she was a trainee in the opening shot. You can also tell as she seemed extremely scared of the robbers as she was stuttering and pausing over the intercom. The robbers where also taller and bigger than her which made her feel threatened.

·       I was excited during the car chase mainly because of the sound design. There was dramatic non-diegetic music in the background which made your heart beat quickly as they raced down the motorway. Also, the police sirens which were diegetic and loud - this makes the scene more realistic as in real life the sirens would be deafening. Another thing is the tires and brakes screeching which is diegetic and makes the scene have a more accurate representation to real life. As well as that, there is the dialogue of the officers speaking over intercom and Jake panicking in the frightening situation. Finally, the camera angles: there are a lot of POV shots of the officers in the car racing down the road. This makes the viewer feel like they are actually in the scene and in the car with Jake and Ryan. Lastly, the birds eye view shot showing the police car catching the silver pickup. It also shows the cars and roads around them.

·       There are a few sounds used to create a calm and relaxed environment in the canteen. Firstly, the quiet café music (diegetic) playing over the dialogue. Also, the faint sounds of people talking and eating in the background. Finally, the dialogue is very relaxed and friendly; this makes the viewer realise they are not worried about any crime and are just eating lunch.