Research - Barthes' Codes

CODES & CONVENTIONS:

Music videos also follow codes and conventions. In class we have looked at Barthes' five codes: Enigma, Action, Semic, Symbolic and Cultural. The majority of music videos will follow at least one of these codes.

Enigma:

The enigma code is used to keep the audience guessing by holding back information. It makes the audience question what is going on, adding a sense of mystery. The enigma code can be presented in 5 different ways: a 'snare' is when information misleads the audience; 'equivocation' is a snare followed by the truth; 'partial answer' makes the audience want to know the whole truth; 'suspended answer' almost gives the truth (like a cliffhanger) and 'jamming' doesn't explain what has happened in a text at all.

An example of enigma in a music video would be: Tyler The Creator - 'Yonkers' giving a jamming enigma as the video does not tells us why he kills himself at the end or eats the cockroach.

Action:

The action code consists of a series of events that lead into one another with logical consequences. It allows the audiences to follow the narrative and sometimes be able to predict what may happen next. This makes the audience want to watch on and find out what happens next. 

An example of action code in a music video would be: Katy Perry - 'Hot N Cold' with the wedding and chasing the groom through the streets as a result of his response suggesting he doesn't want to marry her.

Semic: 

The semic code is where the text connotes something. Whether is be a prop or setting it allows the audience to make assumptions about the narrative such as where it is set or what will happen between two characters. It can also give the audience hints as to what type of genre or narrative structure will be. 

An example of semic code in a music video is Kanye West - 'Power'. This video put him in the center, surrounded by angles and women. There is a halo above him and he appears to be in the clouds. This video is representing him as a God like figure and connotes he is all powerful.

Symbolic:

Symbolic code is a bit like binary opposition. A narrative may use a character or object that may not be the expected or typical first thought. It allows the audience to question why it has been used instead of something else. It breaks the expectations and gets the audience interested and actively thinking throughout the text. 

An example of symbolic code in a music video can be seen in Kanye West - 'Monster' as women are shown to be the 'monsters' or evil whereas usually we associate bad, evil characters to be primarily male. 

Cultural:

The cultural code is where the audience viewing the text must know of a previous event/person/text in order to understand the new text they are viewing. An example of this would be having seen a film the watching a spoof film of that film. It can also refer to specific people or eras in time and even events in the real world. It requires background knowledge from the audience in order to fully understand the text.

And example of cultural code in music video would be: All Time Low - 'I Feel Like Dancing' as it refers back to famous music videos already made at the end (Katy Perry, Lady Gaga etc). It also refers to the music video for Cobra Starship's 'Guilty Pleasure' by having the desk and board coming up with music video ideas however this video is lesser known.

Final Song Choice

I have found a song that I would quite like to use for my music video project this year. The song is called 'There Will Be Rain' by the band Young Guns. Currently, there is no music video for this song so it gives me completely fresh start and no influences that I might otherwise have if there were a video for this song. I have chosen to do the acoustic version of this song as I think that I could work with more experimental ideas and my creativity as the original song is quite fast paced and my ideas for it would be more generic and maybe less interesting and engaging to my audience.
I will now beging to research further into similar bands and genres and find out typical styles, codes and convetions they use which will give me a better idea on how to make my own video appeal to the audience I am targetting (teenagers interested in this genre).

Research - Narrative

Narrative Research
In class we have been studying narrative. We have looked at the different genres of music videos and the different codes and conventions that narrative has. 
GENRE:
The three different genres music videos can be are performance, narrative and experimental.
Performance: 
In music videos performance genre is where the bad or singer is seen to be performing the song whether it be singing and or playing instruments. This genre is usually added with another genre to make a hybrid genre of two or even three combined. An example of a performance only music video would be The Dangerous Summer - 'Work In Progress'.
Narrative:
Music videos often use narrative to show a story or act out a seres of events. Narrative in music videos often matches or is cut to the beat of the song to make sure that it doesn't look like a short film. To help this, narrative is often mixed in a hybrid genre with performance to reinforce the fact it is a music video. However, an example of a narrative only music video would be Ed Sheeran - 'The A Team'.
Experimental:
Experimental genre is probably the most rare to come across. Experimental genre means having no real meaning or story like narrative genre has, it's just a series of random events or objects that don't relate to the song. It is usually mixed with another genre, mainly performance or both to create a hybrid genre. An example of the experimental genre in a music video would be Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Can't Stop'.

Research - Media Theories

Media Theories:

Two Step Flow: First introduced by Paul Larzarfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet in 1944. It suggests that media travels in two individual stages. Firstly, individual people who look closely at the media/specific text absorb it and the information it is conveying. Next, they pass on their own interpretation as well as the media text themselves. 'Personal influence' is the term used to describe the intervention between what the media is directing and the audiences reaction to the message of the media text. 'Opinion leaders' (individuals who give their personal influence) influence a wider audience to change the way they behave towards the text or their attitude towards it. The people they influence often have similarities in their characteristics. This theory has improved the understanding of how people can influence a mass audience and their decision making. Using this theory it is easier to predict audience behaviour towards a text and helped to explain why some media messages failed to change audience behaviour. 


Reception Theory: This theory provides a better understanding about how texts are read by audiences. It can help to understand the experience of going to the cinema or reading a certain text etc. and how meaning is created through that. A main concept of the reception theory is that the media text has no permanent meaning. Instead meaning is created by the interaction between the viewer and the text as the viewer processes the text. It argues that contextual factors rather than textual factors influence the viewer more. These contextual factors include where and when the viewer is viewing the text, the viewers identity, thoughts about the text before viewing, the genre or production of the text and social/political/historical issues. This theory places the viewer in context and considers all other influential factors that might change the way the viewer creates meaning from the text. 


Hypodermic Needle: This theory is also described as a 'Magic Bullet' or 'Hypodermic Syringe'. It is a model of how media communicated with it's audience and how the audience is affected. This theory states that the media text intends to send a specific message to it's receivers and that the people receiving the message instantly accept that message. It is described as a needle shooting the information into the mid of it's receiver. It has never been accepted very widely, however. This theory was based on assumptions of human behavior rather than study and research. The assumption was that humans were controlled by biological instincts in which they would then react to instantly. This theory applies to more of a passive audience who are more vulnerable towards media. 


Uses & Gratifications: This theory looks at what people do with media rather than what the media does to them. It focuses on the consumer of the media text and says that audiences are responsible for choosing what media they decide to view as it is done to meet their own needs. Audiences take an active role in what media they want to have in their lives and use that media for specific gratifications. The media compete with each other who provide similar information or messages so that they make sure the audience view their piece of media rather than from an alternative source. In todays society, people have a slight sense of pressure to know facts from the media which motivates the media to provide them to fulfill these needs. Media dependency happens when a text meets more needs than one that many only meet a few. The more alternative sources of information reduces the amount of media dependancy.

Planning - Practice Music Video

To film the singing shots for my 'Radar Love' music video opening, I will use a photographic studio to get a plain background and to get controlled lighting which I can move around to get the right mood and atmosphere to suit the music. I will book the studio for either an after school next week when it is available but depending on when my singer can do, I might have to ask to use it in a lunchtime or free period.
By using a studio it will give me a clean, plain background all the way and will not have to worry about different lighting very much as it will all be the same. I will also not have to worry about weather or getting to a location as it is available to me here at school.
For the shots of the drums I will use the school's drum kit as I don't know anyone who can lend me one. I will film in the school music department after I agree a date and time with my drummer. If I am allowed to move it I may place a white sheet underneath it and film from above to make it look like it has also been filmed in a photography studio however this is not too much of a concern if I am unable to do so. This means it should be quite simple to get all my shots filmed quickly as I only have a week set to film and then I can get onto editing.

Research - Editing

Time Lapse:
In my own music video, I'd like to try out using time lapse. I think that, done correctly, it looks amazing and can be very powerful. I have had the idea of a couple meeting each other and going to kiss and while they kiss the time lapse goes on in the sky above them. When the kiss ends so does the time lapse. It would represent that when they are together they are so in love with each other that everything else just passes them by. This could be very difficult to film, however, as the couple would have to be as still as possible holding the kiss for a long period of time. Obviously, if I use this idea I will have to think about time of the day (sunrise/sunset etc) and what the weather is like on the day.

Research - Lighting

Lighting Setup:

Image 1 is a still from the music video 'All I Had' by Francesqa. Unfortunately they have made it a private video so I am unable to link to it or find it on youtube anymore. However, it shows the lighting used for the performance parts of the video. I really liked it and thought it looked very effective with the light beams coming out at different angles. I recently found an article which included image 2, a shot taking whilst filming showing the lighting setup. The separate lights have been assembles into a pyramid to get the different heights and angles. They also have a light at the front to light up the singers as just including the back lighting would make them appear too dark. I thought it was interesting to find out how it was set up at this is something I will have to consider when I come to film my own music video.

Image 1

Image 2

Planning - Practice Storyboard

Today I drew out my story board for my 30 second music video opening task. I have then underneath explained each shot in a little more detail. I have only included performance as this is what we are practicing by dong this task.
To try and make it look interesting and unique, my idea was to start with a shot of the drums as this is the first main instrument to come into the song. As I don't now anyone who is free and able to play bass for me I have chosen to skip this out and instead have a shot of the lead singer at different levelled close ups coming in at different times as 3 split screens on one screen in thirds. This will last up until the end of the first line of lyrics. Then it will switch to a mid shot to show the singer more fully singing the second line of lyrics.
Next I will have to plan out who I will use to sing/play in my video and where I will shoot and when. I have asked a drummer and someone to be the singer in my video and they have agreed to be filmed. Now I have to work with them to find a suitable time to shoot which fits around when we are all free.

Research - Practice Music Video

'Radar Love' by Golden Earring

To learn more about lip syncing and to practice matching video to the beat of the music, I am going to practise by producing a music video opening for the first 30 seconds of this song. I plan to include both instruments and singing to practice matching both. It should help me learn about the editing proced a lot better as well as actually trying to make sure all singing and insturment playing is in time and will then match when I go to edit it.

I will plan and story board this to practice my planning skills even though it is only a project which will tak a couple of weeks to produce. I need to find a singer and musicians to be in the video once I know what I want to shoot and organise it all.

My inital ideas are filming the drums at the beginning as this is the main part of the introduction. I then want the singer to come in and maybe have horizontal split screens changing to show each 'part' (singing, drums, bass etc).

Research - Editing

'I Will Follow' by U2 live at Glastonbury 2011


Today, we discussed this video in class and talked about why different shots were used and what effect they create. There are a wide variety of shots, starting off with close ups of each members as they play/sing to introduce them at their part. This then changes to a shot of the crowd which introduces them to the viewers.
After everyone is introduced the cameras change shots to show what is going on. If there is a long singing part the cameras are focused around the lead singer. When the music builds up there is a whole band shot to show the band all playing together. Occasionally, there are more crowd shots or shots through the crowd to give the viewers a feel of the atmosphere going on, as if they were there.
The cameras are never static, instead they keep moving around either tracking a band member or pulling back/forth to keep the viewers watching online or at home more interested and give them a more realistic 'experience' as if they were there themselves.

Research - Music Video

'Stitches' by Young Guns
This is my favourite music video. I like it because I think it's a lot different to a lot of other music videos already out there. I especially love their use of focus and think the focus pulls throughout add to the dramatic effect. It doesn't really have a narrative to it which is what makes it quite different from most current music videos. Instead it is much more experimental and uses imagery that can be related back to the song, such as the bird would relate to the line 'clipped my wings'. By choosing to have the video in black and white rather than adding colour really makes the video quite striking, in my opinion. There is a strong contrast between light and dark which is what makes it effective.
The video has been edited together well as the lip syncing etc. are all in time and to the beat making it look really well made and professional. I especially like the part at 0:40 where the water drop from the drum then switches to a shot of ink in water. I think that it is very clever and creative.
If the song I choose for this project is suitable, I'd like to try out a more experimental approach to show off a more creative outcome.

A2 Media Coursework

This year my coursework is to produce a music video for a piece of music of my choice as well as a digipack and advert promoting the band and song.
This blog will show all my working including research, planning, construction and the evaluation as I go along.