Mise-en-scene Moodboard

This moodboard shows the locations, costumes and props that i am planning on having in my music video. I may add more or change some of the things included in this moodboard however this is the idea that i have in my mind and by making a moodboard it means i can portray my ideas easier. The reason why i chose these images is because my song is from the rock genre, i wanted to stick to the conventional style you would expect to see when watching a rock video. Such as empty or run down locations and casual clothing. I dont have any extravengant costumes or many costume changes because most of the video is a performance from the band with the inclusion of a small narrative throughout the video

Storyboard Layout

I used this whilst creating my storyboard. Firstly I wrote out every shot that i wanted in my storyboard so it would make it easier when it came to adding the images. As i went along i coloured each shot i had done green so i wouldn't loose track of which shot i had been done.
This made the whole process a lot easier as i didn't need to keep thinking of new shots each time i finished one.

CD- Digipack Testshots (Album Cover)

These are some test shot ideas for the ancillary texts of creating an album cover. When i create the actual ancillary texts there will be better lighting and a more creative cover.

Shot Plan

1 Hey little monster, 2 I got my eye on you
3 Where are you going, 4 where you running to?
5 Hey little monster, 6 you know it's all ok
7 I'm gonna love ya, 8 no matter what you say

9 I've got love 10 on my fingers
11 Lust on my tongue
12 You say you got nothing,
13 So come out and get some
14 Heartache 15 to Heartache,
16 I'm your wolf- 17 I'm your man
18 I say run little monster,
19 Before you know 20 who I am

21 Hey little creature, 22 tell me what's on your mind,
23 Where've you been hiding? 24 And can I come this time?
25 So pleased to please ya, 26 and rip that heart off your sleeve,
27 What we discover...

28 I've got love 29 on my fingers
30 Lust on my tongue
31 You say you got nothing,
32 So come out 33 and get some
34 Heartache 35 to Heartache,
36 I'm your wolf- 37 I'm your man
38 I say run little monster,
39 Before you know 40 who I am

41 I've got love 42 on my fingers
43 Lust 44 on my tongue
45 You say 46 you got nothing,
47 So come out 48 and get some
49 Heartache 50 to Heartache,
51 I'm your wolf- 52 I'm your man
53 I say run 54 little monster,
55 Before you know 56 who I...

57 ...am

The numbers next to each line of lyrics represents when the shot changes will be during my music video. I did this to help me with creating my storyboard and to make sure i get the timings right with each shot when making my animatic and my final music video. 

The 'Hypodermic Needle' Theory

This theory was developed in the 1920s and 1930s.
The theory implies mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on it's audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change. There are several factors that contribute to it:

• The fast rise and popularization of radio and television.
• The emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda. 

The Hypodermic Theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by "shouting" or "injecting" them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.

It suggests a powerful and direct flow of information from the 'sender' to the 'receiver'.

The theory/model suggests media messages are 'injected' straight into a passive audience who are immediately influenced by the message. This is to trigger a desired response.
The theory suggests there is a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.
Media messages are injected into a passive audience who are then influenced by what is being 'injected'.

The developers of this theory expressed that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message.
The audience has a lot of media material 'Shot' at them. They believe what they are told because there is only one source. Therefore we as an audience believe anything we hear in the media because we see it as a trustworthy and true source.

• This is a good example of why moral panics happen. A moral panic is when a story or situation is blown way out of proportion because of the control that the media has in our lives. The people who are usually responsible for these moral panics is the public. Because of social networks such as Twitter people can express their views and opinions which sometimes scare people and they panic. An example of this is the 'Ebola' crisis. Although it is a scary and worrying disease by people saying thins such as "we are all going to die" it scares people into believing it and then they join in.  

A famous case of a moral panic

In the 1930s a radio broadcast of 'war of the worlds' was performed like a real news broadcast to heighten the effect of the story. However people heard it an thought it was real and thought martians were invading the earth. 

• This demonstrates a passive audience and how an audience believes what they hear. 

However there are many criticisms that come with this theory:

1. It is out of date and invalid.
2. Not everyone consumes the media in the same way.
3. Not everyone watches the news/consumes media in the same way.
4. Audiences are not simply 'passive'  

Textual Analysis: Linkin Park- Castle Of Glass

Linkin Park are quite different when it comes to music videos. A lot of the time the songs they sing and the music videos show real life situations that happen. Adding realism into their music video. These types of videos shock the audience and the story that is told in the narrative keeps them interested.
The narrative that is included in this video is a story of a young boy who finds out his father has been killed whilst at war. It shows his journey from coping with the death of his father and then growing up to also be in the army but sadly at the end of the video having to tell a young girl the same thing that someone else had to tell him when he was younger, basically showing how history is repeating itself. Music videos like this really surprise the audience and bring them back to reality by showing them what happens in the world. This is a very different way of creating a music video because the uses and gratifications theory states people use music videos or films to escape from reality and their problems, whereas this video puts reality into context.

An example of another video showing real life situations is "What I've done" this video shows clips of war, rioting, poverty and damage to the environment, really giving a meaning to the lyrics of the song.

 By doing their music videos like this it breaks the conventions that you expect to see in a rock music video. They are not trying to be seen as rebellious, and they are not mocking anything. However because they are using such an emotional story you could say they are being rebellious by rejecting the conventions of rock music videos.

In terms of editing the narrative is filmed in slow motion to add emotion and anticipation to the song. The slow motion effect adds to how the boy must be feeling and the knowledge of his fathers death makes him feel like his world is moving in slow motion. This effect helps the audience to have sympathy for him. Then when there is the performance from the band it is at a normal speed, so it differentiates from the narrative and the performance.
A green screen is used during the bands performance, showing their performance is not the 'real world' and that it is the narrative that is showing the real life situations that happen everyday.
Special effects are used when  one of the band members from the band is singing his part in the song. During this the room he is stood in is made to look like it is falling apart. This is to portray how the young boys world is now collapsing around him because of the death of his father.

The editing is slow paced throughout the music video, with nine edits during the chorus. This adds to the sad narrative and is a way to make the audience feel sad whilst watching it because they will be focusing more on what is happening in each edit because it is shown for longer. However as the tempo rises towards the end of the chorus the editing also speeds up, this is to match the pace of the instruments and singing and also sets the audience up for the cycle of the narrative to start.

Genre: Continued

Jason Mittell-  Argues genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audiences and cultural practices as well.

• Industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Media producers use similar codes and conventions that often make cultural references. 
• Genre allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfill a particular pleasure.

Rick Altman- Said genres offer audiences a 'set of pleasures' These pleasures include:

• Emotional Pleasures- These are when they generate a strong audience response.
• Visual Pleasures- This is a 'gut' response and are defined by how the films stylistic construction elicits a physical effect upon its audience. For example sadness.
• Intellectual Puzzles- This is pleasure from trying to solve or unravel a mystery or puzzle. The audience likes to decipher a plot or guess what will happen at the end.

Christian Metz- Suggests genres go through four stages:

• Experimental Stage
• Classic Stage
• Parody Stage
• Deconstruction Stage- This is where Hybrid genres come from, for example 'Cowboys and Aliens' they have combined both a western film and a sci-fi film.

Strengths of the Genre theory

1. Everyone uses it and understands it. Experts will use it to study media texts. 
2. The media uses it to develop and market texts.
3. Audiences use it to decide what texts to consume.
4. Producers, Audiences and Scholars makes genre a useful critical tool.
5. It can be applied across a wide range of texts.

Genre

Textual Analysis: Blink 182- All The Small Things

Video Techniques and Influences

Bastille- Bad news
This song is a big influence on my media product because many of the effects and colours that are used in this music video is what i would like to include in my music video.
I really like the techniques of slow motion, rewinds and fast forwards within this music video and the way there is really quick flickers between edits. This adds to a really effective video and a different way of making a music video.
The change between black and white and colour also looks really good and effective and it doesn't get boring to watch.

There is an effect in this video which i really like and think is really effective.

There is a split second cut to these two images. The reason i like it is because it is something different and is effective when watching the video.









Arctic Monkeys- Arabella
In this video i really like the old movie style effect that is included throughout the song. Also i thought the freeze frames that happen throughout the video are really effective.
Once again the rewinds and fast forwards add to a good effect in the video.
I also really like the old fashioned vintage style they have included in the video, such as the costumes, hairstyles and even the location they are performing in.

This is a screen shot of the old fashioned video tape recording style which is really effective. It also fits in with the style of the video.











Also the vintage style clothes, hair and location is different and effective. Fitting in with the black and white old fashioned theme of the video.








During the chorus there were also snapshots taken. The editing made it looks as though a picture is being taken because a flash quickly appears on the screen and then there is a freeze frame. This is something different and i think it works well.







Kings of Leon- Sex on fire

What i like about this video is the location that it is set in. For my music video i would really like the style to be similar to this. I think the inclusion of a performance and a narrative within the video.
The lighting is also effective and i think lighting like this will go well with the genre of my song.

Shots like this work really well and the way the light shimmers off the water looks really good. I think shots like this look good because it gives a sense of the location they are in and means the audience wont get bored of seeing the same shot constantly.







I like the idea of the band acting in the narrative so they can perform the song as well as be a character in the narrative of the music video. This is definitely something i am planning on including in my re-creation music video.







All of these videos have helped me with an idea for my media product. Hopefully by including edits, shots and locations like the ones I think are effective in these videos then my video should turn out quite well and will hopefully look the way I have it pictured it in my mind.
Also by looking at the conventions of similar genres it means my video will look more professional and will definitely attract fans of the genre and my targeted audience.

Narrative Theory Applied To Music Video: Snap Out Of It- Arctic Monkeys

Using Bordwell and Thompsons diagram of story and plot the inferred events in this video is you know the woman and the lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys have broken up in the narrative. This is not shown in the video however we as an audience assume it has already happened because of the way the narrative in perceived during the video.

Tim O'Sullivan suggested that narratives in videos are a way of telling our own personal stories. As a culture many of us will be able to relate to most of the stories that are portrayed in particular music videos. For example most of the people who watch this video will have or will go through a break up at some point in their life and therefore will be able to relate to how the characters are feeling in the narrative.
The narrative helps us to understand the meaning to the lyrics. This is why it shows the typical conventions of a love/ break up song so it is easily identifiable to the audience.

According to Kate Domaille (2001) she said there are eight stories from the past that every narrative now revolves around and just re-creates it in a different way. These eight stories are Achilles, Candide, Cinderella, Circle, Faust, Orpheus, Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Iseult. The category that this video would fit into would be Orpheus because it is showing the loss of something personal because they have lost each other. However it also shows aspects of Romeo and Juliet because you know that before the break up there would have been the 'love story' that just wasn't included in the video it is there for the audiences own interpretation. But some of their 'Love story' is shown on the recordings that she is watching on her television. Like she is reflecting back on past memories.

Sven Carisson believed that music videos consist of either a performance clip or a conceptual clip. This video involves both to an extent. This video is mainly a conceptual clip because it shows other settings and locations other than just a performance. However it does show aspects of a performance clip as there are video recordings being shown of the band in their natural setting which is the studio. So even though the video is a narrative the band are performing as themselves within the video. However is it mainly a conceptual clip because it involves a narrative and even though the band are included in the video they never properly performing the song by Lip syncing and playing instruments which is something you would usually see in a performance  clip.

Tzentan Todrov suggested the 'Equilibrium of Diegesis' this was that a video would consist of Boy and Girl+ Disruption= Quest--> Resolution or Re- Equilibrium in some sort of way. This video shows aspects of this because the disruption is their break up which is for the majority of the video. The quest is her trying to get over him and then the resolution at the end of the video is her finally coming to terms withe their break up and finally relaxing and accepting the fact.

Textual Analysis: Jimmy Eat World- The Middle

 
 This song is about how being different is a good thing. It is good not to be like everyone else and to conform to what they are doing. The narrative of this video consists of a girl and a boy at a house party. They don't know each other and have not met yet, so they each feel like outsider because they are not dressed or are acting like everyone else.
The lyrics and the video link very closely as the narrative in the video is showing why they meant by the lyrics. "Hey, you know they're all the same. You know you're doing better on your own, so don't buy in."  These lyrics show the view of the band and also the genre of music that this song is. They are saying it is good to be different and rebellious which is a common convention of the rock/indie rock genre of music.

In terms of cinematography there are many different angles and framing used in order the portray the narrative in a particular way:

• 
  
• There is a close track following the boy and it is a medium close up of him. You can already see that he is different from the others already. The main identification is the fact that he is wearing clothes unlike the others teenagers.
• The next cut then goes to a long shot to everyone else at the party looking at him in a negative way because he stands out.
• Then showing close ups of how they are reacting to the way he is dressed, showing the audience he is different.
• The last screen shot shows the boy standing alone, the fact he is also stood in the dark to show how he a outcast because he is on his own in the dark whilst the other teenagers are in the light of the room.

There are many different shots and locations within the house (the rooms in the house- bedroom, kitchen etc). But mainly there are only two locations: outside the house and then in the house where the party is. This could be to interest a younger audience because it a lifestyle a they may experience often.

The reason for this narrative is so the audience could relate to the video if they are in a similar situation. To show them that it might feel wrong and bad to be different but in the end everything will work itself out.

Poll On My Blog

I created a poll on my blog, which consisted of questions which everyone who goes onto my blog can click an answer and respond if they want to.
The questions I asked in these polls were:

The reason I asked these questions is because I wanted to find out whether the audience I think my music video will targeted at are looking at my blog and whether or not they would watch it. I also wanted to know whether the majority of viewers would be male or female to see whether it meets expectations and will fit the typical stereotype.
The reason I asked about the favourite music video is because I can then get inspiration from the most popular ones so my music video will be able to reach out to the audience and meet their needs and opinions on how a music video should look in order for it to be effective.

How I put the poll on my blog:

It's really easy to put a Poll on your blog. All you need to do is find a poll maker on Google and then type out your question. Once that is done you copy the embed code and then go to 'Layout' which is shown down the side of your posts. Click 'Add Gadget' this will then give you many options, Click the 'HTML/ Java script, paste the link and then save it and it should be on your blog.

These polls are a good way to get audience research quick and easily without it having to cost any money. Hopefully if you get enough views on your blog some of those people will reply to the polls that are posted.