I will never be able to 'unsee' a postmodernist text again!
Fingers crossed for the exam!
:-) au revoir x
Thursday 23 May 2013
Goodbye Lutterworth!
My last day at Lutterworth College tomorrow. I would like to thank Mr. Ford and Mrs. Hammond for their wonderful teaching and hardwork over the past year! It has been a pleasure and I have certainly enjoyed studying Media at A level!
I will never be able to 'unsee' a postmodernist text again!
Fingers crossed for the exam!
:-) au revoir x
I will never be able to 'unsee' a postmodernist text again!
Fingers crossed for the exam!
:-) au revoir x
Monday 20 May 2013
Sunday 19 May 2013
Thursday 16 May 2013
Wednesday 15 May 2013
MEMES
What is a meme?
A meme (pron.: /ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena
Find 3 Popular Memes
OVERLY ATTACHED GIRLFRIEND
Overly Attached Girlfriend [OAG] first featured in a YouTube video published by Laina Morris (username wzr0713) on June 6, 2012 that was a submission to a contest held by Justin Bieber who challenged fans to create a "Girlfriend" counterpart to his hit song "Boyfriend". The video, which satirized elements of the Bieber song that have been perceived as clingy, featured the woman staring at the camera with a fixed smile while singing about Facebook-stalking her boyfriend and other themes.[1] The video was noticed by the social news website reddit and quickly became popular gaining more than 170,000 views the first day.[
Arising from the success of the video, 'OAG' became an Internet meme that features the image macro of a young woman featured in the video, smiling and staring manically at the camera that has been captioned in a way that portrays her to be a stalker, jealous, or committed to her love interest to an unhealthy degree.[3][4] The image came from a still from the video was taken and made into an image macro which also became very popular and spread across many social media websites[5] and was remixed in various ways.[6][7]
The subject (and creator) of the original video has continued to produce further videos, approximately once a week. While most feature the OAG persona, some are entirely 'in character', while others cover other issues, including charity fundraising.
CONDESCENDING WONKA
Condescending Wonka is an advice animals image macro series featuring a screen capture of actor Gene Wilder in the 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
GRUMPY CAT
Grumpy Cat (born April 4, 2012), real name Tardar Sauce[1][2] is a female cat and Internet celebrity known for her grumpy facial expression.[3] Her owner Tabatha Bundesen says that her permanently grumpy face is due to feline dwarfism.[3][4] Grumpy Cat's popularity originated from a picture posted to the social news website reddit by Tabatha's brother Bryan on September 22, 2012.[3][5][6] It was made into an image macro with grumpy captions. "The Official Grumpy Cat" on Facebook has over 907,000 Likes.[7] Grumpy Cat stars in Lil Bub & Friendz, a documentary directed by Andy Capper and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2013.[8][9]
A meme (pron.: /ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena
Find 3 Popular Memes
OVERLY ATTACHED GIRLFRIEND
Overly Attached Girlfriend [OAG] first featured in a YouTube video published by Laina Morris (username wzr0713) on June 6, 2012 that was a submission to a contest held by Justin Bieber who challenged fans to create a "Girlfriend" counterpart to his hit song "Boyfriend". The video, which satirized elements of the Bieber song that have been perceived as clingy, featured the woman staring at the camera with a fixed smile while singing about Facebook-stalking her boyfriend and other themes.[1] The video was noticed by the social news website reddit and quickly became popular gaining more than 170,000 views the first day.[
Arising from the success of the video, 'OAG' became an Internet meme that features the image macro of a young woman featured in the video, smiling and staring manically at the camera that has been captioned in a way that portrays her to be a stalker, jealous, or committed to her love interest to an unhealthy degree.[3][4] The image came from a still from the video was taken and made into an image macro which also became very popular and spread across many social media websites[5] and was remixed in various ways.[6][7]
The subject (and creator) of the original video has continued to produce further videos, approximately once a week. While most feature the OAG persona, some are entirely 'in character', while others cover other issues, including charity fundraising.
CONDESCENDING WONKA
Condescending Wonka is an advice animals image macro series featuring a screen capture of actor Gene Wilder in the 1971 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
GRUMPY CAT
Grumpy Cat (born April 4, 2012), real name Tardar Sauce[1][2] is a female cat and Internet celebrity known for her grumpy facial expression.[3] Her owner Tabatha Bundesen says that her permanently grumpy face is due to feline dwarfism.[3][4] Grumpy Cat's popularity originated from a picture posted to the social news website reddit by Tabatha's brother Bryan on September 22, 2012.[3][5][6] It was made into an image macro with grumpy captions. "The Official Grumpy Cat" on Facebook has over 907,000 Likes.[7] Grumpy Cat stars in Lil Bub & Friendz, a documentary directed by Andy Capper and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18, 2013.[8][9]
Applying Narrative to my Music Video
Narrative Theory: Applying the Concept
Consider the following:
- How the narrative is organised and structured
- How the conflict is established and how it is resolved
- The construction of the characters in the text and how we are led to relate to them
- The importance of sound, music, iconography, mise-en-scene, editing and other technical features in telling the story
- How the themes and ideas are put forward in the story
- Is your narrative open or closed?
Your chosen text:
- Summarise the lyrics/dialogue in your text
The lyrics are "Living Dead" with the central chorus line being "I'm living dead only alive when I pretend that I have died".
- Are there key lines that you chose to give visual dominance to?
I gave visual dominance to the chorus by using quick straight cuts in a short space of time. A new frame was represented for each word repeated in the chorus e.g. "Dead dead dead" and "Alive -live -live". Also in the bridge I decided to differentiate using post-editing by applying a black and white overlay effect to provide connotations of sophistication and safety. The bridge was much slower than the chorus so the straight cuts were reduced to fit with the reflexive mood and make it contrast with the abrupt frame changes of the chorus.
Importance of the mise-en-scene in your narrative
Does your mise-en-scene Add authenticity to your singer?
The 1950s intertextuality through the costume of an A-line red polka dot dress and props such as the rotary telephone emphasised this. It made the singer's identity appear unique in comparison to other artists.
Is it key to establishing setting and relationships?
The location is key for establishing a relationship as there is obviously a visual contrast between indoors versus outdoors. The indoors establishes a safe and inviting relationship of the artist; the outdoor scene, during the night, provides connotations of loneliness and fear. The mise-en-scene reinforces this with opposing costumes. The artist on the rotary telephone whilst lip syncing suggests that she is directly addressing a recipient on the other line.
Is it part of the voyeuristic context? e.g. By suggesting a setting associated with the sexual allure?
The costume is definitely part of the voyeuristic context as the bedroom setting reinforces the sexual allure and the private life of the artist.
Is it to emphasise and aspirational lifestyle for the audience - John Stewart?
The mise-en-scene emphasises an aspiration lifestyle for the audience. This can be seen in the costume, for example the artist changes dresses, of which are very stylish, which the audience may want to desire to dress like. Additionally, in the outdoor sequence the artist wears a fur scarf and smokes a cigarette which has connotations of an upper class and fashionable lifestyle that the audience may desire. In terms of location, the bedroom reinforces this lifestyle as the furniture is clearly extravagant and suggests an expensive and luxurious style of living. In terms of make-up the heavy make-up with red lipstick and especially the artist's hair in rollers suggests that the artist is high maintenance and takes pride in her appearance, which reinforces her high style of living.
THEORIES to my text:
Roland Barthes
Suggested 5 different codes by which a narrative engages the attention of the audience:
The ENIGMA code:
The audience is intriguied by the need to solve a problem.
This could apply to my music video as the mannerisms of my artist on the rotary telephone whilst lip syncing, suggesting that she is directly addressing the meaning of the lyrics to them, clearly suggests she has a problem. The dominant reading of this could be that she is going through a turbulant relationship that needs to be resolved. The enigma code is arguably resolved as the closed ending of the narrative when a mid-shot reveals that she hangs up the telephone whilst smiling followed by a fade out, suggesting that she has finished the problem with whoever was on the phone.
The ACTION code:
The audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem.
This is not so much applicable to my music video.
The SEMANTIC code:
The audience is directed towards an additional meaning by way of connotation.
This can be applied through the contrasting opposites of the outdoors versus indoors scenes. The outdoor scenes of nightime suggest that she is in a state of equilibrium. This is reinforced by unbalanced framing, with my artist positioned on the far right of the frame in a long shot as she sits on the garden bench, suggesting her state of loneliness. Whereas the indoor shots are much more balanced.
The SYMBOLIC code:
The audience assumres that a character dressed in black is evil or menacing and forms expectations of his/her behaviour on this basis.
This can definitely be applied to my music video as a black dress was used during the night time sequences. This was combined with her smoking and looking away from the camera, reinforcing her rebellious and careless behaviour.
The CULTURAL code:
The audience derives meaning in a text from shared cultural knowledge about the way the world works.
This can be applied to my music video with the suggestion of a turbulant relationship ended over the phone etc. Cultural knowledge of the 1950s is needed to decode the significance of the mise-en-scene and that her style is completely unique to any other artist.
Levi-Strauss
Levi-Strauss' theory dictacted that in every media text there are binary oppositions, or a conflict between two opposites. The audience subsequently are aware of who they should side with, and this technique can also help create a political theme within a text.
E.g.
Good and Bad
This can be applied to my video as this is evident through the warming behaviour of her whilsts indoors in comparison to the careless behaviour of outdoors, for example by smoking.
E.g.
Happy and Sad
The connotations of the night time sequences and camerawork has connotations of her being lonely and unsatisfied with her life. Whereas the smiling, off guard amateur kind of shots in the indoor scenes contradict this. Again, this reinforces the lyrics of 'Living Dead'. The living being a state of happiness and death being a state of sadness.
Todorov
Todorov's theory states tat in a media text there are five stages:
Original Equilibrium
Disruption
Recognition
Attempt to restore
New Equilibrium
Original equilibruim can be applied to the first few shots of the music video, where the artist does not pick up the phone. The disruption occurs when shots of my artist show her answering the phone which follows with attempt to restore to disequilibruim (the apparent deterioration of relations with whoever is on the phone).
Consider the following:
- How the narrative is organised and structured
- How the conflict is established and how it is resolved
- The construction of the characters in the text and how we are led to relate to them
- The importance of sound, music, iconography, mise-en-scene, editing and other technical features in telling the story
- How the themes and ideas are put forward in the story
- Is your narrative open or closed?
Your chosen text:
- Summarise the lyrics/dialogue in your text
The lyrics are "Living Dead" with the central chorus line being "I'm living dead only alive when I pretend that I have died".
- Are there key lines that you chose to give visual dominance to?
I gave visual dominance to the chorus by using quick straight cuts in a short space of time. A new frame was represented for each word repeated in the chorus e.g. "Dead dead dead" and "Alive -live -live". Also in the bridge I decided to differentiate using post-editing by applying a black and white overlay effect to provide connotations of sophistication and safety. The bridge was much slower than the chorus so the straight cuts were reduced to fit with the reflexive mood and make it contrast with the abrupt frame changes of the chorus.
Importance of the mise-en-scene in your narrative
Does your mise-en-scene Add authenticity to your singer?
The 1950s intertextuality through the costume of an A-line red polka dot dress and props such as the rotary telephone emphasised this. It made the singer's identity appear unique in comparison to other artists.
Is it key to establishing setting and relationships?
The location is key for establishing a relationship as there is obviously a visual contrast between indoors versus outdoors. The indoors establishes a safe and inviting relationship of the artist; the outdoor scene, during the night, provides connotations of loneliness and fear. The mise-en-scene reinforces this with opposing costumes. The artist on the rotary telephone whilst lip syncing suggests that she is directly addressing a recipient on the other line.
Is it part of the voyeuristic context? e.g. By suggesting a setting associated with the sexual allure?
The costume is definitely part of the voyeuristic context as the bedroom setting reinforces the sexual allure and the private life of the artist.
Is it to emphasise and aspirational lifestyle for the audience - John Stewart?
The mise-en-scene emphasises an aspiration lifestyle for the audience. This can be seen in the costume, for example the artist changes dresses, of which are very stylish, which the audience may want to desire to dress like. Additionally, in the outdoor sequence the artist wears a fur scarf and smokes a cigarette which has connotations of an upper class and fashionable lifestyle that the audience may desire. In terms of location, the bedroom reinforces this lifestyle as the furniture is clearly extravagant and suggests an expensive and luxurious style of living. In terms of make-up the heavy make-up with red lipstick and especially the artist's hair in rollers suggests that the artist is high maintenance and takes pride in her appearance, which reinforces her high style of living.
THEORIES to my text:
Roland Barthes
Suggested 5 different codes by which a narrative engages the attention of the audience:
The ENIGMA code:
The audience is intriguied by the need to solve a problem.
This could apply to my music video as the mannerisms of my artist on the rotary telephone whilst lip syncing, suggesting that she is directly addressing the meaning of the lyrics to them, clearly suggests she has a problem. The dominant reading of this could be that she is going through a turbulant relationship that needs to be resolved. The enigma code is arguably resolved as the closed ending of the narrative when a mid-shot reveals that she hangs up the telephone whilst smiling followed by a fade out, suggesting that she has finished the problem with whoever was on the phone.
The ACTION code:
The audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem.
This is not so much applicable to my music video.
The SEMANTIC code:
The audience is directed towards an additional meaning by way of connotation.
This can be applied through the contrasting opposites of the outdoors versus indoors scenes. The outdoor scenes of nightime suggest that she is in a state of equilibrium. This is reinforced by unbalanced framing, with my artist positioned on the far right of the frame in a long shot as she sits on the garden bench, suggesting her state of loneliness. Whereas the indoor shots are much more balanced.
The SYMBOLIC code:
The audience assumres that a character dressed in black is evil or menacing and forms expectations of his/her behaviour on this basis.
This can definitely be applied to my music video as a black dress was used during the night time sequences. This was combined with her smoking and looking away from the camera, reinforcing her rebellious and careless behaviour.
The CULTURAL code:
The audience derives meaning in a text from shared cultural knowledge about the way the world works.
This can be applied to my music video with the suggestion of a turbulant relationship ended over the phone etc. Cultural knowledge of the 1950s is needed to decode the significance of the mise-en-scene and that her style is completely unique to any other artist.
Levi-Strauss
Levi-Strauss' theory dictacted that in every media text there are binary oppositions, or a conflict between two opposites. The audience subsequently are aware of who they should side with, and this technique can also help create a political theme within a text.
E.g.
Good and Bad
This can be applied to my video as this is evident through the warming behaviour of her whilsts indoors in comparison to the careless behaviour of outdoors, for example by smoking.
E.g.
Happy and Sad
The connotations of the night time sequences and camerawork has connotations of her being lonely and unsatisfied with her life. Whereas the smiling, off guard amateur kind of shots in the indoor scenes contradict this. Again, this reinforces the lyrics of 'Living Dead'. The living being a state of happiness and death being a state of sadness.
Todorov
Todorov's theory states tat in a media text there are five stages:
Original Equilibrium
Disruption
Recognition
Attempt to restore
New Equilibrium
Original equilibruim can be applied to the first few shots of the music video, where the artist does not pick up the phone. The disruption occurs when shots of my artist show her answering the phone which follows with attempt to restore to disequilibruim (the apparent deterioration of relations with whoever is on the phone).
Monday 13 May 2013
Mix Tape
I've decided to base my mix tape on songs that were significant in my childhood and some later ones. It is also meant to be a kind of homage to me leaving secondary education into supposed 'adulthood' and others are just random ones I enjoy. Songs such as RHCP are dedicated to my fear of working in a boring office doing repitious work. Anyway...
1. All Saints - Pure Shores
2. The Cardigans - My Favourite Game
3. LeAnn Rimes - Can't Fight the Moonlight
4. Nelly Furtado - I'm Like a Bird
5. Hilary Duff - So Yesterday
6. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Tell Me Baby
7. Sophie Ellis Bextor - Murder on the Dance Floor
8. Amy Macdonald - Poison Prince
9. Yann Tierson - The Piano
10. Shakira - Whenever, Wherever
11. N Sync- Bye Bye Bye
12. HANSON - MMMBop
13. Gwen Stefani - Cool
14. Dido - White Flag
15. Britney Spears - Everytime
16. Kelly Clarkson - Because of You
17. Christina Aguilera - Oh Mother
Sunday 12 May 2013
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Wednesday 1 May 2013
Applying Genre to my Music Video
An introduction to GENRE
David Chanler (2001) - the word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'type'
The term is widely used in literary theory, media theory to refer to a distinctive type of 'text'
Steve Neale (1980) declares that "genres are instances of repetition and difference" it is essential for genre to deviate occasionally in order to attract and engage audiences
Andrew Goodwin - Genre Category Amplification
It is closely related to disjuncture, but amplification is just an enhancement of a concept while still retaining a link to it, this technique works brilliantly in marketing and a band in question.
What genre is your music?
Pop
Which generic conventions have you applied?
E.g.
- Extreme close-up of artist's lips whilst lip syncing
- Repetition of chorus shots to enhance 'repeatability'
- Unusual camera shots and angles
- First person mode of address directly engaging the viewer through the camera
- Star Image
- Mise-en-scene e.g. 1950s props and costume/inspired by pop artists such as Christina Aguilera and pin-up
- Locations -> inside and outside
- Camera angles and shot-types e.g. prolific use of mid-shots to make artist more recognisable and lip-syncing distinguishable
- Post-editing e.g. black and white/increased saturation and decreased brightness/fade out/speed up/fast cuts in the chorus and slow cuts in the verses
- Lighting e.g. Halo effect/key lighting
Genres are recognisable through the repeated use of generic codes and conventions
Tom Ryall suggests that the types of conventions found in genres might be group within the following categories
Iconographies (symbolic forms associated with the genre)
Symbolic use of bright colours is an ocnography that is dominanted by the pop genre. For example I replicated this in my music video through the dominant form of red, in the mise-en-scene and subtly in the locations e.g. the sofas. This gave a bright red hue that was enhanced by the saturation in post-editing.
The mise-en-scene of an unusual costume, in this case the 1950s style that is non-conformist to modern day trends, presents the artist in an unusual and recognisable way. This is also a technique to enable her to gain attention for the audience. With the pop music being dominanted by a majority of female audiences it is important not to off put the audience but instead draw them in.
Narrative: (structure - closed)
My music video narrative is closed as the ending is resolved throught the use of a fade out to signify it has finished. There would be no sequels to the video so therefore it is closed.
Representations: (characters/stereotypes)
The artist conforms to stereotypes such as that women are objectified by the dominant male perspective, as theorised by Laura Mulvey.
Ideologies: (beliefs and ideas of the 'ideal' concept, themes)
The lyrics 'Living Dead' is illustrated through the use of two contrasting themes. The first theme is "Living" where the artist is indoors and the bright red hues suggest that she is in a state of equlibrium (as theorised by Barthes). Whereas the second theme of "Death" is represented through the use of a black dress, in contrast to 'Living's red dress, and the darkness of the night time when she is sat outside. The use of a cigarette in the "Death" sequence connotes this ideology that smoking is a cause of death which is only done when alive. The negotiated reading can argued that these two parallels therefore indicate that materialistic things, such as her costume etc which indicate her glamorous lifestyle, do not substitute for a happy life.
By extension the use of the cigarette also reinforces the dominant ideology that smoking is glamorous or fashionable.
Which of the above codes/conventions does your coursework use and how?
Genres and Audiences
If we recognise the genre of a text it enables the audience to feel at home and gain enjoyment from "spotting the conventions and repetition" and making comparison with other texts of the same genre.
However if a text deviates from the conventions it can confuse the audience. At the same tiem we enjoy seeing the rules broken, providing the producer encoding the text does not go 'too far'.
We are more advanced than audiences of the past simply because we've seen more films than anyone in the history of media, so we expect genres to be played with.
What conventions would your audience enjoy spotting in the text?
Use of mise-en-scene/cuts/lip-syncing - these are the most dominant and easily recognisabe
Genre offers audiences a structure or framework enabling us to feel secure in our knowledge.
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