Teacher assessment - lip synching

A Level Media Progress Check - Georgia
Assessed by	NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Lip syching
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		You have practiced lip synching to the song.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		If you could have edited the song over the top, so it appeared more like a music video and also reflected on your work.
Additional comments

Possible ideas for music video

Lyrics: black
Ideas: red

30 second intro -

Show the scenery and the performers face. Also shots of the girl telling the narrative walking around London or coming out of the train station.

Shot idea: - have the girl drop a necklace that her boyfriend gave her into a fountain or bin.

Oh no, the pennies dropped.

How did my focus stop?

I never let desire lead me blind.

I can't get enough.

Here we could have the performer in front of a graffiti wall or on a bridge, simply singing.

Oh no, the force is strong.
You know ya done me wrong.
I never let a feeling lead my mind.
I gotta rise above.

Close up of eyes and tears running down face, showing that she has been hurt.
The lyric 'rise above' is when she begins to realise she needs to get over her ex-boyfriend. Here we will start to show her having fun. Maybe in a shop or buying something from a weird stool in London, doing something she doesn't normally do.

Don't need to fret.
Cause if I was to take you home,
What's left when the danger's gone?
I never let a feeling lead my mind.

More shots of the performer in cool locations.

Would you like to know me better, baby?
Then what you could show me is better, maybe?
Well, I sure don't wanna waste your time.
Sure don't wanna waste your time.

With friends at a site or land mark.

So let me tell ya that I'd be better off without you.

Duck down, the bull is gone.
Slow motion, switch me on.
I never let desire lead me blind.
Won't give up.

Shots again of the lip singer. Could also add an effect of slow motion to go with the lyric.

Freeze frame, I dodged that shot.
The bigger pictures not good enough.
I never let a feeling lead my mind.
I gotta rise above.

Could slow the shot down so it become more of an image, whilst the performer is singing.
Or could show the girl holding an old picture of her and her boyfriend then her ripping it up/throwing it away. 

Don't need to fret.
Cause I would rather be alone.
Than with you in the danger zone.
I never let a feeling lead my mind.

Show her doing something outrageous on her own.

Would you like to know me better, baby?
Then what you could show me is better, maybe?
Well, I sure don't wanna waste your time.
Sure don't wanna waste your time.
So let me tell ya that I'd be better off without you.

Shots of her in a bar interacting with people. Increase pace of shots.

 Better, better, better off without you.
Better, better, better off without you.
Better, better, better off without you.
Better, better, better off without you.

Would you like to know me better, baby?
Then what you could show me is better, maybe?
Well, I sure don't wanna waste your time.
Sure don't wanna waste your time.

So let me tell ya that I'd be better off without you.

Shot idea:
The pace of the song picks up, bringing the song to an end. To show her having lots of fun in a cool  location we could go to Granary square fountains and show her playing around in them, alongside shots of the lip singer.

Fade out 10 seconds

Continue shots of the lip singer in different locations.

 

Further Research

The Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is something we have considered when filming our video, creating our digi pack and website. To assure we use this correctly within our work I have done some extra research on the rule of thirds. Although I am the artist and therefore will not be filming the majority of the shots I will still have the opportunity to take shorts of our narrative and have my input, this is why I will need to understand this rule.

The rule of thirds is based upon guidelines that apply when creating visual images such as films. The grid is composed of nine equally sized squares. The most important of the images should be placed along the vertical and horizontal lines or in their intersections as they would become the main focus of the shot. Aligning an object or a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest when compared to simply placing them in the centre of the shot. It is very easy to assume that the object or subject in the centre of a shot is the main focus for the audience, however research has proven that this is not the case.

 

 

 

The image to the left shows the key points as to where a person would focus their eyes upon the most. This is demonstrated in the image above whereby the sunlight is on the two horizontal lines. When filming a moving subject, the same pattern is often followed, with the majority of the extra room being in front of the person (the way they are moving). When photographing a still subject who is not facing the camera, the extra room should be in front of the subject with the vertical line running through the centre of their perceived mass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Production Diary

Week 5

This lesson we looked into Andrew Goodwin's theory and analyse of  music videos and each applied the theory to several music videos. We were to complete this for homework and then next lesson look at each others work to see if we could make any improvements to our own work. This was helpful to look at how other people applied Andrew Goodwin's theory compared to our own as we could spot any mistakes we had made or spot mistakes other people had made to then help them.

After the task above was completed we were given the option this lesson to either film ourselves lip syncing or peer asses other peoples blogs in order to help them make improvements. I knew peer assessment would be easy to do at home in my spare time so decided to film my lip syncing practice. I and a few others decided we would go to another room and film this. We chose to lip sync as a group (one direction), instead of doing it individually. We each had a solo part to sin g so we was able to see each of us lip sync clearly to asses who was stronger. Doing it as a group helped with managing our time, we could get this task done in one lesson instead of two or three. If we had time at the end of the lesson we was going to begin the task of peer assessment marking. Unfortunately we didn't so I completed this task for homework.

A fun task that we also did was called 'what music means to me'. I created a power point showing how my taste in music had changed over time, along with this I analysed the videos I had spoken about. I also looked into what it means to be a star and what makes up a star image. I chose Cheryl Cole as she and her star image has developed dramatically over time, which would be good to analyse. 

Lip Syncing

This video shows me and my peers practicing our lip syncing. This will be very beneficial when we come to filming our final footage. Filming ourselves and then watching it back helped us to see what went well and what didn't go so well. When watching this lip syncing practice back we found that we all needed improvements. I think I needed to make more I contact with the camera and also needed to exaggerate my mouth more when saying certain words.

peer assessment

www: Have an understanding of Andrew Goodwin's theories and have great in depth  analyse in your star analysis. top marks for using a new way to display your work (zooburst). The preliminary task was well analysed with justified points. some analysis on real music videos

ebi: your production diary needs to be updated drastically, if not it will be harder to remember. more information on your analysis on real music videos and the timeline needs to be altered so u can see the information because you cant zoom in. :)

Teacher feedback - what music means to me

A Level Media Progress Check - Georgia
	Assessed by		NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		What music means to me
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		Detailed and thoughtful look into the songs you enjoyed in your past and why you liked them.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		If you could consider what impact this will have on your planning choices.
Additional comments

Teacher assessment - Goodwin

A Level Media Progress Check - Georgia
	Assessed by		NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Andrew Goodwin
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		Detailed and developed analysis into his theory and you have applied this successfully to music videos.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		If you made clearer comparisons regarding genre and audience, between videos.
Additional comments

Teacher assessment - timeline

A Level Media Progress Check - Georgia
	Assessed by		NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Music Timeline
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		Lovely layout and good range of information.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		Is there a way to make the images bigger, so that you can read them all properly? Need to reflect on the purpose of this.
Additional comments

What Music Means To Me

This music video, 'Lady Marmalade' justifies my reasons for selecting the song as my childhood favourite. From beginning to end we see extravagant clothes, make-up and backgrounds/settings. I was very into performing arts so the video fitted my personality well, being over the top. Also the song is one you can dance to, which I liked to do a lot.




This music video reflects my teenage personality. In my earlier teens I was still very into dance and performing, in this video Beyoncé performs a dance routine with her back up dancers. She also wears different sparkly outfits which appealed to me. The video as a whole is more mature due to the black and white colouring and plan, sophisticated background.

Teacher assessment - star analysis

A Level Media Progress Check - Georgia
	Assessed by		NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Star Analysis
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		Detailed and thoughtful analysis of your star. You have really considered each time and explained what this says about them as an individual.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		If you could reflect on how this will help you for your own star.
Additional comments		Good use of a new web 2.0 tool

Star analysis

Different types of music videos

CONCEPT:

Concept videos are based around a single idea or concept and are usually unusual and obscure, even surreal for the audience. This unusual content is an attraction to many consumers, which draws them in. Concept videos usually are combined with one of the other two styles as the market demands for greater accessibly rather than the somewhat niche that is pure concept art. A successful concept video will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what or who is on the screen. No particular genre or type of music is more likely to use concept videos, in fact a range of artists covering all genres have used concept/ art based videos.



NARRATIVE:

A song with a narrative based music video the song includes a narrative story of the lyrics/ words being acted out in some way. This style relies on imagery to produce a story for the audience to follow and some narrative videos include clips from films that the song has been featured in. This seems to be used a lot in slower songs, and often tend to be love stories





PERFORMANCE:

A performance video focuses on showing footage of the artist or band either in a casual environment, i.e. socialising with friends, or performing, live performance or staged performance. This style of video uses the band/artist/group throughout the majority of the production and the artist, band members are often miming the words to the song. The genre of music where performance videos are common is indie and rock. The costing on this type of production are also most likely to be the lowest as the producers are in effect giving the audience the most realistic image of the band as it is only the band they are showing. The downside of this is that the band will need to be relatively established to pull off the video, or else interest will become saturated.

Andrew Goodwin

Conventions of music video genres

Production Diary

Week 4

This was our first lesson back from the holidays and we were given the task to get into groups and analyse music videos of our choice, preferably one in as much detail as possible. We were to make notes on genre conventions, this would help us when creating our own music video.

In the next lesson I decided to finish off unfinished work such as production diary's and the task above and then make sure everything is up to date and published on my blog. We were then given a task to begin as homework for the next lesson. This was to begin the analyse of star websites of different genres. I am to begin this for homework and finish it in the next lesson. 

Music Video History

Teacher assessment - Britney

A Level Media Progress Check - Georgia
	Assessed by		NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Britney task
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		Good attempt at copying the Britney video and a clear reflection underneath.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		If you also put up your planning of the Britney task, including shot-by-shot analysis and storyboard.
Additional comments

Britney Spears - Preliminary task

Evaluation:

I think my group and I worked really well as a group. In our first lesson together we each took parts of the Britney video and analysed it to then put our work together to make a story board. This was helpful when filming as we were able to tick off the shots we had done. We also all came to an agreement that everyone would have a chance to be on camera. This way no one would feel as if they had to do it all, therefore most people were Britney and then others were background people or the teacher in one of the beginning shots. Costumes weren't a problem for us girls as we all had something at home similar to Britney's outfit she wore in the video. The choice of music video was very convenient for the whole class due to the fact that its set in a school. Also with there bein gno special effects made it easier. Filming was easy as we used a tripod for most shots and came up with an easy, creative idea of how to do the tracking shot at the beginning. We placed the camera on a box and simply slid the box along the floor. Although we found the filming easy we did have some difficulty whilst filming, for example people being absent and not finding enough extra people to be in our shots. Therefore if I were to do a task like this again I would do more planning and preparing for if things like these may happen.

Towards the end of our filming, when we only had a few shots left to film, we split our group by having two people stay in the class room and begin to edit what we already had. This helped us manage our time well and get the task done on time. Again, if I was to do a similar task to this one I would take part in the editing side more as I did most of the filming process.

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey believes that film audiences have to view characters from the prospective of a heterosexual male. The theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects; the camera usually lingers over the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction. Laura Mulvey and her theory of the Male Gaze was influenced by Freude, the creator of Psychoanalysis and the elaborator of the unconscious. This inspiration was the key to the Feminist Film Theory movement and had been of a great influence since the mid 1970's. Mulvey argues that women are represented only to provide visual pleasure to men and that the audience is constructed in a manner where by they are all expected to be of male gender.

Jonathan Schroeder (1998) - "To gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze"

I am going to compare three different music videos in relation to the theory of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze. The music videos I have chose are

Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around

Scouting For Girls - She's So Lovely

Jenifer Lopez - On The Floor

This video conforms to the conventions of Mulvey's theory in several different aspects. However there are some features which show the video to subvert against the Male Gaze.

The opening shot of the music video focuses on Kylies feet. She is wearing gold strappy heels. This choice of footwear shows the audience that Kylie is a confident character. The colour of gold is usually associated with the idea of a prize. This suggests that Kylie is a possession and therefore conforms the theory of the Male Gaze. The video then moves on to Kylie dancing in relation to the lyrics (spinning around). We then see a close up shot of Kylies bum while she walks, moving her hips side to side. Both these dancing and walking shots are in slow motion, which allows the audience to see Kylie in a more detailed way. In the style of Mulvey, the close up shot of her bum would give pleasure to the audience, the male audience. The shot also gives off sexual connotations.

 In the next shots we see Kylies entire outfit. She is wearing a range of different colour gold's, again relating to the idea of a prize and her being a possession. She is positioned laying on top of the bar, she has her back arched and her legs tucked in, drawing attention to her bum. While she is on the bar she is dancing and moving in a provocative way. The servers behind the bar are men which could be the reason she in dancing and moving in such a way. This also shows us that she is trying to grab their attention. The servers behind the bar are enjoying watching her dance, almost as if she is performing for them, relating to Mulvey's theory that women are presented in a way to provide men with pleasure. Her facial expressions are happy, showing she is enjoying what she's doing. Through out the shots on the bar and the shots of her dancing her outfits are very revealing, also providing pleasure to the audience. There are also shots of Kylie laying on a sparkly platform, turning and posing in different provocative positions, almost as if she's selling herself. This also relates to Mulvey's theory showing she is an object that can be brought, denying her human identity.

As Kylie is making her way through the club she is singing and dancing whilst making eye contact with the male characters. This suggests she wants them to approach her. In one of the long shots she throws her body over the sofa, positioning herself in the middle of two males. The way she does this appears as if she is throwing herself at the men and giving them what they want. She then pushes herself upon the male whilst facing the other way and singing with eye contact towards the other male - this could subvert the theory of the male gaze as it appears to be the female who is leading and in control the males. The lyrics read "I found a new direction' and then she takes the male to the dance floor: subverting against the theory of the male gaze again.

When she gets to the dance floor and begins to dance with the male. At this point the lighting is high key and the spotlights are often on Kylie, making her the centre of attention and taking attention off of other females. The fact she has most screen time shows she is important and has power over all characters, even the males. Although a female having most power would go against the Male Gaze it also would conform it as the female with the most screen time would be watched by a male audience. Whilst dancing in a sexual manner Kylie sings 'you know you like it like this' which then leads to Kylie leading a dance that men join in with. This subverts to the male gaze as it shows the two genders performing together. However Kylie is the first to lead the dance, making her the main focus, overlooking the male characters. The majority of the aspects in this video conform to the Male Gaze theory.

Scouting for Girls

When analysing this video I found that it follows Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory in a number of ways. The title of this song, 'She's so lovely', can be misleading. Possibly suggesting the female being spoken of has a lovely personality or that the female is someone's loving mother, sister or friend. However, this is not the case as the female that's being spoken about is in fact eye candy for the male singer.

 

 The first verse of this song starts with 'I love the way she fills her clothes' making strong references to the females body type. The fact this is the first line of the song implies that the body is the first thing the man notices: this would relate to the idea of women being pleasurable in Mulvey's theory. The first shot of the female, in relation to Kylie Minogue's Spinning Around, is again the females feet. The shoes in the first video were a gold colour suggesting that the female was a prize; in this second video the colour of the shoes are red, suggesting that the character is provocative. The style of the shoes are similar in the fact that they are both high heels. This makes them appear to be confident. The camera shows the feet to be at the bottom of the screen and the bare skinned legs in the middle giving the main focus to the females legs.

Again, in this video men are watching the female character. This suggests the audience would be doing the same and that they to would be of the male gender. This conforms to Mulvey's theory as it shows how women are presented in a way that provides pleasure for men. The man that looks at the female is again behind a counter giving him control and more power than the female. This could suggest that the women is a possession. There is also a close-up shot of the characters behind relating to the selection of shots within the first video.

The chorus reads 'She's so lovely' and is also the title of the song. The fact this line is of such importance, being repeated many times, shows how the male character is only focusing upon the females looks. As this is being sung, the audience see the male gazing upon the female as a series of close-ups show her walking past different men with a happy expression upon her face. She is clearly enjoying the attention. If the character is happy then the audience would be too, showing how the female is represented in a pleasurable manner for the male members of the audience. The speed of these shots are slow, giving the female longer screen time and giving the audience a longer viewing time of the female.

The lyrics are continuously making references towards the characters looks. In one shot the male sings "She's got a boyfriend though and that's a pity" and then the audience see the couple kiss whilst the boyfriend raises his eyebrows towards the male singer. The boyfriend is tormenting the other male as if to say 'she's mine not your'. Again, the female is being presented as a possession. The lyrics are demoralizing also "she's flirty and dirty" however, the female appears to be enjoying this. The video does subvert from the theory of the male gaze if you look at it from a different perspective. The male is the singer and the video comes from the males point of view. In the his opinion he believes that she enjoys attention from males. However if the point of view and the narration of the shots was selected by the female then the video could potentially be completely different. In comparison to this, the first video was from the females point of view and she clearly did enjoy the attention of the males. The name of the band is Scouting for girls, this again is very demoralizing and suggests that they are all about girls. Scouting is about being chosen and therefore this suggests that females are possessions in the eyes on these men.



Production Diary

Week 3

This week we were finally able to start editing our Britney 'Preliminary Task'. We tried our hardest to match our shots to the original, this was surprisingly successful giving it was our first attempt at a task like this. Although in the end our lip syncing was slightly out of time I was very proud with the outcome of my groups 'Preliminary Task'. It was a really good task to learn from and a good experience to take with us when creating our music videos for our coursework.