media language

Louis Saussures said that media texts use semiotics, signs and signifers to speak to audiences. I think my music video uses a variety of media language in order to accept Saussures theory.  


When my artist uses hand gestures on stage, this signifys the artist opening up, becoming more confident. This creates a positive image for the youth generation because at in the beginning of the music video, the artist was nervous and shy. This could be denoted through the facial expression in the front of the mirror in the bathroom. The connoted message being it creates mystery and gives a sense of realism because teenagers easily become shy. 


Another sign of media language is the fact that my artist is talking to friends in a segment of the music video. This signifys friends showing support, representing the youth generation stay together and they are not alone. The artist and friends are shown in a group shot, this camera shot signifys the artist is not alone, it also clearly shows the friends in the shot. 


The clenched fist is a gesture used by teenagers which signifys a sign of respect. This gesture is used when my artist is communicating with friends. 


Saussure also talks about iconic and indexical signs which is the theory of signification. An iconic sign is when the signifier imitates the signified, for example in my music video the lyric 'stop' is an iconic sign because it signifys the music and visuals stopping, there are no moving visuals or music. Instead, their are freeze frames which indicate time over space. Reality is fragmented because my music video only showed snapshots of what happened on stage, through the freeze frames.

My music video also uses indexical signs, for example the shot within shot, where my artist is watching himself perform on the computer. This is connected to the fact that he is watching what he is currently doing. This is a signified example of recording indexical.

The structure of my music video is in non chronological order because it used flashbacks, which is used to cause havoc, showing the past which represents present or future actions. For example, in the beginning their are flashbacks of the artists room and the genre characteristics of a hip hop artist, for example posters of famous rappers, Biggie and Tupac. Also, there is a visual of song title playing in iTunes, which signifys the artist only listens to the song by himself, in his own room. Then he is in an empty bathroom of a club, which shows the transition of listening to the song alone to performing in a club. 

Representation Theory

TI - Whatever You Like


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQJACVmankY 


I think this music video creates verisimilitude by representing reality as far as possible. 


Examples:

• In the beginning the girl behind the counter is genuinely excited when serving TI, a famous rapper.

• A rapper with wealth, buying clothes, jewelry and giving her money, which relates to the title of the song 'Whatever you like'.

• The flashing white transition at the end of video is the moment in the video where the audience realise she was day dreaming and it was all in her mind, it represents a flash back into reality. This can be signified through her sad and depressing facial expression.    

• The girl being more confident about herself because of the special attention shown by the famous rapper, which is shown through the visuals of her pushing away other men. This is because of the lyric 'tell them other jokers be quiet'.

• When the famous rapper has left the house, The girl waits for him to leave, then imitates his style by wearing his clothes, hat and sings on a mic. This shows even though she is getting all these glamorous items, she still is a huge fan of his music. She also acts immature which signifies reality because in the beginning she was quite loud, jumping around making noises.    

how far does your music video encourage audiences to reconfirm or challenge who they are when watching your video

In my music video I have portrayed teenagers, specifically Asian males in positive way due to the fact that my artist is unsigned and is performing in live music venues. This promotes independence because it shows that my artist has the capability of promoting his own music. This will encourage other upcoming unsigned artists to push and promote their music. My artists lyric ‘I keep it rolling’ suggests he is moving forward, and surpassing hate. This can relate to audience members who feel as if they are in a struggle, for example they might have lost their job or got rejected from a university. Listening to these lyrics may construct their identity by accepting and rolling with the punches of life experiences. However, some audiences may feel neglected, such as a female audience, where they could see the video as being intimidating because all of the participants are male, therefore females can never fully relate to the artist. 

Creativity Essay Plan

Jones 1993

In AS, when using Adobe Photoshop to create my music magazine, I used the posterize tool, which gave a cartoon effect. This was the main manipulating effect I used on my image. However, I was not familiar with the tool so I used YouTube in order to research tutorials on how to use the tool correctly and creatively. To solve a problem in A2, I was a lot more confident to take risks and was not afraid of being wrong. For example, when editing my music video in iMovie, I did not know how to match the visuals to the kicks of the beat. By using my knowledge of the clip trimmer tool when editing clips, I opened up clip trimmer mode on my audio file and through a trial and error approach; I discovered the beat marker tool, which was activated through the ‘m’ key. It allowed the scenes in my music video to switch on the beat accurately. This experience showed that my progression has made me become more confident in not looking through tutorials, which can be time consuming, rather find a solution myself using the knowledge I am already familiar with.

Isaksen and Treffinger 1993

I had a clear indication in what I needed to contain in my music magazine in order to meet the conventions of a hip hop magazine. For example, using an image with the artist holding items that are considered to apart of hip hop culture, for example Louis Vuitton Evidence shades. This was used to create a brand identity for the artist and illustrate a genre for the magazine. I chose that specific hip hop item because it has been seen on different artists such as Lil Wayne, Drake and Soulja Boy. For my music video in A2, Intertextuality was seen throughout my video, for example when my artist is looking in the mirror, this indicates a nervous atmosphere which can be seen in the Marvin’s Room video by Drake, a hip hop artist. This worked perfectly seeing as my artist was the same genre. The progression is shown through the level of depth I interpreted parts of the Marvin’s Room video. I tried to create a similar scene with genre characteristics to attract an audience, for example looking directly in the mirror at himself applying Goodwin’s notion of looking theory but I interpreted the ideology of the Drake video by using simple clothing representing the dark, edging song and creating a brand identity for the artist.

Anthony Storr

I used an unsigned artist for both my music magazine and my music video. The fact that both artists were close to me, I had immediate communication with the artists and could discuss various aspects of the practical production of my music magazine in AS for example the artist had input in what items he wanted to wear in order to meet the conventions of hip hop culture. However, in A2 the artist did not have as much input because the had an excellent understanding and good knowledge of how to use the software and the conventions of creating a successful music video. The progression was that I had done more research into software in A2 than I had in AS because in the beginning I was unfamiliar with the Photoshop software then when it came to A2, I had done more research, I had been practising shooting and editing different films and short clips to understand the software more.

Bently 1997

I was influenced heavily in both my foundation and advanced portfolios. In AS, I created a music magazine which would have the conventions of hip hop culture, for example wearing designer brands, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton. Also using a serif styled font, which appeared aesthetically appealing to the audience. I made my music video a performance based video, in that my artist was in a venue, performing his song on stage. The close up shots and over the shoulder shots were influenced by J Coles ‘In the morning’ because that was completely shot on stage during a concert. Even though my video was shot with no crowd, the ideology of J Coles video influenced me, the lighting and movement of the artist influenced me. It created a dark atmosphere and made the artist stand out with the contrast of the dark lighting and the light brown chinos of the artist.

Rule Breaking

Testing the boundaries of how far I could push my two portfolios was quite a challenge. However I think I was quite successful because in AS, I was able to use different manipulation effects in order to create a unique image that made it aesthetically appealing to the audience. For example, I used the posterize effect which was new to me. In A2 I used the motion blur effect when creating my music digipak. This was the main manipulation tool I used to create a moving image effect on my images because it referred to the title track ‘Keep It Moving’. I pushed the boundaries by keeping the effect consistent in all my images and even the text, to exaggerate the effect of moving.  

1) Planning and Research

In my foundation portfolio, I managed my time and equipment very well due to various micro decisions being made early on in the task, For example planning the basic layout of the front cover, contents page and double page. I also looked at the different choice of font and house style. When I started to plan my work, I found that making choices were quick and easy because I had a clear idea of what me and my target audience wanted. However, I did encounter problems, such as having a first draft look aesthetically unprofessional due to a variety of different colours and different sized text. There was a lot of visual clutter which is not ideal for my target audience, being 16-24yr olds. I improved this by changing the font colour to two main colours, red and yellow. This created a page with white space, being simple and straight to the point. In my advanced portfolio, the time and equipment needed to be increased because the quantity of work was increased. Therefore I had to create storyboards and shooting schedules for my music video and also flat plans for my ancillary tasks. This showed progression because not only did I use different software, I used different skills to make more macro decisions. This enabled me understand the importance of getting things done early.

In my foundation portfolio, the main thing I needed to do was choose a suitable actor which represented my target audience. The setting did not matter because I knew I would be editing out the background. I choose my brother because he represents my target audience perfectly by his style of clothing and materialistic props. This made the planning process easy and quick to do because communication with my actor was quick and efficient. I encounter minimal problems; however I did realise the fact that I chose to take the image in a back garden, in front of an old shed, did make the background quite vibrant and hard to edit. This can show in the final product as the editing on the arms is abit untidy. This could be improved by having the image be taken behind a simple background. In my advanced portfolio, the actor was a close friend of mine because he best represented the Hip Hop genre. Props included posters of different artists and genre characteristics of Hip Hop culture such as beats by dre headphones and Polo Ralph Lauren clothing. Communication was easy and efficient because we knew each other on a personal level. He also responded to my emails asking him to use him.  The setting was in a club, which again was owned by a friend which made using it easier and efficient. This shows progression through the fact that I communicated with the actors more in A2 than I did in AS, for example emailing.

In the foundation task I used an easy process of constructing a flat plan, based on the primary research from a textual analysis of similar music magazines. I did quite a few drafts, due to the fact that after I received peer feedback, I realised I needed to make changes. This was very effective because it enabled me to show the different planning stages and see where I needed to change certain things. I encountered quite a few problems; therefore I made a lot of draft copies, which then enabled me to construct a perfect product. The problems faced included not meeting the required conventions of creating a successful music magazine. I improved this by undertaking more textual analysis research into different magazine front covers. The storyboarding in my Advanced portfolio was more complex and planned because I first made a draft then created a final piece. This enabled me to obtain a rough idea of how my music video would look. This shows progression in the depth of analysis I did because the research in AS was quite generic and second hand whilst the research in A2 was more focused on the conventions of a successful music video.

I looked at different music magazines and how they used a variety of font, which was mainly sans serif, being more modern and masculine therefore attracting more males. Also the house style used, therefore meaning the different choice of colours. This research was very useful because it was primary, reliable data. Therefore it was accurate. The problems encountered where the fact that I did not research into specific conventions, I kept it generic. I could have improved the final product if I focused on certain aspects of what makes a music magazine successful. In A2, I pitched my idea to the class, being my target audience to gain feedback. Verbally speaking about my product gave me the chance to go in more depth. I also analysed different music videos. This showed progression in the fact that in A2 I learnt more to conduct more in depth research which would enable me to have a clearer idea of how my product will be set out.

In my foundation task I did not look at theorists, the only research I done was textual based analysis. To an extent, this was effective because it enabled me to see how other similar products used the successful conventions, the conventions being house style, image and font. The problem I encountered was the fact that I did not use a theorist. This would have enabled me apply more thought into what I was putting in the structure. In A2, I constructed my music video from both the visual analysis of similar music videos and Goodwin’s theory. By using his theory, I was able to create my video to meet his specification. Using media theorists showed progression from AS to A2. 

A2 Exam

I will be using this blog to help me revise for the A2 exam