Audience Theory

Below is a model of the media.

The text refers to the media section in which is shown/ distributed to the audience. This includes :- film, advert, music, newspapers, radio, internet, magazines, TV and computer games.

This text is then consumed by the audience, who then pass on a financial transaction to the institutions which creates these media texts.

Examples of institutions are :- Channel 4, ITV, BBC, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, Disney and News International (which own media texts such as 'The Sun' newspaper, etc.

This financial transaction from the audience which is passed onto the institutions, are used to produce more of the media texts to be seen/bought by the audience. This creates a continuing circle in the media industry.

However, recent, modern times have hindered this model and no longer fully works - especially for the music and film industry. This is because of the development of technology leading to the people/designated audience being able to illegally download the music and films online. For films, DVD pirating is the most common crime. This means then that the money is not being put back into the institutions to be able to produce more of the media texts.

100 Greatest Videos - Continued (2)

Madonna - Material Girl

-Madonna is the key figure of the video age. She knows just how to promote herself and her songs through the music videos.

Blur

-Green screen is used

-Man is dressed up in a milk carton costume against green screen

-Audience actually manages to feel empathy for the milk carton and he goes off to find one of the missing band members.

Christina Aguilera - Dirrty

-This video reinvented the Disney star

-Complete change of image

-Controversial and risky

Michael Jackson - Scream

-Included sister Janet Jackson

-One of the most expensive music videos made

-Set in out of space

-Based on visual imagery

Coldplay - The Scientist

-Chris Martin (lead singer) is moving backwards but singing forwards in the music video. Extremely difficult to pronounce/mime the words backwards to film.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

-Kurt Cobain wanted the video to be based on the film 'Over the Edge' where kids burn down the schooL

-True anger and intensity from Kurt in his performance

-Extras destroy the set in the video.

Michael Jackson - Billie JEan

-Paving stones light up ('magical')

-Split screens used.

Robbie Williams - Rock DJ

-Over the top

-Robbie takes his clothes off

-On the T.O.T.Ps version, Robbie also rips his skin off.

Madonna - Like a Prayer

-Extremely controversial (makes love with Jesus)

-Based around religion and church

-Combines 'sexual and religious ecstasy'.

Queen - Bohemien Rhapsody

-One of the first videos to make a big impact

-Spoofs made from it in the future

-Filmed in only a few hours

-Visual interpretation of the song.

Video of Queen's Bohemien Rhapsody :

Aha - Take On Me

-Combines comic-book style sketches with normal video style.

-Even now it is seen still extremely clever.

100 Greatest Videos - Continued.

Fatboy Slim - Weapon of choice

-Stars Christopher Walken dancing and flying around a hotel lobby. It is a big contrast from this to the characters he has played in many different films; which are often more sinister and serious.

Video :

Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

-Video focuses on the singer for nearly the whole video, apart from some cut-aways used.

-The video shows real emotion, big close-ups forcing the audience to look into her eyes. Extremely effective.

U2 - The Sweetest Thing

-Romantic story line based on the facial expressions of the lead singer (Bono)

-Looks like it has been shot in one take - clever and effective as it all flows so well.

-Stars other famous people; including the likes of Boyzone, boxing stars, etc.

Eminem - Stan

-Believable story line about celebrity culture and obsessions.

-Big, dramatic ending

-Frustrating emotions shown, so it is quite hard-hitting and emotive (shocking).

Electric Six - Gay Bar

-Controversial, actors look like Abraham Lincoln with bondage outfits on.

-It was found very offensive in America because of this

-Extremely weird.

David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes

-Abstract, very weird

-Completely random

-Has no meaning whatsoever attached to it.

Radiohead - No Surprises

-Unusual

-Focuses solely on the singer

-Lyrics scroll up on the glass panel in front of him

-Uncomfortable to watch as the singer manages to hold his breath under water for quite a long period of time. You can see the pain in his eyes, making it even more uncomfortable to sit through.

Queen - I Want To Break Free

-The video is completely filmed in drag.

-Humorous

-Audience did not really notice at the time, but Freddie Mercury was homosexual; this video emphasizing it.

Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

-Filmed entirely in animation.

-Unique to usual video-types.

Ideas.

Below are note-forms of some of the plans that we made together, while brainstorming some of our ideas together:-






-One person walking round on their own being stalked (by someone from their past). Keep turning around but no ones there (paranoia)

-Different shots of one person / group lip-syncing or maybe playing instruments


-Lots of different locations used - park, church ground, bedroom, living room, streets

-Quick shots

-One idea is to have the person being stalked sitting in the living room on the sofa, (long-shot) where you can also see the person sitting on the stairs behind them. Have close-up of the "stalker's" lips and face as they lip-sync the word in the song "paranoia". Mid-shot of the person being stalked turning their head to look around behind them, (another shot at 180` seeing them after turned round), no one will be there though. Then long-shot showing no one is on the stairs...





-Another idea is to have the stalked person kneeling on the floor in the bedroom looking up at the ceiling with the camera looking down on them spinning in a circle. Have the stalker laying by/underneath the bed in the corner so you can still slightly see them (and then again with them not there). Have a similar turning shot with the camera looking up at the flashing light (and during editing alternate between these three shots).

-Phone shot....(wipe transition)


-Shot of someones feet while running, then straight cut to someones feet who is laying on the floor.

100 Greatest Videos.

The last couple of lessons we have been watching the countdown on the top 100 greatest videos made. Here are a few examples of some of the videos we have watched:-

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes

-About the Cold War (Historical content)

-Controversial fight between 'Ronald Ragan' and Russian President 'Chinyenko'

Madonna

-Use of time warps

-Good use of cinematography

Bob Dylan

-Simple, basic idea shot in one take

-Made from documentary

-Lyrics written on cardboard and casually thrown on the floor

-Bad timing

-Later used for parodies

Aphex Twin

-Extremely weird and confusing

-Creepy

-Unique, different

Smack My Bitch Up

-Extremely controversial

The Cure - Close To Me

-Claustrophobic feel

-Dark

-Confusing

Meatloaf - I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That!)

-Unusual

-Based on similar story line to beauty and the beast

-Dark, monstrous, good make-up and mise-en-scene

-Tells a kind of story

-Cliffhanger; leaves audience thinking 'what won't he do?'

Fatboy Slim - Praise Me

-Candid camera format

-Bad dancing in front of a real-life cinema (not a set)

-Music is stopped by the cinema manager half way through the song, great comical impact

Johnny Cash - Hurt

-Video based around an old man (Johnny Cash) looking back on his life, career and younger years.

-Extremely moving

-Dying man reminiscing on his life, including his wife

Other coursework examples.

Today we watched examples of music videos that other people had done for their coursework, and discussed whether they were good or not and why.

The main aspects that everyone pointed out was the timing of the lip-syncing and how it automatically down-graded the music video; even if the rest of it was good. So it helps to realise what our main priorities are going to have to be when planning our own music video.

Watching more and more examples of music videos will also help to give us a wider variety of knowledge on what is expected from music videos, and clever devices we could interpret into our own music video. It also could help us decide on what techniques to use for the coursework, as watching them already completed guides us into seeing what they look like finished in the music video, and what kind of effect they have on the overall image/tone/interpretation of the video.

Being able to see bad examples of music videos will be a great assistance to see what makes it a bad video - so we know not to repeat this mistake when it comes to our final project.

Lyrics to 'Paranoia'

Paranoia, she's stalling
Check the phone there's no one calling
Read a letter in the paper
Send a message, see you later.

Paranoia, check your phone line
Scared to take a walk at night time
Light a candle, kill the night light
Out of mind is out of sight.

And I'm running like I'm being chased
Missing like I've been erased
Seeking something never found
Standing on this broken ground.

Wishing for a hand to hold
My life's a story still untold
Paranoid I've missed my time
This minute now I draw the line.

Paranoia, you hear a siren
Look above the planes are flying
Who's are the good guys euro disguise
Paying someone to hide the lies
911 so far from heaven
Paranoid that this is the end.




Now that we have the lyrics written down, we can easily come up with ideas to relate to these.

Back to School (A2)

We have now come back to our sixth form lessons, and our group has come together to prepare ourselves for planning the coursework as the deadline is only Christmas. Although it seems like a long time, we have to make sure we leave ourselves enough time to be able to edit the music video; as making sure the lip-syncing is in time with the music will be quite a difficult task to do properly.
As we are sure on which song we want to use for this part of the coursework, we can already start planning some parts of what we are going to do.
This includes: the overall theme of the music video, whether it will tell a story throughout, and already plan out which camera angles or techniques we would like to try out/use.

This means within the next couple of lessons, my group will start bringing our individual ideas together and brainstorming them to see what we can come up with.


I think the lyrics of the song 'Paranoia', which we are using, will be a big help contributing to our ideas - and we should take these into consideration when brainstorming.

After some research looking into various music videos, I have noticed that some are not as effective as others. Although the song maybe really good (causing sales and profits to be high) but if the video is bad, then it will not attract as much attention or publicity; causing sales to be lower than they could be.

We need to be careful when making our music video, to make sure it compliments the song well.