Cross Media Task and Synergy

Daft Punk

Synergy can be created in the cross media promotional package through a variety of ways, such as costume, props, appearance, location and colour.  Today in class we watched and discussed how Daft Punk uses synergy in order to represent their image.  The way they did this was by in the music videos, adverts, posters and album pictures and covers, you would also see dark colours, two men wearing a mask and futuristic aspects.  This meant that their loyal fans and even their non-fans would recognise them through this image they are displaying.

Album Cover

Below is the tease trailer for their new album which was coming out at the time.  In this video displays exactly what Daft Punk are recognised as and this is how synergy works.  This video is set in a futuristic theme and the two 'characters' daft punk are recognised as appear in the video.  They take out an old fashioned record which is taken out of the album cover they are trying to sell.  Therefore, this makes people see the digipak and they can then recognise it when they go into the shops to buy this.



The 1975

The 1975 are commonly known for possessing a neon themed brand image which started from their first album.  

Neon fits the display and image of the daily used social media apps such as Facebook and twitter which the youth of our generation use today.  Therefore, because of this, The 1975 are making it clear that their target audience is of a young age.  Neon colours and effects such as lasers are often used in their concert venues and also in the majority of their music videos, tour posters and album covers.

Their live stages have also been designed to follow the neon theme.  This allows the band to use and experiment with a variety of bright colours which suggest they are promoting individuality and uniqueness to their audience.  The use of neon has helped the band establish a successful brand image that is well known to their fans as well as the general pubic.

Banana Phone

Today in class, we filmed and edited myself, Max and Millie.  The reason we did banana phone was so that we could get used to and learn new ways of editing for which we could implement into our music videos when it comes to creating them.  I felt this was a very useful task and i enjoyed it too.  Below is my final banana phone piece. 
I used premier to edit this piece of work.  This included reversing effects, cloning myself, changing the colour of the background and keeping Millie her normal colour.  I also added 'Banana Phone' to one of the shots in a big font.  I have learnt many different editing skills from this task which will help me when editing my music video in the near future.

Star Profile

A2 Terminology

Homogenous Group: A group that all have the same characteristics

Mediation: The selection and construction of material in how it is given over to audiences via editing and point of view

Hegemony: Traditional stereotypes that are reinforced and circulated as common sense to audiences

Marginisalisation: How stereotyping can lead to someone or a social group being ‘placed’ on the outside of accepted cultural norms

Ideology: An overarching set of ideas often uses as a form of social control

Moral Panics: Issues in society that often lead to the blaming, and marginalisation of a scapegoat

Deviancy Amplification: Associated with moral panics, this explains how the media exaggerate a negative representation to ensure a dominant shared reading

Liberalisation: A more diverse, tolerant, equally acceptable approach

Pluralism: Again, more liberal suggesting and range of different, challenging representations

Web 2.0: Interactive internet media e.g. blogs and social networking

Manifest: Obvious, on the surface meaning

Cultural Stereotyping: The stereotyping of social groups in society by the media

Prosumer: A producer and consumer of media

Passive Audiences: Audiences that accept and do not challenge representations

Iconic: Well known and respected

Aspiration: Looking up to something or somebody

Encoding/Decoding: Putting meaning in, taking meaning out

Dominant, Negotiated and Oppositional Readings: The intended meaning of a text, where meaning is uncertain or where audience have decoded a completely different reading

Anchorage: How meaning is made more definite

Binary Oppositions: Where representations are deliberately different to construct further  meaning

Latent Meaning: Less obvious meaning

Memes: Internet ‘stars’

Sexualisation of Women

Voyeurism - Sigmund Freud

• Erotic pleasure can be gained by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the object is unaware of being watched).  

The voyeurism in this music video is evident as the women are wearing basically nothing and the use of camera shots and angles emphasise the women's bodies.



Male Gaze - Laura Mulvey 1975

• Proposed that because filmmakers are predominantly male the presence of women is often for the purposes of display (rather than narrative).  This is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a male gaze (regardless of the gender of spectator) one that is or may feel like a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display who is effectively objectified and passive.  In male performance videos the voyeuristic treatment of the female body is often apparent, with the use of dancers as adornments to the male star ego.

This video shows Rianna in an erotic nature whilst partaking in S&M activities whilst wearing bondage and little clothing.

Raunch Culture - Andrea Levy

• In her book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, Levy attacks the increasingly sexualised culture that objectifies women.  She argues that women are encouraged to see themselves as objects and to see sex as their only source of power.

In this video, Beyonce is in her lingerie at the start, there is no reason for her to be therefore this suggests she feel;s the need to be in her underwear whilst singing about her future husband.  Also, there is a shot where her husband is in control by taking down her garter with his mouth, as Beyonce lets this happen this is seen as a source of power with sex.

Exhibitionism

• Female performers being at once sexually proactive and apparently in control of inviting a sexualised gaze in what could be termed as the opposite of voyeurism.

An example of this is Fergie's single M.I.L.F. $.  Herself and her performers are in control of the 'milkman's' wandering eyes.  They have invited him in a sexualised gaze by bending over, wearing little clothing and making eye contact.

Representation

Today in lesson we learnt different representations and how each are used in different music videos.  As after all, the artist is perceived by how they are represented as in their music videos.  We also learnt about different theory's by some famous theorists.

Three different stereotypes of girls in music videos:

1. Burlesque
2. Stripper
3. Gangsta Hoe

1.  The 'Burlesque' girl has characteristics such as; wearing corsets, feather boas, fishnet stockings, top hats, elbow length gloves and accessories like canes.  This is an old fashion stereotype which was and still is known as 'sexy' since the 1840's.  A fine example of a music video containing burlesque in it is Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and P!nk.  You can see from the video all the women are wearing stockings,  feather boas, top hats and are holding a cane.  They are also dancing in an erotic nature which adds to the sexual image of women gaining attention by using their bodies.

2.  The 'Stripper' girl characteristic's are;  the 'open crouch', using poles or using walls as a pole, bra's and g-strings, the 'wiggle' bum shit, stripper shoes and glitter on the costume as well as having strobe lights.  The 'stripper' stereotype has gotten worse over the years as there a now artists naked in some of their videos.  An example of this is Nicki Minaj's song Anaconda.  There are a number of shots of the 'wiggle' and she often has an 'open crouch'.



3.  The 'Gangsta Hoe' characteristics are; Afro-american women and girls, bikini tops and torn shorts with 95% of their skin exposed, the backward cap, the 'krumping' moves, stimulated sexual positions, the use of water/oil on their bodies, the 'bling', tattoos and blatant body piercings.  An example of this would be No Matter What They Say by Lil' Kim.  This is because their costumes are revealing in the video and they have huge gold 'gangsta' earrings, their dancing is erotic and they have a lot of wild hand and arm movements which are almost in the audience face.

Audience

I consume music every single day and have done for the last 17 years of my life.  I listen to music during my homework as it helps me concentrate, when i go to bed at night as it helps me fall asleep, when i wake up in the morning and throughout the day.  
I love listening to chart music as it is all up to date and in 'trend'.  My favourite artists are Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and Birdy.  These artists range from pop to soul, therefore i do like listening to a range of genres.  
I listen to music through my headphones, through a speaker or in my car on the way to school and whenever i am driving.  I use this app called 'Napster' it is £7.99 a month and my whole family share the account with our own separate playlists we can listen too.

Features of a Music Video

Beyonce - Countdown
The genre of this music video is pop which is highly evident, due to the quick cuts, transitions and images in the video.  The black and white colours highlight sophistication but then gradually bright, vibrant colours are displayed on Beyonce's costumes.  The sound of this song is upbeat and the tempo gets faster throughout.  In this video is a lot of editing, but this seems to make the video more intriguing to watch.



The Black Eyed Peas - Where is the love?
The genre of the music video is R&B and this becomes evident due to the scenery and locations the music video was filmed at.  The streets were derelict and poor with most of the walls having graffiti on them.  Not only this but the costumes and jewellery used in the video are stereo-typically 'gangsta' type.  This is a sterotypical video of R&B as it has a tracking shot of the band lip singing the lyrics whilst walking down the street.



Adele - Someone Like You
The genre of this music video is Soul Pop and this is evident due to the tempo of the music and the music video itself.  The music video is black and white and this marks the pace of the song, it is slow and the colour of the video makes it more powerful and soulful.  In the video, Adele is outside walking along a long road completely on her own but it is out in the open.  She is wearing little make up and a big winter coat.  This is almost classed as 'normal' and therefore this makes it a lot easier for most people to relate to this soul video.  Usually with soul music the lyrics are relateable to most peoples lives, therefore to match the visuals to the lyrics makes the music video support its genre.

Music Video Timeline

1920's

St.  Louis Blues is a 1929 American two-reel short film staring Bessie Smith.  It is deemed to be one of the first ever music videos to be made.  It is the only known film of Bessie Smith and the soundtrack of it is her only recording not controlled by Columbia Records.  This film massively promoted Bessie Smith soon after her hit single came out in 1925.




Bessie Smith

St Louis Blues Film





1950's

In 1956, the 'Love Me Tender' film was released by 20th Century Fox which was named after Elvis Presley's song directed by Robert D. Webb.  This films starred Richard Egan, Debra Paget and Elvis Presley in his acting debut.  The single 'Love Me Tender' by Elvis was released two months before the film came out and already hit number 1 in the charts.  When the film came out, the single again rose back to number 1 due to the popularity of the film and the soundtrack itself.



Love Me Tender Movie Poster

Love Me Tender Single in the Film

This song in the film is played at the end scene.  Because it is at the end scene, this is the most memorable movie scene for the audience.  the lyrics of the song illustrate the visuals in this scene as it is about falling in love and not letting go of what you have.  Therefore, in the end scene we see four people walk off into the distance with one couple holding hands.

Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley



1970's

In 1969, 'I want you back' was Jackson 5's first hit single for the band and was the only single used in their first album they released.  The music video incorporated a lot of dance routines and singing and dancing at the same time and this meant other artist began to do the same within their music videos.  There were many shots of the artist themselves which inevitably gave them a 'star profile' image.



1980's

Rod Stewart's single 'She wont dance with me' was one of the first singles to be presented on MTV in the US.  The video below is the original video that was on the MTV show.  With Rod Stewart being a British Rock singer, to be shown on TV in the US on the biggest music channel now was admirable.





1990's

Below is the video Eminem produced with the hit single ' My Name is'.  Not only were the lippy lyrics massive in the UK at the time, when the video was released, the hits of the single rose by thousands due to masses of people being shocked by Eminem being a mental patient in the video.  Not only this, but the collaboration for this song was with Dre, he was the doctor for Eminem in the music video. 




How important are music videos today?

Some people say there’s a decline in music video quality since both the significant sums of money and MTV moved away from the genre, but music videos as an art form are as important now as they’ve ever been. They’re part of our visual language — a significant part of the culture of our consumption of music, art and entertainment.  YouTube is the second biggest search engine over Google and the largest streaming music service worldwide, so discovering new music videos is easy. Music on the Internet is consumed and forgotten about daily, if not hourly. So from a record label point of view, an artist needs something bigger than an MP3 to get noticed. They need strong creative visuals to give them a substantial competitive advantage over their fellow artists who are all trying to do the same thing; to grab the audiences attention.

Favourite Previous Student Music Video's

 Henry Nathan - Music Prelim Video



 

Below is my favourite media prelim video made by a student called Henry Nathan in 2014.  The reason i like this video is purely because of the effort and time he has obviously put into editing this peice.  My favourite part of it was right at the start where he videoed the sky from day time to night time.  I feel this was really effective and it showed how much effort the student put into this video from the start. Another aspect i liked about the video was the focusing then un -focus of the flies on the glass window.  This showed the student knew how to work a camera in ways which made his video interesting and solid to watch.

Carol Vernallis' Music Theory

Vernallis' theory included 4 conventions in which she expressed the importance of narrative, camera angles/framing, editing and diegesis.

Narrative

Carol feels like the narrative is a direct visual response to the music and therefore what is happening onscreen is reflected by the lyrics the artist is singing.  However, for Vernallis sometimes the narrative may not be completed and therefore been seen as a partial which can make the video seem disjointed or disconnected.  It is okay for the narrative to not answer questions, it can be a montage and not just one focus.

Camera angles/Framing

Vernallis' states that the establishing shots are one of the key camera features of a music video and are reused frequently throughout a music video, as well as close-up shots, usually to show off the singer/band.  The style of framing of the music video is used specifically on the artist in order to show off their star image.  An example of the close up and establishing shot are in the music video 'Only Love and hurt like this' by Paloma Faith.

Establishing Shot

Close Up

Editing

Vernallis' suggests that all music videos follow the same editing techniques.  The editing may also be bought to the foreground, become visible and not hidden.  Meaning the video will have a style of editing running throughout that is distinctive to that video.  This may include things like; jump cuts, cutting with the lyrics, breaks of the 180 degree rule, extreme changes in pace and graphic matches.  An example of a music video which has jump cuts and slow motion cooperated with obvious editing is Willow Smith's 'Whip My Hair'.

Diegesis

In terms of the Diegesis Carol explains that it will all be revealed slowly throughout the video.  She preaches that the actions in music videos are usually uncompleted or disrupted in someway.  Plus there will be many repetitions through the video due to how important some shots/frames are to others.

Music Features

What does a music video have in it?

In today's lesson, myself and the rest of my group created a music video mind map.  This included all the stereotypical features of a music video ranging from the costume to the story line.  This mind map gives me a guideline of what i may need to include in my music video when i start to create it.

Andrew Goodwin Music Theory

Andrew Goodwin's theory was that music videos ignore a common narrative and they are used as an advertisement tool instead for the artist and the song itself.  He believes that the consumers and listeners of the song make up their own meaning and message so that they can deeply relate to it.

Goodwin's theory involved 6 conventions:

1.  Relationship between the lyrics and visuals.  
Goodwin believes the visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics.
Beyonce's music video of 'If I were a boy' illustrates the lyrics, as she acts like a stereotypical boy for a day and it is the boy that gets hurt instead of the girl.



2.  Thought beats: see the sound.  The visuals are edited in time with the lyrics.
Calvin Harris's video of 'Bounce'.  When the word bounce is said, at the same time the ball is bounced and this edit makes the video very effective and memorable.



3.  The Star Image- This very important in music videos because by creating star image it can increase the audience's awareness of the artist and can therefore show a development of the artist over time. This is completed through lots of close up shots of the artist or main vocalist, this occurs quite often in pop videos, particularly in female pop artist videos as it sexualizes them to create the male gaze. A music video that shows this well is Beyonce's video 'Hold Up' which went with 'Lemonade'. This is because nearly all of the shot are of her or a close up of her and her actions. Also they have her in a bright yellow outfit therefore making her stand out, making her the star:

 

4. Voyeurism- These use of close up shots, particularly in female videos, links to this convention. This is because Goodwin found that many female videos use voyeuristic angles to entice the male audience, therefore sexualizing the artist and this influences their (star) image that is remembered. Artists that create this sexual view of themselves within their star image include Rihanna, Brittany Spears and now Miley Cyrus. As mentioned before this is incorporated a lot into Miley Cyrus' videos and especially became known for this after 'We Can't Stop' with her infamous twerking:

   

5.  Inter-textual References: It is not unusual to recognise the visuals or lyrics from other types of media text. This could either be for humour or media convergence and synergy. An example of this is with The Writing's on the Wall and Spectre so parts of the film are included in the music video. With some of the shots being in the same setting as the film. They use the most iconic settings in the film for the music video to make sure that the audience definitely makes the connection between the two. This is 'The Writing's on the Wall' music video to show this:



 6. Narrative and Performance with Iconography-  Goodwin believe that you should avoid common narrative as their role is to advertise rather than tell a story. The base of the video can be influenced by the genre so a rock band artist is more likely to be performance based and portray across the idea of a concert/ gig. Also in order to make the performance in the video convince the audience, lip-syncing along with other actions should be completed. However, some artists create a trademark action which makes their videos and music recognizable due to the reoccurring nature of it. This creates a marketing strategy which will be remembered for years to come. For example with Amy Winehouse, she had a trademark action through the iconography of her look with the big beehive hair and thick, winged eyeliner that she is still remembered for even after her death. This look is shown throughout nearly all of her music videos, but is particularly prominent in 'Back to Black':

Music, Lyrics and Visuals

No Rest - Dry the River

Diary of Today:

The first thing we did today was listen to the song above, without watching the video.  We then wrote down notes of who and what we would do to create a music video for this particular song.  After this, we then shared our ideas with the rest of the class.  We then read a print out of the lyrics and this changed some peoples ideas of what they would include in their music video.

We then watched the actual music video for the song and compared it to the ideas we originally came up with and then contemplated whether we would then change our music video idea or keep it the same.  Some of the ideas did link in with the lyrics and the music video, however others were the complete opposite.

My Idea:

My idea was to have an everlasting corridor with pictures on the wall all the way down, displaying the love story of the lead singer's relationship with the girl he is apparently singing about. There will be some rocky parts of the video where the relationship was at risk of failing, this will be during the rock music feel of the song also, so the visuals, lyrics and music will all be parallel at that time.  The idea of the everlasting corridor is to give the impression that the relationship of the lead singer and the girl he is singing about will last forever, but there will be times in the relationship which aren't ideal.  This will hopefully make the song relateable to people listening to it.

Classmates Ideas:

Megan Thomas
Megan's idea was to have a house in the middle of no where with a couple arguing inside the house.  She would then intertwine choreography in the video reflecting the couples relationship (close then distant) then it would flashback to the narrative.

Jordan Fowler
Jordan's idea was a performance of the lead singer in a field with his guitar.

Tez
Tez's idea was the lead singer and his girl he is singing about in a desert with a traditional white wedding setting.

Evan
Evan's idea was a street performance with flashbacks of the mans life as a little boy growing up to be the person he is now whilst walking along the street, also playing the guitar.

Max's
Max's idea was the lead singer stalking the women he loves, yet he can see her but she cant see him.  He will be following her life and watching over her as they are going through a break up.
So he will be seeing her move on in her life and watching her every step as if he cannot let her go.

Clare
Clare's idea was to have a montage of the lead singer and the women's relationship and the camera zooming into each part of the montage and showing the memories of the relationship.

Alex
Alex had the idea that the band were singing in their gig, which switches back to the man following the women.

Jono
Jono's strange idea was the band sitting around a campfire, switching back to a sunflower field with the lead singer on his own singing with his guitar surrounded by dinosaurs.

Preferred Idea I preferred Max's idea out of everyone's, it was very similar to mine and i feel as if it will be a music video which people connect to deeply and people may also be able to relate to the video and the lyrics along with it.  I liked Max's idea of the man being able to see the women but the women cannot see the man, as she is moving on from their breakup yet the man cannot seem to let her go.  Many people would be able to relate to this as so many people have gone through breakups when one person finds it easier than the other which inevitably makes it a lot harder.

I have learnt a lot during this task today.  Mainly that it is interesting to see an insight from everyone's different perspectives.  It goes to show how different people imagine and think of complete different things when it comes to analysing a songs visual picture.

My Personal Meaning of Music

I have listened to music all throughout my life from a young child's cartoon theme songs to the teenage pop music to now listening to alternative, chart and R&B music.

As a young child i have loved the song 'Can't help falling in love' Elvis Presley.  I have since grown up still loving this song, purely because it was my parents first dance song and they used to sing it to us as babies, it was always played around the house and still is now.

Growing up into the early teenage stage, i started listening to S Club 7.  The genre of this group is mainly pop and it attracts teenagers.  This song brings back memories of primary school and the early days of secondary school.



Now as a 17 year old i listen to all different types of music, mainly chart music yet different genres of the chart music.  These genres include R&B, pop and some DJ mixes.  My favourite artists include Justin Bieber, the 1975, Ed Sheeran and Drake; all for different reasons.  I like Justin Bieber as he produces pop songs which mainy of us including myself can relate too easily.  I like the 1975 as they are different and the songs they produce are catchy, also the different type of music is what intrigues me the most.  I love Ed Sheeran as his music is calming and relatable.  Not only this, but i like Ed Sheeran as a person as i have seen in interviews, therefore listening to his music makes it more geuine and meaningful.  Last but not least i do enjoy Drake's music purely because his voice is catchy to listen too and the beat of his songs are popular and quite upbeat.


Justin Bieber
 
The 1975
   
Ed Sheeran

Drake