LOST FOOTAGE!

After a problem with one of our macs, we lost a lot of the footage we had obtained. This included the running shots, rain scenes and all footage from the rooftops, however we downloaded our old edits from YouTube and managed to retrieve some of our footage although the quality is very low. we decided to edit the high quality footage in the woods and upload it with the low quality footage from YouTube in high definition, as this would allow us to make a comparison of the two.

ANDREW GOODWIN'S SIX THEORIES

Here is a PowerPoint i have produced on Andrew Goodwin's Six theories:

Andrew Goodwin

HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY OR "MAGIC BULLET"

The "Magic Bullet" or "Hypodermic Needle Theory"
The magic bullet theory, based on assumptions of the time, states that people react to whatever 'stimuli' came along (Lowery & DefFleur 1995). The "Magic Bullet" theory assumes that the media's message is a "bullet fired" from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head" (Berger 1995).
Similarly, the "Hypodermic Needle Model" uses the same idea of "shooting". It suggests that the media sends its message straight to the passive audience (Hoynes 1997). This audience is immediately affected by these messages. Therefore, the public cannot escape from the media's influence, and is therefore considered a "sitting duck".

ANALYSIS OF A CD COVER

Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

Choosing an artist from our genre proved challenging as Florence and the Machine are generally placed in the Alt. Folk Rock category, however, i have decided to analyse the Mumford and Sons album 'Sigh No More' i felt this was fitting to our band as, not only were they the same genre of music, but also this was their fist album, similar to ours. The band feature on the front of their album and the band name and title of the album is clear and can be easily read by the consumer, all of which adhere to the stereotypical layout of modern album cover, they feature the artist and a clear depiction of the name and band or singers name. However, the band are small and in the background, hidden behind a\ shop window, this could be to suggest that they are not fully famous yet and are not a well know band when they released their album. It can also suggest that also the band connotes to the typical presentation of the modern day singer,in some aspects, they still remain independent and unique (possibly representing their style of music) a smaller, simple font and title express there feelings on the importance of the music and not fame and publicity. Unlike some artists who will display a large photograph of their face with heavy make-up, there is no mention of the music and the product appears to be more of a photo shoot opportunity rather than an album. The use of colour also make the band stand out, the shop in which they are displayed within is white and stands out to the consumer as opposed to the darker houses next door. The back cover (right) has a picture of a window in the middle, this could represent, as the eyes are a 'window to the soul' the back 'window' is a a window to the album as you can see the songs and gather more information about the album itself. The same simple font has been kept for the back of the cover as well as the front, this can be a representation of genre and style, the band stick to a specific style of music throughout the album.

OUR DIGIPACK: IDEAS

Album Covers

DIGIPACK ALBUM COVER RESEARCH

1.

This particular album cover stands out to me, from a consumer point of view, as it is plain and simplistic. To me the lack of colour, 'eye-caching' displays and clever images presents the band to be steering away from the typical pop culture and give the impression of their album 'The Wall' to be more about the music than publicity and attracting consumers.

2.

Rolling Stones album 'Exile on main Street' has used the opposing black and white background images to contrast with and therefore bring focus to the title. However, with the detailed photographic background design the text is harder to decipher, the consumer would therefore have to pick up the album and study it closely to read it. (A good marketing technique)

3.

Ryan Adams album 'Gold' strikes me as

interesting as there is no title or text on the cover, therefore it does not connote to typical marketing of the album as it doesn't try to advertise the artist. Again this could be a "all about the music" approach or simply another technique to encourage consumers to study the album more closely, possibly to turn to the back and see the track list etc.

'ABUSE SCENES' FIRST EDIT

Here is the first edit of our original footage for the abuse scenes in our music video. one of the most highly praised aspects was our tracking, when the protagonist runs out across the car park, through the use of cars we managed to create a successful camera track as she ran, and dolly-type effect. However, there has been discussion on the realistic representation of the female character, as her run adheres to her strong, independence gained and reflected by the song, the acting in the abusive scenes is somewhat girlish, having re-filmed some of these shots we decided to keep the characters portrayal as strong and independent, although a victim in the relationship she will not adhere to female, weaker stereotypes.

NARRATIVE THEORY

NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS

When analysing narrative and decoding to find meaning our audience will study the narrative of our music video examining conventions of:

• Genre (Indie pop/rock)
• Character (Oppressed female striking back)
• Form
• Time

our audience will use knowledge of these conventions to help them interpret and understand our media product.

Theorists who try to reconstruct narrative:

• Tvzetan Todorov - suggests narrative is simply equilibrium (relationship), disequilibrium (abusive relationship), new equilibrium (better alone than in abusive relationship)
• Claude Levi-Strauss - constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative. Narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness, movement/stillness, colourful/bland & urban/natural) or conceptual (love/hate, control/panic), and to do with soundtrack. Binary oppositions.

NARRATIVE MUSIC VIDEO

Using a mixture between narrative elements and performance we were able to create a beginning middle and end to our video, which narrates the story in an obscure but still linear fashion.
Starting in the woods (first location, Cuffley) the performance aspect of the video is set mainly here, it represents the time after her corrupt relationship, when she has moved on, 'The Dog Days are Over' etc.
The video then goes on to show our protagonist being abused and the corrupt and abusive relationship in more detail, (this is location 2, the rooftops) the audience is able to note codes and using Stuart Hall's encoding/ decoding theory establish the negative representation through costume, setting and surrounding. EG the urban setting, metallic and concrete background provides a sense of entrapment and a lack of natural freedom (presented by the natural setting in the woods) the darker clothes and rain all connote to a negative stereotypical setting.
Finally we move to our protagonist running away, from bad times to good. (this again on the rooftops (location 2)) linking the first location to the rest of the video.