THEORIES APPLIED TO THE FILM OPENING

TODOROV :
Equilibrium = Its a usual day, the girl is going to the shop
Disequilibrium = She bumps into a boy and starts liking him

BARTHES :
Where is she going?
Why did she go in that shop?
Do they become friends?
Do they fall in love?
Is the boy safe?

PROPP :
Hero = Anca
Helper = Pam

LEVI-STRAUSS :
Girl/Boy
Inside/Outside
Happy/Serious

All the theories above can be applied to my AS coursework. I have shown the equilibrium and disequilibrium which gives a structure to my film opening. All the events occur chronologically however, I could not show an equilibrium at the end because it is only a film opening. This then links into the theory of Barthes and helps to create enigmas and builds further suspense for the audiences, which then encourages them to watch my movie to get answers to these enigmas.
The theory of Propp shows what role each character is playing thus creates a certain expectation for them to behave in that way. For example, a hero is the main character and the audiences expect to follow their story. However, some movies have challenged these conventions such as in Psycho, at the start the story of the lead female, Marion. But, according to the plot she gets killed in the first half of the movie which then creates more engines and suspense for the audience as to who the main character is and whom does the story revolve around. In my film opening, the camera is constantly behind Anca (Hero) hence for the audience she is the main hero because we are following whatever she is doing which makes her character come across as dominant than the other characters. The helper, Pam, often plays the role of a good person. Pam is shown to be very close to Anca and a friendly character who understands her better than anyone in the story.
Levi-Strauss offers the theory of binary oppositions. Strauss studied many myths and legends all around the world and found out that we as humans makes sense of the world through seeing everything as binary oppositions and mostly all the narratives are arranged around conflict of binary oppositions. For example, we are so much used to seeing a hero and villain creating the opposition in the story such as in Twilight vampires are shown against werewolves however, this opposition is difficult to spot in the first movie. The vampires are shown to be the good side which attracts the audiences and the werewolves are expressed as evil and scary to enhance the binary opposition. The split image helps to create that effect of binary opposition. This could also be classified as good vs evil or innocence vs corruption. In my film opening, the oppositions which I have shown helps my audiences in terms of remembering the characters due to their oppositions such as boy vs girl. This opposition helps to make the film opening much more interesting and entertaining to watch. Inside/outside are the locations which I have used which helps to show the variety of locations that are being presented in my film opening. Happy/serious clarifies the characters personality which further helps to notice their high amount of opposition in terms of building their character as well as their narrative as conflict is based around the binary oppositions and that the binary opposites are the central climax of a narrative structure.

RESEARCH - Auteur Theory

What is the Auteur Theory? Who developed it? Any film directors known as being Auteur?

Film criticism - directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision. Auteur is the French word for 'Author'. First recommended by François Truffaut back in 1954 and was first used for the French film 'Cashiers du cinéma'. Later, it was used in the USA for 'The Village Voice' by critic Andrew Sarris which he defines Auteur theory as avery serious work through the study of respected directors and their films. Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, and Jean Renior are all known as 'Auteurs'. Truffaut recognised that movie-making was an industrial process and encouraged directors to use miss-en-scene to show his or her vision on the work. Debate for the definition of Auteur has been argued since 1940s. Some believe that it is the director who brings life to the films through his thoughts and feelings. Auteur can use lighting, camerawork, staging and editing to add to their vision.

In music videos, this theory explores the concept of 3 circles. The technician area includes technical features, camera angles and editing. The stylist area entails the personal design of the film such as costumes. And, the auteur area looks into the interior e.g. happy endings.

For example, Michel Gondry has a style which flows through every music video he produces. 


Repetition is used :

 

The audience has to watch the full video in order to understand the concept of the narrative.

AUTEUR THEORY Case Study


Chris Cunningham has directed videos for many artist such as Madonna and Aphex Twin. His videos are dark with a focus on surrealism and tend to have a challenging narrative.
In Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker', the video has a strong focus on the narrative, which is longer than the song itself. It starts in the way that a typical video of the rap/RnB genre might, but then he starts experimenting. Characters within the video challenge gender stereotypes and a variety of camerawork techniques including lots of different shot types which are used throughout. The overall effect in the video is unsettling.

RESEARCH - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin was born in Australia. He began learning how to play violin at the age of 5 and then went onto to learn piano and organ at school. He was brought up surrounded by music. 

He identifies 5 key elements of music videos that we the audience should look out for which are: 

Thought Beats ( being able to see sound)

Goodwin sees songs as stories and the artist (singer) as the storyteller, making the music video as a communicational device, with the audience listening to the story. The main focus is upon the structure, chorus and versus of the song. The voice is the heart of any song therefore it should always link with the artist in order to create their star image. 

Narrative and Performance 

Goodwin came up with the idea that songs fail to give us the complete narrative and you have to read further to know what the song actually is about. He explains that music videos should ignore normal narrative and go with something unique to what is usual, which is important in their role of advertising. Also, the narrative and performance should be engaging and interesting to look at so the audience can watch it again and again. The artist helps to increase the authenticity of the video when he combines both narrative and performance. However, the lip syncing of the performer and the actions are the most important which entice the audience and to make them believe it is real. 

Star Image

The star image is vital for any music video. For example, Chris Brown or Justin Biebir are easily noticed because they are very successful artists and have star image therefore it is a very important part of the video and should come across very nicely. If a new artist is being introduced then their performance and actions are crucial to create that star image. 

Relation of visuals to the song

Music videos use images to show the meaning of lyric and to indicate the genre. The meaning helps to produce effects which sticks in the audience's minds and helps them to remember the song.  

Technical aspects of the music video 
Technical aspects holds the music video together through the use of camera work, movement, the angle, mise-en-scene, editing, sounds and special effects used. First the camera helps do the editing, cutting and the overall post production. Then the lighting and colour helps to set the mood or to add dramatic effect depending on the music video and its type of narrative. Finally the mise-en-scene helps set the scene with all the outfits, background and setting. 

Goodwin's theory has helped me massively when creating my music video because it shows what aspects of the music video are important than others such as the technical aspects and the star image. I will certainly take this theory into consideration with my music video. 

RESEARCH - Search For My Artist

• The different steps you went through in order to find the artist and song to use:

The first thing I had to do was to choose what type of music video I want to create and of which genre. I didn't choose romantic genre because my film opening from last year was of romantic genre therefore I wanted to do something different this time. I did not pick horror or gothic-like because I am not into such stuff. I was stuck and had no clue of what to do so finally I started looking online for genres from there I found rock music which I thought I could do. But, I didn't wanted to do my music video on just basic rock songs so I started looking for other paths and different kinds of rock music through that I found out about universal rock songs. I listened to few american and french rock songs and I started to find them interesting so I picked to do them for my coursework. The first thing I had to do was to get a nice track so I asked my family members who could help me. My cousin is into rock music therefore he suggested me few more rock albums with baroque rock genre and gave me contacts of the bands which was a great help. Finally, I choose Woodkid (Yoann Lemoine) from their album 'The Golden Age' I picked a song which I thought would fit in with what I want to do and I emailed them to ask if I can use their song called 'Run Boy Run' for my work.

• Initial impression of song - which track did you pick and why? What do you like about it?

Band - Revolver (French band)
Album - The Golden Age
Song - Run Boy Run
Genre - Baroque pop (pop rock)

The first reason I picked this music video is because I really liked the idea behind it and I have knowledge of 'The Golden Age' and what its all about. I know about it through my another subject which I am studying for my A-level studies (English Literature) therefore I can very well understand the lyrics and what its trying to say to its audiences. Another reason is because I like the pace of this music video. It fast and slow and the beats are repetitive which makes it fun to listen to. Also it is focused on male gender which we can tell by its title too 'Run Boy Run'. After listening to this video, many ideas started running through my mind of how to present my video and make it interesting and entertaining to watch.

What type os artist/ characters?
 I will need a person who is able to provide the character type of a loner and sad person. Who is able to act very well and show variety of behaviours in the music video. Someone who is focussed and can face the camera without any fear or being nervous.

• Show the permission you have received from the artist/writer

RESEARCH - History of Music Videos

HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEO - TIMELINE 

1905 - 1915 = Nickelodeons (movie theatre pay nickel to get in) was the first indoor theatre in 1905-1915. Simple theatres cost five cent for admission. The number of nickelodeons doubled in United States between 1907-1908 to 800 and by 1910, 26 million Americans visited these every week.

1940 - 1946 = Soundies were three-minute musical films, produced in New York between 1940-1946, often including short dance sequence. The films were presented in nightclubs, bars, restaurants, factory lounges and amusements centres. Soundies covered all genres of music and around 1800 mini-musicals were made.

1960s = Scopitone - based on sounds technology developed in WWII. The first scopitone was made in France which later spread to West Germany. It was used in bars and coffee bars in England. By 1964, 500 machines were fixed in the U.S.A. However, by the end of 1960s the polarity of scopitone had faded. The last film for scopitone was made in 1978.

1964 - A Hard Days Night (Beatles) released on the 10th of July 1964, this is the first Beatles album to be recorded on four-tracktype.

20th century = Musicals - Fantasia,Wizard of Oz - since 20th century musical theathre stage works have been called musicals, a form of theatrical performance which included songs, spoken dialogues,  acting and dance. Musicals are often performed by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance space.

1964 - 2006 = Top Of The Pops - also known as TOTP was a british music chart television program, made on BBC and broadcasting weekly between 1 january 1964 and 30 july 2006.

Concert film - a type of documentary film, which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician (more recently by a comedian)

MTV (video killed the radio star-1st video on!) Trever Horn came up with this song after reading a science fiction story about an opera singer who is in a world without no sound. He was fed up working on projects which were always unsuccessful which is why he decided to do something different this time. 'Video killed the radio star', he deliberately chose an awful name to catch his audiences attention as it was all about Punk. The video first aired on MTV and by 1979 it was a very big hit in England.

Youtube is a video-sharing website which was created in California in February 2005 and has been owns by Google since late 2006. People can go n visit the sites to watch any kinds of videos or can even put their own videos up. They have learning, entertainment, actions, comedy and all other kinds of generic videos and it is very easy to use.

RESEARCH (HIT ME BABY) - Reflection

1. What was the task?

• The task for this project was to recreate the first 30 seconds of 'Hit Me Baby' by Britney Spears. We had to create each and every shot within those 30 seconds. 

2. What process did you go through to complete the task? 

• The first task was to find the locations which match the song. It was easy because the song is located in a school therefore we already had our different locations for the first 30 seconds e.g. Classroom and corridor near the lockers. 
• We then had to decide who was going to do the filming and who will be participating in the music video to do the performance. I participated in the music video and did the performance which I really enjoyed. 

Planning evidence: 

• 0-10 seconds = foot tapping (we could not do the pencil tapping because the girl who was going to be Britney was not in that day therefore we got another girl to do the foot tapping and did not do the pencil tapping scene which made the shot very lengthy)
• 11-13 = bell shot
• 13-14 teacher shot
• 15-17 = whole group shot
• 17-21 = mixture of shots with everyone dancing and performing 
• 22-26 = mixture of shots of the girl lip=syncing (close-ups, mid-shots, long-shots at different locations e.g. corridor, lockers)
• 26-30 = lip-syncing and dance performances 

3. What did you learn from the experience? ( number of cuts/shots, physical movement, editing, miss-en-scene, performance)

• Camera - From this exercise I learnt that in music videos there are many shots. During this task, I also realised that these shots are not very long in length and they have to fit in very well with the music and the lyrics. 
• Sound - The music of every pop video can be very fast or slow and also without any lyrics but only if the shots and filming goes very well with the video as it has to attract its audience to watch it and keep them entertained. The music for this video is very fast and includes many beats therefore there are many shots and the lip-sync makes it look more authentic. 
• Mise-en-scene - Most important convention of pop videos are its different locations. Due to many different shots, the music video have to have different locations which look very interesting and eye-catching for the viewers. Also, the costumes make the artist look very eye catching and helps to represent his or her type of character according to the music video and its narrative. Also, if there is performance involved in the music video then the costumes help make it look much more interesting and the artist to stand out. 
• Editing - All the editing was done on Final Cut Express. This task is very important because it teaches how to edit small and fast shots and where to cut each shot. It also helped me to manage my time and prepare an almost exact video as Hit Me Baby. 

4. Upload your video onto the blog

HIT ME BABY - close-up and mid-shot

Close-up and mid-shot of the girl being Britney. These shots help to show the lip-sync to create the star image and the use of editing to show the tight editing to the music.

HIT ME BABY - dance shot

Long-shot to show the performance and setting clearly exactly like in Hit Me Baby

HIT ME BABY - group shot

A group shot to show my performance and contribution in making of the first 30 seconds of Hit Me Baby.
The long shot helps to show everything in the scene e.g. performers, setting, body language.

HIT ME BABY - Clock and bell shot

These are closeup shots of clock and bell exactly like from the video of Hit Me Baby

HIT ME BABY - First Shot

The first shot begins with a tracking shot. When filming this shot, my group decided to do it without a dolly because it was not available therefore we had to keep the camera very steady in our hands and take this shot very carefully.

HIT ME BABY - Editing

The first shot begins with a tracking shot and then the clock appears. This shows the passing of time. The clock is a close-up shot which makes it clear to see. This also makes the video different from other music videos because the narrative starts before the main music itself.

The narrative is still continuing and we can see this through the events taking place such as the school bell ringing.

HIT ME BABY - Video

This is the video of 'hit me baby' by Britney Spears. This was done as a practice before doing my real music video. I choose to do this video as a practice because it includes a lot of shots and through it I can see how music videos are edited.

During filming this video, the first problem I had was to think of all the different locations for certain shots, for example, classrooms, lockers, corridors. I had to think over the shot and work out its duration according to the music video which I choose as a practice.

This video has helped me a lot and I now know how to do editing of my music video. The main task is to include music conventions, for example, I have to have a narrative for my music video and I have to film by having more than just one location.