Account Of Media Morning Filming Price Tag

On Monday 18th June we made music videos to the song Price Tag by Jessie J. We were told to get into different groups. I was with Plum, Tom, Ivan and Bertie. Plum, Tom and Ivan were the people that sung in our group. We all tried different jobs. At first I worked the CD player. I had to press play on the CD player after the director shouted 'Playback'. Once I had pressed play I counted 3, 2, 1 and then it played. When the director shouted 'Cut' I had to run back to the CD player and press stop. I then had to play it again when the shot had changed and the director shouted 'Playback'. I did this job until we had finished filming with that background. There were 3 different backgrounds; the green screen, rock wall and the inside of the house and at each section we did different types of shots. We did a tracking shot and then two normal shots. After working the CD player at the first place which was where the tracking shot was done, we moved onto the wall backdrop. My second role was to focus and zoom the camera to record the clips. Lastly we went to the green screen and filmed with that as the background. My role at this point was to encourage the actor/actress to sing and dance energetically. I really enjoyed doing the zoom and focus on the camera and also working the CD player as it was getting me involved and when working the CD player I got to watch all of the groups doing their shots which was very funny. In the process of making the music video I learnt a lot. I learnt that the cameras that we used were different to the cameras we used to film our thrillers on, therefore everything was in a different place and I also learnt about being able to film in the different locations such as using the green screen. I enjoyed being in the studio because alot of different scenes can be shot in the studio, therefore it is easier to shoot in the studio than anywhere else.

After we had done all of our shots, we went up to the edit suite and started editing. We split in to groups of 3 so that is was easier to edit it. I was with Plum and Olly. Matt taught us about syncing music videos meaning that the song started at the the same point which was the beat. We all took it in turns to do the editing. Firstly we had to drag all the clips that we wanted to use on to Final Cut Pro which is the program we were using to edit our video. After doing this we had to cut the music on a beat so that it could then go into another person singing the song. We repeated this until it was all finished although we did not finish ours. The whole editing process was not that hard once you got the hang of what to do and it was so funny watching all of the shots that people had filmed. Deciding which shots to do was not done in any particular method. We listened to all of the shots and found the ones we liked the most in the different backgrounds and put them on to the time line in Final Cut Pro. Cutting to the beat of the music was not to hard because you found where you wanted to cut then found the nearest beat and cut it there by pressing 'B' to get the blade and then 'A' to get arrow and deleted it. We did this with all the shits that we had, which made the cuts really smooth between each shot. I feel that lip synching can be really effective if it is done perfectly, even in editing it can look effective if it is done well. I think that in my music video I would use lip syncing because providing the singer knows the lyrics it would look really effective.

Below is the video we made to Price Tag:

Literal Videos

Literal videos are remakes of a music video that instead of the lyrics say exactly what is happening visually in the video. It usually says the actual meaning of what is happening in the video.

We studied 2 literal msuci videos. We looked at James Blunt 'Your Beautiful' and Bonnie Tyler 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart'.

Lily Allen Album Cover

We have been working on album covers and how they appear to the audience. Below is my Lily Allen album cover:

Lily Allen

Evolution Of Leona Lewis

Below is how Leona Lewis has evolved over time since winning the X factor to her most recent song.

Leona Lewis 2[1]

Lady Gaga Music Video

lady gaga

Negus Theory Of Synthetic And Organic Ideology

Negus said:

'What I’m looking for is the working act.  The real act.  The act that can get up on stage and do it.  That act will give you a career.  I signed Black Sabbath umpteen years ago; they are still making records.  These are acts that are career acts…Two years ago I started a dance label…Now that’s not a career orientated label.  I mean those records are one-off situations and every now and again maybe you’ll get an artist come out of it.'

Negus wrote a book called 'Producing Pop' which identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry. These ideologies decide how the image and career are developed. The two ideologies are:

• Organic
• Synthetic

Organic

This ideology adopts a naturalistic approach to the artist. The success comes from within the artist. The image of the artist is nurtured by the record complany and given time to evolve and progress through their career. Emphasis is given to album sales and they are often aimed at older, more sophisticated consumers. Profits that are generated are part of the long term business plan and help them to plan longterm. An example of an organic artist is Ed Sheeran.

Synthetic

A combined approach to the artist and material. They attempt to construct successful acts out of artists songs at their disposal. An image is often constructed by the record company. The artist is given a short time to prove their success before other people will be tried out. Emphasis is placed on single sales and promoting the first album. These are often aimed at young, less sophisticated audiences. The profits are generated by this are part of an immediate, short term strategy. An example of a synthetic boy band is One Direction.



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Dyer And Star Image

To understand the relationship between the music industry and its audiences, it is important to consider the role of music stars. 'Star' refers to semi - mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a large and loyal audience. Dyer has written about the role of stars in film, music and TV.

Dyer says that stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences. The star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to target audiences.

The star image is incoherent, that is incomplete and 'open'. Dyer says that this is because it is based upon two key paradoxes.

Paradox 1

The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer.

Paradox 2

The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.

The Star Image

The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to 'complete' or to 'make sense of' the image. This is achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products. The star image can be used to position the consumer in relation to dominant social values. Depending upon the artist, this may mean that the audience are positioned against the mainstream or within the mainstream, or somewhere in between.

What To Expect In A2 Media Coursework?

A2 media is 50% exam and 50% coursework just like AS

The coursework involves producing a main artefact, two anciliary artefacts and an accompanying blog containing your research, planning and evaluation materials

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In the coursework we have to meet the following brief:

• A promo package with the following options:

• Cover for release on CD E.g. this Lily Allen CD cover
• Magazine advertisement for a CD E.g. this Jay Z magazine advertisement

The deadline for this is December

Below is an A2 media video made last year:

Introduction To A2

I have made it through AS and this is the start of my A2 blog. I have been told that this year is about the music industry. We are learning about motivational theorists and how an artist has developed through the years. By the end of this year I expect to have learnt about all the theories and how they reflect on artists, how artists have developed over the years and how to make our own music video during the year. We also looked at different kind of artists or which theorist they followed such as Negus and I am looking forward to filming the music videos, learning more skills both on the camera and in the editing suite. I am really looking forward to this year learning about music videos and also filming our own one.