Market Research Survey - LINK!

So that I could get an understanding of what my target audience would like to see in their music video, I created a survey using Survey Monkey. This is a great site that enabled me to create a ten question survey for free!

Once I reach 10 responses I will analyse my results as I believe that 10 is a good enough place to stop. This is because I would like to get on with my production as soon as possible and 10 will be enough to have a range of different opinions, especially as my questions ask for a reasoning behind responses - so this can mostly guarantee that I will have varied views. Having a wide range of responses will also enable me to meet many member's needs as it shows to me what is needed and what is not liked very much.

To see my survey please click on the image below!

Blog Reflection - Week 4

The start of the week consisted of me presenting my own pitch as well as listening to others and having a focus group after each person was done. Fortunately, my presentation was done with ease and I was able to inform my fellow classmates on everything that I planned to let them know. They also all asked great questions that I had prepared for in advance so I did not hesitate when giving my answers. I can now safely say that if my partner and I decide to go on with my idea then we will do so with a great understanding of what to do. I also asked my classmates some questions that I was concerned with which enabled them to think as well as give an understanding to the rest of us.

As we are one group, we could only decide on one song to use. The song we are using is my partner's one "Let U Go" by Thicke. We have decided to use it as it we believe that her idea is more unique and can stand out better than mine.

My partner and I also decided on which member will do which job in terms of every production stage. We decided to make sure that it was fair so that we could both demonstrate our understanding of the subject as well as obtain knowledge. As we are both thriving to understand the subject more, we wanted to get a hands on grip of everything it offers, so evening out the jobs in terms of writing, research and production jobs was a very fair decision in our opinion.

We also, as a pair, created a Pinterest board based on what our target audience would like. Although not every member of the audience would be fond of everything we have included, we have chosen to create an overall understanding based on stereotypical aspects of the characteristics of our audience. This has allowed us to sit down and think about our target audience more, as well as convey to the viewers of our blogs whom our product is targeted at.

Pinterest Board for the target audience

As my partner and I have decided to use the song "Let You Go" by Thicke as our music video choice, we also had to dissect what exactly our target audience would like. This would enable us to create our music video in a style that would appeal to them, thus forming a positive level of feedback from them. In order to showcase our findings we have decided to create a Pinterest board that has a range of images highlighting what music they like, clothing they wear and more! Click the screenshot below to see it:

List of Job Allocations

As a pair we have allocated who is doing which job during our music video project. We want to create an even amount of work on both of our behalves which can be demonstrated below:

Group song choice

My partner and I both sat down to decide whose pitch demonstrated a video that we were both more fond of. Although we were both very understanding and in favour of each other's video ideas, we have ultimately decided to stick with my partner's song "Let U Go" by the unsigned girl group Thicke. We believe that her idea is more unique so will be able to stand out to other videos as oppose to my choice. My partner currently has great ideas that I am also fond of so both her and I believe that we can create a wonderful project together if we use this song.

The song can be listened to here as well as my partner's pitch and the focus group. If you click those links you can understand her idea that we will be using, which will be contributed by my ideas that will be incorporated later on in the different production stages.

Music Video Pitch + Evaluation

POWERPOINT SLIDE
In order to gain other people's views on my work, I created a PowerPoint that showcased my ideas. This includes the song, music video narrative, conventions and more. To view this you can look below so you can see my idea in as much detail as I have created.



PITCH IDEA
To then view me actually presenting the pitch, you can look below. This required me to speak and actually play the song. I decided to let my classmates have the lyric sheets in front of them so that they could listen to the song and understand the lyrics in an easier manner. Look below to view my actual pitch. 



FOCUS GROUP
I then asked my classmates to give me feedback on my idea so that I could get an understanding of what I had done right/wrong or any ideas that they may have had for me to include. This was a very useful session that enabled me to gain ideas and an understanding of whether or not my idea actually worked or not. Fortunately for me, the feedback was quite positive and also allowed my class mates to know what I am doing. This can be seen below:



EVALUATION
After hearing what others had to say about my idea, I believe that it was quite a successful plan. Nobody had anything negative to say about the idea and all seemed to agree with my choices. One person asked me whether or not I would choose to do an interpretative video (5:02) and I mentioned how I would most likely go for this in a very minimal quantity. Also, at (4:33) somebody suggested that I should use colour to reflect the mood. This was something that helped me to make my video idea greater as I did not focus on this as much. I can now include this particular convention into my project so that I can make it fit the atmosphere created by the song, thanks to the help of my focus group.

In terms of strengths I believe that my ideas for the target audience and use of symbolism were the most effective. My group were very impressed by these ideas as they seemed to have acknowledged my amount of thought put into these aspects of my video.

With the weaknesses I believe that there were none that my group directly pointed out but I do believe that my presented ideas did not represent my use of mise-en-scene as that was something I did not consider as much as the other conventions. I will focus on this the most with my symbolism technique, as mentioned at 3:52. I will also focus more on the lighting so that I can use darkness to represent an upsetting emotion.

After hearing my feedback I do not think that my video needs any altering. Of course I would have focused more on the mise-en-scene when actually filming, so there is nothing major to change there, so I would say that my initial idea is so far panning out to being possible.

Blog Reflection - Week 3

The video for my class' mash up video that we created during the summer of AS year had finally been uploaded this week! It was great to see how everybody's hard work had paid off in this video as well as how wonderful it looked to see different styles of music video put together as one. This worked out to be a great piece of work that I was very proud of.

As well as uploading that video I also looked at a few different official music videos to understand the beachcombing meanings that come with them. I used four different videos to annotate the conventions:

• Costume
• Narrative
• Style
• Conventions

This enabled me to obtain potential parts of professional videos that I could intercept into my own. This enabled me to potentially gain higher marks on my coursework as well as earn a further knowledge of how videos are created and what the aftermath of certain aspects is.

I learnt that many artists, even popular ones from this day such as Lady Gaga and Eminem, use conventions that we have discussed in class such as intertextuality. This enabled them to gain recognition from certain members of the audience, thus allowing them to find the video to be much more interesting than it may have been without it. As what they have done is not too difficult, I may be able to include something along the lines of what I have discussed. However, in terms of my own idea for "Hold Me Tonight" I found great inspiration from the Birdy video that I discussed in the post. Many points have been pointed out in that post and has given me plenty of ideas for my own production such as the emptiness as well as the symbolism.

The last thing I did this week was work on my music video pitch presentation. As of right now the document for the presentation has been completed but has yet to be presented to my class. I have focused on many things such as audience, conventions, style and more so that my classmates can understand what I want my video to look like. I have worked particularly hard on this and am ready to present it to my class in tomorrow's lesson, in hopes that they ask relevant questions, which I have prepared for.

Beachcombing

Lady Gaga - "Applause" [COSTUME]

This video is a very symbolic production. As the artist is known to be an icon of her genre, she has used this video to fulfill that view that the public has on her. One way that the video stands out in terms of costume is how the singer pays tribute to other famous performers. One of these is the famous French pantomime character Pierrot. At 0:29 Lady Gaga is seen with a lot of face paint and eye makeup, so that she can have a more exaggerated version of the performer. This allows her to capture some of the consumer's eyes as she has included a form of intertextuality.

This can enable the reader to understand the video more, thus wanting to watch it a possible several times. Another thing about the costume is that she has many that are quite unusual. At various points, such as 1:29, she wears a bra that is of hands, so it looks as though somebody is holding her breasts, which is a provocative image to portray. As this is something that is not seen very often in videos, people may watch back to see this part of the video, which may get the song stuck in their heads. This is complimented by the plenty amount of unusual costumes included in the video, making it unique to other simple videos from her competitors.

This has inspired me to include some form of tribute in my video as it can help people to feel a greater sense of familiarity with it, thus maybe being fond of the production overall. I could possibly pay tribute to a singer such as Taylor Swift as she is known for having some acoustic/love songs, so it would be quite relevant. Lady Gaga used Pierrot as that was a performer that was not afraid of taking risks, just like Gaga herself, so it has some similarity with my idea as well.

Katy Perry - "The One That Got Away" [NARRATIVE]

As an artist that is popularly known for creating many enjoyable and lively songs such as Teenage Dream and I Kissed A Girl, she may have wanted to go for a different approach with this single. Although it is still quite a fast paced song in terms of the beat, the lyrics are quite emotional, particularly for someone that does not really release many sad songs. In order to create this upsetting state, having the story be told through the music video would be a perfect route for it. The first thing that it is quite engaging is that the story is told in a non-chronological matter; the beginning depicts the pop star as an elderly woman with a husband that she is not very fond of. As soon as the song begins we then see many shots of her with a former lover of hers, where she is much happier. To emphasise on the happiness differentiation between the two scenes the director has decided to have:

1. Brighter lighting during the scenes with the former lover. As brightness is a symbol of a pleasant atmosphere and darkness is a symbol of a dismal. This makes the consumer more aware of how upsetting the current scenario is as it is being compared to a much happier time.
2. The shots last much longer in the scene set at the present time whereas there are plenty of more cuts in the other scene. I like this idea because longer shots tend to connote a slow pace or a feeling of sadness as they last longer and do not create the upbeat atmosphere presented from shorter shots.

These are both great ways to make the audience more enticed by the production as it creates a very sad image. The narrative structure is quite useful to this image as the constant switch in times emphasises the difference in feeling as one moment the singer is happy and the next she is heavily upset. As this is not something typical of Katy as a performer, audiences of all kinds can find it refreshing and may be more fond of her in the future.

As my song has a similar emotion to it, both being about the hardships of love, I could have flashbacks of when the times were good and also include moments where it is very upsetting. By focusing on this I could denote the story very well through comparisons of positive and negative times so that the viewer can understand the current emotion coming from the girl being described in my chosen song.

Eminem - "Berzerk" [STYLE]

This is an intertextuality video as it includes many different references to other members of the music industry. Eminem includes many different artists in this video such as Kid Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Rick Rubin. These are all artists that have recorded iconic tracks that are of the hip hop genre. Although some may have other songs of other genres, some of their most known pieces of work are from the hip hop one. 

As the song in the video is a tribute to 80's hip hop, Eminem has decided to include some form of intertextuality in it. Although these three artists are either from the 1990's or 2000's, there are a few aspects within this video that have been seen elsewhere in a 1980's music video. One example of this is at 1:37 we get a visual that was also seen in the 1992 song "So What'cha Want?" by the Beastie Boys.

This is a great way to get people to reminisce on times from the past and have them enjoy your video. As he has so many different forms of intertexuality from both the past and present it is a great way to keep the viewers entertained. This is also something that can create a great load of 'rewatchability' as the more things that are included in the video that strike the viewers' eyes means that there is more for them to talk about and reflect back on. This can then reflect buzz on the video and make it more popular and iconic.

From this, I can tel I have the chance to include a form of intertexuality in my video. As I do not know anybody famous, I cannot have a celebrity in it, but like Eminem did I could include something that was seen in another video so that people can recognise it and then speak about it to the people they know. This can then raise the artistic levels of my video up as I would have worked hard to make sure that the details were very symmetric of the thing being interpreted.

Birdy - "Skinny Love" [CONVENTIONS]

There are many conventions of this video that make it the highly emotive piece that it is. A main focus of this video in order to make it seem very sad is the mise-en-scene. One thing that I found very important was that Birdy was the only person in the room, highlighting her emptiness. Another thing I liked was that plenty of the scenes are particularly dark (0:09) which emphasises on the pain as black is very symbolic of sadness. This emphasis of hardships is also furthered as the singer herself appears to be very pale (0:45) as well as wearing a white

dress (0:53). I am very fond of this technique as it conveys how vulnerable the girl has become after the loved one has left her, and as she is wearing white, this can be metaphorical of how innocent she is. The mise-en-scene is used a lot of times with broken glass (1:43) as well as a hanging key (2:17). The glass is a nice touch to the emotion as it showcases the scene almost as if she has been emotionally "shattered" by the person that she is singing about, whilst the hanging key can be symbolic of how she has been left alone. As keys need something else to complete their function, such as a lock, the fact that it is not with that only thing that makes it work the way it has been designed to can connote how

Birdy feels the exact same way. A final thing to note is that during the video there are times where the light grows brighter (1:28 + 0:00). The fact that the video starts off fading but then at the end it all fades to black (keep in mind that although at points it does grow darker, it never fades to complete darkness) this could symbolise that Birdy's hope for the love, the brightness, is finally all gone by the end of the song.

I could include this in my video as they both tell a very similar story. The lighting can be easily incorporated as there is a lot of natural lighting used and I do have access to artificial lighting as well so can work my way around that. This video is very simple and fits exactly with the image I have of my song. I shall include minimal people in each place to highlight the loneliness as well as possibly using props for an artistic touch.

'Thrift Shop' Mash-Up Video

As a class we all were a part of a collaboration video that included different genres of music video. As each pair/group had their own genre to put in, the song was then made to be a mash up video altogether. My part lasts from 0:00 - 0:24. My genre was narrative and it told a very short story of a bunch of characters of many forms walking towards somewhere where the rap will take place.

Others included genres such as animation, surrealism, parody and impressionist.
The video can be seen below:

Blog Reflection - Week 2

In terms of independent work I had finished off my lyric analysation as well as depicting my understanding of the music, audience and my own video in terms of my chosen song. This took quite a while but showcases exactly what I believe all of the previously mentioned conventions mean, as well as how I will include it into my own video. With this in mind, anybody that needs to see the work that I initially begun with in terms of creating my own independent choice of a video can see how much work I put in.

Also, I finally got round to asking my unsigned artist for the permission to use her song. Fortunately she agreed to let me use it without any stipulations involved, which is great as it means that I can use the song in the same way that I planned to do so in the first place.

During my taught lessons I learnt about quite a few aspects of the media world, in particular, theories. One of these theories was the "genre theory" as depicted by David Bordwell and Neale, as demonstrated here. These two men thought of the following theories:

• Genre as a system
• Repetition & Difference
• Any theme may appear in any genre

This has taught me both the marketing side of the industry as well as the production sector. In terms of the marketing aspect, I have understood how music videos are advertised, as taught from the "system" theory.

The second one has educated me to understand how some videos tend to include aspects of plenty of other productions but add their own unique spin on it to create both attention and "rewatchability".

The third theory has demonstrated to me that I can be as unique as I possibly want to be. I can follow this as long as I can use it correctly so that it does not look too out of place.

According to what I learnt this week I can now go onto working on my music video with a greater knowledge of targeting an audience as well as how to create a video that works for both the audience and I in terms of entertainment.

Another set of theories that I learnt were about the way that the audience interprets media texts. These were:

• Preferred reading - Stuart Hall
• The Male Gaze - Laura Mulvey
• Voyeurism - Andrew Goodwin

These have all taught me a variety of things. Hall's theory has enabled me to understand that although you may set your production to seem one way, people may view it another and this is something you must accept. Although you can convince plenty of people to believe one thing, others will most likely go for another option, based on their own personal beliefs and surroundings.

Mulvey's theory was a great look at reality as it emphasised a 21st century feminist's view on the media industry. She has acknowledged, like myself, that plenty of directors choose to film in a certain way to make sure that females are sexualised. This has made it much clearer to me that if I go for something which is supposed to be conforming to the stereotypes of a video, that I can use this to emphasise my conventional use.

Goodwin was a slight emphasis on Mulvey's as he described how one may gain gratification from the sexualisation of females. In the post linked above I have demonstrated how common it is for the media industry to display this use of sexualisation in terms of the female gender.

These theorists have allowed me to understand how different people view things differently and whether or not I should conform to these views. As well as conforming to theories such as "The Male Gaze" I could also attempt to persuade people to have a certain reading in terms of what Hall said.

Overall I am certain that I have gained some great analytical skills in terms of understanding media texts. I can now add these theories into my own practises as I am more aware of how other people interpret pieces of work.

Preferred Reading, The Male Gaze & Voyeurism

When attempting to understand the creation of music videos, three theorists may come to mind; Stuart Hall, Laura Mulvey and Andrew Goodwin. Each media expert came up with their own vision of how the industry and audience react to certain products, whether that is the way it is created or the way that it is absorbed.

Stuart Hall - Preferred Reading

This theory is that there are three different readings that we, as an audience, can interpret.

These are the dominant reading, negotiated reading and the oppositional reading.

Dominant Reading - The reading that somebody that is fond of the work has on the production. This is typically a positive view.

Negotiated Reading - Part of the reading that the institution has delivered is accepted by the consumer. However from personal beliefs, position, experiences and interests, the consumer modifies it.

Oppositional Reading - The consumer understands the dominant code but does not share this view on the product. They tend to add personal beliefs (such as radical, feminist etc.) to their view. This is always the complete opposite to the dominant reading.

To explain this I have used Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" music video, which can be seen below:

Dominant Reading - The idea of using a wrecking ball and breaking walls is symbolic of a destructive love; the one that she shared with her finacé. The hammer, a harmful object, which is then licked, an intimate gesture, is then used to symbolise how Miley likes the pain of the relationship as it would give her pleasure as well as hell. The white used during the video is to showcase how Miley is an innocent being, as white is typically associated with such symoblism. Finally, the nudity is to highlight how vulnerable Miley feels as being unclothed has been proven to make somebody feel intimidated and under the control of somebody else.

Negotiated Reading - Although the video can be seen as quite symbolic, like the way I have described above, some may view this as being that but also to be a way of Miley breaking the stereotype of where she found her fame. As she was apart of the Disney Channel, a network built for kids and young teenagers, many assume that every actor/singer that comes from the channel should remain celibate and abstain from anything that may offend younger viewers. As Miley has decided to lick hammers and wear no clothes whatsoever, we can understand that this is not something a typical actor from the Disney Channel would do, thus showcasing how she is breaking the stereotype of people from this network.

Oppositional Reading - Many may view this as a way of the singer to just act promiscuous. After her first song from her new album was about partying and having fun, many may find it odd that she has written a song that is so meaningful. After seeing the video for this song they may have the mindset to believe that she just wants to continue that 'wild child' side of herself but hide it behind something that may be quite deep so that she does not get the negative feedback she would have normally received.

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze

This theorist believed that central active characters in films are male and that the audience of the same gender identify with them i their viewing of the passive females. With music videos in particular, she argued that the camera would linger on women's bodies and that this is proof that females were being viewed as sex objects purely for the gratification of men. Those watching, despite their gender, would then view the production from the male point of view.

I have made a powerpoint explaining how and why certain music video makers create videos that objectify/empower particular genders. This can be viewed below:

Andrew Goodwin - Voyeurism
This is the understanding that one person would receive sexual gratification from watching somebody else on screen being presented in a certain light. Goodwin believed that in the music industry, this was mainly present with females.

To showcase my thoughts on this I have put together a few photos of women to prove that they tend to be exploited by the media. The photo can be seen below:


Here you can see that each body part is not from the same woman. In fact they are from her, her, her and her. Put together they summarise the voyeurism expressed in today's media industry.

Genre Theory

Neale Theory - Genre as a system

This theorist believed that genre worked in a repeated three step cycle. He believed that the industry would create a piece of text in which would appeal to a particular audience as they would expect a certain output. They would then give that text attention/money, thus benefiting the industry. Then the cycle repeats and repeats. 

I can use Notorious B.I.G.'s "Sky's The Limit" to describe this theory. As a slow paced hip-hop video, the typical conventions of something from this genre are aspects such as rich mise-en-scene, male dominance and slow motion within the shots. All three of these expectations are showcased in the video. We see the rich visuals demonstrated when the expensive cars, suits, sunglasses, bed, pool and more appear. The reason for these appearing is that they allow the rapper himself to look like someone of a high profile, thus being idolised by the audience. The male dominance is during the stairs scene where a woman is being walked by a man. You can tell that the man is controlling the walk as her arm is holding onto his and she appears a step behind him. The use of this is the same as the other one as it again puts the performer on a pedal-stool to his audience.

Neale Theory - Repetition & Difference
This is the theory that the plot of the media text remains the same, but the way in which the institution entices the audience is by changing a bit of the product. 

For this, I will use Blink 182's "All The Small Things" as an example. This theory is very applicable in this video as it is a homage to the very prestigious reign of 'boybands'. Some typical conventions of videos for male singing groups contain screaming fans, lack of clothing, choreography dancing. beach scenes and more. This Blink 182 video contains all of this, which is apart of the repetition side of the theory, and the difference occurs when they take a more comedic turn with it. The band members are seen with screaming fans (0:05), in which the people playing these 'fans' appear to be overreacting. Then at 0:06, the band are in white underwear, something that is not conventional of the 'cool' look that boybands typically go for. As a way to make fun out of the lack of manliness that many people claim boybands have, at 0:11 the band are dressed in female clothing whilst in a dance studio. As groups of this genre tend to know how to dance, the reference is right there. Finally, the beach scene at 1:36 is taken a bit far as there are no clothes on the men, so they look more vulnerable than 'cool'. This has been used so that people can see the references to pop culture and laugh at it. This will then take something that people are already familiar with as well as fond of, plus add a unique spin on it in order for the audience to still find it interesting. There are many ways of doing this, whether it would be for a more serious outlook, such as the change in characters in Marvel films, or it could be the opposite, just like this video.

David Bordwell - Any theme may appear in any genre
Bordwell believed that it did not matter what genre of song was appearing in the video. He said that as long as it was thought out right, any theme may appear in any genre and it could work out well.

For this theory I will use "Acapella" by Karmin to exemplify it. The song is a modern day pop track that talks about a relationship between a man and a woman. However, the video is much more old school and is something that we would see within the 1990's/early 2000's. This fits perfectly as it has now made the song seem as if it actually suits the era of video making. The music video has one colour sets, as seen in plenty of videos in the 90's/early 2000's such as "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child.

I could use this for my music video as it can be quite a beneficial thing. This can make it much easier to create as there would be no conventions that I had to stick to. Also, as the video is not something that fits one particular audience, people that are into either styles (the song and the video) can be attracted to my product. This means that a wider amount of people can watch my video, which is something that any video maker wants as it means that they can gain a bit of profit from it.

Permission Granted!

The permission for the song "Hold Me Tonight" by the YouTube artist Bethan Mary Leadley has been granted after I had sent out an email to the artist herself in which she responded with:

I am now free to use this song for my Media Studies coursework - that is if my partner and I both decide that this particular song is the one that we would both like to use. Nonetheless, the two of us definitely have an available song for us to use!

Analysis of 'Hold Me Tonight' by Bethan Mary Leadley

SECTION 1 - TARGET AUDIENCE

AGE: 12 - 18 year olds as this a typical teenage love story.

GENDER: Both, but a little more of a female dominated market due to people of both ages within the teenage range being affected by love in the same way that the song describes. However females tend to be more open about these feelings so will be more likely to pay attention to this song.

INTERESTS: Hanging out with friends, relationships, social networking and mainstream/acoustic music as the listeners would preferably be those that relate to the song, thus being sociable as well as liking the same music of the genre that this song is a part of.

LOCATION: Any first world country because the problems expressed in this song are more apparent in these countries as opposed to third world ones.

ETHNICITY: There is no particular ethnicity that can relate to this the most as this song describes something that plenty of teenagers go through. So I would not say that there is a certain skin colour that will relate.

SECTION 2 - LYRICS

VERSE ONE

"I remember she was just thirteen

Small mind big dreams gotta hand it to her love

She grew up fast" 

Immediately listeners can understand that the song is about someone that has had their innocence taken away from them greatly. As the "thirteen" year old "grew up fast" after having "big dreams", the audience can anticipate an unfortunate tale being told.

"Now she's pushed up against the door

She shrieks, honey everything was bleak and

She cried on the floor"

Now the story is more obvious, and the anticipation was correct. These lyrics add more emotion to the song as it speaks about crying and fast paced movements (i.e. pushing).

"Don't think I've ever seen her sad

False smile seeps through and she seems pretty glad to have him, even though he isn't hers

And she told him all her nightmares

She hoped he loved and didn't just care about her

'Cause she wanted to say"

Now the song makes it clear that it is about a relationship. One view can understand that it is about an infatuation that a girl has for a boy that is not returned, as expressed through how she is "glad to have him, even though he isn't hers". Others may look at it as a family relationship where a daughter wants the love of her father as "she hoped he loved" but "he isn't hers" due to him possibly having another family.

CHORUS

"Stay with me tonight

Can't forget all the stupid fights

Can't forget all the fags i light-ed

After i was so unkissable

So stay with me tonight

'Cause I know we didn't handle it right

And i'm sorry for the stupid fights 

but i need someone to ho-ol-ol-old me tonight

Just to ho-ol-ol-old me tonight, i-ight."

The chorus is also something that can be seen from two point of views; the love thing is apparent as "fights", kisses and the act of holding someone are all things that couples do. It talks about the sadness of it all, thus adding on to the emotion of the song. The parent image expressed can be seen as the daughter may be "unkissable" to her father and has fought a lot with him. But at the end of the day she still wants him to hold her, which is a very sad concept.

VERSE 2

"Wanted to be accepted

have a life of her own

but just a face in the crowd

Just wanted to be known

As a girl that broke through

And she wouldn't stop

For boys that broke herin their douche bag tops"

Here the singer is speaking about a girl that wanted independence but is truly just like everybody else. She didn't want to fall in love, but she did, and is hopelessly involved inside of that infatuation.

"And she'd 

seen life, freak nights, got into every fight

and excited to be invited for the vodka shots and the other lot who think they're so hot"

These lines express teenage-like actions, showcasing how this is a description of the typical teenager. Fans within that age range can relate more as they can have a greater understanding of what the song means.

[CHORUS]

SECTION 3 - MUSIC/TEMPO

The music is very soft. As the only instrument that appears is the acoustic guitar, the sadness is highlighted even more here. Acoustic music has the ability to make people feel great emotion as it delivers such a raw sound to it. This relates to the unfortunate lyrics that are spoken about as both present a sad sight. The tempo remains quite slow during the entirety of the song, reflecting the sadness of the song in itself. As the lyrics speak about a sorrowful time in life, the tempo's speed emphasises on that view.

SECTION 4 - HOW I WOULD APPLY IT TO A MUSIC VIDEO

I would take advantage of the emotion of the song and create a very touching video. As there is an introduction at the beginning, this could be used as a way to start the video off; there could be a radio at the beginning in which the 'sound' is coming out of as the artist will be introducing the song by telling the viewers about its meaning. A few establishing shots of empty streets will be shown during this part to highlight the lack of fulfillment in the girl affected by the guy.

I could then have a 'performance' section in which the singer lip syncs the lyrics in a run-down area to highlight the same emotion mentioned above. Flashbacks of the relationship, during and after it, can be used to make the audience members understand how the girl is feeling about the end of it.

Blog Reflection - Week 1

This week we I reflected on my work that I produced during my AS year. I focused on how I was creative as well what it took on my behalf to create the work that I produced. This required me to think back and work on my analytical technique so that I could demonstrate the skills that I learnt from my AS year. Although the year did not go as swimmingly as I hoped it would, it did end out on a decent note. I have taken this into consideration for this year so that I can make up for any mistakes that I have created.

I also had a further look at what song I could potentially use for my music video. I then came up with "Hold Me Tonight" by the unsigned YouTube artist Bethan Mary Leadley, which can be seen here. As I need to understand the lyrics and figure out a way in which I can create the music video in a manner that will be of good enough quality for me to pass with, I have begun analysing the lyrics as well as understanding the audience and music. This post will be up sometime next week as it requires a lot of work put into it.

A Reflection of my work in AS

As of right now, I have spent a year studying A Level Media Studies. This past year has taught me a lot about the media industry, including how everything is created to the ways in which I can get my hands on a creative spin.

How I was creative last year

During my AS year of the subject, I was told to have unique ideas in my work in order for it to stand out. I understood this challenge and applied it into my coursework via various ways.

One of these was the use of characters within my "BSR Opening Sequence". This sequence was supposed to conform to the conventions of a typical British Social Realist production, but in order for it to stand out a form of creativity was ideal. My creativity within the character choice was that the character did have the coarse personality trait, but did not appear that was through his mise-en-scene within the first scene of the production. My main actor was wearing a t-shirt, jeans and glasses with a very innocent look on his face. This hopefully led the viewer on to thinking that he was an average person that had his life on track, based purely on looks. However the voiceover and the following scene showcased a different outlook on him; through the fast paced music, mentions of a struggling life the cheap clothing (hoodies and trainers) which all help to add to the typical representation. This difference in character was a creative technique used to make the viewers understand the impact of the tragic life that the boy had -  he was so ashamed of the life he had that he felt the need to hide it in front of others.

Digital Technology used last year

A wide range of digital technology was incorporated into my AS work in the previous year. This includes:

Camera - This was a very essential part of the recording process. This allowed me to capture good quality shots that could narrate the story that I wanted to be told.

iMovie - iMovie is a video editing programme on the Mac that I used to edit my shots together to create my opening sequence. It was a great tool that allowed me to edit audio and visual clips together, resulting in the desired end product.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 - As my production needed a title, I chose to edit it on Photoshop using the tools on there because it was a programme that I was very used to at the time and could create the exact design that I intended to create.

Blogger - In order to keep up to date with my work and present what I have created, I used this website to start a blog on my coursework. The site allowed me to upload pictures, videos and presentations (some needed external link from sites such as YouTube and Issuu) and as they were all on the same blog, it was easier to access each item.

IMDB - For me to look at other official productions created, I looked at IMDB to link me to details about the films created. This helped me to understand how it was created (cheap budget usually means easier to make than a higher budgeted production), how many people were in it (whether smaller casts were more popular than larger casts) and to see comments from other users, saying what they liked/disliked.

Research and Planning used last year

In order to create a successful production, planning your work and researching about it can help you to gain a better understanding into doing so. I had to do a lot of this which included:

Vox Pop Questionnaire - As my film was aimed at teenagers, a school was a great way to get views from many different people. A vox pop was also a good way to gain an understanding of what my target audience wanted in a short amount of time as I could just record people whom I ask questions to whenever they were free, as oppose to getting a lot of people into one room at the same time.

YouTube - This was used for my research as I needed to look at other clips from other BSR opening sequences. YouTube had plenty of these clips so it was very easy to access them without having to pay for a DVD etc.

IMDB - In order for me to look at how I could create similar productions to those that are already professionally made, this website provided me with the details of budgets, casting and reviews from others. With this I could get an understanding of what was in my reach and what worked/did not work.

Microsoft Excel - I used this software to plan my action script. This allowed me to organise every shot into their own individual slot so that I could see clearly what happened when.

Blogger - This was a great way for my planning to be organised. With weekly logs and posts of what my planning has been like, I got an understanding of what I had done/could keep up to date with my own work. I used Issuu and YouTube to upload my presentations/videos which were then put onto my blog for easy access.

Post Production technology used last year

For me to edit my production and to analyse everything, I had to use digital technology to make my work more presentable and to actually complete the coursework. This included:

iMovie - This Mac programme allowed me to edit the music I created from Logic and the videos I took from the camera into my final production. I could then have my desired work completed to the standard that I wanted.

Logic - I used this to create the music that played during the second scene of my opening sequence. It allowed the production to have the atmosphere that I aimed for it to have as the correct instruments (i.e. guitars and drums) as well as tools (i.e. merging) were available on this programme.

Blogger - Again I used this to organise my work and to put the presentations made from Issuu and the videos uploaded onto YouTube onto one page. This created an easier access point as well as allowed me to show a use of many technologies.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 - The title screen for my film that appeared between the two scenes was created using this programme. I used it as I knew how to use the programme and knew that I could create exactly what I wanted to by using the available tools.

Conventions I studied and applied to my work
A range of aspects were studied last year as I aimed to make my work as good as it could possibly get. These conventions were:
Camera - To get an understanding of how I could display each shot, I studied different types of camera shots that I could include. I learnt about new shots that I had no clue about such as an establishing shot as well as a master shot which were both used in my production for their own reasons.
Narrative - This was something that I gained a bit more knowledge on. I got a higher level of understanding of this aspect as I found out the reasons why it was so important. Also, I realised how much I could benefit by thinking of this the same way that Todorov thought of it.
Themes - As somebody that was not much of a fan of BSR films, after studying this aspect I

understood how relatable these films could be. I also gained a greater understanding of how I could actually include these themes into my own production.
Mise-en-scene - The mise-en-scene in BSR films is very different from Hollywood productions. I did know this before my AS course began, however I did not have as much knowledge on it than I do now. For example, the lighting is something that is very important in terms of BSR films as darker screens represent more unfortunate times, something that plenty of BSR films include.
Sound - This is something that I studied and learnt a little from as well. I did know a bit about it, but now, for example, I am more knowledgeable on how natural sounds are used to create a more believable environment.

Overall, I can conclude that I learnt a lot from my previous year of studying this subject. From aspects such as mise-en-scene and sound to how to use certain digital technologies, there is a lot that I gained from this subject after studying it for a year at AS level.