Group 11: Rosetta Fourlagawo

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Influences

* Lana Del Rey - 'Video games'
* Maverick Sabre - 'Something'
* Rihanna - 'Run this world'
* Yasmin - 'Light up the world'
* Emeli Sande - 'Heaven'
* Delilah - 'Go'
* Ace of base - 'All that she wants'
* Madonna - 'Like a prayer'
* Unfinished sympathy - 'Massive attack'
* Kanye West - 'Jesus walks'

Mise en scene
Because the single 'Heaven' has a stereotypical religious theme, it was difficult for many reasons to diffuse the concept from having a thread of religion in it. The original video performed by the artist Emeli Sande had a perfect scenery choice, so we set out to imitate that a little. We shot some shots at the Abney park Cemetary where Emeli also got permission to film inside a cage like place. In the original video Emeli does not make it obviously seen that she is in Abney Park however, with research we as a group found out that was where she shot an aspect of the video. With this understanding we went down to the park and established full shots of the cemetry's surrounding. The location and setting inspired us and this is something that we wanted to incorporate in our video.

Another aspect of mise en scene were the religious iconograpy. This was also used in the original video, these included crosses, statues etc. The religious iconography element was also inspired by what I saw crop up in Madonna's 'like a prayer' video and Kanye's video for 'Jesus walks'.

Religious iconography from our video

Christ holding onto the cross.

A crossed statue from the Cemetary in Abney Park.

From original video:

Christ on the cross, symbolising his crucifixion

Christ

Madonna's 'Like a prayer' video:

Roseary

An Image of god and his son from the heavens above.

Madonna is bowing down outside the gate crying for the attentions of god.

Outside of the church building.

The two statues are of God and Christ.

The man behind the gate is representing Christ

Here we clearly see Madonna wearing an cross necklace.

Here we see Madonna in the sky. This represents here being in heaven with an Angel.

The choir are singing the chorus to the tune 'Like a prayer', whilst at the same time Madonna is telling a story.

Kanye West's 'Jesus Walk':

Kanye putting on his jacket before the choir in a form that represents him acting as a priest/pastor.

Church choir.

Kanye as priest/pastor preaching to church congregation.

* Costume & Appearance
The established artist 'Emine Parker' was to be introduced to the music industry as an fashion icon (not a Lady Gaga but an artist), that had a style that represented elegance and inspiration from the style icon Audrey Hepburn. This style was also very much used fully in the ancillary product. In the music video I do take a lot of inspiration from the original artist Emeli Sande with what she wore in the original video, Rihanna(the striped black & white video worn by Emine was also worn by Ri in her video of 'whats my name') and the London based edgy reto style.

This is the same jacket worn by Emine in the music video

The dark colours are also a theme that has been followed through in the whole video, with the exception of items that were purposely used to stand out like lipstick colour, shoes etc. In the centre is an image of London style icon Fearne Cotton in an edgy outfit

Editing process:

Special effects

The special effect that we wanted to use in our music video very much replicated a 1970's filmic style. However though, with this concept we wanted to repeat a musical motif. This musical motif followed the concept behind retro photographic images that are similar to the picture effect of the Iphones hipstamatic. The effect that I had in mind very much resembled an 'stained coffee effect'.

A video that had this 1970's filmic style was Lana Del Rey's 'Video games' video, Rihanna's 'Run this town' and also Ace of Base's 'All that she wants' video. All these videos also had an element of a rough suburban edge.

Rihanna ft Jayz & Kanye West - ' Run this town'

Lana Del Rey - 'Video games'

Ace of base - 'All that she wants'

Maverick Sabre - 'I need'

The re - occurring pattern in all four of these music videos are that the visuals seen in them are less of the glossy image we see in the stereotypical video today. There are hardly any scantily dressed women or men in them also.

Conventions of a music video:

How conventional is your digipak & advertisement?

(Text & Imagery)

For my digipak and advertisement I follow the convention for promoting an artist by using what I saw in other successful ancillary prints. I use close and mid shots of the artist so she can be easily identified.

1) Here is the image used for commercial rap artist Tinie Tempah's 'discovery' album . I'd say the mid shot imagery used as a cover can very much be compared to that of my album cover, reason being because my artist was replicating the famous iconic photo of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and due to this had some scenery in her image which is an concept that is plays a big part to her branding. This is the same as Tinie's, he is pictured clasping London in his hands. This is symbolic as Tinie is representing the City. The album title as well is called 'Discovery' which reflects on him being discovered within the big city. Emine Parker replicated the iconic 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' photo symbolising her elegance and style that the actress Audrey Hepburn is known for.

2) In terms of mise en scene both my ancillary prints were inspired by the positioning of the images of the iconic lady herself Audrey Hepburn. In my digipak I replicated the famous 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' image and also how the set was created to create that sense of elegance and class(to an specific extent).

Above is the similar images of the original 'Breakfast at Tiffany's and my own take of 'Breakfast at Emine's'.

Emine Parker VS Audrey Hepburn:

This is the first stage of my advertisement draft. My finished print looks a bit more professional and tidy. In this image I seeked out to show another side to Emine's character and persona. From her first single it s apparent that at this point in her careers she'd be talked about etc, so for my ancillary products I ensured that I used a variety of images and shots that showed her in numerous scenarios etc. Here she looks relaxed, calm and vulnerable, something that is absent in the video. The image above of Audrey Hepburn was a photo thatI studied so the level of vulnerability would be showcased in my magazine advert. Also you can see Audrey's beauty here as well, this is also shown in my image as well.

3) In terms of font and layout I also followed the conventions of a typical ancillary print product. For example I include the song titles at the back and I also have the artist's name in a bigger size so it stands out more than the album title itself.

In terms of how Adele's digipak is layed out you can see that the code of how to create a digipak has been successfully followed. The simplistic font(Abadi MT condensed light) used on my digipak reflects on how I want the artist to be portrayed; classy & elegant. I refused to used any kind of font that would distract the specific target and and potential album consumers. For the '21; album Adele also followed this concept.

In terms of following the stereotypical convention of an traditional album advert I did not. Above you can see that Adele's album advertisement used the same image that was used as her album cover, however though, i did not do this for mine as I wanted my artist's simplistic yet classy appearance/ style to be significant to her brand image. For my digipak cover I used an image that was inspired by Audrey Hepburn's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' photo shoot and in my advert I used a different image, something that could be seen as showcasing a different emotion. An example of an artist who has also followed the same convention to not using the same image that was on their digipak is Plan B.

Here you can clearly see that Plan B has used a different image from what was used on his digipak. This could have been for the same reason as mine, but whatever the reason be I found this magazine ad quite useful when I was making the decision of using a different image.

Laura Mulvey's ideas on representation:

In relation to representation in music videos Laura Mulvey stated in 1992:

" In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly."

In the statement above Mulvey outlines the fact that today's outlook on life, especially in relation to the entertainment industry, there is an obvious divide between the male & female. The male is heralded into focusing on the 'curvaceous' woman who is purposefully made up for his viewing. The stereotypical representation of a woman in music videos today are based on Mulvey's outlook. Women are dressed provocatively for the man's attention. Good examples of this are the artists Shakira, Beyonce Knowles and Nicole Scherzinger etc. however though, representation itself is based on a variety of concepts. These concepts include gender, place, ethnicity, age, sexuality, class and so forth. In the first stages of an new artists introduction their appearance is closely considered. The consideration would've included a range of things, from the style of the artist's hair to the very specific choice of outfits. As artists ourselves, we then deconstruct this representation and interpret what we see into our own personal understanding. In this, we are then familiar with the forms and conventions of music videos for specific artists/bands.

Dizzee Rascal 'Holiday' - In this video their is a large scale of female dismemberment. Breasts, legs, bums etc, all that would entice the males attention.

Missy Elliot 'All N my grill' - Here is a different spin out on the female representation. The female rap artist Missy's persona of being a "female boss" is showcased before the viewer. There is a clear narrative of female empowerment against men(something that is very rarely seen in commercial music videos).

Here in my video I set out to challenge the way in which women I represented in music videos. I did not represent the artist Emine Parker in the style of the artist Missy Elliot as being a 'female boss' nor did I use the style that was adopted by the video girls in Dizzee Rascal's 'Holiday video. I tried to fill that gap without the artist having to conform to an steretypical convention. So therefore, I challenged the representation of how the female is showcased in a music video by representing her as an empowered individual. Compared to the two music video examples above i'd say that my video is not like any of them.

Goodwin's theory:

Goodwin stressed that"normal" narrative structure that were in films and books do not exist in the world of music videos. Goodwin also adopts the view of Todorov. One of the main reasons of this, is that music video directors choose not to follow the typical convention of noves and films as it restricts creative ability.

1) Pop vids are based on the concepts of songs( Occasionally do NOT follow the normal structure of problem then solution or happily ever after).

2) Pop vids tend to use the artist as the narrator or character

3) Often there is the approach of the artist looking straight at the camera(this enables the involvement of the viewer into the artists performance) . A great example of this is the artist Ed Sheeran's vid 'you need me...' In the video Ed is not present in the duration of the video and instead a sign language interpreter is used to perform the song in sign language. However though, before the song ends Ed appears revealing himself as the mastermind behind the song.

Pop videos rely a great deal on REPETITION. Very often these videos repeat shots in the visual style of how the choros and lines are repeated. The repetition of the song is tp enhance our familiarity with the artists specific style and genre. On many occasions this is done to expose the song and video to TV, radio and advertisements.

My video followed the convention of Goodwin's theory as there was no set traditional structure presented in the video. Out of the three forms named above I'd say that my video followed all three!

My video followed the concept of the song, teh artist was used as the character and narrative and also there were aspects of where the artist stared in the camera to allow that audience connection.

The TYPES OF RELATIONS in the production of a music video:

* Illustration - Where the video narrates the story of the song e.g Lil Wayne's 'How to love video does just this below

In the video above Lil Wayne narrates the story of his song as the actress performs the moral of the song.

* Amplification - Is when the video introduces new meanings that can also be associated with the song lyrics without contradicting it also. These meanings then also add in depth meaning.

An example of this is the artist Wretch 32's single 'Dont go'

Here Wretch adds deep context to his chart topping track.

* Disjuncture - Is where there is little connection to the song and video.

Above there is little conection or sense as to what the song 'one plus one' has to do with the bare skinned Beyonce Knowles.

In terms of the type of relation used in the production of my video I'd categorise my video as using the amplification structure. This because the video included a variety of meaning, hence the song was called 'heaven' it was hard to not have meaning associated. One aspect of the meaning associated in my video was the religious context that was used. for example the inclusion of religious statues and the cross bracelet I had on.

Vernalis's theory:

Carol Vernalis observed that in music videos edits are more frequent than what is seen in films. The edits used stand out as disjuncture and the edits that accompany them have an re-occurring rythmic base connected to the song.

She observed:
* The regular 'continuity' editing found in classic broadcast fiction is broken so our attention is on what is performed
* These edits are clearly seen by the viewer e.g wipe effects and special effects
* Jump cuts are usually always used
* A base track is normally used to give the video a smooth structure( for example it is much more easier for you to identify with the chorus when the visuals go to a specific bit)
* The camera moves in synch with the songs rhythm

In terms of Vernalis's theory I'd say that my music video did follow what she observed. We included base track that gave the video and visuals a smooth structure, we included special effect(the flash effect included to mirror the beats change in tempo), the camera was very much in synch with the songs rhythm and there was definitely NO regular continuity shots and the whole focus was based on the artist herself and her ancient like scenery. (Some of these points are also more specifically described above).