My opinion...

I am very impressed with the outcome of each of my products, through my research and planning in ordrer to include everything i feel needed to make my video a success, i think i have achieved this. However, i do feel there are a couple of things that i would of liked to change about my products. For example, i feel that the storyline to our video although interesting and fun, may appear too confusing for some viewers. If i had the chance to change anything about my video i would change it to make the storyline easier and more step by step in order to ensure the audience understand. After showing my final video to some friends, they agreed that the storyline of the video can seem quite confusing as they were watching it, and it you didn't already know the storyline, understanding it may be a bit tricky.
I would also change some of the footage we filmed, in order to make our video more precise with the beat and cut of the video matching, creating a more professional look. We however, tried our best in order to do this as much as we could throughout the video, this so the audience do not get too bored, and there is not a long clip of film that hasn't been edited.
I think that the song choice we decided on was excellent, the song itself is very popular included the artist Katy Perry, making the video easier to film, as it is so well known and liked. The feedback we have recieved from the target audience, from our questionnairres also was quite positive, however the tips they had mentioned to improve our video we took on boared and tried to include.
Apart from the few i have mentioned, I wouldn't change anything else about our video, i am pleased with the outcome and feel it is a good piece of work, of which i am proud of.

The magazine advertisement and Cd digi pack i am pleased with also, if i was to change anything about these two products, i would simply make the audience become more aware that the products are related. The magazine advertisement i am pleased with, it is packed with information about the product, and it is bold bright and creative, these will sell to the audience. The Cd cover i think is effective, the abstract front cover being different from many others i've seen, again attracting the audience to the product and making them aware of it. If i was to change anything about the cd it would be to include more photographs; i feel this is important to interest our target audience, being a similar if not the same age group as us, thats what i personally am interested in a cd cover. All in all we were aiming to be quite different with out product and attract an audience in our own way rather than copying what we know already sells.
Overall, i am impressed with our work and what we have created from our earlier research, planning and equipment; i feel the music video, cd digi pack and magazine advert all work hand in hand and do a great job attracting to our potential audience.

Our finished music video...

Posted here is our final and finished music video to Katy Perry's 'Waking up in Vegas'. We created the video as best as we could following the guidelines we set our self, such as including mise en scene, considering the audiences feedback, questionnaires and results.
The storyline of the video simply revolves around the two main characters, played by Ricole and Rosco. On a trip to Vegas they discover there winnings from a cash point, and become rich, automatically having the time of their life in Vegas, however, they soon lose it. we have tried to show this within the video, through using different techniques and effects with the video; for example when they win it, money pours out of a cash machine, and when they lose it, we have reversed this clip illustrating their loss of money.
The video begins with a pan shot of the cash machine, immediately attracting the viewer and giving them a clue as to what the video would revolve around. Then a close up of the artists face, again in order to quickly attract the audience. We made Ricole mime, as from looking and examining recent videos most artists mime to the song throughout, giving the audience a performance.
The shot changes as the beat changes to a medium shot of her in the bed looking left and right; not only does this match the beat it also becomes aware to the viewer that she has just realised where she is, confused and hungover, this represents what happened the night before.
As the lyrics say 'we need a taxi', we added a flash, as this represents a flashback of the night before. We now see the couple arguing, we did this in order to give an example of a typical couple, on a night out after a few drinks. This we believe relating to our target audience, teenagers.
The shot again changes to Ricole miming, then again relating to the lyrics ' spare me your freaking dirty looks' showing her rudely basing past two members of the public. We have done clips a number of times where they relate to the lyrics to make it seem more interesting and give the song a general meaning.
The clip changes again this time showing the cash machine and money pouring out of it, this is when they win. A number of different shots follow, matching the beat, showing different clips of money and representing their winnings. The fact Ricole throws the money on the bed, and is shown burning it emphasises the amount of money they have won, expressing it's loss of importance now as there is more than enough of it. We also showed clips of playing cards, simply in order to relate to the theme of Vegas, and a casino.
The chorus arrives, and we have reversed the shot of the boys in order to add a sense of fun to the shot. There are a number of clips following this, all by the fountain. We chose this as our location as it is different, a busy scene, and not many videos have included it. We also thought that it would be amusing to have this, showing the four of them drunk, and celebrating their winnings on a night out. We added a number of shots here, as we were aiming to get as many different angles in as we could, keeping the audience interested and wondering what is coming next. We ended the chorus with a photograph being taken of the four of them, the flash represents the flash back to the next morning, we are now where we started, in the hotel room.
This next part of the song relates to the lyrics, again she is miming, wondering why she is wearing ' your class ring' again refering to the fact that they are unaware of what happened the night before. This continues, however again flashes back to the night before, keeping the storyline.
We now see the couple as he has just proposed to her, however they are very happy; this explains why she was confused in the morning, slowly unravelling the storyline. Following the lyrics again, this clip then revolves into the next chorus. It is at the same location of the fountain. We thought it would be a good idea if they were trying to take a photograph, we then used this later and added the triple to the beat of the flash, coin, and it dropping into the fountain; this is were it all begins to go wrong. Immediately after the coin was dropped into the fountain, we decided to add a sense of humour to the video and we see Ricole getting her foot stuck in the drain, a slapstick way of portraying the storyline.
After seeing them argue the song begins to slow down, and the beat stops; we then slowed down the pace of the video in order to match this effect, making Ricole sing close up, in slow motion. The transition used from the upbeat and lively music to the now slow and staedy music is effective, then showing a medium shot of the couple, in her attempt to 'make up'.
After the word 'me' we have included a number of very short shots, from earlier in the video when the couple were happy, laughing and having a good time. This i believe adding something interesting and effective to the storyline, showing the transaction between before and now in the present. By doing this we were able to also make the clip much more active, as the slow singing lasts for roughly 20 seconds, which in a music video is a very long time to have just one shot.
As the beat drops again, we continue to see the couple arguing, again including lively and active shots.
At the beginning of the video, we see money pouring out of a cash machine, representing their winnings resulting in the video turning happy and exciting, here we have done the opposite, again explaining their situation this time from their loss of money, after spending it all! We used the effects on the programme to reverse and slow down the money pouring out of the cash machine; also the playing cards we showed fanning earlier have reversed, emphasising their loss.
A number of quite short shots follow, in order to keep the audience interested and wanting to see what happens, this portraying Ricoles night after leaving her boyfriend.
Towards the end of the song we decided to create a mirrored effect of the couple, showing their frustration and emotions ater the argument they had. We thought this would be a good idea, and something different that not many videos have, impressing the audience and also reflecting the couples emotions thinking the same thing. By doing this we were also able to fit as many different shots and camera angles in, adding variety.
At the end of the video, as the musci slows down, we see the couple accidently bump into eachother. Rosco lifts the camera reflecting the good times they had during the night, and they both smile. This adds a cheesy yet happy and fairytale like effect, supporting the 'happily ever after'.
The couple begin to walk off, showing a clip of the four off them walking away together, happily, reflecting back to the beginning of the video, the effact we were aiming for. The last shot of the video is a close up after a fade out transition, of Ricoles face, in the same location as ealier, in the hotel room. This lastly emphasised the fact that the whole video represented her flashback from the night before. This is effective i feel and a good way to end the video.

Creating the Digi pack

Cd Cover/Album

After we had finished our music video, we were very much focused on completing the cd album cover and the digi pack. It was particularly important that we aimed to create and focus on a synergistic campaign; all relating to one another in a certain way promoting the advertisement clearly and effectively.
Underneath is a preview of our digi pack which we created in order to promote the song and the artist...



Here is our finished digi pack product. We did not want it to be too crowded as we aimed for it to be rather simple, yet effective - allowing the importance of the main two aspects, the song itself and the artist, to be the main product of advertisement, and not to confuse our audience. The back of the cd cover is simply plain white and features the songs included on the album in black font, designed in a cirlce shape. This i believe adds something fun to the page without it being colourful and busy. We have included a barcode and coopywrite details to produce it as a real cd cover, making it as lifelike as possible. The front of the cd cover shows an image of our artists fingers showing the 'peace' sign. We also thought this was a gd idea as it represents the 'V' in Vegas, adding a twaist to the front cover. We didn't originally settle for the front cover to be like this one, and had researched front covers with the artist themselves featured on it, focusing on close ups of the artist, as from what my reesearch has shown, this is what most cd covers look like. However, after thinking about a number of different ways in which we could improve the front cover, we came up with this idea. The background is blurred and has lots of bright lights, also we though was good for emphasising the theme of 'Vegas'. We decided to focus more on a colour scheme of black and orange, looking stylish yet bright and bold. Her fingers on the front cover are an orange cover, and have had effects on them in order to create an interesting and abstract look to the cover, which is certain to grab attention. We decided to have the font in white underneath saying 'Carmen Veronica' the artist and 'Waking up in Vegas' the song name, to attract attention but not take it away from the main cover. The inside of the cover shows a photograph of the artist, we thought this relevant for the audience, again we have kept the white writing in the same font as the other pages, and have included a number of specific details on the page, showing tour dates and the locations. Included is a quite from the song, which we thought would look good and attract attention to the viewer, we had looked at some of the insides of cd covers and most of them included either pictures or the lyrics, we thought we would combine the two of them, this time adding a bit of busy colours going on in the page, as it will be inside the cover. Keeping the same colour scheme of black and orange also, complimenting the white font we are positive the cd cover will attract attention as it is very bold. I am positive that the way in which we have created the three individual pages of the cd cover, mean they compliment eachother and keep the theme of the synergistic campaign.

Magazine advertisement

Above is our final magazine advertisement product, i have shown the stages in which we created this piece of work and made it clear what we did first and how we developed it, improving it further. We began with a plain and simple sheet, with the photograph of Ricole in the centre and her artist name above. Jess and I both agreed that we nliked this photograph the most, i think the pose she is doing by sitting down is different from most posters you see, when the artist is standing. It adds character, and the fact that she is holding a lighter adds a sense of fun and also the impression of an outgoing, crazy and adventurous girl. The fact that she is looking up directly into the camera, gives a seductive look and attracts attention to the poster, through the audience's veiw, she is looking right at them; this being an effective advertising technique. Next we added the front cover of the album, the main aspect fo the poster, and a couple of pugs, which we would fill with information about the product. As the stages develop you will see that we have added more and more information within the pugs on the page; again we needed to stick mostly to the same font as the cd album and also the same colour scheme, this time adding grey into the colour also. We wanted it to be quite matchy, following the same theme as the other products advertising the video, this allowing it to be easier for the audience to undertsand each product comes from the same source. Whilst adding more pugs either side of her, we still aimed to keep Ricole and the product the main aspect of the poster, like many of the other magazine advertisements that i researched earlier (shown on my blog) they all show a famous person advertising the product, which allows the persons target audience to automatically become curious of what the product is. We also included a quote in order to advertise the product further, as we found out many advertising campaigns do so. We tried to make our magazine as full with information about the product as possible, in order to grab attention and catch the audiences eye, persuading them to buy the cd.

Making our Video...

Once we had finished filming all of our footage for our video, we then uploaded it to this programme, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 the software used to edit our video. This programme i believe was a new one to everyone therefore all of us were very interested in how it worked, and how we would use it to create our video.

This is the screen that we all came across when we first got into the programme, at first it looked very confusing and it took us a while to discover all of the buttons and what they mean. We attached our camcorder to the computer, allowing the video to upload onto the programme. This appearing in the top left hand corner. Once we loaded our video onto the screen it appeared at the bottom of the screen in one long chunk, this was all of our footage we took, we now needed to chop it up and start editing!

Here is a diagram i found which explains where everything goes. This is a preview of what the screen we are using on a daily basis looks like, although it looks very confusing, once we were taught what everythign was we soon got the hang of it!This is all that we used in order to create our video, edit and cut our film and put it together;

Conventions of Advertising

Conventions of Advertising...

There are many aspects needed to consider whilst creating and distributing a music video, and I have tried my best to research further and include these. The elements that are included for my coursework as a whole are the music video, a cd albumn cover, and a magazine advert. I have researched a lot about each of these individual things and collected information on each of them which i have used to help me create my own. Each of these put together create a synergistic campaign, which you see everyday advertising many different aspects of media development.
I have considered that there needs to be something specific that links each product together, except for the name of the product being 'Waking Up In Vegas', to make it more aware to the audience that each advertisement is part of the campaign. I thought we could use a particular colour scheme, or use the same font for the cd cover and te magazine advertisement, showing the audience it's relevance. I believe my product has a big enough target audience to become a success, and that each element used to advertise my product is used effectively and is successful in doing it's job.

Potential Cd Cover Photos

Above are two of our potential Cd Cover photgraphs that we took of our friend Ricole.
She is playing the lead role in our music video, and acting as the artist. We decided to change our ideas, as we originally wanted a photograph of all of thye characters together, although through our research we did earlier on, we decided that the majority of Cd covers tend to focus mainly on the artist alone.
I feel that it is important to show her alone also as it attracts more attention, the audience have one thing to focus on and are aware of who she is and what she represents. The original artist of the song Katy Perry is a very succesful woman and is presented alone on most of her albumns, we thought this was relevant for our cd cover.
We have a choice of two here that we are finding hard to chose between, they are very different from one another, each adopting two completely different poses.
The first one shows her standing up, leaning slighty to the left, with an arm on her hip and doing the 'Peace' sing with her fingers, adding attitude and character to the photograph. I like this photo as it is fun and i believe will attract an audience. I think the pose she is doing is different and portrays the theme of girls just having fun, and the stereotypical view of a 'Vegas' girl. However, i also really like the other photograph we took; Ricole is sitting down and is holding a lighter in between her legs, being the centre at the bottom of the photograph. This pose seems more simple, but i am pleased with it as it refelcts a 'bad girl' pose, the lighter suggests she is acting 'hard' and doesn't care or have a care for anything. She is looking up into the camera, from a low angle to a high angle, one of her eyebrows is slightly raised and she is smirking. I like this look a lot as it gives off a lot of character, it isn't drastic or busy it is just simple, yet the focus of her face acts as it is looking at the audience and will immediately attract their attention to her.
Both covers i feel will be a success if designed correctly, yet we will now try both, and see what one works best with the song choice!

Magazine Adverts

Above are a number of Magazine adverts for different products projected bythe media. I have looked at these as i tried to find a cd cover one but couldnt, therefore i continued to research ones for different products and look at the way in which they were presented in the magazine; looking at the page layout, fonts, and how the product itself is portrayed to the reader.

Each of the three adverts are different from one another, the loreal one focusing mainly on a close up of her face, the second featuring the series Ugly Betty more focused on the product itself and including quite a busy background also, and the third, focused on the actor in the film The Tudors, showing him sitting on the throne in a medium shot, with the product underneath.

I found it easier to think of ideas for my own final magazine advert that i will produce for my coursework through looking at these, as i have noticed there are lots of adverts all layd out differently on the page, attracting focus to their products.

I focused a lot on the different colours one ach advert, they way that they contrast from one another to create a bold and eye catching ad, and the way they also match to create an attractive colour scheme. Each advert attracts it's target audience individually and in a different way, the Loreal advert attracts attention through her face, she is close up to the camera and she is attractive therefore easy to look at, she is touching her hair suggesting the new hair dye is what she is advertising, the fact that she is famous also attracts attention and persuades the public to buy the product.

The Ugly Betty advert, is viewd in a different way, the page is full of colour and is busy, not being as dominent than the loreal advert, however eye catching still. As it is a christmas ad the colour scheme is white and red in particular, with orange pugs. THe picture of the dvd is in the middle of the page and the headign above says: ' Wishing you a very UGLY christmas' the use of the word ugly promotes the dvd; along with this the date of when it is released is in bold writing underneath.

The Tudors magazine advert immediately gives off the impression of being very dark and mysterious, the way he is sitting on the throne in the middle of the page, being centre of attention creates quite an eery look. The colours are golden and white, keeping it simple but effective, his facial expression attracts the audience as he is looking at them. The actual dvd is placed underneath him, with The Tudors in big bold font next to it. Here it is not the dvd cover that is catching the audiences eye, similar to the loreal advert it is the actor, allowing the reader to spot him and as he is also famous, the target audience will then read on further.

Through this researc i have developed a further understanding of what i need to include to attract my audience to the product i am selling, using different techniques to catch their eye.

Evaluation

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

I feel like i have progressed a lot through the production of my music video and coursework through learning and understanding new techniques that i haven't used bfore. I have learnt a lot about the different forms and conventions of media this year and have utilised them in order to create my coursework pieces. I have used conventions through my analysis of many other music videos, by doing this setting myself a target to challenge them along the way; there are a number of techniques i used which i thought was compulsary in my music video which were aspects such as lighting, location, mise en scene, and character building. These put together created a typical pop music video of which i was able to research, plan and and gain a clear understanding of each element included in the video. The use of intertextuality in our music video helped it to become a 'reality' helping the audience relate to it, rather than just something to watch; an example of a music video including lots of intertextuality and postmodernism which is inspiring, is Lady Gaga and Beyonce's video 'Telephone'...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBsypHzF3U

In our video there is two main protagonists, and another couple included also; I feel we have represented this typical 'couple in love' well to the audeince, gaining knowledge of how to go about filming this through researching other music videos similar. This shows how we have refelected real media products into our video. Each of these techniques i used to the best of my ability and thought was relevant, as lots, if not all music videos include these. I have already spoken about each of these in more detail and how i used them, however i have tried to make my video interesting through adding these to my video to match the song type and the storyboard and our original storyline also.
There is a number of things we have challenged and developed in our video, including the lighting and also the various camera shots. These two aspects are important to the videos outcome, as are both used in order to create a sense of mood and feeling withing the characters featured in the video, acting almost as a relationship between character and the audience. The different camera shots helped us gain a further understand of the characters situation, whether it be a close up or long shot we were able to discuss, and choose one that suits the situation most. Taking each shot from a number of different angles whilst filming allowed this option.
Our video would only attract pop music lovers as we have stereotypically chosen a pop, teenage image and an image of our actors to suit this view.
A final way in which i have challenged and developed real media conventions was through the use of our theory work. Propp's theory featuring 'structuralism' was incorperated in our video, it comes from the directors use of culture in the video and how they themselves portray this in their own way. I feel we have applied this in our own video through much research, planning and techniques.
We created a video that was effective yet had a storyline that made sense also, which would inevitably attract our target audience. Like many other videos, there is huge competition involving audience's and popularity, therefore as a group we tried to create something that will be a success to people we understand the most, our age group!

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

We used a number of techniques in order to create a link between each of our products, one important one being that the title is the same on each individual product, using preferably the same font to also create a similarity between them, allowing the audience to understand they work together to advertise the campaign im producing. I feel that the combination of all 3 of my products is effective and co operates nicely, as each of the pieces stick within our genre through the use of these techniques we followed. These attracting our target audience interesting them with our chosen image, font, and style. By using the same font and style throughout becomes recognisable to the audeince representing the albumns signature image, therefore when going out to purchase the cd they understand the link. We created a digipak CD cover, including the insert and back, and a magazine advertisement to promote this.

( Here is an examply of an Oasis Digipak)

Here are a few cd covers that i looked at whilst planning how to create my own; firstly i looked at Katy Perry's, as she is the artist we are using. This cd cover i liked because it is individual and different, i chose it because it reflects personality and attracts attention particularly to teenagers and the target audience. The cd cover is fun and looks as if it hasn't been taken too seriously, which adds character i feel interesting the public more. The second cd cover is Lady GaGa, again i chose this cd to research as it immediately attracts attention, being colourful and different; the cover represents her personality and is appealing to the audeince simply because she is the front cover, her persona alone attracting the public. Finally the third one is one of Pinks' cd covers, i liked this one because it is fun and different. The title 'Funhouse' links to the image portrayed on the cover, reflecting a implicit circus theme and showing Pink herself with her leg extended looking like she is having fun. This image refelcts the sense of fun, personality and colour, being interesting for me to grasp ideas from. Each of these images inspired me to create my own frontcover, however each of these focus mainly on the artist themselves, devoting the front cover to them. I decided after researching these that i can still add a sense of fun to my cd cover without it being the same as the majority of front covers such as those shown below, resulting in deciding not to feature the artist on the front cover.

The image used for our digipack was a photograph of a hand gesturing the 'peace' sign, using some of the features on photoshop we were able to add detail to the page using colour and a background of lots of blurred lights, aiming for the 'Vegas' effect. The Cd cover also includes another photograph of her in the inset, we used this as it sells to the audience, who in particular are 'Katy Perry' fans, as posing to be her would attract fans immediately to the Cd cover, initially allowing them to read on further and discover all information about the song itself. We included dates of possible tours she would be performing and also some quotes from the song and also awards that have been won by her. This adding fun to the insert attracting attention to it.

The magazine advert we also produced i feel would do well to attract attention to the audience and thought about what would work best, using the ideas i found from analysing a number of them earlier. The image on the front is again of Ricole, her stage name not Katy Perry but Carmen Veronica; she is sitting down, originally against a wall, holding up a lighter. I liked this look as it is edgy and represents our genre effectively. The image fo her immediately attracts attention, next to the font ( matching the other products) and then to the information on the poster, which also is a matching colour scheme. I feel that my main product and ancillary texts work together to combine a clear understanding and attraction to my products as a whole, I have kept within the genre and used my products to portray this as best as i could.
Overall i am very pleased with the outcome of all three of my products and feel they do well to compliment eachother in their own individual way.

3. What have you learned from your audiences' feedback?

I have learnt a lot from my audiences feedback, from them analysing my video and telling me what they like and dont like about it gave me the chance to assess my video and understand their point. Most of their answers were regarded the storyboard of the video itself. As Jess and I had already chosen to create a pop video, as this is what we agreeed on and the music that the majority of our friends enjoy listening to, we decided to settle on it and begin planning our video step by step. I paid attention to one of the questions i had asked in particular, concerning whether or not my storyboard was accurate and was easily understood within my video. My feedback on it was a mixed view, explaining that part of my storyline was misunderstood and could be looked at. This i benefitted from as once i had another look at my storyboard i was able to change it slightly, correcting it. This was due to the use of intertextuality in my video, Todorov's theory of equilibrium-disequilibrium-equilibrium, reflecting the continuous happy, sad, happy theme within my music video. I looked over the feedback again and again and tried to add or take away anything my target audience disliked, or thought i could improve on, which only came to benefit it and improve my video further. My audience gave me some really positive feedback, however I am also glad that they gave me back some bad feedback as i then had something to improve on and aim for. I feel like i have attracted the correct audience and am very pleased that they have shown a great interest in each product we have created, expressing their enthusiasm with each piece of our work.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?

There are a number of media technologies i used within the process of creating my music video, cd cover and magazine advert, I think i used each of these effectively and to my benefit. The first thing i used would be the programme Adobe premier pro. I have spoken already how i thought using this was above, however i thought it was a fairly straight forward programme to work, yet we did experience a couple of problems along the way. We tried to stay after school everyday in order to use this programme, and not only continue with our video but practice using the programme, this way it becoming easier everytime we use it. The programme was excellent, after working out how to attatch the song, video etc it soon all fit together and started to look professional! Another programme i used was Photoshop, this we had already had experience with during AS level, as we created a magazine front cover, double page spread and a contents page, we were more familiar with this programme, making it easier to use and quicker also. We created our magazine poster and cd cover using this, allowing us to play around with the photographs, font, background and information using the programme. I particularly like the programme because it allows you to correct any blemishes or uneven skin tone on the photograph you are using, giving it an 'airbrush' effect like they do in professional photoshoots. However, my coursework wouldn't of been completed without the use of internet; This not only helped me with my technologies such as the programmes i used, but the construction and the planning of my work. Through the internet of course we were able to use our blogs, which we have recorded all of our coursework on, including planning and evaluation. However, without the use of youtube and scribd, our blog would not have been any good, as a lot of the analysis and evalutation of different videos and theory are from videos on youtube. Which we had to put onto our blogs, scribd also allowed us to use and import pictures onto our blogs, which is just as important also.
The obvious media technologies i used to actually create my three products was a video camera, a camera, a flashlight, and an music speaker. The video camera we recorded everything we could to get lots of footage, we also needed the flashlight as it was dark to give us more light when shooting. I brought an ipod speaker with the song on it so it would be easier for us and our character to mime to the words, therefore later simply leaving us with matching it up. The camera we used to take our photograohs for the cd and magazine covers, these i have shown already on my blog.
For my research planning, i used mainly research from youtube, looking up lots of different videos that were like the one we were creating, the same music genre, code of clothing, etc. I did this to get a rough idea of what was already out there, in order to challenge this later on in my own work.

I took these photos during filming, i wanted to get a picture to put on here so I was able to explain why we decided to dress them this way. We took a couple more of these photos also, I wanted to show the actors before we began filming, they are all dressed in going out clothes and dresses as we wanted to show they had been to a party the night before. They all look a bit of a mess, also adding some humour and showing that they have not had a chance to get changed since last night, and have all crashed out, waking up and looking like this!

Rosco, Hannah, Ricole and Nick all took part in the making of our video and posed for these photographs. I think they set the scene, and also took them as an idea for the Cd cover we will be making, although we have chosen a different photograph now, as it was only an idea.

The photos of the four of them outside were taking in London by the fountain, one of those particular shots was also taken in our actual video, when Ricole goes up to someone (me) in the street and asks to take a photograph of them all. I think it's a good photograph and has captured the mood and 'state' they were in!

Audience

I have written a number of questions and asked my target audience about my video, what they think of it and what they think needs improving, here is there feedback.

1. Do you feel that the opening shot is relevant to the song? If not what would you change it too?

Yes, i think it is releant to the song, at first i was not sure why the shot of the fruit machine was there and i wondered why you decided to put it there. I wasn't sure if it would work at first until i heared the song, and the beggining shows the sound of money falling out os a machine, then i knew it was a good idea!

2. Do you think we have portrayed the theme of 'Vegas' well enough through the use of Mis-en scene?

I think you have portrayed the theme of Vegas very well, it must of been hard to try and portray that through simple the mise en scene. I really liked the way they were dressed throughout as if they were partying, which is very Vegas! I also liked the fact that you filmed up London, and tried to get as many bright and colourful lights in as much as you could. I like the use of playing cards that you have used as it is there to represent gambling.
Therefore i think you have done well to portray the theme you were aiming for.

3. Do you think we have enough different camera angles in our video?

I think you have got a number of good camera angles in there, however there could also be more. I think you have done well to of cut what you had at the beginning and narrow it down to what you have now although i think you need a few more if you are aiming to get top marks, maybe use some over the shoulder shots, or a high angle shot.

4. Do you think that the chorus' are more lively than the verses?

I had noticed that the verses of your song are not as upbeat as the chorus's, and are a little bit slower, they also seem more negative than the chorus' as a whole. I like the way that you have tried to speed the chorus' pace up to match the speed of the song, and the fact that the chorus gives off more of a happy vibe compared to the verses. I think you have done this well.

5. Do you think the actors we used came across genuine in their emotions?

I was suprised when i saw your video as i thought they would have been embarassed to film infront of everybody and act seriously, although when i saw it i was amazed that they did it without laughing! It was really good that they did it properly and it really set the scene for the video, they were quite professional, and im impressed with what it looks like, you should be too!

6. Do you think that our planning is paying off, or is there anything that you would change about the storyboard?

I think your storyboard links well within what you have created and matches as best as it could, however a couple of bits i found quite confusing, as some of the verses compared to the chorus are not completely clear, as you are following the happy, sad, happy routine, i think a couple of your storyboards have been mixed up in confusion, although it will be easy to fix if you have a look.
Apart from that i think that your storyboard is comoing along nicely, i like the fact that the video isn't pointless, that there is a message behind it that will interest and relate to people!

We used this feedback in order to improve our video and benefit from it, now that we have heared some feedback from our target audience i feel like we are a step ahead, as we have been able to improve our video to match they're answers.

Beginning to edit our Video

Editing...

After having a weekend of filming out video, we have now started to begin editing it. We have downloaded the programme 'Adobe Premier Pro' where you have to download the video onto the programme and also install the song choice you have chosen. Once this is done you are ready to begin editing.

We began editing our video on Monday 23rd November; throughout the week we stayed after school on most days until 4pm, in order to get as much done in the time we had, we found that by staying after school also we could concentrate more as it was much quiter than in our lessons, helping our focus.

At first we had a bit of trouble with the programme, as it would not allow us to cut certain parts of our video and edit them out, and we had to try a number of times, however we soon sorted out this problem and began editing our video.

I found overall that the editing process was fairly straight forward and was able to do it easily, however it became difficult as we were trying hard to include different shots and variety within the camera angles, making it a lot more time consuming then we originally though it would be.

We also added some extra effects to our video to give it a bit more character and make it more interesting to watch with a few twists, we added a particular timing techniques and have used this in order to speed up and slow down some of our shots, and also used reverse to reverse some of our shots which became relevant to the storyline also.

Through the duration of editing our video we discovered a number of aspects we wanted to achieve, we needed the character who sings to match the timing of the original song, this proved difficult but we managed to do it precisely. We also became very accurate with our video, and in a number of shots we made sure that not just the singing was on time but the actual shots themslves matched up with the beat of the song, through aiming to do this our video now flows better and to the beat as much as it can. We tried to make our shots quite short as we didn't want them to drag on and bore the viewer, therefore we had to cut lots of little shots and edit them together.

I feel we have done a really good job in editing our music video and have spent a lot of time on it, i am pleased with the end result and have had positive feedbake from the audience which i will show above.

Analysis of Cd Cover's

Pixie Lott's album cover is one of the Cd covers I have chosen to analise because it is simple yet effective. The cover is simply a close up of her, focused on her head and shoulders. I have noticed how they have character built here, as her view is focused on the top right hand corner, suggesting a tongue in cheek approach. Her hair is down and messy, giving a rugged look as apposed to a prim and proper look, i feel this is much more interesting than if her hair was perfect.

Her posture adds character also, she is slightly leaning to the right from the viewers point of view.

She is in the middle of the cover, being the centre of attention; the background is grey and white, simple, and places Pixie in the limelight. Her black top and rose necklace contrast with the background, again ensuring she stands out to the audience. Even thought the writing 'Pixie Lott' is in a white font, matching part of the background, it stands out as it is positioned on her chest, in the middle of the black, red and green colours.

The overall vision of the cover is very eye catching, it i colourful without being busy and portrays an 'innocent' yet cheeky artist.

Katy Perry's 'Waking Up in Vegas' Cd Cover is different from Pixie Lott's. I chose this one because it is a different version of an album cover, it is busy and lively, showing Vegas in the background. This matches our vision for or Cd Cover, as we were aiming to make a bright and bold impression.

Similar to Pixie Lott's video, Katy is in the focus, being the centre of attention also, however, unlike Pixie Lott's cover, there is much more to look at with this one. The view of Vegas behind her adds colour and sets the scene, matching her song choice.

Half way down the cover it splits in two, with a bright pink curtain, again the colour catches the audiences eye, and is extremely loud. Katy is adopting a seducing pose, biting her finger and holding her hand on her hip. This adds character and an element of fun to the cover. The dress she is wearing is plain cream, this used to soften the tone and colour, not making it over busy. Each of these things put together produces a loud and fun cd cover, which definately catches the audiences eye. The font is both pink and white, the pink contrasting with her dress and the white contrasting with the pink curtain, her name also in white. The techniques used to produce this cd cover is brilliant, one of the reasons i chose it being it is perfect if aiming for a busy cover.

This album cover I found very interesting; it features an extreme close up of Lady GaGa. We immediately notice this cover as she is laying horizontal across the front. This attracts our attention as it is different. The background of the cover is plain black, emphasising Lady GaGa, as she is in colour and stands out to the audience. She has her hand up to her head, creating a dramatic look, and again attracting attention to the audience, the pose is different from many poses you normally find on a Cd cover, this simply reflecting Lady GaGa's personality as a whole! She is decorated with dimontes and her skin has been coloures purple and blue with glitter, this definately attracting the female audience, as it looks pretty and colourful. These colours contrast with the black background standing out; she has also got dimontes on her cheek, again looking pretty and an unusual decoration. Her eye makeup is also ratyher decorative adding some fun to the cd cover, the fact that it is silver eye shadow and thick black eye liner matches the background and her dimontes. Her blonde hair also adds something to the final image, mixing all of the colours together. The font is Purple, the same colour as the purple colouring on her skin, these are the specific things that are needed to be thought about before making a cd cover, as every detail counts and is effective.

This Cd cover I was attracted to instantly, it is similar to the others concerning the fact that Rhianna is the centre of attention and the main and in fact only feature on the fron of the cover. However, it is different also, as i have noticed so far the other cd covers that i have analysed are each filled with colour in order to catch the audiences eye and stand out look pretty. Rhiannas 'Good girl gone bad' album cover is the opposite, it attracts people through it's professional and sophisticated look; the cover does not have any colour, it is in black and white.
The background of the cover is black and the space around Rhianna is white as if there is a light around her, (the same thing is used for Pixie Lott's album cover) this allows the viewer to understand that she is the one to be looking at and it is all about her.
Rhianna is in a white dress, matching the colour scheme clevery along with her black hair, although there is no colour it is just as easily spotted as the others, the cd cover is actually very simple yet looks brilliant because of the colour scheme.
Rhiannas positioning ont he front cover is very interesting, it is different and gives a quirky look to it. She is leaning back and has her arms neatly forwards, this makes her also look more slender, this posture i believe attracts the viewer adopting a rather feminine look.
She is looking at the camera, so we beleive she is looking at us, another technique used making it that much more personal, and to make us buy the cd.
The font of her name is in a turqiouse colour contrasting completely standing out a mile to the viewer, the name of the single underneath in simple white.
The overall look of the Cd cover is very effective, and shows how you can attract the viewer not just by colour and loud and busy cd covers, but with style.



Through analysing each of these Cd covers I have gained many ideas as to how I will make my cd, whether it will be loud and attractive or simple and classy. I think each of these covers although having the same principle, are different. They may be similar as each artist is the main aspect of the page, however, each one has done something different creating the same effect; I have learnt a lot about how the veiwer can be drawn in, I liked each of the covers and think they are very effective and cleverly produced. I will use these ideas and take them into consideration when creating my own cd cover, asking my friends also for there opinion on which one they like the most.

My video storyline

As a group Jess and I decided on the storyline a while ago, when we first heared we were going to produce a music video. Through listening to the song a number of times, and analysing it's original video, i didn't find it too hard to think of a number of possible stroylines that will match the genre of the song, and interest the audience.
The song is named 'Waking Up in Vegas', therefore we decided to do a rather exciting video and make the storyling interesting yet easy to follow, we have decided on two lovers, they continously fight and argue, we discover this over one drunken night at a club. Everything is perfect, they are partying with there friends, however, when her and her boyfriend make a wish on a coin and throw it into the fountain, everything goes downhill...
They become very drunk, and the girls' (Katy) boyfriend proposes to her. However the next day we join the characters in their hangover, the room is a mess, she is engaged, and the storyl slowly reveals itself as flashbacks of the night before start coming back to her.
The video seems humorous to the viewer, making them keen to carry on watching (hopefully!), we have planned the storyline to stick rather close to the lyrics of the song, becoming self explanatory to the audience. The girl realises what has happened, her day resulting in having an argument with her 'boyfriend' for proposing, waking up with a black eye and bad luck after that. We continue to watch her bad luck from then on, however, towards the end we are including a split screen, showing the two lovers doing the same thing, unaware. We are aiming to end the video with a 'cliffhanger', they both bump into each other when they each go to 'go get some cash out'... the storlyine ends with the two looking at each other.

This i feel will be a good way to end the video as the audience will be left unaware as to whether the couple will get back together or not.

Filming Schedules

Friday 20th November
On friday we are planning to begin filming the scenes based in London. We are travelling to Piccadilly Circus and Carnaby Street as our video is based in both of these locations. I am aiming to complete most of the video and get a lot of good shots which we can look back on and choose whether or not to use them in the video, however we are travelling up there after school, therefore we will be focusing on the night scenes out in the town. These scenes include the chorus's. We will be able to shoot a couple of the verses in the hope that the whether is good.
I am looking forward to shooting our video and hopefully everything will go to plan.

Sunday 22nd November

On sunday morning, we are going to film the beginning of our music video. The beginning location is going to be filmed in a bedroom, reflecting the morning after and the hangover!

The scene begins when the four characters are all laying in the same bed, the main girl wakes up and sits up promptly, she wakes up and is naturally are freaked out as to why they are all sharing a bed. We see the view of the room, the mess explaining how drunk they were the night before.

We are also filming the second verse in the same room, as the chorus acts as a flashback, and the room reality. During this scene is when she is questioning him: ' Why am i wearing your class ring?'

We are hoping to finish the first two verses here, resulting in the first section of the video being complete, as well as the remaining ones filmed on Friday.

Producing our video

Camera Shots & Editing Techniques
- Extreme close up
- Close up
- Medium shot
- Mid shot
- Long shot
- Panning
- Point of View shot
- High angle shot
- Low angle shot
- Diagonal shot
- Over the shoulder
- Tracking shot
- Slow motion
- Flashbacks
- Fade in and out
- Establishing shot

These are all of the editing techniques and camera angles in which i am considering to use in my video, i will not use all of them although i will use as many as i can in order to add variety to the video. I am aiming to include each of these, i have decided that after filming a shot, i will film it another few times each from different angles, giving me the option to discover what shot i like the best and what works the best also.

Planning My Video

I have begun planning my music video for my coursework, and have considered the main factors such as mise-en-scene, location, and character.

Location

There will be a number of different locations present in my music video, adding variety and keeping it interesting. The location at the beginning of the video will be held in a bedroom, it will be messy and portray a typical teenagers bedroom, especially the morning after the night before, with bottles,clothes and shoes all over the floor. This imediately relating to our target audience.
We decided to base some of our video in London, to achieve a busy and buzzing atmoshphere, making the video interesting and full of live all the way through. We will be shooting in Carnaby street, along the cobbled floor and amongst the rushing public in order to create the effect we are lookng for in our video. In carnaby street also, we will be filming in a big office, this acting as our characters' workplace. Another location in London being Trafalgar Square, this we are keen to use because of the bright lights at night, we wanted to include as much colour as possible in our video and attract the audiences attention; by using Trafalgar Square we are able to make the location more lively atmosphere and create a more exciting location for the viewers. For the chorus of the song, we have planned to shoot in a club, again a very lively atmosphere matching the songs beat.
Each of our locations we believe will work nicely together and compliment eachother, creating our final video.

Character

We are going to include a number of characters in our video, as our friends have volunteered to appear in it. We are aiming to have four characters, but two mainly being the centre of the video. The research i had earlier done helped me to get a rough idea of how i would like to portray my characters throughout the video, what type of personality they will portray also.
I have spoken before about how i am aiming to make my music video as interesting as i possibly can, not only have we planned costumes and props for the characters, but we are aiming to follow a storyline, we thought this was appropriate to the song and that also people may be able to relate to the storyline, making them appreciate the video we have produced.
We are going to have two main characters in the video, two lovers, allowing the video to feature around them and their time in 'vegas'. Our storyline is mostly about the couples time in vegas, how they had it all when they arrived, living for the moment, and then how they lost it all. We are begining to rehearse and have already spoken about acting techniques, and how to go about filming with each other on a professional level. We have also begun practising some of the techniques we are going to be using whilst acting together in order to gain a better quality final piece and getting used to working together to make it look as realistic as possible.

Mise en scene

As a group we have all begun thinking seriously about everything we need to include in our video to make it work, the props, costumes, how many actors, what we need to have to match our song genre of pop, and also consider the different lighting we are going to be working with throughout the video, as we cannot determined the whether or how the camera will react to superficial lighting also.
Through thinking carefully about these aspects we are able to start heading towards making our video; we have decided to use props that are found in everyday life, normal accessories such as handbags, coats and items such as these. We are dressing them in fashionable and up to date clothing, that is very loud and bright in order to stand out, grabbing the audiences attention, appealing to teenagers everywhere. Seeing as people our age can now relate to the way we are dressed in our video, we now can use this alongside our lively location, and produce something brilliant.

Concerning the lighting, whilst filming in London, and in any outside areas towards the evening, we will be equipped with a large spotlight which we will carry around with as alongside the tripod and video camera. This will enable us to receive a brighter appearance of what we will be filming, being prepared for this is important as it starts to get dark early.

I am happy in beginning to film our video as i feel i am prepared enough and confident we have considered everything we need beforehand.

Audience

My Target Audience...

For every music video you have to consider a target audience. Since i am focusing on the theme of Pop music, I have a very wide range of target audience. One of the reasons we chose the theme was because of the fact it is a very popular music genre, also, we thought a lot about who we would want as our target audience and who we are able to relate to, people our age! We have decided to focus on people our age as our audience as it will be a lot easier, we understand they way people our age think, what they are expecting from a pop music video and also the fashion and locations they are into.
The actors in our video are going to be wearing fashionable and brightly coloured clothes to attract attention to teenagers everywhere. By creating an up beat, fun and colourful video we are able to attract attention a lot easier.

The target audience we are aiming for is catagory D and E, young students and casual workers.

A | Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals.
B | Middle management, teachers, many 'creatives' eg: graphic designers.
C1 | Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses, specialists, clerical staff etc.
C2 | Skilled people workers, tradespersons, (white collar).
D | semi skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue collar).
E | Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers.

However, there are a number of things you need to consider about the audiences impression on the video, and what is vital to think about before starting to shoot your video.

Audience engagement | How your audience interacts with the product.
Audience expectations | Idea they bring to us, pop song - they want to see pop, following conventions?
Audience foreknowledge | Define information the audience brings.
Audience identification | Audience feels themselves connected to video relates to them.
Audience placement | Strategies used to target audience and make them feel it is for them.
Audience research | Show video to focus group before it is finished, then change the version depending on what they say.

All of the aspects shown above are essential to consider when planning your video, I am going to research each of these before I begin shooting, and make a note of all of the things that need to be included before hand, making sure I have the best chance of impressing and attracting my audience.

Video Influene, 'Tik Tok' - Kesha

'Tik Tok' By Kesha is one of my favourite music videos. It is a strong influence of mine in planning and creating my own music video; there are a number of reasons why i particularly like this video, the main ones being it is fun, sassy and lives up to it's target audience perfectly, relating to the younger generation, teenagers, and their habits at the weekend!

The video was a major influence for me because of the particular aspect of teenage drinking, i found this relevant to my music video 'Waking Up in Vegas' and to a few of the opening lyrics such as ' You gotta help me out, It's all a blurr last night, we need a taxi cos' your hungover and i'm broke'. For the beginning of our music video we are aiming to create an image reflecting the lyrics, and open the song with a teenage girl, ' the morning after the night before'.
This is one of the reasons why i found Kesha's video an excellent example of what we are trying to portray. The beginning of Tik Tok shows Kesha in the bath with one shoe on and the other off, this immediately creates an impression to the audience that she was drunk the night before.
I think the beginning of the video in particular is extremely clever, as the camera shows an empty bottle and her remaining shoe on the floor, then her asleep in the bath, it also shows very quick glimses of the party the night before and intersperses the two shots acting as a pattern, bathroom, party, bathroom etc. The camera shots applied are very effective, as we only see bits of her body, such as her shoes, and her hands and head, before we see her fully.
I am inspired by the opening to this video as it is exactly what i am aiming for in my video, it has given me a number of ideas and camera techniques i could use to create a much more interesting and involved video within only a few seconds.

I have analysed the first verse in particular when Kesha is in the bathroom, again i am very impressed with the variety of different shots all portraying the 'state' she is in. I feel like the aspect of the video has been portrayed brilliantly and i will learn from the different techniques i have seen allowing me to create a better and more effective video, gaining a number of skills and make an impressive music video.

Applying Theory

Massive Attack - Unfinished Symphony




Massive Attack's Unfinished Symphony - possibly the most talked about video, and the first of it's kind. An extremely simple video, emphasising the view of gangs and violence. The video is set in a run down Urban enviroment, the location alone portraying the stereotypical characters such as thugs tot he audience. The video relates to it's target audience, and begins with a close up of two metal balls being twisted in a mans hand. We then see a close up of a bulldog on a chain, we are able to discover the typical enviroment within seconds of the video. The camera angle switches to a higher birds eye shot, revealing a gang; the camera then pans to the right across the estate, and focuses on a close up of a little boy holding a toy gun and firing it. I believe this is very effective imagery involving the message they are portraying.
The camera then using tracking to continue down the street, slowly focusing on a woman dressed in black on the left hand side, then pans around her to focus on her face on. As she is walking down the street we as an audience are able to take it the atmoshpere of the urban background, and the people that live there, giving us a bigger insight to the video. The people on the street although simply walking along, pay a huge part in the video and live up to the sterotype of that area also; we find we are able to focus on both her and the people behind as they are in view of the camera too.
With only a couple of transactions the camera has been tracking the character throughout the whole video, simple yet effective; we do not only follow the main character throughout the video, but we get to see her surroundings also.
As she crosses the road the camera angle pans around, and is now side on, giving the audience the view that is situated down the road she is crossing, keeping them interested further; this is a very clever technique as no real camera action has taken place, simply a change in surroundings. This will immediately attract the attention of the target audience, as we see what the streets are like, and understand the effects it has.
I have descovered through analysing the video that there is a long space where there is no singing, and the character is simply walking, however, this is not boring at all to the viewer; there are a number of things going on in the background, and we also see her facial expressing and can imagine how she is feeling. This is believe adds a sense of sympathy to the piece, making the audience eager to continue watching.
Towards the end of the video, the camera angle sswitches from in front of the character, to behind her, adding some variety to the video; i find this affective as i found out from analysing that it matches the beggining piece of editing, we start off by seeing her from behind, and finish that way. I believe it is a relevant piece to the ending of the video as it suggests she is leaving. The camera continues tracking her movement, however holding back further, giving the impression that she is walking away as she moves further away from the camera.
The shot ends when she turns the corner of the street.
This video is a prime example that music videos can be just as good when less editing has taken place, as i said before the video is very famous and has got it's name for being extremely simple yet effective, some would say that is even harder to do then the complicated and technical videos! I was very impressed.




The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony


The Verve- Bitter Sweet Symphony is an extremely effective yet straight forward video, famous for its simplicity.
We immediately recognise the theme of the video as attitude towards life, the video set in a east end location, primarily relating to it's target audience. From beginning to end the video portrays the theme extremely well, applying attitude to the video creating the impact of the message of peace the video is trying to convey to the audience.
The video is a classic, the simplicity allows the song to speak for itself, and begins with Richard Ashcroft walking to a corner of the road; throughout the next 25 seconds tracking is used, leaving the character still standing at the end of the road, from a long shot.
The camera continues tracking, showing the character bashing into public whilst walking towards the camera, this creating a stereotypical view of the east end. We can already see that the video is not complicated and does not involve a large amount of camera action, however, it occasionally switches to a shot as if we are looking through the characters eyes, seeing what they would see. This is used in order to add some variety to the video yet still keeping it simple.
The pavement journey throughout the video was influenced by the video Massive Attacks 'Unfinished Symphony', however this video expressing a run down urban enviroment, once again relating to the audience.
The parituclar character that Richard Ashcroft is trying to portray is a 'hard' and 'east end thug' type character, expressed through his rudeness throughout the video, not stopping for anybody and knocking people down; this again relating to the target audience and also the area located.
We as an audience do not recieve a clear view of the character the whole way through the video, showing people walking in front of the camera lense, and restricting our view. This is done on purpose, to represent the idea of the busy streets and the crowding public, matching the location again.
Close ups of his face and feet are also shown occasionally, adding variety and his own expression also expressing the crowding; although the camera angle is still tracking him, following his every move, this reminding us that he has not stopped walking, no matter the circumstance.
The video, as you have seen is extremely simple and yet not boring to watch, this proving that you do not need to create a masterpiece to make an effective and popular video.
Towards the end of the video Ashcroft's 4 bandmates appear from the right hand side of the shot, and all walk behind him.
This shot is a perfect way to end the video, keeping the simplicity and adding the remaining bandmates. Overall the video has impressed me, the tracking follows all the way through the video with occasional differing camera shots such as close ups and medium shots, and also point of view shots. An excellent yet effortless music video.


Fat Les- Vindaloo



Fat Les's Vindaloo, is an extremely popular song, famous for comically copying the Bittersweet Symphony however, it was originally written as a parody of football chants. The video is located in the same place and holds the same aspect as the Bittersweet video, however, with a number of twists!
The video has clear intertextual references to the verse and deliberately includes a Richard Ashcroft look alike, comedian Paul Kaye, truly immitating the style of the video. However, this is only apparant as the two videos have already used those conventions.
The video copies every aspect of the original, mocking the location, the band and the song itself, however keeping the camera angles roughly the same. I have descovered that unlike the original video, where we watch Richard Ashcroft walking down tht street alone, we see Paul Kaye barging his way down the street, first alone, yet slowly gathering a crowd. A number of famous comedians feature in the video such as David Walliams and Matt Lucas, making the video that much comic, upping the views and popularity.
Although the video is a comic version of the original, i find that once people have seen this version of the video they then go to view the original, all in all a rather clever popularity technique!

Theories of Narrative

I have researched indside and outside of lesson the different theories of narrative that occur in media, and the people who invented them. Each individual idea has contributed to film and television and become very succesful, all of them portraying individual techniques to help the audience understand and relate to the storyline. All of their theories are found present in films today and remain in films to come in the future also, here they are...

Tzvetan Todorov



Tzvetan Todorov developed the theory disrupted equilibrium. he identified similar to Vladimir Propp that stpries follow a typical pattern, this one through these steps:
-Equilibrium - the 'status quo' where things are as they should be.
-Disequilibrium - the status quo is distrupted by an event.
-Equilibrium - it is resorted at the end of the story by the actions of the hero.

An Example...

In a Horror film, the equilibrium would be that everything is running smoothly, the disequilibrium would be that there has been a murder and an investigation is needed, and the final equilibrium would be that they find the murderer and put them in prison. There can be a number of moments in the plot where the resolution of equilibrium takes place, like this example, when peices of a detective puzzle falls into place.
This theory is extremely clever, it acts as a circle and can be repeated over and over again, as it does in a number of films; there isn't an end to it. The theory is used in hundreds of films and television series and is as if we can estimate the plot outline before we have even seen the film!

Later on Todorov then developed this idea into a 5 staged pattern.

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. An attempt to regain the disruption
4. A reinstatement of the equilibrium
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium


Roland Barthes



Roland Barthes was a French Literay theorist, and believes that there are 5 action codes that enable an audience to make sense and understand the narrative. His work extended over many fields resulting in influencing the development of many schools of theory, including structualism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, marxism and post -structualism, through critisism he recieved.
His work has become very succesful today, his many works remains valuable sources of insight and tools for the analysis of meaning in any given manmade representation.

1. Hermeneutic (narrative turning points)-We know where the story will go next.
2. Proairetic (basic narrative actions) -eg; detective interviews suspect or femme fatale, seduces hero ( se Vladimir Propp's functions).
3. Cultural (prior social knowlegde) - eg; Our attitudes to gender or racial steriotypes.
4. Semic (medium related codes)-Intersexually
5. Symbolic (themes)-Iconography or a theme such as 'image verses reality' (Curtis Hanson).


Claude Levi- Strauss



Claude Levi-Strauss had the most important insight that the way we understand certain words doesnt simply depend on the meaning of the word but the way in which we percieve it, and the difference between the word and the 'opposite', or as Strauss calls it, the 'binary opposite'.

Strauss is most important for his theory of Binary Oppositions, in order to find those oppositions is what he was least interested in.
Syntagmatic relations is how events line up in the narrative structure to develop the plot, next paradigmatic relations, those events and features that belong to the theme of the piece, expecially genre based texts.

He used the 'western' film genre to develop his theory of Binary Opposition and develop his ideas further allowing the publics further understanding.
An example of this is listed below.

Homesteades/Native Americans
Christian/Pagan
Domestic/Savage
Weak/Strong
Garden/Wilderness
Inside society/Outside society


Strauss noticed another important feature of Binary Opposites; that one side of the binary pair is always seen as a particular society or culture attributes to such words than any meaning the words themselves may actually contain. This helpes us discover and undertsand the different layers of meaning being created, shaped and reinforced by the sense of Binary Oppositions.