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.

Propp's theory

Vladimir Propp...


Vladimir Propp was born on April 17, he was a Russian formalist scholar who focused on examining components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest narrative elements.
His morphology of the folk tale consists of 8 typical characters involved within a film, and 31 functions. Both of these are used in media education and can be applied to almost any story, whether it is literature, theatre, film or simply a television programme. The folks tale was first published in Russia in 1895.

Some have criticised Propps approach, expressing that he has removed all verbal considerations from the analysis, although the folks tale form is almost always oral, and involves consideration of tone, mood, character and anything else that defines one fairytale from another.

However, defenders of Propps theory suggest that his approach was not intended to unearth meaning in those particular fairy tales, but in fact to unearth the elemental building blocks which formed the basis of the narrative structure.


Characters

Propp's theory is a form of structuralism, which i a view that all media is inevitably in the form of a certain fixed view; the structures however are usually cultural. Propp concluded that every type of character could be resolved within only 8 character types, this present in over 100 films in which he has analysed.
Here are the 8 character types Propp created, below...

The villain — struggles against the hero.
The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
The princess and her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
[False hero] — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Peter Pan...



I have decided to focus on the popular Disney Film, 'Peter Pan' and analyse the film in the influence that Vladimir Propp did, i chose this particular film as it is extremely popular within a wide target audeince, not only children. The film has been updated and used further, becoming a theatre show held in the West End and also has been modernised into a film acting as the sequel, named 'Hook', this time involving actors, it is not cartoon based.

The villain — Captain Hook
The donor — Tinkerbell
The (magical) helper — Tinkerbell
The princess and her father — Wendy Darling is -Princess, Mr.Darling- Her Father.
The dispatcher — Peter Pan
The hero or victim/seeker hero — Peter Pan.
[False hero] — Smee.

Above are the 7 typical character types included in 'Peter Pan', thought examining the film i have found that each of these live up to the character types Propp has provided, and represent a typical fairytale storyline.
Propp also hase 31 functions he believes in, these are listed below and are events which occur in a sequence...

1.ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment for some reason. This may be the hero or perhaps it’s some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an ordinary person. This allows the reader of the story to associate with the hero as being 'like me'.
2.INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'don't do this')The hero is warned against some action (given an 'interdiction'). A warning to the hero is also a warning to the reader about the dangers of life. Will the hero heed the warning? Would the reader? Perhaps the reader hopes the hero will ignore the warning, giving a vicarious adventure without the danger.
3.VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). The hero ignores the interdiction (warning not to do something) and goes ahead. This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away. This acts to further increase tension. We may want to shout at the hero 'don't do it!' But the hero cannot hear us and does it anyway.
4.RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way. The introduction of the villain adds early tension to the story, particularly when they are found close to the previously-supposedly safe family or community environment. The eloquence or power of the villain may also add tension and we may want to shout at their targets to take care.
5.DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location or the intent of the 'good guys'. This is a down point in the story as the pendulum of luck swings towards the villain, creating fear and anticipation that the villain will overcome the hero and the story will end in tragedy.
6.TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration. Deception and the betrayal of trust is one of the worst social crimes, short of physical abuse. This action cements the position of the villain as clearly bad. It also raises the tension further as we fear for the hero or victim who is being deceived.
7.COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain in some way. This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people (perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people are actually bad). We now despair as the hero or victim acts in a way that may be seen as villainous. Perhaps we worry that the hero will fall permanently into the thrall of the villain. Perhaps they will become corrupted and evil also. We also fear for the reputation of the hero who may be perceived as evil and thus never find the true treasure or win the hand of the princess.
8.VILLAINY and LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc, comits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc). There are two parts to this stage, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first stage, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second stage, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way. 'Lack' is a deep psychoanalytic principle which we first experience when we realize our individual separation from the world. Lack leads to desire and deep longing and we look to heroes to satisfy this aching emptiness.
9.MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe. This creates a defining moment in the story as we wonder what will happen now. Perhaps we do not realize that the hero is the hero, as they may not yet have demonstrated heroic qualities. We feel the lack in sympathy for the act of villainy, but the hero may just have arrived on the scene or may be undistinguished from other grieving family members.
10.BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item, rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism. Having made this decision, acting with integrity means that there is no turning back, for to do so would be to remove the mantle of heroism and be left only with shame.
11.DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;
12.FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);
13.HERO'S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);
14.RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
15.GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;
16.STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;
17.BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
18.VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
19.LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revivied, captive freed);
20.RETURN: Hero returns;
21.PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
22.RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
23.UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country;
24.UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;
25.DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
26.SOLUTION: Task is resolved;
27.RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
28.EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;
29.TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc);
30.PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;
31.WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).

Along with Propp's characters, these 31 functions are found present in most fairytale stories, acting as a sequel throughout the film. More often, a function is negated twice, so that it must be repeated three times.
Vladimir Propp i believe has made a great achievement when stepping out and approaching his ideas and theories, they are very popular and i believe are a very helpful way of directing and creating a film or any kind of television series.