Prepatory Tasks
K: What the minimum requirements for the preparatory tasks.
U: The relevance of each of these tasks.
U: The relevance of each of these tasks.
BAT: Undertake preparatory work as prescribed below.
CO: Use media terminology throughout verbal and written communication.
CO: Use media terminology throughout verbal and written communication.
Media Language and Representation Research
Music Video 1 - Ariana Grande, Thank U Next
- Camerawork
In this post, I am going to be conducting research revolving around the concepts of media language and representation in my chosen brief - music videos. This shall help me identify the specific conventions of media language and representation, so that I am able to include them successfully in my own music video.
Music Video 1 - Ariana Grande, Thank U Next
- Camerawork
The main camera shot used is a wide shot, which could have been used as the music video follows a narrative. Also, there appears to be multiple characters included in the music video, so the wide shot has been used in order to include everyone in the shots. There are also a range of close-up shots, which may have been used to enhance the appearance of certain characters who may appeal to audiences, as they may be recognisable to the target audience as characters from known films. In terms of camera movements, tracking shots are occasionally used. This could be to create a narrative and it helps the music video transition from one part of the narrative to the next. Pans have also been used in this music video to introduce a new location or scene.
- Editing
The first thing you notice is the borders along the top and bottom of the screen. This could have been used to make the music video look like a film, or because of the fact it has multiple references to popular films such as Mean Girls, Legally Blonde and 13 Going On 30. Also, the text used to introduce the song name and artist name is the same font used in the hit film Mean Girls, again making intertextual reference. There are also times where scenes are filmed in slow motion, which could give the effect of wanting to enhance certain characters and how they should attract the audience who are most likely going to be young. There are multiple fades to black, which distinguishes scenes and links further to the editing of a film.
- Soundtrack
There is an instrumental at the beginning of the music video, where there are key characters narrating different scenarios. This contributes towards the idea of making the music video into a narrative or short film. There are also pauses during the soundtrack, where there is dialogue between characters. These dialogues are direct references to films. For example, the artist Ariana Grande and another character are sitting in a nail salon, which is a scene replicated from the film Legally Blonde. This has been used to appeal to audiences that may have watched the films included in the video, therefore increasing the mass market audience.
- Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene is the key aspect of the music video. A variety of props have been used and there are multiple costume changes and hair and makeup changes as well. There also appears to be multiple locations where the music video has been filmed. This all creates the context of the music video which is based around the three films that have been intertextually referenced. Each costume change, hairstyle and location links to a scene of a film. This makes it easily recognisable for the audience to identify the films. The props used also help do this. For example, there is a pink book titled 'Thank U, Next' which is the exact same book as the 'Burn Book' from Mean Girls. Again, the audience will be able to recognise this.
Music Video 2 - Billie Eilish, Bury A Friend
- Camerawork
The main camera shots used are the wide shot and close-up shot, which would help with the narrative of the music video and allows the audience to see the expressions of the characters in the video, which may help with setting the tone of the video. The main focus of the video would be the camera movement than the camera shots. The camera is constantly moving in the video, with the majority of the movements being tracking shots and steadicams. This may have been used to fit with the theme of the music video, as it helps to enhance the eery and unsettling atmosphere and create an impact on the audience. There are also certain parts of the video where the camera is held at a fixed position, so that the audience's focus is purely on the artist and so they are not distracted by the movement of the camera. Tilts have frequently been used, again contributing to the 'scary' or 'creepy' theme of the music video.
- Editing
This music video must have required a lot of editing, as there are constant scene changes and fades throughout. The video has been edited to fit the beat of the soundtrack, which helps the video flow and link to the artist's song. This links to the fading to black between different clips of the video, that may have been used to make the video more exaggerated and dramatic. There are also black borders on the top and bottom of the screen, which could have been used to make the video look somewhat like a horror film. Also, the more disturbing and abnormal scenes have been used for the climatic parts of the soundtrack, which links closely to the conventions of a horror film. This could have been used to attract and 'thrill' the audience watching.
- Soundtrack
The tone used for the soundtrack sounds as if it has been edited or auto tuned to being slurred or faint, which has the effect on the audience as sounding like a trance. There is an instrumental at the beginning of the music video, where there is the artist and another person in the scene. The person then performs an acting scene, with short dialogue. This contributes towards the idea of making the music video into a narrative or short film. A range of non-diegetic sounds such as screams have been added in to add intensity to the video and also makes the video appear as a film. The editing of the video also matches the beats of the soundtrack, creating fluidity throughout the video which may help produce a narrative.
- Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene plays an important role in creating this music video, as it is very dramatic and climatic. A variety of props have been used such as beds, tables, chairs and medical equipment like medical gloves and syringes as well as several characters' hands (e.g numerous hands injecting the artist's body) and another character who is present mainly at the beginning of the music video. The location of the video appears to be a house, with different scenes filmed in each room. The costuming of the artist is very plain as she wears white from head to toe, but this contrasts with the lighting used. The lighting is very lowkey and dark, though there appears to be small clips where bright white lighting has been used. The artist also wears contact lenses in several scenes, which makes her eyes look as though they are just all black. This helps the audience with understanding the context and theme of the music video, which is similar to a horror film.
Ariana Grande's Website - https://www.arianagrande.com
- Layout
When you first access the website, the image above shows how everything has been displayed. The layout is quite simple, with the artist's name displayed in the top left corner of the page. This is a typical convention of any website; the fact the logo/name has been placed where it has is an appropriate place as it is kept out of the way but still made visible for anyone to see. Also across the top of the website are the social media icons and music platform icons, giving audiences direct access to all of Ariana Grande's social media platforms and where they can buy, stream and listen to her music. This could help promote her platforms and allows the audience to interact further with the artist. The fact these icons have been made noticeable could suggest Ariana Grande is fondant of her social media and that she is active on all of her platforms so that she can talk to her fans. In addition, there are three tabs along the top of the page: 'Events', 'Shop' and 'Login'. This is so the audience are able to access particular information they may be searching for, hence why they might be viewing her website. Underneath the border is an image of the album cover, with text to the right stating 'new album' and 'out now' as well as Ariana's name and the album name. This has been placed here to promote Ariana's newest album and to increase the sales and streams of the album. The page further scrolls down to more images and videos of recent music videos and song covers, as well as an image displaying recent merchandise and another image promoting her world tour. This is so the audience can get a brief overview of the type of content displayed on the website, before clicking onto tabs and searching further into the website.
- Navigation
The website has a simple navigation - nothing is too complex to access. The social media icons along the top of the page when clicked on gives direct links to those pages. This is so access to other platforms belonging to Ariana are easier to get to and will attract a bigger audience if all they have to do is click on an icon to be taken to that social media page. Also along the top of the page towards the right corner are three tabs: 'events', 'shop', 'login'. When clicking on the 'events' tab, you are taken to a list of all of the countries and arenas Ariana is going to be performing at, as well as the dates and further links to where tickets and VIP tickets can be bought. When clicking on the 'shop' tab, you are taken to a separate website selling all of Ariana's music (both digital albums and CDs and cassettes) and merchandise. This website is also very simple and self-explanatory to use, and the idea of creating a separate website for the merchandise adds to neatness and simplicity of finding particular information such as tour dates. When you click on the 'login' tab, audiences are given the option to login using a social media page, or registering by email. There is also an option to subscribe to the artist's mailing lists. The use of creating an account with Ariana Grande's website allows fans to interact and keep updated with her latest news and creates a relationship between the audience and the artist where it isn't just the audience viewing the website, but interacting with it and being able to be notified with the latest information fans might want to know. There are also three lines on the left side of the website, which displays the three tabs mentioned, as well as the 'newsletter' subscription service and the social media icons. This has made the different sections of the page easily accessible to the audience.
- Use of language
Overall, there is little text used on the website. The main reason why text has been used is for the titles of the artist, the album names, mentioning a world tour, mentioning merchandise and single releases. The lack of text used may mean that the artist's intentions were to make the website understandable to anyone around the world. The text promoting an album states 'new album' and 'out now', which has been used for the audience to identity this is the newest release of the artist, and to increase marketing and sales on that album. However, what can be noticeable is that merchandise has been abbreviated to just 'merch'. This can suggest that the audience for Ariana Grande and her website is mainly aimed at a younger age, as the younger generation tend to use slang or shorter words.
- Use of images/text/audio/video
There are a variety of media displayed on Ariana Grande's website. The first section on the homepage shows the image of the artist's latest album cover, with text stating what the album is called and that it is 'out now'. The colour of the font is black, which contrasts with the pink background of the section of the album cover. That image itself looks pixelated, which stands out to the audience and attracts them as it may appear unusual or strange. Under this section of the homepage is a screenshot of a part of one of Ariana's songs. There is play button displayed next to the text stating the song title, showing audiences that this video can be played just by clicking the button. The music video uploaded to YouTube has been embedded into the homepage, so that the audience is able to watch it from the homepage and not have to be taken to a new page on the YouTube website itself. It also makes the website look neat and professional. Further down the homepage are images of some merchandise Ariana has released, with the text 'new merch bundles available now'. This has been placed for Ariana to promote her new merchandise and images have been used so that fans or the audience can get a preview on what some of the merchandise looks like. The colour scheme of the merchandise are neutral and pastel colours, which ties in with the colour scheme of the whole website. Below that are further images and videos of more song releases, each with a different colour scheme. This could have been used to separate each song as a single and to make the website overall look colourful and appealing to the eye. However, there is one song where the picture promoting it is black and white and the song is titled 'imagine'. This has been intentionally used where the artist may want the audience to actually 'imagine' and use their own minds to fill in colours. It also breaks up the colours between each section of the homepage.
In conclusion, the research I have conducted has helped me with deciding what media language to include to create representations firstly in my music video. I am going to use editing and intertextuality similar to Ariana Grande's Thank U Next music video, as I feel the genre and theme of the music video is going to be similar to mine in the sense that it follows a narrative. I am going to shoot most of my videos in a wide shot, which both music videos I studied used, so that I can capture the atmosphere and background of the scenes as well as the characters involved. However, as the brief states, I am going to also include other shots, such as close-ups to catch expressions and feelings of the characters. In terms of lighting, I am going to use high key, bright lighting as the brief requires at least two different types of lighting and locations, so I will follow Ariana's music video. With the webpage, I intend to follow a very similar layout and navigation system to Ariana Grande's website, as it is very easy to access and provides direct links to other pages such as tour dates, merchandising and social media platforms.
- Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene is the key aspect of the music video. A variety of props have been used and there are multiple costume changes and hair and makeup changes as well. There also appears to be multiple locations where the music video has been filmed. This all creates the context of the music video which is based around the three films that have been intertextually referenced. Each costume change, hairstyle and location links to a scene of a film. This makes it easily recognisable for the audience to identify the films. The props used also help do this. For example, there is a pink book titled 'Thank U, Next' which is the exact same book as the 'Burn Book' from Mean Girls. Again, the audience will be able to recognise this.
Music Video 2 - Billie Eilish, Bury A Friend
- Camerawork
The main camera shots used are the wide shot and close-up shot, which would help with the narrative of the music video and allows the audience to see the expressions of the characters in the video, which may help with setting the tone of the video. The main focus of the video would be the camera movement than the camera shots. The camera is constantly moving in the video, with the majority of the movements being tracking shots and steadicams. This may have been used to fit with the theme of the music video, as it helps to enhance the eery and unsettling atmosphere and create an impact on the audience. There are also certain parts of the video where the camera is held at a fixed position, so that the audience's focus is purely on the artist and so they are not distracted by the movement of the camera. Tilts have frequently been used, again contributing to the 'scary' or 'creepy' theme of the music video.
- Editing
This music video must have required a lot of editing, as there are constant scene changes and fades throughout. The video has been edited to fit the beat of the soundtrack, which helps the video flow and link to the artist's song. This links to the fading to black between different clips of the video, that may have been used to make the video more exaggerated and dramatic. There are also black borders on the top and bottom of the screen, which could have been used to make the video look somewhat like a horror film. Also, the more disturbing and abnormal scenes have been used for the climatic parts of the soundtrack, which links closely to the conventions of a horror film. This could have been used to attract and 'thrill' the audience watching.
- Soundtrack
The tone used for the soundtrack sounds as if it has been edited or auto tuned to being slurred or faint, which has the effect on the audience as sounding like a trance. There is an instrumental at the beginning of the music video, where there is the artist and another person in the scene. The person then performs an acting scene, with short dialogue. This contributes towards the idea of making the music video into a narrative or short film. A range of non-diegetic sounds such as screams have been added in to add intensity to the video and also makes the video appear as a film. The editing of the video also matches the beats of the soundtrack, creating fluidity throughout the video which may help produce a narrative.
- Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene plays an important role in creating this music video, as it is very dramatic and climatic. A variety of props have been used such as beds, tables, chairs and medical equipment like medical gloves and syringes as well as several characters' hands (e.g numerous hands injecting the artist's body) and another character who is present mainly at the beginning of the music video. The location of the video appears to be a house, with different scenes filmed in each room. The costuming of the artist is very plain as she wears white from head to toe, but this contrasts with the lighting used. The lighting is very lowkey and dark, though there appears to be small clips where bright white lighting has been used. The artist also wears contact lenses in several scenes, which makes her eyes look as though they are just all black. This helps the audience with understanding the context and theme of the music video, which is similar to a horror film.
Ariana Grande's Website - https://www.arianagrande.com
- Layout
When you first access the website, the image above shows how everything has been displayed. The layout is quite simple, with the artist's name displayed in the top left corner of the page. This is a typical convention of any website; the fact the logo/name has been placed where it has is an appropriate place as it is kept out of the way but still made visible for anyone to see. Also across the top of the website are the social media icons and music platform icons, giving audiences direct access to all of Ariana Grande's social media platforms and where they can buy, stream and listen to her music. This could help promote her platforms and allows the audience to interact further with the artist. The fact these icons have been made noticeable could suggest Ariana Grande is fondant of her social media and that she is active on all of her platforms so that she can talk to her fans. In addition, there are three tabs along the top of the page: 'Events', 'Shop' and 'Login'. This is so the audience are able to access particular information they may be searching for, hence why they might be viewing her website. Underneath the border is an image of the album cover, with text to the right stating 'new album' and 'out now' as well as Ariana's name and the album name. This has been placed here to promote Ariana's newest album and to increase the sales and streams of the album. The page further scrolls down to more images and videos of recent music videos and song covers, as well as an image displaying recent merchandise and another image promoting her world tour. This is so the audience can get a brief overview of the type of content displayed on the website, before clicking onto tabs and searching further into the website.
- Navigation
The website has a simple navigation - nothing is too complex to access. The social media icons along the top of the page when clicked on gives direct links to those pages. This is so access to other platforms belonging to Ariana are easier to get to and will attract a bigger audience if all they have to do is click on an icon to be taken to that social media page. Also along the top of the page towards the right corner are three tabs: 'events', 'shop', 'login'. When clicking on the 'events' tab, you are taken to a list of all of the countries and arenas Ariana is going to be performing at, as well as the dates and further links to where tickets and VIP tickets can be bought. When clicking on the 'shop' tab, you are taken to a separate website selling all of Ariana's music (both digital albums and CDs and cassettes) and merchandise. This website is also very simple and self-explanatory to use, and the idea of creating a separate website for the merchandise adds to neatness and simplicity of finding particular information such as tour dates. When you click on the 'login' tab, audiences are given the option to login using a social media page, or registering by email. There is also an option to subscribe to the artist's mailing lists. The use of creating an account with Ariana Grande's website allows fans to interact and keep updated with her latest news and creates a relationship between the audience and the artist where it isn't just the audience viewing the website, but interacting with it and being able to be notified with the latest information fans might want to know. There are also three lines on the left side of the website, which displays the three tabs mentioned, as well as the 'newsletter' subscription service and the social media icons. This has made the different sections of the page easily accessible to the audience.
- Use of language
Overall, there is little text used on the website. The main reason why text has been used is for the titles of the artist, the album names, mentioning a world tour, mentioning merchandise and single releases. The lack of text used may mean that the artist's intentions were to make the website understandable to anyone around the world. The text promoting an album states 'new album' and 'out now', which has been used for the audience to identity this is the newest release of the artist, and to increase marketing and sales on that album. However, what can be noticeable is that merchandise has been abbreviated to just 'merch'. This can suggest that the audience for Ariana Grande and her website is mainly aimed at a younger age, as the younger generation tend to use slang or shorter words.
- Use of images/text/audio/video
There are a variety of media displayed on Ariana Grande's website. The first section on the homepage shows the image of the artist's latest album cover, with text stating what the album is called and that it is 'out now'. The colour of the font is black, which contrasts with the pink background of the section of the album cover. That image itself looks pixelated, which stands out to the audience and attracts them as it may appear unusual or strange. Under this section of the homepage is a screenshot of a part of one of Ariana's songs. There is play button displayed next to the text stating the song title, showing audiences that this video can be played just by clicking the button. The music video uploaded to YouTube has been embedded into the homepage, so that the audience is able to watch it from the homepage and not have to be taken to a new page on the YouTube website itself. It also makes the website look neat and professional. Further down the homepage are images of some merchandise Ariana has released, with the text 'new merch bundles available now'. This has been placed for Ariana to promote her new merchandise and images have been used so that fans or the audience can get a preview on what some of the merchandise looks like. The colour scheme of the merchandise are neutral and pastel colours, which ties in with the colour scheme of the whole website. Below that are further images and videos of more song releases, each with a different colour scheme. This could have been used to separate each song as a single and to make the website overall look colourful and appealing to the eye. However, there is one song where the picture promoting it is black and white and the song is titled 'imagine'. This has been intentionally used where the artist may want the audience to actually 'imagine' and use their own minds to fill in colours. It also breaks up the colours between each section of the homepage.
In conclusion, the research I have conducted has helped me with deciding what media language to include to create representations firstly in my music video. I am going to use editing and intertextuality similar to Ariana Grande's Thank U Next music video, as I feel the genre and theme of the music video is going to be similar to mine in the sense that it follows a narrative. I am going to shoot most of my videos in a wide shot, which both music videos I studied used, so that I can capture the atmosphere and background of the scenes as well as the characters involved. However, as the brief states, I am going to also include other shots, such as close-ups to catch expressions and feelings of the characters. In terms of lighting, I am going to use high key, bright lighting as the brief requires at least two different types of lighting and locations, so I will follow Ariana's music video. With the webpage, I intend to follow a very similar layout and navigation system to Ariana Grande's website, as it is very easy to access and provides direct links to other pages such as tour dates, merchandising and social media platforms.
S- a really strong post, very analytical.
ReplyDeleteI- be careful with your conclusion as you stated that you would use mostly wide shots, the brief states that you need to use a range of different shots... what other shots would you use so that you could follow the brief more effectively?
T- please add the information above to your conclusion and please write it in RED FONT.
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ReplyDelete