Narrative Task For Our Music Video

Narrative Task For Our Music Video

1 -

• The enigma code is when the audience will see this close up and they will be wondering what will happen throughout the video as they don't know what to expect, they are unsure whether anything will change in the video at any point.
• The action code is similar to this due to the fact that they will see this shot and it will expand to something more, such as the whole band and their instruments rather than just their guitar they will be expecting to see more of this consistently throughout the video. It is what the audience will be expecting to see throughout the video, and as our establishing shot is the guitar we decided this would be best thing to do as the audience will see that there is a heavy influence of instruments and they will expect to see more shots like these more often and have their questions answered.
• The cultural side of this is that the indie audience who it is aimed will be able to instantly recognise what type of music this is going to be and that the band heavily focus on their instruments which suits the indie audience and band.
• The Symbolic code can be seen instantly as the black and white editing we have used, and the dark lighting can help represent the song lyrics and the way that it is based on nostalgia and the idea that he is thinking and singing about something he has enjoyed from the past. This lyrics are heavily influenced by a nostalgia and we tried to expand on this with the symbolic code of using quite a dark setting.
• The semantic code is evident straight away for this song as the open sequence is the guitar. This goes to show to the audience straight away that this band are heavily influenced by indie/rock and roll music through the instruments.

 2 -

• The action code is continued in this next shot as they will want to continuously see the guitars being used by the band to show the conventions of the indie genre. They will want to see the band looking indie both with their instruments and with what they are wearing.
• The cultural side of this shot is that they audience will know that due to the positioning of the guitarists hand and the type of shot that it is, they will be expecting there to be a riff about to be played or it being the build up to the chorus.
• The semantic code is also shown in this as it shows the indie performers in their smart clothes which is what the audience will expect, as well as them playing their instruments.

3 -

• Star image is used here as we are focusing on the main singer of the band that we have used and we keep going back to shots of him so that the audience recognise who is the lead singer and they will be able to see who it is if they didn't know beforehand.
• The action code in this is that due to the build up of the chorus, they expect there to be a shot of the band together and there to be a heavy focus on the lead singer singing the chorus as that is what would usually happen.

4 -

• Amplification has been used as we are using editing effects to amplify the guitar solo so it is a sync with one another and it amplifies the sound of the solo.
• The semantic code of this is that it is the literal meaning that it is a guitar band and therefore there is more than likely going to be a guitar solo during the song, and we have tried to add to the fact that there is a lot enthusiasm with the use of effects.
• The cultural code of this is that the indie audience will know with the type of shot and the way the guitarist is in this part that he will be playing a guitar solo.


5 -

• This is amplification of the band and the music they are playing as they are altogether and all look enthusiastic whilst playing which amplifies the type of music that is played towards the end of the song.
• Star image is also used here as around this shot we often use the lead singing in the middle so the attention is mainly set on the lead singer of the band.
• The action code is used here due to the fact that after the last chorus, the ending of the song would have the expectation from the audience of the band looking enthusiastic and playing together collectively which is why this is our final shot.

Exam Question 1A Plan

Exam Question 1A Plan

Simplest way of answering the question:

• Paragraph 1 should be an introduction which explains which projects you did. It can be quite short.

• Paragraph 2 should pick up the skill area and perhaps suggest something about your starting point with it- what skills did you have already and how were these illustrated. use an example.

• Paragraph 3 should talk through your use of that skill in early projects and what you learned and developed through these. Again there should be examples to support all that you say.

• Paragraph 4 should go on to demonstrate how the skill developed in later projects, again backed by examples, and reflecting back on how this represents moves forward for you from your early position.

• Paragraph 5 short conclusion

(a) Describe a range of creative decisions that you made in post-production and how thesedecisions made a difference to the final outcomes. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.    [25]

Plan -

• Paragraph 1 - Introduction about the video I have created, magazine, advert and digipak. Speak about the genre and briefly the conventions. 
• Paragraph 2 - had the basic use of editing, talk about editing the Arctic Monkeys and the basic editing we included for our video draft. Able to add the song and put clips together in sync. Putting my digipak together and trying to combine the advert and digipak so they look like. 
• Paragraph 3 - We were then able to add effects to the music video at the certain points to make the video look more enthusiastic and to increase the tempo. Developed from the first time round as it added a different effect to the editing in post production rather than having a slow, plain video. Such as intro flashes at the start. Developed my digipak and advert so they both included elements 
• Paragraph 4 - Worked as a team for the editing in post production and sort of editing techniques we should add to our video. Watched it over and and compared to our other version to see if the effects had produced a positive outcome. After feedback I developed my digipak so that I could produce one that looked realistic and would suit my audience. 
• Paragraph 5 - Conclusion

Overall I have created four media products. One being in AS which was a magazine that I had to create for an indie audience. I then had to design three media products in A2, and this included a music video, a digipak and an advert. Like the media product in AS, all of these products were aimed at an indie audience.

To begin with the post production in my video and magazine I had the basic editing skills which was a low skill level which is why I had to spend a lot of time on learning different techniques. For the music video, the first time I was able to use editing skills in post production was after the class created and filmed their own version of Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor. This allowed to pick up new skills and techniques as it was the first time that I was able to use Final Cut Pro to edit a video, for example it was the first time that it was possible for me to try and fit our video footage in time with the actual song which is how I began to improve my basic skill. For my magazine, the first time I was able to test my skill level was creating the first draft of a magazine which is a fine example of the low skill level and creativity I had at that time period. For example the basic skills I had were putting the magazine together, however the fonts and the colour contrast I used showed that it was an area that I needed to develop on.

As I developed my skill level I was able to produce a better quality advert and digipak, which could have been due to the fact that I was able to have practice on Photoshop when creating my magazine at AS level. As of the time spent on photoshop in previous years I was able to use features such as the grid to align everything accordingly and ensure the colours matched (on the advert and the digipak). From developing my minimal skills this enabled me to become more productive in the post production stage and creating something that looks more professional and realistic in the indie genre. For the music video our skills began to develop in the way that we were able to start inputting editing techniques into our video, and this started with something as simple as making the footage black and white whilst using our inspiration from the Cigarettes and Alcohol video. Around this point also we started to make alterations in editing and play around with different effects which would help to develop out music video and make it a higher standard.

From this stage, there was an obvious increase in our skills for editing our music video. For example with the adding of 'intro flashes', this helped to increases the pace and enthusiasm of the song. This shows how far we have progressed from struggling to put the music in sync with the performers to adding editing techniques to make the video look of higher quality and to increase the pace of the song. I also believe that for our music video our communication and team work skills improved in the post production compared to the previous time for the draft and the creation of Arctic Monkey's video. For example we were able to work out who did what best and we would work on individual things so that we had the best outcome. We were also able to view our draft and compare it to our final video so that we were able to see the difference and the positive outcome in our post production, and this is a fine example of our development in post production. After feedback on my original digipak, I used the evaluative comments to improve the design as a whole and it allowed for me to pick up on little areas that I had left unnoticed. For example something as simple making the spine more professional allowed me to develop. 

Overall I feel as though from the beginning of AS and creating the magazine to finalising our music video, my skills have developed and creativity has improved. This is down to help from others and learning about the different features on the software, they have both worked to allow for me to improve the quality of my final outcome of the media products that I have created.

Genre Analysis Questions

Genre Questions

Video Montage

Video Montage 

Madvillain - All Caps