VISUAL STORY BOARD - ALT J- BREEZEBLOCKS

 

BREEZEBLOCKS - ALT J, LYRIC TIMINGS

BREEZEBLOCKS - ALT J, LYRIC ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS OF MUSIC VIDEOS

Kate Nash - Under Estimate The Girl

Cinematography:In this music video Kate Nash has diverted from her use usual indie pop genre and the conventions she normally sticks to, following her narrative and everything being wonderful, to a state of rebellion in which she introduces her new indie rock music and follows the indie rock conventions. Indie Rock conventions consist of close up shots on their instruments and close ups of the band or artist themselves singing parts of their song and 'rocking out' to their song, which is what Kate Nash is seen to be demonstrating in this music video. The use of cinematography within the music video consists of mainly close up shots of Kate Nash allowing the audience to recognize her facial expressions and close details of the hidden media language and ideology. 
Mise-en-scene: Kate Nash herself dressed in three different outfits with two being the most viewed, a light pink jumper with matching lipstick, natural make up and pearl earring, this could connote herself in the indie pop genre following the ideology of everything being wonderful and pretty. However the next outfit we see her in is a red jumper with matching lipstick, vibrant makeup and hooped earrings this could connote the other side to Kate Nash, 'the rebellion' inside her. The mise-en-scene present, for example the colour red, could support the ideology of rebellion which follows the indie rock genre, as red could connote danger reflecting both the danger it could have to her career by taking a different direction and the danger of her rebelling. Kate Nash also wears a bindi throughout her video which can also be seen as a rebellion as she is wearing it for fashion rather than for religion purpose, this could maybe cause offence to some viewers yet she could also be admired by some fans. In addition to this she wears a third outfit which consists of a black and white striped top reflecting the fact she is demonstrating indie rock and is fitting in with convention and the genre by dressing like a 'rebel'. Black and white can connote someone who has been convicted of a crime and has to serve their time in a prison cell, this itself is rebelling against the law and reflect the ideology of indie rock - rebellion. This idea can reflect Levi Strauss' idea of binary opposites, with good vs evil, within the music video we see the clear distinguished good, with the pretty pink Kate Nash and the evil rebellion, which is the Kate Nash appearing in red and black and white.

Narrative & Editing:Levi Strauss says that because us as an audience have an understanding of binary opposites, we have the ability to understand a narrative before we have even been shown it. The straight cut edits show the clear difference in personalities being shown through the mise-en-scene and also reinforce the idea of binary opposites. As the music video progresses it is clear that it has a performance narrative to it, in addition it is also seen to have a linear chronology. This could be interpreted as the 'good', 'pretty in pink', 'indie pop', Kate Nash showing that she understands how things should run and that in fact they may make sense that way, however as she is still performing the lyrics she is reinforcing the fact that she knows exactly what she is doing and is challenging her audience from both the 'indie pop' and 'indie rock' genre when she goes on to sing 'Go on underestimate me'.
The text itself appeals to the audience as it has fast pace editing and is unusual in the way it jump cuts from different personalities being shown as the music itself is quite relaxed, however Kate Nash implies that the rest of the song may not be so steady through her lyrics - "everybody play, play it so safe, no one wanna mess, mess with the rules." These are the first lyrics we are introduced too and they immediately suggest rebellion within them setting the ideology of the music video.
Genre

Always where I need to be - The Kooks

Mise-en-scene: The Kooks are an indie rock band who follow conventions of their genre by dressing accordingly and demonstrating the conventions through mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing. Conventions of indie rock involve close ups of the band and their instruments along with dark lighting and clothing of a casual nature and messy hair. The clothing worn by The kooks often consists of polo shirts or tees and skinny jeans this follows the conventions of indie rock in terms of mise-en-scene and reflects the casual nature of the band, by dressing this way it also helps the audience make assumptions as to what genre they belong to. 

Cinematography & editing: The shots in the video are not always in focus or an a straight angle, they are frequent medium close up shots which represents the rebellious nature of indie rock by reflecting that not everything has to be 'perfect' for it to be effective and have a fan base. The editing in the music video is very sharp and choppy at certain points with straight cut edits and backwards zooms this could reflect the busy, hectic life style in which The Kooks lead. The editing within the music video is very fast pace in order for the shots to link effectively and keep up with the narrative.
Narrative & Setting:Silhouettes of the band and their instruments are shown at several times in the video, this is conventional of the indie rock genre and allows the band to show off by playing the instruments. This is so us as an audience can see the talent of the band individually and not just the main singer. Many parts of the video are in black and white which shows a clear contrast between the dark and the light which could represent the highs and the lows of the bands career. There is no real story or plot to the music video and consists of solely The Kooks together as a group in several different locations either having a laugh together or playing as a band while Luke Pritchard, the main singer, performs sections the song. These locations differ from roof tops, a beach, a bridge, a park and an arcade. These are many locations that the public have access to and are not considered high rated locations, showing that The Kooks are just 'normal' lads behind their celebrity status. However as the music video develops the band are seen to perform to a certain extent yet are also seen laughing and joking and acting the fool, this reflects the fact that as artists they have to produce and perform music yet also as indie rock artist they have fun whilst doing so. This appeals to the audience as they get an idea of what the band are like together connoting, the fact that despite being a famous band they also know how have a good time just like anyone else.
Theorist link: At the beginning of the song The Kooks are seen to be walking across a zebra crossing, which is recognised famously as a trait of The Beatles. This could be connoted as The Kooks comparing themselves to The Beatles, supporting Michael Shores theory that music videos are recycled styles. This iconic motif used connotes that, because The Beatles were so famous, powerful and so good at what they did, The Kooks are showing that they aspire to be like them and be as good as them. So by using the zebra crossing in the video shows that they want to be like The Beatles and that they can be and are as good as them.

R U Mine? - Arctic Monkeys

Theorist link: Arctic Monkeys are a very successful indie rock band who have recently released their latest album ‘AM’. They, like many other indie rock bands follow conventions of indie rock yet change them slightly to give a representation of a rebellious ideology. The black and white contrast appears in several indie rock music videos and is present in ‘R U Mine’  as it gives the idea of Levi Stauss' theory of binary opposites. Levi Strauss states that because of our understanding of binary opposites we can understand a narrative before it has even begun however because there is no real 'good vs evil' in the narrative this alone represent the idea of rebellion against the theory. Shadows are also conventional in the indie rock genre and with the black and white effect this allows the video to stick to the conventions.
Mise-en-scene: The mise-en-scene consists of them wearing sunglasses in side a car on a night which  goes against the 'norm' of wearing sunglasses outside when the sun is either low or bright which again reinforces the rebellion aspect. Tattoo's and piercings are also made visible in the music video which fits in with in the indie rock genre and also expresses the ideology, values and beliefs, about the band and the institution behind them - Domino Records. That is that they are, as individuals, their own person and what they choose to represent by the way they dress and how they approach the indie rock genre conventions is solely their own choice.Within the music video they are also seen to air drum throughout as the narrative develops, also involving the man who is seen to be driving, this shows how little attention he is paying to the road and his priorities lie. Drum sticks also seem to evolve into the narrative linking to the conventions of instruments appearing in indie rock music videos and this seems to be the only reference to music instruments until the end of the video when Arctic Monkeys are seen to be performing with their instruments in a car park.
Cinematography & editing: The camera used to film the music video is a hand held camera, an aspect which is not normally used in music video media products. As the narrative develops the edits seem to flow by the hand held camera moving around both the car and the car park and is held the majority of the time by Alex Turner, because of this there are a lot of medium close ups and close up shots of of himself performing parts of the song, this gives the audience an idea that he is very self centred. The camera is also pushed into people faces by Alex Turner and then pushed away by the person which is also an idea of rebellion and not wanting to be in the public eye. There is no clear editing in this music video as it all runs very smoothly, apposed to the normal fast past straight cuts in Indie Rock music videos.
Narrative:This music video appeals to the audience as it is not very serious in narrative and involves the people within it acting the fool, this makes it a light hearted video, easy to follow and intrigues the audience as to what will happen next.

Skills Development – Evaluation essay

   Previous to starting As media studies , the only real knowledge I had on media was the fact it involved studying different types of media such as magazine and TV shows as well as films to look for conventions for specific genres. However I didn’t know what these conventions where and how exactly they were used in order to create an effective media piece. Before choosing media at Wyke I had no understanding of what technologies where involved in creating media products and didn’t consider myself as a creative type of person, yet I had used different types of cameras such as compact, bridge and SLR’s and in addition had used Photoshop on several occasions.
The course content of media entailed creating a perfume advertisement which initially was quite scary as I had never before created a media piece, the perfume advertisement had to be first sketched, images to be taken and then to edit on Photoshop. This idea of creativity is something which I struggled with so decided to take the perfume bottle and take pictures of it from all angles and prospective, I then chose the image I liked and began editing it. Looking at existing products for inspiration was essential as it gave me an idea of how brands advertise their products effectively  using semiotics and media language. Semiotics are signs and symbols which are essentially hidden media language for example, red means love or danger. Media Language falls into the acronym of  ‘LIIAR’ which stands for Language, Institution, Ideology , Audience and representation. This acronym is to be thought of when producing any media product or analysing an existing media product. The institution being the association which publishes the product, the ideology being the values and beliefs of either the institution or the main focus of the media product, the audience being who the product is going to appeal to and who it is aimed at and representation is how the ideology is portrayed through either mise-en-scene or the media product itself.
I needed to establish my target population and audience for both my college magazine and music magazine, for my college magazine it felt quite straight forward because the people interested in a college magazine would be either the students or the teachers, so the content had to relate to either education or exam techniques and guides. However my music magazine wasn’t as clear. I knew who I wanted to aim my magazine at and what kind of ideology and representation I wanted to illustrate yet I didn’t know how to include different interests to broaden my audience and make my audience choose my magazine over any other. To gather this research I looked at NME’s reader profile and that gave me an understanding of what other interests people who read NME have and what they spend their spare time doing other than listening to music. It gave me an understanding of what type of people read NME and how NME appeal to their audience. From reading the reader profile I then concluded that NME cater more for the male audience and therefor include many other interests in which a male might have. This was useful when creating my music magazine as through the use of the internet I established how to appeal to my audience.
Demographics was something I had never heard of until starting media studies. Demographics are measurable characteristics of media consumers such as age, gender, race , education and income level and are used to identify who your customers are now and in the future, where they live and how likely they are to purchase the product you are selling. By studying your customers and potential customers through demographics, you can identify changing needs in the marketplace and adjust to them. By using the social grading table I identified that I wanted to aim my magazine at the lower middle class and skilled working class so therefore would not price my magazine very high and would have my magazine issued every other week.
I used several different technologies whilst creating both my perfume advertisement, college magazine and music magazine, which helped me greatly with research and planning as well as the production of the media products. The internet benefited me greatly while doing my research as it allowed me to explore the existing products and allowed me to produce a LIIAR analysis based on my own opinion as well as the information given by the institutions, for example my music magazine was focused on NME. From the research I conducted on the internet, I was then able to develop my creativity skills. NME have an online version of their magazine which allowed me to see the latest copies every week and allowed me to understand what the conventions are of magazines and what the strongest selling points are. The images on the front cover were mainly of one artist or band so I followed this by making the front cover of my magazine have just want artist. The main conventions of a magazine in general consist of the magazine having a masthead, the date, issue number, price of the magazine and a barcode as well as pull quotes on the front cover leading to other articles within the magazine. Knowing these conventions helped me produce my  college magazine and from that I had the basic understanding to then create my music magazine. All the images I used when creating all of my media products such as the perfume advertisement, college magazine and music magazine had to be original and for this I needed to use a camera and have people willing to be in the photos. Once I had gathered my models and I had to arrange a time and place to take the images, I could then edit them on Photoshop.
Peer feedback helped to recognise what was affective when creating my music magazine and how my work could have been improved, by having the feedback from my teacher and class members it allowed me to make changes which my target population felt would make the magazine appeal to them more.

COURSEWORK BRIEF

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, togetehr with two of the following three options:

- a website homepage for the band
- a cover for its release as part of a digipak
- a magaizne advertisement for the didgipak

Media Summer Work - Kate Nash - Under-estimate the girl - first 30 seconds