ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO CINEMATOGRAPHY AND EDITING

Foals - My Number

Cinematography

The use of the cinematography in My Number by Foals is much different to that of Alt J - Fitzpleasure, while Fitzpleasure uses pans to make sense of the story, My number also does that but acts as a transition into different scenes also. This is very effective as instead of seeing clear cut edits the transitions are hidden in the cinematography. Tilts are also used in this music video to get different perspectives of the performance and the narrative. For example when the narrative begins the camera angle is tilted down towards the boy, this gives the impression that the bouncer has power over him which is exactly what is happening in the narrative and through the camera angles the audience can see this. The traditional cinematography of music videos is also used, long shots are used to establish the scene and to show the crowd in their hundreds. This demonstrates the popularity of Foals to the audience. Medium close ups are used as well as close ups to see the performance of Foals and to see the audience singing along with them, this again creates a bond between the audience. Extreme close ups are used in My Number however, are not used in Fitzpleasure, Extreme close ups are used for either lip sync or to disorientate the audience and this is exactly what affect the audience get.

Editing

My Number has straight cut edits which allows the imagery to match the lyrics and beat of the song, this is traditional of all music videos. As well as straight cut edits effects such as black and white are used to fit the genre of indie rock. Slow motion is an aspect also used in My Number and is used to show the imagery through one of the crowd members eyes, this involves the imagery being blurred as well as in slow motion which also disorientates the audience. This is effective in demonstrating the overwhelming aspect of a concert.

ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO CINEMATOGRAPHY AND EDITING

Alt J - Fitzpleasure.Cinematography

Alt J stick to Indie Rock conventions and have frequent use of medium close up and close up shots. They do however, also use long shots in Fitzpleasure to establish the setting. The use of these medium close up and close up shots allows us as an audeince to see the facial expressions and the facial features of the people in the video. By doing this we, as an audience, feel apart of the narrative and can understand the background of the people in the video throught the use of mise-en-scene.
The use of pans in the music video allows continuity and is effective in demonstrating the narrative and what the person in the video may be looking at, which then creates a connection between the audience. Having pans at speed shows the fast pace narrative and shows commotion throughout the cinematography. This is an effective feature and I will consider using this in my own media product to create a sense of commotion

Editing

The straight cut edits allow to keep the continutiy and fast pace. This is conventional in music videos in general however what makes the music video specific to indie rock is that use of the black and white effect used throughout. With the effect sillouets are created which is iconic to the genre. Slow motion is also used frequently by Alt J and in the indie rock genre itself which follows conventions and is very effective is explaining the full narrative. It can also make a video that would necessarily be boring more entertaining and interesting.

FOCUS GROUP

I conducted a focus group where I asked questions about their favourite genre of music and how often they watched music videos. From this I was able to ask how they recognised their favourite genre in terms of conventions and iconography within a music video, which then allowed me to understand how existing artists portray themselves. This also allowed me to understand what traits are identifiable to specific genres. Asking my focus group what conventions they thought were used in  Indie Rock music video and from this I was able to understand if the conventions were recognisable.

FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS

What genre of music do you listen to?

Do you watch music video frequently? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Do you like existing music video? If yes, what do you like about them, if no, what don’t you like?

What do you prefer to see in a music video in terms of narrative?
For example, performance, narrative or abstract.

How do you identify an artist from your preferred genre?

What iconography do you expect to see in your preferred genre?

What iconography would you expect to see in an indie rock music video?

What conventions would you expect to see in an indie rock music video?

CREATING A BLOG POLL

On my blog I created a poll to ask people who visited a few questions regarding their preferred choice of music genre and what they like to see in a music video in relation to narrative. This will help me to create a music video in which the audience, as the consumer, enjoys.

I then emailed fellow media students of wyke college to aks them if they were willing to take my poll on my blog. As they are media students they know what features are effective in music vidoes so their feedback was very important in the basis of conducting research for my music video.
Below is the Poll on my Blog, which has already had a fairly good response. Audience Feedback is really important when creating a media product as it is the consumer that decides if the media prodcut is successful by either buying the material or watching the material.

SVEN CARLSON 1999

Sven Carlson developed the 3 concept of Narrative, them being;

• Performance - where the artists performs their material 
• Narrative - where the artist construct a story for the audience to consume which relates to the lyrics
• Abstract / Art - where the narrative has no real appearance in the video and relies on scenery and art to tell a story, if a story is being told, this concept is rarely used. 

The Kooks -Ooh La is an example of Performance.

Alt J- Taro is an example of narrative.

 

Alt J - Matilda is an example of Art, although it features the band there is no real narrative or performance in the video an has been put together on the basis of art.




In my music video I will use Sven Carlson's theory of Narrative to produce a music video that has a solely narrative aspect to it, there will be no aspect of performance as I feel for the audience to understand the narrative it is not necessary for their to be any aspect of performance. However, I want to also combine the Art aspect of narrative within my music video and will use the male cast member as the abstract center piece to my narrative.

TIM O'SULLIVAN ET AL. 1998 - NARRATIVE

Tim O'Sullivan's theory of Narrative argues that all media texts tell us some kind of story.
Though through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves- not usually our own personal stories but the story of us as a culture or set cultures.

Narrative
The structure of a story.

Mediation
All media is mediated through media language in terms of their ideology, this allows us to follow the narrative. Any media text reflects the ideology and views of its culture and the society which creates that media text.

Verisimilitude
The quality of appearing to be real or true. For the story to engage us it must appear to be real to us.

This theory of narrative relates to my media text on the basis that my media text will tell a story through its narrative and will be understood by its audience due to the mediation and the verisimilitude aspects. The identified conventions of Indie Rock involve using verisimilitude narrative, costume and location to identify with its preferred audience and also to be understood by a wider audience also. In my media text I want to create a Social Realism, therefore, by using Tim O'sullivan et al. theory of Narrative when constructing it, it will enable me to consider how my preferred audience will mediate my music video. Through the Narrative, the audience will experience the hidden undesirable behavior of our culture in today's life and will acknowledge the idea of un voiced accounts of happenings withing a relationship, especially that of a relationship that has broken down due to the effects of society.