TASK EIGHT: Audience Research and Music Cosumption - Task Three

LEARNING COMMENT:
From doing this task, it helped as we were able to listen to people reacting to different types of music videos we found from previous A Level media students.

From all three videos, the people in our focus group really liked the first and third music video, whereas they did not enjoy the second one. They said this was mostly due to the location they are filmed in. They are much brighter and interesting to watch.

They also explained how the second video does not seem as professionally made. This is due to it seeming very rushed and not filmed in a thought-out location. It was only filmed at someones house, implying the music video could have looked much better if it was filmed somewhere else.

We now know to film our music video not in a house or school. We will think more into our location, and film somewhere maybe in a field or in a studio.

TASK EIGHT: Theoretical Analysis - Task Two

This task enabled me to learn about more unique media theorists and what they believe happens in typical music videos. Because of what I have learnt, I can now include these into when making my own music video, and make mine look as similar as the one I am remaking. Because of studying the theorists, I have looked at lots of music videos in depth, enabling me to know what happens in the most popular music videos. By doing this, I can again make my music video look as similar as I can to popular videos nowadays, which will make it look more professional.

TASK EIGHT: Music Video Research - Task One

Audience Research and Music Consumption

       




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Learning Comment:
From doing this task, I learnt what a range of people think about music videos nowadays. From the results I found, I analysed and learnt that most people ages 13-19 enjoy performance-based music videos, and aren't so interested in narrative based. This came as a suprise to me, but I assumed that as there is less narrative videos than performance, maybe people have seen less of them, which is why they like the others more. However, the results I collected have been helpful to me as now I can pick my target audience and specifically see what they enjoy most. Then I can apply this knowledge in when picking and making my own music video. 

TASK SEVEN: Genre Close Analysis - Task Four

Learning Comment:
When doing this task, I was able to focus on a specific genre that I am wanting to do for when remaking a music video of my own. This is Pop. I wanted to do a video belonging to Ariana Grande as she is a very famous pop artist, meaning it would be a possibility that we would remake one of her videos. It also allowed me to recap on all theorists, and then later on keep these in mind for when I do my music video, as theorists and their theories are very important as they make a music video's codes and conventions of what genre they are.

TASK SEVEN: Music Video Research - Task Three

Learning Comment:
From doing this task I have learnt some artists deliberately go against traditional gender stereotypes by using their fame to do so. For example, Beyoncé does this in all of her videos, and portrays women very differently than someone like Kanye West did in 2005. Kanye West's 'Gold Digger' is the perfect example of gender stereotypes. It shows women displayed in a 'sexual' light and shows them as only objects. Somewhere inbetween would be someone like Fetty Wap, where he shows women as important figures, but still sees sex as a big factor.
I have also learnt about important media theorists, who believe that gender and culture stereotypes are commonly shown in music videos, like Shuker and Vernallis.
I can now apply this knowledge I have learnt from doing this task into when making my own music video. Depending on what sort of genre I do, I now know what sort of stereotypes to include and whether they are necessary or not. Songs from the Pop genre seem to challenge these more, whereas RnB and Rap do not.

TASK SEVEN: Music Video Research - Task Two

Learning Comment:
I found this task extremely helpful, as it allowed me to recap on important media theorists such as Propp, Todorov and Strauss, and remember just how important their theories are. They enabled me to pick out important features in the music videos I studied. I realised that most videos do as such, have an equilibrium just as Todorov said, and characters which would be in films, like Propp said.

I also learned that according to the genre in which they are, can influence what sort of story they tell within their music video. For example, Fatboy Slim, being known as an Electronic/Dance DJ, his videos consist of actors dancing, which suits to the genre the song is very well. On the other hand, we have music from The Verve, who are seen as more of a Rock band, create more realistic videos, showing serious storylines, such as the troubles in which a single person sometimes has to go through in everyday life.

From doing this task, I know what to include in my music video, whichever genre I choose to do. If I chose to do a song which comes from a Pop genre, from this task I no know that it needs to include a storyline which is more upbeat, and one which a viewer of that age could relate too. I see this in Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me' music video, as the struggles the main actress goes through is mostly connected/related to by a person of an age 14-21.

TASK SEVEN: Music Video Research - Task One

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Learning Comment
From doing this task, I have learnt that most music videos consist of many of the micro elements such as mise en scene, sound, editing and camera angles, which before I thought were mostly only important in films. It has also made me realise the different codes and conventions that appear in different genres. For example, in pop music, there is usually high level lighting, and many advanced editing to keep viewers of a younger age engaged. Whereas in rock music videos, lighting is much darker, as it usually consists of much 'darker' conscepts, which is normally aimed at an older audience. This task also enabled me to now know, whatever music genre I chose for my own music video, what codes and conventions to include within it, and realise just how important these things really are. 

TASK SIX: Music Video Research

Analysis of student videos, digpaks and adverts

Learning Comment
From doing this task, I have learnt what to do and what not to when making my own music video. This is due to knowing which grade boundaries every video would have fit into. From seeing what sort of stuff people included in their videos and what mark it got them. Overall this task has really helped me as it means I now know what to include in mine and how to get the highest grade possible. For example, I learnt that for my music video to get the highest grade possible, I need to really think about my location, mise en scene, codes and conventions of a music video and much more. They need to be creative and technical and be appropiate to the song I chose. Also, everyone in my group must co-operate in the making of our music video. Due to all of this, my music video will be well-produced and very thoght-through with lots of planning, about how we will perform to the askings of the top grade boundary.

TASK FIVE: Music Video Research

Branding Research

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https://amylpalmer12.wixsite.com/branding

Learning Comment: 
From doing this task, I have learnt how important branding is for an artist. For a very successful artist, for example someone like Ed Sheeran, it is vital for him to have a logo or something which people connect to him. For example, his albums all have a very similar theme, which is using a maths symbol as the name and having one main bright colour as the background of the CD case or Digipak. This is commonly used by other artists too, implying that maybe I should include this convention when making my own Digipak for my music video. 

TASK FOUR: Music Video Research

Analysis of Digipak adverts

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Learning Comment:
From doing this task I have learned the keys and conventions of a Digipak advert or poster. This consists of features which are very important in providing an audience with key information, for example, the artists' name and the name of the digipak is extremely important, as it tells them who it belongs to. From this, I now know what I need to involve in my digipak poster, in order to make it look effective and professional. I have also learnt, from Ed Sheeran's poster, that a line of consistency within digipak adverts is quite important. Although not all artists do this, it is still very effective as it gives a personal 'signature' and therefore, attracts a person's eye. Also, although the poster would not be the same as the previous one, having a 'signature' would enable someone to know who's poster it belonged too, without actually seeing the name.

TASK THREE: Analysis of Digipaks

Learning Comment: 
From doing this task, I learned almost everything there is to know about Digipaks. I learned what they are, how much they cost, what they contain etc. I also learnt how they can commonly be much more popular than typical plastic CD cases as they often contain much more information such as bookets about the artist and CD.

From this task, I can now interpret what I have learned about Digipaks into when making one myself. I know that I may need to make and provide extra information about the CD I eventually make. This would show a clear difference between whether what I made is a Digipak or not. Including extra details about the artist would also be extremely helpful as a customer would specifcally buy a Digipak about an artist they enjoy, therefore I will include specific details on the singer to attract a customer to buying my product.

TASK TWO: Analysis of Music Websites

Learning Comment:
By doing this task, I was able to learn about how different websites show different genres of music made. For example, hip-hop singers like Ariana Grande or Justin Bieber, usually have quite bright websites which reflects their upbeat style of songs. Whereas for songs from a 'heavy-metal' genre, websites are usually much darker, with sometimes no colour at all. This gives us ideas of what sort of songs they make, and from the dark colours, its usually explicit ones or ones which aren't meant to be happy and upbeat. From a music website, we can also see what sort of audience they target their songs for. Usually, the bright colours indicate that their songs are meant for younger audiences and the dark colours are the other way round, attempting to attract older people. We sometimes see this from the lack of writing on the site too, but commonly, there is not much writing anyway as the big image of the singer is usually the most important aspect of the website to see.

TASK ONE: Music Video Research

Learning Comment:
From doing this task, I was learnt just how much music videos have changed over time. In the 1960s, videos were rare and ones that were made were mostly used as templates for other videos. They were also always in black and white which made aspects such as clothing much less visible than music videos today. Editing effects were also much less seen as technology was much more little than it is now, editors were unable to include effects such as 'fades' or slow/fast shots. However, in music videos made as early as 1980 included editing techniques such as fades. Modern videos in modern days still use techniques that were used very early on and maybe without these videos, we might not have discovered certain editing traits. Due to these techniques we are able to use today, music videos seem much more interesting and professionally made. Due to all the colours also, they are eye-catching and sometimes one of the most important features when artists bring out new songs.