Music Video Essay Re-Submission

Looking for a distinction: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Mi2vFkLL0pelM2b3dHZm5TRXM/edit?usp=sharing

Multi Camera Set-Up

Multi camera set-ups are very important and useful, especially in news broadcast which is live the majority of the time.

Benefits:

• As it is live you need to act quick upon a mistake. If a mistake or problem occurs (for example a camera battery running out or the camera focussing on the wrong area) the person on the vision mixer can switch to another camera.
• It is quicker to edit with regards to continuity. Everything is captured at once so rather than stopping and filming from a different angle, the continuity will match with the camera from the other angle.
• Scenes can be shot quicker as there is no need to change the light or microphones. This is particularly useful for soaps and series such as Coronation Street or Benidorm.
• Different tones can be conveyed. For example, in Big Brother, you might want to change from a close up to a wide shot to get someone else's reaction in. For the news, you might want to change from a straight on shot to a side angle to get some graphics in.
• Engaging. Different angles would engage the audience, especially in shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Britain's got Talent. This means you can see things from high up, close up and also the judges reaction.
• You can see more. In football matches you would want to see different players and also a birds-eye view of where the players are.

Disadvantages:

• You can't be as flexible. If you have several cameras focussing on one source the cameras might be looking at a wider background so you would need to keep that background clear of camera cables, lights e.t.c.
• Cost. The cost of purchasing more cameras and having more crew is more expensive than using one person to control one camera.
• Confusion. With a variety of different cameras and screens, it could be confusing for the vision mixer to decide which screen should be broadcast.
• Long set up. For a programme such as the news which is done daily, a multi camera set-up can take a long time to prepare. As news shows are pretty much always based in the same studio, this can actually be reduced.

It depends on what you are filming as to which set-up is best however I would say that a multi camera set-up is the best as you can get a scene filmed once from the different angles rather than several times and by moving the camera. For live shows and the news, this is also easier to cover up mistakes and to act as a backup. This I why I decided to use a multi-camera set up for my news programme. We could switch to another camera if a mistake occurred and it prevented us from moving the camera for when our host changed position.

Example:
Below are some screenshots from Britain's got Talent, a show which uses a multi camera set-up. The screenshots show the different camera angles. As BGT is an entertainment show, the different shot types help to keep the audience engaged.

This shot is used to show how scary it might be for the performer and it's reminding us that he is performing in front of the judges

This is a wide shot to show the performer

A medium shot showing us him doing hand expressions

A MCU of the hosts' reaction

A MCU of one of the judge's reaction

MCU.  - This is the common shot of who is performing along with the wide-angle shot

Wide shot showing the audience

CU of him talking to the camera

A wide show of the judges

Example of a TV Series
I chose Benidorm as the TV series, one that is shot in sunny Benidorm (as the name suggests….) A lot of shots are done in the sun so continuity is important. Benidorm is shot on multi camera however there is not as many as BGT. Shots like these are easier to do without getting cameras in the way.

A wide shot

A close up

Another close up

Filming would be in a set-up like this however with 3 cameras rather than 4

Primary and Secondary Research - Re-Submission

Primary research is research gathered directly from the person conducting the research. This would involve the researcher going out and directly obtaining the information. Primary research could be gathered by interviews, observation, surveys, trials and more. Primary research is a good type of research as you are directly getting the information so you know it's reliable. You can also get more of a sense of what you are researching. If you are speaking to an eye-witness of an event, you might be able to prompt them to remember certain details. A down side of this is that you can source the information is less ways. Rather than go online and see possibly hundreds of articles, you will need to go out and find it yourself. This could be inconvenient and it could cost you money.

To see an example of myself conducting primary research, see this link where I asked a rail commuter what they thought of price increases http://50173581.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/rail-fare-vt-updated.html

Secondary research is researched that has been collected by someone other than yourself. This would involve the researcher looking at existing data and sources including magazine and newspaper articles, online articles, letters, statements and more. Secondary research can be hugely beneficial as you can get a variety of information that you might not be able to get. For example CCTV footage. If you are researching on a past event then you would need secondary data for CCTV as you cannot fake it yourself. The cost is also lower. Getting a book out of the library or looking online won't cost you anything whereas travelling to see someone will. Despite this, you can't always say how accurate or reliable the research is. It might be from a source that doesn't seem that reliable or it might not be entirely accurate.

More on research - http://50173581.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/research.html


I have conducted research for several college assignments such as in my single camera drama, when I conducted secondary research to find out about hostage situations. In my news show assignment I conducted primary research by interviewing a man on the sea defences on Canvey Island. I found both of these methods useful as I liked the variety and both ways were more convenient. It would be harder to interview someone on a hostage situation and it might take time getting the procedure from the police.

Film Analysis

• Vladimir Propp

--31 stages of a film
--Set Characters

• Tzvetan Todorov

--Equilibrium (order)
--Disruption
--Resolution
--New Equilibrium
---The equilibrium in Jaws is starting off calm and leading up to a disruptive shark attack. After this, the order is restored with a quiet setting followed by a new equilibrium.

• Roland Barthes

--A number of codes that we can see in a narrative.
--Enigma Code - A narrative device that teases the audience by representing a puzzle or riddle to be solved. (Represented by the shark in Jaws as we can't guarantee at the start that it is a shark)
--Action Code - A narrative device by which a resolution in produced through action (Shown in Jaws by when they go out to get him but don't kill him until the end.) (http://www.slideshare.net/guest9e3b3b/narrative-theory-2104298)

• Sizmeund Freud

--Id - Desires and Pleasures (bad)
--Ego - Reality (In the middle)
--Superego - Moral, right and wrong (good)

• Levi Strauss

--A conflict between two parties or terms (Good against Evil, light dark)

Single Camera Drama Submission

Link to Short Film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtqN-Rm49Hw&feature=youtu.be
Link to BTS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFKFWRgA-9o
Link to Portfolio - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Mi2vFkLL0pZnJwQ3lwQS10dlU/edit?usp=sharing

NOTE: Copyright music is used in the BTS. For release of this professionally, I would remove the soundtrack and replace it with royalty free music.

Sound PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Mi2vFkLL0pQWYwd1N5SWcxS28/edit?usp=sharing
Presentation - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Mi2vFkLL0pRUhRYWFaUjU1dmc/edit?usp=sharing

Note: The sound presentation content is to back up the sound work. Darren has the audio recording however the presentation is above.

It's done.....

Music Video Essay Re-Submission

Nothing changed, but the highlighted section at the end is new. (About the purpose of music videos)

- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Mi2vFkLL0pUUZFQThYRzB6Z1U/edit?usp=sharing

Scrapbook - Task 1 Essay Submission

The link to my essay is below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Mi2vFkLL0pc1NDM2pLOGpVazg/edit?usp=sharing

Bowling of Columbine - Documentary Conventions

Documentary Conventions:

• Timelapses
• Old/Archive clips
• Films to inform
• Voiceover
• Michael Moore
• Interviews
• Witness Accounts
• Music
• Montage - pace
• "It's a wonderful world" - used ironically
• Irony
• Foreshadowing
• Sarcasm
• Black Humour
• Facts, opinions, bias, propaganda
• Evidence - Truth - In the Moment
• Statistics

Issues:

1. Gun Availability & Views on Gun Ownership
2. Fear/Safety
3. Inequality between rich and poor (benefits)
4. Killing of Columbine Students
5. American Society/Socialisation
6. Importance of Media
7. Taking Law into Own Hands

Killing of Students in School

Factual Programming Assignment: TASK 2 & TASK 3 Final Hand In - Joe Mander, Thomas Davis, Sam Murray & James Clarke

Tom Davis - www.50173502tomdavistvandfilm.blogspot.co.uk
Sam Murray - www.50172769sammurraytvandfilm.blogspot.co.uk
James Clarke - www.50172486.blogspot.co.uk

Task 2: Plan your live show.
Here is the link for the Live Show Pre- Production document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3XNExw_p_qUY19ZbndGX05rckU/edit?usp=sharing
(Call sheet in the document completed by myself)

Here is the link for the Legal Application forms, filled out by actors & location owner(s)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3XNExw_p_qUVlFoMUM4VXFpR2M/edit?usp=sharing

Task 3: VT inserts
The Pre- Production for the VT Inserts is inside of the Live Show Pre-Production document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3XNExw_p_qUY19ZbndGX05rckU/edit?usp=sharing

As a group we produced 5 VT inserts. The videos are embedded below:

Southbank VT:

Written by: Thomas Davis

Camera: Thomas Davis

Editing: Thomas Davis

Reporter: Sam Murray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGGFlDZC87Q

Basildon VT:

Written by: Sam Murray & James Clarke

Camera: Thomas Davis

Editing: Thomas Davis

Reporter: Sam Murray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYbjT0_Kpbg

Southend Airport VT:

Written by: Joe Mander 

Camera: Thomas Davis & Joe Mander

Editing: Thomas Davis

Reporter: Sam Murray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-xdTKR68p4

Canvey Seawall VT:

Written by: James Clarke

Camera: Joe Mander 

Editing: Joe Mander

Reporter: James Clarke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLvVzQgtXjc

Train Fare VT:

Written by: Joe Mander

Editing: Joe Mander & James Clarke

Camera: James Clarke & Joe Mander

Reporter: Joe Mander

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA_5Fc_7GEg

Facts, Opinions and Primary/Secondary Research Definitions

For me, the definition of 'fact' is - 'Something that someone believes to be the truth based on a opinion or information'. I think that the definition of 'opinion' is - 'Someone's point of view on something.' An example of a fact is that 'all of my subject teachers are male'. An example of an opinion is 'pasta tastes nice'.

Primary research is 'Information that you get yourself for the original source' where as secondary research is 'Research from a source that has found the information out.' An example of primary research is 'Nathan has pets.' An example of secondary research is 'A cat called Humphrey was once employed at 10 Downing Street.'

Factual and Bias Programmes

Types of factual programmes:

• Documentary
• News (including VT's)
• Docu-drama's
• Docu-soaps

Codes and Conventions

Factual programmes can be distinct by the codes and conventions that are presented. The most obvious one is that they will be informing you and telling you facts. They might get people's opinions however the main purpose is to tell the audience the truth and to inform them by not being bias. Facts are objective whereas opinions are subjective. The stories are impartial. The presentation will always be smart. News presenters will always be dressed smartly; men normally in suits and women in smart clothes. Some presenters, particularly in Channel 4, will have their sleeves rolled up. Although this doesn't look as smart, it is conveying that they have been working hard. When in a studio, it will be a modern setting, lots of lights, a desk e.t.c however they might be in a green-screen studio in which a high quality digital background may be displayed. Some presenters stand up to read some articles. This is partially to show their authority/seriousness for the topic. Some BBC news shows, shows the audience the researches working behind them. This tells the audience that the BBC are always working and are trying to find out the latest news. The presenters always look straight at the camera which makes it seem more personal and direct. It is also showing that they are telling the truth.

For the regional news, they all have 'local' accents. Again, this makes it seem more personal.

On the screen is also graphics including a lower third which are details of who the presenter/guest is. In addition to this, you might see a breaking news title on screen. This will grab the audience's attention more.

Format:

1. Titles/Summary of News/Local News
2. Presenters Introduce Themselves
3. Main Story
4. Stories
5. Weather and Sport

The news can be divided into 2 categories. Hard or soft news. Hard news covers issues that are more serious and formal i.e. politics. Soft news is less serious and is therefore not always covered as formally. This covers stories like entertainment and show biz.

Content Pyramid (from Google)

A news story should start by using the 5 W's, who, what, when, where and why. These bits cover the key information and are used at the start of the story to draw in the readers attention more.

A newspaper's article with the lead, body and tail sections divided. Done by myself and Briana.

Bias Programmes

Fox News is prime example of a bias news company. We watched Out-Foxed and learnt about how Rupert Murdoch put a bias and propaganda spin on issues covered by American news company FOX. They revealed only partial information on stories and not the full picture. They also didn't interview guests fairly. This is breaking their contract with the viewer (what the viewer expects of the programme) as they aren't reporting the full story. Manipulation techniques are also used to show one political party to be weaker than another; to the viewer, this shows the political party as being weaker, not just the individual. In addition to this, they would only read news stories that are positive to one side of the argument rather than both to make the show more accurate. FOX also use the breaking news theme/graphics when the news isn't that important.

What Can Make Something Bias?

• Language
• Opinions
• Facts
• Statistics
• Photos
• Captions
• Camera Angles
• Interviews
• Bias through selection (which are shown)
• Placement (what place the story comes)
• Headline
• Word choice and tone
• Names and titles
• Source

Evaluating a News Article

• News Article – Goodbye Hayley (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25493171)
• Positive light of her leaving 
• ‘Feature’ on main page 
• Pics of actress smiling apart from her in character one (to match storyline) 
• Described as one of ‘Coronation Street’s best loved character’

Music Videos

Key Features of a Music Video:

• Genre Characteristics - For example, a heavy metal video is likely to be on a stage whereas a boy/girl band would more likely to have a dance routine in it.
• Relationship between lyrics and visuals - If the lyrics of the song is talking about someone ill, you might have scenes of a hospital, or a dove or something connected.
• Relationship between music and visuals - If the music is loud, we might see something dramatic whereas a slower tune would have less movements in the shot.
• Frequent reference to the notion of looking - There might be screens within screens or telescopes e.t.c and also reference to a female's body.
• Intertextual references - Links to other films, TV programmes, songs e.t.c

Music Video History:

1900 - Gramaphone invented in USA

1927 - First sound film (The Jazz Singer)

1940s- Peek period for MGM Hollywood musical

1963 - UK's first music TV programme on ITV (Ready Steady Go)

1975 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

1981 - MTV starts

1983 - Michael Jackson - Thriller

1983 - MTV Video Music Awards launched

1985 - MTV taken over by Viacom

1987 - MTV-Europe launched

1989 - MTV-Europe reaches 6.7m homes

1994 - Launch of MTV-Europe Music Awards

2001 - Launch of MTV Dance

Music Video Analysis:

Name of track:  Small Bump Artist/director: Ed Sheeran
Features to look for	General examples	Detailed example
Genre characteristics	Acoustic, pop.	The song is talking about how much he cares for his baby and how good he will treat it when born. It is set in the hospital where the baby will be born.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?	The lyrics are talking about when the baby will be born and it is set in a hospital.	The lyrics are describing how he will treat his baby when he is born. This is gentle and honest and so are the visuals.
What is the relationship between music and visuals?	The music is quite calm and so is the camera speed.	The lyrics are quite calm and focusses on the man. The speed of the tracking camera shows the gentle nature. The visual is not connected to the tune.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?	There are close-sups of the artist as the camera goes close to him, then away, then close again.	There are close up shots of the artist when the camera goes close to him. The camera goes to and from him.
Is there reference to the notion of looking?	The singer is looking down a lot to show that he is thinking.	The singer is looking down which shows he is thinking seriously. The camera is always focussed on the man to show his importance.
Are there intertextual references?	There is no intertextual references.
Is it performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based? How much of each?	The video is narrative/concept based.	The video is telling a story from the baby currently be a just a scan to the baby being born.

Name of track:  My Heart Will Go On Artist/director: Celine Dion
Features to look for	General examples	Detailed example
Genre characteristics	Love, romance and peace/soul.	The song is a love song and it also tells the story of the titanic sinking. Most of the shots are of a sunset and at night/darker for the more dramatic bits.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?	The lyrics describe a persons feelings relating to the Titanic sinking.	The lyrics are talking about never forgetting their memories and the visuals show this.
What is the relationship between music and visuals?	The music is slow and gets dramatic and so does the visuals.	The music gets dramatic when the visuals do. It is louder and more 'action' as the ship starts to sink.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?	There are frequent close ups of the artist.	There are close ups of Celine Dion singing and also the characters.
Is there reference to the notion of looking?	The video does show looking however none of a 'sexual' nature.	The video is a romance one however it doesn't portray women in a 'seductive' way.
Are there intertextual references?	There are references to Titanic.	The song is the theme song for the film Titanic and hence is based around that, including clips and characters from the films.
Is it performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based? How much of each?	It is mainly narrative based.	It tells the story of Rose's time with Jack on the boat and it shows their memories.

Name of track:  Uprising Artist/director: Muse
Features to look for	General examples	Detailed example
Genre characteristics	Heavy metal and rock.	As the genre is heavy metal it shows the band playing and the light is dark and there are scenes with fire.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?	The lyrics talk about 'uprising' and the visuals support this.	The lyrics talk about an uprising which the visuals sort of show with a teddy having more power towards the end of the video.
What is the relationship between music and visuals?	The music matches in time with the visuals and relates to the words.	The music of doesn't have a relationship with the visuals and the footage isn't linked with the beat.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?	There are close-ups of the artist at time but not all the time.	There are close-ups of the artist however no symbolic marks that represent the band. This is iconic.
Is there reference to the notion of looking?	There is no reference to the notion of looking.
Are there intertextual references?	There aren't any intertextual references.
Is it performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based? How much of each?	The video is performance and narrative based, mainly performance.	The video is mainly the band performing but does also include scenes of a story whilst the music is playing.

Essay:
I will be analysing 'My Heart Will Go On', sung by Celine Dion and directed by Billie Woodruff. The genre is described as pop and soul and was the main soundtrack for the film Titanic. Soul music is normally play with sounds from pianos, guitars, keyboards e.t.c and is generally 'peaceful' music. Pop music, although it has numerous sub genres, covers the biggest range of music, hence deriving from 'popular'.

The music video is based around memories from the characters Rose and Jack from the film and the music video includes clips of them as well as Dion. The start of the song is instrumental and it shows good memories of the ship as it leaves Southampton. When the lyrics start, we cut to Dion who has her hair blowing, keep the connection with the boat. The scene fades into the next one which makes it seem more peaceful. The positive lyrics match up with the visuals. Dion is also featured on a set of the boat. The song describes how they meet and their journey to becoming close. Some of the clips are in slow motion to make it seem that the good memories are being slowed down to make them last longer. For the scenes where Celine is singing on the boat, the colours are warm, being orange, red and yellow. We see clips from the film with the characters smiling and having a good time. This will contrast to the second bit of the video. The lyrics of 'my heart' usually feature Rose and Jack getting close. Celine is wearing a white dress which is symbolic for peace. As the music gets more dramatic, the actions in the visuals do too. Rather than the characters sitting down they are up and are more lively. The visuals again match the lyrics of 'my heart will go on' as we see Rose and Jack happy together.

As the tone of the music changes, the visuals do to. The colour changes to a dark black/blue tone as the events get more dramatic like the iceberg colliding with the ship. When we cut back to Dion singing, she also gets more dramatic with her singing and there is more wind blowing in her hair. Some of the clips cross dissolve over each other however some are just cutting for dramatization. Towards the end, the lyrics aren't directly linked with the visuals. The final shot is of Celine Dion and we stay on her, looking calm and peaceful, as the music fades out.

The record belongs to Sony Classical and James Horner composed the song with the original intention of using it in the film. It was used in the film and due to the major success of the film, the soundtrack sold millions of copies worldwide. It was to represent Celine Dion and the score as peaceful to effectively pay respect to the tragic event. The video is quite different to her other ones however the style is similar in terms of her singing. Her 1995 song 'The Power of Love' is similar to the style of the song however the music video is quite different but still with some similar Dion poses.

Although the video would fall into the romance category, I wouldn't say that it is portraying a sexual image of Dion or the characters in there. There is 1 scene that could be categorised at sexual however it is part of the story and isn't intended to represent Celine as that or change the theme of the song. Titanic was in 1912 and the costumes don't suggest anything seductive, nor do they imply a sexual display. Some of the camera shots show Celine with her hands on her body however I think this is just for emotional reasons. There is no other reference to looking either i.e. with a screen or anything.

There is a very strong intertextual reference to Titanic, as it was the theme song for the film. Dion is featured standing on a set of the ship in which she said it "actually feels like a movie set made just for me". Clips of the film are used and when there isn't any clips there is reference to it with her on the set. Due to the success of the song, people would know that the song is connected to the film. If you have seen the film the narrative of the song is clear however you could still make it out if you hasn't seen the film.

The film is a mixture between performance and narrative based. Narrative because it tells the story of two young lovers and performance because it features Dion singing however there is still reference to the story of Titanic when she is performing. I would say that it is more narrative than performance if you include reference to the lyrics.

Overall, this is a very successful narrative and performance music video, which tells the story of two loves on board the Titanic. It is the soundtrack to a film which is why it is focussing on the film and characters and it balances Celine singing with reference to the film. I think that it is a good music video as it clearly tells the story and we know what is going on. It has been very popular and people will also remember it, however this might be more to the film's success rather than the soundtrack's success.