Representations

The picture above translates to "This is not a pipe." It says this because it isn't a pipe; it's a picture of a pipe (a representation).

Everything in the media is a representation-everything we see is being represented. The selection process is:

·         The decision over what is chosen to be represented and what is rejected

·         The choices made when organising the representation

·         The options taken to focus the audience in a certain way

A theorist called White (1961) spoke of the gatekeepers – that is the people who are part of the decision making process in the construction of media texts. These can be the directors, the editors, the government or even the audience themselves. If this is the case, then while creating my music video, I was a gatekeeper f what messages i wanted to convey in the text.

A useful way of thinking about representation is that the meanings are created by this relationship between the producers, the text and the audience.

The representation is constructed with a set of ideas and values (producer’s intent/intended meaning).

The context of the representation is part of the representation (media language choices, anchorage, media form, placement/location, genre expectations, etc.)

The audience reads to this representation and this depends on their own personal interpretational context: age, gender, political, religions, nationality, etc. (negotiated meaning).

So my intended meaning of my music video would have been for the audience to feel happy with themselves despite what other influences may say. However, depending on my audiences interpretational context, this meaning could become negotiated or decoded into another meaning that I haven't even thought about.

Audiences Theories

Texts are meaningless until they are read/decoded by an audience. The audience are the ones who watch the texts and therefore generate the revenue by doing so.

The first attempt to explain how audiences react to the mass media was the Hypodermic Needle Model, composed in the 1920's when media was first being understood. This model suggests that audiences are passive receivers to the information given out by these media texts. Governments thought then by the power of the media, they could create a proper gander to make people believe what they wanted. Of course, this model seems to be irrelevant these days, as we are active receivers. We receive the information but interpret it for our own. 


Extending on the idea of active receivers, the Reception Theory to explain how the mass media effected their lifestyles and how they receive and interpret their messages. This was based on Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding of the relationship between a text and its audience. The text is encoded by the producer (me in my music video) and is decoded by the audience. There may be differences between these codings, showing that messages can be polysemic (have many meanings). Using recognised codes and conventions though the producer can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreeement on what the code means. This is known as a preferred reading.

Presentation I did about creativity

Here is a powerpoint presentation I did in one of our lessons about the creativity thought processes I went through when creating my AS and A2 coursework. I decided to post this as it does show the creative planning of A2 coursework: 

Messages conveyed to target audience

The messages being communicated to my audience are messages of how you should be happy with who you are no matter what people or other influences may try to tell you. This is a message in the actual song as well, so they both intertwine with each other well. Another message is that people should not passively receive information from the media and aspire to be like the images in the media.


I just feel that in this day and age, more so in teenagers, that people are kind of brain washed by the media in terms of how you should look. Sometimes they’re even unaware that the images or sometimes the people in some cases are fake and have been edited, which was shown with the “inspirational” images of typically bad role models on the girls bedroom wall (e.g. Katie Price, Paris Hilton, etc.) What’s even more worrying is that this has such a negative effect on these people and it can lead to them doing dangerous stuff, as I showed with the point of view shot of the girl’s cuts on her wrist from self-harming.


Even if a person doesn’t listen to these influences, someone else will and may try point out why they’re flawed according to these influences, which I showed in my music video with the bullies at school. This again has a negative impact on this person.


I created this video to show to my target audience that they don’t have to listen to these influences. They should be happy with what they look like and who they are.

Hyperreal vs Real Texts

Wikipedia defines hyperreality: Hyperreality is used in semiotics and postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced post-modern societies. Hyperreality is a way of characterizing what our consciousness defines as "real" in a world where a multitude of media can radically shape and filter an original event or experience. Some famous theorists of hyperreality include Jean Baudrillard, Albert Borgmann, Daniel Boorstin, and Umberto Eco.

My music video was a realist text with one element of hyperreality with the cloning sequence to create another version of Kirsten (my talent). This juxtaposes the social realist aesthetic look I intended on creating.I created this hyperreal element in my music video by pushing the boundaries of budget and experimenting with technology that I had. Because I was limited in technology and budget, I couldn't create a more hyperreal, glossy looking video.

However, I don't think, if I had the budget or technology, I wouldn't have made it look like that. I prefer a more social realistic look when watching videos and films. I wouldn't have wanted glamourous actors/actresses, stunning set locations or amazing cinematography (ok, maybe that last one I wouldn't have minded having), because then it wouldn't have looked real. If it didn't look real, then the message of being happy with who you are and not trying to change yourself would've been lost, and then the music video would not have worked.

Do the people in audience feedback post match my target audience in terms of SAGEL?

SAGEL


Socio Economic Group

• Technically my target audience group should belong into group E, as they are students. The people in my post are students, so therefore fit my target audience. 

Age

• The age range of my target audience is between 12-20 years old. This is because the concepts of the music video are ones that probably only teenagers may understand. For example, there is a point of view shot of the girls slit wrist. The idea of cutting oneself is rather modern and may not be understood by older generations.

Gender

• The gender of target audience will be mainly female. This does not mean that men wouldn't like it either (due to the penumbra effect), but it is mainly aimed at women because are more susceptible to the media. Plus, the video is about how the girl worries  about getting the "perfect" body that is portrayed by the media.

Ethnicity

• I didn't intend on excluded any ethnic groups but because the people in my video are white, and the area I live in mainly white ethnic background, I have unintentionally excluded other ethnic groups. 

Lifestyles 

• Well seeing how my target audience is mainly students, they probably don't earn any income (or very littlle) and do spend some time watching music videos. The people from my audience feedback post fit into this category.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Personally, I feel that the combination of the main product and the ancillary tasks have symbiotic relationship as they both feed off each and display the same message (that people should feel perfect the way they are). Both of the ancillary tasks use concepts that have also been used in the main product, such as shots from the film being used in the poster and digipack. They all also use the same font colour, pink, showing that they all have the same house style. Plus, it supports the branding of the artist, whose name is P!NK.

The images used in digipack in the holagrish effect and the other two images may be considered as a big contrast. I believe that it does work together as it all links together to the music video and continues with a similar house style. The holagrish images are to show off the artists black and white personality, while the other two images have been pulled from the music video itself.

Evaluation-In what ways does your media products use, develops or challenge conventions of real media products?

Evaluation-How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?

One other thing I forgot to mention on the slide show was that during the construction stages, I also used my iPod to play the song for the talent to sing along to during filming. I then used it to transfer the song onto the school's iMacs and onto iMovie. 

Evaluation-What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Sorry about the audio. The people were talking really quietly! You might have to turn the volume up a bit.

I asked people from my media class because they will know about the creating of videos. I also asked two random year 11 students so I could get an unbiased opinion about my music video. However, they are media students as well so they also have some background knowledge too. 

I appreciate their feedback, whether it was positive or constructive. At one point, one of the year 11 girls makes a comment about the lip synching not being fully in synch with the music. However, she does mention that there is nothing I could do about it, which is true. I did try to synch the music the best I could , but because I am limited by the production equipment  provided by the school, the lip synching isn't going to be as good a quality as professional production music videos.

Overall though I was pleased with the feedback I received as the general prosecptives were positive. This therefore makes me feel more confident about the main product I have produced.

Music Poster

The picture above was the first draft of my music poster. I thought that it looked alright but I decided to do something else, which is a little bit similar but still quite different.

Above is another draft of my digipack poster. It's a bit more interesting to look at I feel as we can actually see the artist and has more information on it/text that is conventionally on these types of poster (e.g. the pull quote from a well known music magazine). Below is how I created the poster:

So first of all I got a print screen from my music video because by the time I wanted to get photos of the artist, she had completely changed her hair.

I then opened up Photoshop Elements where I had the idea to add lyrics of the song onto the picture (to link it to my hand written letter in the music video).

I experimented with the colours of the font for a while. I thought of maybe using pink to link it back to the branding of the artist but when I tried this out, it didn't look as good as I'd hoped.


Next I used an eraser tool with a blurred edge to fade out the text layer around the artist. Then I set the layer effect to Soft Light to make font appear more faded. After this, I added on more lyrics around Kirsten's head.

In Picasa, I added a Holga-ish effect onto the picture. Then in paint a black box at the bottom of the picture. You can see below that I again experimented with the colour pink by adding a pink tint onto the picture. Again though, I decided not to for the same reason as before.

Finally, I added on the digipack cover and the font in the black box to finish off my poster.

But then looking at other posters, I decided to change it once more as I felt it wasn't advertising the digipack well. Below is the final digipack poster:

My digipack

For my digipack, I downloaded a template from the internet and used it in Adobe Photoshop CS. The two Kirsten's (who is the singer) have been given a holagrish effect onto them. I decided to use both images of Kirsten as the conscience and the normal girl. They're both the same person but are very different, which is shown by the clothes that they wear. Initially, I was going to have one image where the body was black and background was white and then the other image would be the same but vice versa. However, this didn't look right when I tried this so I decided to keep it as it is. I do think that it gives a nice continuity link between both characters though.

The other pictures are related to what is in the music video, so that creates another continuity link. I decided to use the bedroom wall as one long picture for the inside of the digipack as it shows off the characters personality and feelings.

The font is in the colour pink because that is the name of the artist. That is what her brand is about. I also decided to have the girl character in the leather jacket. This is because the artist herself would be seen wearing that type of clothing, so it would be something recognisable for the audience.

Final music video

This is my final draft of my music video for the song Perfect by P!NK. Hope you enjoy it.

Digipack ideas

One of the ideas I've for my digipack is to have an effect similar to the one on the album of Snow Patrol's Final Straw. 

I was thinking of having the talent, both as the conscience and normal girl, on the picture with either a black background or having the wall of stuff in the background. The outline and font would be in pink instead of black as well.

Filming Schedule Changes

So last Thursday I had to reschedule the date of filming as the main character (Kirsten) was unwell and unable to do the filming. 


I have rescheduled to do the whole filming (what's left of it anyway) on Thursday. I have to film all of it now as Kirsten is actually dying her hair this weekend, which wouldn't look good for continuity marks! 


EDIT: Okay, she's not dying her hair anymore so I don't need to panic as much.

Video tutorials I used

To help me with my music video, I have used some video tutorials that have been posted onto youtube. I use these because I like to visually look and learn how to do things but I thought I'd post them here to show you how I did it as well.

This one was used to help me get the scarred look on the artists wrist:


This one, which I've already posted, showed me how to do the editing for the cloning sequences in the music video:

Filming Schedule

So here is the filming schedule that I have come up with:

Thursday 27th October - Film all the scenes at my house and in my bedroom.

Thursday 3rd November - Film 2nd classroom scene during lesson 5 (free period) at school

Then the following week I shall film the other classroom scene and additional shots for the prologue (e.g. the running down the stairs shots). Date is still undecided.

I'll probably start editing as soon as I have some footage to edit. Ideally I'd like to have finished editing by the end of November/early December.

Rough draft of final project

Below is a video of my first draft for my music video. It does not have any music over it, but it you can kind of get an idea of what is happening in it.

The video does not include every scene in the video, as I realised after filming but you can tell what is going to happen in the final project. Plus it does not have any sound because the music wouldn't sync with the video well.

Doing this has made me realise how much I actually need to film in order to make the music video look effective. Plus, I need to think thoroughly about the various shots I need to include, although I am pleased with the shot I've got already and the locations. They are effective and identifiable to teenage girls, my target audience.

The costumes I'm considering are that the girl is wearing dark clothing and the conscience is wearing the same light clothing throughout the video. The continuity link between them will probably be their hair, make up and a leather jacket. The leather jacket is to show the branding of the artist, who usually wears that kind of clothing.

Lyric Interpretation

Textual analysis of existing text

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1bcQMCZ5gU

Camera work:

In the music video for Perfect by Pink, there are a variation in shots. The different shots help to explore into more depth the emotion of the character and the song. For example, there is a low angled shot as the girl carves words into the toilet cubicle wall. It shows her annoyance with the "skinny b**tches" outside the cubicle.

A low angled shot has been used again when the girl is cutting her hair. We see it fall to the ground and then their is a mid shot of her smiling. This indicates a new beginning for the girl, which we then get to see in the music video.

There is also some panning shots when the flashbacks are presented on the walls, which I personally like because it's a bit less harsh than loads of cuts. Particularly seeing how the pace of the song isn't very fast.

Editing:

The editing helps to separate the flashbacks from the rest of the video. The flashbacks have been set in a sepia tone, whereas the present day is in a normal tone. Some of the flashbacks are also presented on the walls of the room Pink is singing in.

Again, there isn't a fast sequence of cuts (thanks to the flashbacks on the wall), which compliments the pace of the song. It is still quite fast in some places but not like MTV cutting.

Mise en scene:

Generally (appart from when the mother picks the girls clothes for her), the girls clothing is consistently dark and a bit scruffy. Her make up is also dark, especially around the eyes, and her hair is the same dark colour throughout the video.

During the childhood years, her room is quite bright with hints of pink. There are also paints stands in them. As she gets older though, the rooms we she her in are bland with dark lighting in them. One thing that stays cosistent though is her love for art, as we see her through the video drawing and painting.

There is also a prop used throughout the whole video, which is a teddy bear. It has been with the girl since she was little and in the end, she gives it to her little girl saying "you are perfect to me."