
SOPHIE EVANS, 2009 - 2011 FOUNDATION AND ADVANCED PRODUCTIONS
Monday, 28 March 2011
ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END

Thursday, 17 March 2011
DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY- AUDIO RECORDING
The aim of the director's commentary was to help the audience grasp a better understanding of what we were trying to achieve in the pop video. We explained why we chose to edit it in the style that we did with the slow motion shots in contrast the fast cutting ones, we also referred to why we edited it in the out of focus and blurred way we did as it was almost reflecting her state of mind, unclear and blurred. The Mise en scene played a big part in the video and we described the shots, angles, track and pans that we used in order to create a better understanding of what we were trying to achieve using these.
We also discussed the close ups and intimate shots that made you feel as though you were inside her thoughts and engaged in the video. We hoped to have given the audience a clearer idea of how the video can be interpreted differently, by having three of us discuss different areas of the video we hoped that this would reflect the different interpretations of the video. We discussed Keith Negus and his conventions and why we chose to imitate or subvert the few that we used and how, by subverting a few of them this gave the artist the 'edgy' and different image that we were trying to achieve and it helped to establish her brand more.
TASK 3. AUDIENCE. WHAT I LEARNT FROM MY AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Jictar can be applied to the pop video in terms of its target audience and the audience that the pop video may reach. Jictar is broken down into terms of class, education, and employment, and often interest, it is grouped into A,B,C,D,E an example of a person who would fit into category 'A' would be someone who was a high paid doctor or lawyer who had attended education until A levels and then very likely gone on to study further education at top universities. Whereas a member of the E category would be a person who has had little or no education and is often unemployed. The categories that the target audience for the pop video fall under are, B,C,D as this pop video can be interrupted on many different levels. a person in category B may get the underl

There have been many different responses to this video depending on the viewers interests and up bringing as it can be seen from so many different angles, but most the responses that the video got when on you tube were all good. The video has had 456 views and has been commented on by a number of people, some of these comments include :
"who ever made this video is amazing,"
dkeofhazard
"This is really cool "
caz2435
"beautiful shots throughout, the slow motion really created an atmosphere and mood. "
challli5
"Love the contrast between the fast cutting up beat bits and the slow motion!"
paroilda316
To find out what response people had to the pop video we organised a focus group of 2 boys ages 17, 2 boys aged 18 and 2 girls aged 17 to see what their immediate response was to the video. There was an obviouse initial response from the video as girls seemed to get more from the story than the boys did as the song is mainly aimed at women. We created a questionnaire for them to answer with open ended questions these were,

2. What did you get from the video?
3. what message did you get from the video?
4. what persona for out artist did we establish?
5. Did you identify with the character, if so how?
6. Did you feel a personal relationship with the character, if so how?
7. Were you informed by the video, if so, in what way?
8. Did you get the idea of women being ill treated in society?
9. What did you think of the video not having a narrative?
10. Ways it could be improved, could we have done anything differently?
the overall response to the video was that people got the idea that a girl was trapped in a cage and wanting to get out, the cage may represent society. An idea that also seemed to come across the viewers was that the girl in the video was beginning to rebel against society and fight to get out of the situation she was trapped in. A few of the viewers also thought that the girl was asking them for help as she often reached out from the cage implying reaching out for help. This also adds to the Blumler and Katz theory of personal relationships, as most of the viewers wrote that they wanted to help her, the eye contact with the camera and the close ups on her face also help to enforce the idea of being intimate or personal with the lead singer. When asked what they thought about the fact that the video did not have a narrative, Julian, a 17

When asking peers and teachers what they thought about the pop video it was very interesting to see the different interpretations between the age gap. James, a middle aged teacher who is head of the media department said, " the panning shots created the illusion that the cage was swigging and this really added a something unique to the video." But when asking peers what they thought, most of them commented on the contrast between the slow motion and fast cutting and the effect that this had on them, Layla, a 18 year old photography student commented on the use of beautiful shots and the close intimate shots let you into the video and gave the impression that you were inside the lead singers head and thoughts.
According t

Tuesday, 1 March 2011
TASK 2. A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION TO EXPLORE HOW EFFECTIVE THE COMBINATION OF MY MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS ARE?
The answer to this task has four parts.
The firts is to apply the ideas of Richard Dyer and stardom to see what elements we need to put in to establish our singer as a star in the making. The second is the ideas of pop music theorist Carlsson who argues that pop stars are either comerical exhibitionists or telivised bards or electronic shamen. Our singer is the middle one of these.
Thirdly we looked at the idas of Levi Strauss and his idea of universal myths. Our video shows a song concerned with the position of women in socioty, and identity, which are both universal myths. The fourth and last thing is synergy, where we tried to create a pop video that worked with the digi pack and the magazine advert to sell our singer and her song and her brand.
Friday, 11 February 2011
MAGAZINE ADVERT

DIGI PACK
The Inside of our album cover is a lot more stylised with intricate detail in comparison to our two outer covers. The lyrics are printed to the song of our music video all along the inside. Our main singer is also featured as she then gives the song a bigger selling point, she looks very vulnerable yet simple and this gives off the idea that she is very relatable to and not threatening. Her face also appears in the bottom left hand corner in a very faded and out of focus form which also echoes the diffused glow that we used in our pop video. The inside is more detailed yet it is very clear much like our other two covers. Her face is on the two hot points of the rule of thirds
The back cover is very similar to the front cover as it is simple and has the empty cage on it which gives the idea of emptiness or loneliness which is what a lot of our video portrays. The names of the songs on the album are also featured which gives the viewers more insight into the band and what their style is. The record label is featured with the title on the hot points to enforce their important ness and the layout is simple so as not to distract from the main image. The lighting is very dark and the cover is 30% black and it in forces the ideas that something is being hidden, and this is what most the song is about, secrets and underlying things which are not said.
Sunday, 6 February 2011
BLOG TASK ONE . IN WHAT WAYS DO YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?


-The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption
-The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)
-A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement
-Repetition of reoccurring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)
-A possible narrative structure
-A possible performance element
-The flexibility to disregard Realism!
-Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track
-Use of special effects (lighting, animation, CGIs, in-camera effects)
-A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track
-High impact instantly! (Don’t forget that competition for airplay on the main music channel outlets is intense)
Each of these began to influence our pop video in some way. We also followed Barthes theory of Plasir where we looked to imitate conventions in order to give the audience expected pleasure. We also began to subvert conventions in order to give jouissance, which as Barthes explains is the unexpected for the audience, and when the two are together they create the perfect balance in a pop video.
The message in our song can be portrayed in many different ways. It can be seen as a video all about guilt and secrets as the lyrics clearly state in the song, the cage also may be seen as what is caging her in, her seacrets. She is unable to escape or break free from them, they are caging her in. The bird cage may also be seen as an extended metaphor of the girl’s psyche, as she does not sing for the first part of the song it gives
Negus’s conventions are easily displayed throughout our vide
This image portrays that convention as not only is our lead singer in a giant bird cage but the fact that she is not singing gives us the idea that the images are all
The opening shot subverts many of Negus’s conventions as it gives the audience the unexpected because often a video will start by establishing the band or singer in a powerful
Our Digi pack was created to be very simple but have a lot of symbolism and underpinning meaning.We added smoke to add to the ethereal feel of our song and set the atmosphere of the type of singer that she is. It is a very simple and plain front cover as we wanted it to have mystery and not give too much away. The cage is empty and surrounded by nothing as this makes it look very lonely which is a theme that is echoed throughout the video. The title of the band is also in very simple lettering as it again creates a sense of mysteriousness as it then makes it difficult for the audience to see what kind of band they might be. The digi pack, like the magazine advert, follows the rule of thirds by having the key words on the first hot point and the mysetery of the empty swing on the fourth hot point. We also use the idea of black and white connoting art to build up the idea of ouor singer as an artist not just a pop star.