Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer

Richard W. Dyer is an English academic specialising in cinema. As of 2006 he is Professor of Film Studies at King's College London. Previously he was at the University of Warwick.

He thought that when watching films you should be able to answer these questions:

What sense of the world is it making?

What does it imply is it typical of the world of deviant?

Who is it speaking to for whom and to whom?

What does it represent to us and why how do we respond to the representation?

I have a applied this to a real life text- Life Of Brian

What sense of the world is it making?

Shows us the story of Jesus’ life and the people living when Jesus did and the portrayal of how empty headed they were in those times.

What does it imply is it typical of the world of deviant?

When the film was released England was quite a Christian country therefore people found it offensive.

Who is it speaking to for whom and to whom?

Young, British, open minded adults who are in to controversial text. 

What does it represent to us and why how do we respond to the representation?

It could represent Christians as naive and stupid as they’ll do anything anyone tells them.

By researching Dyer's theory it will will be in my music video, by me deciding on whether upon I want to make my music video controversial and take risks with it. Although I highly doubt that I will as with the song I am using it will be extremely difficult to  make my video controversial.

Settings Board

 

 

With reference to my genre, I think the settings I chose fitted the conventions perfectly. I think this because in all Indie Pop music videos the artists seem to be in a sort of iscolated setting, when a person is described as being 'Indie' it means thet don't really follow the mainstream, they're independent which is where 'indie' is derived from. Therefore it shows their sense of independence and their journey my having a quiet setting. The settings in my music video and other music videos of the same genre seem to be pretty places, making the video asthetically pleasing for audiences.

Below are the two main settings in my music video. As you can see, both of the settings seem to be very isoclated and impressive places. This is the type of image I would like to include in my video. 

This has helped me learn to get the right setting for the music video and the genre of the song and how the audience research showed that beautiful setting are a must to go with the song.  I really like the locations that I chose and think they really make my music video. It really links everything together with the ancillary tasks and the magazine adverts. It is a theme all over my project and shows I have thought about mise-en-scene and everything around this to make my music video as successful as I can.

Institutional and Exhibition Research

Institutional

Silvertip Films is a small UK business based in London that create music videos, corporate/promo videos and film live concerts or events. The artist or company that want a video created for them will approach the company and set up an initial meeting to discuss ideas. I dicovered Silvertip Films when researching which institutions promote and make un-signed artists through music videos.

Here is an example of a few shots of Silvertip's work;
Serena Kern- My Promise

They let the artist have a say in what they want in their music video, but they do also help the artist to develop a clear idea. Their music videos have been broadcasted in the UK and elsewhere in the world, and have even been nominated for awards. They film music videos for both signed and unsigned artists, and their videos have made artists successful.

Silvertip tends to only film narrative videos as this keeps the budget low. As I have not completed my music video yet, I can not say how my text looks like a 'real' product. But because I know I am creating a video with a narrative, I know that this is similar to the type of videos Silvertip create. My video is also slightly different to their videos as I am using more locations than they would tend to use.

Exhibition

If my music video where to be broadcasted in the 'real' world, it would be shown on YouTube and maybe radio stations such as Radio 1. It would fit with other media products that are shown on these types of media broadcasters because they show a wide range of genres and my chosen song isn't as mainstream as other songs.

 

Music videos are very important to the music industry. They help to 'advertise' the band/artist by allowing the audience to identify with them, it helps to give them a brand identity. It also maximises the awareness of the band, by being played on a channel such as MTV every day will increase peoples awareness of the song and the band meaning people are more likely to buy the song. They relte to my text as my artist is still unsinged.

The internet has made a big impact on the music industry. Sites such as Youtube and Vevo have allowed music videos to be easily accessed through the internet. These sites are extremely useful for amateur filmakers to allow their work to be shown. Anyone can upload a film onto YouTube and it can be viewed by millions of people accross the world. If a video gets a certain amount of hits (how many people have watched it) then YouTube will pay the filmaker for the video. Also, if a video does well on YouTube it is likely to gain the attention of large businesses who will then contact the owner of the video. YouTube is where my artists whos song I am using made her fame, and also where I found out about her music.

From doing this piece of research I have learnt how my product would be produced in the 'real' world. I understand what I would need to do if I was to approach a company about producing my music video. I have also learnt how important music video sites such as Vevo and YouTube have been to not only an artist but to amateur filmakers. When I create my music video I will try to use different conventions of the video to my advantage that will help it become popular on YouTube. As the song I am using is about a relationship that has ended and that it is aimed at a young teenage audience (similar to the target audience of YouTube). I will use this to my advantage by making it clear in my video that this is what the video is about so that the audience of YouTube can relate to my video. I will also use young, good looking actors in my video, to possibly increase the views I would get if it was to be uploaded to YouTube. Also I could send my artists song to Silvertip and see what they think and it would help my artist to get more well known.

Stuart Hall - Audience Reception Theory

Stuart Hall, the son of an accountant, was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1932. He moved to England with his mother in 1951. They lived in Bristol before Hall took his place at Oxford University. His Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasises the reader's reception of a literary text. It is more generally called audience reception in the analysis of communications models.

His audience reception theory are as follows;

Preferred Reading- Where the audiences accept the producers intended ideas and messages.

Negotiated Reading- Where the audiences accept some aspects of a producer's ideas and messages, but also reject/question somethings and bring in their own ideas.

Oppositional Reading- Where the audiences reject the preferred reading and create a new opposing interpretation.

When these are applied to a modern day music video; Everytime - Britney Spears

Preferred Reading- Britney is not the far different to the normal average girls. This would help her to connect to  younger girls that have issues and makes her more reliable.
Negotiated Reading- They underdtand where shes coming from with her problems but she should have found a better way to express them for example, a break up or her crying, something not as graphic as her chosen music video.
Oppositional Reading- It's wrong, people look up to her they think its an acceptable way out of their problems if they see the video and that its encouragng her fans to self abuse.

By learning Stuart Hall's audience reception theory it will help me to decide whether I would like to use it in my music video. It also will help my apply this to my music video if I chose to use it. In my music video I am thinking of creating a performance/story therefore if I chose to create a conflict I will apply Hall's theory to my text and try and ensure my audience get the preferred reading of my text.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist who has had a decisive influence on the humanities in the second half of the twentieth century, including being one of the founding figures of structuralist thought. He was born on November 28, 1908 in Brussels (but from French parents) and died in Paris on October 31, 2009 at the age of 100.

Claude Levi-Strauss’s approach to narrative After studying hundreds of myths and legends from around the world, Levi-Strauss observed that we make sense of the world, people and events by seeing and using binary opposites everywhere. He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between such binary opposites.

Examples of binary opposites Good vs evil Black vs white Boy vs girl Peace vs war Civilised vs savage Democracy vs dictatorship Conqueror vs conquered First world vs third world Domestic vs foreign/alien Articulate vs inarticulate Young vs old Man vs nature Protagonist vs antagonist Action vs inaction Motivator vs observer Empowered vs victim Man vs woman Good-looking vs ugly Strong vs weak Decisive vs indecisive East vs west Humanity vs technology Ignorance vs wisdom.

When looking at a modern day film Strauss' theory can be applied to Hairspray;
With the opposite of back vs white.


This shows the conflict between back and white people and what it was like in the 60's. This is a good example of Claude Levi-Strauss' work.



By researching strauss' theory it will help me to decide whether I would like to use it in my music video. It also will help my apply this to my music video if I chose to use it. In my music video I am thinking of creating a performance/story therefore if I chose to create a conflict I will apply Strauss' theory to my text.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir was Soviet formalist scholar who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements.

Here are the stock characters of Propps theory;

The villain — struggles against the hero.

The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

The (magical) helper — helps the hero in their quest.

The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.

Her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father cannot be clearly distinguished.

The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Propp's theory can me applied to modern day films, for example Mean Girls;

Hero-Cady

Villain-The plastics

The Helpers- Lizzy and Damien
The Father- Family and People and School

In the first part of the film Cady would be the part of the hero she is introduced immediately and is the protagonist of the film. We also meet her and her family who have left Africa and cady is about to start her first day at a high school.

Cady is then told not to be friends with the plastics by Damien and Lizzy- Helpers.

They invite Cady to have lunch with them in order to meet her which shows that the interdiction is violated.

We are then introduced to ‘The plastics’ that would play the villain according to the theory.

The plastics then find out that Cady has moved here from Africa and that she likes Aaron in her maths class this would relate to-  The villain has now found out information that she is vulnerable and easily influenced and likes Regina’s ex.

The Plastics have now made the Cady, the hero part of there group in this way Cady turns quite evil which highlights a flaw in Propp’s theory because she has now turned into one of the villains for part of the film. However the fact she has been tricked and is now turning into one of them.

The Hero is also tricked because Regina tells Cady she can’t go with Aaron because its against the girl rules and then Regina gets back with Aaron knowing Cady likes him

Cady plots to get Regina back my doing horrible things to her and is helped by Damien and Lizzy

The hero is tested this is like when Cady is tested by Regina where she flaunts her boyfriend that Cady wants but Cady has to stay strong in order for her counteraction to work.

After Cady sets up all these plans to make Regina unpopular she soon finds out and this is where the hero and villain are now in direct combat.

Regina hates Cady and visa versa.

The hero is then branded Cady is the new plastic however this is not a good thing and does not fit with a hero's description.

The villain who is Regina is defeated and nobody likes her anymore this fits with.

So now Regina wants to get her own back so decided to hand in the burn book which is full of horrible things about people and give it into the headteacher.

Regina the says that's she is the burn book when in fact that was set and pretends shes very upset by what has been done which is the false hero claiming success of true hero.

Cady is exposed as being mean and everyone turns against so she has to not lie anymore and get her friends back and to be liked

This is resolved by true hero when she goes to the prom in order to do her speech and not take the crown but share it with everyone.

Everyone likes her again.

Everything then changes Cady becomes like a normal girl the plastics break up and everyone has joined new groups and have a new appearance.

Although not every part fits, considering this was made a long time ago alot of functions fit with a modern film Mean Girls. I think the main thing that does not work is the thought that the hero must go on a physical journey and leave home because this could be perceived differently in new films. For example Cady did not leave home but she changed and went through a mental journey in Mean Girls

 

By researching Propp's theory it will help me to decide whether I would like to use it in my music video. It also will help my apply this to my music video if I chose to use it. In my music video I am thinking of creating a performance/story therefore I will make sure I use the stock characters to create my story.

Problems with filming

I decided to go out and start filming for the first time. When I watched back the footage after I had uploaded it on to the editing software I realised it was way too dark for us to use, therefore I now have to change my setting to somewhere a little brighter and re-film what I had already filmed. I also may have to change the time that I film to when the sun is directly over my setting to make it brighter.
Here is the footage I got;
As you can see the footage is way too dark to be able to use in my media text and I will have to go out and re-film.



By this happening it has helped me to realise that I have to time when I film carefully and re-think where I should set my film

Gabrielle Aplin - Home lyrics analysis

I did this to show what the lyrics mean and how this has influenced my choice in what I am doing in my music video.
I think this helped me in thinking of my idea as it links really well to the meaning and goes together

What I think it means

I personally think that the lyrics mean that the singer is in love and she is away from that person and she's getting home sick, but really she is only home sick because the person she loves at 'home' therefore she thinks whenever she is with the person she loves she is at home. I also think that she feels that wherever she is she is out of place hence the 'fish that's meant to fly' as this is not natural and therefore she doesm't feel natural where she is. And she will feel herself when she is at home with the person she loves. 

 The lyrics
I’m a phoenix in the water
A fish that’s learnt to fly
And i’ve always been a daughter
But feathers are meant for the sky
So I’m wishing, wishing further
For the excitement to arrive
It’s just I’d rather be causing the chaos
Than laying at the sharp end of this knife

With every small disaster
I’ll let the waters still
Take me away to some place real
'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone
where you go when you’re alone
Is where you go to rest your bones
It’s not just where you lay your head
It's not just where you make your bed
As long as we’re together, does it matter where we go?
Home
Home

So when I’m ready to be bolder,
And my cuts have healed with time
Comfort will rest on my shoulder
And I’ll bury my future behind
I’ll always keep you with me
You’ll be always on my mind
But there’s a shining in the shadows
I’ll never know unless I try

With every small disaster
I’ll let the waters still
Take me away to some place real
'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone
Is where you go when you’re alone
Is where you go to rest your bones
It’s not just where you lay your head
It's not just where you make your bed
As long as we’re together, does it matter where we go?
Home
(repeated)

'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone
where you go when you’re alone
Is where you go to rest your bones
It’s not just where you lay your head
It's not just where you make your bed
As long as we’re together, does it matter where we go?
Home
(repeated)

By analysing and understanding the lyrics of this song, it has allowed me to start to develop and storyboard some ideas for my music video. After doing some audience research I have realised it is important to have a link between the video and the lyrics. With my music video I intend to create a story to go with the lyrics of the song, by analysing each verse carefully it will help me to create the story in which will be in my music video, by creating a story to go with the lyrics it also fits of the codes and convetions of a typical indie pop music video.

Textual Analysis - Magazine Advert

Florence and the Machine have a similar style of music to my chosen artist Gabrielle Aplin (who's song I am using for my music video.) Florence and the Machine have a very similar style for adverts as Gabrielle Aplin which is why I decided to choose to analyse her magazine advert for the 'Lungs' album.

They use a medium close-up of what seems to be a cartooned version of the lead singer I think this gives the poster a very delicate, organic and raw feel and this could imply what the music is like. Although Florence and The Machine are the band it only features Florence therefore this could be showing that all of the focus should be on her as she is the most recognisable member of the group. The font and overall style of the advert looks very amateur but could be argued as nostalgic this again relates to my target audience where when I did my research it said that it made them feel sentimental and this could relate to this.

In comparison to this advert showing Jessie J, a mainstream artist who is regularly in the charts. This advert seems to be more 'in your face' than to Florence and The Machine advert as they use bolder colours and the actual image of the singer is fairly intimidating and again 'in your face'. In the Florence and The Machine advert Florence isn't making eye contact with the viewer, this shows that Jessie's music may be hard hitting and straight to the point whereas Florence's may be a little sweeter and not so in your face.

Target audience
I think the target audience for the Florence and The Machine magazine advert are young females, which is also the target audience for my chosen artist. I think predominately young females are the target audience for my as the main singer of the group and I know that her music is about love and relationships which is stereotypically the type of music that females prefer to listen to. Also, in the background they have flowers and flowers are a symbol of love and compassion which again, stereotypically is linked with the female gender more.

Conventions of a magazine advert
This things that I will take and put on the magazine advert are the big bold font that says the artist name and the use of other fonts around the page. I will use one dominate image of the artist to show that it is her although I know Florence and The Machine are a group my artist is solo so therefore I will only need one image.  I will also put information about when and where to get the album from.

I learnt from this what are the elements I need to make my own magazine advert. I think that I can take some of the things that have been used on this magazine advert and use them on mine. Things such as portraying my lead singer as young and innocent, changing the colour and contrast of the image to give it a more rustic look.By doing this it ties in with my target audience. I think by doing this is have got the conventions sorted so now know. (see above on what I have learnt).

Audience Targetting- continued

When doing my audience research I asked my audience to look at a sheet cotaining ten words whilst listening to the song and they have to pick the three words they thought related to the song the most.

Here is the list of words I gave them;

HAPPY

SAD

EMOTIONAL

EXCITED

BORED

CALM

CHEERFUL

SENTIMENTAL

AFFECTIONATE

UNINTERESTED

And here are my results:

 

 

The majority of people in my audience research chose the words emotional, sentimental and sad/happy so I am therefore going to take all of these words in to account when I start creating my music video.

 

By me doing this task it will help me to be able to relate to my target audience more and to help to create a certain type of emotion when I create my music video. That is if I choose to actually go with what the audience expect in the song or I could surprise the audience and go against what they said. This may add another dimension to the music video and attract other audiences aswell as my target audience.

Test Foootage

 Test Footage

   

Here is some test footage where we did a close up and a medium close up, whislt trying out lip syncing for the first time. It is also beneficial as it will help me to get in to the character more as I am featuring in my own music video I found it difficult at first to keep a straight face but I think it helped to to get out of the habit of that also.

I also took some photos of where we filmed the test footage:

I decided to film my test footage in the wood because I learnt from my audience research that the woods are something that people expect to see in an indie pop video which is the genre of music in which the song I am using fits in to.

By doing this it will help me to picture my video more when I start storyboarding my actual video. It also helped my me and my group to get used to the camera and the type of shots we would like to use and what angles and shots look best. It has also given me a clear idea of exactly what I want in my music video and how I need to go about that.

Todorov's 3 Act Structure

The three-act structure is a model used in writing and evaluating modern storytelling which divides a screenplay into three parts called the Setup, the Confrontation and the Resolution.

Izetan Todorov was a Bulgarian structuralist linguist publishing influential work on narrative from the 1960s onwards) Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages: A state of equilibrium at the outset. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action. A recognition that there has been a disruption. An attempt to repair the disruption. A reinstatement of the equilibrium. This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many ‘mainstream’ film narratives.

Tzvetan Todorov thought of the 'Three Act Structure' this is

Equlibibrium

Disruption

New Equalibrium

His theory can be applied to most films for example in the film Taken

Equlibibrium- When Bryan has quite his job to stay in his daughter, Kim's life but Kim lives with her mum and her very rich step-dad. Bryan doesn't see his daughter much and he is a very protective father.

Disruption- Kim goes on holiday with her friend, alone and Bryan doesn't want her to and she gets kidnapped whilst on holiday by trafficers. Bryan goes to try and find his daughter. Mean while Kim's friend dies because the trafficers drug her till her death.

New Equalibrium- Bryan rescues his daughter and he starts to build a better relationship with his daughter.




By researching Todorov's three act structure it will help me to decide whether I would like to use his theory in my music video. It also will help my apply this to my music video if I chose to use it. In my music video I am thinking of creating a performance/story therefore I will make sure I use the three part structure to create my story. I want my video to end happily therefore this will definitely enable me to use Todorov's three part structure.

Audience Research

Here is my audience research. We did this to get a good idea of what people expect to see in an 'indie pop' video so I could fit the right codes and conventions for this genre of music.

Here are the questions I asked for my audience research;
What would you expect to see in an indie/pop music video?
What do you think of when you hear this song?
What would you expect to see in the music video for Gabrielle Aplin - Home?
What do you think is cliche for this genre of music?
Who do you think the target audience is for this song?

We found out that our target audience are primarily girls aged 13-20. I am going to be making my music video a mix between performance and story as my researched has shown me this is what people expect from an indie pop music video.

Textual Analysis - Album Covers

Textual Analysis - Alum Covers

Birdy creates similar music to Gabrielle Aplin (the artists who song I want to use in my video). Her album cover and her videos seem to be carrying the same 'plain and simple' theme, although the lighting on the album cover is alot lighter than the lighting in her videos. She is giving a vacant stare on the cover which implies she is in a deep matter of thought. And the long shot of her shows her fashion style and makes her look small and innocent. This could be relating to her target audience of teenage girls. The image makes the artist look naïve which could relate to her target audience of teenage girls, which in your teen years is when you stereotypically start to experience 'real life'. This could be giving people an insight of what to expect in her music with the 'deep thinking' I believe this is what she was stying to achieve.

This is the back cover of Birdy's album. This is a conventional back cover of an album. It is still in keeping with the front of the album with the 'indie' style, keeping continuity throughout the album cover. Although there is not picture of Birdy on the back it also could be another insight in the simple, minimalistic approach Birdy gives to her music and texts.

Through the front and the back cover of this album I think Birdy had been represented in a couple of different ways. I think with the simplistic way the album is designed emphasises the style of music Birdy creates. I think the mis-en0-scene is a huge factor for this as the clothes she is wearing are all plain and simple, but contemporary with the fashion, which is the style of her music. With the image of Birdy on the front it could be percieved as either showing the 'deeper meaning' behind her music which is what I personally think it does. Or it could be showing her innocence so her target audience are able to relate and confide in her music.

On the album cover that I am going to create I want to make it fairly similar to this album as I want to create the innocent vibe of the artist through the album cover and I think the vancy in her stare helps contribute towards the innocence of the artist.

From doing this piece of research I now have many ideas of what I want on my album cover. I think it is important for the type of artist I am making the album digipak for that some of what I do is very conventional. This is important as although challenging the conventions is a good thing. I think I will do a conventional front cover, using a close up image of the artist, but may create a slightly less conventional back cover.

Textual Analysis – Birdy Skinny Love

  I have chosen to do a textual analysis of Birdy's “Skinny Love” because this is the genre of music I plan to create my music video for. It is song similar to the Gabrielle Aplin song that I want to use.  

The term skinny love is defined as "When you're in a relationship because you need to be, but that's not necessarily why you should be in a relationship. And that's skinny; it doesn't have weight. Skinny love doesn't have a chance because it's not nourished."

 

   One of the first shots in the music video is a mid-close up of the artist at a piano, this shot is pretty cliché for this genre of music. But it gives the audience an impression of what the video is going to be like. It also implies that the singer has written the song as they are playing it at the piano. Therefore making it more impressive for the audience. The duration of the shot is five seconds which is quite a slow for an editing pace, but it suits the pace to the song.  

The next few shots are of the singer walking through a run-down house which again, is pretty cliché for this genre of music.

Camera Shots

 Mid Shot

 Close up

 Mid-Close up

 Long Shot

Extreme Close up

The camera shots throughout the music video there aren't really any long-shots besides the one which I have shown, I think this is because the song is very emotional and they want the audience to feel this, making it quite intimate and more relatable. 

Mis En Scene

The mise en scene in the video is all very natural and neutral. The setting is all very run down which implies the song is about a bad memory or just a memory of the relationship she is or was in.  

Cinematography 

Focus graphs are a huge factor of Indie music videos. 

Sound

The sound throughout is non-diegetic as it is a song added after editing.  

Who is the target audience for this text? – From watching the “Skinny Love” video I think it is pretty clear who the target audience from the text is. From the age of the singer, emotion of the video I think it is targeted at teenage girls. 

Representations of social groups

The social groups represented in this text are young females. People always stereotype teenage girls as 'emotional' and in your teen years you start to grow up and develop the type of person you become as an adult, which is what I think this song is about. Birdy (the singer) doesn't really show a significant emotion in the video, like the rest of the conventions of the video she is very neutral. This represents her as a sensitive teenage girl which is stereotypical for the age of her. 

Summary – Doing this textual analysis has helped me to decide what I want in my music video and what I do not want. It has also helped to reassure me in the conventions of a indie pop video so I know what is important for me to recreate within mine.

In the “Skinny Love” video I thought that the connection between the song and the text was very effective. When you first watch the video it is hard to tell what the meaning of the video is, it just looks as though Birdy is performing a song a the piano. Once I watched the video a few more times, and knew what the term 'Skinny Love' meant I began to understand the connection and I think it was a clever and effective way of doing it. It shows her letting out her feelings of her relationship.

I also found that the neutral colours that were used throughout the video worked very well. The colours gave the video the same emotion as the song. 

Although there were many things I liked about the text, there were also some things that I disliked.I found that the video was too dark and although it was good for the mood of the song they could have used lighter natural colours. 

In the text that I create I will avoid using alot of low lighting because the audience may find the video too hard to follow or struggle to see the shots. I will work out the target audience for the song, and then keep the same target audience for the video.

My own music video is very similar to this one with the settings of the wood and the shabby feel in the video. In addition, the conventions of an indoe pop music video are seen, with the isolated location, the story line, the artist singing, the camera shots and movements such as pans across the setting as all evident in this music video. This confirming that to make a good acoustic music video it is best to stick to the conventions to make it look convincing and be successful is put out into the media light as a real media text.