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.