My name is Jamie Stanton and i am from walsall in the west midlands. i am an A-level student at the Birmingham metropolitan college in Sutton coldfield. I study business, economics, history and media studies. This blog has been created as part of my A2 media studies project. My blog will follow my progress from research to the production and evaluation of my chosen media production.
Thursday, 23 September 2010
about me
My name is Jamie Stanton and i am from walsall in the west midlands. i am an A-level student at the Birmingham metropolitan college in Sutton coldfield. I study business, economics, history and media studies. This blog has been created as part of my A2 media studies project. My blog will follow my progress from research to the production and evaluation of my chosen media production.
documentary conventions and analysis
Documentaries resent information about factual topics. These films have a variety of aims, to record important events and ideas; to inform viewers; to convey opinions and to create public interest. documentaries use actuality. Instead of using scripts and actors they unfold real stories in real settings, with real people. documentaries ofen use voice over, this helps the fim maker to speak directly to the audience aswell as provide additional information/statistics as well as delivering their opionion.they also tend to use interviews, often proffessional experts who are able to balance the arguement and show that opinions are shared between people and also to provide evidence. archive footage is also regularly used in documentaries, it shows historical significance and and change over time.In a documentary,an exposition occurs at the beginning and introduces the important themes of the film. It is important because it creates the viewer's first impression and introduces the viewer to the content.
music video conventions and analysis
conventions of contemporary music video's
there are 3 basic conventions of any music video:
1. a performance based video (e.g. Alicia keys - new york pt. 2)
2. a narrative based video (e.g. Michael Jackson's thriller)
3. an abstract music video (e.g. Gnarls Barkley- crazy)
although there are three basic conventions a combination of the 3 can be used. for example a narrative music video may have shots of the artist performing interwoven between parts of the story in order to create more depth. similarly, for Gnarls Barkley's abstract video 'crazy' although the images are abstract the artists face often appears singing the words. the combination of the the basic conventions is very common in contemporary music videos.
it is common for us to see artists from the same musical genre to share similar conventions in there music videos. for example it is common for rock bands and country singers to have performance based videos for there music. this is not true for all rock music videos however and is becoming less true as the music industry changes.
another convention of music videos is the layout of the video's song titles. they commonly appear in the bottom left hand corner of the frame and appear at the beginning and end or the video. they are usually laid out as follows:
- name of song
-name of artist
-name of album
furthermore the way in which music videos are edited also follows a common convention. the shots tend to change in time with the music and transitions usually cut. shots usually on appear for a few seconds before changing. however shots from the same scene are usually used randomly throughout the video.
the music video i have analysed is for the song 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash. before watching the video i listened to the song and analysed the lyrics to see if i could create an image of what the video would be like.
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
[Chorus:]
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
from the genre of the song i quickly assumed that the video would be centred around an artists performance. this is a common convention of country music. the lyrics themselves told a dark story of his past with drugs and fame and i believed that the video may contain either flashbacks or archive footage. with the dark story i though would come a dark setting which would reflect the songs tone, i established that this would be done by centering the performance in a dark or poorly lit room. from the lyrics i also created an image of religious references appearing in the video when Johnny Cash sings ' i wear this crown of thorns'. although he is not comparing himself to Christ he is in fact showing similarities in the pain they have felt. has Johnny Cash been persecuted like Christ? i also felt that perhaps there would be shots used to show his relationship with family as there are several lyrics that talk about his loss of loved ones and the sacrifices that have been made for his fame and fortune.furthermore i imagined that references to drug use may be made as he sings 'the needle tears a hole'. i felt that this was a reference to a previous miss use of drugs.
the image i had created turned out to be fairly accurate and it proved that there is a very relevant link between what we hear and what we see within a music video. Below i have embedded the music video.
Johnny Cash - Hurt (Video)
the video shows johnny cash sat in a dark room with his guitar. he is sat on a luxuries chair with red velvet seat and gold embroidery. this relates back to his lyrics about it being his 'empire'. the next shot we see is of the American flag this has connotations of the 'American dream'. perhaps it is not quite as glamorous as we assume... the video then cuts to shots of the Johnny Cash museum which has been dedicated to him, this would suggest a career of great achievement and great fame. when he sings '' i remember'' the video cuts to archive footage of him from his earlier career. it is done in such a way that it almost represents a memory he is sharing with us.
Cash then sings '' everyone i know, goes away In the end'' and at this point it cuts to a shot of a picture on his wall who we assume is a relative, that is no longer with us.
''empire of dirt'' the video cuts back to the shots of his museum. this time the inside is shown. it is broke down and in ruins, perhaps this reflects his career or life at present. he is saying that although you can have it all, eventually it will become worthless like dirt.
the shots of him in the dark room show him sat at the head of a table with lots of Divine foods and champagne, again he has it all but its worthless to him because he has no one to share it with anymore. we then cut to a montage of his past which shows his life in a short space of time, the ups and downs, highs and lows.
overall i would say that this was an interesting video to analyse. it held strong meaning and served its purpose as a music video at the same time.
there are 3 basic conventions of any music video:
1. a performance based video (e.g. Alicia keys - new york pt. 2)
2. a narrative based video (e.g. Michael Jackson's thriller)
3. an abstract music video (e.g. Gnarls Barkley- crazy)
although there are three basic conventions a combination of the 3 can be used. for example a narrative music video may have shots of the artist performing interwoven between parts of the story in order to create more depth. similarly, for Gnarls Barkley's abstract video 'crazy' although the images are abstract the artists face often appears singing the words. the combination of the the basic conventions is very common in contemporary music videos.
it is common for us to see artists from the same musical genre to share similar conventions in there music videos. for example it is common for rock bands and country singers to have performance based videos for there music. this is not true for all rock music videos however and is becoming less true as the music industry changes.
another convention of music videos is the layout of the video's song titles. they commonly appear in the bottom left hand corner of the frame and appear at the beginning and end or the video. they are usually laid out as follows:
- name of song
-name of artist
-name of album
furthermore the way in which music videos are edited also follows a common convention. the shots tend to change in time with the music and transitions usually cut. shots usually on appear for a few seconds before changing. however shots from the same scene are usually used randomly throughout the video.
the music video i have analysed is for the song 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash. before watching the video i listened to the song and analysed the lyrics to see if i could create an image of what the video would be like.
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
[Chorus:]
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
from the genre of the song i quickly assumed that the video would be centred around an artists performance. this is a common convention of country music. the lyrics themselves told a dark story of his past with drugs and fame and i believed that the video may contain either flashbacks or archive footage. with the dark story i though would come a dark setting which would reflect the songs tone, i established that this would be done by centering the performance in a dark or poorly lit room. from the lyrics i also created an image of religious references appearing in the video when Johnny Cash sings ' i wear this crown of thorns'. although he is not comparing himself to Christ he is in fact showing similarities in the pain they have felt. has Johnny Cash been persecuted like Christ? i also felt that perhaps there would be shots used to show his relationship with family as there are several lyrics that talk about his loss of loved ones and the sacrifices that have been made for his fame and fortune.furthermore i imagined that references to drug use may be made as he sings 'the needle tears a hole'. i felt that this was a reference to a previous miss use of drugs.
the image i had created turned out to be fairly accurate and it proved that there is a very relevant link between what we hear and what we see within a music video. Below i have embedded the music video.
Johnny Cash - Hurt (Video)
the video shows johnny cash sat in a dark room with his guitar. he is sat on a luxuries chair with red velvet seat and gold embroidery. this relates back to his lyrics about it being his 'empire'. the next shot we see is of the American flag this has connotations of the 'American dream'. perhaps it is not quite as glamorous as we assume... the video then cuts to shots of the Johnny Cash museum which has been dedicated to him, this would suggest a career of great achievement and great fame. when he sings '' i remember'' the video cuts to archive footage of him from his earlier career. it is done in such a way that it almost represents a memory he is sharing with us.
Cash then sings '' everyone i know, goes away In the end'' and at this point it cuts to a shot of a picture on his wall who we assume is a relative, that is no longer with us.
''empire of dirt'' the video cuts back to the shots of his museum. this time the inside is shown. it is broke down and in ruins, perhaps this reflects his career or life at present. he is saying that although you can have it all, eventually it will become worthless like dirt.
the shots of him in the dark room show him sat at the head of a table with lots of Divine foods and champagne, again he has it all but its worthless to him because he has no one to share it with anymore. we then cut to a montage of his past which shows his life in a short space of time, the ups and downs, highs and lows.
overall i would say that this was an interesting video to analyse. it held strong meaning and served its purpose as a music video at the same time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)