The Streets Analysis

The music video “The Streets – Blinded by the Lights” starts off with a very common man from the east end getting ready for a party. The text shown to the camera is the establishing shot which shows that he is meant to meet this girl in the corner. ‘The corner’ straight away emphasises the rebellious nature of the two and sets the scene. The slow beats of the music are in time with slow cut aways which helps emphasise certain points within the scene and increase the intensity of the drugs that he has taken. The POV angle shows the slow deterioration of his stability and this abstract view is parallel to the abstract nature of the situation he is in. The drugs are seen to take him away from reality and it is perceived as a good thing.
There can be a negative responce from feminists as women are perceived to be the antagonist which is paralel to the stereotype of the 1800's view on women as they are seen to be problematic. This form of short term pleasure is apparent in the narrative as women and drugs are seen to be pleasurable but lead to negative things.

Diary

I have been so excited to choose my music video.
I have written down loads of plans for it but I just need to get the right location and I will be done!
I have learnt alot about the norms of music videos and what are succesful styles.
I have learnt about how music video's all have a concept behind them and can relate to real life situations ect.

AS Production

Skill Development

Throughout the process I developed new skills from creating my magazine, the program photoshop was dominated by my mouse as I played around with cool effects and tried to see what worked and what didnt. At the start I had no knowledge at all of what I was doing and I was even considering using paint for a while. I chose to just get on with the nitty gritty work and practice designing logo's and editing pictures which eventually got a bit better.


Digital Technology

The technology that I used in AS was so helpful as even on post production could I use cool gadgets to completely remake my pictures. I used a Canon 500D to take photos of my model and this was a big asset for me as it was such high quality and was handheld. I was able to take hundreds of photos of my model at whatever angle I wanted and at the same time see the picture on the screen at the back. This enabled me to see if the lighting was ok or to see what angle my next picture should be at. I will be using these cameras to record aswell as they have extra features on them.

Creativity

Creativity is an important aspect in designing my front cover as I had to come up with new and cool ideas that would entertain the reader and essentially attract them straight away so that they would buy my magazine. I used certain effects to represent the music artists in my magazine and I had to think be open minded for critisism so that I could come up with new ideas.

Research and Planning

Throughout the creation of my magazine I had to collect information from certain peers, teachers and others so that I could have an overall opinion on what looks good and what doesnt. The research I had to do was for the pricing of my magazine, I looked at similar magazines such as Vibe and XXL so that I could see what kind of price I should price at due to the similar audience that I am targeting.
I planned my front cover, contents and double page spread by drawing numerous amounts of sketches by hand and seeing what kind of layout and colours worked. This planning helped me significantly as not only did I have knowledge of what I was creating before I actually turned on the computer, but I could research and find out from others if the designs looked good instead of me wasting time on my design and it turning out bad.

Relation to Real texts

My magazine was based around young people in urban London who have been through the struggle but have made it big. The relation is clearly there and the colours and pictures represent young urban culture.

My past experiences

I have never really got hands on experience in photoshop but I have always been surrounded by people who design for a living. I am used to filming or being infront of a camera so taking the pictures and designing the magazine was new to me but I really enjoyed it. I practiced designing silly designs and logo's with my friend before I started the production so I only had a day or two experience before hand.

Research and Planning

These are key concepts within this industry as without any preparation it is impossible to know if anyone would like the video your creating and lots of factors would be messed up.
Planning is an important factor in general as I practically live by the phrase "Fail to prepare, Prepare to Fail." This will be relevant to my music video as I will have to find out good locations and look at lots of music videos to see 'what works.' Once I find my location I will have to plan out what time and date I can film and find out if the place I will be at will be busy or quiet. If I get these wrong I could be interrupted alot by passers by and it could effect the video.
Most likely I will do a storyboard of my video before I actually create it because I find that if I see things visually before then I can picture it a lot better and it should go to plan.

My production experiences

In AS level I created my own music magazine in the genre of urban hip hop as I can relate alot to that category and I enjoy my culture a lot. The music magazine consisted of me researching various artists and magazines and I had to put this into a magazine and do a creative design.
Other than school work I tend to make videos with my friend for fun, we do small comedy sketches and also do short freestyles as I am a beatboxer. I tend to be acting or recording and he is usually editing as he prefers this. I really enjoy finding new ideas to expand on and I like to do what people think isnt possible.

Relation to Real texts

The content of the music video can relate to certain world problems or a past event that is to be recreated, this can spark controversy within the media and therefore spreads the video around.
If for example someone was to create a music video where two towers were to get knocked down people could relate to the 9/11 twin towers being knocked down and would instantly have an emotional connection with the audience as it is a very emotional subject.
Mainstream artists tend to do this alot for example a rap artist called "Immortal Technique." He states problems in American society and exploits this in his music videos and lyrics. The lyrics that he writes reflects on the visuals and this is very controversial as he is saying what people are too scared to say.

Post Production

Post production is effectively the final step in the making of a film or television programme - a process of refinement and transition of raw materials into a finished product before distribution and release to the public. It involves me editing the video and adding effects to it. For example if I filmed someone in front of a green screen I could edit him so that the background changed to a purple colour or a seaside giving the impression that he is somewhere else.
Digital technology (mentioned previously in my blog) has dramatically altered the post production sector, with new editing and effects capabilities emerging all the time. Digital technology and computer-based editing systems allow for clearer pictures and smoother editing techniques, constantly improving picture quality.

Creativity

Creativity is interpreted in many different ways.
I believe that creativity is the way in which you yourself create something that gives a new experience for yourself and others. It is the growing of a new idea and in a sense sparks a theory or prospect of entertainment. This aspect is essential in my music video as I am trying to sell the song and entertain my audience, if I am not creative and I simply just get the music video done it will not suprise my audience and in this era people want new ideas. The music video is my interpretation of the song and through the video I will show this, it will give an insight into how i see the song and is a universal view as others may see it differently but could relate.
To expand my ideas I have been writing down all of my ideas and planning them out instead of forgetting them.

Digital Technology

The digital technology that I will be using will be cameras and other digital equipment which will be supplied by the media department and my camera at home. The quality of the camera's are the same so there will be no difference if I was to use different cameras for a scene. Thanks to the progression in digital technology can we now see what the clip looks like instantly after we recorded where as in the 1980's the camera crew would have to record the scene and judge whether to keep the recording or not. There is also a new experience for the viewer as the visual quality of cameras have improved and now you can purchase a good quality camera much cheaper. This is similar with the sound of the recording as in every aspect of digital technology has improved significantly. I will be using a handheld camera and this will give the effect that the viewer has an insight to the video and will be as if they are experiencing it first hand. Having a hand held camera is another development in technology as cameras used to be big and bulky and this would make me unable to record as having a big camera would be expensive and hard to move around.

Skill development

Skill development is essential in any path of life that you choose, if you have the ability to develop a skill quickly then that saves time and effort in your work and can benefit you in many ways. Last year I managed to develop skills in Photoshop CS3 quite quickly which helped me manage my time better with my work as I knew more of what I was doing. With my music video if I can learn to handle the camera well and handle the technology well it will make things a lot easier for me. Developing a skill does not just come easily though, it takes lots of time and practice as "Practice makes perfect." I will practice on editing softwares and try out different camera angles so that I know I have the right shot and this will get better as I keep on doing it. An example of skill development in general would be a sportsman, hard physical work is put into their training and as they keep on practicing they will get better and better for the final competition (product.)

Post Modernism

"A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually. Postmodernism relies on concrete experience over abstract principles, knowing always that the outcome of one's own experience will necessarily be fallible and relative, rather than certain and universal." - http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/postm-body.html

Best definition that I could find, I couldnt put it into one sentence.

Media Homework first draft with Faisal - Will be video'd

How to teach Genre

Genre is part of the Key Concept of Language, and can be applied to all kinds of media text. Putting media texts such as film, television programmes, print media, or music into categories is useful as a way of establishing some kind of control over information. Each genre follows its own kinds of conventions - language, characteristic signs and sign systems. However, genres are fluid and not fixed and under constant renegotiation between media industry and audience through the combination of the familiar and the unexpected.

Narative

Media texts use world events, news and imagination to put together good stories in the form of film, drama, etc. They may also be continuous or serial narratives, such as television news broadcasts or soap operas… like east enders u zimme.

Representation

Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.
This is in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity (the 'cage' of identity) - How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women?

Media Audience

When media texts produce their entertainment they always have a core audience and a secondary audience in mind. With that they research into the likes and intrests of that core audience and market where appropriate for the audience, for example if the film is a horror for over 18’s they will not advertise on cbbc or childerens programs.

Media theory and Language

Understanding Media Theory describes the ways in which our means of communication determine what and who we are, how we behave, what we do and do not think about, how our feelings develop and are limited, and who we can and cannot reach.

Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people” (Katz, 1959) . It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification.