Clockwork Productions: 2013

1. Music Videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics.
This means that the individual music video will display characteristics relevant to its genre. e.g. In a rock music video you will often see close ups of the instruments.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
Lyrics are often related to the video itself.

3. There is often a relationship between music and visuals.
The music playing will be related to the video, be it through instruments or the beat.

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist.
The record label will always have close ups of the lead singer.

5. The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work.
Themes and items that will continue to appear throughout all their music videos. Colours, settings, morals, etc.

6. There is frequent reference to the notion of 'looking' and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
Focus will be applied on objects or on scantily clad women.

7. There are often intertextual references - mostly to film, television and popular culture.
It will contain ideas and imagery of things that are apparent in our current trends and interests.

Warriors Dance by The Prodigy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxZJTRhcFg4
A good example of Goodwins second feature. In the video packets of cigarettes are shown being destructive and eventually causing a fire. A reference to our cultures current view on smoking as being harmful and dangerous.

Let You Go by Chase and Status
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBFEBeOTGXc
A good example of Goodwins third feature. Throughout the song, the current image will often change in relation to the beat of the music.

Media Music Video Homework: Evaluation of pre 1996 music video

Music Video Before 1996 Evaluation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-E-LDc384
Enter Sandman by Metallica

Mise en Scene:
Lots of shots containing images of skull rings and the neck of a guitar being played. Guitar neck is a convention of rock/heavy metal music videos and the imagery of a skull is common in heavy metal which this song is. There are also many mid shots containing the lead singer with a lack of a shirt. Having the lead singer in many shots is one of Goodwins conventions and the shirtless factor may be in reference to the fact that in the genre of heavy metal, to look 'hard' or the part you either have to wear dark clothing such as a leather jacket or no upper clothes at all.

Editing:
There is no continuous video throughout the song. The music video is structured with hundreds of pictures some of which are symbolic of motion. The editing between these images is fast paced and in time with the beat of the music the majority of the time. This shows that an importance between the music and the images is being emphasised by the band.

Sound:
Well, it's a music video. So the song IS the sound.

Camera Angles:
Many close ups of the lead singers hands playing the guitar and more specifically on his skull. This emphasis is conventional to the stereotype of having as much shots of the instruments as possible in a rock/metal music video. The emphasis on the skull ring is in relation to stereotypes and values in heavy metal so a close up of this ring adds further standards to the video itself. In terms of long shots, the only times they are used is when a character that is not in the band is in them. The long shots are all in relation to what is occuring in the video and serve as a way to show the viewer just what is happening and to give them the context of the situation. For example, later on in the video we get a long shot of a man running in obvious fear from something on a road. If this were a close up, we would only recieve his emotions at that point, whereas because it is a long shot we see that he is running along a road in what is either sweatpants or pyjamas. This would give viewers the idea that this man is running in fear from the mentioned 'sandman' and that he is being chased by him as he has not had chance to change into suitable clothing or acquire a vehicle.

Goodwins theories, and two suited examples

Examples Of Goodwin's Theories (One)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgltSp_mU7M

This video is 'On Top Of The World' by Imagine Dragons. This video uses the genre characteristics section, as it shows the band both in the studio, and live on stage. The video shows realistically how the 'Indie' genre acts in real life, and it also portrays their characteristics.

After attempting several times, I have realised that embedding the official video is not going to happen! So, annoyingly, I have just had to edit in a link to this video, because it enjoys being awkward!

Goodwins theories, and two suited examples

Examples Of Goodwin's Theories (Two)

Mr Brightside, by The Killers is a great example of a music video which uses the seventh finding in Goodwin's theories; close ups of the artist, demanded by the record label. Throughout the whole song, something will occur in the video, and every few seconds, a close up or possibly a mid shot will be used on the artists, mostly the singer.

Music Video Analysis - Danny Hammond

Another Brick In The Wall - The Wall - Pink Floyd

I have chosen to do an analysis on Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick In The Wall' from their album 'The Wall' made in November 1979. The entire album is a story, modeled around band member Roger Waters. It unveils the story of how losing his father in the war affected him personally, and also how he created a hypothetical 'wall' between himself and particular people in order to block them out from his life.

One of the first scenes show the image of a child in a dark tunnel, walking towards the light, using a long shot. This image is used almost as a prequel effect, as the narrative is actually more fitting to this scene, later on in the video. It could also be interpreted as he is trying to distance himself from the darker things in life, and trying to get closer to what he see's, as the good things - represented by the light. This is a possibility, because as mentioned in the previous paragraph, this video is based on his real life; and we know he attempts to distance himself from people in real life.
Low angle shots are used every time during a two shot between the child and his teacher. This is used to represent the power the teachers had over the student, and also how much students feared/hated their teachers back in this time. Point of view shots are also used in the same manner, as the child is sitting down, making the teacher appear much bigger. This method is used because it makes one character seem bigger, and therefore more powerful, than the other.
Despite the previous scene using the teacher as the authoritative character, the scene is later cut to one of himself and his wife at home. Closeups are used on each of the characters, and it is quite clear that the teacher is no longer the authoritative one. He uses facial expressions which make him look scared and controlled, whereas the wife looks angry, and to some extent, disgusted, when he doesn't eat something on his plate - which later on turns out to be irony, as he shouts "If you don't eat your meat, you cant have any pudding" and he knows full-well, that at home, he was the one who did not finish his dinner.
A little later on in the video, we see a scene where all characters are walking in a line, very monotonously. The scene starts off showing a few characters doing so (all children) . A zoom out is then used revealing more and more characters, again all children. This may be used to exaggerate the old saying that "Children should be seen and not heard". This is thought as the children are all openly marching down an gangway, yet none of them are saying a single word. They are completely under control. A pan shot is then used to move from the children walking, to them being behind a brick wall. This is used in link to the name of the song, and the album name. After going behind the wall, another pan is used to move it after the wall, and all the children are seen to be sitting at a desk. This could be representation of Roger's real life, possibly saying that after experiencing 'The Wall' - It is some-what the tipping edge, to your already miserable life, as shown by the kids facial and bodily expressions.
There is also a very interesting shot used towards the end of the video. It is a low angle shot of a brick wall, with a shadow upon it. This shadow is a hammer beating down at a specific rate. Although the theme of a beating hammer is used throughout the album, in this particular video, it could be used to represent the possibility that the kids could break free, if they were to make themselves heard, which later on is shown, as they begin to smash the whole place up, in some cases, using hammers!

The most outstanding piece of inter-cutting juxtaposition is used during this music video. We see several cuts from the teacher smacking students hard, to the teacher at home, being controlled heavily by his wife, without words even having to be said. This scene is also linking to the lyrics at the time - one of Goodwin's theories.
Throughout the entire beginning of the the video, the cuts are quite slow, and boring. Long takes are also used. This could be used to represent the fact that the character is bored, and hates it where he is. This assumption comes from the fact that time moves slowly, when you are bored. Later on, however, we see the complete opposite, when the place is being trashed. Lots of fast paced, short takes are used, most likely to represent the fact that now everyone is having fun, and this is what they enjoy.
Shot-reverse-shots are used frequently between the child and the teacher to show their differing facial expressions. The teacher seems as though he is enjoying himself, whereas the child looks very upset. It is also important to point out the fact that within these shot reverse shots, the teacher is always to the right of the shot, whereas the child is placed on the left. This shows importance, and could also be interpreted as a little hint of foreshadowing, that in the end (of this video, at least) the child will come out best.

The mise-en-scene used in this video is very strange, even for Pink Floyd, who are well known for there some-what 'adventurous' videos. In the school, natural lighting is used. As an audience, we would expect it to be darker, because we know that the child focused on hates school. The natural lighting could be used to represent the fact that the teacher bullying him, is actually quite normal, possibly?
Throughout the whole video, kids are portrayed to be all the same, and also they should have no opinion on anything, and should go by in life, following the exact orders from adults. The mise-en-scene represents this brilliantly, in a couple of different ways. Firstly, the children all have to wear school uniform. Although we see this as quite normal, in the mind of a child, this is unfair! The uniform makes them all the same. The other method used to do this within costume, is they are given a mask, which is mostly all the same, except from some minor differences. This shows that absolutely everything that can represent opinions has now been taken away, even their facial expressions. It also keeps them to all be the same.
The two main locations also help to represent this. The first being a school. Within a school, it is well known (more so for the time when this film was made) that the children had no power, and the teachers were in charge. The second being a factory. This is a place of work, and takes away all of the kids childhood, and is a very 'adulty' place. It is also a place where everything is monotonous. This exaggerates the power issue kids face, as they all have to move in complete time, and cannot be different in any ways.
It should also be noted that no one wears any makeup. Although the cast is male dominated, it shows no personality, again linking to everyone having to be the same

Sound in a music video is very heavily linked to editing, because throughout a music video, the sound is the song!
One thing noticed is that a lot of the time (not all of the time) cuts are used in response to the beat of the music. This adds effect heavily, and the particular instrument, in some cases, could link with the narrative of the video.
Unlike most music videos, in this one, the lyrics stop. Speech from the teacher is used instead, while the music continues very lightly in the background. This could be used to represent the teachers power, yet again, because as soon as he speaks, everyone else speaking must stop, even if the singer is now an adult.
Diegetic sounds are used as well, which have been digitally enhanced. The first used is the train passing by, and the second is he bell. The bell may be enhanced because the sound of this could be the best thing ever for a child to hear, as it means school is finished. It rings so loud and true to the child, it must be shown to us, the audience, as to how important this sound actually is.

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Update 2/4/13

Not our usual video update that we normally do, but we are on Easter holiday!!

Just updating to say that now everything seems to be done (at last)! All the evaluation questions have been completed and our final product has been handed in. However, we were disappointed to find out that the final scene, the pocket watch scene, that we had been so eagerly waiting upon went missing on the mac's, as the member of our group who left, we uncontactable! We were gutted about this, as it completed our product, and as it was a last minute job, it appears as though we had to 'bodge' it, ending up with a final scene that is so awful - however, kudos to Ryan who managed to do some last minute work on it, to make it not so awful!

Overall, the whole process has finally come to an end, so we shall see how things get on, and hopefully, the finished piece, which I haven't fully seen, is as good as our time and effort should portray.

Question 6

Thursday, 28 March 2013

Evaluation question 7: Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt leading up to the main task

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Thriller evaluation - question One part Two

Thriller Evaluation - Question One

Monday, 25 March 2013

Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience

Question 5 from clockwork101

Friday, 22 February 2013

Evaluation: Question II

This is the second question of the evaluation which i used Prezi for

http://prezi.com/bhliysirphuo/clockwork-question-ii/?kw=view-bhliysirphuo&rc=ref-28926247

Evaluation: Question III

To answer question three in the evaluation i used a program called Go Animate. While it is a little childish it has worked and the question has been answered.

http://goanimate.com/videos/0IPLvkeiffcQ?utm_source=linkshare

This is a link to the video. Embedding requires a paid membership and 'Ain't nobody got time fo' dat'.

Question 4

Question 4 : Who would be the audience for your media product?

Monday, 11 February 2013

update 11/2/13

Been a while, we have everthing planned out but nothing can be done until the snow clears again. When it has we can film the final scene, finish the editing, finish the soundtrack and finally complete the evaluation.

Thursday, 31 January 2013

Update 31/01/13

Due to email merging problems I have been unable to post this update - so instead I filmed one with Danny and posted it up as a video blog. At the moment we are still working on our evaluation questions as some members of the group have not been turning up to some of the sessions. As we have now moved onto a new topic in media we are unable to use class time to finish our evaluation so meeting up outside of lesson is of vital importance. Some reasonable progress has been made on how we are going about answering each of the questions presented us.

On a more positive note I am now able to post as un-merging my account with g-mail and google+ has been successful, allowing me to post up some work I have not been able to post since christmas. Evaluation questions have all been addressed and planned we are now waiting on certain group members to carry out those plans. In the mean time we are still looking at old evaluation work to give us some ideas of how we would like to present our answer to the questions provided.

Update 23/1/13

Thursday, 17 January 2013

Analysing Past Evaluations Part: II

The group have come with me to help me make a general conclusion about all of the past evaluations we have researched. We made a small video discussing some of the pro's and con's from all of them, and how we are going to include, or avoid, these things.

The main topics we speak about are from 'analysing past evaluations part: I' but after some more extensive research, we do begin to speak about others we have viewed.

Update 17-1-13

Other Evaluations Part: I

Others Evaluations ...

My task today has been to find and analyse other past groups evaluations. I have gathered some from google and evaluations from previous students from Thurston. Here is what I found ...

Thriller Media Evaluation from Saima

This evaluation is done as a presentation, which is an idea that we like. My main problem with this evaluation is the fact that every question has been done using this rather basic technology. I think the lack of technology used in this evaluation, makes it a little boring to read, as it is mostly all block text.
Despite the fact that I do not like the idea of it all being in block text, there is not much text there at all, although even though there is a little amount of text, all of the questions are answered well, and quite thoroughly.
Another thing I don't like about this evaluation, is that there is a completely different background on every slide. This, to me, makes the evaluation a little childish. If the presentation followed a reasonable pattern, or even just stuck with the same background each time, the whole thing would look more professional, and wouldn't hurt the eye so much!
Despite the negatives I have seen from this evaluation, a couple of the slides include pictures with a brief analysis beside it. Slide 23 shows comparisons between real films, and their own. This slide also includes a brief, yet important analysis which makes this slide very good.
The picture slides after this all look like what I can only describe as a 'mish-mash'! There is one very small piece of text explaining what these pictures are about, but in my opinion, it all looks very unprofessional and messy. Some pictures over-lap and there is just no structure to it, which ruins a good idea.
Overall, I do not like this evaluation. It just looks a bit tacky, and rushed. The mass amount of block text really ruins the whole idea of using various technologies to make this, it just seems like they have taken the easy root. Also, although it is supposed to be a formal piece, this evaluation does not create any excitement, and definitely does not make me want to read on.
To avoid people thinking the same about our evaluation, we need to avoid the use of just one technology, and also avoid the use of mass text. I did like the ideas of the pictures, however, which I may choose to adapt and use myself, in a more structured manner!

This thriller evaluation is sone on prezi - a technology we have already decided to use in our own evaluation.
My main problem is the fact that the whole evaluation is done using only prezi. Despite the fact that I like the idea of this program, the presentation is 18 slides long, and flicking through it all is rather daunting. Unlike the first analysis I done, this evaluation uses very little text. This, to me, shows little understanding of how to answer the question, as little facts and points are shown, and what is written, does not sound very good.
Also, the way the paragraphs are split into different slides irritates me. The way the slides are continuously moving along every other sentence irritates me ever so much! The lack of depth within the answers shows to me this person seriously lacks any knowledge of media language.
Also, something I noticed was this person does not answer all of the questions. I searched the internet for a long time to try and find the other answers, but could not at all, so I have come to the conclusion that this person did not finish the evaluation?!
I did, however, like the way each question is in a different location and it moves along to it. This is quite a cool technology, and we shall use it within our own prezi.
Within our prezi, we will try to avoid too much movement, especially on every single sentence! Also, the use of the clip art, 'money' is so tacky and unprofessional and just so rubbish!
Overall, I feel that this evaluation does not fit any of the criteria's that are specified within the mark scheme. I think that the 'tackyness' ruins it completely, and also the lack of information put within it ruins it. With more information included, and the use of a 'P-E-E' structure, this evaluation had potential to be good, but the point was not backed up with an evidence or an evaluation. We have picked this up, and will definitely not miss this out ourselves.

Friday, 19 July 2013

Thursday, 20 June 2013

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Thursday, 13 June 2013