De/reconstruction - evaluation

Evaluation

We were put into groups in order to deconstruct and reconstruct a media text. My group chose the music video for the song “Make a Beast of Myself” by Twin Atlantic. The genre of the song is indie rock. The entire video consists of one long shot in slow motion, tracking the lead singer of the band, Sam McTrusty as he gets up off the floor and walks through a street to fall back down at the end in the position we first see him in. The majority of passer-by’s have a horrified reaction when they see him. Therefore, this video combines narrative and performance, as the narrative lies within his journey through the street, and the performance is in the singer’s lip-syncing, although we don’t see the rest of the band play their instruments. We were set to reshoot 30 seconds of this music video, reflecting it as much as we possibly could, especially its cinematography and costumes.

In terms of planning, we put together two storyboards, in which one was drawn and the other was produced on the computer, using screenshots from the actual video. I was assigned the role as the main actor and therefore had to memorise the lyrics that were covered in the extract. This didn’t prove to be too difficult as it comprised only of one verse. However, I had to lip sync it faster than the way it is sung, as we would be able to slow it down in post-production, therefore giving it the same effect as the original video. Producing the storyboards took more time as it involved watching the video and having it paused frequently to write down all the necessary details and to draw what could be seen.

The location we decided to film in was Newland Avenue, an area much like the one seen in the video because of its many shops. Filming the entire extract in one take was quite a challenge for many reasons; the actors all had to appear within the framing at the right time together, if any one actor was to show at the wrong time, a reshoot would be required. Reconstructing the cinematography correctly also proved to be difficult, as the camera had to be held very steadily on the tripod whilst still following the main actor. Also, we had to make sure before filming that we had together an adequate amount of actors (which in our case would have been seven) to reflect how busy the street is in the actual video. A few of the people we tried to recruit couldn’t make it for various reasons, so we had to make do with the five actors we had.

We were also unable to get all of the props we hoped to use in the video. We were able to get a ladder for the shooting, as well as a piece of paper to act as the map that the singer looks at whilst he walks, but we also intended to include a bike (due to a biker being featured in the video) yet we couldn’t find a bike we had permission to use near enough to us. We also couldn’t acquire a nun costume for the nun that also appears in the extract.

When it came to editing the footage, it proved to be relatively easy and quick, as we only had one full shot to deal with rather than a series of clips we had to place in the correct order and apply different effects to. We did, however, have to experiment with the speed of the clip so that the lip-syncing would match up to the song. We achieved this eventually and were happy with the overall result of the extract. We did, however, run over the recommended 30 seconds as the necessary footage was longer than this.

To conclude, this preliminary task proved to be a challenge, but we succeeded, and the more challenging the process was, the higher in regard the final result would be held.

De/reconstruction - comparisons

De/reconstruction- the finished product

We were able to film this during one afternoon, we did a few practice takes in a more quiet part of the street in which we filmed, before moving on to official filming across the shop windows. We did have a handful of takes in order to have a choice for which one we will use for the final product.
We are reasonably satisfied with our finished product.

De/reconstruction - chosen song lyrics

Lyrics:
There once was an answer out there I swear
Tied to a bottle I swear, I swear
And you can ask the Madonna if she cares, she cares
But she's hooked on the bottle I swear, I swear

You know you know it's the end of our sweet universe
You know you know that we blame it on ourselves

I wanted to laugh it off
And I want to forget that I got caught
And I wanted to laugh it off
Make a beast of myself just to kill them all

Lost in the lava, who cares, who cares?
The heats getting hotter I warned her she'd fail
The crisp white collar is on us and we want it
But I'm lost in the lava, I care, I care

You know you know it's the end of our sweet universe
You know you know that we blame it on ourselves

I wanted to laugh it off
And I want to forget that I got caught
And I wanted to laugh it off
Make a beast of myself just to kill them all
Cause it's harder than we first thought

I believe I believe you're the antidote
I believe I believe you're the antidote
If there's an answer out there it deserves to be caught
I believe I believe you're the antidote
I believe I believe you're the antidote

You know you know it's the end of our sweet universe
You know you know that we blame it on ourselves

I wanted to laugh it off
And I want to forget that I got caught
And I want you to laugh it off
Make a beast of myself, kill 'em all

The section highlighted in blue are the lyrics I will have to lip-sync to. Also, due to the sped up version I will need to listen to, I have to lip-sync it quicker than it is sung in the song itself. In order to make the process easier for myself, I will have another group member play the song through a mobile phone whilst we film. As long as they are behind the camera and I am still able to hear the song reasonably well, this should not prove too problematic.

De/reconstruction - role allocation

In order to make it so that every member of the group makes a contribution, we have assigned different roles to different people in the group:

Director - Alx Southerington
Producer - Louise Smith
Main cast: Danny Mail (me)
Camera - Blue Stephenson
Editor - All

We chose Alx to be the director as she is skillful at making important decisions during the production of videos/films. Also, she is the member of the group who re-produced our chosen song on a storyboard, and is therefore more familiar with the song than the other members of the group.

We chose Louise Smith to produce the reconstruction as she puts in a sufficient amount of detail whilst producing storyboards.

I was chosen to be the main cast member (the singer in the music video) as out of the two male members of the group (myself and Blue) I more closely resembled the singer, and owned similar clothes to what he is documented wearing in the video.

We chose Blue to be behind the camera as he has a steady hand and was able to skillfully produce tracking shots, which is a good thing as we had no access to a camera dolly. Even if we did, using one could prov problematic as we are filming on a street where people will want to walk into shops as well as park their cars.

We decided to have a shared input in editing as we eventually will need to produce our own videos individually. Therefore, it is good to allow ourselves to all practice with the editing software (Adobe Premiere)

Deconstruction + Reconstruction of a Media Text

Students in groups are to re-produce 30 seconds of an existing music video. We have assigned ourselves to use the following video to create a reconstruction:

 Song: Twin Atlantic - Make a Beast of Myself
The first minute of this music video was reproduced on a storyboard by another student in our group. We  agreed out of all of our example videos, this would be the best video to reconstruct, as it is one single shot throughout the full duration, and requires precision timing for the actors entering the shot, as well as the main actor. The footage is also in slow motion, meaning that during filming, the singer has to lip sync at a faster speed than the song itself. It also proved to be a positive experience for me, as although I am producing a heavy metal music video, I see it as a good thing to tackle other music genres (this song in particular is indie rock) and their differing conventions.

Skills development essay

Evaluation essay
For my foundation portfolio I planned and produced the front cover of a fictional college magazine for my preliminary task, alongside a draft of the same magazine’s contents page. I then planned and produced a front cover, a contents page, and a double page spread of a music magazine. Throughout the course of the year I learned new terminology and how to use the appropriate software to produce my work effectively.

I had some prior knowledge on how to research a topic and plan a project before AS Media. In much of my GCSE Media Production work I had to follow several steps to plan the pieces of coursework I was given. For example, during that time I put together a storyboard for a potential Yorkie bar advert which I eventually filmed, so I knew how to structure the shots and which details to add in the boxes below. For a movie poster that I also planned at that time, I had used Microsoft Publisher and MS Paint to produce mock-ups before moving on to drafts, then the final product.
Due to the editing of footage that I shot for the advert, I gained experience of post-production. The movie poster I produced taught me about the use of conventions from real media texts.

In terms of photo editing software, I’d had some experience with that too, and I knew my way around Microsoft Paint and had used Abode Photoshop CS5 on a few occasions, which I used a lot more during AS Media. Beforehand I often inserted text into pictures as well as cropping unnecessary areas out, the same techniques that proved to be important in the editing of my magazine pages.

I’d also had experience with cameras and photo taking, although I felt my knowledge and experience in working digital cameras was limited. Any photos I took were usually done with a mobile phone, so I wasn’t sure how certain buttons on a digital camera would make it function.  Taking photos for my college and media magazines taught me a few things about digital cameras, such as what kinds of lighting would work best, and how to zoom in and out.

The amount of research and planning I had to put into the foundation project surprised me at first, as it was a higher amount than on anything I’d had to plan before, although I did have some experience. I was asked to find several pre-existing magazine covers, contents pages and double page spreads and analyse them using a structure known as “LIIAR” (Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience and Representation) In order to do this effectively I also learned new media terminology (such as the word “ideology”)

Taking photos was important in my foundation portfolio. I had to take all the photos that would feature in the magazine myself. These photos would be taken during lessons, borrowing others from my class to take them with. This would usually take 10-20 minutes each session. I would then import the photos onto my college account straight away to commence editing at any time.

Creativity is also important in making a good media product. I had practiced creativity in high school doing Media Production in Years 10 and 11, producing things such as movie posters and trailers, as well as an advert for a chocolate bar.
Photo editing played a very important role in putting my magazine pages together. If there was anything in the background that interfered with the effect that the photo was supposed to have on the reader, I would be able to erase it using the spot healing brush tool, which effectively makes it seem as though it was never there, the ‘spot’ would be replaced using the surrounding elements. For example, if there was a scar on somebody’s hand, the spot healing brush tool would remove the scar, and would replace it with skin, effectively healing the scar.

The captions and effects I added onto my photos were reflective of conventions found in real media texts. I paid great attention to detail, including the locations of headlines and slogans, and the amount of blur I should apply to the background details of a photograph.

My confidence in analysing pre-existing media products grew from the planning of my college magazine to the planning of my music magazine. I had gained plenty of essential knowledge from lessons, and had a better understanding than ever of colours used in magazines and how/why they were conventional of the subject matter they were covering.

I also learned the importance of producing mock-ups and drafts, so I produced as many as I could for my music magazine, including hand-drawn pieces of work, and mock-ups produced in publisher and photoshop. I often sought out to make improvements so I would end up with good final products, often asking my teacher and students where there was potential room for improvement. I recall my teacher advising me to shorten my magazine’s slogan so it would more memorable, and more importantly, reflective of a real magazine cover.

I also realised as I continued to take photos that I was beginning to get the hang of camera angles and when to use them appropriately.  I also paid more attention to the lightning in my photos. With earlier photos, my teacher made comments on the poor lighting. However I began using the flash feature on the camera to improve lighting when necessary, as well as choosing better locations in which my model would stand out better, making photo editing easier.

In conclusion, I learned a substantial amount in terms of researching, planning, photo taking, and photo editing in AS Media during my Foundation project, which added greatly to the knowledge I already had. I hope to take this knowledge on board throughout my advanced portfolio in A2 Media in which I will be producing a music promotion package for a release of a music album which includes a music promo video, a cover for the album’s release as part of a digipak, and a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

Influential media texts

Here are a few examples of music video that are part of my chosen genre that will influence me through the making of my video.

Megadeth - Public Enemy No. 1

What stylistics does this video contain?
The video complements the song, which makes several references to gun violence in its lyrics. It is written about 1920s gangster Al Capone, and its mise-en-scene with its colour scheme, as well as the colour scheme seen in the costumes, and location (Valencia, California) captures that era well, as well as inducing humour through the use of live animals. It also has footage of the band, so the music video mixes performance with narrative.

How will I use ideas from the video in my own work?
There is an element of crime in this video, and to an extent, there will be an element of crime in my own work. However, my video will focus on the modern era. It will have a few instances of humour in my video, such as items that complement the lyrics of my song being taken away towards the very end of the shots.

Iron Maiden - The Trooper

Judas Priest - Breaking The Law

What stylistics does this video contain?
The video focuses heavily on performance, with historical footage that plays occasionally across the video, complementing the themes portrayed in the lyrics of the song. The footage used comes from the 1941 film "They Died With Their Boots On", and documents a cavalry battle.
The band were gaining popularity at this stage in their career, so it's important that the audience knows what the band members look like. The costumes they wear were conventional of the heavy metal genre at the time.

Background information (expands on the above)
The BBC banned the music video as they felt the footage from "They Died With Their Boots On" was too violent. The genre was already very controversial at the time, and this move did much to maintain a negative view across the more mainstream audiences. The song comes from the band's 4th studio album "Piece Of Mind" and themes covered in this song provided a basis for many of the album's other songs, such as "Die With Your Boots On"

How will I use ideas from the video in my own work?
Although I will not use a full band performance in my own video, I will include lip syncing in my video. The singer lip syncing will have a personality that reflects the song's lyrics. Iron Maiden's singer (Bruce Dickinson) is shown to be very energetic on stage, and showcases a high vocal range in "The Trooper". However, in my chosen song, the singer's voice sounds much more sinister to me, and I will reflect this in my actor's performance.



What stylistics does this video contain?
This music video consists of a narrative alongside a partial performance. In the narrative, the band appear to be robbing a store whilst holding their respective instruments. In my music video, I am considering doing something similar to this, as the subject matter of my chosen song is about somebody who is addicted to robbing people of their possessions.

Another thing about this video that is worth a mention is that the robbery is never solved; the band are never seen to be punished and are in fact portrayed as superior.

How will I use ideas from the video in my own work?
This will be similar to my music video in which the performer will act as an antagonist who is not seen to be punished for his crimes. However, it can be argued that my video will view the performer as a protagonist. My video does not show anyone who proves to be capable of putting an end to his activities. However, this merely represents the controversy of older heavy metal music videos (such as this video and The Trooper), and to an extent, parodies it, as it is more overtly intentionally criminal/sinister than the music videos in question, and has some elements of humour. (ideas mentioned above.)

 Interviews:

 

Audience Key Terms

Qualitative > Psychogaphics = values + attitudes

Quantitative > Demographics = pure data statistics

Qualitative data - data that is collected via open questions that allow the participant freedom to answer the question however they like, resulting in data that is of high quality if it is answered truthfully.

Quantitative data - data that is collected via closed questions answered by ticking a box (for example), therefore making the data more specific. It is also quicker to answer closed questions, allowing the researcher to collect more of it, even if it lacks in quality.

Demographic data - data based on characteristics of a group per area. This information can be compiled according to the characteristics needed for a particular research study.

Psychographic data - data based on characteristics such as personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles.