Vladimir Propp



Vladimir Propp extended the idea of voyeurism, creating the narrative arc to expain his theory further.

the narrative arc



Narrative

A narrative should make things make sense, helping us to understand. Helps us to compare, and to construct meaning/ also gives us as the audience a connection with the song.

Music video theorys

Claude Levi-Strauss

-         Believed constant creation conflict/opposition propels narrative.

Roland Barthes

Enigma codes

-         Refers to an element that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma raising questions that demand an answer.

-         Most texts hold back details in order to increase the effect of the final reveal of the truths

Action codes

-         Refers to the other major structuring principle that builds interest or suspense on part of and audience.

-         The action code applies to anything that needs smoothing to carry on.

Tzvetan Tordorov

-         Believes narratives begin with equilibrium then move to disequilibrium until equilibrium is restored in the end.

Steve Archer’s theory.

-         Needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.

-         Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance.

-         Not only playing instruments is classed as performance, a dance routine could be too

John Stewarts theory

-         The music video’s has the aesthetics of a TV commercial with lots of close ups focusing on the artist’s face.

-         Visual references come from a range of sources.

-         The video allows more access to the performance than a stage performance can.

-         Mise-en-scene in particular can be used to emphasise a particular lifestyle.

Sigmund Freuds theory

-         voyeurism. Refers to the notion that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object (preferably when the object is unaware of you doing so.)

Laura Mulvey’s theory

-         Filmmakers are predominantly male so presence of woman in video’s is often solely for purposes of display.

-         Women are objectified by the male film makers and not used for narrative reasons.

My Music Promo Pitch

Still Time - Lyrics

In your room, alone, it’s waking up with you
The memory’s cold as stone and your heart is, too
You’re slipping through the cracks trying just to get away
Stuck reliving your past and you’re running from grace
Is this all you’ll ever know?

Try not to cry yourself to sleep anymore
Honey, you’ve got so much that you’re living for
Oh, there’s still time
Take off your shoes, it’s safe now
You’re running from everything that you’ve always been saved from
There’s still time

You hang your head so low, and you do your best to hide
These feelings won’t let go, but neither will I
So lift your head up high, look to daylight
There’s a time to cry, but it’s not tonight

Try not to cry yourself to sleep anymore
Honey, you’ve got so much that you’re living for
Oh, there’s still time
Take off your shoes, it’s safe now
You’re running from everything that you’ve always been saved from
There’s still time

Oh, someday I hope you find it
Oh, someday I hope you find it
Take off all of these weights, they’re binding
Oh, someday I hope you’ll find it

Oh, someday I hope you find it
Oh, someday I hope you find it
Take off all of these weights, they’re binding
Oh, someday I know you’ll find it

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh…

There’s still time

Oh, someday I hope you find it
There’s still time

Take off all of these weights, they’re binding
Oh, (binding oh)

Someday I know you’ll find it

Advertising

This is the advert, magazine or poster; of a gig that oasis did in July 2000. It is a good example of what we will have to create when we make our own.

Logo – is large and clearly shows who the band is. There is also a strike through it, which is what their logo usually looks like, making it easily recognisable.

Image – the image is of the band members. They all are looking at the camera, at the person looking at the advert, as if asking them to come with their eyes. Also, they are holding guitars and one of them has a drum and symbol, making it clear to anyone looking at it that they are a music band.

The information – there is allot of information down at the bottom of the advert, but the more important info is either in larger writing, a different colour, or both. There is also a number down at the bottom for contact to buy tickets.

There is also, down the bottom, some logos for the different companies sponsoring the event.

A City Alive - Still Time



A City Alive's own logo



The track I have chosen is by a band with an Christian Rock/Christian/Rock genre from Appleton, USA. I chose this band because I liked the song and the music they create. The particular song I will be using is quite acoustic as well as rock, and the christian element isnt huge. The song has a moral, which will make it easier to create a video for it. I also believe that someone could easily mime it and that I could create a video that did the song justice from ideas I had gained just by listening to it a couple of times.The song I have chosen is called 'Still Time' and i chose it because it was the one I thought was the best and that I had the most ideas for.

Band Members

• Benjamin Picker (Lead Vocal, Guitar, Keys)
• Mike Howard (Vocal & Lead Guitar)
• Nate Lenz (Vocal & Guitar)
• Aaron Williams (Drums & Bass)
  
  

Their biography;

"A City Alive was formed in Appleton, WI in 2008 by Benjamin Picker, a recent music major graduate from UW Oshkosh. Through playing music in area churches he met Mike Howard, Aaron Williams, and Nate Lenz and A City Alive was born. The goal was to effectively create a unique sonic landscape that echoes the ghosts of the past, and also paves the way for what is to come. Layers of guitars, driving rhythms, and lush orchestral arrangements have help define A City Alive musically. The name "A City Alive" was born from the band's interest in New York City during the early 1900s. An author once deemed the growing, thriving community as "The Living City." A City Alive feels called to be a part of a community that is seen from around the world, a city that is always alive and active in it's pursuit of positive hope and change.

The first move was to record a self produced 10 song album entitled the "A City Alive LP" which immediately caught the attention of industry professionals. Soon the band was playing all over the region, playing colleges and major festivals such as Cornerstone, Power of One, and Lifest, touring with Bob Lenz of Life Promotions, licensing their music for a nationally released film series, and securing opening slots for Stellar Kart, Sidewalk Prophets, BarlowGirl, VOTA, Rapture Ruckus, and more.

The 10 song sophomore project, "The Sound of Nothing," was produced by Benjamin Kasica of Skillet. Independently released on Oct 2, 2010 the project is now fueling A City Alive's momentum even more. Rocker single "Make You Move" has elevated the band's success to the next level as booking requests, website hits, and downloads continue to grow exponentially each week. Says Kasica, “A City Alive is a rad up-and-coming pop rock band from WI! With a variety of piano driven to guitar led songs, they're a band that will please a wide range of listeners. Keep your ear out for their singles 'Still Time' and 'Make You Move'.”

With a radio promotional campaign on the horizon, in the short time since the album release A City Alive is already enjoying international radio play in the UK and Canada in addition to US stations. Stay tuned to A City Alive news as they continue to add shows, fans, and gain exposure. "

This is the link to their web page on unsigned.com;

http://www.unsigned.com/acityalive

My group

I will be working on my own to create the ideas for this video and will be the director when it comes to shooting it. To be able to do this I will have to put a lot of work into it, and will have to be independent. I will look to the teachers for advice and support, and will also look to the other members of the class to help me when it comes to creating the video. As I will need actors, I will have to ask friends to do so for me. Despite this though, I feel that I will be able to complete my task so long as I put the time and work needed into it and work hard to complete my goal.

Disjuncture

Disjuncture is the idea of basically completely ignoring the song’s meaning or concept completely and instead, create a whole new set of meanings or images that can be put to the song, a perfect example of this would be ‘Can’t stop’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Some shots in the Owl City song ‘Fireflies’ also use disjuncture and shows us that it can be really effective in creating an excellent visual experience. This is something that can be easily done, but can be hard to do well, depending on the genre of the music and the lyrics of the song. If it is done well though, it can look very good and flow very well.

Owl City - fireflies

Amplification

Amplification is closely related to disjuncture, but amplification is just the enhancement of a concept while still retaining a link to it, this technique works brilliantly in marketing and advertising the band in question.

Illustration

Illustration is the story of a music video when the video follows a specific story often told by the lyrics of the song. This can be don’t by showing certain things happening at certain times in conjunction with other things happening around, like the lyrics or even a certain change in the music. Often, if a music video does contain a story it doesn’t have just that story in the video. For example they might have shots going back to the band or artist singing the song before cutting back to the story. Others, however, can contain purely narrative images, like Ed Sheeran’s video of ‘the A team’.

Ed Sheeran - the A team

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can include an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another. For example in Dan Black’s music video ‘symphonies’ he uses a lot of different films and games to go with his song. Madonna and Robbie Williams also do this.

Robbie Williams - let me entertain you

Dan Black - Symphonies

Maddona - material girl

Digipacks

Digipacks are a type of CD and DVD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the centre portion. Usually, the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background.

Digipacks were first created by MeadWestvaco, and their product, called Digi-Pak, is trademarked. Since Digi-paks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak is often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot" rather than a full plastic tray.

Digipacks look nice, and many bands and labels like to use them for aesthetic reasons. The three section digipack sleeves opens up more design options because there is more room, however they're more expensive than traditional liner notes and jewel cases.

Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVDigipak) is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets. Such packaging is less resistant to abrasion than jewel cases, so it tends to show signs of wear relatively quickly.

Oasis 6 pannel Digipack