Chloe Metcalfe @chloemetcalfemedia - Tumblr Blog

Media Representation

The first social group represented in my music video is by the main singing in the video ‘Bazzi’ played by Ben. I want him to represent the young male youth aged 15-25. This is the main target audience age for my music video, so this will be the correct demographic to portray. Bens outfit will be contextually correct showing that he is from a middle class ‘B1/2’ background. He will be wearing trendy clothes to show he is young and up to date with the modern youth however he won’t be wearing glamourous expensive clothes to show he isn’t from an upper-class background such as an A1. This demographic is portrayed by ‘Camelia Cabello’. The Stereotypes I’m going to present through Ben is associated with the middle-class background. I’m going to do this through his attitude, persona and mise-en-scene. The attitude he is going to present is going to be confidence and pride over himself and his music. However he is not going to present an attitude of arrogant and obnoxiousness, this is stereotypically more of an upper-class ‘A1’ attitude. His clothes are also very stereotypically of a middle class young male. His is going to be wearing very generic and ‘common’ clothing for that demographic/age range. Complying with these social stereotypes, which are of my target demographic will help to make the music video appealing to that audience. The second social group I’m going to represent is from the other main vocalist ‘Camelia Cabello’ acted by Ashleigh. She is going to be presenting the upper class ‘A1’ social group. She will also be reflecting the age demographic of 15-25, similar to Ben (Bazzi). However she will be presenting the upper-class version of this. She will wearing 2 main outfits. Firstly they will show off her wealth and money as they are very glamorous and expensive dresses. The dresses also reflect her as very feminine, this shows that she also represents the social group of females. The stereotypes I’m going to use through Ashleigh are also through her attitude, persona and mise-en-scene. I want her to show an attitude of being very confident and slightly arrogant. Showing is aware of her upper-class ‘A1’ background and aware of the social group is fits into. I want her costume to also be very stereotypically feminine and beautiful, using colours such as pinks and floral pattern help to portray this. This helps Ashleigh exaggerate how female she is, proving she fits perfectly into the social group. The expensive look of her outfits shows that she is stereotypically from an upper-class background. The young children in my music video: Ava and Oliver, help to show the even young generation of social groups. Including the mixture of generations helps to show the diverse social groups in the music video. Ava and Oliver also help to show the contrast between the male and females in my music video. The extra females in my video represent a mixture of social groups. This was the target for including the montage clips of many different types of females. The overall message I wanted to present was the ability to rise above the stereotypes set on females and prove that ‘imperfection’ are a positive, coinciding with Bazzi’s lyrics that give out a positive message.

Questionnaire analysis Question 3: What is your favourite music video? I asked this question to find out which genre of music created the most popular music video. From the results I found out that only 3 people said something other than a pop music video. This is helpful to know that 70% of the people I asked said a Pop video because this is what I was planning to do for my video, using a Pop song by very famous Pop artists. Question 4.1: Do you like music videos without the artist in? For this question 70% of the people said no and 30% said yes. Initially I was not going to have the artist in and only have small sections with “Bazzi” in, however after my questionnaire results I’ve decided to do a mixture of performance and illustration. Question 4.2: Please Explain why? The majority of the 70% said no to question 4.1 had a similar and plausible/relevant answer: they prefer to see this artist that has made the song in the video because they’re a fan of them. This made sense to me because a massive audience who watch a music video watch to see their favourite celebrity in. the 30% of people who voted yes in the question 4.1 explained they answered yes because they like the more artist style of music videos. Hence why I have decided to do a mixture of performance and illustration in my video to cater to both audiences and show different styles. Question 5.1.2: Do you have a specific type of music video or single one you dislike? If so why do you dislike it? From this question I made a list of bad things that were mentioned in general music videos: o Bad actors o Cringy/'cheesy' narrative o Confusing story line o Unrealistic special effects o Self-centred and big-headed artists in videos These things will be focused on when making my music video, so they’re not included. This question was very helpful at getting straight to the point knowing what people don’t want to see. Question 6: Is there anything you want to see more of in a music video? I created a list from the main points taken from this question to help in deciding what to do: o Creative editing o Creating narrative o Real life events (not staged things) o Artistic shots o Filters and affects This list is helpful in knowing what the target audience specifically want to see so I will try and bear this list in mind when making my story board. Question 7: Is there anything you want to see less of in a music video? The main answer to this question was to avoid male and female stereotyping, specifically sexualising women. I wasn’t going to do this anyway, but the results in the question has confirmed this decision. Not including this stereotypical view shows I’m making a music video for a sophisticated audience. Other suggestions included: o Less confusing things that don’t make sense o Less boring singing These answers are similar to the answers from 5.2, this just backs up the point. Question 8: Do you have any opinions on the song? This question produced 100% positive answers towards the song. The main positive about the song was the lyrics, a lot of people said I can do something very artistic and creative with them, so this will be taken on board when creating my music video and matching narrative to the audio. Question 9: Do you enjoy watching and listening to Pop music? I asked this question because my music video falls into the pop music category, so I wanted to know if it would be positive or negatively received. The results from this question were mainly positive, pop music is the largest genre of music and the most popular. They also create many of the best music videos. The only negative about pop music is that it is quite common, and a lot of things have already been done before. So, I will have to make sure I create something new and different to spark interest. Question 10: Do you enjoy watching music videos with more than one locations in? The answer to this question was 100% yes. Using only one location would make a really dull music video and not modern at all. Multiple locations add lots of interest to a music video and makes it well suited for a modern audience. Question 11: The song I’m using is also available without Camila Cabello in. Would you prefer this version and only one main male vocalists? As seen is the pie chart, this result was 100% to use the version with Camila Cabello; quite simply, that is what I will do. Camila Cabello is a very popular female singer at the moment, this most likely explains the outcome. Question 12: Do you have any other suggestions for my music video? Most people left this blank as they had no extra ideas to contribute. I took this as a positive; my idea must be good. I made a list of some suggestions: o Be unique in creating it o Match the pace of the editing to the speed of the song These ideas will be considered.

APES**T – THE CARTERS "APESHIT" is a song by American musical duo the Carters, composed of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The song was co-written and co-produced by Pharrell Williams. It features additional ad-libs by Quavo and Offset from the hip hop trio Migos, who are credited as a co-writers. It was released on June 16, 2018, as the lead single from the duo's collaborative studio album Everything Is Love, along with a music video filmed at the Louvre in Paris. The music video for the song was directed by Ricky Saiz, produced by Iconoclast and filmed in Louvre in Paris in May 2018. The first shots of the music video help to establish where the music video is filmed, the video is filmed in one of the most famous museums in the world: The Louvre, in Paris. These first establishing shots help to clearly show to the audience that it is filmed there. These shots show the famous Halls in the museums, the painted golden leaf roofs and many large historic paintings. Then when the most famous painting is shown, the audience can establish that it is the Mona Lisa. This painting is one of the most well known in the world and creates an atmosphere of wealth as it is one of the most expensive paintings too. Through the video a canted camera angle is used, while using extreme long shots. The use of this shot helps create a disjointed and disturbing look to the footage. Creating an almost super natural feeling towards the video. These angles are very unique, also similar to the new unique ascetics of the music video. The whole video is something very different we haven’t seen before, making it interesting and appealing to the audience. The clothes worn by Beyoncé and Jay-Z throughout create an atmosphere of wealth. They are both seen wearing similar pastel tailored suits. This very business-like look portrays them as a serious modern couple, who want to make money. It can be argued that these modern clothes juxtapose against the old historical painting and museum in the back ground. Showing the difference between contemporary and historical culture. The clothes worn in the video also show the wealth “The Carters” have. Beyoncé can be seen throughout wearing international brands such as Versace, costing thousands. Both of their presents has an atmosphere of wealth which recurs throughput the whole video. As well as the costumes, the location filmed in gives off the recurring theme of wealth. Filmed in the Louvre, Paris, this museum has some of the most expensive paintings in and is the one of the most popular tourist attractions in France. The fact that the Carters hired out this place to film in shows the amount of power they have and the fact that they have the money to do whatever they would like. In the video they film many of the Renaissance paintings and themed ceilings. The Renaissance is a period in European history, covering the span between the 14th and 17th centuries. The art created in the Renaissance time is described as Renaissance a cultural rebirth at the close of the Middle Ages and rise of the Modern world. APESHIT rounds off with the Portrait D’Une Négresse. Painted six years after the abolition of slavery, this shows the new growing society and culture of the world.

Year 13

Produced by Chloe Metcalfe Staring: Branden Hawkins, Tasha Harris and Lucy Metcalfe

Evaluation Question 7:

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Planning: Planning is the hardest part of the task for me, coming up with a new concept takes a long time as I like to think it all through and want it to be perfect. once I had the script written I didn’t find planning too hard however it is the most time consuming. I learned I need it plan my time better in order to not fall behind on planning deadlines. I really enjoyed the research side of this project. Crime dramas are something that really interests me. I learnt lots of new things I didn’t know about TV broadcasting also, such as watershed and pre-watershed. Filming: Getting the footage for “Atticus” was the most enjoyable, but stressful process. Had to take extremely long shots for the time laps and had to film one scene for 10 to 20 minutes. This led to a lot of issues when exporting and importing all of the footage onto the computer and onto Premier Pro. We also had storage issues as the clips were so long and took up a lot of space. I needed to get steady shots of the murder board, I used a shoulder stand. I had never used a shoulder stand before, so this was a new skill. It was very easy to use and helpful in creating steady shots. It also gave a very professional look and feel to the final piece. Editing: Editing was the final step of the long prosses in creating “Atticus”. This step was meant to be straight forward however I experienced lots of problems when trying to import my audio. It took a long to download and a long time to import; wasting a lot of valuable editing time. The rest of the editing ran smooth, however when I exported the final piece the quality turned out very blurry making my final edit very unprofessional.

Evaluation Question 6:

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Before starting this preliminary task, my Premier Pro skills were very basic as I had only used the software to edit very basic clips to create very basic work. I knew how to: • Put together straight cuts • Add audio • Add in titles and rolling titles • Export my work (with guidance) After this experience/practice on the software I had to widen my skills in order to create a more professional looking preliminary task. I found the YouTube was very helpful in providing new creative ways to edit and asking over people who have used Premier Pro before also helped me a lot. I now have developed my skills and learnt many new editing techniques such as: • How to create “time laps” • How to fade music in and out • Layering two pieces of footage together • Match on action using audio As well as using new editing skills I also used new equipment when filming “Atticus”. Before this project I had only used a camera and a basic tripod to get the footage I needed. However, to film the clips of the crime drama board I used a new piece of equipment: a shoulder stand. This was very useful in helping me get the desired shots I wanted. It created none shaky footage, and I was able to move the camera around more freely that using a tripod.

Evaluation Question 2:

How does your media product represent particular social groups? In my media product the main character: Atticus, represents the main social group the audience can relate to. In summary; he is a young working man. He loves his mum and does everything for her justice. Firstly, as a working man Atticus stereotypically represents the working class; people with C1 and C2 skilled profession. This representation of the main character makes him more relatable to the audience. As the target audience for my crime drama will be working class people, aged similar to Atticus. Presenting him in the same group in that the audience see themselves, makes the crime drama even more targeted at them as an audience and makes Atticus’ actions even more plausible to them. The mise-en-scene Atticus is presented in also puts him into the young working class social group. His bedroom we see in the second scene; when he wakes up from his nightmare and answers the phone, is a typical bed room for someone of his background and age. The bed is plain white, and the walls are blank, and the room has an overall dark cast over it; making it appear strange and lonely. The when the audience sees the view from out of the bedroom window, they see a lower-class run-down area, showing what type of background Atticus represents. This bedroom is very typical for the age range 18-30 and my target audience is 18-40. The clothes chosen for Atticus to wear also are appealing to the ages range 18-30. His coat is a very trendy ‘rab’ in a puffer style in the title sequence, this is a very typical outfit for someone of his age. He is also wearing plain black long-sleeved top and black jeans. The plain mundane style of clothes reflects the emotions Atticus is feeling in the opening sequence towards the situation he is in. The location I decided to film the title sequence in is in busy places in the centre of Bristol. This is a location that is more appealing to an older audience as they can recognise the setting and relate with the characters. This contextual reference helps them to feel as if the story is more realistic. The way I scripted the “Atticus”, helps to show the different social backgrounds of the two characters and the way in which their social hierarchy is portrayed. The way in which Atticus speaks helps to show that he is firstly younger and more immature than Gray but also that he is less educated than Gray. This is portrayed in their oscillating conversation over the phone.

List of Conventions Discovered from Research

The first and main convention I’ve discovered from studying opening sequences is the narrative. An opening sequence doesn’t have a main storyline but has creative footage that link to the main series. This creative footage is usually off a mise-en-scene that ties in well with a crime drama such as: a gun, evidence or an establishing shot. These artistic shots are almost always close ups or extreme close ups, this links to my second convention discovered… Close ups are very commonly used for many reasons in an opening scene or sequence. These effects are added in purely to create effect and suspense that a normal shot doesn’t add.

Research into 18-40 year-old Audience

My brief is to create a Crime Drama TV show, before the water shed, targeted at 18-40 year olds. 18-40 year olds are the prime age that watch Crime Drama, they are adults so can understand the realism behind them and follow along with the story and crime. A crime drama show is also a lot more informative and intellectual than other genres so is more appealing to an older audience who can understand the contextual side. Some crime dramas are based on a situation that has happened in real life or refer to something real that has happened. The American crime drama Homeland refers to the 9/11 bombings on the twin towers throughout season one. This is a topic that only an older audience would understand and understand the contextual references. The main theme of the crime drama is terrorism. This is a very mature subject that can’t be taken lightly. This sort of topic isn’t suitable for a younger audience as they aren’t mature enough to understand. When making my crime drama I need to make sure I include topics that an older audience can understand and references to the real world. I also need to include mature subjects that wouldn’t be as appealing to a younger audience. To meet my brief my crime drama has to be pre-water shed. Because this is the time before more graphic content and swearing can be aired. I need to make sure my crime drama meets the standard of the water shed. However, need to be mature enough so it will appeal to an audience of 18-40-year-olds. This will be a challenge but can be completed by being based on serious subjects; such as murder. But not show any graphic images. I also need to make sure I use mature language that my audience will understand, but not include any curse words.

'Watershed' or 'Pre-watershed'

What defines a ‘watershed’ or ‘pre-watershed’ show? The watershed begins at 9pm and material unsuitable for children should not, in general, be shown before 9pm or after 5.30am. The water shed is put in place to protect children from harmful and distressing content on the TV. Content such as everything from sexual content to violence, graphic or distressing imagery and swearing. Ofcom is the company that monitor the water shed and put in place the rules. Since 2003 Ofcom has taken action on more than 300 occasions when broadcasters have scheduled unsuitable content before or immediately after the watershed. The brief we have been given is or a show to be safe to broadcast befoe the watershed. Therefore it must not include sexual content, violence, graphic or distressing imagery and swearing.

Graphic Breakdown of three title sequences: The first thing I noticed all three of the title sequences have in common is titles. They all start by introducing the actor’s and actresses’ names, then they go on the credit the producers. This is because the producers are the most important people in the show so get the lasts slots so the audience remember their names. Sherlock Holmes is different to Line of Duty and Elementary as it only includes the two biggest actors’ names in “Benedick Cumberbatch” and “Martin Freeman” these two are the biggest actors in the show but they aren’t the only ones in it. However putting their names in the title will make their fans know they are in this program and want to watch it. Something they all include but use very differently is the title of the show. All three of the sequences have the title of the show but they all include it at different times. Sherlock Holmes has the title sequence 4 seconds into the sequence. This immediately shows the audience what the show is. Line of Duty has their title 32 seconds in, this makes the sequence flow and doesn’t kill the pace. Elementary has their opening sequence at the end. This is the last thing the audience see of the sequence. It is behind a city sky line, this is a very establishing shot and allows the audience to process where the program is set. The sound in the sequences are similar in Sherlock Holmes and Elementary. They are both very artistic and only have non-diegetic music in. The sequence doesn’t tell a story to the audience it. The music in both is very similar and builds tensions and allows the audience to realise that this is a crime drama. Line of Duty however has diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The diegetic sounds are mostly: buzz of walkie-talkies, talking over the radio, car wheels and guns loading. These are all very typical noise of the police. This immediately tells the audience what the drama is going to be about before the program has actually started.

Analysis of CBS’s “Elementary” Opening Sequence

Elementary is an American procedural drama series that presents a contemporary update of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes. The show follows Holmes, a recovering drug addict and former consultant to Scotland Yard, as he assists the New York City Police Department in solving crimes. Camera: The first thing to notice about elementary and what makes it very unique whole concept of the opening sequence. It doesn’t include any characters or any story line that relates to the TV crime drama. This is very different as the other opening sequences I’ve studied have some insight into the who the protagonist is and the main themes. The main camera technique used is extreme close up, this is very similar to opening sequences such as Dexter and Sherlock. The close ups help create a sense of mystery and suspense to the sequence. Another interesting camera technique used is the use of the focus on the camera. As the glass ball is rolled into the shot the metal stand because more in focus. This creates a sense of movement and 3D like image: it feels like the ball is rolling towards the audience. The final camera technique very unique and I haven’t seen it before. As something happens on screen, for example glass smashing, the camera mirrors the movement so the camera is shaken to show the glass hitting the floor. This creates an artistic effect and more realism. Editing: The transitions from each clip are simple cuts. These basic transitions keep the flow of the sequence going; mirroring the flow of the glass ball. A cut is the most common transition from clip to clip. Elementary uses a lot of titles in their opening sequence: they include most of the main actors and actress’s names and the producer’s names. I really like the placement of the titles as they fit in well with the mise-en-scene, the titles fit perfectly into the blank spaces. Something unique that I haven’t seen any other program do is include a transition in which the titles come on. A simple dissolve is used, this detail adds more of an artist feel to the sequence and makes it more eye catching to the audience. Sound: The only sound in this opening sequence is non-diegetic sound. The music used is very fast pace and I really like how it fits in well with the fast movement created by the glass ball. This movement of the music also has some jumpy parts. This ties in well with the theme of the program as it is about crime. The clips used look as if they should have loud diegetic sound but in fact they don’t. this creates a weird eerie feeling of distortion through the sequence. Mise-en-scene: Unlike any other opening sequence the props used don’t have much to do with the main story like. The technicality and complexity in which the glass ball rolls around create a metaphor for the complex story lines that are created in this opening sequence; it makes the audiences brain work for what’s ahead.

Analysis of BBCs “Sherlock” Opening Sequence

Sherlock is a crime drama television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Camera: This opening sequence uses two main camera shots: extreme long shots and extreme close ups. the first shot used is extreme long shot. This shot if of a busy city street from a high angle. This first shot helps the audience establish where the TV show is going to be set, the London eye is also filmed in a shot; this shows the program is going to be in London. The high angle of the city shows the view through the eyes of the detective, a high angle is very common in crime dramas for watching things, this helps the audience know what the program is going to be about. The other common shot used is extreme close ups. These shots are of things like eyes, blood and guns. These things all help the audience tell what the show is going to be about as they are all crime related. The juxtaposition of these two shots create a very artistic feel to the opening sequence. Editing: Sherlock uses a lot of unique editing techniques in this opening sequence. Firstly, when transitioning from each shot a fade is used. This type of transition isn’t usually used in TV anymore as it doesn’t look very professional however I think it is used well in this sequence as it merges the close ups and long shots together smoothly. This sequence doesn’t tell a story so a transition can be used without ruining the pace and flow, the fade actually adds to the flow by creating a smooth pass from one clip to the other! Another unique editing technique that is used in this opening sequence is sped up clips. The shots of London are sped up so they’re faster than the real time, this technique mirror the fast pace that the sequence is editing and in addition the fast pace of the TV series to come. This technique is very unique and different, I like the artistic effect it creates. The third unique editing technique used is the layering of two clips, for example this is used when there is writing on some paper and over a city back ground. It is also used with people and a photo graph. This layering is done with a close up and a long shot. This juxtaposition creates a puzzle like scene with all the evidence; mirroring what the series is about: a detective. Credits are used in this opening, this is very typical to a crime drama. The first title the audience sees at 3 minutes is the title: “Sherlock”. This lets the audience know what they are watching and gets straight to the point, the title is over the background of London. This shows that the program is set in London. Sound: The sound used in this opening sequence is only non-diegetic. The music is simply very classy and British music. It fits well with the theme of the show as it is a very famous British story. The music as well as being classy has elements of typical spy/detective music to it, similar to music from films such as James Bond. I think the music fits very well with the sequence. Mise-en-scene: Sherlock is set in London, I think the city location is a very appropriate place to have the show hence is very appropriate to put in the opening. The London scene shows how important and serious Sherlock is as it is a striving capital city. The props used in this opening all help show what the series is going to be about.

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Chloe Metcalfe