music videos

Music Videos

• A music video is usually a short film or video that accompanies a piece of music.
• Modern music videos are primarily used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings (which is why they're sometimes called 'promotional videos' or 'promos')

One of my favourite music videos is of a song called 'Shangri La' by a korean boy group named 'Vixx'.
I love this music video for the props, themes, mystery, symbolism and overall aesthetic.
The music video makes many references to Adam and Eve and the garden of eden without a particularly obvious storyline. Many fans of 'Vixx' across the world have posted blogs of their personal interpretations on the music video and what they perceive as the symbolism. The mystery of the symbolism behind this music video has made it very successful around the world within the kpop loving community. Every time you watch it, you notice something different, which is why people can sit there replaying it trying to put the puzzle pieces together. It looks very simple with the clean settings and the simple editing, yet people can't stop watching it trying to work out what it means!
Other than the symbolism, this music video is actually very beautiful with the use of colours, traditional Japanese theme and dancing on water.

Media Language: 'Cuffs' and 'The Avengers'

Group 1 Task

Group 1 Task

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1. How does Cuffs create on-going multiple storylines based on ‘everyday police life’?

• Ryan's story
• Nathan's story
• We follow Jake's life
• Multiple crimes in one go therefore it switches between different police officers and different characters fighting different crimes.
• Different crimes in different episodes
• This reflects real police officers hard work and the fact that they always have lots of work and lots of crimes to fight in one go.
• Cuffs shows the different area's and professions part of the same team that all work together to resolve a problem 
•   There are many crime scenes and people included in the episode which reflect on everyday police life as it includes each police officers point of view and the scenarios which happens in a police officers day to day life.

2. Discuss how Cuffs creates a social realism of a soap opera.

• Cuffs represents social realism of a soap opera with several situations:
• eg. superintendent having an affair 
• Ryan's financial issues that come along with being a single dad
• Hate crimes against Amit Sharma (a man represented as Indian)
• Nathan's drug overdose and struggle with depression

Social realist storylines reflect the society they depict by tackling social issues in a dramatic form

These include family discord, marriage breakdowns & financial problems. These are just some examples.

Cuffs tends to focus and represent everyday characters and situations that are set In working – middle class environments, rather than extremely wealthy environments.

The programme examines the lives of people who live and work in the town of Brighton – these characters tend to be stereotypical. 

Narrative Structure + Todorov Theory + Strauss Theory

Narrative Structure (Use the word 'Narrative' instead of story)

• Narrative is the story/plot of a film/ tv show/ radio show
• Does it have conventions?
• Beginning, middle and end
• Characters- some good or some bad

Types of TV Drama's

• Here is a list of different types of narrative structure within TV Drama with examples:
• Single Drama/Film: Eric and Earnie
• Soap (continuing drama): Coronation street
• Serial: Bleak house
• Anthology series (self contained episodes, each based on different characters): heroes 
• Long-form series drama (more that one series): Lost
• Long-form series drama with some narrative experimentation: 24

• Continuity editing: an editing style that aims to present the text in a chronological manner to emphasise the real-time movement of the narrative and to create a sense of realism for the viewer by giving the impression of continuous filming. Continuity editing creates a narrative that suggests a real experience of moving through time, even though screen time usually covers a much longer period. Audiences feel comfortable with a linear progression that reflects their every day experience.
• Linear Narrative: a sequential narrative with a beginning, a middle and an end-in that order. Linear narratives provide a straight forward, sequential representation of events leading to a single resolution. As such, easily accessible to audiences and are the dominant form in mainstream media representations. 

Todorov Theory

Todorov theory applied to Cinderella:
1. Cinderella is living with her dad
2. Dad dies. Step mum and ugly step sisters move in. They are horrible to cinderella.
3. She is treated like a slave, recognises her life is now awful.
4. Fairy god mother tries to help her. She meets prince charming, who falls in love with her, she looses her glass slipper.
5. She falls in love, she leaves those who left her captive, and lives happily ever after.


Todorov Theory applied to 'Cuffs'
Jake:

1. Jake gets a new job as a police officer.
2. He goes on his first job 
3. Ryan expresses that he isn't very good.
4. Jake saves Ryans life.
5. They accept him into the team.

Nathan:

1. Nathan living by himself
2. Overdoses 
3. Police find him
4. Goes to hospital
5. Hangs himself 

Todorov Theory applied to 'The Avengers'Fencing
people missing
russian spies
try and take out spies
kill everyone and drive away 

Strauss Theory

• Binary oppositions - conflict between two opposites
• Good VS Evil
• Rich VS Poor

Create Simple Narrative with Todorov's Theory

1. A couple wake up and go downstairs to breakfast. They do not realise that they are being watched by terrorists
2. One stops, grabs the others hand and silently stands still.
3. There was a loud bang and in a split second he was down.
4. The other grabbed the vase behind her, flinged it towards the terrorists and knocked them dead.
5. She ran as fast as ever towards the police station and passed out onto a soft chair knowing that it was all over.

Peer assessed by Ben C:
WWW: Used the Todorov theory
EBI: Use more media terminology 

• Ryan's story
• Nathan's story
• We follow Jake's life
• Multiple crimes in one go therefore it switches between different police officers and different characters fighting different crimes.
• Different crimes in different episodes
• This reflects real police officers hard work and the fact that they always have lots of work and lots of crimes to fight in one go.
• Cuffs shows the different area's and professions part of the same team that all work together to resolve a problem