Friday, 5 March 2010

Codes and Conventions Of R&B Music

Generic Codes and Conventions :


- Sophistication (May signify wealth)
- Makeup/Hair well made.
- Props such as cars/jewllery/
- Glamorous features such as hooped earings

-Ussualy performance and narrative based.
- Editing used include fades, quick cuts in between scenes.
- Studio based shots generally used.

- Black and white effect may be used.
- Tracking shots, close ups, and midshots to show emotions, body laungauge or setting.

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Narrative Thoery Research

Todorov argues that narrative involves a transformation of the characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption. For example a narrative starts of ‘normal’ then there is a disturbance in something, which challenges the character. The character then recognises it and starts to put it right. Then the disturbance is fixed and things go back to normal or a new equilibrium. In a narrative there is an organisation of facts/events. Everything has a beginning, middle and an end.

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic who examined 100’s of folk tales to see if they had pattern/similarities. He found out most of them had 8 characters and 31 narrative functions. The characters are the villain(s), the hero, the donor – who provides and object with magic power, the helper who aids the hero, the princess (someone who needs help), her father who rewards the hero, the dispatcher who sends the hero, the fake hero. This kind of narrative is usually seen in fairy tales and in TV news programmes where they portray the ‘hero’ and the ‘villain’.
Claude Levi Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary opposition. His theory is that narrative can only end on a resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual (light/darkness) or conceptual (love/hate) and to do with sound track binary oppositions.

In out music video we can use the narrative theories to show the story, if we are doing a narrative music video. We can use Propp’s theory to introduce the character at the beginning. Then use Todorov’s theory to establish the narrative structure.
We can establish core themes by using Levi Strauss’s theory. The music video can show the story of a girl (heroin) who has to overcome the problem (complaining to her boyfriend) and leaves him in the end (resolution).

Monday, 1 March 2010

Audience Research : Questionnaire Results 2


Audience Research : Questionnaire Results


Audience Research - Focus Group Responses

Focus Group Responses

In my focus group I had 5 people listen to the track which my group has chosen and outlined my ideas for the music video which we will construct and the target audience we are trying to aim towards. I then asked for what they had expected from their opinions of what they would see in a music video for this particular song.

What would my target audience expect in the video?

“what I would expect is a scene which shows the singer performing with her ‘boyfriend’ to show the past and how the relationship was and then eventually breaking apart giving the characters in the video more depth of detail of history, so the audience can understand the video much better and feel the song is suitable to the video.”

“should be performance shot which could be much like the new Beyonce song called ‘broken hearted girl’ as the lyrics are similar, so I believe there should be shots of a green screen in there somewhere.”

Others had similar points, I believe these are key points which can help my group construct are video as the points are achievable and are within bounds, giving us more research into our target audience which means we know what they want.

Which music TV channels would your group expect to see the video broadcast on?

- TMF
- MTV
- ChannelU

Questionnaire for target audience

A2 Practical Production Audience Research
Questionnaire


Please choose the boxes which are appilicable to you.
Quantitative Research: questionnaire for 30 people

1. What is your gender? : 
[ ] Male or [ ] Female

2. Which age range do you apply to?
13-15 [ ] 16-18 [ ] 19-21 [ ] 22+ [ ]

3. What type of music genres do you listen to? (Multiple choices allowed)
Rock [ ] R&B [ ] Pop [ ] Hip-Hop [ ] Dance [ ] Classical [ ] Heavy Metal [ ]
Other _________

4. What music TV channels do you watch and why? (Multiple choices allowed)
TMF [ ]   MTV [ ] Chart Hits [ ] Scuzz [ ] MTV Classic [  ] Smash hits [  ] Vibe [ ]
Kerrang [ ] the Box [ ] Other _________

5. Favourite 3 music videos, why?

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

6. What type of music video do you prefer?
Narrative Based¹ [ ] Performance Based² [ ] Concept Based³ [ ] 

Combination of these styles [ ]

7. Does a good music video make you want to buy the track?
Yes [ ]     No [ ]

8. What type of music promotion appeals to you the most?
Billboards [ ] Posters [ ] Magazine Adverts [ ] TV Adverts [ ] Radio commercials [ ]
Internet [ ]

9. What do you look for in a print based advert for a music group or artist?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………

10. What do you look for in a DVD or CD cover?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………….......