Question 1a Table

Baudrillard and Jameson - 1 Minute & 5 Minute

Jean Baudrillard’s – Explained in 1 Minute

 

Jean Baudrillard is a 20^th Century philosopher, his most famous work being Simulacra and the Hyper Real. Simulacra is the process in which a representation of something comes to replace the thing which is actually being represented. The representation becomes more important than the real thing. Furthermore, Hyperreality is the division between ‘real’ and simulation has collapsed, therefore an illusion of an object is no longer possible because the real object is no longer there. An example is celebrities who reach a point at which every aspect of their lives is taken care of by someone else who are said to be surrounded by the hyper real world. They lose the ability to interact with people on a normal level and ‘normal’ people are considered to follow these icons and try to copy. This is a common case in which someone has become more engaged in the hyper real than the actual real world.

 

Fredric Jameson – Explain in 5 Minutes

 

Fredric Jameson put forward that postmodernity is the merging of all discourse into an undistinguishable whole, being the result of the colonisation of the cultural sphere which had retained at least partial autonomy during the prior modernist era. He was a follower of Adorno and Horkheimer’s analysis of the cultural industry, Jameson discussing his critical analysis of film, narrative and visual arts alongside his philosophical work.

Jameson has two well-known theories based on the characterisation of postmodernism being; pastiche and historicity. He argued that parody was replaced by pastiche (collage of juxtaposition without a normative ground). He also argued that postmodernity suffers from a crisis in historicity

 “There no longer seems to be an organic relationship between the American history we learn from school and the lived, current experience of everyday life.”

 Explaining simply Jameson believed that history was a reputation of itself and so history itself is lost, with no originality as copies are created upon copies.    

Explain

I explainede these theories to my sister, who

 

 

 

Film Case Study

This is How we Do - Case study (music video)

Modernism vs Postmodernism

Postmodernism Film Notes

Profile of Theorist

Narrative Essay

NARRATIVE ESSAY

I am going to discuss theories of narrative in relation to my A2 media studies coursework which was a music video for The Plain White T’s alternative rock song “Hey There Delilah”. The target audience for my music video was males (60%) and females (40%) between the ages of 18 to 25. The music video I have created conforms to the narrative style of interweaving and linear in which I represented the male artist to be heartbroken recording his latest single in the studio (linear). This is along with interweaving with flashbacks to his inspirations and experiences for the song lyrics he has written. I will highlight how I used camera, editing, sound and mise en scene to create meaning within narrative of my chosen song. Tim O’Sullivan stated that music videos narratives it should offer a way of telling a story which could even be relatable to our personal lives which arguably is successful within my video.

The music video I have created mostly conforms to the idea of Edward Brannigan who defined narrative as “a way of organising spatial and temporal data in to a chain of cause and effect with a beginning, middle and end that embodies a judgement about the nature of events”. This is due to the performance sequence in my music video being linear; acquiring all these necessary factors to create a beginning, middle and end. My music video follows Brannigan’s quote as the narrative is based on cause and effect of the male artist’s lover leaving him. Furthermore Tzvetan Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium has also been highlighted when observing the narrative structure as a whole having the artists become more excepting of the situation and change in circumstances. 

When considering the narrative I developed I felt it was particularly fascinating and supported Tzvetan Todorov theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium in relation to the artist’s mental state about his romantic situation. This is due to the start of the song commencing with the artist’s facial expressions and emotions of melancholy through the extreme close up shots of his eyes and sad smile. This enhances his loss that is clearly shown during my music video with the black and white editing throughout the performance. The black and white edit has a low, soft contrast to give the video a mellow, drained effect emphasising the emotions of the artist. Furthermore, the lighting used was spot lights placed behind the artist enhancing his facial feature to focus that the lyrics are based on his personal life. The ‘black and white’ effect on the video not only contrasting the dream like state with vivid colours but to illuminate that within the narrative his feelings are clear and honest almost ‘black and white’ to audiences. Hence allowing the audience to be able to personally relate to the narrative; due to the majority of people going through ‘heart break’ or separation from an individual they love. This is due to the narrative being about a male who has separated from the one he loves, writing a song about their past and future; having flashbacks about his fond memories.

Tim O’Sullivan relates to my music video due to suggesting “media text offers a way of telling stories about ourselves” relating to my main character within the video and the relation to the target audience. The male protagonist is expressing his emotions which arguably numerous people have also felt during a period of their lives this presented in the diegetic sound “tonight you look so pretty, yes you do”. Furthermore when I considered the female character within the video and her choice of clothing I styled her in indie style clothing as well as use a light edit with vivid colours. This also relates to Tim O’Sullivan’s quote due to the female audiences being able to relate to the female’s situation, being able to understand that she is so special to someone. The vivid colours I used conveys a clear contrast between the reality and flashbacks, keeping the audience interested with the quick cuts to show how clear they are for the artist. Moreover, the audience being able to relate due to the clothing being simplistic and accessible that the audience would typically wear. This fitting with the genre also due to alternative rock being known for not follow latest styles.    

Overall I believe that in my A2 media studies coursework I generated a music video that is polysomic, which could be decoded as a male defying his stereotype and showing his strong emotions to a female he loves. Hence, counteracting the stereotype of males to be emotionless and seen as only the protector but encouraging males to do the same and not worry about social attitudes. When considering the mise en scene of the video the various busy locations suggests the amount of memories the artist has as well as being typical ‘date’ locations for couples such as aquariums and walks in woods.   

 

     

 

 

Genre

GENRE

 

Genre is a French word meaning ‘type’ or ‘kind’, generally seen as a fusion of semantic (stylistic) and syntactic (substantive) features that become conventional to audiences over time. When considering my music video Hey There Delilah by The Plain White T’s in is categorised within the genre of Alternative Rock. Firth, 1988 argued that music videos can be characterized by three broad typologies: Performance, Narrative, and Conceptual. These types describe the form and content selected by the director or artist to attract viewers and to convey a direct or indirect message. They can act as extended advertisements, as popular art forms or as self-referential filmic texts. When observing the music video Hey There Delilah it would be classed as a narrative based music video, telling a personal story from the artist’s perspective. Giving out a message to the audiences indirectly to ‘not lose the people you hold dear’ through the flashbacks created with the contrast in black and white overlay edits to the vivid colours. Goodwin’s music video analysis puts forward that Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics e.g. stage performance in rock video, dance routine for boy/girl pop band. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting. Finally the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work a visual style. The Plain White T’s and the music video I have created follows these concepts due to the artist having a particular style which is followed through being; high street, every day clothes contrasting the genre pop which is fashion focused. Furthermore, there is a strong relationship between the lyrics and the video being illustrative and amplifying the emotions the artist is trying to portray. This is shown through the extreme close ups of the males use and feathered shots of the female.

Hey There Delilah Narrative

The video 'Hey There Delilah' by Plain White T's uses the to formats of narrative and performance, engaging the audiences to want to listen to more due to being able to relate to the lyrics of the song. The song is made up of a personal situation with the lead singinger and uses split screen as well as dream like city scenes to have a sense of awe and wonder. Five years ago, Delilah DiCrescenzo, now 24, met Tom Higgenson, the lead singer for the band Plain White T’s. Tom was “smitten” with Delilah at the time of the encounter and vowed to write a song about her in the future. Well, fast forward 5 years and “Hey There Delilah”, although not a very new song, has surprisingly and suddenly taken the world by storm.

Lyric Analysis

Lyricsanalysis from arnellgrace

Nicki Minaj

Lady GaGa - Postmodernism

General Research - Postmodernism and Music Videos

How are music videos postmodern? You need to begin to think about music videos as a postmodern medium/text. Do some general research into postmodernism and the music video.

Postmodernism from wmorris

- Postmodernism can be expressed through many forms of media. However it is not always clear which music videos are and which arent postmodern due to there being no real consensus, it is purely what one person thinks. 
- Postmodernism can be shown visually via presence of postmodern techniques such as: Parody, Playfulness, Pastiche, Intertextuality, Narcissism, Hyper Consciousness etc
- Example: Who's Laughing Now - Jessie J ... The singer plays many characters which are stereotypical. This demonstrates hyper consciousness as it reminds audiences that what they are seeing isn't real. 
- The characters show narcissism due to exaggerating their image and actions in music videos.
-  An idea of intertexual references can be seen as relating to Mean Girls due to the 'popular girls' being dressed similar and accordingly to the film, song and narrative. Music videos usually use a lot of intertextual references during the songs such as similar scenes from films or placing names in the songs themselves. 
- Hyper Reality is used throughout music videos when the shots jump cut from the artist or character as a young child to how they are now as an adult. It can be seen as postmodern as it confuses the audience as to what is real and what is either a flashback or product of imagination. 
- Postmodern music videos are usually playful due to the exaggerated and funny scenes shown within them which can be argued to challenge certain social ideas. 
- In music videos stereotypes are over used and exaggerated in order to make characters clear to the audience. 

G325 - 1B

AS MEDIA BLOG LINK

This is a link to my AS Blog which will aid me in answering Section A, Question 1A & Question 1B...

http://gracearnellg321.blogspot.co.uk/

G325 - Question 1A

POSTMODERNISM DEFINITION

POSTMODERNISM

pəʊstˈmɒdəˌnɪz(ə)m/

noun

noun: postmodernism; noun: post-modernism

A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.