HNC Creative Media

Carol Vernallis is another influential film theorist who studied the relevance of four particular concepts within the production of most mainstream music videos. His theories all relate to the specifics of how a music video is produced. Narrative Within her work, Vernallis particularly focuses on the influence of narrative within music video production. In 'Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context' (2004), she suggests that the music video itself is a visual response to the lyrical content of the song itself. She also states within her explanation of this theory that "the narrative may not always be completed and can be partial with the video, appearing disjointed, disconnected and fragmented" (Kane Sewell, 2015), this occurs due to lacadaisical applications of typical narrative film theory to much shorter promotional musicl video, which could either act to present a continuing story line or motifs throughout the artist's subsequent work, or si...

The psychological horror film "Black Swan" ( Darren Aronofsky, 2010) is one which is particularly interesting in my view in terms of psychological theories relative to cinema and feminism, explained in Laura Mulvey's critical study of cinema, "Narrative Cinema and Visual Pleasure" ( 1975) . The narrative of the film follows professional Ballerina Nina Sayer as she seems set to finally be cast in a main part in the opening show of the new season, Swan Lake, by her creative director Thomas. This however, seems to be jeopardised by the arrival of the company's new dancer, Lily, who's relationship with Nina throughout the film blossoms into a twisted friendship come rivalry as Lily is cast as Nina's alternative. The film itself is interesting in terms of it's relationship with psychology and the audience, from the outset highlighting Nina's constant strive for perfection due to the relationships that she has with her mother and with Thomas himsel...

Andrew Goodwin, often described by those in the industry as 'the professor of pop' theorised six key aspects that videos should meet in order to ensure a successful music video. These were summarised in his publication, 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' as: Music videos have genre characteristics, for example a boyband might have a choreographed routine whereas a metal band would follow a stage performance. Relationship between visuals and lyrics- this relies on the use of semiotic meaning, used frequently throughout the film and media industry."semiotics is the study of signs, their meanings and interpretations, meaning that semiotic imagery in this case would be relative to the lyrical content of the song, so for example if the word 'cat' was to be used, an image of a cat could appear on screen signalling the viewers relation between the image of the cat and the word, even if that particular semiotic is not directly related to the lyric as a whole p...

How are Elements of Lacan's Psychoanalytical Theories Conveyed in the film 'Misery' (1990) Many horror films employ microcosms of psychoanalytical theory in order to instill feelings of anxiety, suspense and fear in their audience at certain points; using psychoanalytical theory on an audience might seek to make the viewer think about the situation within it's likelihood to reality, which is what gives a truly great horror its lasting psychological affect. I find that a film that uses psychoanalytical theory in this way is Rob Reiner's 'Misery' (1990) due to it's realistic narrative- rather than employing the use of ghouls or monsters, Misery takes Stephen King's best-selling novel and depicts the believable story of a man who is rescued by his number one fan come worst nightmare. 'Misery' as a production presents the audience to an entirely realistic scenario from the outset, following writer Paul Sheldon, played by James Caan through ...

Does Martin Scorsese Represent Fragile Masculinity With Regards To Laura Mulvey's A "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" and Aspects of Freudian Theories of Psychoanalysis in "Goodfellas" and "The Wolf of Wall Street"?     Martin Scorsese, regarded by many as "the greatest living director" ( Ricky Gervais, 2020), has always remained true to his sense of self, or auteur approach, within his productions, setting him aside from the norms of Hollywood and breaking the rules of cinema frequently in his productions; in his own rights, Scorsese helped to pave the way for young, aspiring directors and still inspires many to this day. However, many of Scorsese's works have been critisesed for their diminishing view on women, and the deeper messages of both disrespect and insecurity that this conveys. Two films which particularly stood out to me when breaching this subject, for completely adverse reasons, were "Goodfellas...

Below I have listed all of the equipment that I feel that I will need to shoot my music video, including back ups in case the shoot does not go to plan and in case of any issues that may present on the day of the shoot. Technical Equipment: 1 Canon DSLR camera with a fully charged battery, Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro camera in DSLR mode, fully charged, both filming at the same time, this is so that if one camera should run out of battery, the other camera is simulatneuously fiming the same scene to prevent any loss of footage.  x2 SanDisk 32 gb Ultra SD cards, I will make sure that both SD cards are clear before filming so that I have enough storage for my entire shoot, and ensuring that both of my memory cards are ultra write speed meaning that the chances of the footage not writing on a standard SD card of the footage degrading during the writing process is lessened. x1 tripod to ensure that all of my footage is stable two battery operated film lights to provide extra lighting as ou...

In this post, I will outline my plans for each stage of shooting for my music video, detailing both the equipment that I will need in order to shoot, where the equipment will be used in each process and potential hazards that may present throughout this process and how I will be minimising the risk to myself and my actors. I will also explain my choices in location, costume and props within each stage within relation to my narrative and continuity within the production. Shoot One: The location for the first shoot is my own bedroom, this is due to ease of access and also as I feel that this room offers many different interesting aspects such as coloured LED lighting and psychedelic style art which relates the the theme of the music itself and the essence of UK Rave Culture whilst remaining the homely, haven-like space which many viewers would relate to in a bedroom. This in itself could cause issues as the room is quite small which means that there is limited space for me to work wi...

I decided to conduct a survey in order to gain a feel of what my target audience would prefer to see in a music videos and whether they thought that more could be done within the industry to become more modern and inclusive rather than focusing on sales and popularity. I wanted to particularly draw attention to stereotyping, generalisation, sexual imagery and other aspects which are common within the production of music videos especially within my chosen genre on drum and bass- I feel that this is due to the target audience being with a younger audience who are seen to be more promiscuous or sexually active. I set out 8 questions for my survey which I felt were most relevant to my production and editing processes, however I did find it difficult to find large groups of participants for this- this could be due to people's disinterest or scepticism in clicking on an unknown link. insights into the participants of my survey, the completion rate, and the average time spent ...

The song that I have chosen to produce a music video for is "Parallel" by Technimatic ft Zara Kershaw (Technimatic Remix). This is because I feel that the song fits my narrative well, taking around a minute to break down and drop into a fluid sounding bassline; this allows me time to solidly build the foundations of my narrative, and gives me ideas such as including text messages on the screen  in the editing process during phone shots or even including shots of handwritten letters and old photographs to highlight a sense of nostalgia, loss and grief. I have decided to go with a narrative based production for my music video due to the results of my survey overwhelmingly displaying that my target audience preferred this type of video to performance based productions as they are more emotive and relatable,  potentially displaying situations and problems which people face in every day life which allows for a different type of emotional connnection between the video and it'...

Lacan's Theory and Revisions of Psychoanalysis Within Relation to Film.  Lacan was a major figure in Parisian intellectual life for a large part of the 20th century, often being referred to as the French Freud; " His teachings and writings explore the significance of Freud's discovery of the unconscious and both within the theory and practice of analysis itself as well as in connection with a wide range of other disciplines." (Adrian Johnston, 2013).  What are Lacan's Key Theories? The Imaginary- Associated with the restricted spheres of consciousness and self-awareness and relates to what people experience as non-psychoanalytic quotidian reality. What someone "imagines" another person is, what we "imagine" someone means when communicatively interacting, and what we "imagine" ourselves to be. This includes the imagined perspectives of others. Indicates the ways in which the Imaginary "points to core analytic ideas like ...

 

To What Extent do Contemporary Music Videos from Alternative/Indie Rock Make Use of Stereotypical Conventions and Dominant Views of Representation. Both Music and Film are regarded as well-respected, ever-growing and easily accessible forms of art, both of which seek to inform the audience of an intended view point or opinion. Music videos tie the two mediums together in a sweet matrimony of visual and aural representations and concepts, and are generally produced in order to promote an artist or band's work to the public in an engaging and relative manner. In this study, I will be analysing a series of music videos from the genres of Alternative or Indie music from a number of different artists, delving in to explore  common or 'stereotypical' conventions and popular, dominant views such as the portrayal of relationships, performances, day to day life, mood and mental health, making music videos and similar productions more relatable and enjoyable to their catchment a...

Freud's Psychoanalytical Theory of Self and Personality Within Relation to Cinema and Film.  What is Freud's theory? Sigmund Freud is seen as a founding father of psychoanalytic study, or study of the human mind and the way that it functions. Freud's "psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behaviour is the result of the interaction between three component parts of the mind: the id, the ego and the superego" ( Karen Horney, 2015).  According to "The Ego and The Id" ( Sigmund Freud, 1923 ), the human personality develops from interactions between these three fundamental structures of the mind.  the Id- the most primitive of the structures, the Id is concerned only with the instant gratification of basic and primitive needs and urges such as sex and desire. The Id operates unconciously meaning that we have no control over it. the Ego- the Ego is the rational and pragmatic part of the human psyche; it is less primitive than...