Movie Trailer

This is my film trailer which I created using premiere pro. I combined various clips from existing movie trailers into one to create my own film trailer whereby various villains team up to defeat batman. 

The Record Business

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Video Deconstruction- Same Girl

R Kelly Ft Usher- Same Girl (Sony Music 2007)

Conventions of a Hip Hop/Rap/R&B Video

1. Male artists often perform to cameras performing to the camera as if performing and signing to audiences

2. Female artists usually combine performing to cameras with performing to an ethereal 'other'

3. Hip Hop videos usually features the expensive lifestyle portraying wealth through fast cars, expensive clothing, jewellery, houses, yots etc

4. Women are often used as objects through sexualised dancing to give audiences pleasure

5. As oppose to rock genre being very dim colours in Hip Hop videos are often bright, in costume lighting and sets

6. Most videos are shot in daylight and when shot at night the lighting is often contrasted with bright interior shots

7. Females are objectified through use of fragmentations, slow motion etc.

8. Costumes from women are usually revealing and sexualised to again give audiences pleasure through what the woman is wearing and also make women aspire to be like the woman in the video to gain the same attention them women gain from men.

9.Men are usually presented in expensive clothing usually baggy.

10.Editing is usually paced to the beat of the music

11.When male artists are in shots low angle shots are usually used to signify their masculinity and dominance

12.Sets can sometimes be luxurious to portray a luxurious lifestyle

13. Cars are usually a prop used on set as part of the performance

14. Dance moves by women are exaggerated to show off the female form and sexuality and by men to show virility and masculinity.

Deconstruction

Audiences- The audience of this video is clearly male as a result of the lyrics and video all being about men being cheated on. The audience may also predominantly be male as a result of men aspiring to live the luxurious lifestyle that R Kelly and Usher supposedly live. Fans are able to build relationship with the artists in the video through seeing individual persona's and seeing the two hang out and call eachother nicknames such as "Ush", "Dog", and "Kells". Potential women fans are able to relate to the artists in a sense of being able to identify with the women in the video and become a 'potential wife' like what R Kelly and Usher are portraying they want in throughout.

Narrative - The narrative of the story begins through establishing how busy the two artists are representing their success. R Kelly and Usher begin to discuss meeting the woman of their dreams as the narrative continues. It is then revealed that the two are seeing the 'same girl' and the conversation continues to meets up at houses, in cars and basketball courts, with the assumption that both R Kelly and Usher are owners of these things. As the narrative concludes the two plan to meet the 'same girl' and catch her out however the revelation comes right at the end when the two realise the same girl is actually identical twins. 

Institutions- When two established artists collaborate record labels often deem this successful. Record sales are often boosted as a result of sales to fans from both artists (e.g R Kelly and Usher). Both artists featured in the song are signed to Jive Records owned by Sony. During the video promotion of both artists is featured in a conversation where R Kelly talks about his Double Up Tour and Usher mentions his fragrance launch and his forthcoming album release in November.

Genre- As soon as the video begins we are represented with luxury lifestyle a key convention of the Hip Hop/R&B genre. Things such as jewellery, nice houses, fast cars, money being use as props and costume such as baggy clothing and sunglasses represent wealth. Gestures such as pointing to the cameras in shots of the males are represented signifying the two's masculinity and dominance. Words such as 'word', 'crib' and 'homie' are all typical features of R&B/Hip Hop culture representing the genre of the music.

Representation- The video to 'Same girl' is very unconventional. The video presents the idea of betrayal by the woman and not the man this is an interesting role reversal, instead of fighting over the girl the two men unusually use their friendship bond to try and get back at the girl. However although these features may be unconventional there is a lot of stereotypical representations in the video too men are represented in luxurious lifestyle e.g. fast cars, fancy restaurants, luxurious houses etc, women are objectified through shots of sexual situations and shots showing the main assets of a woman. The colour black represented on the woman's very little clothing also suggests her danger to the men's life.

Analysis- Shots such as split screen shots represent the idea of the men having a 'conversation' made up of the singing of song lyrics. We are also represented with over the shoulder shots representing the dialogue between the two men again suggesting the idea of the music being a conversation between the two artists. Both men are dressed in the colour white suggesting their bond and similarity the colour white as oppose to the women being dresses in black represents the two's innocence in the situation. Another use of split screen is also used later on in the video but this time the screen in split into 3 with features of the woman in the middle shot between the two suggesting the idea of women breaking friendships between men.

Video Analysis- Kings of Leon

Kings of Leon- Use Somebody (Sony Music 2008)

Typical Conventions of a Rock Genre Music Video:

1. Males are usually the subjects of the video while women are represented as the objects of the video
2. Often a use of dimness, shades in the video are often dark

3.Rock videos are often shot at night as oppose to shooting the video during the day

4.There is often an element of performance where by the band are performing on stage in front of screaming crowds.

5.Clips of the video often contain backstage footage

6. There is usually a form on male bonding through typical gestures such as 'high fiving' and laughing

7.A typical instrument shown throughout rock videos is guitars

8.Costumes are usually similar consisting of dark colored casual clothes

9.Videos are sometimes shot in black and white

10. Juxtaposition of binaries of light vs dark

11. They particularly have fast movement consisting of tracking/crabbing/panning shots along with fast paced editing too create the idea of lots of movement

12.Close ups of vocalists during emotional scenes

13.Throughout there are often close ups of instrumentalists hands playing instruments to show its them playing the instrument

14. Of all shots, wide shots are the most popular in the rock genre representing the band together signifying unity.

15. Cross cuts of narratives performed by characters rather than band members

Deconstruction of Video:

Genre- The video represents typical elements of the rock genre, as stated in the list above one of the main features of this video is shots of the band on tour through backstage footage away from the music video representing their lifestyle as band members. The element of performance is also used in this video as there is footage of huge crowds at Kings of Leon's concerts. There is also of dark colours such as sepia representing a typical element of the rock genre. The band members are also represented as tattooed, long haired individuals, a typical generic convention of rock.

Narrative- Throughout the video tracking shots of footage, tracking aerial shots of cities and close ups of singers is used giving the idea of life on the road bringing loneliness. The combination of juxtaposed shots such as tracking aerial shots with close ups of the singer signify stillness/loneliness suggesting the artist needs a special someone this is something that stems from the lyrics being 'use somebody'.

Representation- The band is represented as having a 'jet setter lifestyle' through shots of the band hanging out in hotel rooms over looking cities of buildings at night. The video is mainly male oriented, a typical convention of rock genre the only female seen in the video is used as a part of the narrative of the song and is therefore used as an object, the female seems to be the subject of the males sorrow. There are also shots of the unity in the band, the band are represented in shots laughing together and sharing hugs after a concert that they deemed successful this gives the impression that the band are close and comes as one. To emphasise the idea of loneliness the lead singer is seen in close ups with cross cuts to busy shots of the band representing his sorrow because hes lonely.

Audiences- Throughout the video there is plenty of opportunity for audiences to feel close to the band, the representation of backstage footage of the band on tour and the band members laughing, joking and 'hanging out' allows audience to feel a closer connection to the band as they are able to gain an insight into there lifestyle. The lyrics of the songs are relatively sad and close ups of the lead singer allows audiences to emphasise and feel closer to the band member.

Analysis- Opening wide shots of the band hanging out in a hotel room looking over cities gives the audience an understanding of the type of narrative the video is going to have as this look sets the tone of the rock genre. Montage of shots suggest busy lifestyles and touring typical activities of a band. Sped up shots also suggest the idea of a busy lifestyle but however also build the story of having such a busy life but still feeling such loneliness and a result of not having that special person. Fast paced editing also keeps audiences on edge and engaged in the video as it gives a sense of mystery of whats going to happen next in the video.

Institutions- Kings of Leon have been a band in the background of the music industry in the US since 2003 while creating fans also in the UK. 2008 was the year for Kings of Leon there smash hit "Sex Is On Fire" made the band much more established was made much bigger than previous releases. In 2008 they were also signed to Sony Music, won a grammy and were nominated for NME awards, Q Awards, Mtv awards and various others. They sell out concerts, have launched fashion lines, and appeared on well established magazines such as Q magazine, NME and Esquire. Sony as you can hold great value of Kings of Leon because of there ability to sell as a result of the huge followers the band has.

Shots Used In The Video:

Close up shot- A  close up shot of the singers face is shown revealing all facial features, this shot conveys his emotion in relation to the lyrics of the song. It emphasises how he is feeling and causes the audience to emphasise with him. This creates a connection between the audience and the singer allows the audience to relate there own situations to the singers problems.

Colour Change- The colour of scenes changes throughout the video. This allows us to see a connection between the use of colour in different shots showing when the singer feels at his highest and at his lowest.

Long Shot- Long shots of the band in concert on stage and the audiences are shown. This makes audiences want to buy tickets and go to the concert through the performance element(Firths theory).

James Arthur- 'Your Nobody'

Video Analysis

James Arthur is a typical example of Richard Dyer's Theory being that a pop star is constructed, previously shown on my blog is the 'impossible' video that allows audiences to see the constructed star from start to end. James Arthur is now represented in his latest video since his Xfactor release as a constructed star. James Arthur came from being the winner of Xfactor and released his first single a year ago when he won in 2012. He took the time out to produce an album as has now released his latest song and video being " Your Nobody Till Someone Loves You"

Narrative- The narrative of the James Arthur video is a typical british tradition being a street party, the video has an element of performance as during the street party James Arthur is performing in a typical set up on stage representing him as a 'person of the people'.

Audience- The James Arthur video is aimed at wide range of people typically represented in the video, there are various ethnicities throughout the video suggesting James Arthur is aiming his music at a wide audience of not just one ethnicity but various ones.

Genre- The genre of music represented in the video is a mixture. It could be said that the video is mainly pop with elements of reggae and rock potentially suggesting the idea of a Ska element to the video as well as pop.

Representation- During the video James Arthur is represented as a person of the people. As said before, there is an element of performance to the video and it could be suggested that this is representing James Arthur performing to the people that love him, there is a correlation between lyrics and visuals as he seems to be performing to the people who 'love' him therefore suggesting he is somebody because somebody loves him.