A little more research.

Although me and Katie have already got out ideas, I have decided to look at some more music videos from bigger pop groups such as The Black Eyed Peas and Pitbull to try and see how the "professionals" do it. I found that most of the songs, not every word is lip-synched. Me and katie would like to lip-synch every word as it adds to the affect and I personally feel it would make it more difficult and more of a challenge which the examiner may like. Some of our initial ideas seem great after watching other music videos. For example we had the ideas of using different editing speeds and styles in order to flow with the music as well as the video to be more of a visual version of the song. Our ideas are almost like sign language. We hope that when all our filming is done and we have edited, that you would be able to understand the song, without previously hearing it. We are also trying to add value to the song!
Here are some links to 3 of the songs i watched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMxASjxRk1w Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFryG9ON7Tw Pitbull - You know I Want Ya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQuKo3SevVA Marilyn Manson - Tainted Love

The Filming We Did.

The filming we did went extremely well. We managed to get the first verse of the song done. Me and Katie know exactly what we want to do for our music video and both have ideas that work fantastically. However this is a good but bad thing. The fact we know what we want to do and how were going to do it is great, however the firdt verse alone took around 2 hours of filming just so that we could get everything perfect. We hope that we know now what to do and what not to do while filming so hopefully we should not take as long on any other part of the song.

Reception Theory

Another audience theory we covered is the Reception Theory. So given that the Effects model and the Uses and Gratifications model have their own problems and limitations a different approach to audience was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970's. This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and them decoded (understood) by audience

The theory suggests that:-

When a producer constructs a text it is encoled with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience
in some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was tryingm to say
in some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message

Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of the texts

1). Dominant:- where the audience decodes the messageas the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it
-e.g watchinga policital speech and agreeing with it

2). Negotiated:- where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements fo the text in light of previously held views
-e.g neither agreeing or disagreeing with the polictical speech or being disinterested

3). Oppositional:- where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons
-e.g total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

The Uses and Gratifications Model

The uses and gratifications model is the theory that audiences use the media in order to satisfy a certain need. Therefore "channeling" anger etc. This means that this model is opposite to the effects model. The audience is active rather than passive so they use the text rather than the text using them. Here, power lies with the audience NOT the producers. This theory emphasises what audience do with media texts. So audiences are far from being duped by the media, the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit. Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:-

diversion
escapism
information
pleasure
comparing relationships and lifestyles with one's own
sexual stimulation

The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps with issues such as:-

learning
emotional satisfaction
relaxation
help with issues of personal identity
help with issues of social identity
help with issus of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent image can be helpful rather than harmful. The theory suggests that of audience act out their violent impulses thrugh the consumption of media violence. Therefoere the audience's inclination towards violence is therefore subimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

Ladies And Gentlemen Boys And Girls .... WE HAVE LIFT OFF !!

The band have FINALLY sent through the music that we have been waiting for and in a few minutes I shall meet Katie at her house to start filming!

Some of the costume ideas.

The Effects Model

The Effects Model is how the consumption of medcia texts effects or influences the audience. It is normally considered that this effect is negative. This is because the audience watching the text is passive, which means they are powerless to prevent the influence. The power lies with the text and the creator. The Effects Model is also known as the Hypodermic Model. This idea is saying that the message in the text is injected to the audience. Like a powerful syringe like media text. Therefore the audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped into the text.

Key evidnece for the Effects Model

-1). The Frankfurt school theorised in the 1920's and 30's. The mass media acted to resrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and goverment

-2). The Bobo Doll experiment

This is a very controversial piece of research that appartently proved that children copy violent behaviour. The Bobo Doll experiment was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura. In the experiment children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo Doll. The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were told not to touch or play with. The children where then led to another room with the Bobo Doll. 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier beeen shown. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour. The conclusion reached was that children will imintate violent media content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh7MngntnI

This link is a YouTube video of the Bobo Doll Experiment.

There are some other incidents that support the Effects Model.

The film Child's Play 3 in the murder of James Bulger in 1993.

The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakearah in 2004 by the friend Warren LeBlanc.

The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) ina number of rape and violent attacks.

The film Severance (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt

Lyrics To Oh Me Oh My

Everyday I seem to turn around
Im on my back agian
Coz I know theres something
better than the tomb I am living in

Looking outside and the sky is black
I knew a better place, coz if
these four walls keep closing in
and wasting time and space

Oh me
Oh my
You know I've got something to say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I'vebeen changing my ways
Coz I dream of better days

Dirty old towns ringingin my ears
And don't I know just why
Coz theres nothing changing in this town
Some gray northern sky
Gotta get away, I gotta start again
Gotta turn my life around
Coz if these four walls keep closing in
this ground

Oh me
Oh my
You know that I've got somethingto say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I've been changing my ways
Coz I dream of better days with you now



(GUITAR SOLO)


Oh me
Oh my
You know I'vegot sumit to say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I've got sumit to say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I'll be changing my ways
Coz I dream of better days with you know

LETS GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD !!!!!

Finally me ad Katie have come to the conclusion that we should start filming. We have some initial ideas which we have and plan on filming some within he next week.

ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!

STILL the music has not arrived! Me and Katie are thinking of going to Manchester to try and get the music we still desperately need!

Yet another dissapointing moment.

After leaving my E-mail inbox for a few days and we both had a slight buzz actually thinking they might have sent the music with lyrics. But they didn't so we are rather upset about this as we cannot really get going until the music has arrived.

Target Audience

I have been watching certain music channels in some of my spare time in order to understand which sort of person my video might attract. Also, i considered the ages of the audience and what sort of time my video should be shown. After watching MTV, I realised that the genres of song change as the day go on. For example, Early in the morning, it was more calmer but still slightly up beat, whereas in comparison to around 10pm which was normally either extremely up beat or rap songs. therefore i think that my song would probably be able to be shown at any time, the reason for this is that there is no foul language or any other rude or crude material which makes it suitable for any ages. Therefore the video would be given a U certificate.

Reasons Why ???

I was wandering the other day what makes a person create a video to their song. Was it a random burst of creativity or whether there was any meaning behind it. So ..... I decided to Google it. After reading some interviews with bands such as Coldplay and Oasis, I understood that the artist and managers need a good video for it to sound good. As weird as it sounds, it kind of makes sense. More people are inclined to buy the song if they see a good video, which is true. I know this is true because I literally just bought a song off of iTunes because i saw the video on Youtube. Therefore I understand the importance of making a good music video.

Will our music ever come through ?

Even though we have been granted permission, we have had no luck in being able to actually gain access to the piece. This may make the filming stages slighly difficult as we are unable to isten to the piece through headphones while trying to lip-synch.

What ever shall we do??

So now we have the dilemma of having two bands giving us permission to use their music. Therefore, me and my partner Katie are going to listen to all the options in class on Friday and decide on the best one. After that, we will contact whichever band ad then continue with the music video.

More Music!!

We recieved an E-mail from the band The 99's and they too have given us permission to use their music!! Here is the E-mail that they sent us regarding the permission.




Hi there Chris,


Sorry for my slow reply. I have been very busy moving house and have only just reconnected to the internet.


Firstly, I would be happy to give you permission to use our music. However I will refer you to our official site www.myspace.com/the99smusic instead of unsigned.com. That is our most up to date site. Please feel free to have another listen to our most updated songs and I will be happy to send you anything you think will be appropriate along with the lyrics. Also, we'd love to see whatever music video you do produce!


Kind regards,
James, The 99s