Homework- Structural points of Essay question 1A and 1B

Question 1A:
- Clear, short introduction. Concise and doesn't waffle.
- Clear, powerful lead sentences which explain to the reader what they are talking about.
- Immediate use of examples,'kerrang' magazine shows research skills.
- Good use of key terminology, deconstruct, conventions ect.
- Makes a point then explains how this relates to the question.
- Talked about different types of research they conducted, shows the level of research they did.
- Talked about exisiting products
- Again, good use of examples naming film magazines which this person reserached themselves. Better breadth of knowledge.
- Talked about features of the film magazine they liked and analysed these in relation to the question for example ' which featured a close up of the protaganist of a film looking dishevelled and scared...''
- Talks about how the above inspired their product, using exsisting products to know what the target audience want.
- When talking about the poster, a problem is stated and is explained how this was overcome.
- Personal opinion 'I think this was really effective'
- Detailed description of the process in which this person created their product
- Talked about the various research methods used including the internet, looking at trailers and asking teachers. Shows this person did a lot of work.
- Again, short conclusion which sums up what they learnt although perhaps it could have been more detailed in saying what they learnt.
- Also they could of written about what they could of done better.

Question 1B:
- Similar to 1A clear conicse introduction, talks about initial ideas which allows for them to talk about progression.
- Definition of Genre, perhaps not needed?
- Theory of audience going to the cinema to watch a certain genre as they know what they are going to get.
- Relates points back to the audience and industry and why this is important.
- Talks about types of research again, internet ect.
- Explains the structure of the film and what will be included.
- Talks about shots, setting and plot in a detailed way.
- Mentions editing and audience again throughout.
- Talks about the key conventions of a drama film.
- References somewhat the audience gratification theory but could go into more detail about this theory.
- Talks about camera work/shots and why they were used for example 'establishing shots to connect with the audience'
- Explains why these shots are used.
- Talks descrpitivly about the editing used and why this was chosen.
- Closely linked with the question.
- Discusses use of sound
- Use of questionnaires to get audience feedback shows independant research.
- Talks about a problem and how it was encountered.
- Final sentence strong and personal opinion included.

For our A2 coursework we created a music video to a track of our choice. My group chose 'Never Again' by Meaning in Masterpiece who are an indie alternative band.

The plot overview of the video focuses on a troubled young man who has suffered a loss and keeps repeating the same mistake with a girl whom the audience do not whether she is a girlfriend of wife who he sees everywhere around him. He is faced with two paths, sleep on it or move on to which he chooses sleep on it, he continues to see the girl around him. The video then re-winds and takes him back to the path in which he chooses again. There is a sense of enigma in the video as said above the audience are not exactly sure who the girl is and whether she is alive or dead as her presence is almost ghostly. Being from the indie alternative genre the conventions are an emotive storyline and a deep meaning. We used black and white filters throughout the video to represent his melancholic mood and lyrics on screen of words we thought the audience would connect with emotionally such as 'scared' and 'peace'.

Roland Barthe's five codes can be related to our video:
- Action
- Enigma
- Symbolic
- Semic
- Cultural
Although our video did not correspond with all these codes as there was no real sense of action or cultural code it did comply with the engima code as we are left wondering who the girl is and as well as the symbolic and semic codes with the use of the signs and him choosing a path.

Richard Dyer said "How we see determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them. How we see them is based on representation". This relates to our video as we wanted Jake Black to be portrayed as a troubled young man who has deep sad emotions and is suffering which we tried to convey through the use of colours, lighting, setting and the lyrics on screen.

White (1961) described 'Gatekeepers' as people who are part of the decision making process in the construction of media texts'. Ultimately we were the gatekeepers of our video but we had to keep to the codes and conventions of indie alternative videos which were decided by gatekeepers.

Finally, Stuart Hall's theory of Encoding and Decoding can be related to our video as we made sure we used emotive imagery through the colour filters and setting, also him being alone in most scenes reflected his state of mind. The audience can see that we would have used these signifiers but not being clear on who the girl is allows the audience to have their own view on who she is and decode our text.

Evaluate your music video in relation to narrative theories.

For my A2 coursework we had to create a music video for a song of our choice. As a group we chose the song 'Never Again' by Meaning in Masterpiece who are an independent indie band. We had to look at existing bands and their videos; in particular we focused on James Blunt, James Morrison and Coldplay. Narrative is important because it is the way the story is told which appeals to the audience as they want to know what is going on throughout the video as well as listening to the song; it provides structure and an explanation.



Todorov’s theory can be related to our music video as we have a protagonist, an antagonist and a somewhat helper but no real equilibrium is reached as he remains in a confused state. Our music video somewhat subverted this theory as we had a limited amount of people and the protagonist and antagonist are the only main characters. This structure is seen more often in films rather than music videos as there are always more characters in films than music videos but they can both have stories.



The five stage narrative structure which consists of exposition, development, complication, climax and resolution. The exposition in our music video is setting the scene of Jake Black being alone and walking through the park, along with the lyrics we can see how the video is being established. The development of the music video is when we start to see Jake is in a predicament with the path scene, this leaves the audience with an enigmatic feeling. The complication is when we see that there is a mysterious girl causing a problem and leaving him in a confused state. The climax is when he continuously sees her and meets the path with the signs saying move on or sleep on it and finally the resolution is him choosing his path. This theory is important to take into consideration when creating a product not only a film but also a music video because the audience will listen to the song and watch the video with which they will want it to go together so they know what is going on.



Another theory that can be related to our music video is Roland Barthes theory. He said that ‘a text is like a tangled ball of thread which needs to be unpicked so we can separate the colours’. In terms of a film or media text, this needs to be unravelled to find multiple meanings. He constructed four narrative codes which are Action & Enigma code, symbols and signs, points of cultural reference and simple description. Although our music video cannot be applied to all these narrative codes but the enigma and action code can be related because throughout the video there is a sense of enigma with this mysterious girl appearing wherever he goes which keeps the audience in suspense and makes them carry on watching the video.


A final theory that can be related our music video is by Levi-Strauss. Throughout our video there a blatant binary oppositions with the use of colour being black and white and also somewhat sanity and insanity because the protagonist keeps seeing his ex girlfriend out but she is not there in reality. In our music video there are limited characters being Jake Black, the mysterious girl and his friends. Binary oppositions are interesting to use in a video because it one keeps the audience engaged and it creates an enigmatic tone because we as the audience don’t know why this has been chosen.

Spreadsheet of theorists

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