Intertextuality

Definition-The term Intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media text via another media text. In other words Intertextuality essentially means for a type of media(film,television,music etc) to pay homage to another media text.

An example of intertexuality in a music video is the song "You Know Me" by Robbie Williams.
While it starts off normally, it takes a turn when the man is pulled through a mirror into a world similar to that of Alice in Wonderland with Robbie dressed up as the White Rabbit. The intertexualtity here is the link between the video and the story.
Another example of intertexuality in the video is at the end where the lion in the MGM logo is replace by Robbie dressed as the rabbit.

Album Covers Analysis

Cover for 'The Last Stand' by Sabaton. Released in 2016.

This cover matches standard codes and conventions for album/CD covers as it features the name of the band, the name of the album and an image.

Sabaton are a power metal band (a sub-genre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context). The cover doesn't represent this well as one wouldn't understand the genre from the cover alone.

The cover is memorable as it features images of soldiers from throughout history which is unusual for a album cover.
The image on the cover matches the album as it is called 'The Last Stand' and all songs on it focus on historical last stands involving the people on the cover.

Peak performance in the charts:
Sweden; 1
Austria; 2
Finland; 1
Germany; 2
Norway; 11
Switzerland; 1
Poland; 2
UK; 17
US; 63

Songs of Album: 
Sparta; Battle of Thermopylae

Last Dying Breath; Dragutin Gavrilović

Blood of Bannockburn; Battle of Bannockburn

Diary of an Unknown Soldier; Meuse-Argonne Offensive

The Lost Battalion; Lost Battalion (World War I)

Rorke's Drift; Battle of Rorke's Drift

The Last Stand; Stand of the Swiss Guard

Hill 3234; Battle for Hill 3234

Shiroyama; Battle of Shiroyama

Winged Hussars; Polish hussars/Battle of Vienna

The Last Battle; Battle for Castle Itter

Camouflage (Stan Ridgway Cover) (Bonus Track); Vietnam War


All Guns Blazing (Judas Priest Cover) (Bonus Track)

Cover for 'Heroes' by Sabaton. Released in 2014.

Similar to their album above, 'Heroes' features images of soldiers to match the name of the album. It also works because the image is eye-catching to someone browsing through album covers.
The images on both covers are not real people. It is obviously fake and comes across as an image from a video game.

Peak performance in the charts:
Sweden; 1. Gold
Austria; 11
Finland; 2. Gold
Germany; 3
Norway; 13
Switzerland; 7
Poland; 6
UK; 59
US; 99

Songs of Album: 
Night Witches; The all female Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment called "Night Witches".

No Bullets Fly; The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident, in which German pilot Stigler accompanied a disabled American bomber back to the English Channel.

Smoking Snakes; Arlindo Lúcio da Silva, Geraldo Baeta da Cruz and Geraldo Rodrigues de Souza – 3 Brazilian Expeditionary Force soldiers who became separated from their unit and fought a large contingent of Germans in Italy on 14 April 1944. Refusing surrender, they fought to their deaths and were buried by the Germans, who placed a cross over their graves with the inscription 'Drei brasilianische Helden' (Three Brazilian Heroes).

Inmate 4859; Witold Pilecki, soldier of Polish Armia Krajowa and leader of resistance movement in the Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was interned voluntarily with inmate number 4859. Produced the Witold's Report.

To Hell and Back; Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated American veterans of World War II. Specifically his post war battle with; and victory over PTSD. Based off his own poem 'The Crosses Grow on Anzio' from his book 'To Hell and Back'

The Ballad of Bull; Corporal Leslie "Bull" Allen, an Australian Army soldier awarded the US Silver Star for rescuing 12 wounded American soldiers during the Papua New Guinea campaign of World War II.

Resist and Bite; Chasseurs Ardennais, an infantry formation of the Belgian Armed Forces that fought in the Battle of Belgium in World War II

Soldier of 3 Armies; Lauri Törni known as Larry Thorne, soldier of the Finnish Army, the German Waffen-SS, and the United States Army Green Berets in Vietnam

Far from the Fame; Hero of Czechoslovakia – Air Marshal Karel Janoušek, founder of Czechoslovakian forces in Royal Air Force. Later imprisoned by communist regime in Czechoslovakia.


Hearts of Iron; The German forces of the 12th and 9th Armies, who, facing defeat at the hands of the Soviets, created a corridor across the Elbe to protect fleeing refugees and soldiers to escape and surrender to the West.




Cover for 'In the Court of the Crimson King' by King Crimson. Released in 1969.

This is a very unusual album cover, as it doesn't feature the album's name or the band who made it. A person wouldn't know what this was just based on the image alone. This is what makes it appealing to the eye.

King Crimson is a progressive rock band and is known for the strange and dream-like songs that they produce so, in a way, this cover fits the band well.

Peak performance in the charts:
UK; 5. Gold
Canada; 27. Platinum
US; 28. Gold

Songs on Album:
21st Century Schizoid Man
        Mirrors

I Talk to the Wind

Epitaph
    March for No Reason
    Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Moonchild
   The Dream
   The Illusion

The Court of the Crimson King
  The Return of the Fire Witch

  The Dance of the Puppets




Cover for 'In the Wake of Poseidon' by King Crimson. Released in 1970.

Similar to their previous album cover 'In the Wake of Poseidon' features neither the name of the band or album, leaving only the image to draw in the audience.

The two albums are also similar in the naming of the albums. Both names evoke feelings of fantasy, matching the bizarre images.

Peak performance in the charts:
UK; 4
Canada; 28
US; 31

Songs on Album:
Peace – A Beginning

Pictures of a City
    including 42nd at Treadmill

Cadence and Cascade

In the Wake of Poseidon
    including Libra's Theme

Peace – A Theme

Cat Food

The Devil's Triangle
          I. "Merday Morn
          II. "Hand of Sceiron
          III. "Garden of Worm


Peace – An End

Auteur Theory

Auteur

French word for author.

The dictionary definition of an auteur is “a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author”.

What it means, in this situation, is that a director has a signature style and elements that will be recognisable in their different works.

Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy (1997)

Directed by Chris Cunningham.

Filmed on the same council estate where Stanley Kubrick shot many scenes in A Clockwork Orange.

The music video is very fast-paced to match with the music. It is also very much influenced by horror media based on all the things that happen in the video.

The video opens with an old woman walking a dog in a grimy, industrial setting. The dog urinates on an abandoned television lying on the pavement, causing it to sputter unexpectedly into life, and a distorted and warping headshot of Aphex Twin chanting the lyrics. This unleashes a spirit, accompanied by a gang of small children, who all wear grinning mask and who appear to inhabit the abandoned buildings. The children go around wreaking havoc, trashing an alley and chasing a man into his car. The thin man emerges from the television, screams in the woman's face, then gathers the children around him.

Madonna: Frozen (1998)

Directed by Chris Cunningham.

This music video, similar to Come to Daddy, is influenced by horror which shows itself due to what happens.

The video has a dark and creepy atmosphere to it. Moments of it that contribute to that atmosphere include; Madonna being alone dressed in black in the middle of nowhere, her turning into a flock of crows and there being copies of herself doing strange movements at the end.

The video begins with the camera skimming along a cracked, desiccated desert floor, and within seconds Madonna appears, hovering just above the ground in the distance. Her hands are covered with mehndi and an enigmatic symbol on one palm. In the video she slowly gestures and sways her arms toward the sky in the video, desperately pleading to her cold lover cited in the song. At one point Madonna falls, and as she hits the ground, she transforms into a flock of large, dark birds. Later, she transforms into a black dog. Three Madonnas also appear walking and crawling amid the desert throughout the video. As the song progresses, the sky darkens, and Madonna levitates from the ground. Her form then changes to a shiny black liquid, which runs along the desert floor and appears to be absorbed by the tattooed hands of another Madonna, who is curled up on the ground.

Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody

Directed by Bruce Gowers

Popularised the music video.

The video opens with a shot of the four band members in near darkness as they sing the a cappella part. The lights fade up, and the shots cross-fade into close-ups of Freddie. The composition of the shot is the same as Mick Rock's cover photograph for their second album Queen II. The photo, inspired by a photograph of actress Marlene Dietrich, was the band's favourite image of themselves. The video then fades into them playing their instruments. In the opera section of the video, the scene reverts to the Queen II standing positions, after which they perform once again on stage during the hard rock segment. In the closing seconds of the video Roger Taylor is depicted stripped to the waist, striking the tam in the manner of the trademark of the Rank Organisation's Gongman, familiar in the UK as the opening of all Rank film productions. All of the special effects were achieved during the recording, rather than editing. The visual effect of Mercury's face cascading away (during the echoed line "go") was accomplished by pointing the camera at a monitor, giving visual feedback, a glare analogous to audio feedback. The honeycomb illusion was created using a shaped lens. The video was edited within five hours because it was due to be broadcast the same week in which it was taped. The video was sent to the BBC as soon as it was completed and aired for the first time on Top of the Pops in November 1975. After a few weeks at number one, an edit of the video was created. The most obvious difference is the flames superimposed over the introduction as well as several alternate camera angles.

Michael Jackson: Rock with You

Directed by Bruce Gowers

Uses a shorter version of the song, the video features Michael in a sparkly sequined suit singing the song with a bright laser behind him. So it is a very minimalistic music video.

The style of Bruce Gowers’ music videos are those that have a lot of lighting and mainly feature the artist singing the song with those lights on them.

Mock Exam: CD

In our Media Mock Exam on Tuesday 17th October, we had to create a CD Digi-pack for the music video we created over the summer based on thumbnails that we created. This had to be finished in two hours.

This is the thumbnail style that I chose for my CD front and back covers.

This is the picture of the orginal plan I had for my CD cover. As can be seen, it is three sides instead of four. It is very basic but I did intend to keep its design layout for the actual Digi-pack.

This is the image I used for my front cover. I cropped it in Photoshop and afterwards got rid of the rest of the bricks.

In Photoshop, I added a blue background, text, a moon and skull for the logo. I also added a barcode which was supposed to be on the back but it was too late to change it.

This is an early version of my CD. As you can see, it doesn't have much on it just a bit on the front and the back cover having a picture of my eyes and the list of songs.

The images below are how my front and back covers for my CD looked by the end of the two hour exam. I used mainly images from my music video and images of the moon for the CD. The second square on the second row is supposed to be the design of the disk.

Printed version of my digi-pack.

Stereotypes, Camera Angles and Movements

In this lesson we had to look at the music video 'Otis' by Kanye West and Jay-Z and look at the representation in it. The reason why we looked at these was to see how music videos work with representation.

We had to follow this up with doing the same with a music video of our choice, in the style that we would like to do for our own. I chose 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash

In the next lesson we looked at 'Otis' again but this time looked at the camera angles and movements and see how the representation is affected by it.

Afterwards I looked at the camera angles and how it affected representation with 'Hurt'.

Summer Music Video: The Doors-Alabama Song

Link to original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX42_3ZKv8c
Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuxEMxQP02w&feature=youtu.be

At the end of Year 12, my class and I were given a task to complete over the summer holiday which was to create our own music video using an already existing song.
The song that I chose was the version of the "Alabama Song" performed by the Doors (1966). I don't really know what made me choose this song. I think the reason for this is because the song could be seen as quite depressing which fit with the style I was comfortable with and also I found it easy to remember the lyrics after a couple listens.

Lyrics:
Well, show me the way 
To the next whisky bar 
Oh, don't ask why 
Oh, don't ask why 

Show me the way 
To the next whisky bar 
Oh, don't ask why 
Oh, don't ask why 

For if we don't find 
The next whisky bar 
I tell you we must die 
I tell you we must die 
I tell you, I tell you 
I tell you we must die 

Oh, moon of Alabama 
We now must say goodbye 
We've lost our good old mama 
And must have whisky, oh, you know why 

Oh, moon of Alabama 
We now must say goodbye 
We've lost our good old mama 
And must have whisky, oh, you know why 

Well, show me the way 
To the next little girl 
Oh, don't ask why 
Oh, don't ask why 

Show me the way 
To the next little girl 
Oh, don't ask why 
Oh, don't ask why 

For if we don't find 
The next little girl 
I tell you we must die 
I tell you we must die 
I tell you, I tell you 
I tell you we must die 

Oh, moon of Alabama 
We now must say goodbye 
We've lost our good old mama 
And must have whisky, oh, you know why

The two following images are the storyboards that I created for my music video. While I didn't follow it completely, by the end I felt I had stuck to these as closely as I could since I realised while filming that some of these moments wouldn't have worked.

The pictures below are ones that were taken over the summer to help me plan my music video by letting me know how far I was relative to the camera.

Analysis:
The video opens with a shot of the sky before panning down to a close-up of the side of my face. A tracking shot begins as I walk and lip-sync. It cuts to a close-up of me walking towards the camera. It dissolves to a POV shot as I walk towards a pub and then zoom in on it.
The video dissolves into another shot of the sky before panning down again on me sitting down outside by a table with a whiskey bottle and shot glass. After a bit of lip-syncing I also begin to pour a glass of whiskey and drink it while continuing to lip-sync.
The video then begins to show stills of the whiskey bottle getting more and more empty as the next verse starts. It then cuts to an extreme close-up of my mouth lip-syncing the song. It cuts to an extreme close-up of my eyes, before cutting to a medium shot of me standing against a wall. Once the verse is finished, I look down as the camera pans up.
The video cuts to me opening the whiskey bottle and drinking the remnants of it before turning to a low-angle shot. I then turn back to a medium shot before throwing the bottle. The video ends with a close-up of the bottle smashing in slow-motion.
This video was intended to show that the alcoholic was fully dependent on the whiskey but because of my facial expression, was never happy with it.
The entire video is shot in black and white to give a depressing atmosphere to the video and song which I think works terrifically for something that I didn't originally intend.


Behind the Scenes:
I consider my music video to be quite simple in how its shot. Recording the video either took place in town or at my house. I think that the shots weren't the most visually interesting as I put more emphasis on the lip-syncing which I think went quite well.
The types of camera work that I used in this video include; panning, tracking shots, medium shots, low-angle shots, POV shots and close-ups.
I decided that I would be the only person in the video. Originally I considered having others in the video as well but I changed my mind as just having me in the video would make it easier as only I had to memorise the lyrics and I wouldn't have to worry about the others not being able to film.
While planning out the video with the storyboards above, I always planned to film the video at town and my house as there wasn't anywhere else that was needed for the video.
I ran into problems with the weather throughout the summer as well as the lighting never being right for the shots at my house. It was because of these issues that I wasn't able to get a good shot of the moon.
The final shot was the most frustrating to shoot as I had to go through 3 bottles until I had a version that looked right.
Another part of the video that was annoying was the shots that I took at town. The original ones were taken before I had the music playing so I had to lip-sync from the top of my head. Needless to say it didn't fit. So I had to re-shoot them which ended up working because I had the song playing while I was singing along.
I edited this video with an app on my IPhone called IMovie. It was pretty simple to use as it allowed me to cut the individual shots easily and sync them up with the music.
When editing the video together, I came to the decision that it would all be in black and white. While it made the fact that I was drinking cold tea irrelevant and I could of averted all the trouble that came along with that, I think it fit the mood for the song.


Conclusion:
As I mentioned above, I think that I stuck as closely as I could with my original idea for this video as I had to get rid of bits for time and practicality. I think that the video came together quite nicely and it was somewhat surprising that I had to cut out some scenes from it since the video became too long.
I think the part that I'm happiest with was the close-up of my mouth while lip-syncing, the reason for this was because the audio matched up with my lip movements very well.
The part that I think could have been improved was the moment near the end when I threw the bottle and then the cut to the bottle smashing. I think that the editing there didn't look quite right. The reason for this is because they were two different bottles, with the one I threw in the former bit didn't smash on camera as it bounced off the wall.
In conclusion, while there were many annoyances in filming and editing, I think my music video was better than what I thought it would be. The reason for this is because I wasn't very confident in my ability to edit the footage together however at certain points, it blended together almost seamlessly.

Analysis of AS Media Studies

Throughout Year 12 AS Media Studies my class and I covered a wide variety of subjects which I felt has helped me become more skilled and knowledgeable at this subject.

Prelim Task

At the beginning of the year our first task was to use Adobe InDesign and Photoshop to a limited extent with the goal of creating our own college magazines using real magazines as inspirations and taking some ideas from them.

This is the cover for the college magazine that I created in September 2016. It is clear that it was created by someone trying to learn how to use the Adobe software.

This is an example of the practice we did in Photoshop. This taught me how to manipulate images.

The prelim task was a good introduction to the two main software that I would be using for the rest of the year. I did originally have worries about the software as it looked too complicated however by the end of the task I felt more confident in it.

Main Task

The next part of the year was spent on perfecting our skills that we learnt in the prelim task to create a music magazine. I started off by finding examples of real music magazines and basing mine off on them.
To the left is the contents page of a music magazine that I chose to base mine on which is located below. This was the one that came out most similar to the original inspiration.

One thing that was essential to the creation of the magazine was to get your own photos to use. In order to do this two members of my class and I went into Town to take pictures for our music magazines. I edited these photos in Photoshop to make them fit with the tone I wanted my magazine to fit.

During this task I created a cover, a contents page and a double-page spread. The last two I had to put in information into them to make them appear more legitimate.

By the end I considered this task to be a success as it gave more confidence in using Adobe software and how to use my own initiative to get the task done.

Evaluation

Near the end of the year I had to answer seven questions and upload them to my blog. Each of them needed to be using a different technique.

This was probably the most difficult thing that I did in the year as it forced me to use different skills that I had not used before.

The questions and styles I did them in are as follow:

1. Who would be the audience for your media product? Audio with Images

2. How did you attract/address your audience? Lip-sync animation.

3. How does your media product represent particular social groups? PowerPoint with Voice-over.

4. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Cards (key words place on cards which are held up when they are said)

5. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Piece to camera

6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? Greenscreen

7. Looking back at your preliminary work what have you learnt in the progression from the college magazine to the full product? PowerPoint presentation with music

The lip-sync animation was, in my opinion, the most difficult of all of them as I found it frustrating how to get it to match the audio. I had to think outside the box in order for some of these to work. For example, in order to film Question 4 I had to match the cards with the key words and make sure they would match up with the audio from the voice over for the video.

During the evaluation, I learnt how to use the greenscreen which will come in handy in the future. During this time I started to use Revelation Art to create a stick figure animation however I decided against using it for my evaluation. I also continued to be more independent as much of what had to be done was in my own time instead of in school (i.e questions 4 and 5 were filmed at my home).

The main software that I used during this period was Sony Vegas which helped match the previously recorded audio with the video that was filmed afterwards. For example, I had to use it to place in different versions of the same character with a different mouth and match it with the audio to create an acceptable lip-sync.

Media City

In January 2017 we visited Media City and had a tour around the BBC building where we looked around at different rooms like BBC Radio 6, the stage for BBC Breakfast and a large studio for the TV dramas and learnt how they put up the sets for the different programmes. I found this visit to be very informative in learning what went on behind the scenes in making things, such as the news, and how difficult it is.

Exam

For our exam we had to answer two questions, one relating to how things such as gender, sexuality, social class etc were represented in a clip from a TV drama and the second one was having to analyse how something like advertising affects the successful distribution of a film. For the second question we had to look at two films and their respective production companies in order to compare them.

In the build up for the exam I experienced a large increase in my media knowledge. For example, for the first question we had to look how a particular thing was represented through the use of sound, editing and camera. Because of this I had to learn the terminology relating to these topics.

I also had to learn different terms and remembering figures in order to properly answer the second question. For example, how the films were advertised, the budget, the box office and synergy and cross-convergence with other companies.

The exam and the weeks leading up to it were an incredibly frustrating time but I do believe it gave me more knowledge in Media.

Conclusion

I think that Year 12 had me experiencing a great increase in my skills and knowledge for a subject that I hadn't done before. I have definitely become more confident in the basic software and now know how to analyse representation in clips by looking at the mise en scene, the editing, the sound and how the camera is used. I also have much greater knowledge than I did at the beginning of the year. Even though it was sometimes stressful I believe that what I learnt in Year 12 will help me in Year 13.