Brief 3: Music Video + Lighting + Behind the Scenes

This is a fairly complicated brief, so read it carefully.

IMPORTANT: For this task you may work in groups of up to three people. If you work as a group, you may produce three different and distinct pieces, or you may share some footage across the group. However, you MUST produce YOUR OWN EDIT of BOTH ELEMENTS.

Brief: You work for an independent video production company. You have been tasked with producing an extract from a new music video (ELEMENT ONE) for an artist aged between 16 and 21. There is no restriction on genre, but the production company have insisted that the video must be set in a UK school and must include representations of at least two different social groups. In addition, you must also produce a 'behind the scenes' documentary (ELEMENT TWO) of the video shoot. 

1: Even if you intend to shoot on your own camera, find a FREE app that allows you to control the exposure triangle (Aperture / Shutter Speed / ISO) when shooting video on your mobile phone. Most of you already found Blackmagic Cam and that works really well.  

NB: The task will need at least two cameras (or phones) working together. 

2: Find 5 music videos to use as INSPIRATION. 

Consider some of these reasons why it might make for worthy inspiration.

• It uses a genre of music that is similar to the song you have chosen.
• It is by the same artist as the song you have chosen. 
• It is aimed at the same audience as the song you have chosen.
• It is set in a school. 
• It has some stylistic features that you find interesting and might want to replicate.
• It has some technical features that you find interesting and might want to replicate. 

3: ELEMENT ONE Produce an extract from a music video (30 - 60 seconds).

You will need to include:

• A performance element (Lip Syncing) shot from at least two different angles or shot lengths. 
• A narrative element (Lip Syncing optional). 
• At least one of the performance shots must use a single, controlled, light source (Ledzilla or Light Panel) and no other.
• An attempt at racking focus.

I'm going to post a few interesting Youtube videos about using a single light in your production. If you find any of your own, please post a link in the comments section below.

7 CINEMATIC Lighting Setups with ONE BUDGET Light!

8 CINEMATIC Looks With ONLY 1 light

CINEMATIC LIGHTING IN 5 MINUTES! [Using One Cheap Light]

4: ELEMENT TWO Produce a 'making of' video about the production of the music video (60 - 180 seconds). 

You will need to include:

• Director's commentary.
• Behind the scenes footage. 
• Reference to the technical resources that you used in the production.

5: Present these elements in the Practise Briefs section of your blog in a series posts entitled:

BRIEF 3: INSPIRATION 

BRIEF 3: MUSIC VIDEO EXTRACT

BRIEF 3: BEHIND THE SCENES

DEADLINE: 20th December 2024

MARK SCHEME

MUSIC VIDEO MARK SCHEME
Lang: Genre	Production demonstrates understanding of codes and conventions of existing examples of the genre.
Lang: Mise	Production constructs meaning through use of mise en scene.
Industry	Production promotes artist/song
Representation	Representation is consciously constructed to appeal to target audience
Audience	Production is consciously constructed to appeal to target audience

CONVERGENCE
Industry	‘Making Of’ video promotes artist and encourages audience to view the video
Audience	‘Making Of’ video is consciously constructed to appeal to target audience

 

1: Minimal      2: Limited      3: Adequate      4: Good      5: Excellent

 

PREPARE FOR MARKING

Use the following instructions to ensure that your blog is ready for marking.

1st: Chatham and Clarendon Media Studies Blog: BLOG CONTENT 

Look carefully at this post. Ensure that your have formatted the blog correctly and that you have included the right elements in the right place. LABEL EVERYTHING WITH CARE. You should be asking yourself: will the examiner understand what he or she is looking at?

2nd: Complete/Incomplete

In each section of your blog, the first word should either be COMPLETE or INCOMPLETE. If you feel that you have finished this section and that it is ready for marking, please write COMPLETE. If you know that it is not finished, please write INCOMPLETE and give me a date for when you think it will be ready to mark.

3rd: Third Party View

Ask at least one other person in the group to access your blog and read through it. First and foremost, get them to ensure that they have access to everything you have posted on your blog. If you have something that requires them to log in to something you need to find a better way to display your work. Next, get them to review how clearly you have explained what you have included. If you need to improve your labelling, do that immediately. 

4th: Chatham and Clarendon Media Studies Blog: REVIEW YOUR STATEMENT OF INTENT

As the title of the post suggests, review the content of your Statement of Intent.

REVIEW YOUR STATEMENT OF INTENT

Return to your Statement of Intent and check that it accurately reflects your intentions. To some extent your final mark is contingent upon:

i) The quality of your intentions.

ii) The extent to which you have fulfilled those intentions. 

Look at the following advice and make any relevant changes to your Statement of Intent.

1st: Formatting. 

Your SOI should start with the following question: 

How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief? ( approx. 400 words) 

You should then have the label Production - Music Video or Production - Magazine

This should be followed by approximately 200 - 250 words about your intentions regarding your production.

Next you should have the label Website

This should be followed by approximately 200 words about your intentions regarding your website.

Next, you should have the following question:

How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production? (approx. 100 words)

This should be followed by approximately 100 words about your intentions regarding digital convergence between your productions and your website.

2nd: Contents - Question 1.

To help you write this section, consider the following questions:

1: What conventions of existing media have you selected to include in your production?

NB: These should cover Media Language, Representation and Audience Theory and should be directly related to your research. 

2: What conventions of existing media have you chosen to break/subvert in your production?

NB: These should also cover Media Language and Representation, but your choice to break or subvert the conventions should be directly related to audience. 

Take a look at page 15 or 16 of the briefs to see some of the things that the exam board suggests you should be considering. 

3rd: Contents - Section 2

To help you write this section, consider the following questions:

1: What is the industrial relationship between your production and your website?

2: What will you include in your production to direct your audience to your website?

3: What will you include in your website to direct your audience to your production?

4: What will you include across both to establish clear brand identity?

Take a look at page 17 of the briefs to see some of the things that the exam board suggest you should be considering.

4th: Third Party Check

Have another member of the class read through your SOI. They should be looking for clarity, for formatting and to check if your intentions align with your research. Once they have checked it and given you the thumbs up, go to the top of your post and write COMPLETE.

POWERPOINT TEST

 POWERPOINT TEST

Brief Two: Image and Anchoring Text - Applying Hall

The purpose of this brief is to give you more experience using your phone camera, but to also give you the opportunity to apply Hall when creating your own work.

Task 1:

Choose at least two social groups to represent and research the stereotypes attached to that social group. Define the elements of the stereotype and find three images for each social group that contribute to the construction of this stereotype.

Task 2:

Create an image of your own that is designed to challenge or subvert the stereotype for each social group. Think very carefully about:

Mise En Scene, Shot Type, Lighting, Anchoring Text (NB: You will be writing about your choices)

Task 3: 

Create a PowerPoint presentation in which you:

a) Explain the stereotype making reference to the way that the images you have chosen attempt to 'fix' a hegemonic preferred meaning around the representation of your chosen social group.

b) Explain how you have used Media Language to encode a countertypical representation of your social group.

Task 4:

Submit your work.

a)  Create a post in the 'Practice Tasks' section of your blog. 

b) The title should be: Brief Two: Image and Anchoring Text - Applying Hall. 

c) Embed you PowerPoint presentation, making it the content clear. 

EVALUATE - HESMONDHALGH

Question: Evaluate the usefulness of Hesmondhalgh for analysing Long Form TV Drama.

Step 1: Correctly characterise Hesmondhalghs theory (as defined by OCR).

Take 15 mins and post in the comments section below. 

Step 2: Write your paragraph about different forms of integration - Vertical/Horizontal/Multi-sector and post below.

Step 3: Give/Get advice about how to improve your paragraph. Post advice as a reply to the first paragraph.

Step 4: Rewrite based on the advice and then reply to the advice below your first paragraph.

Step 5: Write a paragraph about risk mitigation - You may wish to include...

Genre: Both shows use tried and tested genres.

D83 - Espionage Thriller - Homeland and The Americans were both popular in the U.S. subverting the genre by challenging the conventional hero narrative. Does Hesmondhalgh allows us to analyse the subversion of genre?

Stranger Things - Sci Fi, Horror, Teen Drama, Adventure - The wide range of genre types captures a wide audience. Also, Netflix use of granular digital surveillance would allow them to identify popular genres. This may have influenced their choice to commission a genre hybrid show of this nature. Does Hesmondhalgh provide insight into why such a show might be so popular?

Write your paragraph and post beneath your previous paragraphs. Try to use the advice to get it right first time.

Brief One: Photography 101

The purpose of this brief is to get you to think carefully about lighting and focus and to work out what is possible with the equipment you have available. 

STEP ONE

Find and download a Free App that will allow you to control the Iris (f-stop), Shutter Speed and Film Speed (ISO) of the camera on your phone.

STEP TWO

Search online for THREE examples of EACH of the following:

• High Key Lighting
• Over Exposed Lighting
• Low Key Lighting
• Shallow Depth of Field
• Deep Depth of Field
• Monochrome
• Back lighting
• Chiaroscuro

STEP THREE

Using your phone (or any other camera if you have one) replicate ONE of each type. The main challenge here is to try to replicate the image as accurately as possible. 

STEP FOUR

Create a post in the Practice Briefs section of your blog called PRACTICE BRIEF ONE: PHOTOGRAPHY 101. Display your inspiration and your own work in a way that makes it clear what you are presenting (I won't give you any more instructions than that).

25 – 21	Excellent ·         Candidate has closely followed the brief ·         Everything is complete ·         Excellent use of equipment/technical skills ·         Presentation is excellent and creative ·         Candidate has taken the opportunity to show creative flair while still producing material that resembles their research.
20 – 16	Good ·         Candidate has closely followed the brief ·         Everything is complete ·         Good use of equipment/technical skills ·         Presentation is good and clear ·         Candidate has made a good attempt to reproduce material that matches their research.
15 – 11	Adequate ·         Candidate has mostly followed the brief ·         Mostly complete ·         Adequate use of equipment/technical skills ·         Presentation is clear but not very careful ·         Candidate has made an adequate attempt to reproduce material that matches their research.
10 – 6	Limited ·         Candidate has somewhat followed the brief ·         Likely to be incomplete ·         Limited use of equipment/technical skills ·         Presentation is not particularly clear or careful ·         Candidate has made a limited attempt to reproduce material that matches their research.
5 – 1	Minimal ·         It is not clear that the candidate has followed the brief ·         The work is clearly incomplete ·         Minimal use of equipment/technical skills ·         There is very little evidence of care in the presentation ·         Candidate has made minimal attempt to reproduce material that matches their research.
0	Nothing submitted

CREATING YOUR BLOG

Hello everyone and welcome to Media Studies at CCVI. This first task can be a little bit fiddly and I can virtually guarantee that some of you will have a problem with blogger, but we'll go ahead steadily and have it up and running as soon as possible. 

So, you're about to set up your blog. Follow the steps below as best you can. I'll be there to help if you get stuck. It's boring but have patience...

Step 1: Create a gmail account. NB: Make your password and email easy to remember

Step 2: Go to Blogger.com 

Step 3: Create an account using the following format:

URL for your blog - Surname First Name CHS mediablog

Account Name - First Name Surname Media Studies Blog

Step 4: Choose THEME from the left hand menu and look for Awesome Inc.

Step 5: On the left, click on layout, find side bar right 1, add a gadget, labels.

Step 6: (This might take a while) Create a series of labelled posts so that your labels read: 

01 Coursework Brief

02 Statement of Intent

03 Research - Production

04 Research - Website

05 Planning - Production

06 Planning - Website

07 Completed - Production

08 Completed - Website

Practice Briefs        

Step 7: When you have finished, post you address in the comments section of this post.

NEWSPAPERS - QUESTION 1 MARK SCHEME

USE THE FOLLOWING MARK SCHEME TO HELP STRUCTURE YOUR RESPONSES TO THE UNSEEN QUESTION AT THE START OF PAPER ONE.

1. Correctly characterise the theory [0,1,2]​ 

Your first paragraph should be two or three sentences long. It should correctly describe the theory.

2. Answer the question [0,1,2]​  

Every question has a core. In your answer you should carefully address that core and use the same language in your answer.

For Example,

Question: Analyse the different social representations in Source A and Source B. 

In the answer to this question you should analyse the different social representations and make it clear that you are doing that by using the phrase 'social representations' repeatedly.

Question: Analyse the way that Media Language is used to present social and cultural contexts in Source A (The Daily Mail) and Source B (The Guardian Online).​

In the answer to this question you should analyse the presentation of  social and cultural contexts and make it clear that you are doing that by using the phrase 'social and cultural contexts' repeatedly.

3. Use specific and detailed examples [0,1,2]​ 

Carefully select examples from the text to write about. There may be times when you approach it slightly differently, but as a rule of thumbs approach in this order:

i) Look at the main image and anchoring text.

ii) Look at the main headline and sub headline - consider typography and language

iii) Look at anything else of interest on the page

4. Uses the theory to analyse the examples [0,1,2]​

After you have presented the example, apply the theory to analyse it.

5. Use Media Studies terminology [0,1,2]

Finally, and throughout, try to use as much terminology that is specific to Media Studies as you are able. (You'll get better at this as you progress).

1. THEORY [0,1,2]​   

2. QUESTION [0,1,2]​ 

3. EXAMPLE [0,1,2]​   

4. ANALYSIS  [0,1,2]​

5. TERMINOLOGY [0,1,2]

NEWSPAPERS: HALL

Question

Analyse the social representations in Source A and Source B. 

Apply Hall's theories about representation in your answer.

1st. Review the markscheme for this type of question.

- What phrase from the question are you going to repeat in your answer?

- What does this phrase actually mean?

2nd. Review the markscheme again. 

- What is the first thing you are going to write about in your answer?

3rd. Use the points below to help you write the first paragraph. Try to be succinct.

- Post your paragraph in the comments section below.

• Hall points out that there is no 'true' meaning, but that a representation can generate many meanings.
• Hall theorises that meaning is constituted by what is present, what is absent and what is different. 
• Hall implicates the audience in creating meaning. 
• Hall explains that power (hegemony) tries to 'fix' a preferred meaning through stereotyping.

SOURCE A: The Guardian - November 25th 2021

SOURCE B: The Daily Express - November 25th 2021

Source A:

Image: In the foreground, there is a representation of a woman carrying one child and holding another. Her body language and facial expression have been selected to show her extreme fatigue. Behind her the British border force can be seen, but they are turned away, so remain faceless. At least two men are visible in the background, but the image does not dwell on them.

Anchoring Text: The anchoring text reads: A mother helps her children onto the beach at Dungeness after being rescued in the channel yesterday.

Paragraph:

The Guardian encode a message of support for the refugees. The social representation of a "mother" and "her children" is established by the anchoring text, which denotes that the woman that is present in the foreground of the image is the mother of the two children that she is carrying and holding hands with. The selected image constructs a stereotypical representation of a migrant woman as being fatigued by her journey, and the word "rescued" attempts to fix a preferred meaning that she (and women like her) need help and support from the UK authorities. The social representation in the image includes two males who also seems to be migrants, but they are absent from the centre of the image which contributes to the Guardian's attempt to stereotype refugees as being women and children. This  is different to the hegemonic social representation of small boat migrants as 'fighting age men' which is often shown in the right wing press, and conforms to the Guardian's left wing messaging. 

 

2025 PRACTICE

2025 - PRACTICE

SOURCE A: MIRROR COVER: 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRrGdi6bMAA5Rxk.jpg:large

SOURCE B: EXPRESS ARTICLE

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1919279/general-election-keir-starmer-labour-landslide

TITLE

How far have media conventions been used to construct viewpoints and ideologies in Sources A and B?

In your answer you must:

• outline the different conventions of the front pages of tabloid newspapers and online broadsheets, including use and style of headlines and images
• analyse the contrasting use of symbolic, technical and written conventions in the sources
• make judgements and reach conclusions on the way in which media conventions construct viewpoints on ideologies.

TASK ONE

Write your response to bullet point one and post it in the comments section below...

TASK TWO

Look carefully at the paragraph guide below and then write something similar about the use of image in the express article. Post your response in the comments section below...

NB: In some cases, the image will be a 'preview image' for a video clip. You can treat this the same way because the preview image will have been selected for its impact.

IMAGE AND ANCHORING TEXT - SOURCE A - PARAGRAPH FORMAT

1^st – Establish the conventions that are being used/challenged

A convention of tabloid newspapers is the selection of highly emotive/sensational images that reinforce the ideological position of the newspaper while also helping to reinforce the storefront nature of the front page by accompanying a variety of different stories.

2^nd – Describe the Source with relation to the conventions – Does it use them? Or break them?

The use of image in source A, challenges one convention by entirely dominating the page, as the paper feature only a splash with no off lead or teasers.

3^rd – Explain how this is related to the construction of viewpoints and ideologies.

This is done to construct the viewpoint that the general election is such an important event that it should and does dominate the national narrative to the exclusion of all other stories.

4^th – Repeat 2^nd with a different detail – If it breaks one does it use another? Can you say something about the anchoring text?

However, the selected image is conventional in the sense that it is emotive and reflects the political bias of the newspaper. The layering effect around Starmer’s head, the unity of the pose (holding hands) and bright red dress as a dominant colour on the page, combine to encode the idea of triumph, of possibility and of forward movement.

5^th – Repeat 3^rd – If you previously stressed viewpoint try to point out ideology and vice versa.

The Daily Mirror is ideologically left wing and famously supports the Labour party; the positive messaging around Starmer’s victory is entirely in keeping with the ideological position of the paper and its working class audience. 

TASK THREE 

Now, look again at Source A: Write an analytical paragraph in which you discuss the Headline and Subheadline (plus any other text you want to consider). Post your paragraph in the comments section - include the title, TASK THREE and YOUR NAME...

NB 1: You should still include reference to codes and conventions and viewpoints and ideologies.

NB2: You should write about language choices, font choices, size and placement of the text.

TASK FOUR

Now, look again at Source B: Write an analytical paragraph in which you discuss the Headline and Subheadline (plus any other text you want to consider). Post your paragraph in the comments section - include the title, TASK FOUR and YOUR NAME...

NB 1: You should still include reference to codes and conventions and viewpoints and ideologies.

NB2: You should write about language choices, font choices, size and placement of the text.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS AT A GLANCE

2024 Stories and Resources

1: The General Election

- The run up to the election.

- The labour landslide

In the comments section below, post a link to an online source and a newspaper cover that will allow you to discuss either of these stories and to compare the way that conventions are used/broken to construct viewpoints and ideologies.