Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Incoherence

Chapter Twelve


Incoherence

The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to 'complete' or 'to make sense of' the image.
Miley Cyrus is a prime example as she changed her star image and approached a new audience.


This is achieved by continued consumption of the star through his or her products.

In the music industry, performance seems to promise the completion of the image, but it is always ultimately unsatisfying.



Monday, 15 June 2015

Creative Apps

Chapter Eleven


I am looking at creative technology to improve my blogging and my method of research and organisation. There are lots of apps online to aid this. 

A mind-mapping and organisation tool such as Dipity can help plan ahead for a shoot or reminders and act as a simple calendar. It is also useful for looking back at projects and timed projects. It can also be used to search for the history of artists and their context.


This is a timeline created to represent Nirvana's career. It shows the key points in the band and their members life. It's helpful to discover the context of the band without searching through pages of wikipedia pages finding the key events. 

It also allows you to add events that you think are missing and view the timeline as a text or flip book to see the photos.


To create an original cartoon and slideshow PowToon is incredible simple and impressive looking application.

The home page is simple and easy to follow.



My final comic style creation is made with Make Believe Comix It's a fun way to express a subject or answer FAQ's.


Thursday, 11 June 2015

Looking at MJ's 'Scream'

Chapter Ten


I have looked at Michael Jackson's music video for Scream. The video cost 7 million dollars to create and this mostly went into special effects. 


The video shows Michael and Janet in space, away from any harassment and paparazzi. These themes had a big effect on MJ's life. This music video is a dig at the paps because they make him want to Scream.

This is ironic because he is in space, he is able to scream and not let anyone hear him. It is his 'dream' of getting away. The use of cuts, angles and special effects in this video reflect the confusing in MJ's mind and the mess it is. We also see this through his lyrics, he sings about being confused.

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Working On Wordpress

Chapter Nine


Using Wordpress I've made a website for the duo Alex and Sierra. This is for practice when making my website campaign for my music video. I looked at representing the duo's star quality on the webpage. 



I came across challenges and learnt new things when making this website. It took me a few hours to get to grips with the idea of pages and the idea of posts. I also looked at Menus and included widgets.

I am really happy with my website and I am now comfortable with using Wordpress and I feel like I can make the most out of its free services.

Friday, 5 June 2015

Media Star Image of Tom Odell

CHAPTER EIGHT


TOM ODELL- ANOTHER LOVE

very ordinary location 
one loooooonnngggg shot. one take.
old cottage, sitting room
general man.
nice hair, pretty boy
young! young iddi artist
boy next door
not very smiley
sad/depressed
angry
morning, through to evening




The opening shot from Tom Odell’s ‘Another Love’ is a close up of his face, showing his blonde messy hair and thick eyebrows. The camera zooms out and we see more of his face and surrounding. There is also a blue hint to the shot. The light then illuminates his face and we see a girl behind him in a cottage. This location is very ordinary fitting Dyer’s paradox. The lighting is natural and creates even more naturalism in the music video. 
Tom is the main feature of his own music video. He is represented as a young male, he looks very ordinary for his age but also has a very individual look. His trademark hair and relaxed fashion sense are supported in the video. An interesting feature in the video is that it is edited using really really long shots with very little cuts. About halfway through editing is used to fade the female actress out of the shot. Throughout the whole music video Tom is looking into the camera. This makes the music video seem very intimate with the audience. The movement of the camera zooming in and out constantly yet slowly builds the tension in the music video as we are constantly seeing more of the surrounding and his expression.
We are made to feel sympathetic towards him as we see the little attention he is giving the female model and in the lyrics we understand he has been heartbroken before and is looking his capability to love. As the camera zooms out we see a mirror placed next to Tom. It is a strange place to put a mirror but we soon see it is clever because it allows us to see the female in the reflection without moving the camera away from Tom.
We see the female change and put on a coat over her lingerie. I think Tom’s star image, built by his record company, is playing his individual style to his advantage. His ‘private school boy’, creative image is supported in this music video. He is wearing a black jumper and black skinny jeans, this fits the depressing theme of the song.


Throughout the video the light is fading and it becomes orange to represent the late afternoon and then gets dark to show it is getting late. This looks as if Tom has been sat in the chair not moving or reacting to anyone all day. 


The woman eventually starts throwing chairs and books around in frustration of Tom ignoring her, this reflects on making him look negative and inattentive. This doesn't show Tom in a very good light but it suits the situation and his helplessness.


His singing gets more tense and his characters becomes frustrated. This is shown through his facial expressions, and his vocal straining. The video then fades out into a very dark contrast and Tom’s face is in a close up where we see him lower his face which makes him look shy and nervous. This fits his record deals idea of making him ‘the boy next door’.