Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which indicates that there were 7 broad character types in the 100 tales he analysed, which could be applied to other media:

1. The villain (struggles against the hero)
2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
3. The (magical) helper (helps the hero in the quest)
4. The princess (person the hero marries, often sought for during the narrative)
5. Her father (usually dies during or before the end of the film/book)
6. The dispatcher (character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off)
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero, reacts to the donor, weds the princess

The film of which Ii have found which goes directly with this theory is 'The Iincredibles' this film is an animated film which Is about a family who all have there own specials powers. Within this film they are found to have there allies, and there enemies. Between all of them there are 7 characters which fit in with Vladimir Propp's theory.

The hero in The Incredibles is Mr Incredible, he is the father of the family and the main superhero out of all of them. He is always on the look out for crime that he can fight to keep the city he loves the most safe. He is a male character and the most predominant out of all of them due to his size and general look. He is the character who saves the day in the film.

The Donor in The Incredibles is thought to be a machine that is used to kill the enemy, without the machine he would not be able to destroy the enemies machines and therefore he would not be able to do what his aim has been all along and save the city. The machine also helps Mr Incredible find out what the enemy is trying to do as it has a computer in it which helps to find out what there target is.

The Helper in The Incredibles is the hardest to choose, due to the large family all helping to defeat the enemy it would be the entire family but there are also others which help him in the final fight against the enemy and these consist of Frozone, Mr Incredibles best friend and Edna, who is a genius and creates suits that help the Incredibles to fight without losing there powers or clothes.

The Princess in The Incredibles is difficult to find as they usually find themselves fighting for each member of there family just to keep the villain away, the only reward that Mr Incredible is offered is a large pay increase and a 'chance to re-live the good days' which is what Mr Incredible has been looking for ever since the superheroes of the city had been forced to lie low for good. So the pay and chance would have to be the reward at the end of the fighting.

The Father is usually seen as an authoritive figure who offers a reward to the hero for there success, as I just mentioned Mr Incredible had been offered the pay rise and chance to live in the glory days it is a women in the film called Mirage who offers him this, she would be seen as the father due to the offers she makes.


The Dispatcher in The Incredibles is Frozone, he is the one who sends Mr Incredible on his mission, he helps him throughout the mission but is also the one who lets him know of what is going on.

The final person of the 7 is The Villain, in The Incredibles 'Syndrome' is the villain. He is the one that is creating robots that kill real super heroes, this way he will be left as one of the only heroes by using fake sources. Mr Incredible sets out to stop him from killing anymore super heroes and making himself look like a hero.

Claude Levi Strauss

Another theorist of which we have learnt about is Claude Levi Strauss, he is a was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology". He believes in the use of binary opposition, this means that there is a conflict between two opposing forces. He believes that this exists to create conflict to entertain. 

Examples of binary opposition are as below: 

Good         vs      Evil                                                            Crime       vs       Police

Happy       vs      Sad                                                            Young      vs       Old

Civilised     vs     Uncilvilised                                                  Nature     vs       Man

I am now going to show you an example of this within a music video, it is used within many different media texts but here is the music video of the song End Credits - Chase and Status. Chase and status has one clear binary opposition, between crime and police, throughout the entire music video there is trouble from the police towards the main actor and his friends. Below are screen grabs from the music video which have then been transferred onto the blog for me to talk about. 

Here is the first screenshot from the music video, it is a shot of the main actor in the video and also the lead singer. He is being portrayed in the video as a 'crimester' and up to no good, they have done this by giving him a hoodie and making him wear it up. This would be to hide his identity from the other side of the binary opposition, the police. This establishing shot wold allow people to know who is on which side.

The next screen grab is of the same actor as in the first one but in an interview room, this show has been made to look like he is under interrogation from the police, this shot will also allow the audience to see which side is which and will also create an opponent for each other. Therefore sticking with Claude's theory and creating entertainment through the binary opposition.


In this third shot it is an image of the main actor looking over a man that is seriously injured either by the actor or by another actor in the video. This would make the binary opposition active as there is now a reason for them to go at each other. This is what is called a spark and would be the beginning event in a series of other events in a music video.

In this shot there is shown to be a large group of the young 'crimesters' stirring trouble again, this would provoke a lot of drama and once again backing up the theory of which Claude suggested that entertainment is made when two opposites collide. This is quite clearly shown in the music video with the police and criminals fighting.

The final shot of which I have taken from the music video created by Chase and Status is of the police moving in to start more violence. Just to strengthen Claude Levi Strauss' theory.

The music video has shown a very good reputation of Binary opposition throughout the entire song. The whole plot of the video has been based around the two opposites, this has been the only thing causing entertainment for the audience so It has been good to analyse it to his theory. The use of opposites colliding has a very brutal effect on each other, its as if they have been juxtaposed to one and other making the other seem worse or better than what they are. The video has been able to keep my attention all the way through and keep me entertained throughout. Overall I believe that Claude Levi Strauss' theory is true as it creates good entertainment for the audience but there are also many other ways in which they could be done.

From looking into this theory by Claude Levi-Strauss I have learnt that by using two contrasting things you can capture an audiences attention for a long period of time as long as there are battles between them due to it not being a natural couple. Many other music videos use the same technique to convey emotions and feelings for example when you have a smart person and a not so smart person there are comical applications involved such as jealousy and this can lead to different things happening in the video.

I believe I can apply this to our music video by using the binary opposition of love and loneliness. A couple that have just broken up will be a clear way to show the theory through our video, it will keep the audience entertained as the battle between them will go on throughout the video. To do this I think that we should have a couple starting off to show there happiness when they are together and then something bad happening and then showing there unhappiness and loneliness when they are apart, this should help cause a contrast in emotions and help to convey the message.

                                               

Regulation Research

The Mass Media in the UK is regulated very strictly, this is to ensure that people don't come across harmful content which could effect them in any way. To do this, legal bodies are set up by the government and given the ability to filter things from entering the web or onto sites that are viewed by a mass media.

I have undertook some secondary research to find out what these legal bodies have the power to do, why they have to do it and how badly things have to get for them to stop it from being viewed. Beneath is a list of which I have created to show you the different legal bodies and what they are enforced to do in terms of a music video.

The major legal body that relates to classifying music videos is Ofcom, Ofcom is a independent regulator of communications, this makes them the lead regulator in the music video industry. They can ban music videos from being placed on Youtube without an over 18's license. They can also put bars on the iTunes video buying by making sure that you are over 18. They ensure that people under eighteen are protected. There are many different sections of the page they have produced to do with under aged people which can be found at the link below.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/protecting-under-18s/

In relation to my music video I believe that there is nothing that says it will be against the rules and regulation of which Ofcom put forward to there audiences, in my video the only significant pat which may 'effect' children' would be the ending where the main character commits suicide. This is not shown in the video as we did not have the correct equipment to make a fake death look real.

The BBFC (The British Board of Film Classification) is an independent, non-governmental body. They've classified cinema and films since 1912, videos/DVDs and some video games since 1984. Their main job is to ensure that people don't get to see what they believe is out of their age limit. The main issues of which they face are to do with sex, drugs, language and violence. Each of them are tolerated at  certain levels but when they are used too frequently or at higher levels then the BBFC rating will increase. For example if a film has the word 'shit' in it then the BBFC will only rate the film at a 12 as it is low level swearing and seen acceptable for an audience of that age, whereas if the word 'fuck' or 'cunt' is used within a film then the rating is usually increased to a 15. This is because BBFC believe that to hear this sort of language you must be of this age or older. The order of the BBFC certifications go like this :

• Universal - Anyone and everyone can see it 
• PG (Parental Guidance) - Some material may not be suitable for children, so bring your parent.
• 12A - You must be over 12 years old unless accompanied by an adult.
• 12 - Must be 12 or over.
• 15 - Must be 15 or over.
• 18 - Must be 18 or over.
• R18 - Aspecial and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas.

These areas do not effect me or my music video as the BBFC currently do not regulate music videos and would doubtedly be put into that area in the future. As they have just had video games taken off of them due to its broadness being too narrow then they may introduce a European music video censor.

 I believe that our Music video would not need a rating due to its relaxed nature but with the ending being a suicide I don't believe that it will be suitable for children to watch on there own. It will still be allowed viewings from all ages as their is not an age ratings system put in place for the music video industry. They could make advisories to me to make sure that it would not effect or influence children under the age of 18 if it does then they would put an age limit of over 18 on the video to make it illegal to download over iTunes and also put a restriction on it over YouTube.

Audience feedback

To create the best film possible we have had people who are experienced in Media studies and have done the exact same stuff as we have to do now come in to the college to look at how we were doing and tell us what we could to to improve what we have got so far. When we had them in we had just finished editing together some of the footage that we had been out to get so this would give them a just of our plan of action and how we are going to tackle the video.

When we first showed them what we had gotten together for the beginning sequence of the clip they seemed pleased with how well we had planned everything and that we kind of had an idea of what we were going to do. Instead of listing all of the good points and bad points we have got the pair to create a table which shows all of the good points and bad points of what we had already done and what we were planning to do.

From doing this I have been able to learn a lot from the ex-pupils from our school. They have given us an insight on what people in the future will be looking for and how we can adapt in these early stages. By getting this audience feedback we have taken it in with great pleasure and made a few changes to the narrative piece behind the music video. For example we will have only used one camera for the shots of our artist as we do not want different lighting approaches in the video. We will also be looking at, when in different stages of the music video making the actors look more as if he is from this sort of genre with the clothing and the props.

Tei Daratsa - Lost my way (lyrics)

Remember when we used to speak

It’s been long since we did

And it’s cold without you here

So come back to me

I said I’ll treat you right

I’ll be here with open arms tonight

And I’ll show you the light

And I’ll hold you tight

I don’t think I can make it past tomorrow

Without you beside me

I’m all alone

On my own

The wind blows so slow

Now you’ve gone away

Can’t find a way back home

And I’ve lost my way

Mmm oh

I must have been out of my mind

To think that you were mine

Cos’ you were one of a kind

But your heart I cannot find

And I said I’ll treat you right

I’ll be here with open arms tonight

To show you the light

And I’ll hold you tight

I don’t think I can make it past tomorrow without you beside me

I’m all alone on my own

The wind blows so slow

Now you’ve gone away

Can’t find a way back home

And I’ve lost my way

Oh

Mmm oh

I’ve lost my way

I’ve lost my way

In the lyrics you can tell a lot from the song and what its meant to portray, we have tried to convey the ideas of the song through our music video in many different ways. The song seems to be as if he has lost a girl in his wrong doing and now he wants here back. In the music videos narrative section we have tried to make the actor in the music video look as if he is a very upset young boy. We try to make the actor look as if he had been left by having him make facial expressions that will have people giving him sympathy.

We have also tried to make it look as if he is very uncaring over his appearance by having him just wake up, shove his clothes on and then go out in the morning without showering or getting ready. When the song starts to pick up we will have the narrative flashing back to times when the couple were together and they were happy. This will be one the penultimate clip as it will be the one that lets people know that he is actually missing the girl and that they used to have good times together as. In the beginning of the music video we just get to see an angry man with no purpose, this will hopefully make people want to know why hes angry and carry on watching and then when the centre of the song hits we will havr the flashbacks. 

I believe that by doing this we have been able to realise that we will need to link the narrative a bit more to the lyrics of the video so that it all fits together well.  By doing so we will be able to grap peoples attention and therefore keep them interested in the music video from the beginning. By doing this whilst were in the midst of  starting our editing it will help us to look at getting more footage that relates to the lyrics.

Questionnaire

We have created a questionnaire to find out what people think about Music Videos. In the questionnaire we have a wide variety of questions that will find out a lot of different things to do with music videos, by doing this we will be able to find out what different people think about different music videos and how they find there music videos.

Some of the interesting results of which we found were to do with the questionnaire was that every single person that we asked likes to watch the music video of the song they're listening to. This shows us the importance of a music video and that we will need to make it go with the song as it is important to do so. The next part of the questionnaire that we found to be interesting was where we asked the question 'Do you enjoy Music videos with special effects?' We found that the majority of our voters said no, this was intriguing to us as we would have thought in this modern day and age most people like seeing special effects incorporated into the videos to add more effect to the emotions they are trying to convey. After we got our results from our questionnaire we asked some of the people we handed them out too why they didn't like special effects and most of the people said that it was because they can relate to the videos more if they are done just with the camera and editing. This will be good for our video because it will also be done like this.

Another piece of information that we picked up from these questionnaires is that people like serious videos a lot more than funny videos, I can only imagine this is because funny videos can become a bit cringey if you can not relate whereas a serious video is usually made to be easily related too. Our video is going to be made to look quite serious as he has just gone through quite a serious break-up this will hopefully be made to look easily related too.

The final part of the questionnaire that we found very interesting was to do with what happens within the music video, we asked whether people enjoy music videos that have more of the band, the concept or the narrrative or all three. The most of the votes with all three of the options, this will be purely because a lot of people like to see the band and what the song is all about.

By doing this I have been able to find a lot of things out about the audiences that we were targetting, after looking through all of there answers we will be looking to cater for all of the majority voters. We have already been doing a lot of the stuf of which they asked for so there wont be much of a change happenning but we will be able to please more people after doing this questionnaire.

Audience Research