Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer is a cinema theorist who came up with the concept of a star being a constructed image that behaves as a commodity that is produced and consumed based on its meaning. This image is constructed by record companies and are designed to appeal to a specific target audience.

Richard Dyer

A star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines, etc. as well as films (music)).
They are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.
Their star image must be seen as fixed for an audience to identify with meanings contained within.

A star persona is a preferred 'constructed' image of HOW the star wishes to be seen; not their real personality.

It must also maintain some fluidity - as in the image must be able to shift within certain fixed parameters.
The image will reflect the expectations of the audience and should move within the times if the artist is to keep their popularity and credibility.
Once an image has been 'fixed', it is difficult to shift audience expectation - it may desirable for artist but not for the record company.

Another aspect of Dyer's theory is the concept of being present and absent at the same time. The star seems to be present with their audience for example, due to close ups of the star looking at the camera - it makes it seem like they are connecting with us. Also, we follow them on twitter, read articles of them in magazines and newspapers which keeps us updates about their lives.
However, we do ultimately know that they are not physically with us but we are inclined to know everything about them and we therefore 'feed' on their star image.

<include example - gaga?>

Dyer also talks about the idea of being ordinary and extraordinary at the same time, similar to the concept of absence and presence. The stars come across as ordinary, so that we as an audience can relate to them however they are extraordinary in the sense that their image is crafted to look the way it does.

<include example - adele> 

Analysing a Pop Video Product

In    this  essay    I    will    be    analysing    the   video   “Dynamite”  by  Taio  Cruz  who  is  an   English    R&B   singer.  

    

The  image  that  Taio  Cruz  has  managed  to  put  across  through  this  video  is  that  of  a    conventional  womanizer,    which  is  common  among  R&B  stars.  His  masculine  character  is    shown  in  many  ways:  Firstly,  his  opening  shot  in  this  video  is  of  him    riding  a  motorbike.    He  then  takes  his  helmet  off  and  puts  on  some  sunglasses.  These  objects  are  associated    with  power  and  masculinity,    thus  establishing    Taio’s  manly  character  portrayal.    In  terms    of  editing,  the  juxtaposition  of  the   BMW  symbol  on  his  motorbike  reinforces  this    masculine  stereotype.  

There  are  a  lot  of  women  in  this  video  who  are  dressed  in  skimpy  outfits  

establishing  a  sexualised  representation  of  them    and  reinforcing  Taio’s  

‘womanizer’  image.  There  are  a  lot  of  close  ups  of  the  women’s  bodies  drawing    

attention    to  this  portrayal.      

Taio’s  image  is  carried  on  throughout  the  video  in  various  ways:  he  performs  stunts    on    his    bike,  he  performs  on  a  stage  with  fire  blowing  around  him,  he   always  walks  in  front  of  all    the  women  and  he  is  given  the  most  privilege.  Also,  he’s  almost  always  placed  at  a  very  low    angle  putting  him    in  a  high  ‘star’  status  in  comparison  to  the  women  where  the  attention  is    drawn  mainly  on  their  bodies.  

    

This    song    falls    into    the    R&B  category     and    the    video   is   quite   conventional  in   the    sense  that  it  portrays  Taio  Cruz  as  a  manly  figure  that  the  audience  of  this  product    will    look   up    to    as  an    idol    and  star.  It  doesn’t  challenge  the  norms  in  any  way  since  the    main  element  is  the  performance  element,  which  is  done  in  a  style  that    adds  to  his  image    that  conforms  to  the  generics.  

    

This  video  would  be  aimed  at  teenagers  (mainly  male)  who  would  look  up  to  his    masculinity  and  maybe  even  wish  to  be  like  him.  The  sexual  content  is  done  in  a  rather    safe  way,  making  it  available  to  the  young  teenage  audience  as  well,  thus  widening    the    target    audience.  

Researching the Prelim Video Artists

Since we had no experience of shooting a video for a song of this genre and the band didn't have many other videos from where we could understand the style and themes for what the video should look like, we decided to research similar bands (in terms of song genres) as part of our planning.

We looked at bands such as Green Day and watched the different sort of camera shots and performance elements they had.

We quite liked the editing and shot types that Green Day had in their American Idiot video. This gave us an idea of the kind of snappy editing the video should have so that it fits the band's star image. However, due to the time restrictions we had, we couldn't capture the ambitious shots that are found in this video. We instead did multiple steady shots which were easy to film and edit for our situation.



In addition to that, we also looked at the band's myspace, twitter and facebook accounts to get a better idea of their star image.

Music Video Analysis - Star Image

Star Image analysis

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Evaluation of Pop Promo Prelim

For our A2 Prelim task, we had to shoot a video for a band called Acres of Life. The song we shot was called Doc Vs Cupid.

We had a very restricted time limit for this project and so we opted for multiple steady shots since it would otherwise be very time consuming. It would also be easier to edit seeing as it was a video for a band (quick, snappy editing would work best) and such shots would be the best to work with. We started off with a wide shot followed by a midshot and a close up of the lead singer. This was the most convenient order to film in since it required the least amount of movement of the equipment. We them moved on to the midshot and close up of the guitarist followed by the same for the drummer. Since we were in a good position in terms of time, we decided to do the slightly more ambitious high angle shot of the drummer. Finally, we ended by getting the last shots of the bassist.
I think the shots worked quite well given the time limit we had and we knew that we could make the final product look good after the editing process.

There were four main jobs in this project (cameraperson, director, playback and assisstant) and we all had a decent amount of time at all those four positions. The cameraperson operated the camera based on the director's instructions, the director framed the shot by watching the large screen and also shouted out the directions (standby, roll camera, playback, action, cut). The person doing the playback was in charge of playing and pausing the music according to the director's instructions. They would shout "playback in 3,2,1" before playing the track to give the  band and the director a cue to start. The assisstant's job was to help the director and move the camera around from one place to another. He/She would also make sure everything was in order.
We worked well in terms of a team: our planning was good and when it came to the shoot we all worked as planned. We listened to the director at the time and responded well to their directions. We communicated well.

Because we were the last group, we had the least amount of time to edit. This did pressurise us slightly since the other groups were done and the style of editing for this project was slightly different and it took us a while to get the hang of it. However once we did, we got on with the editing rather well and we were quite happy with the final product. Having said that, if we had more time we would've worked more on the editing and it could've possibly improved the final product.

The way we edited this sequence was different from the way we did our thriller: for this project, we laid out all the usefull shots/footage on top of each other on the timeline. They were all synched with the song and we then cut bits of shots from each of those footage sequences and used it for our final project. Also, we chose the shots sensibly since our bit of the song involved a guitar and drum solo and we had to draw significance to them without having the shots too long. We then added in extreme close ups of the drumsticks and guitar strings.

This song would be part of the emo/rock/scream genre and since it had a high tempo, we decided that the appropriate mood would be created if we had lots of cuts which would work with the high tempo of the song.

We made the visuals match the right beats and characters of the band: as I mention before we had a guitar and drum solo in our bit of the track and we matched their close ups appropriately to the point in the track. We alse ensured that it was perfectly in sync.

We can assume the target audience of this song to be teenagers and fans of the emo/rock music genre and in terms of audience appeal, the video fits the song perfectly and so would appeal to this target audience.

This what the final product looks like. We shot and edited the last 59 seconds.

Audience Feedback

After our Thriller sequence was complete, it was uploaded onto Youtube for public viewing. We could then share the link with friends and family which allowed us to collect some feedback.

We got mixed reviews: some people found it too complex and incoherent and therefore couldn't understand it. Others said it was very captivating and grasping and kept them entertained throughout.

Also, a very common feature that the majority of our audience enjoyed was the special effect where a title was blown off with the smoke.

We also constructed a questionnaire that we gave out to people to fill out immediately after the first viewing to gather some quantitative and qualitative data.

These are some of the questions that were included in them:

- I found the sequence: a: clever b: interesting c: confusing d: strange

- The special effects were: a: very well done b: alright c: too much d: annoying
- The music was: a: captivating b: annoying c: interesting d: asynchronous
- Did you find the sequence thrilling/scaring? Yes/No
- Would you watch the rest of the film if it was made? Yes/No
- What did you most enjoy about the thriller sequence?

Our sample population consisted of 35 people.

These are some of the statistics we gathered from the quantitative questions:

41% of the sample found the sequence 'interesting'

32% of the sample found the sequence 'confusing'

19% of the sample found the sequence 'clever'

8% of the sample found the sequence 'strange'

59% of the sample found the special effects 'very well done'

36% of the sample found the special effects 'too much'

5% of the sample found the special effects 'annoying'

42% of the sample found the music 'captivating'

23%of the sample found the music 'interesting'

19%of the sample found the music 'annoying'

16% of the sample found the music 'asynchronous'

73% of the sample found the sequence thrilling/scary

27% of the sample did not find the sequence thrilling/scary

71% of the sample would watch the film if it was made

29% of the sample would not watch the film if it was made

These are some of the qualitative data we gathered from our questionnaire:#

'What did you most enjoy about the sequence?'

- music, special effects, smoke, backgroud score, idea, handwritten bits, colours, theme.

Getting audience feedback helped us understand how successful we were at reaching out to our audience.

Task 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at my preliminary task, I can confidently say that I have developed my knowledge and understanding in the creation of a media product - in all aspects: planning, filmmaking, use of camera, sound and post production.

Obviously since this was a more important task in comparison to the preliminary task, we had to put in much more time and effort in the planning of 'Askew'. We weren't given storyboards, dialogues or any other details for that matter, we were simply told about the basic requirements: an opening sequence for a thriller film of up to two minutes. We had to do our own research to see what thriller opening sequences are like, so that we would have a basic idea of what the final product should seem like. We also had several options within the thriller genre to choose from; such as horror, narrative, thematic, etc. and after we had looked at all these different areas, we opted for a thematic opening sequence. In terms of arrangements, we also had to go more in depth. We got to choose our own shoot locations and so we also had to arrange the required props, actors, design a set, plan all the shots, etc. - something we hadn't done in our prelim task.

 In terms of film-making, again, more time, planning and thinking was required to be put in so that our sequence would have to visual intentions we wanted it to have. We chose to make the sequence a thematic one, therefore we had to focus on details, especially in terms of mise-en-scene. Every little thing that would be seen, or not seen, adds to a specific meaning, or feeling that would affect the audiences' interpretation upon the viewing of the final product. Details such as the mouse, was one of the shots we spent most of our times arranging. One thing I learnt was that it is important for the shot to be logistically possible and realistic so that the shot works out. We suffered in the case of the mouse, since the shot we had in mind didn't work out due to technical issues that we hadn't kept in mind (the camera could not zoom in beyond a certain point). Due to this, we had to change the shot on the day, and luckily, with the aid of post-production, we managed to make the shot look good in the final product.

Use of camera was another aspect in which we could spend lots of time on, especially since we had access to better equipment such as the genie, tracks, etc. We learned how to do focus pulls during a tracking shot, which took quite a long time to get right.

We also focused on details while framing the shot, in oder to bring about the correct intentions. This required us to place the objects in terms of rule of thirds in addition to making sure it was well lit. 

One of the shots that look us a long time to finally get right was the fruit bowl shots. Not only was it just a tracking shot, it also included a focus pull in between. We made small marks on the camera using a special kind of chalk in order to mark the positions of the focus ring at which the focus pull had to be made. The main challenged we faced was that the shot wasn't smooth - we assume this was due to some mishap of the wheels on the tripod which made the shot jerky. Another challenge was to place all the rotten fruit in the exact same position as the fresh fruit in order for the shot to work in terms of continuity. The rotten fruits were much smaller in size and so arranging them took us some time to master - we also had to add in pieces of tissue to make the fruit bowl look right.

In terms of sound, we had to tackle a completely different skill since we used dialogue that was recorded from the build-in microphone of the camera in our prelim task and decided to compose a soundtrack based on the events of the sequence for 'Askew'. We had to learn how to use Sound Track Pro, which is a great software for sound composing and mixing. We layered the voiceovers (that we recorded along in the recording studio) with ambient music and heartbeat sounds that were in the Sound Track Pro sound beds. 

Our sequence heavily depended on Adobe After Effects, which is quite an overwhelming yet extremely powerful software for adding the special effects to any video. It works in a very similar way to Adobe Photoshop, the only difference is that it is for motion instead of pictures.
We had used Final Cut before in our prelim task, however we were completely alien to After Effects. After spending our time and patience on it, we got the hang of it and played around to see what we could add to our sequence. We added in smoke, the journal entries that we had handwritten, different textured layers and we played around with colours. We found that After Effects changed the outlook of our final product and made it look like a complete polished media product.