Auteur Theory

The auteur theory originates from France, and means author,  which means that the director's film reflects their creative vision.

An auteur is a film maker who's style is reflected within their film, and creates a signature, or distinctive  auteur status for them. They have a personal, signature style, which helps for them to have creative control over their work. They cannot create a whole production on their own, instead they collaborate with others, and team up with writers, cinematographer and actors , but the directors is still an auteur in a way that they control everyone and everything in the production.

Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock is regarded as an auteur. In his films, he frequently addresses violence, murder and psychology.  He was concerned with technique through the use of shot size, framing, composition, camera angle, camera movement and focus.

He positioned the camera, so it could mimic a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism.  He framed shots to manipulate the feelings of the audience and maximise their fear, anxiety and empathy.

He composed his shots to emphasise visual details that were significant to the narrative, or sometimes he would insert false ideas into the audience's mind.

His films include Rear Window, Strangers on a Train and The Birds.

Hype Williams

Harold 'Hype' Williams is an American music video and film director. His signature style used is the fisheye lens, distorting the camera view around the central focus. He also placed shots in regular wide screen ratio while a second shot is split and placed in the upper and lower bars.

Since 2003, he used a new signature style combining a centre camera focus on the artists body from the torso upward, and a solid color background, with a soft color in the centre of the background, giving a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject

His music videos include Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alecia Keys,  Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Gold Digger by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx.

Gold digger Kanye West - Goodwin Theory - Case Study

1.Video demonstrates genre characteristics
2. Lyrics need to fit with music
3. Video should be visually represented with lyrics and music
4. Close up of artist, visual/audio motif
5. Motion of looking - voyeuristic to female body
6. Intertextual reference:film, tv programmes, music video, magazines



Gold-digger demonstrates characteristics of an R&B genre music video, combining typical conventions found within that genre. Kanye West is dressed in typical clothes which fit the genre : jeans, subtle jewellery, with parts of his skin showing, as well as a belt, withh 'K.W' inscribed on them. The women are wearing minimal clothing, with their hare and make-up done. Parts of the track, Kanye West wears sunglasses, conveying a sense of coolness, appealing to their target market. There are numerous close-ups on Kanye West and Jamie Foxx.

The video tends to fit in with the lyrics. They use a magazine cover with the title 'Baby by busta', 'Pre Nupt', '18 years', 'white girl' during the lyric being sung, as well as showing a child in the video, when they refer to 'kid' in the lyrics.  This makes the video representative of the kyrics and music.

Theere are numerous close-ups of both Jamie Foxx and Kanye West, establishing themselves as the artists of the song. The Format of the music video is unique. The beginning is presented as the opening of a film. The screen has also been decreased, which also linkes in with the voyeurism,.

There is a lot of voyeurism used with the consequtive women who are dressed in procative clothes. There are various scenes where Kanye looks at the female body instead of the women's face, and this encourages the audience to look at the women.

The intertexual references are magazines, the video showing more than five of them, and each one has a women who is presented in an erocative way. This fits in with the conventions of an R&B genre.

Music Videos that I find inspiring

Music videos which have inspired me:

Coldplay, The Scientist: Released 4th November 2002.

This music video inspires me for the way tey form the narrative. It is a very memorable, and orginal video, which I always remember.  What I admire is the way the video takes us back in time, and ends with the audience finding out about a car crash at the end, which killed the woman Chris Martin (the lead singer) was with. The lyrics 'Oh take me back to the start' fits perfectly with this. I also like the use of a natural environment.






Gary Jules, Mad World: Released 15th December 2003.

This music video inspires me for the simplicity it has. The main shots are the birds eye view, and the shot of the singer of Jules on the roof. The choreography is nostalgic, and highlights youth. I also like how the images coincide with the lyrics. I admire, his use of one location, and how he has still made the music video effective,







 Calvin Harris, I'm Not Alone: Released 6th April 2009.

Usually a music video is filmed showing a lot of sunlight, or rain. I find this music video inspiring through it's use of winter. The video follows a narrative of a boy, who tries to survive the cold. The video uses dance moves, which stand out to me, as they are robotic. It also has a slight melancholic feel to it, which I like.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin:

Goodwin identified a number of key features in music videos.
They are:
- a relationshi between the lyrics and the visuals, with visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
- genre-related style and inconography present.
- multiple close-up of the main artist or vocalist.
- voyeurism often lays a major part, especially in relation to females.
- intertextual references to other media texts may be present.

Music videos are often constructedby the link between the visuals, songs and artist. A relationship between these is built in the music video, and close-ups of artists gives representation and publicity they require. Voyeurism is often used to increase the attractiveness of the music video, paritcularly to males. Intertexuality is often used in humorous music videos.

Timeline

1902-1917: The phonoscene era - a forerunner of sound film. Combined a chronohone sound recordingwith a film shot of actors lip-synching . It was presetnted by the Gaumont, in France.

1926-1959: Many musical short films were produced, featuring bands, vocalists and dancers. They were typically six minutes in length, with animations and backgrounds combined with the artist singing. They also provided a sing-along concept.

Musical films were another precursor to music videos, and well-known music videos imitated the style of classical musicals, such as Madonna's 'material girl' was closely staged to 'diamonds is a girls best friend' from the musical Gentleman Prefer Blondes.



1960-1967: The Scopotine ( a visual juke box) invented by the French, was where short films were produced to accompany music videos.

1967-1973: Promotional videos were rising in success, such as Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. The videos were aiming to simulate performance or present a narrative.

1974-1980: Top of the Pops was introduced in the United Kingdom. The Artists would hope that it would increase the sales of their single

1981-1991: MTV launched the first music video on television 'video killed the radio star', and commencing a 24-hour tv programme which only showed music videos.

1992-2004: MTV started listing directors with artist and song credits, who brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. In 1995, one of the most expensive music videos was released : Janet and Michael Jackson's 'Scream'.



2005-present: Launch of YouTube, where you could gain access to music videos for free

Task

For my A2 coursework, I have been given the task of filming a promotional music video, as well as a cd packaging, and a poster.  I am feeling very excited about committing to this and having the opportunity to create a music video, using a sound track which I had to find. I have to find an artist who's music I shall be working with, and I have the option of them being in the music video.

I enjoy the creative side of media, so giving this task, it will be a new experience for me to fulfill. I hope to learn from this, and to widen my creative knowledge within the media.

The correspondence I have had to get my song

Hi, of course, just download any that take your fancy!

Best regards

Neil Preston

Sent from my HTC

----- Reply message -----
From: "Marie-Nicole Chouvaeva" <marienicole07@live.com>
To: <neil@uniquesongs.com>
Subject: Unique Songs Administration:
Date: Wed, Sep 12, 2012 9:04 pm


This is an enquiry e-mail via http://www.uniquesongs.com from:
Marie-Nicole Chouvaeva <marienicole07@live.com>

Hi, I am studying media studies A2, where they have given me a task to make a music video. I was wondering whether I could use one of your songs. No one will see the music video apart from my class, and the OCR examination board.



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