Planning - Scene list

This is a list of the scenes we are filming

Costumes for Y10 Art and Creative Arts Evening

This is the video for the Year 10 Artists to based some of their Lady Gaga-esque costumes.

Podcast 4

This is the 4th podcast for our production.

Planning Scene mindmap

This is a mind map of our planning sessions

Gaga EG 1 - G.U.Y. - An Artpop Film

About the Video:

Directed by: Lady Gaga

Track(s): Artpop, Venus, G.U.Y., Manicure
Genre: Pop/Dance

Lyrics

Summary:
A very filmic video from gaga, combining 4 songs into one video, although not full songs.

Video Synopsis:
The start we see a group of men fighting with each other over a falling cloud of money, they carry bows and there are arrows scattered on the ground, as the men leaven we see Gaga, who has wings and wears a full tight-like suit, she has been shot by an arrow. She has wings which look a lot like the wings from Skellig. we get the title for art pop showing in a similar way to the titles for alejandro. The camer then pans away, to show the men walking off victorious. Gaga starts to rise, building her strength as the song builds. she then falls, unable to continue. we see a helicopter shot and return at sunset, where she begins to rise. and removes the arrow head from herself. Then we see her approach a palace, but fall at its gate. the guards come and help her up. Venus begins as she is carried, like a messiah. venus' title shows on screen like Artpop's, she makes her way by various dancers and gets covered in flower and lowered into a pool, where she is moved away from the edge and pushed under. We go over to the real houswives and cut back for the start of GUY,  where gaga arises from a huddle of people. We see gaga in various places, incuding in front of a rose wall, and in the middle of a room of dancers. after the chorus, gaga is in a pool, and also dancing with various men. She also approaches a popular minecraft youtuber, skydoesminecraft, who uses a computer running something like the game minecraft to ressurect Michael Jackson, Ghandi and Jesus, as they wake we see gaga on a lego sculpture. We then go to another room of dancers, were they all perform a very sexual dance. next gaga enters an office and starts assinating people, replaceing them with the G.U.Y. clones. the video finishes after another dance sequence, with various clones being released into the world.

Costumes:
I have counted 12 costumes in this video. They are:

Skellig

White Swimsuit

White Bikini

White Goddess

Bear Swimsuit cover

Black Swimsuit

Gold Swimsuit

Leg Body

White Dress

Long Coat

Bejewelled Leotard

Clear/Silver Dress

Red Swimsuit

Topless (Hair Bra)

Topless (Blue Cloth)

Intertexuality:
In the music video I noted various intertextual references:

• Skellig
• Reference to Alejandro's titles
• Reference to minecraft (video game)
• Reference to Nathan Sawaya's Yellow

I, personally couldn't pick up any more intertextual references, but noticed the real housewives of beverly hills featured in the video, as did people dressed as Jesus, Ghandi and Michael Jackson. Andy Cohen starred as Zeus and Minecraft Youtuber SkyDoesMinecraft stars in the resurrection scene. 

AP: Audience Research - Guardian - How To Be A Female Pop Star In 2014

How To Be A Female Pop Star In 2014

What this shows us that the media is skewed in a way that prevents women being who they are, they have to follow a certain formula that is liked by all in order to become famous or have a chance in the music industry. It is said that they will not get a job unless they are willing to express their bodies for the viewing pleasure of others - this usually being men which relates back to Laura Mulvey's Theory of Male Gaze.

This is also caused by the lack of female faces 'behind the scenes' in a music video. Most people at the top of the record industry are male and most of the directors in their music videos are also male, this giving a male skewed view on the industry that arguably promotes the use of women for male audiences due to the explicit material. Which is why there has become a 'backlash' on feminism however has only made matters worse as people are turning their heads in the opposite direction and are saying 'fuller more curvy girls are better' which there has become 2 sides of the aruguement, some which argue that this is a good thing and that the media is wrong to portray women if they get slightly larger, but what this is doing is actively getting girls to join the gym to get larger derrieres which is also creatinvg pressure elsewhere to have this 'new idolised perfect figure'. All this is doing is turning the tables and deflecting the pressure elsewhere. This has also created a bad vibe due to in some songs women being called 'skinny bitches' but then some must ask.... What is wrong with that? The other side of the arguement is that the pressure then falls on the media especially in the fashion industry where models are used which are polar opposite to this new theory. Which many claim is just a trend and a passing phase. 

Click Here for a link to the page.

AP: Lady Gaga Meat Dress Intertextuality

We originally believed that Lady Gaga had created the meat dress from her own initiative. With a stab at the media about women being perceived as meat and a supposed stab at vegetarianism. 

However with further research into this we found a website that contained a comment at the bottom by a member of the public about the dress. This can be found here.

This is the comment we found. 

This is the supposed dress it has been taken from. 

Lady Gaga's Dress. 

Podcast 3

This is our 3rd podcast.

In this exciting installment of our hit podcast series, we talk about:

• Our Audience research
• Our expectations of the genre
• What we want to have achieved by next week

AP: Lady Gaga Audience Research Questionnaire

We created a video to show to our target and secondary audiences to clarify our initial target audience to check it is in line with what we intend to produce.

Target Audience: Initial Outline

We will be taking further research into this shortly, but for now here is our initial outline for who we think should be out target audience for our gaga video

Core/Primary

Gender/Sexuality: Female/Gay Male

Age: 15-24

Direct Link to: C1C2DE

Wider Demographics: Zeitgiest-y, fashionable, iPhone, BBC3(ish), Radio 1, Vouge, Instagram,  Buzzfeed, Pintrest,

Typical gaga male fan

Secondary

Gender/Sexuality: Heterosexual Male (both genders younger and older than core)

Age: Tween-Early Teen; 25-44

Minor Links, if femme fatale is involved, to: AB

Wider Demographics (25-44 Heterosexual): Clickhole, verging off of fashionable, Android, Reddit,






A Note On ABC1s:
It is used to denote social class and income
Roughly:
AB-C1C2-DE
Upper-Upper and Lower-Working
IE: Broadsheet and complex/foreign dramas are seen as appealing to ABC1s.
By contrast, Tabloid newspapers, sitcoms and film genres such as rom-coms are considered typical C2DE

higher up=more sophisticated and intellectually capable.

AP: VidEG Genre1 Stay - Rihanna

ACT: Rihanna

TRACK: Stay

YEAR: 2012

DIRECTOR: Sophie Muller

GENRE: Pop, R&B

MAIN AUDIENCE: Male and Female 15-24

LYRICS

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUALS + LYRICS: 

The lyrics have no meaning to the overall visuals but what does come across is the feeling of isolation which is reflected in the song. 

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS: 



INTERTEXTUALITY?

No  obvious intertextual references. 

PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE AND/OR CONCEPT?:

Just a performance video however is set in a bath tub so therefore could be argued that it has a concept behind it. 

PERFORMANCE STYLE: 

Isolation, a safe video in comparison to her other songs and not as outgoing, however there is still an element of exploration due to her being in a bath tub naked. However the water is cloudy to obscure her nudity.

STAR TREATMENT:

There is a lot of star treatment as it is just the two performers shown in the video with Rihanna being the main feature. 

PACE + ANY VARIATION OF PACE: 

There is just one slow pace throughout the song and this doesn't change throughout.

SHOT VARIETY + NO. OF SETUPS: 

There is a lot of creative shots with a wide range of shot variety.

LOCATION/S + MISE-EN-SCENE: 


There is only 2 locations filmed in this includes a bathroom in which features Mikky Ekko singing at the side of a bath in a separate location from rihanna. Rihanna also stays firmly placed in the bath only changing her position therefore keeping budget down. 

NOTABLE SHOTS/FRAMING: 

There are a series of creative shots which feature some interesting angles, others include neither of them some of these include water being splashed. 

DIRECTOR STYLE:

The Director takes many solo female artists, this is who she concentrates on most.

Initial Genre Expectations - Female Solo Pop

Ten points which I think are key to a female solo pop act's video are:

1. Objectification
2. Performing to Camera
3. Elements of Sexual Power
4. Themes of Love and Loss
5. Black & White
6. Various Costumes
7. Studio Locations
8. Urban over Rural
9. Representing the Lyrics in the Video
10. High Key Lighting

Podcast 2

Our second podcast.

In this podcast we talk about

• Our social media presence,
• What we've done previously, before both podcast,
• Minor planning for our video.

AP: A2 Music Video Wider Research

A2 Wider Music Research;

I gathered some research from youtube to look for ideas but also to see what competition we would be looking at. From what I conducted these 3 videos were by far the best of what I could find online with the exception of what is created at Ilkley Grammar.





This is my favourite video available on the web! I love the concept love the style and the edge the costumes and the overall idea is far enough away not to be compared to the original but close enough to have the same effect. I love the editing and the video as a whole comes together really well with the editing style. For me, it makes the video but the camera work and camera angles taken into account are really something due to the shot variation and the steadiness of the camera really add to it.





Personally not my favourite video but the overall cinematography is very interesting especially the the use of effects and the interesting camera angles. 







Although there is no performance to this video but there is a very strong narrative, with no lip syncing due to the dubstep music but what it does demonstrate is the variety of options available but we do have drawbacks because of the school and the equipment and software available to us is not as good or as technical as what they have. Although I don't think I will take any ideas from this I love the idea and love the concept but it is impossible to produce something of this standard with the school's budget and equipment available.

AP: Applying Theory To Our Chosen Idea

Applying Theories:



David Gauntlett - Audience Studies:

• The notion of 'audience' is collapsing as people become producers as well as consumers in media.

Rick Altman - Audience Pleasures:

• Emotional Pleasures: The emotional pleasures offered to audiences of genre films are particularly significant when they generate a strong audience response. 
• Visceral Pleasures: Visceral pleasures are 'gut' responses and are defined by how the film's stylistic construction elicits a physical effect upon its audience. This can be a feeling of revulsion, kinetic speed or a 'roller coaster ride'  
• Intellectual Puzzles: Certain film genres such as the thriller or 'whodunit' offer the pleasure in trying to unravel a mystery or a puzzle. Pleasure is derived from deciphering the plot and forecasting the end or the being surprised by the unexpected.

Dan Gillmor - The Former Audience:

• Gillmor famously wrote of '' the former audience'', to reinforce his argument that the notion of a passive audience is gone. 'They are no longer the passive masses, athey have the tools to challenge traditional media and create media for themselves'.

David Gauntlett proclaims that the notion of the audience no longer exsists and is therefore collapsing due to the birth of Web 2.0 which allows the auudience to create content . this is usually made through fan based videos or UGC (user generated content), which is blurring the lines between producer and audience. this is also backed by Gillmor who also argues that passive audience has gone. To further this, Lady Gaga has created her own lyric video when her song applause was leaked. As a consequence, no music video was ready for the single so Gaga made a video herself at a drag queen club which featured  some of her fans. What this demonstrates is that today, in a digital age it is possible to create videos of producer standard easily with little material. 

Pitch Video- Lady Gaga's - Marry the Night

This is the pitch for the idea for Lady Gaga's Marry The Night.

Myself and Amber pitch the idea, then take questions from our teacher.



The powerpoint we used is here:


Here are the notes I took during the question time, Amber's notes will be coming shortly.

my notes, 2

My notes, 1

my notes, 4

my notes, 3

Podcast 1

This is our 1st podcast

In this podcast we look at:

• introducing ourselves,
• Why we are doing Lady Gaga
• Why Gaga will work well
• Our pitch

transcript

Blah, Blah, Blah.

Lady gaga marry the night ideas

Bride, been abandoned at altar, perhaps start around lunch/late afternoon, looking sad, quick speed to the evening and she's still there upset, gets up and goes walking through the town at night, late evening, with her bouquet, black white and red flowers? she throws it at a tramp?

these colours similar to the cover for born this way.

perhaps start with limo, woman gets out of the limo, then is abandoned at altar, creates nice juxtaposition.

use a street at night, sort of see it looking like fairly blue and moonlit, but with orange patches, from the street lights.

continuing with the narrative ideas:

potential to have the focus be gaga, a performance and a narrative filming parts for her, but, for avalibility and ease of filming, could potentially use two people, one gaga and one focus, looking like this may be the ultimate choice. in terms of other characters, we could do with a tramp characters, dirty looking, mangy beard maybe, or get a tramp costume, sort of see a fagan looking person, the fingerless gloves, ling coat, etc. maybe have a look in charity stores?

We also plan on following the narrative around various locations, such as pubs alleys and streets with shops; we also think military looking outfits would look good and tie in well with the line about military boots.

We also think we should boost the secondary audience, by referencing femme fatales, flashdance/footloose/fame and other films in the locations, costumes and editing we will be doing. We think a good image of this would be to see gaga in a bath while wearing leather, this would link to gaga's tendency to be explicit in unusual ways.

we'd discussed much more (same point for amber's post) than I see here: multiple locations, often linked to lyrics, for the protagonist, and an overall narrative focus; use of diegetic shot-in-shot thru TV screens etc; intertextualising, possibly using older refs to boost 2ndary aud appeal; gaga locations + costumes, and the line between sexually charged and explicit - so the leathers/bath idea ... I'm sure much of this is reflected in imminent pitch, but should be reflected here too!

AP: Initial Lady Gaga Marry The Night Ideas

Bride - shown to be abandoned at altar
throwing bouquet of flowers - caught by tramp - flowers in possible colours - black, white, red
damp wet streets - with lighting
car/limo showing feet out of car
narrative enigma - mascara eyeliner everywhere
performance on TVs, Bars, Cafes
militartistic style outfits
costume changes 4 -5
motorbike helmet camera
whisky lighting ice

as the track has a slow introduction we plan to have different focuses and depth of fields as well as extreme long shots, wide shots and long takes.