Social Identity Theory

Viewers seek out messages in texts which support and validate there social identity.
Horward extended this in 1997. Selective choices in (especially media) texts where a form of social identity gratification.

7 Conventions Of A Short Film

Conventions of a short Film

• Non-Diegetic Music throughout, used as a backing track to reflect the overall mood of the film.
• No more than 3 characters, as the films is often too short for more characters to establish relationships and be portrayed to the audience. 
• Little or no dialogue.
• Film is often only shown in one location, so that the plot is simple to follow.
• Story line has to engage the audience from the beginning, its also very simple.
• Characters are basic, audience are shown only the story line on screen and no background detail is included.
• Plot is most often shown in chronological order, again this is to keep the film basic and easy to follow.

Deconstructing A Short Film

The Black Hole
Genre:        
I would say that this short movie is a Sci-Fi due to it being based around a 'black hole' and because it isn't based on a realistic situation. I would also say that it was a comedy due to the ironic ending. I would expect that the audience would predict it to be a 'sci-fi' due to the  title, however i don't think they would expect the humorous story line. 


Narrative:    
This movie runs in a chronological order. It develops quickly due to the short time limit. Finally it is open ended as you don't know whether the man is going to escape from the safe. In addition the film is climatic resulting in the most dramatic part being at the end. 


Characters:  
There is only one character included in the film, this works well as time isn't wasted introducing unnecessary characters or making characters establish relationships. I don't think that the office worker is a stereotypical character for the genre as i'd expect to see scientific characters rather than everyday workers. 


Technical:  
The most noticeable aspect of sound in the film is the fact that there is no dialogue involved what so ever, i feel that dialogue would distract the viewer from what's going on on screen. The sound effect of when the man puts his hand through the black hole is often used in horror movies, this could convey that trouble is just around the corner or heighten the Sci-Fi feel of the film. Close ups of the mans face add humour as his quirky expressions often show that he is planning something, heightening the viewers interest. 
Overall i feel that the sound effects are typical of the genre, however the lack of dialogue isnt, in addition i think that close-up shots are typical of the sci-fi genre however they are used to convey different things in this film. 

Young & Rubicam

Young and Rubicam based their research on Dr Maslow's hierarchy of needs. They designed a way of researching where people stood within this hierarchy in a way that could categorise everyone into different types of people. 

Young and Rubicam used maslows theorys to develop links between brands and character types. They developed this information  into one huge marketing tool. They also found that people from different countries were influenced by differing cultural backgrounds so they removed the effect of these backgrounds. It was called Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation (4C's). 

The 4C's divides everyone into 7 types depending on their motivation.

1)The Explorer - These are people driven by a need for new discovery, challenge and new frontiers. Their core need is 'discovery'.

2)The Aspirer - Materialistic, acquisitive people who are driven by other's perceptions of them rather than by their own values. Their core need is 'status'

3)The Succeeder - They possess self-confidence, have strong goal orientation and tend to be very organised. Their core need is 'Control'.

4)The Reformer - Reformers are anti-materialistic and are often seen as intellectual. They seek 'Enlightenment'.

5)The Mainstream - These are people who live in the world of domestic and the everyday.

 They seek 'security'.

6)The Struggler - Strugglers live for today and rarely plan for tomorrow. They seek 'Escape'.

7)The Resigned - These are people with unchanging views over time. They seek to 'Survive'.

After studying and analysing the 7 types i'd say that i would fall under the category 'Mainstream'. My life revolves around the people close to me and i often find myself saying 'we' rather than 'me'. I respond most to big established and trustworthy brands and value for money. I also agree that my core need in life is security. 

I then watched a music video without the sound and tried to identify the type of person that would watch it. I chose 'Where's Your Head At?' by Basement Jaxx.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4hFwJm41h4

(FINISH OFF)!!!!

Conventions of Music Videos

After watching and analysing music videos across various years, i have noticed that certain conventions have been followed despite the fact that the industry is ever-changing. 
I found that it was common for videos from 2012 to follow the same conventions of videos released in the 60's. In addition i have also found that videos from different times will deliberately go against conventions in similar ways.


As a class we watched two videos and compared them both. The first was One Directions hit ' That's what makes you beautiful' from 2012 and the second was a hit from the 60's by The Exciters called 'Tell Him'. Despite the 50 year gap between the releases i found that there was a significant amount of similarities between the videos. 

Types Of Music Videos

There are 3 different types of music videos. 

Performance

A performance video is when the artists are filmed performing the song as if they were singing to an audience or viewer. This can vary from the artist miming the lyrics to the camera or a clip from a live performance being shown on screen. This is most common in genres such as rock.  This type of video is very effective as it makes the viewer want to see the artist live in concert, and also makes them feel more involved with the music. 

Concept

This is when there is a story involved in the music video, although it most often relates to the lyrics it can also have no relation to them. Producers will often do this so that the video revolves around something more memorable than the lyrics. 

Narrative

I think that this is the most vague way of defining a video. It involves the lyrics being included in the video in some way or another. This could be by the lyrics being shown on screen or by the video showing the story told by the lyrics.

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin wrote about music videos in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' he described their characteristics through 6 points:


1) Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
eg. stage performance for metal band.


2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(This can either be acting out literally or going against the meaning. 


3)There is a relationship between the music and visuals


4)The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist will develop motifs that will occur across their work (personal style)


5) There are frequent references to the notion of looking and particularly erotic treatment of the female body.


6)There is intertextual reference
(Film,Tv,Other music videos)