Friday 24 June 2016
Tuesday 21 June 2016
Reflecting on the process so far
Looking at my progress on the course so far, I feel that I am working fairly well and I think that I am being a lot more efficient when working within a time frame and when meeting my deadlines. This is a change from last year as I regularly struggled to meet deadlines due to my lack of understanding in certain areas of the course, however having progressed to my second year, I feel that I have developed the right skills that will allow me to complete my work more efficiently and to a higher level of quality. After doing my initial research, I have decided that I am going to work within the Indie rock genre as this is my favourite genre of music and one that I have the most interest in. I think that due to my interest and prior knowledge of this genre, it will allow me to have a lot more interest and commitment in my work which will ultimately mean I can work to a higher level.
Narrative research
Narrative theories suggest that stories (in whatever media) share certain features (but particular media tell stories in different ways.)
Narrative theory 1: Propp
Propp looked at folk tales and saw some structures they shared in common. He found 8 character roles and 31 functions that move the story along.
The 8 character roles can also be types of action because they are not the sort of roles which appear in the cast list. One character in the film or play can occupy several of his character roles or types of action. They are:
- The villain
- The hero (not always good but always carries the story along, the central character and not always male)
- The donor (who provides an object with some special property)
- The helper (who helps the hero)
- The princess (the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes)
- Her father (who rewards the hero)
- The dispatcher (who sends the hero on his way)
- The false hero
The 31 functions include events such as:
The hero is prohibited from doing something
The villain learns something about the victim
The villain is punished, etc
Narrative Theory 2: Todorov
Todorov also saw underlying structures to narratives
He argued that stories all begin in “equilibrium” when all forces are in balance.
This is disrupted by a problem to cause “disequilibrium”. Then more events take place before a “new equilibrium” is established.
Narrative Theory 3: Barthes
Barthes suggested that narrative works with different codes which the reader tries to make sense of. The most obvious is the use of enigma codes. These are little puzzles which the audience needs to solve throughout the plot. This makes us work but gives us pleasure when we solve them correctly. The plot might need the solving a big enigma code but there will be little ones along the way.
Narrative Theory 4: Lévi-Strauss
He argued that all meaning-making, not just narratives, depend on binary oppositions which are a conflict between two sides/qualities which are opposites.
For example, binary oppositions such as:
| Cowboys | Indians |
Thursday 16 June 2016
Wednesday 15 June 2016
Tuesday 14 June 2016
Monday 13 June 2016
Initial thoughts
My initial thoughts on the task are fairly positive as I feel a lot more positive than I did at AS level which I think will help me hugely when completing the different tasks that I am given. My initial thoughts on the genre that I may use are quite certain. I am going to work in the indie rock genre as this is personally my favourite music genre and one that I feel I have the most prior knowledge and experience of so this therefore should help me to produce a higher quality of work that will be done in more detail due to my prior interest and understanding of the genre. The areas that I am most excited about is the actual planning and filming of the music video as it will allow me to show my creativity in a more expressive way as I am also working on my own this year as oppose to last year where I worked in a group and I feel that this had a negative effect on the level of creativity that could be seen in my work.
Group choice
For my A2 media coursework, I have decided to work on my own as oppose to last year when I worked in a group of two. I feel that by working independently, it will give me a chance to be able to develop my skills and knowledge individually and it will enable me to have more control over the creativity and quality of my work. Looking back on the AS coursework, I feel that by working as a group, we had to compromise on a number of different aspects due to us both having different ideas or favouring different ways of approaching a number of the tasks that we faced. So by working on my own I will be able to have a lot more control over my product and work. However there may be some negatives of working alone, for example time keeping may be an issue due to myself doing all of the work as oppose to having another group member to help me. Although there is this challenge, I think that this is the right decision that will enable me to complete work to a higher level and it will allow me to develop as a media student.
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