28/09/09 & 1/10/09 - Theory Lessons

For these lessons we went through theory work from last year to make sure that we knew all the key concepts and could apply them to our own projects.
The theorists we looked at are:
-Vladimir Propp.
-Tzvetan Todorov.
-Barthes.
-Levi Strauss.
-Young and Rubicam.

Vladimir Propp based his theory on fairy tales. He classifies characters and actions and defines them into roles/functions. He created the roles; The Hero who seeks something, The Villain who oppses the hero, The Donor who helps the hero by providing a magic object, The Dispatcher who sends the hero on his way, The False Hero who falsely, The Helper who gives support to the hero, The Princess who is the reward for the hero and needs protection and finally, Her Father (Usually a King or someone powerful)

From looking at these roles, I applied them to a modern, popular film: SHREK.

Hero --> Shrek
Villain --> Lord Farquad
Donor --> Donkey (And Puss in boots in the 2nd and 3rd movies) However, you could class the Dragon as the Donor also. Although The Donor usually provides a magic object, The Dragon is the magic object in Shrek.
Dispatcher --> Lord Farquad
False Hero --> Lord Farquad/Prince Charming
Helper --> Donkey/Puss in the boots
Princess --> Fiona
Her Father --> King of Far Far Away.


Tzvetan Todorov's theory was based on Eqilibrium, Disequilibrium and New Equilibrium.
Equlibrium is a state of normality, Disquilibrium is the disruption and the New Equlibrium is the new state of normality which is different to the original one.

We tried our best to apply this theory to our own work (the music video):
Equilibrium: Joel singing to the camera as the starting shot.
Disequlibrium: Busy scenes in the house, Girlfriend comes over.
New Equilibrium: Back to starting shot of Joel singing with some slight changes.


Barthes theory involves narrative with 5 different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. The 5 types of narrative are:
ACTION --> a narrative device by which a resolution is produced through action, e.g a shoot out.
ENIGMA --> a narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. Works to delay the story's ending pleasurably.
SYMBOLIC --> connotation.
SEMIC --> denotation. (Denotations of
CULTURAL --> a narrative device which the audience can recognise as being part of a culture e.g a "made man" in a gangster film is part of the mafia culture.

We have applied this theory to our music video: The symbolic narrative will affect the representation of Joel. We want him to come across as clean and well presented. We will do this by dressing him in smart casual wear, with neat hair etc. However to show the Cultural aspects we we will include typical male props in the scenes where Joel is in his room, for example, books, university work, his instruments etc.


Levi-Strauss's theory examines how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture - these are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions. For example, Cowboys and Indians, Weak and Strong, Hero and Villain etc.
The only way we can apply this theory to our work is through the moods portrayed in the video such as Joel is feeling down and miserable and everyone around him seems happy and carefree.

Young and Rubicam's Theory is based on the different types of audience:. It involves four consumers:

The Mainstreamers: 40% of the population. They want security and to belong to a group.
The Aspirers: They want status and self-esteem. They follow status symbols and designer labels. Live off credit and cash.
The Succeeders: Already have status and control.
The Reformers: Defined by self-esteem/self-fulfillment.

The consumer we are aiming our video towards are The Aspirers because these type of audiences are similar to our artist Joel Owen as they are young, living off possible cash from work or student loans and they follow status symbols etc.

We also went over the Key Concepts to make sure we knew them well and could include them in our blogs and apply them to our practical.
The Key Concepts include:
Language and Forms (Mise-en-scene/Camera Angles/Sound/Editing)
Genre (Generic conventions)
Representation (How a character/class/location/race/age group is presented. Links to stereotypes)
Institutions (Film companies/Producers/Certain Institutions have particular styles of productions, for example Working Title focus mainly on British Rom Coms)
Audience (How the product will appeall to them/How it will make them feel/What reaction are you aiming for etc..)
Narrative (Storyline. Closed or Open storyline. Is there a defined beginning, middle and end?)
Values & Ideologies. (What attitudes or beliefs are raised in the text.)

Steve Neal says: "Genres are instances of repetition and difference". This means whatever features appear in a certain genre are expected to be found in all films of this genre and to follow the styles used, but as new films are made, new aspects are introduced and become modern features of this genre. For example in a horror film you expect there to always be a murderer or some type of "monster/zombie" that kills or tries to kill the main character.

I applied this theory to our work and a generic convention of music videos is to have close ups of the main artist and for the style of music to suit the lyrics of the song.



On the 1st of October we looked at a clip from The Godfather. We took detailed notes on aspects such as; Camera Angles, Camera Shots, Mise-en-scene, Music, Lighting, Characters/Costume as well as representation. Although we are not making a film like this, I tried my best to link parts of this to our music video.

From looking at the video I know that we need to be aware of camera and angles, lighting and mise-en-scene in particular scenes when trying to present Joel in the way we want to. For camera angles we are going to include close-ups when showing Joel's emotions, Mid shots for any casual angles of Joel moving around the house and High/Low angled shots for the split screen scene of Joel in his room and his girlfriend outside.

For the shots of Joel in his room we will use fairly dark lighting to try and represent the mood of Joel being depressed. However to show the contrast between Joel's mood to everyone elses we will use bright lighting when shooting Joels girlfriend in the street outside.

For the mise-en-scene we need to include shots of the clock ticking round as the time moves on and a shot of the drink gradullay going down in the glass. We also need to include typical objects that represent what sort of person Joel is in his bedroom such as instruments, clothes, books etc to portray his life.

For the audience impact we want them to be able to relate with the issues Joel is faced with and to be empathetic towards him. We want them to like Joel as the character and the singer.