Thursday, 31 October 2013

2.7

Basic documentary script to show findings;


Visual Components  Audio Components
Mid shot of presenter at a desk with a Starbucks
and an Apple laptop. 
"Today, people around the world do the best they can to skip ads, whether it be watching their TV shows online, or skipping through the ads with MySky, or something similar, so ads placed in television shows are being increasingly looked over, so advertisers have had to become more creative with their advertising, which is where product placement comes in. This is ________ and I'm your host, Jordan Knight. Tonight we'll be looking into the matter of product placement in music videos, and whether it's ethical or not. Tonight, we will hear words from the mouths of people such as the chief executive of VEVO, and music sensation Katy Perry; but first, here's a little about what product placement is, and a few examples of some of the most blatantly placed in popular music videos. Product placement, to put it simply, is when a product has been placed in any form of media, and has the camera linger on it maybe a little too long, or whoever it is on the screen may also be using the product. It's advertising within the program, so it doesn't seem like you're being advertised to when in reality you are. "
Clip from Ke$ha's music video 'We R Who We R' - 1:15 - Plenty Of Fish | 1:22 - Revolucion | 1:42 - Baby G watch | 1:49 - Plenty Of Fish "As you can see, throughout this music video, there is a lot of products put in a very clear line of sight, or are extremely blatant, such as the bottle of Revolucion and the dating website, Plenty Of Fish."
Clip from Travis McCoy's music video 'Billionaire' - 1:43 - Scooters | 2:04 - Mini | 2:37 - Tuborg "And here's another example, in the popular video of Billionaire, where things are being thoughtfully placed on camera. Seeing Travis McCoy driving a mini could influence people to go out and buy themselves one. Although that seems a little drastic, that's the main idea of product placement, making people want to buy or use the product."
Back to the presenter, mid shot, still with his Apple laptop and Starbucks. "There are no regulations against having product placement in music videos and television in the US, and most of the world, but the UK has banned product placement in television shows. Let us know what you think about that, and whether or not you think the rest of the world should follow in the UK's footsteps. Go online, using the hashtag - Product Placement - and tell us what you think. Now, we have the first of our special guests with us here tonight through video feed, the chief executor of VEVO, Rio Caraeff. Rio, what are your thoughts on product placement?"
Mid shot to a screen where Rio Caraeff is, looking at presenter. "Our company sees no shame in product placement; we work as a conduit between the worlds largest music companies and brand marketers. We have a lot of strong relationships with some of these companies, and the placement within these music videos just demonstrates how complementary our relationships with brands and music companies are; and we can bring them together, for successful partnerships in the future."
*link to quotes*
*other link to quotes*
Mid shot, back to presenter. "Thank you, Rio, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from you sometime in the near future."
Mid shot to a screen where Rio Caraeff is, looking at presenter. "Thank you."
Mid shot back to presenter. "Now, before we meet our second guest of the night, one of the crew took a camera to the streets to ask the people of New Zealand what they think about advertising, and product placement. Take a look."
Switch to screen where person is walking with microphone down a busy street, stopping people occasionally to ask them. "Hi, I'm ____, from _____ and I was just wondering what your opinion is on advertising and product placement?"
"(person one) I don't know, I mean I always skip the ads coz they're just annoying, taking up too much time in my shows, ya know? Uh, and I dunno what product placement is.."
"(person two) I watch all my shows online so I don't have to see the ads... I guess if product placement's helping the musicians out it's alright, I don't really pay attention to it."
"(person three) I saw Ke$ha wearing a Baby G watch in her music video, and I went out a bought one!"
"(person four) If it's tasteful advertising, it's not so bad, but half of the stuff I see on TV is just crap"
"(person five) I like ads, sometimes I just sit and watch infomercials!"
Mid shot back to presenter. "Mmm, now, we have our second guest of the night here now, singing sensation Katy Perry!"
Mid shot to Katy Perry who is sitting on an arm chair beside presenter. "Hii!"
Mid shot back to presenter. "It's great to have you here, Katy, it'll be interesting to have an artists view on product placement. How do you feel about it?"
Mid shot back to Katy Perry. "I guess I'm kind of on the fence about it a little bit, if it's done right it's not so bad. If the artist does it with style and grace, I don't mind it."
Mid shot back to presenter. "What about when artists don't do it with style or grace, and are just blatantly obvious about it?"
Mid shot back to Katy Perry. "It's just so . . in your face when they do that, and some artists just don't care, and you can really tell, but I think if you're going to do it, you have to get creative with it."
Mid shot back to presenter. "Although some product placement can be just a bit too in your face, it does well for the artist. With music piracy and things like that now, it's a way for artists to still be getting a solid income. Britney Spears' music video, Hold It Against Me, earned her a half a million dollars purely from the advertising in it, which included Sony brands, her own perfume, and a makeup brand. Advertising in music videos is permanent, and so the campaign never ends. For every view of the music video, it's just more people seeing these products, and this incredibly popular artist using the product, which influences a lot of people to want the product also, especially the target audiences, of people around 18-35 years old. So,thank you very much for coming in to speak to us, Katy."
Mid shot back to Katy Perry. "Thank you for having me!"
Mid shot back to presenter. "Rihanna also had some things to say about product placement in music videos, and although she couldn't be here to tell us in person, she made a statement saying 'I hate doing product placement in my videos. I hate it. I think videos should just tell the story of the song. And then with the product placement it all becomes this big ad campaign. Sometimes we have to do it, for whatever political reason, but it's never my first choice. I don't like things to be so commercial.' Now, we've received a lot of comments online from you about what you think. Hannah, from Wellington, says she thinks it's tacky and takes away from the music itself. Dan, from Nelson, doesn't mind it, he says he ignores it because it means his favourite artists can still make music and videos. Kate, from Auckland, thinks that product placement is not an issue if it's tasteful, otherwise it's an outrage; and George, from Christchurch, says that we should follow in the UK's footsteps and take product placement out of TV shows, saying 'if I wanted to see things being advertised to me, I'd watch ads. I don't want people on my favourite shows shoving apple products down my throat. I want the show, not the ads.' . . . Now, unfortunately, we're out of time, but if you have an opinion on product placement, you can contact us on Facebook or Twitter, and we'd love to hear what you have to say. Personally, I agree with a lot of these comments, that product placement's fine if it's done tastefully and isn't incredibly blatant. When it's done like that it ruins the entire video, but done right, it satisfies both the viewer and the artist. So, product placement, is it ethical or is it not ethical? I'll leave that up to you. Goodnight."
Clips from music video's - Britney Spears, Hold it against me; B.o.B, so Good; Miley Cyrus, We can't stop; Adam Lambert, If I had you.
The music playing behind the videos.

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

2.2

Second Response:

In the last episode of the first season of Outrageous Fortune, Cheryl West has changed slightly in seeming to have lost a lot of the power and determination she had at the very beginning of the season. Some of the initial predictions were fulfilled throughout the episode, but generally her character seemed to have lost some of her force, which we can see from the use of Camera angles and Costume.

Camera angles are very important in the process of creating a film or television show. One angle is a low angle shot, which is where the camera looks up at the subject, giving a sense of power, dominance and intimidation to the subject, while a high angle shot makes the character look a lot more vulnerable and small. In the first episode of this television show, low angle shots were used commonly when it came to Cheryl, but in this last episode there were a lot of high angles to show the loss of strength and determination in her character. An example of this is a scene in which Cheryl is sitting on the bedroom floor of Van, who has left home, and the camera is looking down on her to emphasize the sadness and powerlessness that she feels. We're influenced by this high angel shot to come to the conclusion that somehow throughout the course of the season, Cheryl has slowly started to lose the intimidation she possessed in the beginning of the show, and has become a more desperate character, trying to still be the same person as before but struggling, as a lot of things have occurred that have taken their tole greatly on Cheryl. 

Costume is very important in the process of creating a film or television show, as it helps give us the idea of the characteristics and personality that the character possesses. In this narrative, costume is used to give us an impression of the character Cheryl and give us an understanding of the kind of person she is. In the first episode, Cheryl dresses neatly and puts an effort into the way she looks and comes across, and it's clear that she cares about the way in which people see her and what they think of her, and an example of this in the scene where Jethro is having his capping. In the last episode of the season, Cheryl also seems to have lost the desire to put a lot of effort into the way she dresses. An example of this is also the scene in which Cheryl is sitting on Van's bedroom floor. She doesn't seem to be dressed in any particular way, and doesn't care about the way she's dressed, because it's become something that doesn't bother her as much as it used to, and there are more important things to her than just being dressed well for other people. 

Overall, these two narrative features, Camera angles and Costume, aided in showing the development of the character, and also the kind of things that are likely to occur in the future for her. Cheryl has seemed to lose some of the strong-will she had a lot of when we first saw her in episode one, but has still remained an important character in the narrative, although her role is being met by other characters, such as her daughter Loretta. Cheryl has become a more laid back version of the person she was in the first episode, but still holds a fair amount of the punch that she used to have that there is a subtle lack of in the last episode of the season.