The Auteur Theory

In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the author's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of studio interference and through the collective process. In some cases, film producers are considered to exert a similar "auteur" influence on films they have produced.

In law, the film is treated as a work of art, and the auteur, as the creator of the film, is the original copyright holder. Under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory.

Auteur theory has influenced film criticism since 1954, when it was advocated by film director and critic François Truffaut. This method of film analysis was originally associated with the French New Wave and the film critics who wrote for the French film review periodical Cahiers du Cinéma. Auteur theory was developed a few years later in America through the writings of The Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris. Sarris used auteur theory as a way to further the analysis of what defines serious work through the study of respected directors and their films.

Deadline timetable

Genre characteristics

Musicologists often identify the following characteristics as typical of the pop music genre:

• an aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology
• an emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal "artistic" qualities
• an emphasis on recording, production, and technology, over live performance
• a tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments
• much pop music is intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance-oriented beats or rhythms

The main medium of pop music is the song, often between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length, generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and a simple traditional structure. Common variants include the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment. The lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions.

Mise en scene Research

We will be shooting in a variety of locations around the town center of Cambridge. There will be multiple shots of Emma walking around the shops as well as other shots near various landmarks where she will be lip syncing.

VMA awards, best rock video analyisis

For this task we looked at all the nominees for best rock video in the VMA awards, then we chose which one we believed should have one.

We chose The black keys ‘howling for you’



The Black Keys ‘Howling for you’ music video differs from most if not all music videos as it is set out in the style of a movie trailer. Throughout the video we hear voice over’s stating points about the characters and the story line as well as stating the actors (artists) names and characters. We also see sections that are supposed to be parts of certain scenes from the film as you would on a movie trailer. These include exciting moments from the non-existent film and sections of dialogue that would be used to draw the audience in.

We believe this video should have been picked over the Foo Fighters ‘walk’ because the characteristics of the video fit into the genre of rock more than that of the Foo Fighters video. The only characteristic that did not seem to fit the genre in the black keys ‘howling for you’ video were those that were meant to conform to the ides of a movie trailer. Also they did not follow the characteristic of showing the band playing in the music video except for occasional references to them with their instruments, but there were few of these.

We also believe that the black keys ‘howling for you’ video was much more original in that it had an original idea unlike the foo fighters video which seemed to conform very much to the usual stereotypical characteristics of a rock music video.

Lyrics analyisis

Woke up this morning, feeling bad - Emma will wake up
Almost forgot what day I had - reads phone to find message from bf breaking up with her
And there was something not quite right - image of phone
Cos' everything was so against me I had no power to fight - zoom in on phone so we can see the message as the audience
And I was all alone, ohhh - gets out of bed and slams door in process of leaving

I've had it with today -sitting on rail singing (courtyard)
Wish it were yesterday
I can't wait for tomorrow - image of artist leaning on beam (art block)
It's just one of those days - low angle shot of artist singing with reaction shots (c block corridor)
When nothing goes my way 
At least I know it will past and elapse

I've fallen sick and cannot smile - reaction shot of artist cuddling knees show sadness (c block corridor)
I'm hardening up inside (ooohhh) - image of artist throwing the umbrella in a rage (art block)
Even the weather shows my pain (shows my pain) - Shot of Emma in the rain (art block)
If life were like this constantly I think I'd surely go insane - Matt pushes water bottle over onto Emma's work (courtyard)
The pitch feeds my pain - Emma picks up paper and we see water dripping from it (courtyard)
To my veins, ohhh - matt walks into Emma and she looks back in disgust

I've had it with today - Shows Emma sitting on a tree (woods)
Wish it were yesterday
I can't wait for tomorrow
It's just one of those days
When nothing goes my way
At least I know it will past and elapse - Takes jacket off and throws it at the camera (woods)

Ooh
If there were no lows, there'd be no highs - image of Emma close up (art block)
I'm glad now I've realised this low can only go
Higher and higher... - argument with best friend who slaps her (courtyard)

I've had it with today - scene of Emma cuddling knees again fades away (c block corridor)
Ohh-ohh, I've had it - spilt screen image of all the bad things that have happened during the day
It's just one of those days - cut back to knee cuddling shot (c block corridor)
Just one of those days, ohh-ohhh - dancing on table (art block)
I wish it were tomorrow

I've had it with today - leaning on beam (art block)
Wish it were yesterday
I can't wait for tomorrow
It's just one of those days - sitting with her knees to her chest looking sad (c block corridor)
When nothing goes my way
At least I know it will past and elapse

Had it with today, had it with today - Emma dancing to music (courtyard)
Oh-oh-whoa-oh-yeah-yeah
Just-just want to go

Had it with today, had it with today
Oh-oh-whoa-oh - wide shot of Emma turning round and leaning on rail (courtyard)

Punk rock moodboard

Thrash metal Magazine advert practice

Reflective evaluation of magazine advert

We found our magazine advert to be very in keeping with the genre characteristics of thrash metal as it follows the usual conventions of other thrash metal bands adverts and CD covers. The font of the band name does this especially as it is the same font used by other thrash metal bands and is very sharp and aggressive, as you would expect from thrash metal.

We added a ‘Megaforce records’ record label to the image as this is a well known thrash metal record label that supports many other thrash metal bands. We did this to make the advert seem more authentic as other adverts would contain a record label, as it is one of the demands of a record label.

We made sure to use very dark and dull colours throughout as bright colours are not used in the genre as it would not follow the almost gothic tradition that thrash metal follows.

Overall we believe that our advert successfully communicates the genre and incorporates the conventions of thrash metal very well.

Thrash metal Magazine advert moodboard

Justification of mood board

For the moodboard we chose pictures of lightning, which could be used as background images if we shoot on a green screen, or plain background. We used this because it reflects the genre of thrash metal very well and is used in many other thrash metal bands album covers.

We also chose pictures of a graveyard which fits with the genre of thrash metal as a location as thrash metal usually reflects the almost gothic styling that is shown in a graveyard. This picture is also animated which reflects the thrash metal genre as most thrash metal album covers contains/depict artwork that is cartoon like and in some ways reflects the band and the album. This image of a graveyard suits this genre very well as it follows the ideas shown in thrash metal music, which often revolve around death.

An image we found that shows a girl with writing on her face represents our idea of having the album title written on the artist’s cheek. This is a more interesting way to show the name of the album, as opposed to just printing it on the cover.

The font displayed in our moodboard shows a possible band name and the type of font that is used in other thrash metal album covers. It is very spiky and aggressive which suits the genre perfectly.

We have also shown in the moodboard a range of different colours that could be used for the image in the advert. All of these colours are dark shades and dull, as vibrant and bright colours do not suit the genre due to the almost gothic tradition that it follows. We have chosen dark green, dark blood red, a dull orange and of course black.

We have also chosen a picture of a snake. This was just an idea as snakes often represent death related qualities.

Artist research

The Saturdays

The Saturdays are a British/Irish girl group who formed in 2006, and consists of five members; Una Healy, Mollie King, Frankie Sandford, Vanessa White and Rochelle Wiseman. They made their recording debut in 2008 for the record label Fascination Records, a sub-division of Polydor Records. They later signed a record deal with Geffen Records. Their debut single "If This Is Love" stayed in the UK Singles Chart for seventeen weeks.

Musical style and influences

The Saturdays have worked with songwriter Ina Wroldsen since they gained a record deal in 2007, with her writing the majority of the bands songs, including "Higher", "Ego" and "Up". Many critics believe that the band's music appeals to the gay community. The band's debut single, "If This Is Love," featured elements of Synthpop and New Wave genre. After the release of 2010 album, Headlines!; critics noticed that the band had developed "a feisty edge"."Missing You" (2010) is an electropop song incorporating elements of trance and synthpop. The band have made use of auto-tuning on their vocals, most notable on "Missing You" and "Higher" However, the band's music has taken criticism from some; Sir Elton John labelled the band's music "crap" and stated that he could tell the difference between Girls Aloud's music and The Saturdays' music. The band have stated they have many influences in their music, including artists such as, Ne-Yo, Jason Derülo and Girls Aloud. Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Adele, John Mayer, Katy Perry and Rihanna.

Discography
Studio albums

• Chasing Lights (2008)
• Wordshaker (2009)
• TBA (2011)

EPs

• Headlines! (2010)

Music video promotional package

This is the power point presentation for the pitch of our music video idea.

Pitch

View more presentations from Media Studies

3 prefered choices

Our 3 preferred choices out of our limited choice of poor music were tracks 2, 9 and 11.

Track2 is 'Had it with today' by The Saturdays. The Saturdays are an English girl group who were formed together in 2007. They have released a few collaborations with several other famous artists. We found this track to be very upbeat and vibrant, we believed a suitable location for this song would have been a night club or disco

Track9 is 'Amongst the mad' by The Nextmen. The Nextmen are a UK production/songwriting group consisting of Dom Search (aka Dominic Betmead) and Brad Baloo (aka Brad Ellis). Often incorporating hip hop drum sets and electronic basslines into their sound, they have worked with many artists from the UK, US and Jamaica.

Track11 is 'PCD' by JLS. JLS became famous after becoming runners-up of the fifth series of The Xfactor in 2008, coming second to Alexandra Burke. The song was discarded off their album. the group has done a lot of collaborations with artists such as Dev, Tinie Tempah and are due lots more.