Taylor Swift mini music video

This was the narrative video I made using footage that was already uploaded on the computer. My task was to use footage from the lip-syncing task with footage from the narrative task and put them together to create a music video. I wanted to keep the balance between clips of people singing and clips of the narrative story. I also wanted to place the clips in the right way so they matched what the lyrics were saying. It took a lot of time to match up the right clips in the most effective way to the music - for example the ending where he rips up the piece of paper, I wanted to match the timing of the rip with the end of the song.

Padlet wallpost

LEVI-STRAUSS theory

• After studying hundreds of myths and legends from around the world, Levi-Strauss observed that we make sense of the world, people and events by seeing and using binar opposites everywhere. 

 

• He observed that all narrative are organised around the conflict between such a binary opposites 
   
  Examples of binary opposites
  • Good vs evil

  • Black vs white
  • Boy vs girl
  • Peace vs war
  • Civilised vs savage
  • Democracy vs dictatorship
  • Conqueror vs conquered
  • First world vs third world
  • Domestic vs foreign/alien
  • Articulate vs inarticulate
  • Young vs old
  • Man vs nature
  • Ignorance vs wisdom
  • Humanity vs technology
  • East vs west
  • Decisive vs indecisive
  • Strong vs weak
  • Good-looking vs ugly
  • Man vs woman
  • Empowered vs victim
  • Motivator vs observer
  • Action vs inaction
  • Protagonist vs antagonist

PROPP theory

Propp's narrative theory can also be applied to "LTROI". He said that every character in a story could be put into one of 8 broad character types:

1. The villain - struggles against the hero.
2. The donor - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3. The (magical) helper - helps the hero in the quest.
4. The princess or prize - the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. Her father - gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
6. The dispatcher - character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero - reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
8. False hero - takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.
   

Different characters can also have more than one role.
In "LTROI", the villains are the bullies that harrass Oskar. Hakan, the man who looks after Eli, is the donor, as he tries to supply her with blood. Oskar is the magical helper, as he saves Eli's life when a man called Lacke tries to harm her. The princess is, unstereotypically, Oskar - the male of the story. He needs Eli's help to get rid of the villains. The princess' father is Eli, as she gives herself the task of caring for Oskar. Oskar is also the dispatcher, and the hero, because he allows Eli to kill Lacke, but also needs Eli to protect him. FInally, the false hero is Hakan, as he tries and fails to gain respect by killing people for Eli.

TODOROV theory

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset;

2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action;

3. A recognition that there has been a disruption;

4. An attempt to repair the disruption;

5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium

This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many ‘mainstream’ film narratives.

Todorov's narrative theory claims that each story follows the same structure. It starts with a period of calm, and equilibrium, which is then disrupted. The disequilibrium is then brought to an end by the hero, and the chaos comes to an end. "LTROI" follows this structure. The film 'let the right one in' is a good example of Todorov's theory. The film starts with Oskar, living with his mum in a flat, being hassled by school bullies. Nothing extremely drastic happens to him. The disequilibrium is brought, however, when Eli moves in next door. The man who is looking after her kills a young boy in order to provide blood for her to drink. Oskar's bullies also get worse. The climax of the film sees his bullies trying to kill him, when Eli comes in and kills them for him. This brings the chaos to an end and restores the equilibrium. The film then ends with Oskar and Eli leaving town on a train, calm once again.

Composition task

This composition task enabled us to use our photography skills and framing a shot effectively. We had to photograph the theme of 'Trust and Betrayal' and by doing this we used techniques such as rule of thirds, line of symmetry, colour and depth of field. We used these techniques to create a range of photos that were different from each other. For example the black bow in my hair, we wanted to portray lines of symmetry as well as colour contrast (of black and blonde). The first photo of the pinky promise and the last photo of someone whispering were using the depth of field technique. For the theme of trust, we used the pinky promise photo to show trusting someone with something.m