Fiza's Advanced Portfolio

 This is area 2 of Hira's research.

This was on of the areas of extensive genre research that Hira worked on. (click the image for her blog post)  

        Codes and Conventions in            Alternative/ Indie Rock Music Videos Type of Music Video Indie rock music videos appear to be predominantly performance-based, however several indie artists explore conceptual and narrative-based videos as well.  Performance-based: Everytime // boy pablo This music video is purely performance-based, showing the band performing in one fixed location, with no other interventions. Are You Bored Yet // Wallows (ft. Clairo) This music video adds a slight twist in performance as, apart from band members performing on the stage, the crowd is shown lip-syncing the song with vague (almost blank) expressions. Conceptual-based: Graffiti // CHVRCHES This music video revolves around the artist reminiscing her first love, and contains various sequences of her and the aforementioned first love. The use of elements such as floating objects or people that recur throughout the video add to the overall conce...

 My team members an I divided our research and took two areas each - one easier and one lengthy. This is my presentation on the easy area of research, "Popular Artists and Albums in Indie/Alt Music" White Simple and Colorful Geometric Company Culture Book Presentation by Fiza Zaheer

 So this was a rather quick and easy process. In the first 15 minutes of the team discussion, we came to the unanimous consensus on the genre, which would be *cue drumroll* alternative/indie rock.  Yes. There is still a massive debate (for reasons beyond my comprehension) on whether indie should be considered a genre, but I personally believe that the style, vibe, element and everything that that particular music has evolved to possess can very much only be described as "indie". You can't not listen to an indie song and not be able to tell what it is. (There are more well-fledged arguments that I won't get into (for now)). So, indie or independent music had been around since perhaps the 60s, but was mostly composed of underground groups and performers, being officially recognised in the 70s, and then receiving a popularity boost in the 80s. The term at that point was used to refer to post-punk and new wave music labels. It was also seen as something very counter-cultu...

A genre is obviously one of the most important elements involved in the making of music. It is the way in which the various kinds and styles of music are characterised, with artists developing their own particular genre style.  This categorisation of music into genres is done on the basis of several distinguishable factors, including the style of music, and the generic conventions and expectations that it follows. Some of the most mainstream genres include pop, hip-hop/rap, country and rock. All the music in these genres will have certain factors that distinguish them clearly from the others, for example, rock will have a clear use of electric guitars, drums, bass and the music overall is loud and distinct. The genre of the music largely determines the music video's style. Rock music videos are more performance-based. Hip-hop and rap music videos will also have certain stylistic elements that make them stand out and define them as a genre, even without the music - casual street-sty...

  Made with  Visme Presentation Maker

  Made with  Visme Presentation Maker

  This is one of my favourite song and music videos from all that I've seen so far. (P.S. This was my first time using slides.com so the arrangement of slides ended up being a bit confusing so pro tip: click the " ↓ " arrows first before the " →" arrow, wherever they appear)

We discussed the way in which popular artists present themselves to the world, aka their "star image", which plays a major role in their popularity and how they're perceived. To study this in greater detail I chose to look into Billie Eilish because I find her aura as an artist really interesting and dynamic.

  Music videos all share certain elements and styles, or "formulas" according to which they are filmed, and they all seem to have specific effects that they try to achieve. Theorists have sorted this out for us and highlighted some patterns that are detected in music videos. After watching a presentation and doing our research about major theories, our class got a checklist of different theories and elements that we need to look out for.  After watching 2738 music videos (again) I managed to select three that I felt were different from each other, and hence shows the relevance and significance of theories. The music videos I selected are: Not OK (Kygo and Chelsea Cutler) ON (BTS) Me & You Together Song (The 1975) Made with  Visme Presentation Maker

Codes and Conventions by Fiza Zaheer

  Music videos generally follow a specific pattern or somewhere around the pattern, so it's actually pretty difficult to categorize them strictly into groups. STANDARD PATTERN The standard pattern is an amalgamation of elements that we commonly observe in almost every music video - a bit of performance in the form of simple choreography or lip-syncing, a story, or a series of events or a particular event broken up and shown at various points throughout the video, and of course, a music video can't be made without having a concept. Who's Laughing Now Ava Max This music video has all the elements present in most music videos, hence following a standard pattern. It looks like the outline or blueprint of a basic, generic music video to me. The video has pieces of non-linear narrative bits, choreography and lip-synced performance in various locations, and editing which transitions quickly from one scene to another. 2. gogobebe Mamamoo This music...

Music has evolved greatly over a long period of time. The following presentation is an overview of how music videos have transitioned:

There doesn't have to be a point, you love them. If you don't, you do . In the music industry as we know it today, music videos have become a vital part of it, especially with platforms like YouTube (which we're all very much familiar with) that cater to streaming music videos. Apparently 55% of YouTube users watch music videos everyday (it's me, I'm users). The significance of music videos can be observed in the way award shows now have categories for them - Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography and there's too many to list. So, I daresay, for people of mainstream pop-culture, it's grown to become a competition with artists setting and breaking records for views. Music videos, though initially made to promote artists or films, do a lot more than just that now. Prominent artists, with their large fanbases, in the industry dominate charts worldwide each time they make a comeback and drop an MV. These music videos address a variety of things: They could add...

Yes that's us, that's the team name. I take full responsibility for it. For the Advanced Portfolio, we decided it was much more of an efficient process to work in a team rather than individually because it would be far too hectic for one person to manage all aspects of the project. So, in a surprisingly clean and quick manner we managed to decide the teams. In my team of three I have with me: Hira Fatima Mallick https://hirasadvancedportfolio.wordpress.com/      (her blog is pretty) The Brains Hira and I have been together since 4th grade and were deskmates for a pretty long time. Somehow we have a lot of scary coincidences and somehow also end up working on so many things together - group assignments, projects, internships, activities...so we have prior working experience with each other and because of that, I think it won't be difficult at all for us to cooperate. Tehreem Aasim https://tehreemsadvancedmediaportfolio.weebly.com/    (her blog is organised) The B...

For the Advanced Portfolio, we've selected the set brief option for music promotion package, which includes a music video (obviously), and two minor tasks: social media page for promoting the artist or group, and a digipak. The fun part about the Advanced Portfolio is that we get to explore and incorporate several forms of media (video, social and print) instead of just one (print) like last year. One similar aspect in my Foundation and Advanced portfolios, however, will be the overall workflow - the portfolio will be divided into three phases: Research. Where I will have to look into similar existing media forms and get a good grasp of what I need to work on, the codes and conventions involved, as well as the genre, the target audience. Our Media Studies teacher did mention that the research in the Advanced Portfolio is much more detailed and lengthy than in the Foundation Portfolio. Planning. Where I use the codes, conventions and other specifics that I learned through my researc...

Well, hello again! Still the Fiza from fizasportfolio.wordpress.com , still doesn't know how to write an introductory post, still the same except it's already been a year with Media Studies, and we're onto the next step: my Advanced Portfolio. I learned a lot from the subject last year. Especially how to improvise when you're hit by a pandemic out of nowhere which massacres your carefully crafted plans for the magazine. However, I will hopefully be able to incorporate whatever skills I've picked up that are relevant to media, in this blog as well as in my work. Since the COVID situation is more or less here to stay, one of my aims this year will be to see my planning till the very end, no spontaneity, no improvisations. So the music video, the digipack. The part we've all been waiting for (or at least, I have). I was excited enough as it is last year for it because, well, it's a music video. Who wouldn't be excited? This year my enthusiasm has more of a ...