Our text communicates in an emotional way with the audience. Our text is structured as Edie Sedgewicks timeline, which the audience actively witness, from her young, happy days to her rebellious stages of drug abuse which inevitably leads to her death. The audience in response will use the text for their own gratification; whether thats learning the effects of drugs or using the text for sexual stimulation or comparing relationships or lifestyles to their own.
Analysis in terms of film language
Camerawork:- I contributed a fairly large amount towards this when Samantha was incapable of doing so due to needing her in the video itself. I would set up the camera at a particular angle and then direct Samantha (& co.) into certain positions to capture a certain moment or performance required.
High shots to show Edie's vulnerability when under the influence of drugs.
Mid shots of Dylan and Edie to capture their personal relationship through physical contact or verbally
Over the shoulder shot when Edie is drinking= her loneliness/ glamour with the close up of her earring
Point of views shots are all through the lens of what Warhol's home video with Edie
Hand held shots are used all the way through. At the beginning and at the end,Warhol is recording Edie at her happiest;
BUT in the middle, he captures the effects of drugs and what they have done to her such as making her sweat and giving her erratic behaviour
BUT in the middle, he captures the effects of drugs and what they have done to her such as making her sweat and giving her erratic behaviour
Zoom in when Warhol is recording Edie to show his obsession with her beauty
Pans over Edie's face to emphasise her disorientation whilst on drugs
Mise en Scene: Samantha and I both contributed equally towards the Mise en Scene. We wanted to keep it simplistic to keep its gritty realism behind the glamour of Edie. We arranged where to go and how Samantha should look. Sometimes Samantha would ask my opinion on her costumes and make up and how she positioned herself which I helpfully advise her.
Lightning: Mostly high key when shopping and outside.
Low key in the more intimate, alone personal scenes or when singing.
Colour: There are two certain colours used throughout which are meant to show the time difference and contrast of style. Overall we wanted to give it a 60's feel so we put the personal moments in a "sepia" effect and the home video in black and white. The colours are constantly switching from when Edie is on drugs and unhappy(sometimes in black and white when filmed and sepia when she's behind the scenes) to when she's happy and personal with Dylan.
Setting/location: We kept it simple to emphasise the gritty realism of it all. Most of the scenes were shot in Samantha's bedroom which meant to be seen as the factory.
Other locations were shot in small, narrow places such as in the alley way or in the corner of a coffee shop to make it all the more intimate and personal. The only place where its really in public is when Edie is shopping with Warhol but even then its personal as he is only recording her and no one else.
Colour: There are two certain colours used throughout which are meant to show the time difference and contrast of style. Overall we wanted to give it a 60's feel so we put the personal moments in a "sepia" effect and the home video in black and white. The colours are constantly switching from when Edie is on drugs and unhappy(sometimes in black and white when filmed and sepia when she's behind the scenes) to when she's happy and personal with Dylan.
Setting/location: We kept it simple to emphasise the gritty realism of it all. Most of the scenes were shot in Samantha's bedroom which meant to be seen as the factory.
Other locations were shot in small, narrow places such as in the alley way or in the corner of a coffee shop to make it all the more intimate and personal. The only place where its really in public is when Edie is shopping with Warhol but even then its personal as he is only recording her and no one else.
Hair, make-up and costume: As it's difficult to get our settings to look in the 1960's we had to really work on this area to make it look really authentic. We dressed Samantha in patterns inspired by pictures of Edie such as dots, squares, fur and animal print.
We kept most of her make up simple except for her eyes are really dark; so they are the focal point when she is on drugs and her masscara is smeared
As Edie's hair is cut really short, we had to always keep Samantha's hair up all the time. The boys were dressed in simple but smart shirts and trousers and did really require much else.
Body Language/facial expressions: There is a huge contrast with Edie's body language when she's either with Warhol or Dylan. We tried to captured her hesitant and uncomfortable positioning when she's with Warhol and how unstable and her incapability of moving when he records her on drugs to how passionate and physically close she is to Dylan.
Her facial expressions stems from being content to being completely expressionless and washed out.
Positioning of characters in frame: Edie is always in a frame whether shes by herself or not. The only clip when shes not in it is when it is Dylan (Jack) presently singing about Edie who is placed centred in the frame so all attention is on him. Samantha (playing Edie) is also mainly in the centre of the frame so the audience know it is all about her. The only time when shes not, is high shots of herself on drugs where she is at the side of the frame and the camera is slowly panning over her. This shows how incontrol she now is.
Editing: Samantha and I worked as equally hard when it came to editing. If one was absent, the other would prospone the session as we believed we needed one anothers creative input and critique in order to maintain that balance of a partnership.
Style: A montage of Edie Sedgwick with different clips of her nature; sometimes sober and happy then on drugs and erratic. To emphasise the time differences and whether being filmed or outside that we used either a cross dissolve or an overlap. Also used a wipe out shot right at the end with the newspaper article explaining Edie's deat
h that turns to white.
Speed: As it's in a montage/home video style at the beginning the shots are fairly short and quick. The shots gradually become longer in the middle when focused on Dylan singing or Edie on drugs so the audience get a good idea with whats happening to her.
Reverse- Used at the end of video when Edie is drinking to highlight her lonliness and significantly used on already used clips to show how her life is being torn apart in the aftermath of the drug use and cannot go back to how it was at the beginning such as Edie's hands seperating from Warhol's when at the beginning their hands were together
or when Edie's smile goes from her face and she looks away from the camera toshow she's no longer happy modelling.
Slow motion- Used at the end of video when Edie is drinking and when Edie and Dylan are together to represent how Edie's life is slowing down after all her partying and wild days out and slowing digressing into complete nothingness.
Critical Theory
Genre- Gary Roberts music is acoustic, folk and alternative which has similarities in style to Bob Dylan which made him stood out.
Feminism (Laura Mulvey) -
Our video reflects a patriarchal society whereby Samantha (playing Edie Sedgewick) is the object of erotic desire for the male characters around her (Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol) and for the audience too. We've created this through how Samantha is dressed (dresses, lingerie)
and being objectified throught a camera lens under the influence of drugs. Also it is the male protagonist/s who has agency whilst the female is passive and powerless. Jack (Dylan) uses the phallic object, a cigarette, when speaking and looking directly to Samantha.
The other Jack (Warhol) has all control over Samantha such as when he decides what she should wear or places his hand on hers.
Audience Theory
Effects Model
We believe the consumption of our video can effect our audience quite alot however not to the extent of influencing them to go on replicating what they have seen. We wanted to show the negative side of drugs; Edie losting all control, her respectability and most importantly her love. The audience should therefore do the opposite and not copy Edie's behaviour. In a sense our video is a campaign agaisnt drugs and how much that can impact one's life.
It shouldn't make people inactive by watching it. It should compel them to believe how worthy their lives are whilst not under any influence of drugs and therefore should stay clear of that path.
Uses & Gratifications
As we do not believe the consumption of our video is linked to imitative behaviour, it can be therefore directed more towards this model. Our audience are more active and can resist the temptation of using drugs from it. They can use our video for their gratifying their needs; usually in this case for comparing relationships and lifestyles with their own however if they have knowledge of Edie, Warhol or Dylan then it may be pleasurable and give sexual stimulation towards them too. We believe our audience to be in full control and the consumption of the video can help people with issues such as learning about the effects of drugs, emotional satisfaction or helping with issues of personal identity which Edie is struggling with herself.
Reception Theory (Stuart Hall)
Our music video can also be viewed as being encoded with meaning which we placed there and so it is for the audience to decode it. We did construct our video by encoding it with a message that drugs is wrong and so it is the audiences job to decode this correctly; and if so they have the entitlement of either agreeing with us (Dominant), disagreeing (Oppositional) or neither and being disinterested with it (Negotiated).
Suture
Our emotional and provoking narrative and editing can also position our audience in certain ways making only one preferred reading possible. In this case our editing has captured the contrast of Edie's life and so our montage style of her has made the audience not only know its all about her but also goes through her timeline with her to the point of death which makes it all the more encaptivating and upsetting. We all feel sympathetic towards Edie and cannot help but feel emotional at the end as her death was always destined because of her frequent drug use.
Her facial expressions stems from being content to being completely expressionless and washed out.
Positioning of characters in frame: Edie is always in a frame whether shes by herself or not. The only clip when shes not in it is when it is Dylan (Jack) presently singing about Edie who is placed centred in the frame so all attention is on him. Samantha (playing Edie) is also mainly in the centre of the frame so the audience know it is all about her. The only time when shes not, is high shots of herself on drugs where she is at the side of the frame and the camera is slowly panning over her. This shows how incontrol she now is.
Editing: Samantha and I worked as equally hard when it came to editing. If one was absent, the other would prospone the session as we believed we needed one anothers creative input and critique in order to maintain that balance of a partnership.
Style: A montage of Edie Sedgwick with different clips of her nature; sometimes sober and happy then on drugs and erratic. To emphasise the time differences and whether being filmed or outside that we used either a cross dissolve or an overlap. Also used a wipe out shot right at the end with the newspaper article explaining Edie's deat
h that turns to white.Speed: As it's in a montage/home video style at the beginning the shots are fairly short and quick. The shots gradually become longer in the middle when focused on Dylan singing or Edie on drugs so the audience get a good idea with whats happening to her.
Reverse- Used at the end of video when Edie is drinking to highlight her lonliness and significantly used on already used clips to show how her life is being torn apart in the aftermath of the drug use and cannot go back to how it was at the beginning such as Edie's hands seperating from Warhol's when at the beginning their hands were together
or when Edie's smile goes from her face and she looks away from the camera toshow she's no longer happy modelling.
Slow motion- Used at the end of video when Edie is drinking and when Edie and Dylan are together to represent how Edie's life is slowing down after all her partying and wild days out and slowing digressing into complete nothingness.
Critical Theory
Genre- Gary Roberts music is acoustic, folk and alternative which has similarities in style to Bob Dylan which made him stood out.
Feminism (Laura Mulvey) -
Our video reflects a patriarchal society whereby Samantha (playing Edie Sedgewick) is the object of erotic desire for the male characters around her (Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol) and for the audience too. We've created this through how Samantha is dressed (dresses, lingerie)
and being objectified throught a camera lens under the influence of drugs. Also it is the male protagonist/s who has agency whilst the female is passive and powerless. Jack (Dylan) uses the phallic object, a cigarette, when speaking and looking directly to Samantha.
The other Jack (Warhol) has all control over Samantha such as when he decides what she should wear or places his hand on hers.
Audience Theory
Effects Model
We believe the consumption of our video can effect our audience quite alot however not to the extent of influencing them to go on replicating what they have seen. We wanted to show the negative side of drugs; Edie losting all control, her respectability and most importantly her love. The audience should therefore do the opposite and not copy Edie's behaviour. In a sense our video is a campaign agaisnt drugs and how much that can impact one's life.
It shouldn't make people inactive by watching it. It should compel them to believe how worthy their lives are whilst not under any influence of drugs and therefore should stay clear of that path.
Uses & Gratifications
As we do not believe the consumption of our video is linked to imitative behaviour, it can be therefore directed more towards this model. Our audience are more active and can resist the temptation of using drugs from it. They can use our video for their gratifying their needs; usually in this case for comparing relationships and lifestyles with their own however if they have knowledge of Edie, Warhol or Dylan then it may be pleasurable and give sexual stimulation towards them too. We believe our audience to be in full control and the consumption of the video can help people with issues such as learning about the effects of drugs, emotional satisfaction or helping with issues of personal identity which Edie is struggling with herself.
Reception Theory (Stuart Hall)
Our music video can also be viewed as being encoded with meaning which we placed there and so it is for the audience to decode it. We did construct our video by encoding it with a message that drugs is wrong and so it is the audiences job to decode this correctly; and if so they have the entitlement of either agreeing with us (Dominant), disagreeing (Oppositional) or neither and being disinterested with it (Negotiated).
Suture
Our emotional and provoking narrative and editing can also position our audience in certain ways making only one preferred reading possible. In this case our editing has captured the contrast of Edie's life and so our montage style of her has made the audience not only know its all about her but also goes through her timeline with her to the point of death which makes it all the more encaptivating and upsetting. We all feel sympathetic towards Edie and cannot help but feel emotional at the end as her death was always destined because of her frequent drug use.
