Job Roles and Initial Ideas

This is a video of our group having a discussion on what we should do for our music video and what roles we would take. My roles are primarily to do with the mis-en-scene and more focused onto the singers, characters and storyline. This means I am in charge of finding people to be our performers and how to dress them and portray them in our videos.

Initial Ideas

As a group we have decided to use the genre of Hip-Hop in our music video. My personal input was to have a female lead as, although most Hip-Hop artists are male, a female artist may be easier to create an image around. 

Peer Assesment

Assessment TME 24/09/11

WWW: You've made an attempt at almost all the entries, and have tried to include visual material in each of them which should be recognised. You've clearly spent some time going through the entries.


EBI: Although you have included some of the results of your questionnaire, they do seem a little bit basic, and without analysis. Remember the point is to find out what your target audience wants to see within your music video and how you are going to advertise the release of the single/album. You need to explain what the target audience thinks and how this information will impact on the video and ancillary task you produce.

-Include a paragraph explaining what the questionnaire is for.

-You need to include another two magazine adverts with analysis.

-You must include one more record label, with a bit more explanation throughout the entry. 

-Your cover analysis of the Estelle album is not long enough.

-You must increase the length of the Conventions of a Hip Hop entry.

- There should be more explanation about how meaning is created in the analysis of your 5 Music videos, don't just have bullet points with the denotation, also include the connotations and meaning created through the use of the micro elements.  Your Chipmunk entry is not complete.

-Good mood-board, but needs a bit of explanation. What is going on in it?

- I am not sure what the Birds clip you've included in the Bordwell and Thompson entry is supposed to exemplify. Is it a graphic match? Try to find another more suited clip. You should give more explanation to each of these clips, they don't seem to be anchored to anything particularly - rather just shoved in. Explain why you've used them.

- I don't know what the work "epasize" means. Check your entries for coherence before publishing.

Grade - PR

Survey Results

The Questionnaire was to make sure that the music videos we produced were in line with the audiences expectations and desires of what a Hip-Hop music video should include and, by asking people what they expect to be in a video and what we should incorporate to produce a good video, we can utilize the input and create a video that is coinciding with the audience's requests.

(note: all text in Red are text answers to questions)

Are you male or female? 

How old are you?

What Ethnic group do you belong to?

White British white British whiteWhite English white British White British whiteWhite BritishWhite British Black British Black Caribbean

Do you listen to Hip-Hop music

By using the above data we can see that, out of 11 people asked, around half were male and half were female. This is a good thing for our survey as Hip-Hop is a genre that appeals to an even mix of male and female fans. I also asked more 17-20 year old as they were more likely to listen to this genre of music. I asked more White people than Black people, which may make the results a little biased. More people listened to Hip-Hop of some sort than those who never listened to it at all, allowing a fair view on what needs to be in our music video

 

Looking at the above graph, we can see that the main aspects that have to be included into our video are beatboxing, branded clothing, fast cars and skantily clad women.

Can you name a Famous Hip-Hop artist?

Swgger Jagger, 50 cent, no, Dappy, nicki minaj, lil wayne, eminem, keri hilson, NOPE :), jz Eminem, Tinchy Stryder, Eminem, Jay Z

By looking at who is recognised as a leader in this field of music, we can understand what image to draw insperation from, in this case, the most recognised, Eminem

How often do you attend Music Concerts or Festivals per year?

 By looking at this pie chart we can see that over half of those surveyed never go to music concerts, so the idea of trying to use concert based advertisements (Now in concert etc.) will be infective.

How do you consume music?

By looking at how people consume music we can see how to sell them music.A good idea would be to have a down-loadable album off of Itunes or another big downloading site, and state that the artist has his own youtube channel on which to watch him/her.

Do you enjoy videos with Story-line or Singing and Dancing?

Using these stats we can see that our music video needs to have some form of a storyline in it to attract the audiences attention, and should not focus on a large dance routine.

Audience research Questionare

Genre Research 5: Magazine adverts

            Advert for Wretch 32’s album Wretchrospective. Tells the date and who will be guest staring to make people excited about the upcoming release. The poster uses dark colours to show that this is a Grime artist who is shady and cool. Poster is a blown up version of the disk cover, but also shows the cover separately to draw attention to what it looks like so people remember. Lots of graffiti techniques have been used on the poster, like the paint drips under the main title and the effect on the hands. This is because graffiti and Hip Hop are very close.The bling and the indie style wristband give the impresion of style and wealth, while the plain white tee and grey jeans give a casual feel to the artist. At the side of the poster are different places that are selling the album, such as HMV and Itunes. This makes the reader aware of how to get the album, and also will advertise these places as well.

            Shows the album big in the middle of the screen to make sure the reader sees it and remembers it.The two artists are shown on either side to show that they had a joint effot in creating this album. The pair are wearing snazzy clothes and the one on the right is wearing a neclace and headphones. These show that they are sucsessful and able to afford these things. The type face is based on graffiti style writing, with stencils at the top and free writing at the sides. the piece is in black and white apart from the date of release. This draws our attention towards it.

Genre Research 4: Record Labels

1. will.i.am Music Group

Vanity Record label created by artist will.i.am of The black Eyed Peas. Parent company is Universal and the company is located in Los Angeles. Artists that are under the label are Fergie, The Black Eyed Peas, 2NE1 and Macy Grey. This would be a good label for a hip hop/rap artist as it was created by somebody in the genre area and would allow support. However, as a Vanity Label, they may only be interested in artists who already established a name for themselves, and so not willing to help introduce a new artist.

2. Sony Music Entertainment

Mainstream record label, SONY is a global distribution company for electronics and media. They are one of the leading music distribution companies. They have a long list of artists that sign under them including Chris Brown and Pitbull. This would be a great starting label as the company signs on lots of different acts and is world wide, so they can publicize the artist effectively. They can also converge with their other media aspects, such as putting songs into sing star. However, as so many people sign to Sony the artist may be lost under other performers.

Genre Research 3: Album Cover Research

Relapse (2009) by Eminem

Image of the artists face at quite a close up angle shows how important he believes himself to be and how he should be noticed as the centre of attention. The pixelated face represents him breaking apart and him spreading out beyond his persona. This also could represent how he is feeling about himself, like a part of him has been lost or separated from him. The idea behind the album, as stated by Eminem, is that it represents his departure from rehab and 'thus rap as if he was on drugs again'. He also used it as a way to re-introduce his alter ego as Slim Shady. The name represents him going back to all these aspects of his former life and embracing them. The type face is quite simplistic at a glance, but uses an X under the R, to represent the end of how he formerly was and a backwards E, like that in his stage name, to relate the album to him, and show how he is 'going back'. 


The Beginning (2010) by The Black Eyed Peas

The four band members are represented here by 8-bit SNES like images which give the idea of it being old and outdated, yet retro and still can be popular. The members of the band have been shown as younger than they are at this point in time to show how they have gone back to the beginning.  They are shown on a blue background, which could be representing of a high school photo, and the beginning of their lives as musicians. The backgrounds are all the same to show how they came from similar places and have come together later in life. The type face is representative of the bands logo and shows that the band created the album. The Beginning is a sequel to the previous album, The E.N.D and represents new ideas and a new outlook.




Shine (2007) by Estelle

Estelle is wearing a long leather coat to represent the power she has as a female Hip Hop artist. The type face is a logo of the artist and relates the album to her.The lighting is very vibrant, but used to show a 'Shine' and not to represent a club scene and used to show her outline and make her stand out from the darkness she is walking away from.. She is looking down, which can lower her stage status, but does so in a way that represents her looking at where she is going and moving forward. The colours are surrounding her to make her stand out in the centre and to be different to the rest of the black background.

Genre Research 2: Features of a Hip Hop Music Video

Common factors in Hip Hop Music Videos

Futuristicly inspired clothing and settings mixed with modern day branding

Lots of mid shots and close ups of the singers face, and no extreme long shots

Cuts on the main beat of the bar

Diagetic singing and sometimes instruments

Genre Research 1: Music Video Analasis

•  Cinematography
• Mid shots of the dancers solo and extreme long shots of them dancing
• Lots of Low angle shots of the artist
• Hand held tracking areas
• Editing
• Fast paced cuts throughout
• Random shapes and lights used on top of the rappers
• Sound
• Non-diatonic backing sounds
• Rappers sing diatonic 
• Mis en scene
• Futuristic clothing and lighting
• Rappers wear modern branding 
• Dark lighting and colour scheme

• Cinematography
• Mid close ups of the main singers
• Long shots to show a location
• Areas of tracking
• Editing
• Futuristic CG and visual editing
• Regimented cutting that makes scenes around the same length
• Sound
• Diatonic sound of the techno-pads and mecha's 
• Heavy robotic bass line
• Mis-en-scene 
• Silver and white creates a futuristic feel
• Mechanical costume design mixed with modern fashion
• Spaceship

• Cinematography
• Long shots of the dancers
• Close ups of the lead singers faces or mid shots
• Editing
• Futuristic CG and lighting
• Cuts on the main beat of the bar
• Shadow effect on movement of the lead band members
• Digital face that sings the computer generated lyrics
• Sound
• Computerised bass and vocals
• Lyrics being sung
• No diagetic sounds
• Mis-en-scene
• Futuristic costuming and lighting
• Dancers are in faceless leotards
• Bright neon colours on a dark background

• Cinematography
• Mainly mid-long shots of the artist rapping
• Most shots show show artists to the side of the frames, not in the middle
• Lots of establishing shots
• Editing
• Fades between majority of shots
• Repeats of photos and layered editing
• Sound
• Non diagetic bass and drum 
• Diagetic singing and piano in parts
• Mis-en-scene
• Shots of a natural city life
• Branded clothing and lots of bling
• Back alley shots

Music Genre: Hip Hop

Theories 3: Carol Verallis

The Kindest Cut

'In video our attention to the song shapes the way we percieve the image, but to an equal extent what we attend to in the image helps us to determine how we hear the music'
The song must have a link to the image and vice-versa

'Shots of the artist will encorage us to piece together a phantasmagorical body( a body shaped in our minds of all the parts of the body we see)

Theories 2: Andrew Goodwin

Dancing in the Distraction Factory

Example of a Illustration Music Video


This is Illustrative as the band is shown preforming, with suggestive imagery and cuts on the beat

Example of a Defunctive Music Video


This is a Defunctive music video as nothing on screen truly relates to the music

Theories 1: Bordwell and Thompson

Categories of editing:

4 Different Relationships Between Shots In Editing:

• Graphic
• Spatial
• Temporal
• Rhythmic

Graphic:
Films are visual so they can be linked graphically. The different 'pictorial qualities' that can be found are the Light, Dark, Shape, Volume, Depth, Movement and Stillness. These can be used to create a smooth or un-smooth contrast.
Graphic Match: Linkage of shots by Graphic Similarities
Example of a graphical match from The Birds

The edit at 0:20 shows a graphical match as nearly every aspect of what was shown on screen was the same as the last scene, bar the positioning of the actress, who had slightly changed where she was standing

Graphic Continuity: Centre of interest is constant throughout cuts (mainly the lighting level and the avoidance of strong colour clashes)
Graphic Discontinuity: contrasts with nearly all pictorial quality's, usually a new subject or idea

Spatial
Concerns Film Space( the location and setting) and the relationship of the various points through similarity, difference and development.
Continuity editing: producing analytical space via an establishing shot, followed by smaller range shots.
Kuleshov effect: No establishing shot can lead to a misinterpretation or mistakes. Audience will create a connective relationship between shots or spacial coexistence

Cross cutting: (parallel editing) can build action taking place in separate locations.

Temporal
Relates to the flow of time in the film world and changing aspects to fit in with the plot. This means the normal flow of time can be altered to fit in with the story, getting rid of unimportant areas (known as an ellipsis) such as the main character going to the bathroom, or showing flash backs and flash forwards.
Example of temporal wipe from Star Wars

By using a wipe from scene to scene the audience are aware that they are seeing a different time and place to that of the previous scene.
Rhythmic
duration of the shots are different relative to each other. Steady beats can build suspense while gradually shortening ones can build fear and expectation.

Assessment 11/9/11 TME

WWW

- Some very good analysis of the music videos. With specific examples used to illustrate your points. 

-A relatively low amount of waffle!  

- Good visual examples included for most of your posts.

- Range of different music videos. These are clearly well chosen and you've included YouTube versions with each entry. This is good. 

EBI.

-Although you do have some good analysis, it would be better if you had somewhat more. Expand your entries, particularly the one on the Red Hot Chili Peppers: it doesn't go into enough detail. 

- Check your entries over before you submit them, there is one case where a sentence does not begin with a capital letter, and you use the word "pycotic", by which I think you mean psychotic? 

- One way to do the analysis which may provide more insight is to divide it up into the micro-elements, and then come up with an example for each of them.  

- You need to write up the entry on your progress from Year 12 into Year 13. 

Effort: GD

Low Budget Ideas

The Fix's song 'Just got Paid' was a simple and effective low budget music video. They used simple black stages, with spotlights and the hallway of someones house to create an effective feel of being rich and happy as they were preforming and being luxurious. The lighting was very bright and used spotlights to light up the band members. This showed they were a solo being as The Fix, with each separate member being of equal importance. The band used simple dance routines and movements in unity to portray the Boy Band feel of all being equal. They also all wore suits to show how they were all rich and successful as they had 'just got paid'. it also enhances the feeling of being one being as they were all dressed the same. They used effective lip syncing and movement to camera to create a feel of being a professional band. The edits are exactly on the main beat of the song, making it look neat and precise. There are mainly two types of shot in the video, long shots of the band as a whole preforming together, and mid shots of the band separately, getting ready for a night out.



the A-Ha video Imogen Leap is an effective abstract video, portraying the mixed up and slightly psychotic feeling of the singer. They used dark and cold colours, such as black and grey, with a vibrant colour over the top to create a feeling of unease, such as showing a grey face with bright red lips. They use images of music boxes and rings to create a feel of possessions and secret feelings towards them. the lighting is dark, but not dark enough to not see the details on the items, showing clouded vision, but a clear mind. They use smoke machines to make the imagery more clouded and to give a professional feel.
They layer images over each-other to add a feel of overlapping feelings and emotions and reverse shots to show unknown and strange abnormalities.