Planning: Artist Image

Artist Image

Personality traits of our experimental Hip-Hop artist:

1. Passionate - Hip-Hop usually involves themes of life experience, rags to riches...these are sung well in a passionate perspective.
2. Egotistical - the whole song is about how he once was, what he did and how he is now.
3. Deterministic - this is shown in his continuous varying activities through the videos, and the lyrics which amplify his perseverance. 
4. Influential - audiences will be inspired to have goals and aspirations, by showing his hard work in the industry.
5. Arrogant - the artist is the centre of attention through the music video, and dismisses those who aren't in his group

Morals and Values of the artist:

1. He values achieving money and fame as this is his personal idea of what success means. 
2. Those who don't work as hard as him are dismissed through the lyrics, which shares the ideology that you have to do something in life.
3. He has materialistic values, for example showing off his clothing.  
4. He sees himself as superior due to his actions in life, which links to the egotistical personality trait.  

Media Perceptions:

1. The music is genuinely niche, yet the artist is portrayed in commercialised ways - for example, having lots to do as a performer.  
2. He values status in the media and his image supports being a part of hegemony. 
3. He is very competitive in the industry, shown in when he confidently flourishes his DigiPack, and in the lyrics which shun other people.  

FOUR SIMILAR ARTISTS

These solo artists of the Hip-Hop genre have created the revolution of Hip-Hop; to stop dressing 'hood' and start dressing casual-smart, while singing about the same things. 

They're businessmen, as our artist is, which is why they inspire our ideas through attire. Professional, dark clothing on a man indicate intelligence which many women find attractive. Our artist's song is purely about his work life, which is why he should follow in the example of how these men dress. 

Each artist shown here wears white (in one form or another). This shows that their intentions are pure and good, they want to run a business through legitimate means. This is what our video will be displaying - hard work in the right places get him far. 

For the second half of the video we have been inspired by a Hip-Hop artist wearing all black. This is because there is a literal lyric in our song that mentions his black attire. We think this is used to represent the mystery behind his success; as he doesn't let outsiders into his group (also expressed through the lyrics) all they can do is wonder.

These ideas have bee devised to visually fabricate our artist's personality traits, morals and media perceptions.

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INTRODUCING OUR ARTIST

Age: 21

Ethnicity:

Physique: lean, moderately fit, healthy

Costume: suited & booted / all black

Hair and make-up: slicked back hair; neat and tidy

Body language and facial expressions: confident body language, serious facial expressions, arrogant interactions with other people

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LINK TO THEORY

 Goodwin

We will be using star image as the narrative revolves around the artists’ life in the music industry.

An intertextual reference is made to his life with the promotion of the digi-pack within the video.

Genre characteristics are not being precisely followed, though the setting of a recording studio may apply.

·       Dyer

Most of the video will be performance-based. Some concept shots at the beginning during the meeting scene

·       Mulvey’s ‘Male Gave’

Our genre is known to sexualise women, however out video challenges this trait as there is no focus on women, nor sexual themes.

·       Adorno

The artist is alluding to the ruling-class through encouraging morals of success and wealth.

Planning: Group roles

Group Roles

In our groups, we figure out who will be working within each role. Planning out our roles has been very beneficial to us because it has helped us to be organised, which means that having the right equipment in order to work for that specific role. The list below, shows what role each of us have:

Khaled 

•  Editor 
• Director 
• Lighting 

Gizem

• Camera person 
• Storyboard
• Costume, hair and make-up

Lara

• Producer 
• Print designer 
• Photographer 
• Storyboard

• Camera Operator - This person is responsible for controlling camera shots, angles and movement. The purpose of this role is to film all of the shots so there is content for the other members - such as the Editor - to carry out their job successfully. Also to simply transform the storyboard into a visual motion picture. This requires taking into consideration risks such as breaking the 180 degree rule or breaking cameras.

Our camera operator is Gizem because she has a steady hand and remains calm within the group at all times.

• Producer - This person is responsible for assisting the Director in procedures. The Producer also checks that every member of the team is working to a high standard and creating the correct content. This requires maintaining and communicating respect within the group, making everybody feel comfortable to that their job is of a better quality, despite the differences on task difficulty.

Our producer is Lara because she carried out the same role last year. Lara always comes up with ideas and suggestions which is what a director needs.

• Director - This person is responsible for being in charge of the organisation of the production. The Director is very important as they make many choices that effect the whole outcome of the music video. They work alongside the Producer. An example of their purpose is the directing of artist - where to go, how to go there, and what to do once they are there. They can also yell 'cut' to stop a scene if they wish to make changes. This requires communication between the Director and every member of the team, so they are in a comfortable position to take advice and guidance.

Our director is Khaled because his ideas are clear and concise. The final idea has mostly elements of his initial idea, and he has helped with important stages of planning such as the copyright letter. These things show leader qualities.

• Lighting Operator - This person is responsible for deciding which kind of lighting will suit each frame in every shot, determined by every factor such as location, time, and themes (e.g. romance). This role is important because the lighting needs to suit the shot and if a happy scene is accompanied by a dark, dreary lighting, it won't make sense to the audience and stir up false grudges of something about to happen when it really won't. This requires careful consideration particularly when filming inside and at evening/night-time. 

Our lighting operator is Khaled because the Hip-Hop genre typically has low-key lighting; Khaled devised an idea that could use a mixture of lighting which is why he should be in charge of it.

• Costume, Hair & Make-up - This person is responsible for the appearance of all characters. This includes designing their costume, the style of their hair and how their make-up is set. It's important because the appearance helps the character, particularly the artist, to get into character and perform better. Required attributes include creativity and a steady hand for make-up/hair

Our costume, hair & makeup person is Gizem. This is because she would like a career in business, and as our music video is centred around, essentially a businessman, she will have a good idea on what he should look like.

• Story boarder - This person is responsible for the team's general idea of a plot, by creating detailed descriptions of every frame with a sketch of what it will look like. This role is really important because the storyboard is where all the ideas tie into such as a camera shots and the duration. It saves time, conflict, and in a real production a lot of money, to create a storyboard and follow the basis rather than making up decisions on set. This requires an agreement on details and the protection of the storyboard so it doesn't get lost. Somebody creative should take up the job as you have to imagine the scene you're writing/drawing about as if it's already been shot and edited.

The storyboarder is Lara. This is because she is interested in art so can visualise details into a picture well.

• Editor - This person is responsible for making the scene look professional by putting frames together and applying changes to the footage. This includes things like Fade To Black or dissolve. These are both types of transitions between one shot to another. Editing programmes are an advantage because if something during filming is wrong, you can cut it out through the process of editing. This requires creativity and IT skills as it's done on the computer.

Our editor is Khaled as last year he edited his music video within two days, with an excellent result.

• Print designer - This person is responsible for making the digipack, which includes a CD design and a poster. These are promotional tools so important in the making of a music video. For our music video, the digipack will be shown at the start of it, so it needs to be ready by the time we start filming.

Our print designer is Lara because she has achieved an A in GCSE ICT and briefly knows how to use programmes such as photoshop, BeFunky, etc

• Photographer - The photographer is responsible for taking any images to be used on the digi pack. For this we need a good camera, but also a steady hand and observation & perception skills of which angles to shoot in and at what time.

Our photographer is Lara because typically the print designer and photographer go hand in hand

Conclusion:

By doing this post, it has helped us to identity what each individual has do to within the group. I think that by planning this in advanced has helped us to be more organised as our filming and editing will ran more effectively. 

Planning: Storyboard

Storyboard

Creating a storyboard is very important because it allows us to be sure that we have a structure of how we will be shooting each scene. Storyboards help us to consider the equipment that we will be needing on set, this can include; cameras, props and characters. 

Planning: Camera Shot List

Planning: Outline of narrative

Outline of Narrative

What was the task? Why you did it?

As a group our task was to analyse the lyrics of the song, which allowed us to understanding the meaning of it. By conducting this task, myself and my group now have a idea on how we will be linking the visuals of the music video to the lyrics. Knowing the meaning of the lyrics was very important because now we are aware of how we can present our artist, in order to entertain our audience. The lyrics of the song illustrates that the artist is independent and he doesn't have many friends, the lyrics 'Moving on everyday improving on' show that the artist is trying to become successful. So in our own music video we will make intersexual references to key events that happens in his life and we will be showing the digi-pack as an event of him becoming successful. 

Applying music video to theory:

Goodwin

• We will be using star image as the narrative revolves around the artists’ life in the music industry.
• An intertextual reference is made to his life with the promotion of the digi-pack within the video.
• Genre characteristics are not being precisely followed, though the setting of a recording studio may apply.

Dyer

• Most of the video will be performance-based. Some concept shots at the beginning during the meeting scene.

Mulvey’s ‘Male Gave’

• Our genre is known to sexualise women, however out video challenges this trait as there is no focus on women, nor sexual themes.

Adorno

• The artist is alluding to the ruling-class through encouraging morals of success and wealth.

Video narration:

The video will begin with abstract shots outside the office, then followed by the extra characters in the office whilst we hear the start of the instrumental to 'oh well.' As video idea consists of one main scenario (with different locations) and is more of a concept song as it doesn't naturally relate to the lyrics. The visuals of the artist will begin as soon as the lyrics come in as part of his performance. It will have some sort of narrative however showing a young artist and his everyday life in the music industry which includes; meetings for his next album cover which will be shown in an office with his fellow colleagues, briefly recording music with a producer; shooting a music video within back up dancers etc. and even photo shoots for top magazines. an example of when a narrative visuals will be shown is when. the idea of inputting the narrative concept idea will come in where he say lines such as "no shades of grey here my outfit is jet black." its essential that in this line we go with what the artist is saying therefore through editing we will have the characters appear to change clothes instantly from a smart attire to a more retro urban one. We decided the idea of these visuals would be a much better option for the audio rather than a typical of the artist partying or going to a club which is why we plan to show the artist as a hardworking individual to have a positive impact on the youth viewing this music video. Because it will be more concept based, there wouldn't be much of a story or a message behind the music video, it will simply consist of his everyday life instead. the idea of concept visuals will be utilised when the chorus comes in where we will show urban areas of London to represent the genre.

Conclusion

Doing this post was highly important for myself and my group because it allowed us to decide on a final idea that we are all happy with. We also spoke about the structure of the song and how we will be shooting different scenes. 

Planning: Analysing three similar music videos

Analysing three similar music videos

Video: Action Bronson - Actin Crazy

Whilst analysing this video, I was mainly interested in the content and visual style of the video. The visual of the music video does not combine with the content which makes it hard for the audience to understand, however, it does interest the audience because what the artist has done is very different compared to other experimental Hip-hop music video. The artist in this music video is wearing casual clothing which makes conventional to our music video idea. 

Body language and facial expressions of characters and artist:

• The artists body language show that he isn't as interested as he is eating while shooting for his music video.
• his actions make him appear very lazy because he isn't concentrate with acting.
• The artists isn't dancing but the way he is moving around is also conventional to the Hip-hop genre has his body language shows that he is relaxed. 

Setting and editing:

• The settings that have been used in this music video is very interesting because the director uses a green screen to capture different shots. 
• The editing skills is simple but very creative.
• Green screen is used which allows the director to create a more commercial music video.  

The idea that we will be taking from this music video is the different editing techniques as it looks very interesting and different. As, we are producing a experimental Hip-Hop music video I think that by having different editing techniques we could attract a wider audience.  

Video: sing for the moment

Performance from the artist:

Whilst analysing this video, I was mainly interested in the structure and artist representation. This music video does have a clear structure as the lyrics link to the visuals of the music video, the artist is presenting himself as an independent character and he is showing this by the use of inter sexual inferences he is making. the music video contains different chips of the artist performing on stage. This links to our music video because in our music video we will be suing the dig-pack to make links to the artists life and in Eminem's video, he uses key events to make references to his life e.g. him performing on stage and getting ready for shows. 

Artist representation:

The artist is represented as an strong individual and this is shown through his lyrics, 'Sing it with me, just for today, maybe tomorrow the good Lord'll take you away...' This means that the artist is trying motivate his fans, by motivating his fans, they will be interested in the artist even more and they will follow up with any of his new albums/ singles. Eminem is representing himself as a hard working person as he says; 'Just let our spirits live on, through our lyrics that you hear in our songs and we can..' The artists body language is very relaxed as he isn't dancing as much, this is also conventional to the Hip-hop genre. 

 The artists is also represented as a gangster because he is wearing a baggy top, loose jeans and a bandanna, this is conventional to our music video also because we are planning to create a experimental Hip-hop music video and our artist is going to wear similar clothes to what Eminem has wore. 

Video: Austin Mahone – Dirty Work

Whilst analysing this video, I was mainly interested in the artist representation.

·       Body language & facial expressions of artist

The artist is showing confidence in his movements. He weaves through the office isles to show the girl that he knows his workplace well and persistently works hard. This reflects the lyrics of our song, such as “came a long way”, which are encouraging success. 

His body language is also slightly sexualised which puts forth the ideology that men with good jobs are more attractive. Again, this links to our ideas as our artist will be shown campaigning his idea and living a better life when it is accepted. 

The facial expressions of the artist also radiate confidence which is a major theme in our song. Even the title itself, “Oh Well”, shows carelessness toward “haters” (competitors) in the industry. 

·       Costume, hair & makeup 

His costume is genuinely smart attire; yet his hair is casual and floppy which suggests that he enjoys his job. We’ll be taking a similar approach in our music video as all his work is what makes him happy.

·       Interaction with others

He acts with ease around his workmates which reflect some of the lyrics in our song “only ever us, it’s the perfect crew” suggesting the theme of loyalty and friendship within the workplace. 

Conclusion:

In our groups, we analysed three music videos that is similar to our music video idea. It was very useful by analsying these three videos because in my group, we all had an similar music video that has influenced to decide on our final idea. 

Planning: Copyright letter

Oasis Academy Hadley

South Street

Enfield

London

En3 4px

Dear copyright holder,

                                                We are ‘esoteric records’ and I am writing to you from Oasis Academy Hadley 6th Form in order to request for authorization of the single 'oh well.' We ask for permission for this audio simply to create a music video which is required in our A2 Media Advanced Portfolio coursework.

We are a group of students who are hoping for your permission in order to produce a creative music video that reflects our own creative ideas. Our coursework task involves creating a music video with a song of our choice, and we have chosen G eazy’s single because of the mainstream sounds it provides which can be very appealing to our target audience. In addition the themes it portrays are suitable for our audience category’s chosen

If we received your permission, this track would ONLY be used for educational purposes only and for the OCR exam board moderator. It would not be used for promotional reasons and we have no intention to display this video for commercial use.

I and the rest of my group would be very privileged if you take our request into consideration and give us the authority to use the audio. The artist and your company would of course be recognized throughout pre-production work, through the actual video production as well as being credited if you please on our work blogs. A copyright notice with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project if you would like us to do so. If this is required, please send the full details.

Thank you very much for reading this letter.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Khaled Jaffer

Gizem Mayil

Lara Lawal

Planning: My audience

MY AUDIENCE

It is important to know about audiences, because before creating a media product, you need to know who is most likely to consume in it.  Extensive primary research into people's opinions inform you on their preferences such as how they like artists to be presented, what their favourite locations are, etc. The product needs to be created in the interest of these opinions to ensure earning a profit.

OUR TARGET AUDIENCE:

• Age: 16-21

Hip-Hop is an upbeat genre full of themes such as youth, passion and recreation. This reflects the youth, so we expect them to relate to the genre.

• Gender: both males and females

There are a vast amount of male and female audiences, so already within the genre exists a balance of consumption between the two genders.

• Race: black, white

Our primary research showed us that consumers of Hip-Hop include people of both black and white ethnicity, therefore we are targeting those groups as it seems likely for them to continue to buy Hip-Hop related media products.

• Audience category: E-C2

Themes such as 'the struggle', 'rags to riches' and youth are consistently explored in the genre of Hip-Hop. When applied to real life, these themes are mostly associated with social classes E-C2 due to the circumstances that many working-class people experience.

• Hobbies & Interests: We are targeting people who like to go to particular locations, such as urban areas, which are typically associated with working-class individuals which is also an aspect of who we are aiming to appeal to. 

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AUDIENCE REACTIONS

There are different ways in which an audience receive media content. Some of these relate to the theories by Hebdige, Goodwin and Dyer.

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT - We want our audience to engage in the lifestyle being portrayed which is that of somebody with an urban background, but built himself up to be hard-working, creative and innovative. 

AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS -  The audience expects the music video to be very urban, aggressive and full of negative connotations. However this is alternative Hip-Hop, and our idea focuses on positive connotations which are portrayed through the artists' actions and lyrics singing about success. 

AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION - The audience are expected to relate to the artists morals of deferred gratification. As previously mentioned, he is hard-working and innovative. If they can't relate, we hope to use the artist as a role-model, inspiring people to have goals and ambitions. 

AUDIENCE PLACEMENT -  We plan to promote the digi-pack in the music video itself. Part of the narrative shows businessmen arguing over product ideas, then our artist reveals his idea using the digi-pack. This is an intertextual reference as it is drawing upon his life. The audience will see this and appreciate the way the promotion has been executed, thus offering a higher chance to us of greater consumption.

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 Conclusion:

We now have a clear and concise idea on who our music video will be targeted at. We aim to appeal to those who are used to consuming in typical Hip-Hop and give them something inspiring.

Planning: Questionnaire and graphs

Questionnaire and graphs

For out final idea me and my partner Lara created a questionnaire, our questionnaire relates to our final idea song and we have included questions that will allow us to produce the music video or the song. Our final idea is a Hip-hop song and Generally those who said yes referred to modern Hip-Hop artists, shows that it is still a highly appreciated genre in a music industry, and consumers welcome new content.

Questionnaire:

1.    Name: ____________________________________

2.    Age:  10-15 [  ]   16-21 [  ]   22-27 [  ]

3.    Ethnicity: 

White [  ]   Black [  ]   Oriental [  ]   Pacific Islander [  ]   Other [  ] 

4.    How often do you listen to Hip-Hop? 

Never [  ]   Sometimes [  ]   Always [  ]  

5.    How often do you watch music videos? 

Never [  ]   Sometimes [  ]   Always [  ]

6.    What do you expect a Hip-Hop video to generally look like?

Urban [  ]   Futuristic [  ]   Formal [  ]   Innocent [  ]   Sexual [  ]  

7.    What do you expect a Hip-Hop artist to sing about?

Love [  ]   Politics [  ]   Youth [  ]   Recreation [  ]   Loneliness [  ]

8.    Do you like it when the artist of the song is the main focus in a music video?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]

9.    Should Hip-Hop artists be sexualised in music videos?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]

10.  Should music videos link to the lyrics of the song?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]

11.  How do you expect a Hip-Hop artist to dress?

Formal [  ]   Casual [  ]   Gangster [  ]   Goth [  ]   ‘Camp’ [  ]   Hipster [  ]

12.  What time should a Hip-Hop music video be shot?

Morning [  ]   Afternoon [  ]   Evening [  ]   Night [  ]  

13.  Which location appeals the most to you?

Restaurant [  ]   Club [  ]   Park [  ]   Home [  ]   Work [  ]   Streets [  ]

14.  How should Hip-Hop artists interact with other people in music videos?

Aggressively [  ]   Sexually [  ]   Distant [  ]   There shouldn’t be other characters [  ]

15.  What personality traits do you expect a Hip-Hop artist to have?

Passion [  ]   Confidence [  ]   Depression [  ]   Alter-ego [  ]   Realism [  ]  

16.  Do you think you have a connection with any Hip-Hop artists?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]

17.  If yes, who? ________________________________________

18.  What is your idea of a satisfactory Hip-hop music video?

Feedback from audience:

3.  10/20 people were white, 5/20 were black, 2/20 oriental, 3/20 other and 0/20 pacific islander. The dominating white and black races in these results, already show that we have a potential Hip-Hop audience, as contemporary Hip-Hop has a mixture of white and black consumers.

4. 12/20 people always listen to Hip-Hop, 7/20 people sometimes do and 1/20 never. These results prove the prediction above, as the majority of people asked are consumers of Hip-Hop.

5. 10/20 people always watch music videos, 7/20 sometimes do and 3/20 never. As well as being consumers of our genre choice, this audience generally enhance their consumption on the YouTube/Vevo media platform as most people watch music videos.

6. 9/20 people expect a Hip-Hop music video to be urban, 6/20 people expect futuristic elements, 3/20 people chose formal, 2/20 agree that it’s likely to be sexual and 0/20 people think that it would be innocent. Therefore, this audience generally prefer our location choice, which is urban.  

7. 10/20 people think a Hip-Hop artist would sing about love, 6/20 people thought politics, 2/20 for recreation & love and 0/20 for loneliness. This shows that the Hip-Hop audience prefer slightly more positive themes within the music.

8. 15/ 20 agreed that the artist should be the main focus in a music video, this sows me that when we are creating our own music video, we need to focus on the artist which will help us to entertain the audience. 

9. The feedback that we have received from this question, suggests that in our music video we should sexualise

the artist because this can be offensive towards the audience. 

10. The feeback that we reviced for this question was very different because half of the individuals that we have asked agreed that the lyrics should link back to the music video and the other half agreed that the lyrics of the song shouldn't link to the music video. This is hard for my group because we cannot decide on what to do so our music video will be different from other Hip-hop music video. 

11. This question allowed us to identify what people are most likely to expect. The majority of people asked chose gangster. Unfortunately because most people chose the gangster attire, we have decided to go against their choice simply because we want it to be more mainstream also it would look better if we went with formal or casual because it would be unexpected.   

12. From the results this shows that people are more interested to see a video at a time when it is dark however most of our video will be filmed indoors. As a result of this the time that we shoot it would not effect the audiences feeling of it being a hip hop music video. If we was to shoot outdoors however we would definitely consider filming in the afternoon or at night

13. The purpose of asking this was to define where people actually intend to visualise a hip hop video. The 3 most wanted options were a club, park and a house. we plan to alternate these top choices again to hit the audience with something unexpected. In addition, filming in a club would not be realistic.

14. Generally in a hip hop video you wouldn't see an isolated artist in a hip hop video, which is why we least expect the main character to be distant. it was also expected that most people would pick aggressive due to the raw urban sound hip hop provides.

15. This question was vital towards the utilisation of our star image. it was important we had a personality for our artist. The main option most people picked was passion mainly because most hip hop artists have had a hard upbringing which is why we want to show how hardworking our artist is within the music video.

16. If yes, who? 

Generally those who said yes referred to modern Hip-hop artists, which shows that it is still a highly appreciated genre in a music industry, and consumers welcome new content.

18. What is your idea of a satisfactory Hip-hop music video?

Most people said that they like Hip-hop music videos to have a ‘chilled atmosphere’ around ‘urban locations’, with a lot of attention on the artist. Many said that they prefer male Hip-hop artists’ music videos to female artists’ music videos. Most said that it’s better when the visuals link to the lyrics, as they believe that Hip-hop is created for a meaning and purpose in peoples’ lives

Conclusion:

In our groups we have created a primary questionnaire, that was based on our final idea. The results that we received from this questionnaire has helped us to decide on how we will be producing our music video. So our song is from a Hip-hop genre, our target audience have agreed that they do want the artist to be the main focus in the music video. This suggests that our target audience wants to have a connection with the artist. Our audience have also said that they do not want the artist to be sexualised in the music video, this means that we will not be using the 'male gaze.'