Video Diary

This Video Diary is a reflection of the last day shooting the performance footage, by using the green screen effect. During this session, we covered both the chorus and the verses aspect. The footage taken earlier was to say the least unsatisfactory and it lacked the very essence of hip-hop videos, the enthusiasm. We made sure the rapper(Allin) showed his enthusiasm while recording, by telling him to make hand gestures while rapping signifying the lyrics as he is rapping. In my role as director of this project, I also had the singer(Jerome) to take on a RnB singer persona, which typically involve dancing to reflect that aspect. I used various different camera angles with obvious connotation such as a worm's eye view symbolises dominance, key aspects into creating hip-hop videos.

Music Videos That Have a Narrative

This is Eminem's hit song "Stan" featuring Dido,  this is a powerful story about a crazed fan who goes to desperate lengths to meet his idol, Eminem. The narrative structure is present from the beginning when the titular character Stan argues with his pregnant girlfriend who happens to be the featured performer. When he goes to his basement surrounded by Eminem posters surrounding him. He pretends it is a shrine, and treats it as if it is. The frustration you see in Stan is shown by his body language, the way in which he aggressively writes the letter to Eminem and the way in which he recites his lyrics and makes himself feel like Eminem. The use of lighting is key in this video, the way in which Stan;s room is dark, symbolizes dark, oppressed and emphasizes his frustration. The way in which they used the climate, winter to give the tone of this video which is very dark and it's focused more on the narrative with the lyrical content complimenting the narrative aspect of it  This music video, is so narrative centered it makes it seem more of a short film than a actual music video, with little performance footage from the main artist the audio is there to reflect the video rather than the other way around.

Photo shoot for both Digipak and Magazine Advert

This is a selection of photos, that can potentially be in the final digipak, and magazine advert. 

                         These two photos are there to be placed back to back, showing the clash of both genres.

 This photo can be used as a feature page in the magazine advert. Me and my group are going to create this shot will be effective as the male actor is dressed to fit the genre of music which is Hip hop and R&B the hood and the baseball cap are key conventions of the hip hop genre.

The reason, we will not proceed with this photo is because the performer is supposed to represent the singer Will.i.Am, whilst 95% of the costume fits his representation the baseball cap takes this representation into hip hop. Will.I.Am's genre is R&B so we will re shoot this pose but with a different hat.

Out of the two images above this I would most likely use this one for the simple reason the representation of this shot suggests this performer (Jerome) is an R&B singer the significance of this is the contrast between the costumes of the two male performer, Male performer 1 in grey has an urban hip hop representation whilst, Male actor 2 has a softer R&B representation and the combination of these two photos can be used to fit into the music genre of hip hop and R&B.

The body language of this performer two fits the R&B genre and can be manipulated well to in a magazine.

In conclusion i believe the photo shoot was successful as we obtained a variety of photographs which I can use and manipulate effectively to create a digital package that is fit for purpose and relates to my music genre as well as being targeted to my target audience.

Equipments We Used

Our Record Label - Final Analysis

The record label from Maah246

Character Planning

These are side by side photo's, of both Allin and The Game. As you can see there are similarities between them both, they both are dressed in urban clothing reflecting the fashion trend in the Hip-Hop community. We can use Allin as the lead artist in the music video, because he's clothing resembles the urban clothing seen in Hip-Hop videos. As he is in our group it will be easier to get hold of him aswell.

This is a side by side photo, of both Jerome and Will.i.Am. As Will.i.Am does the vocals on the chorus, he also dresses very different to Common, he shows his sophistication whilst still retaining his urban background. I thought Jerome would be a perfect fit for the role of Will.i.Am, as he does dress in that same manner, sophisticated but still retaining his original fashion. I was very fortunate that he is part of this group, this in return will prove to be easier when trying to contact him, because he will be motivated to make this project a success.

Music magazine advert analysis

This is a magazine advert that would have been intended to fill a page of a music magazine. Magazine advertising is a huge business worth billions and marketers use magazines as a way of promoting artists work or upcoming tour. Evident on many music adverts is a prominent feature image of the star in question, in this instance it is Wretch 32. The advert is somewhat less informative than other types of media it simply informs the viewer of the artist, the work and the release date. It does however sell the album by letting the reader know of the talent that has helped produce the album. The image of Wretch 32 is a casual yet romantic one of him he could easily be seen as a role model because of his enviable style and suaveness.

If you don't know who the artist is, it is quite easy to see from a cultured youths point of view that he is a producer of urban music and this is given away by his choice of clothing, his race and the block of flats situated behind his shoulder denoting that he is from 'the streets'. He may not be from 'the streets' at all it could be a marketing ploy to engage viewers who are from working class backgrounds who would be interested in this artist. Blumner and Katz's 1974 uses and gratifications theory would suggest that viewers of this main gain personal identity with the image and if so will be more inclined to purchase the album. 

Although the image cleverly and subtly implores techniques that imply that the image is loyal, i would still say that the audience views this from a negotiated position in accordance to Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model because the viewer

sees what the artist/producer/music management team want you to see.

Rough Sketch Of Magazine Advert

This is a rough of our Magazine Advert, this is a concept of our magazine advert. After analysing magazine adverts I knew what ours had to include, conventions like; album name and artists, ratings, where its available at, what date it is out or out now, the no.1 single it includes and possibly a picture of the album.

The Record Label (Work in Progress)

This is a first draft of the record label for the music video, this is a concept and while this is still a work in progress an idea that will come to fruition.

Audience Feedback - First Draft

This is a video response to our first draft of our music video, I went around and asked fellow peers what they had thought about the music video we produced. The feedback that they gave us, is going to allow us to implement changes necessary to fit into our music video. I have to agree looking back onto the video I can see where we might have went wrong, there were too much performance in the video, while we forgot to add key elements such as connotations to help navigate the audience into the narrative. I have also looked at contemporary Hip Hop/RnB music video examples examine the use of cross-cutting and abstract scenes. By analysing the feedback provided I now have a clear vision of how we should approach the music video, and follow conventions of Hip Hop/RnB music videos.

Rough Sketch Of Our Digipak

Behind the scenes footage

This is a behind the scenes footage of the music video, as you can see that both performers are on the same scene. We had an interesting idea of having both performers, so that they can intercept each others parts of the song. This is an interesting idea, and we will add it to where it is necessary.

The Editing Process

These are photos from where I was editing, as you can see i'm using the keyer to utilise the green screen, and put a background which conveys and effectively represent what we're trying to achieve. I'm also experimenting with different filters such as "spot" which strengthens the light in one area, this is to emphasize the lost romance, by using this technique it allows us to stretch the narrative and aid the audience into the key moments of the music video.

Digipak Analysis

This is my analysis of David Guetta's Album digipak, what I gathered from analysing this digipak is that this does without fail signifies what genre this falls under and I feel with the use of black and white it further exemplifies the genre and gives specific connotations to back it self up 

Music Video Analysis

Music video analysis from Maah246

Music Video(Work in Progress)

This is what the music video looks like so far, this is still in working progress. The feedback from audiences has been noted and have been improved, I will just need to add the keyer onto the green screen backgrounds and then find an appropriate background, we have thought about adding a background that reflects the tone of the music and ultimately convey the idea we are trying to put forward. Bear in mind that this is the unfinished video which explains the distorted audio.

Intertextuality

“The idea that a given text is a response to what has already been written, be it explicit or implicit; the reference to another separate and distinct text within a text”

Intertextuality is where something takes influence.from something else, different conventions. For example, music video's taking the medium and conventions from film to put in to music video's. Influences from one media e.g. film/fashion/videogames are found in another media e.g. music videos.

Here we can see the same scene has been used in the film Inception, and with the music video 6 foot 7 by Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne uses intertextuality in his music video '6 foot 7', which was directed by Hype Williams, he uses conventions from Inception within this. As we can see on the left Lil Wayne appears within his music video to be falling back into a bathtub, in the same scenario, same close setting, and even down to similar costume as the inception film.

Little White Lies & Total Film Comparison

Representation of Women in Music Video's

Representation of Women in Music Videos

Digipak Analysis

Presentation2 from Maah246