Behind The Scenes (Promoter Scene)

This is behind the scenes of a particular scene of our music video. We recorded this as part of the extension task that my group and I were set; we wanted to show another view of our video other than that from the video camera.

Behind The Scenes 3

Again, this is behind the scenes of shooting for our music video, filmed by Sage.

Behind The Scenes 2

Again, this is behind the scenes of shooting for our music video, filmed by Sage.

Behind The Scenes of Filming 1

This is behind the scenes of filming for our music video. Here, we were filming outside near to our college for a large part of our music video. This footage shows the difficulties, hazards and interruptions that goes on as we tried to film. Despite this, we were committed to getting the perfect shots that we needed for our music video.

Current Music Videos that inspired our project

This music video inspired my music video as it is extremely relatable through the genre and country of origin. The video is showcased primarily in rough urban areas, which is the same setting that me and my group attempted to incorporate into our own music video. As UK Rap song, the costume, location, body language and movement of this music video heavily influenced the way our artist played his role in our own video.

Current Music Videos that inspired our project

This music video was inspiring to my group and I as it featured the artist walking down the street with the camera showing him from a front view. The editing in this video is exceptional and particular things such as the visuals and camera shakes effect is something we would like to incorporate into our own video.

Current Music Videos that inspired our project

This music video was the main inspiration for our music video; the spotlight setting that is the main theme of this video is something me and my group grew fond of and decided to interpret into our own. The idea that this spotlight can represent brightness in one's dark life or new way of life was relevant to the idea and concept of our own music video which revolved around the concept of 'determination', as the song title indicates.

Feedback on First Draft

This is the feedback my group received for our music video when we showcased it to our

class as a first draft . We received good and critical feedback based on our artist, concept, editing and locations. We have also received feedback and constructive criticism on how to improve the video in terms of cuts and different editing techniques. The feedback notes how during our video there a maybe too much side angles of our artist performing; from this, me and my group understand that we must cycle through different angles in order to show clear understanding and variety. Also where there are not enough edited cuts. Overall we have received more positive feedback than negative feedback and we will improve on parts which needs to be improved on in order to create a music video that relates to the overall lyrics and concept of the song and get the best possible grade.

FIRST DRAFT (rough copy)

This is the first draft of our music video "Determination". As it is our first draft, there still is a lot of work to do to and there is still a lot of room for improvement. It was important for us to provide a First Draft so that we could receive and act on feedback from our peers in class.

Booking Forms for Participants in our Video

These are booking forms signed by those who participated in our music video. We had to get these formed signed to clarify that they are willing to help my and my group with the development of our music video. We had to also ensure that participants didnt make any drastic changes to their appearance as we needed their look to stay consistent for the 2 week period we had to film.

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

This is my production schedule that I designed for my group and I, so that we can manage our time effectively. This will help us to get the necessary footage that we need as some locations have difficulties that would hinder us from recording, such as the school drama pod being occupied by a class.

Actors/Actresses

This presentation using Emaze was completed to show the actors/actresses to be featured in our music video. I did this to outline the reasons why each person was chosen for their role so that I could identify how relative the roles are to the person.

Screen Auditions

These are the screen auditions filmed by myself and my group. This was done so that we could screen test each potential artist and see their body language, lip syncing skills and personality so we could decide who to pick to be in our music video. We did this to ensure we had to best possible candidate to be the artist in our music video.

Individual Treatment of Ideas

Organisation of Location, Props and Equipment - completed by group member Sage

We Have Organised Our Locations

Artist Profile

Artist Profile

This is our artist profile which we did to develop the image that we wanted our artist to have. We discussed the artists costume, body language, movement and personality so that we could interpret this understanding into the artist we chose for our music video to make our music video relate as well as possible to the genre of the song which is UK Rap.

Risk Assessment - completed by Sage

Risk Assessment Template

This is our risk assessment; we completed this to ensure that we avoided all possible risks for filming. By stating each specific risk and noting how to resolve and avoid each one me and my group ensured our safety whilst filming. The risk assessment helped because it prevented possible dangers and injuries.

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene from jthomassam

This helped me and my group to identify the different parts of mise en scene and how they are going to be represented in our music video. This consisted of costume, lighting, location and props; we ensured that we knew what we would be using; what the artist would be wearing; where we would be filming and how the location will be set up to adhere to our needs and make sure everything was planned beforehand.

Locations

Locations from jthomassam

The locations we used had to be planned before we went out filming. This was due to the fact that some locations, such as the drama pod at our college, were often busy. We had to ensure that we booked an appropriate time to use the area and was aware of the best times to use it.

Star Image Board

Star image board from jthomassam

This image board I have created is a description of my artist’s star image physically and metaphorically. The image board shows the audience what my artist would wear and what the artist represents. The first image is the image on the top left hand corner which is a picture of an artist wearing all white clothing.


The artist is wearing a white long sleeve shirt, white jeans and white high top shoes. The colour of the clothing gives off a really bright and successful vibe because the colours give off a sense of purity and success which is what the artist represents.


  The image on the top right corner is a picture of a man wearing a bandana. This image shows criminality and gang violence which is what the artist himself has been through and been a part of which will be seen in parts of the video.


The image at the top in the centre is an image of another artist wearing all black clothing. You can see him wearing a black hoodie and black jeans. This clothing is the type of clothing that the artist will wear which will represent his past.


The clothing connotes darkness and corruption and this will be a part of his image in the video which he will present to the audience. The image below it is an artist performing on stage in front of a crowd. Here you can see that this artist is successful and is performing in front of a crowd of people who love the artist and are inspired by his success and lyrics.


The artist will also embody these representations being success and inspiration. Finally, the image below it is a woman staring into a mirror and seeing a different version of herself. I have added this picture in the image board because the artist also has changed over time throughout his time as he becomes successful.


In the video the rapper shows progression from a person who had nothing and corrupted by gang violence to a person who has become pure and changed into a successful person. 

Shooting Script

Shooting Script

 

This shooting script was created so that we had an understanding of where we had to put each scene that we shot. This gave my group and I a sense of structure for our music video and gave us a plan to follow in terms of shooting and placing clips in the right and appropriate place.

Planning Pitch

 This is our planning pitch which we presented to our class. This was done to present our video idea and possible develop ideas and theories for the video from the feedback we received.

Animatic Storyboard

A2 Advanced Portfolio: Focus Group

A2 Advanced Portfolio: Focus Group: This is my groups focus group. We pitched the concept of our music video idea to Kawsar, Maya and Hafsah and they gave us their opinion ...

We filmed this so that we could have a second in-depth opinion on our ideas for my groups music video. The people we chose to be in our focus group reflect our target audience for the genre of our song that we chose for our music video as they are within the age range we wish to target. The feedback we got was both positive and constructive and the ideas we shared and developed with the focus group are something we wish to incorporate into our music video.

Final Synopsis

Final Synopsis

 

With a concept, performance and narrative based video, we understand that executing this video will be difficult in terms of time and effort. However, our idea is clear and developed enough to make a meaningful and high quality music video.


The final synopsis is to show what we want to do with our music video and to explain the goings on in our video and how it relates to the genre, lyrics and audience.

Audience Profile

Audience profile from jthomassam

This work was completed to identify the key interests of our target audience. As a rap song, the audience would be young people within the age range of 16-21 with, obviously, an interest in the genre of rap. By identifying this, I went on to also note other interests of the wider target audience so that we could take advantage of these and have the option to incorporate these interests into our music video

Mood Board

Mood board from jthomassam

My mood board includes images associated with the idea of my music video. Each individual picture has inspired some part of my music video. For example, the image of a spotlight at the bottom of my mood board is from the music video 'Options' by Luke James. This has inspired my group to incorporate the same idea as our main concept of the video. The general idea that my mood board portrays is a specific performance style at a mid-shot camera angle as well as key ways of using lighting to highlight specific things. 

Individual Annotation of Lyrics

The purpose of annotating the lyrics of our chosen song was to get an in-depth understanding of what the lyrics meant. By learning what the lyrics meant literally and subliminally, we could interpret the ideas suggested from the lyrics into our music video as visuals.

Song Lyrics: "Determination" by Dot Rotten

[Link x2]
Knock me down and I get back up
Push me down and I get back up
Hold me down and I get back up
Shoot me down and I get back up

[Verse 1]
I bet you don't know how hard that it gets
Against all odds and harbouring stress
Got to the concerts but started at sets
It wasn't easy
Never had no help from no olders
Young kid with the world on my shoulders
Telling myself I've gotta stay focused
Please believe me

[Verse 1 / Rap]
I remember when it got overly peak
Young shooter with a strap in my hand
In a house full of man dem saying "nobody speak" and
"Where's the money?"

[Bridge]
I was on a bad path but I changed it
Good things come to those who have patience
So I ain't made it but still I says it

[Hook]
Determination
I keep going, I just keep going
I keep going, I just keep going
I keep going, I just keep going
Determination
I keep going, I just keep going
I keep going, I just keep going
I keep going, I just keep going
Determination
No I'll never give up
No I'll never give up
No I'll never give up, it's called
Determination
I keep going, I just keep going
I keep going, I just keep going
I keep going, I just keep going, uh

[Verse 2]
And I couldn't care less about all these haters
Couldn't care less about being famous
All I'm on is family, business and papers
Plus I make tunes for all of these ravers
Promoter pay me my wages
Money goes in my savings
Did a six figure deal from these majors
Aura's pointless
 Even when my ex girlfriend weren't faithful
 And my whole life was feeling unstable
And I had threats of being dropped by the label
I kept going

[Bridge]

[Hook]

[Link x2]

[Hook]

These are the lyrics of our chosen song: "Determination" by Dot Rotten. We did this so that the artist could study and learn the lyrics for when we begin to film our music video, as well as to identify anything wrong with the lyrics such as taboo language, from which we found none.

Final Chosen Song

This is our final chosen song for my group and I's music video. We chose this song as it came with a good beat, meaningful lyrics as well as the fact that as a group we had a good understanding of how we could interpret the song into a visual piece of work.

Three Potential Songs

Song Choices:

1.      Dot Rotten – Determination

2.      Jake Miller – Settle Down

3.      Rick Ross ft. The Weeknd – In Vein

Pros:

Dot Rotten – Determination

·         The song is fast paced so would be ideal to create a music video for an upbeat song.

·         The song is fairly short so easy to remember the lyrics quickly.

·         Instrumental could compliment potential editing features.

·         No/little amount of swear words

Jake Miller – Settle Down

·         Only one swear word throughout the whole song.

·         Fast paced and upbeat.

·         A mixture of styles with one rapping and the other a female singing.

·         Concept and idea is very clear.

Rick Ross ft. The Weeknd – In Vein

·         Interesting bass to incorporate some sort of editing.

·         Again, there is a mixture of two genre’s (R&B and Rap) which allows me and my group to incorporate more ideas.

·         The artists are very famous so finding inspiration would be easy as we can look at their other music videos to understand their roles and styles.

Cons:

Dot Rotten - Determination

·         Concept and idea isn’t clear as yet

·         Artist isn’t very famous so finding inspiration could prove to be difficult.

Jake Miller – Settle Down

·         Artist isn’t as famous as the other choices so finding inspiration may be difficult.

·         The lyrics are rapped really quickly; it may be hard to remember and when shooting mistakes may often occur.

Rick Ross ft. The Weeknd – In Vein

·         Very slow

·         Quite a lot of swear words

·         The language involved is seen as explicit or NSFW.

I had to complete this so that I could outline the reasons why or why not each song should be our chosen song for our music video. By highlighting key reasons as to why the song is good or bad, it is clearer for my group and I to decide on a song to use for our music video.

Representation Essay

50 Cent’s song ‘Candy Shop’ is a rap/hip hop music video. The general view of the video is 50 Cent in his idea of heaven, which includes women, drink, lavish furniture & items and a big mansion. The video encourages the stereotypical view of a rap/hip-hop video.

The video begins with a long shot view of a big mansion at night time. This shot is used to show off the whole scene to indicate how big the house actually is. The idea of it being night-time also encourages the idea that the whole video is based on a dream, as well as the smoke used which surrounds the house, bringing an ominous and eerie them to the video. The video then shows a red sports car pulling up to a big mansion, which is one of the usual props used in rap/hip-hop video as it represents wealth. The colour red is associated with power, urgency & passion and is a bold colour which catches the viewers’ eye. The colour red is prominent in this video as you see 50 coming out of the car in a red cap which is sideways; this is important as at around the time this video was released (2009), this was a key style in many rap artists. Also, he is dressed in a plain white shirt and baggy blue jeans which was also common with rap and hip-hop artists. In addition, there is a close-up shot used on his trainers which are customised with ‘G-Unit’ 50 Cent’s music group at the time to again highlight his wealth and power as he is able to customise his own trainers. Furthermore, he is covered with jewellery around his neck, ears, wrists and hands which again focuses on his lavish expenditure.

Throughout the whole video, 50 cent’s outfit changes 3 times; the second outfit shows him primarily covered in camouflage-coloured clothing which implies that he is a masculine character as camouflage is often associated with war and fighting. His next outfit shows him predominantly covered in a grey fur coat which again highlights his extravagant purchases as fur is often seen as expensive. Next, he is on a bed in a white vest and jeans which is a more casual costume and gives off the idea that despite all of his lavish clothes, he is still a normal guy. As well as this idea, it is an opportunity for 50 cent to show off his muscles and tattoos which represent strength and masculinity.

As the artist then walks into the mansion, he is greeted by one woman in particular who is the female artist of the song, who is surrounded by many other half-naked women walking around. Close-up shots are used to focus on 50 Cent’s facial expression and reaction to walking into what is his idea of heaven. A mixture of close-up and mid-shots focus on the beauty of the women in the mansion as they walk around. Throughout a majority of the video, slow-motion effects are used to create a more sexual theme as it shows the women in more detail. There are elements of panning used as well which shows the women walking down the stairs in a seductive manor; moreover, POV shots are included to make the viewer feel like they are actually in the video which acts as vivid imagery which entices them even more to continue watching the video as they personally feel a part of it. The women are almost all dressed very provocatively to support the stereotype of the way women are seen as by men in rap/hip-hop videos. However, they are dressed in nightwear which again hints to the viewer that the video is based on a dream.

In addition, the main lighting used is high-key on the women in the video to highlight them as more attractive. Also, in a particular scene, a woman is dressed in a pink nurse outfit; the costume itself (nurse) is associated with women in general so this shows encourages the idea that a nurse is a feminine position. Also, the colour pink is probably the most feminine colour and shows the woman to be nothing but a female object. As well as this, there is a dance routine in the video performed by the female singer and other women when they are dressed in red and with caps on. This challenges the gender stereotype created in the video of women serving as feminine objects that are subservient to men’s needs as red is associated with power and the power throughout this video has been with the men; 50 cent is shown to wear a cap in almost every scene of the video so for the women to be wearing them now challenges the idea that caps are masculine. Next, two women are shown washing each other in the bath to further portray them as sexual objects and shows them as a provocative icon.

Low-angle shots are used with 50 Cent to give assert his dominance in the video as it is as if he has looking down at the viewer, hence the viewer, which highlights his superiority. In one particular scene, there is a shot of 50 Cent rapping with four female statues standing behind him dancing provocatively which again portrays the women as nothing but objects. Additionally, there is a scene in which the a picture of the female artist singing which relates to the whole video being a dream as a picture singing wouldn’t happen in reality. Furthermore, the representation of the video being a dream is mainly proven when the female artist blows a bubble in 50Cent’s face and when it pops it resembles his dream popping as it cuts to a scene of an actual candy shop where she is serving 50 Cent as a customer who is actually asleep in his car.

Overall, the video focuses on objectifying women as sexual icons and men as in control, which somewhat matches the usual conventions of rap music as a genre.


This work was completed so that I couldhave an understanding of the conventions of current rap videos. From this essay, I can take ideas and features from 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" and incorporate them into my own music video as it is the same genre: rap.

Narrative Essay

Analysing Narrative in Music Videos

Music Video: “Jason Derulo – What If”

1.      Jason Derulo plays both the protagonist and the narrator in this music video.

2.      This video portrays an objective character identity as we see only the artists view points.

3.      ‘Todorov suggests that “all narratives begin with equilibrium or an initial situation (where everything is balanced)”. The video begins with everything being balanced as the artist’s character and his girlfriend are moving in together. His theory continues with “this is followed by some form of disruption, which is later resolved”. The disruption is the part where the girlfriend is about to be run over, but time freezes just as she is about to get hit. The video revolves around time going back until the point where the two first meet. Todorov’s theory states that “with the resolution at the end of the narrative a new equilibrium is usually established”; there is a resolution as Jason Derulo ignores the girl instead of talking to her which means that she won’t get hit by the car as they would have never met.

4.      Propp’s theory focuses on there being specific roles within a music video. Out of the seven roles Propp’s theory revolves around, only two of these roles exist in this music video by Jason Derulo. Derulo himself is portrayed as the hero who according to Propp ‘departs on a search (seeker hero)’; his girlfriend is portrayed as the princess as she is ‘a sought for person who exists as a goal’.

5.      Levi-Strauss’s theory suggests that in a music video there has to be there must be ‘a number of pairs of opposites reflecting (and resolving) the narrative conflicts. However, in Jason Derulo’s music video ‘What If’, there appears to be no sort of opposites.

6.      “Barthes’ code” is a theory from Roland Barthes in which he identifies narrative codes which readers (or viewers in this case) use to decode or understand texts. These codes are:

·         Action – there are sequential elements of action in the music video as events happen in a structural manor.

·         Enigma - refers to the mystery within a music video; the mystery in this music video is portrayed when Jason Derulo must decide whether or not to meet his girlfriend for the first time again.

·         Cultural – based on elements of the music video which cannot be challenged and are assumed to be truthful and real. This music video challenges this idea as it features a form of time travel which is something not yet seen as a foundation or real.

·         Semic - refers to there being additional meanings within the music video. This music video has the subliminal message which indicates that Jason Derulo wishes he could turn back time for whatever reason.

7.      Cameron has three main ideas to do with his post-narrative theory:

·         Anachronic – highlights the ‘flashback/flash-forward’ features within a music video. The whole video of ‘What If’ is going back in time and when Jason Derulo makes his decision whether to meet his girlfriend again for the first time he has a flash-forward to when she is about to be hit by a car. He decides to not speak to her as if he does they will end up doing what they had previously done in the future and she will be hit by the car.

·         Forking-paths – juxtaposes two opposing ideas or events which could both happen depending on the choices made by characters in the video. This occurs in as there are two alternate events which could happen depending on the choice that Jason Derulo makes.

·         Split-screens – within the music video ‘What If’, there are no features of two events occurring at the same time within the same one visual.

8.      Within this music video, there doesn’t appear to be any intertextual references.

Conventions of Music Genre's

Conventions of music genre’s from jthomassam

I completed this work to identify the different conventions of different genre's of music. As my music video will be on a rap song, I had to be able to understand and develop the conventions of rap music so that my music video could either challenge or match them.

Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Conventions

Andrew goodwin’s Music Video Conventions from jthomassam

This work was completed so that I could understand key music video conventions outlined by Andrew Goodwin. I had to do this so I could have developed knowledge on music video conventions to use in my own music video when I create it.

Introduction

My coursework requires me to create a promotion package for the release of an album as well as the inclusion of a music video. I will also be creating an album cover associated with the music video as well as an advertisement to promote the video. My aims for this years coursework is to be able to learn and incorporate editing and camera skills and be able to apply it to the music video me and my group are creating appropriately so that the video is as professional possible.