Saturday, 16 May 2015
Saturday, 9 May 2015
Know Me From Target Audience (DONE)
Age - the age of my target audience would be between 16 and 25. The reason for this is due to most of the artists within this genre are of similar age, most of the content is too explicit for anyone under the age of 16 and anyone older than 25 may view the content as inappropriate or 'silly'.
Gender - the gender of my target audience would most definetely be male. The reason for this is because all of the artists involved in this genre are male, the lyrics involved match the usual representations of male behaviour and the music videos involve a lot of objects and behaviour that are usually associated to the male gender. The reason for not aiming at the female gender with my project is due to the fact that they may not simply relate to the lyrics and videos within this genre and the fact that they may find the content sexist or maybe disrespectful to women. For example, in Skepta's 'that's not me' he says, "take your girl no dinner, no rose, two minutes in my bedroom, no clothes". Here he is suggesting he doesn't care about the women's feelings therefore some females may not agree with these lyrics. Some males may even struggle to listen to this content.
Occupation - my target audience's occupations would definely vary. Everyone can enjoy all sorts of different types of music but I believe there are certain people with certain occupations who would listen to and watch music videos of this genre regularly. The majority of our target audience would most probably be in education with possibly a small job on the side or an inspiring artist/musician who likes this genre. Older members of society with an office job for example wouldn't listen to this type of music due to their surroundings and what they're influenced by.
Hobbies - my target audience's hobbies would also vary quite a lot. However, by looking at grime artists music videos, twitter and Facebook pages, I believe that our target audience would try and base their hobbies around the artists. For example, JME always appears on his YouTube and twitter to be simply hanging around with his friends 'messing around'. Whether it's playing xbox with friends or driving around, my target audience's hobbies would be social hobbies. This genre of music has got larger by word of mouth. A friend telling a friend. This is due to the lack of publicity it gets. Therefore, people are always listening to it together. This could yet again, be another hobby.
Media grouping - media grouping is quite an easy one when looking at target audience. My target audiences favourite films would be those of British gangster films. These films always involve grime songs and in some cases even some grime artists. For example, lethal bizzle the artist makes an appearance in anuvahood as does 'bashy' in the film 'Shank'. Favourite TV shows would also be for the exact same reasons. For example, the artist 'Kano' is a main chatacter in the popular series 'Top Boy'.
Style - when it came to target audience, I aimed for a specific style. Very similar to grime artists, our target audiences style is just simply hooded jumpers and jeans with possibly some 'bling' necklaces, bracelets or rings. Most of these people are again influenced by the mise en scene in the grime genres music videos.
Skepta - Shutdown: Music Video Analysis
Shutdown is the most recent single to date from the grime artist Skepta, released on April 26th 2015.
The first shot in Shutdown is the a long-establishing shot of a block of flats in where we presume to be London, as Skepta is from London which he backs up in various songs. After establishing these flats, Skepta give the audience more knowledge of the location by making the following shot a mid shot of some bridges connecting the flats, this makes the audience feel more involved to the storyline of the music video and gives them a sense of collective ownership. Stuart Hall's audience reception theory states that audiences understand text according to their cultral upbringing. In this case the audience that are from the council estates/flats will understand the text because thats where they have been brought up.
We then see another mid shot this time involving a group a people, some are recognisable, with the likes of JME, Shorty and James McCabe making an appearance, who are all in the Grime group BBK or Boy Better Know. Again this shot is used to engage the audience because they will recognise some of their favourite artists and feel comfortable watching the video right from the outset. A few similar establishing shots later, we see Skepta driving an all white Mercedes 4x4. The fact that the Mercedes is all white does make a stark contrast from the normal colour scheme in the Grime genre, which is black. White represents the opposite of black as it is associated with death, evil and mystery, where as white connotes goodness, purity and perfection, and Skepta is also dressed in white for the first half of this music video. Claude Levi-Strauss' Binary Oppositions states that all narratives are organised around the conflict between such binary opposites. In this case the binary opposites are the black of the rest of his crew and the grime genre as a whole, and the fact that Skepta is wearing white is the binary opposition.
After the shot of the white Mercedes, there is a mid shot where Skepta is in front of his peers rapping whilst they stand in the background. This is as so because he is the most prominent figure in the music video, being that he is the artist and producer. The shots that follows this first 'dominant' shot all try to represent Skepta in the same way, by making sure to have him on a higher level than the rest of the people in the video. He can be seen sat on a wall whilst his peers are below or just even standing up, as he is taller than the rest of his posse. This complies to the social dominance theory, in particular group hierarchy, which has been around since the dawn of time and helped man to survive in groups. There has to be social dominant is order for a hierarchy to work and in this video Skepta is dominant.
The following shot is of a woman, on her own wearing a grey coat and necklace with blonde hair, the camera starts at a mid - long range then zooms into the woman face. This accentuates the woman's blonde hair and her facial features, which familiarises her with the audience. The woman is alone because she is being objectified by the camera operator, who we can assume is male, as is Skepta who produced the video. This aligns with Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, which states that woman are objectified in film because heterosexual men are in control of the camera, in our case Skepta. However, the shot does not fully conform to this theory because it objectifies her face, which is far from he norm of focusing on erotic parts of the female body, breasts, curves etc. This is backed up in the following shot including a different girl who is wearing big clothing that covering up her body, which then, again, zooms into her face which is just staring into the camera. There is no erotic features in the shot which may say that Skepta isn't trying to objectify women in a sexual way but rather in a way that shows they are just the same as men and we are all equal. However, there is the question of why these women are on their own in these shots, but this is probably because Skepta knows that his audience will be wanting to see female in an unrestricted way which means they can see the whole of them, because grime videos before have done the same thing, so he conforms in this way.
The shot after this is a shot of a what we can safely assume is a male handling drugs of some kind (white powder). Skepta had a background before rap which involved selling drugs, which he has repeatedly mentioned in previous songs, such as Ace Hood Flow in which he says 'never got money...off white' white being cocaine. This shot is probably paying homage to his former criminal career. The other reason he has included this shot is because again, worryingly, it may conform to Stuart Hall's audience reception theory because they may have come in contact with the drug trade, and this trade is a convention of the grime genre so makes sense to include, even if it does give the audience an idea of his criminal background.
A few shots later there is a shot where two men are sat on a wall, one dressed in all black and one dressed fully in white. Again, this shot re-enforces Claude Levi-Strauss' binary opposition theory as these men could not be more opposite, a good example being black and white. Levi-Strauss said that binary opposites are included in film because they catch the audiences attention for long periods of time as the battle between these opposites reigns on.
Halfway through the video the song pays homage to Kanye West's performance of All Day at the Brit Awards by including a voice recording of a complaint received by ITV. This complaint goes on to say about young men all dressed in black not normally being on primetime television, which speaks volumes about the impact of these grime artists that are gaining popularity at an alarming rate. This complaint also outlines the conventions of grime, as they are all dressed in black. The corresponding shots to the complaint are as you would expect, young men all dressed in black running up a staircase. It is at this point Skepta changes his outfit to all black, to represent his change in attitude and how he was angered by this famous complaint and the binary opposition is thrown out of the window as all his peers are dressed in black.
The first shot in Shutdown is the a long-establishing shot of a block of flats in where we presume to be London, as Skepta is from London which he backs up in various songs. After establishing these flats, Skepta give the audience more knowledge of the location by making the following shot a mid shot of some bridges connecting the flats, this makes the audience feel more involved to the storyline of the music video and gives them a sense of collective ownership. Stuart Hall's audience reception theory states that audiences understand text according to their cultral upbringing. In this case the audience that are from the council estates/flats will understand the text because thats where they have been brought up.
We then see another mid shot this time involving a group a people, some are recognisable, with the likes of JME, Shorty and James McCabe making an appearance, who are all in the Grime group BBK or Boy Better Know. Again this shot is used to engage the audience because they will recognise some of their favourite artists and feel comfortable watching the video right from the outset. A few similar establishing shots later, we see Skepta driving an all white Mercedes 4x4. The fact that the Mercedes is all white does make a stark contrast from the normal colour scheme in the Grime genre, which is black. White represents the opposite of black as it is associated with death, evil and mystery, where as white connotes goodness, purity and perfection, and Skepta is also dressed in white for the first half of this music video. Claude Levi-Strauss' Binary Oppositions states that all narratives are organised around the conflict between such binary opposites. In this case the binary opposites are the black of the rest of his crew and the grime genre as a whole, and the fact that Skepta is wearing white is the binary opposition.
After the shot of the white Mercedes, there is a mid shot where Skepta is in front of his peers rapping whilst they stand in the background. This is as so because he is the most prominent figure in the music video, being that he is the artist and producer. The shots that follows this first 'dominant' shot all try to represent Skepta in the same way, by making sure to have him on a higher level than the rest of the people in the video. He can be seen sat on a wall whilst his peers are below or just even standing up, as he is taller than the rest of his posse. This complies to the social dominance theory, in particular group hierarchy, which has been around since the dawn of time and helped man to survive in groups. There has to be social dominant is order for a hierarchy to work and in this video Skepta is dominant.
The following shot is of a woman, on her own wearing a grey coat and necklace with blonde hair, the camera starts at a mid - long range then zooms into the woman face. This accentuates the woman's blonde hair and her facial features, which familiarises her with the audience. The woman is alone because she is being objectified by the camera operator, who we can assume is male, as is Skepta who produced the video. This aligns with Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, which states that woman are objectified in film because heterosexual men are in control of the camera, in our case Skepta. However, the shot does not fully conform to this theory because it objectifies her face, which is far from he norm of focusing on erotic parts of the female body, breasts, curves etc. This is backed up in the following shot including a different girl who is wearing big clothing that covering up her body, which then, again, zooms into her face which is just staring into the camera. There is no erotic features in the shot which may say that Skepta isn't trying to objectify women in a sexual way but rather in a way that shows they are just the same as men and we are all equal. However, there is the question of why these women are on their own in these shots, but this is probably because Skepta knows that his audience will be wanting to see female in an unrestricted way which means they can see the whole of them, because grime videos before have done the same thing, so he conforms in this way.
The shot after this is a shot of a what we can safely assume is a male handling drugs of some kind (white powder). Skepta had a background before rap which involved selling drugs, which he has repeatedly mentioned in previous songs, such as Ace Hood Flow in which he says 'never got money...off white' white being cocaine. This shot is probably paying homage to his former criminal career. The other reason he has included this shot is because again, worryingly, it may conform to Stuart Hall's audience reception theory because they may have come in contact with the drug trade, and this trade is a convention of the grime genre so makes sense to include, even if it does give the audience an idea of his criminal background.
A few shots later there is a shot where two men are sat on a wall, one dressed in all black and one dressed fully in white. Again, this shot re-enforces Claude Levi-Strauss' binary opposition theory as these men could not be more opposite, a good example being black and white. Levi-Strauss said that binary opposites are included in film because they catch the audiences attention for long periods of time as the battle between these opposites reigns on.
Halfway through the video the song pays homage to Kanye West's performance of All Day at the Brit Awards by including a voice recording of a complaint received by ITV. This complaint goes on to say about young men all dressed in black not normally being on primetime television, which speaks volumes about the impact of these grime artists that are gaining popularity at an alarming rate. This complaint also outlines the conventions of grime, as they are all dressed in black. The corresponding shots to the complaint are as you would expect, young men all dressed in black running up a staircase. It is at this point Skepta changes his outfit to all black, to represent his change in attitude and how he was angered by this famous complaint and the binary opposition is thrown out of the window as all his peers are dressed in black.
Locations - Know Me From - Stormzy (DONE)
I filmed all of my footage in Calne. The shots included shows a number of different areas in Calne, as well as the roads going through the centre of town. Below are some images of the locations I filmed:
- Calne
- Alley Way Station Hill
- Calne Bypass
- River and Bridge
- Ally Way on Oxford Road
Editing - Know Me From - Stormzy (DONE)
I decided to edit my music video on the software iMovie that comes on the Macbook Pro. Below are screen shots of how I edited it and different effects that I used.
This screen shots shows me selecting a clip from the clip bank and inserting it onto the platform where I can edit the clips.
Above shows me changing the speed of the cup to customised. This can either speed up the shot or slow it down. In my music video I have done both fast forwarding as well as slow motion.
This screen shot shows where I have jump cut the shot. This means I split the shot into sections and deleted certain sections to make it look like it jumps.
This is the word I created in Photoshop to put over the top of my footage. It reads 'where' which is a repeated song lyric, and this was put into iMovie by originally making the image green and white, and when choosing the effect 'Green/blue screen' the footage shows through.
Finally this is called a split shot where I have layered shots over each other. I have used two shots of the same as this looks effective but have made them split. This clip is also in slow motion.
Platform - YouTube (DONE)
The reason I chose YouTube is because it is easily accessible. My target audience is likely to use YouTube a lot making my video better advertised. Also, people can subscribe to my YouTube channel to see future videos I would create if I was doing it professionally and this would keep them updated. The YouTube video can also be commented on allowing me to receive feedback and 'likes' or 'dislikes.' The URL can also be shared on other social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter easily meaning my video will reach more of my target audience. It is likely this is the most effective way of exhibiting my video as social networking is so populated by my target audience.
Effects and Techniques Used (DONE)
The main effect that I have used in my music video is the image that goes over the video with the text 'WHERE.' I created this on photoshop and have made a blog post on how it was created. When inserting it into iMovie, i had to change the image so that it fit the screen instead of the effect 'Ken Burns' which zooms into the image. I had to change the screen to 'Green/Blue Screen' which allows the white of the image to be apparent and the green disappear, allowing the video to play through the image.
Another effect I used was fast forward. I edited the footage I had taken, the establishing shot, and fast forwarded so that it was quicker. I also reversed the fast forwarded footage so that it looked like my shot was going backwards. Following this I also used a slow motion effect when I was going through the centre of my town. This is easily applied using a button in iMovie, which is how the fast forward was made too.
I also used an effect where I placed two videos over the top of each other to make it look like I was on the screen twice. I did this on iMovie and it looks professional as both shots are the same so have the same black background. I also used a split screen where I am again appearing on the screen twice but the footage is different and makes the video look as if it is split.
Finally I used a flip effect which flipped the footage and made me appear on the other third to what it was originally filmed on.
Another effect I used was fast forward. I edited the footage I had taken, the establishing shot, and fast forwarded so that it was quicker. I also reversed the fast forwarded footage so that it looked like my shot was going backwards. Following this I also used a slow motion effect when I was going through the centre of my town. This is easily applied using a button in iMovie, which is how the fast forward was made too.
I also used an effect where I placed two videos over the top of each other to make it look like I was on the screen twice. I did this on iMovie and it looks professional as both shots are the same so have the same black background. I also used a split screen where I am again appearing on the screen twice but the footage is different and makes the video look as if it is split.
Finally I used a flip effect which flipped the footage and made me appear on the other third to what it was originally filmed on.
Know Me From - Lyrics (DONE)
[Intro]
Yo, Zdot on production
I don't even know what to say
[Verse 1]
Peng tings on my Whatsapp and my iPhone too
The brown skinned girls and the white ones too
Girls love me and I love them too
I was on the roads when Dizzee made I Luv U (I Luv U, U, U)
Talk about me you better hashtag merky
Can't chat about speed look my cab man's certi
Shout out to my big bro Wiley, that's a badman from early
Lo-look I'm a boss man like Birdie, I'm a badman like Shirley
If grime's dead then how am I here?
Big man like me with a beard, look how am I scared?
God's wrath is the only power man fear
Couple skeng man, then shower man here
Shower man down in my shower man gear, yeah
Talk about me you better hashtag problem
Adidas creps, don't ask where I got them
Don't ask what they are, don't ask if I copped them
I go hard for my team, I go hard for my squadron
[Hook]
Where'd you get your Roley from? W-Where'd you get your Roley from?
I do not know this don, where do you know me from?
Out here like the Roll Deep song, man I'm tryna put my Co-Ds on
I do not know this don, where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
[Verse 2]
Got bit by a snake, but I'm over that
Can't chat about gyal, I get loadsa that
Man know I'm a beast onstage
Don't make man go back to Culture Clash
Man are over-gassed
Dark skin boy, man are over-black
Talk real greazy, I'm known for that
Talk about Ps when you owe me that?
Man are not real like that
Real talk, man'll get killed like that
Man'll talk wrecked or man'll get caught in the flesh
Look, man I don't bill like that
We all know you're a good child
So pull up your jeans
Get off the street and go do your mum proud
Go get a job and don't come out your house, mug
Look I don't rate them boys
Bare wasteman, bare pagan boys
I come to your team and I f*ck sh*t up
I'm David Moyes
Look, I'm a lord of the mic
And I ain't been Lord of the Mics
Can't chat about bars, can't chat about flow
Cuh man've done all of that hype, what?
[Hook]
[Outro]
Oi, big up Wiley
Man haffi pay homage to the godfather, yeah?
My name is Stormzy
My name is the problem
My name is Big Mike
My name is Stiff Chocolate
My name is Wicked Skengman, live in the flesh
Boy
Know me from, where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, where do y-
Oi, I'm gonna 'llow it, I'm gonna 'llow it
Yo, Zdot on production
I don't even know what to say
[Verse 1]
Peng tings on my Whatsapp and my iPhone too
The brown skinned girls and the white ones too
Girls love me and I love them too
I was on the roads when Dizzee made I Luv U (I Luv U, U, U)
Talk about me you better hashtag merky
Can't chat about speed look my cab man's certi
Shout out to my big bro Wiley, that's a badman from early
Lo-look I'm a boss man like Birdie, I'm a badman like Shirley
If grime's dead then how am I here?
Big man like me with a beard, look how am I scared?
God's wrath is the only power man fear
Couple skeng man, then shower man here
Shower man down in my shower man gear, yeah
Talk about me you better hashtag problem
Adidas creps, don't ask where I got them
Don't ask what they are, don't ask if I copped them
I go hard for my team, I go hard for my squadron
[Hook]
Where'd you get your Roley from? W-Where'd you get your Roley from?
I do not know this don, where do you know me from?
Out here like the Roll Deep song, man I'm tryna put my Co-Ds on
I do not know this don, where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, w-where do you know me from?
[Verse 2]
Got bit by a snake, but I'm over that
Can't chat about gyal, I get loadsa that
Man know I'm a beast onstage
Don't make man go back to Culture Clash
Man are over-gassed
Dark skin boy, man are over-black
Talk real greazy, I'm known for that
Talk about Ps when you owe me that?
Man are not real like that
Real talk, man'll get killed like that
Man'll talk wrecked or man'll get caught in the flesh
Look, man I don't bill like that
We all know you're a good child
So pull up your jeans
Get off the street and go do your mum proud
Go get a job and don't come out your house, mug
Look I don't rate them boys
Bare wasteman, bare pagan boys
I come to your team and I f*ck sh*t up
I'm David Moyes
Look, I'm a lord of the mic
And I ain't been Lord of the Mics
Can't chat about bars, can't chat about flow
Cuh man've done all of that hype, what?
[Hook]
[Outro]
Oi, big up Wiley
Man haffi pay homage to the godfather, yeah?
My name is Stormzy
My name is the problem
My name is Big Mike
My name is Stiff Chocolate
My name is Wicked Skengman, live in the flesh
Boy
Know me from, where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, where do you know me from?
Where do you know me from, where do y-
Oi, I'm gonna 'llow it, I'm gonna 'llow it
Boxford Records Logos (DONE)
This is my new logo which I have used in both 'Worst Behaviour' as well as 'Know Me From.' I produced this on Photoshop using shapes, and the circles are supposed to look like a record, and the cross is supposed to represent the male symbol.
However, after searching the male symbol, I realised this was actually female symbol. Therefore, I edited it so that it was the male one. This is the final logo that I will use for my final video.
Recycled Shots from Worst Behaviour - Know Me From -Stormzy (DONE)
The following shots are those which I can use from my previous video - Worst Behaviour, for my new video - Know Me From - Stormzy.
- Driving in car
- Graffiti
- Close up feet
- Close up back of head
- Crouchy car shot
- Car down drive
- Driving in car (Backseat)
- Noddy head
- Pan inc. car
- Close up of watch
- Car light
- Double car light
- Street lights
- Slow motion pan.
Below are the shots that need re-filming.
- Bypass shot (mid shot)
- Shot next to car tyre (high angle)
- Car shot, from dashboard (mid shot)
- Bypass shot (low angle)
- Cowboy shot
- Driving in car
- Graffiti
- Close up feet
- Close up back of head
- Crouchy car shot
- Car down drive
- Driving in car (Backseat)
- Noddy head
- Pan inc. car
- Close up of watch
- Car light
- Double car light
- Street lights
- Slow motion pan.
Below are the shots that need re-filming.
- Bypass shot (mid shot)
- Shot next to car tyre (high angle)
- Car shot, from dashboard (mid shot)
- Bypass shot (low angle)
- Cowboy shot
- Close up of stereo
Shooting Schedule (DONE)
8:30 Choose first location shot and go there
8:35 Listen to song and decide which part I will film there
8:40 Film the shot
8:50 Choose the second location shot and go there
8:55 Film the shot
9:10 Move to the next location and film
9:15 Finish filming and film some other shots to go along with the lip syncing
9:30 Finish Filming
Evaluation Questions
http://www.slideshare.net/hasnmedia/a2-g324-evaluation-questions-30790923
1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses forms and conventions of real media products. Conventions are the way that the video is made to show theme or genre, in this case the genre is UK grime. Conventions of my genre include swearing, cars, low angle shots and dark locations and clothing as well as expensive jewellery, girls, close ups and lip-syncing. My video both accepts and challenges these grime conventions, and this is because some things that I could of included were out of my power to posses, like expensive jewellery (minus the watch) and girls. Some of things I was able to feature in my video include swearing, cars, low angle shots, dark locations, clothing, close ups and lip-syncing. Not having any girls in my music video was a conscious decision, even though I didn't have the option. I felt as though girls would take away from the message of the song, there's very limited lyrics or underlying meaning in Know Me From that includes girls, love, sex or that has any feminine connotation at all. Including girls in my video would have taken away from the song and would have given the impression that the visuals weren't thought out and that the girl is just included for the sake of conforming to the genre. Through out my ancillary text there are no signs of any girls or femininity in the slightest, which keeps together the house style of my project. I feel as though leaving all things feminine out of my production and ancillary texts has made them more prevalent to the consumer.
The mise-en-scene is an important factor in music videos so that they can be recognised easily when shown on T.V. Factors of mise-en-scene include everything in the frame of a shot, such as: positions of actors, settings, props, make-up, costumes and colours. The general mise-en-scene of my genre involves multiple characters on a dark setting revolving around one person (the artist) as well as various props like cars, money etc. No make up would be used because the artist would want to appeal real and for the most part, artists of my genre are male so wouldn't warrant any make-up anyway minus the chance of a close up. Costume and colours are very often dominated by black as it represents power, evil and mystery, which is a good personification of the lyrics. My product uses pieces of these features and leaves some others alone on purpose so as not to take away meaning from the video. For example, in my video there is no crowd around the artist as well as no money or anything really of exceptional value, I have done this consciously so as not to make the video about lifestyle but rather about trying to convey a message through the medium of music film to my target audience about the reality of my characters life and how people try to gain ties to him. I have, however, made sure to include the black prominence because my character needs to be seen as powerful and violent in order to conform to what the lyrics are conveying.
The lighting shown on screen in a music video helps to create mood and atmosphere. My genre generally uses minimal lighting apart from where profiles of the artist are concerned where we can presumably see them being lit up to look prominent. The minimal lighting combined with a video shot at night means that once again the video will be black for the most part, representing factors previously mentioned. I have conformed fully in this case as for the most part my video is dark and apart from road lighting and lights from cars the only sections of the shot that are lit up are the ones with my actor in it. Again I think my song is portraying a message that the artist thinks needs to be heard so focuses all he attention towards him.
Shots typically found in grime videos can include mostly midshots, examples being JME's 96 F*ckries and the original video to the song I used, Know Me From by Stormzy. This is because the shot typically only includes them in a public space so although things are happening around them, the artists are the ones in focus. Other regularly used shots include close ups, to convey emotion when looking right at the artist, and pans, to fit in their whole backing including their posse or the group of people around them. My video does include these shots but not in the same capacity as the ones from my genre as I have no posse and there is one close up but only for a matter of seconds and doesn't convey much emotion as I have only included it in the final seconds of the video.
In general titles are scarcely used in grime music videos for the same reason as special effects aren't used, to create an air of realism because, as JME said 'grime originated and will always remain in the street'. This means no high tech production values, no editing teams or suites and certainly no special effects or titles because they wouldn't be readily available in 'the streets' i.e. less wealthy areas of London where grime originated. My video had to and does conform to these criteria because unless a grime artist has gone mainstream with their music, this is what they would do. Whilst the fact that grime videos do not have these title's or effects did influence my decision, there was also the reality that if I tried to recreate a high tech, high end video it would look worse because I do not have that kind of technology available to me, not least for free.
2.) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I feel that my combination of our main product and ancillary text are very effective. All of my products, music video, poster and digipak, all have similar features. The mise-en-scene of all products are very similar, they all feature the same costume, colours and fonts.
Typically in grime the artist will be wearing black because it's an aggressive colour which matches the demeanour of the song. Skepta is a grime artist well known for wearing black and only black, as well as the black, Skepta has a rule that he cannot wear any designer clothing to help convey the message of the song. In all products the actor is wearing a black t-shirt and grey jeans as well as black shoes, with no designer labels. This is done purposely because I wanted the products to be recognised as part of one identity, which creates synergy between the three, because if the audience sees one of the trio, they will automatically think of the other two products, thus promoting each other.
The colours used represent the rap genre, as previously mentioned, and this is so my product can connect to the audience easier and doesn't challenge the conventions in this form. The blacks and whites in every product mean that the audience hasn't got emotive colour shoved in their face, which my target audience would not be used to from this genre. There is more of a market in my genre for simple music, music video and ancillary texts that work, as oppose to other more sophisticated high end digpaks which are trying to be main stream or outside of the box, so in this aspect I have conformed to the conventions of the genre.
The font used is a bold white, so it stood out in the three products, as they are all dark. All these features should make my products easily identifiable to my audience, which will make them feel comfortable watching my main product. I feel in this way my video conforms to Bulmer and Kat's Uses and Gratification theory, because my audience will actively seek my kind of video if they were interested in the grime genre. I am very happy with my video as it meets my expectations and it is what I had envisioned before starting the project. I also feel that my product does meet the desired conventions of my genre as well as representing the message of the song.
As a whole I feel as though the combination of my ancillary texts are very effective as, when I look at the texts, I feel as though it would be very hard to argue that it is dissimilar to ancillary texts that artists from my genre would have. I have done this by keeping to a black and white, easy to maintain, house style which draws my audience in.
3.) In order to receive feedback from
my audience, I posted a questionnaire on surveymonkey.com as you can see below. The quesitions included were as follows:
1. What gender do you belong to?
2. Which age range do you belong to?
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3. Did you enjoy my music video?
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4. What aspect of my video did you prefer? (Acting, Lip Syncing, Shots etc.)
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5. Did you think the locations used were suitable and why?
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6. Were there any shots that you would have liked to have seen more? If so which ones and why?
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All of these charts, made on chartgo, show that out of the 45 people surveyed, 27 were male, 13 female and 5 that wouldn't let their gender be known. This benefitted me because my target audience is male. On the second chart we can see that 37 of the 45 surveyed were aged from 18-25, 6 of the 45 were aged from 26-50 and only two were over 51. This again shows a strong sign that there are more of the audience aged 18-25 that are prepared to take part in a grime survey, which points out that I was accurate in identifying my target audience. Again, out of these 45 people, 32 said they liked the video, 3 said they didn't like it and 10 were sat on the fence, this did not surprise me as 8 of my audience were over the desired age range for the video so may not of understood the concept or the aggressive behaviour. I felt shots were the strongest part of my video and this is backed up from the response of my audience, 20 of which said shots were their favourite aspect of my video. I think in terms of audience response, whilst still quite far apart, the locations used were the closest run. We can see this from the 34/11 split, which is 77.7% to 23.3% in percentage terms. 39 of my 45 strong audience said that there were shots they would have liked to have seen more of the same shots used more frequently which is definitely something which is easily improvable.
1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product uses forms and conventions of real media products. Conventions are the way that the video is made to show theme or genre, in this case the genre is UK grime. Conventions of my genre include swearing, cars, low angle shots and dark locations and clothing as well as expensive jewellery, girls, close ups and lip-syncing. My video both accepts and challenges these grime conventions, and this is because some things that I could of included were out of my power to posses, like expensive jewellery (minus the watch) and girls. Some of things I was able to feature in my video include swearing, cars, low angle shots, dark locations, clothing, close ups and lip-syncing. Not having any girls in my music video was a conscious decision, even though I didn't have the option. I felt as though girls would take away from the message of the song, there's very limited lyrics or underlying meaning in Know Me From that includes girls, love, sex or that has any feminine connotation at all. Including girls in my video would have taken away from the song and would have given the impression that the visuals weren't thought out and that the girl is just included for the sake of conforming to the genre. Through out my ancillary text there are no signs of any girls or femininity in the slightest, which keeps together the house style of my project. I feel as though leaving all things feminine out of my production and ancillary texts has made them more prevalent to the consumer.
The mise-en-scene is an important factor in music videos so that they can be recognised easily when shown on T.V. Factors of mise-en-scene include everything in the frame of a shot, such as: positions of actors, settings, props, make-up, costumes and colours. The general mise-en-scene of my genre involves multiple characters on a dark setting revolving around one person (the artist) as well as various props like cars, money etc. No make up would be used because the artist would want to appeal real and for the most part, artists of my genre are male so wouldn't warrant any make-up anyway minus the chance of a close up. Costume and colours are very often dominated by black as it represents power, evil and mystery, which is a good personification of the lyrics. My product uses pieces of these features and leaves some others alone on purpose so as not to take away meaning from the video. For example, in my video there is no crowd around the artist as well as no money or anything really of exceptional value, I have done this consciously so as not to make the video about lifestyle but rather about trying to convey a message through the medium of music film to my target audience about the reality of my characters life and how people try to gain ties to him. I have, however, made sure to include the black prominence because my character needs to be seen as powerful and violent in order to conform to what the lyrics are conveying.
The lighting shown on screen in a music video helps to create mood and atmosphere. My genre generally uses minimal lighting apart from where profiles of the artist are concerned where we can presumably see them being lit up to look prominent. The minimal lighting combined with a video shot at night means that once again the video will be black for the most part, representing factors previously mentioned. I have conformed fully in this case as for the most part my video is dark and apart from road lighting and lights from cars the only sections of the shot that are lit up are the ones with my actor in it. Again I think my song is portraying a message that the artist thinks needs to be heard so focuses all he attention towards him.
Shots typically found in grime videos can include mostly midshots, examples being JME's 96 F*ckries and the original video to the song I used, Know Me From by Stormzy. This is because the shot typically only includes them in a public space so although things are happening around them, the artists are the ones in focus. Other regularly used shots include close ups, to convey emotion when looking right at the artist, and pans, to fit in their whole backing including their posse or the group of people around them. My video does include these shots but not in the same capacity as the ones from my genre as I have no posse and there is one close up but only for a matter of seconds and doesn't convey much emotion as I have only included it in the final seconds of the video.
In general titles are scarcely used in grime music videos for the same reason as special effects aren't used, to create an air of realism because, as JME said 'grime originated and will always remain in the street'. This means no high tech production values, no editing teams or suites and certainly no special effects or titles because they wouldn't be readily available in 'the streets' i.e. less wealthy areas of London where grime originated. My video had to and does conform to these criteria because unless a grime artist has gone mainstream with their music, this is what they would do. Whilst the fact that grime videos do not have these title's or effects did influence my decision, there was also the reality that if I tried to recreate a high tech, high end video it would look worse because I do not have that kind of technology available to me, not least for free.
2.) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I feel that my combination of our main product and ancillary text are very effective. All of my products, music video, poster and digipak, all have similar features. The mise-en-scene of all products are very similar, they all feature the same costume, colours and fonts.
Typically in grime the artist will be wearing black because it's an aggressive colour which matches the demeanour of the song. Skepta is a grime artist well known for wearing black and only black, as well as the black, Skepta has a rule that he cannot wear any designer clothing to help convey the message of the song. In all products the actor is wearing a black t-shirt and grey jeans as well as black shoes, with no designer labels. This is done purposely because I wanted the products to be recognised as part of one identity, which creates synergy between the three, because if the audience sees one of the trio, they will automatically think of the other two products, thus promoting each other.
The colours used represent the rap genre, as previously mentioned, and this is so my product can connect to the audience easier and doesn't challenge the conventions in this form. The blacks and whites in every product mean that the audience hasn't got emotive colour shoved in their face, which my target audience would not be used to from this genre. There is more of a market in my genre for simple music, music video and ancillary texts that work, as oppose to other more sophisticated high end digpaks which are trying to be main stream or outside of the box, so in this aspect I have conformed to the conventions of the genre.
The font used is a bold white, so it stood out in the three products, as they are all dark. All these features should make my products easily identifiable to my audience, which will make them feel comfortable watching my main product. I feel in this way my video conforms to Bulmer and Kat's Uses and Gratification theory, because my audience will actively seek my kind of video if they were interested in the grime genre. I am very happy with my video as it meets my expectations and it is what I had envisioned before starting the project. I also feel that my product does meet the desired conventions of my genre as well as representing the message of the song.
As a whole I feel as though the combination of my ancillary texts are very effective as, when I look at the texts, I feel as though it would be very hard to argue that it is dissimilar to ancillary texts that artists from my genre would have. I have done this by keeping to a black and white, easy to maintain, house style which draws my audience in.
3.) In order to receive feedback from
my audience, I posted a questionnaire on surveymonkey.com as you can see below. The quesitions included were as follows:
1. What gender do you belong to?
2. Which age range do you belong to?
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3. Did you enjoy my music video?
.png)
4. What aspect of my video did you prefer? (Acting, Lip Syncing, Shots etc.)
.png)
5. Did you think the locations used were suitable and why?
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6. Were there any shots that you would have liked to have seen more? If so which ones and why?
.png)
All of these charts, made on chartgo, show that out of the 45 people surveyed, 27 were male, 13 female and 5 that wouldn't let their gender be known. This benefitted me because my target audience is male. On the second chart we can see that 37 of the 45 surveyed were aged from 18-25, 6 of the 45 were aged from 26-50 and only two were over 51. This again shows a strong sign that there are more of the audience aged 18-25 that are prepared to take part in a grime survey, which points out that I was accurate in identifying my target audience. Again, out of these 45 people, 32 said they liked the video, 3 said they didn't like it and 10 were sat on the fence, this did not surprise me as 8 of my audience were over the desired age range for the video so may not of understood the concept or the aggressive behaviour. I felt shots were the strongest part of my video and this is backed up from the response of my audience, 20 of which said shots were their favourite aspect of my video. I think in terms of audience response, whilst still quite far apart, the locations used were the closest run. We can see this from the 34/11 split, which is 77.7% to 23.3% in percentage terms. 39 of my 45 strong audience said that there were shots they would have liked to have seen more of the same shots used more frequently which is definitely something which is easily improvable.
4.)
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Making New Over Image 'Where' (DONE)
Like in the previous video 'Worst Behaviour,' I decided I wanted to create an effect similar to the first video. Instead of 'Worst' appearing over the footage, I decided to choose 'Where' as this is a reoccurring word. I created a white background and chose the font from the previous video, and added the text. This is the final image that I can add to iMovie platform.
Music Video - Worst Behaviour - Drake (DONE)
This is my first draft of my music video 'Worst Behaviour - Drake.'
Music Video - 96 F*ckries - Drake (DONE)
This is my first draft of my music video '96 F*ckries -Drake.'
Why I Changed Songs (DONE)
After listening back to the song 'Worst Behaviour' during editing, I realised there were a lot of rude words as well as strong swear words. Even though this is the music people of my age listen to now-a-days, I feel it may be seen as inappropriate for my media course. However, I still uploaded to my blog in order to show my progress in filming and editing, although I am not using it as my final music video. The new song I have chosen is called 'Know Me From' and is by the artist Stormzy. I feel it is similar to the video before and is still of the rap genre.
Making Text Images (DONE)
My Costumes (DONE)
After being inspired from watching other artists from the rap genre music videos, I decided on the costumes I wanted to wear in my video.
-White and Black Nike Trainers
-Black Ralph Lauren Coat
-Black Casual Tshirt
-Grey Jeans
-Michael Kors Watch
The colour black is one of the most prominent colours I will be wearing. The colour black connotes strength and authority, but can also give an aggressive feeling which suits the language within the music.
-White and Black Nike Trainers
-Black Ralph Lauren Coat
-Black Casual Tshirt
-Grey Jeans
-Michael Kors Watch
The colour black is one of the most prominent colours I will be wearing. The colour black connotes strength and authority, but can also give an aggressive feeling which suits the language within the music.
My Equipment (DONE)
The equipment I used was:
- Olympus Digital Camera
I used this to film as it is a good quality camera which would produce a good picture when on a larger screen. It also can film in focus and has many different settings on it.
- 32GB Memory Card
This is inserted into the camera and used to save the footage onto it. This can then be placed into the Macbook Pro which will read the information on it.
- Macbook Pro (editing)
I am using the Macbook Pro to edit on as it has iMovie on it which will my music video look professional.
- iPhone 5S
This will be used incase the camera was to run out of charge. This will also be used to film shots that look better on the iPhone than the camera. It will also be used to play the song during singing so the lip syncing is correct.
- USB Cable
The USB will be used to transfer the footage from the iPhone onto the Macbook allowing me to edit it in iMovie.
- Torch
The torch will be used as we are filming in the dark and where there is no streetlamps the torch will be used as a spotlight to make sure I am seen in the shot.
Equipment List (DONE)
Digital Video Camera - this will be used to film the majority, if not all, of our music video.
Tripods - this will be used to film shots only containing one specific area. We can use the tripod for a more steady shot, as long as the focus doesn't leave the shot.
Microphones - we will only use microphones if we aren't pleased with the audio that is provided by the camera. If the cameras audio isn't satisfactory, yeh microphone will give a better sound quality to parts of the music video that needs diagetic sound.
Lighting - the use of lighting will simply make particular shots more effective and more pleasing to the eye.
Apple Mac computer - the Apple Mac computer will sometimes be used for research, but the main purpose of it will be to edit our music video.
Mobile phone - mobile phones will be used to gather information on the move and upload posts to the blog through the 'blogger' app.
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