Planning: Final Idea

Final Idea

After researching various conventions, theories and information about making a music video we have decided on what our final music video product will be. Josh and I sat down and planned how we envisaged our final product to look. Below is what we outlined.  

Artist: J Spades ft. Youngs Teflon

Song: Wavey

Genre: UK Rap and Hip-Hop music

Performance/Concept Based - The idea mainly covers a concept based music video with lots of performance of the two main artists being the main focus from scene to scene. Therefore the camera would linger mainly around our two artist for the majority of the video. The concept will consists of black and white edits, colour, lighting, costume etc. to portray am 'opposites' idea between the characters. So there will be a consistent display of black vs white connotations, mainly through the clothing of one artist being dressed in all white and the other being dress in all black. In addition to this, we would then include the use of young males who are also part of the two artists ‘Squad’ to show how these two artists have a good friendship.

Narrative Structure: We don’t really plan to have a clear narrative between the video, as it want it more performance based and we want our video to enhance the star image of our artists. The video will display however the narrative of these two artists being good friends and the type of lifestyle they

lead. There will also be no clear start, middle and end, it will be the two performers throughout.

Artists:

* SWEENY (artist and performer) - Youngs Teflon. He will wear white in the video and will perform his part of the rap. He will have a cool persona and represent a typical young UK Rap artist.

* MD (artist and performer) – J Spades. He will wear black in the video to contrast himself from SWEENY and will perform his part of the rap individually and with SWEENY at times. He will also represent a typical young UK Rap artist.

MES:

Setting – A white room, studio setting, brick wall – we believe these will stand out and represent our genre and places our target audience will go and habg out.

Costume –

All White - SWEENY

All black - MD

Black and White clothing. Artists might change attire during the video to enhance their reputation but they will also contrast each other. (effects being used for music video)

Lighting and colour – Mixture of high-key and low-key lighting. Light and dark colour effects (effects being used for music video)

Colour: white and black, depends on who is singing (effects being used for the video)

Body language & Facial Expressions: The body language and facial expressions I will direct my artists to display the conventional 'cocky' and slouching posture, with exaggerated facial expressions that rap artist usually do as well as throwing hand gestures to represent their aggressive and flashy characteristics.

Iconography: Generally I will also use the cliched background atmosphere of attractive cars and objects (jewellery, drugs, clothes etc). For the use of drugs I will use a close up of their mates potentially engaging in this activity.

Application Of Theory:

Laura Mulvey - 'Male Gaze'

-We do not plan to use this as we do not plan to use any females in the video

Richard Dyer - 'Star Image'

-We will definitely use this idea for both of our artists. We want to increase the fame and reputation of both artists therefore we will make them look like ‘a star’ by the way they dress, the way they act and also by the way the camera will move around them. There will be lots of close-ups and medium close ups to develop this idea.

Andrew Goodwin – ‘8 characteristics of a music video’

-We will follow genre characteristics through the MES.

-Intertextual reference perhaps with including the background to one of their lives

-Close-ups to enhance star motifs

-technical elements with lots of fast edits and application of using MES in a unique way

-editing to match the pace of the song: we have lots of fast beats, therefore our editing will match this.

Advantages:

* Fast beats which will allow us to use lots of visual effects and techniques.

* Settings should be easy to film in

* MES should look very effective to the eye

* The concept of ‘Ying and Yang’ should be very clear to the audience.

Disadvantages:

* Lyrics might be hard to lip-sync to

* Location of bricks yet to be found that matches setting and mood.

* Two performers needed will need to interact with each other well which might take some time

* Potentially could look quite repetitive

Target Audience:

Aged 16 – 30 years

Both males and females but we think mainly males prefer the UK Rap scene

People who generally listen to the Hip-Hop/ Rap music / R'nB genres with social interests of drinking, dancing and street life.

C2- E social category

Ethnicity will be mainly ethnic groups

Final Idea Questionnaire:

1. What category do you fall into?

10-15      16-21        22-27        28+

2. What’s your occupation?

Student Employed      Unemployed         Retired

3. What genre of music do you listen to?

RnB      Hip-Hop        Pop Rap        Rock House       Jazz

4. How often do you listen to UK Rap?

Always            Sometimes         Never

5. What would you expect to see in a UK Rap music video?

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6. Should the music video be focused on the artist?

Yes                                          No

7. What themes should be included in a UK Rap music video?

Love                Wealth                 Death                    Violence              Sex

8. Should there be references to other artists/events/videos in the music video?

Yes                                          No

9. Do you think there should be women being shown in a sexual way?

Yes                                           No

10. Do you think the lyrics should match the visuals?

Yes                                           No

11. Do you think the pace of the music should match visuals?

Yes                                            No

12. Would you like to see slow motion being used with the editing?

Yes                                            No

13. What are your thoughts on the music video being purely concept/performance based?

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14. What iconography (objects) would you expect to see in a UK Rap music video?

Money                  Cars Knifes                     Spaceships                    Jewelry

15. Do you think the ‘star’ should be emphasized by using close-ups?

Yes                                             No

16. Do you think there should be a male and female relationship shown?

Yes                                             No

17. What setting would mostly suit a Hip-Hop genre?

Party              Car park/Streets             Warehouses          Forests          Schools          Prison

18. What are your thoughts on the music video being black and white?

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19. What makes an artist a ‘star’?

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20. What type of costume should the artist be wearing?

Suits                           Tracksuits                                Jacket&Jeans

To conclude I believe that we have successfully managed to plan out what our final will look like and how we will go about presenting the soundtrack in terms of visuals. This is beneficial for me and my group as when we are filming the footage for our music video we can easily refer back to this if we ever get unsure of what we have to do because we have already planned it before hand.