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?

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

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?

_________________________________________________________________________________

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?

__________________________________________________________________________________

19. What makes an artist a ‘star’?

___________________________________________________________________________________

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. 

Planning: Initial Idea

Initial Idea

Song:

67 (Dimzy, ASAP, Liquez, Smallz, Monkey and LD) Lock Arff REMIX 

Genre:

UK Trap

Narrative:

A gang (67) do illegal activities and avoiding the police whilst doing so police tape off the road (lock off) as a result.

Narrative structure:

Performance -Each artist will lip sync his verses from the soundtrack on the music video.

Narrative - in between the artist performance clips of the narrative will be shown clearly to make sense to the audience.

Characters:

Performers (Dimzy, ASAP, Liquez, Smallz, Monkey and LD)

Police officers would also be needed.

Female back dancers.

MES:

·         Tracksuits, hoodies, bomber jackets. (Black/dark clothing.)

·         Ski mask/face wear.

·         Police uniforms.

·         Female clothing that plays on the male gaze.

·         Contraband iconography. (Drugs and guns.)

·         Low-key/Dim lighting.

Application of theory:

Laura Mulvey – The male gaze.

Dyer – Star Image.

Goodwin – Lyrics connected to visuals.

Advantages:

• Slow-paced instrumental and beats means slow paced editing. (Easier and still effective.
• Slow lyrics mean easier lip syncing.
• Easy MES costume clothing.

Disadvantages:

·  Swearing and explicit lyrics must be censored which dulls the effect of the music video. (No clean version to this soundtrack.)

·  Multiple star performances means it’s harder to do the music video.

· It is hard to recreate illegal activity and the usage of real illegal items is banned during the risk assessment. Making it harder to link the visuals to the lyrics as we can display this. 
   Target audience

   Age 16 – 23 group C1-E. 

 Initial idea questionnaire

1.       How old are you?

10 – 15   (10)

16 – 21   (10)

22 – Older (if older specify age here) ________________________________________ (0)

2.       Do you listen to UK Trap music?

Yes (15)

No (5)

3.       What is your ethnic background?

Fill here details here: _______________________________________

(Majority answered with Black Caribbean and Black African)

4.       Who is your favorite UK trap artist?

Fill answer here: __________________________________________

(5) Section Boyz

(10) 67

(5) Reekz MB

5.       What do you feel is the best clothing to wear in these videos?

·         Suits. (0)

·         Casual Clothing. (6)

·         Tracksuits/hoodies/bomber jackets. (14)

6.       Do you think the music video would be better if the females in it where sexualized?

Yes. (18)

No. (2)

7.       Do you find it more enjoyable if there is a storyline in the music video

Yes. (11)

No. (9)

8.       What is your opinion on the use of recreational contraband items such as drugs and weapons being used in the music video?

·         I like and enjoy watching this. (10)

·         I don’t mind and don’t care about it much. (6)

·         No I dislike it and feel that it is inappropriate. (4)

9.       Do you watch /focus on the music video or just listen to the soundtrack?

·         Watch and listen. (10)

·         Not focused. (7)

·         Don’t watch but listen. (3)

10.   Do you think star image should be used in these kinds of music videos?

Yes. (15)

No. (5)

11.   Do you find it less enjoyable if censorship is used in this specific genre?

Yes. (17)

No. (3)

12.   How old do you feel the characters in the music video should be?

Fill here: __________________________________________

17 - 22 (14)

10 – 16 (6)

13.   Should the visuals give visual example to the lyrics?

·         Yes, every scene. (10)

·         Yes, but not all scenes. (7)

·         No I dislike any lyrics linking to the visuals. (3)

14.   How should the lighting in this video be?

High pitched lighting. (0)

Low-key lighting. (20)

Josh's Initial Idea

Song: The main song I had in mind was Tory Lanez - Diego which consists of a combination of the R&B and Hip Hop genre. The song portrays the idea of 'being the new Tony Montana' which is an intertextual reference to the movie Scarface.

Narrative: Concept Based/Performance - My idea mainly covers a concept based music video with some performance of the star artist. Therefore the camera would linger mainly around the artist, the majority of the video, making him the main focus. In addition to this, I would then include the use of young attractive females acting promiscuously towards the artist portraying the stereotypical idea of a Hip Hop artist representing someone who all the ladies want.

Narrative Structure: The narrative structure would differ from scene to scene. Meaning that their will be a simultaneous edit, combining scenes from three different locations (Party, underground location, bedroom). Therefore the structure of this video would be conventional to the Hip Hip/R&B genre because it would contain the repetitive use of attractive and luxurious locations with beautiful females and expensive iconography (Cars, jewellery, clothes etc.) which represent the stereotypes of artist using the basic idea in music videos over and over again.

Representation of Artists/Characters: Due to the song portraying the idea of 'being the new/modern day wealthy icon (Tony Montana), I would include scenes or flashing images from the film 'Scarface' to match the lyrics. As far as matching the visuals; I will make my artist dress in luxurious 'classical' clothing e.g suits, fur, coats, trench coat and top hats mimicking the character of Tony Montana in which, this way a connection with lyrics and visuals will be displayed (Goodwin's Theory).

Mise En Scene (MES):

Costume: All White, Tony Montana costume

Colour: Their will be a consistent use of the colour white ONLY on the artist to represent the wealth and 'significance'. In addition to this, I would include the editing of making some of the scenes black and white to portray the time period of 'Scarface'

Lighting: High key, focusing on my artist to represent the iconic role being portrayed with the additional use of low key lighting which would represent that underground and 'illegal activity' atmosphere.

Setting: Their will be edits transitioning from three locations: Central London, mansion, underground area e.g. abandoned warehouse or under a tunnel.

Body language & Facial Expressions: The body language and facial expressions i will direct my artist to display would be 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 a females lips with them smoking, to portray the idea of smoking weed

Target Audience: 

• Ages from 16 - 30
• Both male and female
• Stereotypical black race who tend to prefer the genre of R&B/Hip Hop
• Occupation: C2 - E class

Research: Sub Cultures

Sub Cultures

A subculture are groups of people who get together and unite due to sharing common values and beliefs and tastes, this can vary from the same dress sense to moral and social beliefs.They are positioned outside mainstream culture and beliefs and stick together because of their mutual disagreements. 

examples of sub cultures could be groups known as:

Punks 

Punks are a subculture that many people are more familiar with as they could be considered to be a popular subculture. It is quite easy to identify a punk as many of their traits play on their appearance:

• Studs/spikes on clothing/ skin piercings (Doc martins)
• Mohawk hairstyle (styling gel used to create spike affect.)
• Leather clothing.
• They listen to Punk music.

They have an appearance that seems to be quite intimidating, which enhances the level of moral panic they have when seen by people that follow mainstream/popular culture. However punks are known to be quite a non violent subculture that don't usually get themselves into confrontations with others, they can be known to be quite laid back and calm. 

Skin heads

Skin heads where known to be quite a dominant subculture in England during the 90's and they was rarely shown in a positive light. This is due to the  many confrontations during the times when England was just being exposed to ethnic diversities joining the country for the first time. It was relatively easy to identify a punk, as they would wear:

• Bomber jackets. 
• jeans. (Waist straps attached.)
• doc Martin boots. 
• White British (usually males.)
• Extremely low cut hair or bald (Where the term 'skinhead' came from.)

Skin heads are known to be a violent subculture and they have been known to even have criminal behaviours as they have robbed, attacked and even killed people during the 90's. They are working class people who are quite uneducated and angry at the fact they want England to be a white British society. Their favourite preference of music is reggae. 

How sub cultures work
sub cultures do not like conformity and don't follow capitalism, they rebel against common usual values and systems that the  mainstream culture follows which is why mainstream culture considers them a threat because of their difference.

They have their own set of values, behaviour and traits. This means that they aren't consumerists and they don't purchase mainstream brands and follow mainstream trends. For example they would purchase or own IPhones, branded clothing and listen to pop music or any other mainstream genres as they tend to go for niche genres of music. (Preferably made by their subculture.)

Subcultures relationship with music
with their being so many subcultures in the world, not only do many people have different musical tastes but they also have different values, behaviour sets and morals towards life. It is for this reason why many people can fall into subcultures from listening to music.

Because the audience likes and agrees with the content of an artists lyrics they may very well end up leading the same kind of lifestyle because of their influence (being the artist.) It also works the other way around with different subcultures creating their own sound of music and having it added to  long list of niche genres meaning it has the tendency to  work both ways.


Birmingham school
Subcultures are another reason as to why the Birmingham school found fault in the Frankfurt school's theory as they felt that they didn't take in the subcultures into consideration and they just had everyone in the mainstream or the upperclass category. 

The Birmingham school believe that subcultures are a reaction to the decoding of the audience which would also mean that subcultures came from one original culture.

Dick Hebdige
Hebdige, like the Birmingham school believed that although some people think subcultures appear to be different, deep down they are the same.

He also went on to say that he believes the consumption of music video is an active process and different audiences read into the same product. As a result of this some people that choose to resist it could possibly fall into a subculture.  

McCracken's Theory
McCraken is a theorist who said. ''The post modern world is full of diversity, dynamism and creativity" His theory disagrees with the last statement that the Birmingham school made as he also said. "If we look at the array of values and ideologies then we can't say all sub cultures come from one culture." This means that he is saying their are loads of different subcultures and their beliefs behaviours and characteristics are so different that they can't all stem from one leading culture. This is true because their are different mainstream cultures in different countries, for example pop music and house is one the most popular genres in music but in america they are more known for their Hip-Hop and Rn'B songs. 

Link to Dyer
Shared cultural values can support the idea that some subcultures will share the same ideologies, values and beliefs as 'stars' (artists) which means that some subcultures could follow stars just because of these shared values. 

Research: Popular Culture

 Popular Culture 

Popular culture is important to understand because it helps media institutions and artists to understand what is considered as popular and to increase the rate of sales and the success rate of the music they produce and put out as well as how it plays its part in what we will see in the music videos.

Popular culture

Popular culture is something that came to light during the 1980's and can be found in social aspects, more specific to media music video, radio and fashion as what is 'popular' controls what we see come from music videos, what we hear from the radio and what we see and wear in fashion. (Image below comparison of women in the 1970's and the change in fashion in present day) The term 'pop' (short for popular) came about during the 1980's and is used now to describe popular music. 

Ideas of popular culture are reinforced in the mainstream media as well as the more mainstream genres of music such as:

• Pop.
• R'NB.
• Dance.
• House.
• Hip-Hop

It is very evident in the mise en scene used in these music videos. An example would be Future ft. Pusha-T and Pharrell - Move That Dope (which is a more modern Hip-Hop music video) and Chris Brown's Loyal ft. Lil Wayne and TYGA. (which would go under the pop category.)  These two have very different soundtracks as they belong to two different genres. However the music video contains roughly the same Mise En Scene especially with the females as they wear items such as denim shorts and quite retro clothing.   

Theodor Adorno & Frankfurt School and the pop music theory

The Frankfurt school are a group of german theorists that where known for their critical music theories and influenced by Karl Marx (Marxist Theory). They are the creators of the popular music theory and the ones who created the diagram explaining that their is a division between 'pop culture' and 'true art'. 

The popular music theory is a graph created by Adorno and the Frankfurt school to explain the different taste within music and its relationship to class and status of the audience. It is a pyramid structure with the bourgeoisie at the head and pop culture at the bottom. This shows us that the bourgeoisie are the only people that accept and understand what 'true art' is such as composed musical pieces and art galleries/paintings, whilst the working class people are too uneducated to understand this so we listen to mainstream music which is an ongoing and repetitive cycle that all sounds and looks exactly the same. 

They are also saying that we are 'too dumb' as we are working class to realize that this is all the same music and fashion being recycled and given back to the people with a few changes, for example artist Justin Beiber is considered to be one of the most well known pop artists in modern times, however if you analyse his album the argument would be that the beat, lyrics and themes all stem from the same idea with no real variation for an audience to appreciate as they are too passive to challenge otherwise. 

Hegemony

Hegemony is the mid section of this table  that was created by the a man named antonio gramsci . Gramsci was the leading Marxist theorist and is the single owner of the theory of Hegemony. The theory shows us how the bourgeoisie look down on the working class. This theory is also suggesting that the higher class/ status is in control and a more dominant social class, as they feed the working class what they want to hear and see. 

"we can judge ideology to be effective if it is able to connect with the 'common sense' of the people."- Antonio Gramsci. 

This quote could suggest that, the upper class (bourgeoisie) are the ones behind the production of mainstream music for the masses of the lower class because they are the institutions that create the artists star image to go on to create the music that the institution want to hear. Which in affect plays its part on the influence over a large society such as the working class, as they copy what the artist do and see and they absorb the same kind of music covering the same topics in a different order all the time.

The Birmingham School
The Birmingham school was another collaboration of theorists one being Stuart Hall and the theory to challenge the original Frankfurt school theory. they saw issues with their theory of hegemony as well as their cultural study and they believed in:

• Encoding - The process by which a text is constructed by it's producers. 
• Decoding - The way the audience receives this.

This is important because its what separates the Frankfurt school from Birmingham, this is because Frankfurt claim that that the upper class table (bourgeoisie) give the working class whatever content that they want to expose them to in music. However the Birmingham school are saying that the producers (bourgeoisie) encode a message within their music, which is evident due to the repetition in the lyrics but the twist in the theory is that the way the audience (working class) interpret and take this message is varied.

Dick Hebdige

Hebdige is our last theorist that we will be looking into and talking about why his theory is relevant to the pop culture theory. He believed that subcultures are united groups that don't apply to the pop culture theory, the are different because they do not follow any of the mainstream beliefs or fashions. Hence the reason why they are seen as a moral panic for their difference although they can offer a new perspective on the music industry. 

Research: Dyer's Star Theory

Research: Dyer's Star Theory

The term 'star' refers to a artist or actor who has been socially constructed in order to sell to a mainstream audience.

Richard Dyer stated that

"Star image is incoherent, that it is incomplete and 'open'..."

"Star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer"

"The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer"

Performer/Pop star

A performer can be a person which only performs music or dances which they may or may not be famous in doing so. However, a pop star is seen to be famous and have qualities which will attract the mainstream audience. The pop star is socially constructed into what the audience wants to see which could mean dressing or looking a certain way in order to gain publicity for their music.

Dyer's four elements in recognizing a star:

- Star's as constructs

Star's are seen as artificial images in order to gain attraction. The reason in doing this is to gain popularity and maintain a loyal mainstream audience. For example, shows such as "X-Factor" expose the process in making a star. The show also portrays the cycle in which an ordinary person with a pop star voice transforms their image to fit the mainstream culture. This enables the artist to become more appealing to the audience. For example, One Direction, a band created on the "X-Factor" show the transformation in their image in order to appeal to the younger female audience.

- Industry and audience

Dyer states that stars are manufactured to make money. He argues that the artist's are a product of their own record label due to the rules the artist has to follow whilst being signed. For example, to attract the mainstream audience they may have to dress a certain way in order to ensure they are going to sell their albums and singles. The artist's rely on their image of looking 'sexy'  in order to make profit and stay in the public eye.

- Ideology and Culture

Dyer believes that stars represent cultural values and attitudes and promote a certain ideology. This is done in order to create a relationship between the audience and the artist. The artist is able to share their own beliefs and in co operate this into their music. For example, Kanye West is seen as a huge influence on the public due to his ideology and culture. His

social media profiles such as Twitter give him the opportunity to share his beliefs. Also, his song "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" gives an insight into his beliefs in the child exploitation whilst working in the mines. This shows the audience his views in political issues which may make the audience feel more 'close' to the star. 

- Character and Personality

Dyer believes that the artist is a social construct, but one with the foundation of realism. This means that the star will have very similar qualities as other idols and stars in the industry however they have their own personal interests and beliefs in which they use their fame to shed light on these problems that they feel need to be addressed and solved. This encourages people to sort these problems due to the fact that they idolize these people and because of fact they look up to and idolize the star they have a certain  level of respect to listen to what they are telling them. It can also make people like the artist if they don't, or even more so because they share mutual opinions on a problem/situation.  

Conclusion

To conclude i believe that Dyer's Star Theory has been closely watched and researched and due to the evidence there isn't much reason to disagree with this theory, for my music video I believe that star image will be used however it wont be used in terms of public messages to encourage the audience to consider a social, religious or environmental issue. 

Research: Audience Identification

Audience Identification

In media the audience is the people that take in  and receive what is made by the media institutions, for example we are the audience to when we watch a film that has been made by a media company because we are watching it. The same applies to music and music videos. 

In terms of the music industry, institutions and artists need to find the right target market to become successful. When looked into in more depth we can see that it different audiences vary by factors such as:

• Gender.
• Race.
• Social Class.
• Age.

Music institutions also categorize and group people by the skill and qualification level of their jobs. These groups are:

A = Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals.

B = Middle management, teachers, many 'creatives' e.g graphic designers. 

C1 = Office supervisors, junior managers, nursers, specialist clerical staff etc.

C2 = Skilled workers, trades-person (white collar)

D = Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue collar) 

E = Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers. 

This is because if everyone is already categorized then conducting this research would be much faster and save a lot more time. Once this is complete it is helpful because if the media institution can identify who the target audience is then they can evaluate the style of the artist and expose them to the right target audience to help them to become more successful. 

However by categorizing people like this there are disadvantages as well, because they do not taking the social factors into consideration and they only look at the job however that is no longer something that is controlled by class/ social status also by stereotyping people without doing more specific research will mean that people that do not like this will be missed as the artist isn't relevant to that specific person and it will ultimately lower the success rate of the artist. 

A table was created to break down and evaluate the audiences reaction in its different stages. (Table below) 

To conclude I believe that my media group will have a target audience aimed ages 16 - 26 years old and fall under category C1, C2, D and E. They will also have to like the Hip-Hop genre, so I need to look into what it takes to appeal to this audience to make my music video successful.