Planning: Story Board

Planning: Story Board

This is the story board that me and my group have made to best capture the information on our narrative of the music video. We also added in important information such as the; camera shot, Location, Props to be used, Lighting, Actors used in specific scene, Sound, dialogue, editing and the narrative description in each scene to make it clear to the camera crew what is happening within each scene to make it easier when filming.

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However as we had gone over the story board that we had created we decided to slightly change the narrative due to the fact that we have too many characters in the narrative and this could be troublesome for the group when filming if they wasn't to turn up to the video shoot. For this reason the new narrative is as follows. This will not affect the current story board we have as the majority of the scenes will remain the same and just the narrative scenes will be changed to best suit the storyboard.

Planning: Copy Right Letter

Planning: Copy Right Letter

To give ourselves legal protection against copyright, me and my group had to create a letter to send off the the production company behind the original soundtrack and music video of the soundtrack that we have chosen. As we are using this soundtrack and re filming the music video and also posting the film on YouTube we had to email the recording label/ institution, notifying them that this is solely for educational uses and purposes. As we did not hear back from the company, we considered this as consent to do so as they have not told us otherwise. 

  
 This will prevent legal action being taken against our group as we are using a pre-made product from another institution, hence the reason why this is such a crucial pre-production document that has to be created. 

Planning: Location

Planning: Location

To shoot our music video me and my group had to find suitable locations for us to record. To deem it as suitable it had to be considered as:

• Safe to record easily accessed.
• Relevant to the themes and content of the music video. 
• We also needed a reasonable amount of advantages tat out weigh that of our disadvantages which makes the location worth recording.

Here are the three locations that we have know come up with and the following reasons as to why they have been chosen. 

To conclude I believe that this has helped the group in terms of location as we have found ones that are the most sensible for our group as we have assessed and evaluated them. Now when are filming in these locations we will know exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it in this location, we will also be able to deal with potential problems if they manage to happen during recording as we have come up with effective methods of preventing these problems. 

Planning: Questionnaire & Graphs

Planning: Questionnaire & Graphs 

In order to give the audience the best possible music video that they want to see me and my group had to conduct a questionnaire that asks multiple questions about their views on common conventions in music videos. With the data we received back, we then made a graph out of our results in order to make it clear what the answers where.

This questionnaire was beneficial as it helped me and my group to stick with the more favored conventions in the music video that they want to see and it also helped us to rid the ones that weren't so favored  by our audience.

We also learned about the demographics of our audience such as age etc. so we know what is appropriate for viewing. 

Planning: Similar Music Video

Planning: Similar Music Video 

As part of our planning before we shoot our music video we have to look into similar music videos in which we want our music video to be shot like. This will help us to also gain new ideas of possible methods that we can use during our own filming and editing stages as we will be looking at videos from a similar genre. 

Video: Chip - Sonic Boom 

Content and visual style of the video: White and black performance music video. Cameo including President - T (UK rapper).

Themes apparent in video: Chip raps about his recent experiences after the recent dispute against other rappers; Bugzy Malone, Tiny Tempah, Big Narstie and other MC's in the UK rap scene. 

Lighting and colour: bright lighting and contrasting colours are basic but effective as they are used to attract an audience to watch the music video. 

Body language and facial expressions: The facial expressions of the people in this music video are all quite intimidating and serious in the music video the music video as they are all big men adults are being shown with a quite serious and stern body language which shows that they are quite serious people. 

Setting: White room.

Iconography/objects: There is iconography used in this music video that are based on some of the themes of the soundtrack, for example Chip says "I don't wanna share no zoots" that is a slang term for a joint of marijuana which is also shown in the music video as well as members in the background drinking alcohol which is another object that rapper Chip frequently mentions within his lyrics. 

Character representation: Characters within this music video are represented to be quite urban and 'hood' as they wear black/dark colours and linger in the background whilst consuming alcohol and smoking which is to be considered as quite a urban and 'hood' activity, mean whilst Chip the main artist in the music video was wearing white which represents that he is different from the people around him as he is the only one wearing brighter colours he tends to stand out a lot more. 

Artist representation: The Artist within this music video are represented as important within the music video, hence the reason why he is surrounded by many people but is the only one wearing the opposite colours as they wear black and he wears white. He is also center of the camera whenever they are all shown and the only person with the most solo appearances with the camera, also during the long shots with everyone in the frame he is in front which indicates that he is potentially the leader of the music video.  

Editing: Multiple editing techniques are used within this music video; invert frame flashes, fast forward frames as well as merged frames playing simultaneously. they also clone the artist and relay a serious of shots from all different angles and sizes by using straight cuts. 

Use of camera work: Various shots from different camera angles and sizes including; Long-shot, Mid-shot, Close ups and extreme close ups that are used in sync with the beat with straight cuts to emphasize the effect of the beat and the lyrics mentioned.

(Post from Amani)
Video: Skrapz feat.Giggs-Round Here

Content and visual style of the video:
Performance video featuring 2 well known established rappers Giggs and Skrapz (cameo including well known UK rapper Nines)

Themes apparent in video:
Explicit themes within the music video:

• Gang Culture.
• Drug use and alcohol consumption.
• Sexual lyrical content.
• Violent lyrical content.

Lighting and colour:
low-key lighting used throughout the music video and people presented in the music video tend to be wearing quite dark colours in comparison to the main people shown the the music which is the two artists (Giggs and Skrapz) and the cameo appearance (Nines).  

Body language and facial expressions:
In this music video, stern body language and expressionless/serious facial expressions are being shown to imply that all of the people in the music video are serious and not to be taken lightly. 

Setting:
Estate/housing area.

Iconography/objects:
To enhance the visual representation of the lyrics and themes applied to this music video we see people in the music video drinking alcohol and smoking in scenes.

Character representation:
characters represented within this music video are represented to be seen as gangsters that live within the estate and the overall message is that you shouldn't go there.

Artist representation:
The artists are represented to be the leaders as they are infront of all of the people and are continuously at the centre of attention although none of them get any solo shots within the music video. 

Editing:
Editing techniques that have been used in this music video are:

• Straight cuts.
• Fast forward effects.
• Frame Flashes.
• Text used to display artists gimmick slogan.
• Slow motion effect.
• Grey filter affect.
• Static TV filter.

Use of camera work:
The camera angles in this music video are mainly handled angles, which is a classical filming camera angle/movement in classical gang music videos in the UK in the early 2000's.

Conclusion This is relevant to my music video as we are looking to use some of these filming methods and cinematography of our 2 main artists surrounded by other people in the background wearing contrasting colours. We would also be displaying the use of alcohol and drugs, (using recreational props) in the music video as it is a main them and topic within our music videos soundtrack. As our music video carries similar themes to both examples used, however our music video is quite a diluted in terms of lyrical content meaning that it is suitable to be used and shown to a mainstream UK rap audience. 

Planning: Outline Of Narrative

Planning: Outline of narrative

What the task was Why did you do it?

The task that we was given was to analyse the lyrics for the soundtrack that we had chosen to perform in the music video. Me and my group had the task of going through the official soundtrack and judging from the beat and the lyrics decide on what we are going to show and present in the music video. 

Our reasons for doing this was because in order for the music video to be effective and make sense with the soundtrack, the visuals that we show and display to the audience must have a rough connection to the themes, topics and vibe that is used and mentioned in the music video, otherwise it wouldn't be effective or make sense.   

Evidence of the annotations

There is evidence in the annotations created whilst analyzing the soundtrack as we plan to act on some of the themes that was mentioned in the lyrics of our performers.

For example here is a quote on performer Jeremih's lyrics as he mentions what females want to do with him. 

"Love with a hitta like me.

Wanna love with a hitta like me.

Hit the club with a hitta like me.

Do drugs with a hitta like me."

These lyric have been highlighted as I have chosen to act upon them and try to recreate some of these themes visually. So when he says "Love with a hitta like me." We plan to present females around our performer as they love and desire him. 

When Our character says "Hit the club with a hitta like me." & "Do drugs with a hitta like me." We will show a party scene where our performers are enjoying themselves surrounded by themes mentioned such as drinks, women and drugs. (which although we cant actually show this for legal reasons it will be safely recreated.)

Apply idea to theory

Because everything that is seen on camera must have an initial reason for being filmed, we will also take into consideration theories such as:

• Dyer - Star performance (When our performers are rapping for our actors to lip sync with lyrics): We will show usage of star performance because our soundtrack has 2 artists which means that we must give visual representation to the voice on the soundtrack. 

• Mulvey - The male gaze (when presenting females in the music video): This will be used as one of the main topics/themes to this soundtrack is the mentioning of females, hence the reason why they need to shown in the party, however their representation in this music video is dominated by the genre of the song as females are objectified by males. 

• Goodwin - Relationship with visuals: The relationship to the video will be whatever is mentioned by the artists in their lyrics as well as their interpretations on these factors. For example females are mentioned which means they will appear, however they're interpretations mean that females will be presented more so  as sexual objects than regular people.  

• Adorno - Pop culture representation: Pop culture will also be presented within the genre as 

• Hebidge - 

Our reasons for doing this is because if we stick to the ideal and popular theories in our music video then our music video could be considered as conventional and enjoyable as we are giving the audience what they want to see, which makes the music video more effective, realistic and popular with the people 

Video narration

Within the opening scene of our music video we will shoot an establishing shot of the area and local environment

Conclude
To conclude I believe that analysing the lyrics was beneficial for the music video as my group and I where able to identify key themes behind the soundtrack and lyrics to be able to apply them to the music video, making my music video both relevant and understanding towards a audience that is watching and listening to the final product for the first time.   

Planning: My Audience

My Audience

During this planning lesson, the objective was to identify the type of audience that we were looking to attract by creating this music video, this is an important aspect that needs to be consider

It is important to know about audiences when creating a music video because it is easier to know the exact target audience the music video is being produced for. This then helps us decide what to include in our music video in terms of content and conventions because we know what age groups, genders, races and audience categories generally like. Also, by having a target audience, we do not have to impress everyone who listens to music, we only have to appeal to those we have selected. Knowing our audience will allow us to apply conventions of the UK rap genre because we know they will like this. This will ensure our success when releasing the music video because it will gain popularity from the right audience.

 

Our target audience for the song "Wavey" by J Spades ft. Youngs Teflon can be categorised into the following;

Age: The age group of our target audience is 16-30. This is because there are older themes in the song that is inappropriate for the younger audience. The song portrays themes of love, sex, drugs, and money which are more suitable for the audiences over the age of 16 as these are adult themes.

 

Gender: The gender that we are targeting is mostly males as this gender listen to UK rap over females as they are more likely to relate to the themes. Also, as both artists are males, this may allow a higher chance for our audience to form a relationship between the artists.

 

Race: We are targeting the ethnic minorities such as Black Americans and Latinos. This is because UK Rap is usually listened to by these cultures and so we will follow this convention. Also, both our artists are Black British which means that they might then be able to form a bond between the public that are the same race.

 

Audience Category: Our audience category is C2-E which include skilled workers, trades persons (white collar), semi-skilled workers and unskilled manual workers (blue collar) and unemployed, students, pensioners and casual workers. We picked this target audience because they are most likely to be interested in the UK Rap genre, as anyone from the categories A-C1 will usually listen to more classical music or jazz due to their higher job status. Mainly students and young people aspire to a better life and sing about hardship, therefore I believe they will be more interested in our genre.

 

Income bracket/status: The status of our targeted audience is mostly working class due to the genre of the song. It is more likely that working class people listen to UK Rap because the ruling class tend to listen to classic music or jazz. Also, the people in the working class category are not earning much money which meaning their income bracket may be low. This suggests that people that will be most attracted to our music video will be from the working-class.

 

Audience reaction to your video:

We hope for the audience's reaction to our music video to be positive. We hope that the audience is able to engage with the video and understand and relate to our artists and their friendship. We hope to entertain our audience as we have targeted this video specifically for them so we would want them to be interested in the content. Also, we want the audiences’ reaction to be positive in ways that they will then also promote the song in other ways, like word of mouth or using social media to give back positive reviews to other audiences.

 

Why have you identified this group as your target audience?

We have identified this target audience because we have planned each demographic in detail and decided that this is the convention for the UK Rap genre, therefore, we will follow this. Also, we identified these groups because our questionnaire and research into existing products helped us to also identify the answers to these categories which has benefitted us.

 

Overall, this task of planning the audience has been beneficial because it is essential that me and my group are aware of what audience that we are trying to capture and attract. This is because if we do not aim for a specific target audience then our music video wont gain many views as certain conventions within music video must be followed according to the genre and target audience in order to attract viewers.