Saturday, 24 December 2011

Album Cover Shoot

As a group we made sure that we stuck to our shooting script schedule for our album cover and as a group we knew it was important because it we did not want to fall behind and as group we wanted to stay on top of things. As the group we decided that Hande should be the photographer as she had the most knowledge about photography, Hande produced several successful photographs that we took and we then decided to experiment and play around with to enhance them and make them look more professional for our album cover. When it came to photographing at the locations we had chosen we thought that they did not look enough conventional to suit the genre of our music video and also the subculture. We then found a Youth Centre that permitted us to try-out with a few photographs against a graffiti wall that was inside. We took a lot of numerous shots from different angles we was pleased and happy with the way the photos had come out. Here are some of the photographs from our photo-shoot.





Making The Final Album Cover

When choosing the final photograph for our album cover, we had chosen the best photograph in which we believed both our artists looked great in the photograph. For this reason, we took two of the photographs and took best shot of each artist and combined them into each other to make one photographs professional album which would make it look more appealable to the audience because if it looks professional the audience will see the picture and through the notion of looking they will be able to make a connection between the artist and the audience. The two photographs we chose were



When both photos combined together this was the outcome

As a group we then each decided to do our own design on this photograph which we would then all present to each other and pick the one we like the most. When presenting our designs we decided that we liked Luke's design the most but still found that some elements were missing and they still did not appeal to our genre and that we needed to changes because some of the elements from our subculture needed to be put in as that would be the only way we could appeal to our audience such as the bubble writing, it needed to be changed to make it more gritty and give it more of street image which would make it look more appealable to our genre.

After experimenting with our points that we put fourth, we were all happy with how the final album cover look because it looked more professional look with also street look that look appealable to our audience and as a group decided on the font, style and colour of the text we would include.


The black clothing and text presented a contrast between the graffiti and our artists it gives the album cover a professional look and also a street look this will makes the audience recognise it and it will become familiar with the artists name and their style and their look this is so that they can appeal to their target audience, also through some song and different looks it will help us to appeal to wider audience which will give the artist more of a fan base

Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Roles and Responsibilities

My group consists of four people:
·         Lyden (myself)
·         Michael
·         Hande
·         Luke
In order to effectively manage our group we appointed a director which was Hande, she understood it is important to provide our group with a clear definition and understanding of their role, function, and responsibilities in the while filming. This will provide them with a good understanding of the job and tasks they are to perform as an individual and within any teams they are a part of. It also provides information on where they fit within the organisation and who they report to, helping to avoid disputes and misunderstandings over authority.

Michael and I were the artists in our group who would be performing for our music video, we decided this because we realised that it would keep us more organised and that we would not have to rely on others, in case one arrives late or does not turn up it would make it difficult to complete our music video production, as a group we decided that if Michael and I were the artists we would always be together and when we wanted to film we could all get together and look at our timetables which would enable us to be organised and staying on top of our filming and being able to re-shoot scenes if they needed to be.

Luke was to understand that he was in charge of looking after the equipment and the camera man it was his understanding that he would be one of the most important people in terms of the roles and responsibilities Luke would have to capture the perfect shots which was essential to our music video, he understood that close ups were very important as he should be familiar with basic three-point lighting which consists of a key light the main source of light that will illuminate your subject, a fill light which fills all the shadows left from the key light, and a back light that allows your subject to stand out from the background.


Thursday, 17 November 2011

Planning - Lyrics

Planning – Lyrics

[Ben J]
I walked in the function with dark black shades on, ice cream jacket and my hat says amazin ima cool cat but imma bout my money i an urban nigguhs hopped out and do the dougie fresh as a wanna be, do what i wanna do. two bad models fightin over me like what it do imma a pick this one or imma pic that one the chick so bad so imma take action.
[Chorus]
Oh your cuutte! I know i know i get that pretty much where ever i go i go see baby imma rockstar everybody love me.. my friends call me cocky but you can call me dougie dougie dougie dougie. baby call me dougie dougie dougie, you could call me dougie dougie dougie, baby watch me dougie dougie.


Behind the Lyrics
I think that the lyrics make the song performance based because the word “Dougie” comes from a dance, so I would be able to incorporate the dance when the artists rap/sing the chorus.
The highlighted green word is the location of the video that we will try to incorporate into our own video. We came up with a few locations that would suit the concept of our video such as a youth centre filled with people having a good time, this would look like the “function or place to be as it looks like the people in the background are having a good time. Furthermore to further this point as the two artists walks in the function. They will begin to rap the first verse
The yellow highlighted words, is what the artist wear so that the lyrics match the visuals this relates to one of the seven points of Andrew Goodwin’s theory that the lyrics can match the visuals
The red highlighted annotations are what the images will be shown on screen to the audience the lyrics matching the visuals, I think this is important to import in our video because it makes it easier for the audience to follow the video and the concept behind the video
The reason why we thought it was a good idea to have performance based is because we knew that it would interest the audience as they would want to learn the dance moves, also we thought that a narrative based video would bore the audience as we wanted to give the song a vibe or a hook which would want to make the audience dance. We will include many close ups of the artists in the music video to show their faces and so people can recognise their faces as stars. Through the use of close ups they will become more easily familiar to the audience

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Questionnaire & Results - Mrs Fisher

After collecting the information I needed from my questionnaire I was able to put fourth graphs and able to show the data I had collected and I now had an idea of what my target audience wanted from my music video. When answering my questionnaire I wanted a specific ages which was from 13 to 18 because that was the target group I was aiming at. From the knowledge I know what my target audience want to be incorporated in music videos they like in detail. There were advantages of creating in a questionnaire for our target group which included we now know what the audience want the artists to look like and how they dress, which is very important and how to incorporate the look in our video, especially from the sub culture they come from which would be alternative hip hop. In addition our target audience also helped us narrow down the locations that should be used in the video such as skate parks or bright places with graffiti, these locations will now used in our video.

Storyboard - Mrs Fisher

As a group we was asked create storyboards in order to identify each scene that we will be featured in the music video. This enabled us to be more organised when filming the music video as we had a rough idea of the camera shots, the locations, the sound and the actors. We drew in the pictures so we could have a better idea of what we would want the scene to look like.











Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Planning - Narrative & Editing

Narrative
The narrative for our music video will start off with me and lyden in the centre of a park, close ups of our face while the camera turns slowly around then the music will start off and me and lyden will be dancing in alleyway. I will start rapping first and as we walk down the alleyway more people that will be involved in our music video will also start to join in with the dancing. After I finish rapping Lyden will the start his part and the scene will switch to us being in central London walking through a crowd and Lyden will be rapping while the dancers in the background will be dancing. When lyden finishes rapping the dancers will have their own solo part in the music video where they will be doing a routine type of dance and this will occur in central London. After the dancing is done all of us will do freestyle dancing and the video will slowly fade out coming to an end.

Editing Techniques
As a group we decided that for the opening to our music video we were going to use a fade in shot. The reason for this is because we thought the fade in effect would look more professional for the intro to our music video. After the music video starts we also decided to use lots of straight cuts to go from scene to another scene. This will be good for our music video because it allows us to go from one scene to another which is very easy and looks very professional. We also decided to use the grey scale effect in some scenes which will add more professionalism to our music video and make it look very good to a high standard.

Planning - Artist Image

Plain white t-shirts can be used within any genre or any style of music video as it is a basic style worn by all sub-cultures due to its plan style and colour. We have chosen one of our artists to wear a white t-shirt as we felt that not only will it be able to be worn with any style and colour of clothing but also this is a casual look in which most of our audience are already familiar with, which will make allow them to see themselves within our artist.




Chino’s have become the new talk of the town when it comes down to men’s clothing. They are sold in almost every clothing store across the UK and USA and have become known and liked worldwide. The Chino trends play a huge part within the subculture we are trying to represent as it is an essential piece of clothing that all males that choose to follow our subculture must have. This is why we have decided to include it within our music video as an essential piece of our artists look. This will help attract our target audience as they will able to recognise and familiarise themselves within the artists sense of style, making them like our artists.




The prop we have chosen to feature in our music video is a skateboard, in which we have agreed is suitable for our video as we have also chosen to use a Skate park as one of our filming locations, which was also one of the locations our target audience had answered they like to go to in our questionnaire.  Using a skateboard will allow our audience to be able to relate with our artists as this is a possession that they also have.

Topman branded men’s skinny jeans –our questionnaire results showed us that our target audience liked to buy clothes from Topman.  Preferably black, also represent the Retro & Street sub-culture we are portraying. Audience will aspire to this image as it is what they usually like to wear.



Ray bands, an accessory which is commonly used within the subculture we are portraying. Audience will aspire to this as they are an expensive possession and copied cheaper versions are usually sold in Topman which is a store in which our target audience have answered they shop in. This will help give a ‘Star’ like look to our artists and make them seem as if they are famous and are able to afford these possessions in which our audience will aspire to.


Vans are popular with many artists in the Retro & Street genre such as Chris Brown who is also a fashion icon to most of our target audience as they had answered in our questionnaire. Bright colours of Vans are usually worn by these artists which is why we would like to do the same as this way we can make our artists similar and conventional to the other artists within their genre and subculture. Vans can also be brought in many retail stores worldwide meaning our audience can aspire to these and also want to go and buy them for themselves.


Eazy E chains – an expensive accessory worn by only the ones able to afford including artists such as Jay Z & Kanye West, who are popular stars looked up to in our music genre. One of our artists will wear an Eazy E piece signifying their stardom and lifestyle. Our audience will then be able to aspire to this and want to purchase it.

Checkered shirts are very popular and fashionable within the Retro & Street look that most teenagers are getting into within this year. Many Retro artists wear brightly coloured checkered shirts representing the retro lifestyle being colourful and free. One of our artists will also be wearing a checkered shirt to convey this, possibly a red and blue one or any other brightly coloured style. This will probably be branded from Top man as it was our targets audience’s favourite clothing shop. This will attract our audience to our artist and they’re image as they are able to see themselves within the artists with similar clothing,

Snapbacks have become a common feature to the Retro & Street look that we are trying to represent within our music video and artists image. Many teenagers own a variety of snapbacks or purchase them online for an expensive price as they say they are worth buying. Snapbacks are worn by many artists in this industry including Chris Brown – a voted fashion icon by our target audience. Our artists will also be wearing Snapbacks in order to look as if they belong within this look and style of our target audience and their fashion idol.

Air Jordans are one of the most essential accessories in order to complete the look of the Retro & Street subculture. Air Jordans are most likely brought and worn in white or black with some sort of bright colour in order to help them stand out. With their incredibly stylish look, our audience will definitely want a pair of their own which is why in our video, one of our artists will possibly be wearing the red, black and white air Jordans in which will stand out and attract the eyes of our audience.


Planning - Text

The text used on The New Boys previous albums they have always stuck too graffiti type fonts, it’s always been brightly coloured and bold I think they have done this to show to their target audience they are youthful and creative also they are promoting youthful talent.



In our album cover and on our music video we will include such fonts and text to hopefully help appeal to our target audience, for example Swag, Dougie, Jerk, Reject.

Our Group title will look like this for our album cover, its eye catching, bright coloured and appeal to youthful talent I have chosen this particular font because it contrasts with our target audience and follows the conventions of our music videos genre more importantly it follows our artist’s style and contrasts with youth culture.


This offers a similar effect, again follows target audience appeal and youthfulness, but following a retro look and giving off a different tone, still following the urban conventions of our music genre, also both fonts are eye catching and easy to read




Text in the music video will be the same style of font, bold, bright and eye catching, we want the audience to know what we are about and to understand what we are trying to portray through our music production.

Planning - Camera Shots

The camera shots I will be using in our production will be, close up, medium shots, wide shots, low angels and medium close ups these will all follow generic conventions but also meet label demands and promotional values, we want our audience to be pulled into the video and captured by the music we will do the through using
High angels- show to the audience, dance moves and styles, this will help appeal to the target audience and appeal to youth culture, plus it shows to the audience the type of music genre our music video fits into.

Close ups- showing off the dress style and colours, showing blackberry’s, snap backs, vans, skinny jeans, accessories, chains this they did to appeal to their target audience and made themselves easier to relate too, I think we should use this style in our production to have the same effect in target appeal also this style shows off their subculture and youthful lifestyles, this again helps target a specific audience and makes it easier to appeal to the artists.

They have used this again to capture the artists in different ways, by combining close ups, high angels, and medium long shots, this in turn presents the audience with the artists image and style.


Close ups-  in this close up it shows bright colours, girls and clothing, this again follows generic conventions as it appeals to youth culture  and youthful life style, conventions of our genre as it shows the R&B style and appeal.

Planning - Colour & Lighting

The lighting that we are planning to use is mostly natural lighting this is because we will be filming outside and in the day time. We think that using natural lighting will help make the video look more realistic which will help the audience to engage with the song. We would also like to use a spotlight in the dance studio because using a spotlight will help bring out the colours that the artists are wearing and also it shows the main focus of the artists this is because when the artists are dancing and this will interest the audience because they will want to see what the artist is wearing and what new type of dance they are doing and by the audience learning the dance they are engaging with them.  We thought of using hey key lighting to make the artists look more glamorous and make the video look more appealable but we do not have the equipment, so as group we decided that when we edit the video we will put a lot of work to make sure that the bright colours stick out because that is all part of the retro look, we know the colours play an important part in the video because they relate to connotations.
 

in this screen shot you can see the spotlight is on the character dancing in the middle this because the director wants the audience to see the character doing the dance so the audience can see what it looks like. Furthermore the audience can see what the dancer is wearing, red skinny jeans, vans and a t-shirt this is another reason the spotlight is on him to dress like him.

In this screen shot, you can see natural lighting has been used as they are filming outside, the clothes that they are wearing are brightly coloured this because they are a part of the subculture of skinny jeans, vans and printed t-shirts. With brightly coloured clothes worn it is easy to identify them from which subculture they are in


This type of lighting is studio lighting which allows them to have high key lighting which makes the dancers look more glamorous to the audience, with the  background being grey and the clothes that the artist are wearing bright it makes them stick out more to the audience so they can see what they are wearing. These are the type of clothes that we will ask our dancers to wear to appeal to our target audience

Friday, 11 November 2011

Audience Reactions & Engagement


Audience Engagement
How do you want your target audience to react to your music video?
·   I would want my target audience to feel engaged and well connected not just between the artist but also between the new style of mise-en-scene  through the clothing, such as skinny jeans, check shirts, snapbacks and vans all through the new look of the hip hop. Furthermore the performance based of the artist dancing.  The song will gain the attention of my target audience through the lyrics because the song is performance based which includes dance moves and this will make the audience want to be a part of the new movement and the new look of hip hop.  The audience will realise that the artist is from a sub culture broken off from the hip hop, and is from the new alternative hip hop from the clothing worn in the video.


Audience Expectations

What expectations would your audience have of your music video based on genre?

·   The audience would expect a performance throughout the video showing them how do the dance, also back up dancers which makes the video look more performance based and more professional to the audience, also they would expect to see the locations used should be skate parks, an alley way, dance studio and many other locations, the reason why the audience would expect to see this is because it is conventional to the target audience we are aiming at. Additionally the costumes we wear would play a main part because this is one of the ways the audience can aspire to dress like the artist so the clothing that you would expect to wear is skinny jeans, checkered shirts, vans and snapbacks, this is because the subculture the artists come from is a cross over between a indie subculture and a hip hop subculture, so it is important that we incorporate both genres in the music video

Are you following the generic conventions?

·   The main conventions in our music video is the dress sense which is important because that is how the audience could aspire to dress to like and try and be like them, which  goes according to Richard Dyers theory how the audience can buy into the artist to know more about them and be more like them. Furthermore the music is performance based this is another way the artists can reach out to wider audience because they are teaching the audience a new dance this is something the audience will want to learn in addition the audience will learn the dance moves and through the audience it will spread.




Audience Foreknowledge

What knowledge will your audience have of your audience before watching the music video?

·     The audience will not know anything about the artists because they are brand new to the music industry, through the music video and through fans is how the audience will know about them.


Audience Identification

How can your audience relate to your artist in the video such as location, narrative and costume?

·        Our target audience can relate to our locations because we did a questionnaire to help narrow down our locations which would help us relate to our target audience, such as one of our locations is a skate park, this can relate to our target audience because when we did our questionnaire that was the place that people would prefer us to have as one of our locations. The target audience must usually use the skate park because they must be able to relate to it.  Although there is no narrative, our song is performance based which means there is more dance throughout the video this is because the song is about a dance being able to teach the audience a new dance so that the audience can learn it. The clothes that will be worn will be a various but the main shirt will be checkered shirts are very popular and fashionable within the Retro & Street look that most teenagers are getting into within this year. Many Retro artists wear brightly coloured checkered shirts representing the retro lifestyle being colourful and free. One of our artists will also be wearing a checkered shirt to convey this, possibly a red and blue one or any other brightly coloured style. This will probably be branded from Top man as it was our targets audience’s favourite clothing shop. This will attract our audience to our artist and they’re image as they are able to see themselves within the artists with similar clothing.




What will they think of your artist?

·  I think that the audience will take an interest to our audience because they are bringing something new to the music industry with a new subculture (alternative hip hop). How the audience will take an interest is through the clothes that they wear, such as skinny jeans and checkered shirts, this is usually unconventional to the main subculture hip hop because artists from the hip hop genre would wear baggy jeans which are brand made leather jackets which are also brand made, etc. Gucci.  Furthermore this new sub culture comes with a retro look which the audience can aspire to dress like and be like them. In addition the songs that are mainly performed by the artists dance songs the audience can learn the new dance movement and be apart of the new movement, this will bring in a wider target audience because more and more fans will want to learn the dance and be aspired to be like the artist.

Thursday, 10 November 2011

Planning - Location - Mrs Fisher

Locations
Before filming our music video we needed to decide on locations to film at.  Our music video is performanced based somewhere we could perform/dance so we needed a lot of space. We thought of many locations but then we needed to narrow our ideas down. As a group we decided to use places with graffiti such as skate parks, central London, dance studio and an alley way. This is what we go back from our questionnaire on where our target audience hang out in their spare time, so I did some research in skate parks and places with graffiti so that as a group this is where we could film because this was relevant to the audience.  As a group we intend to use these locations because when I looked at locations that the artists used in their video we came across this locations, we aim to use these locations also for our album cover because the background is bright and it sticks out which makes it appeal to our young audience. We also plan to film in music video in central London because it is an up street market place which is well built up so it makes it look like it had been filmed in a higher class area, which could help us appeal to a wider audience because they will be able to engaged with the artist and because they will recognise the location it helps to involve with the audience.We knew that travel to all of our locations would be easy as all of our group have free travel on London buses. This meant that we could also transport our recording equipment quickly and safely. I was put in charge of organizing us a group to get to and from our locations to make sure that we have the best and most suited locations and that we had permission to film in certain locations such as on the school roof I had to tell them any problems that could occur when filming on the roof, so I had to fill out a risk assessment form so that the school could give us the go ahead. We were planning to use two cameras to record the music video, one in front of on a tri-pod and a second held by another group member who would film around us.

Monday, 7 November 2011

Planning - Location Release

LOCATION RELEASE AGREEMENT


Date: 07/11/2011

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to confirm our agreement as follows:

a) You herby grant the producers the right to record the exterior and the surrounding area and for such purposes to bring onto the area such persons and equipment as they may deem necessary.

b) The period will be form the 13th of December 2011 until the 12th of January 2012 other days or half days will be agreed before filming.

c) All rights in the recording made and/or taken by the producers at the area shall be vested with the producers and they shall be entitled to assign, licence and/or exploit the same by all means in all media as they may at their absolute discretion elect. The producers shall be entitled to refer to the land by its true name or by a fictitious name or not to refer to the land by name and shall have no obligation to the owners to include any or all of the recordings in any films of the programmes or to exploit the same or any film or programme in which the same are included.

d) The producers shall indemnify the owners against any damage, which may be caused to the land by the negligent act or omission of the producers or their agents, employees or invitees.

e) In full consideration for all rights and benefits herby granted to the owners the producers shall pay to the owners of the land:
In respect of the period referred to in paragraph b) the sum of £100 a day (including VAT where applicable)

f) This agreement shall be freely assignable by the producers and shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and Scotland.

Kindly indicate your acceptance of the above by signing and returning to the producer the enclosed duplicate contract.

Yours faithfully

L.H.M

Date 07/11/2011

For and on behalf of the owners

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Youth and Subcultures

Youth subculture is a group of youth with certain characteristics, the youth subcultures characteristics can be clothing, hair styles, the way someone speaks and that they all include. Most of the time a youth subculture can be around a certain type of music e.g. Rap, you would expect people to dress a certain way such as gold chain, baseball caps, baggy jeans and a branded jacket. Subcultures can means of expression, such as the life style they chose and this reflects the way they act.
The subculture that I will be creating my music video for is for young teenagers who are into to the look of 80’s look with wearing skinny jeans, check shirts, brightly coloured jumpers and baseball caps. That is the subculture we want our target audience to be in because that is who the video that will be appealing to, from this i hope to create a pop star which can appeal to specific market with specific values. According to Richard Dyer, fans will cop the stars as an aspirational effort to get close to the glamorous, fantasy lifestyle; this will take the form of dressing up and imitating performances. This is what I want our audience to do to copy the same dress style is because we are bring back a 80’s style with a new twist and we would want our audience to learn the dance moves. To help further my research I created a questionnaire which would help narrow down my research, so I will know wear to film my music video and the clothes to wear and the type of dances moves they are interested in.

Here are some images that I found that will want our audience to dress and follow the dress sense, the reason I found this out is when I was doing some research into my chosen artist and when I did some analysis of what the sub-culture wear who follow the group these are some of the images that came up and as a group we are going to in-cooperate these dress sense into our own so that we apply to our target audience and that they can aspire to dress like us.