Meet My Audience

Recci Photos

Production Schedule

Risk Assessment

Macklemore Music Video Mashup

Pitch/Feedback/Powerpoint

Production Log week 15

This week we have created finalised our music video and have uploaded it to YouTube and my Blogger. The final process of the editing was perhaps the longest because we watched the video several times over to be sure that this is the music video that we wanted to use to represented Roob. Again, we have shown our music video to several people within our school and have gotten positive feedback from all of the interviewees. This has allowed us to feel confident about our music video and stopping us from over-worrying and being forever stuck on editing the music video.

Beachcombing

Costume

Twisted Sisters a 80's rock and roll band best known for cross-dressing during their performances and music videos to stand out from the crowd. In the 80's a wild time seeing this band cross dress perhaps could have been liberating or laughable, but whatever it was audiences were more attracted to this band because of their unique take and look that made them stand out from the rest of the crowd. Even if audiences didn't like their music they would still may be confused and therefore attracted to the band even  more to understand what is going on because it is eye catching and controversial. The bright and strong colours used by the band are also eye catching, especially as they put in the extra effort to even put make-up on which is intentionally ugly and displeasing to see to again create controversy and therefore generate attention to attract more audiences.

                                                                     Narrative

This  music video has no real easy narrative to follow making it conceptual as its a collection of different shots which have no real connection to each other or the lyrics that are being sung by Rick Astley. This song which is about love and separation can link to connote to why the music video is conceptual as if Rick Astley is saying that love and separation is very confusing and misleading just like the style of a conceptual video. Audiences can relate to this feeling as members of the target audience of 16-25 have probably fell in love at some point of their life and can relate to this song and understand the idea of using a conceptual video.

Exhibitionism

Fifth Harmony is a typical exhibitionist band, flashing their bodies and wearing provocative clothing and dancing in order to connote sexuality to draw male audiences to watch their music video. Laura Mulvey argues that women are sexualised in order to draw male attention to the video and it is shown here. Male audiences will be more likely to watch this video in order to fill sexual urges and therefore generate more popularity for the band.

Editing

 

The editing used in Keith Ape's It G Ma

Production Log week 14

The editing of the music video is now more well rounded, we have made cuts to the beat, we have included effects and transitions that we thought would add to the music video. We have went back and re-filmed all scenes that needed lip syncing issues. We have used effects such as cracks of glass for when Roob punches the camera and CCTV effects to paint Roob as a criminal type of character which denotes him as dangerous and un-lawful to our target audience. The editing phase will soon end probably before the next production log. Our teamwork and co-operation in creating the music video has been excellent as we give constructive criticism and helpful comments to create the best music video that we possible can.

Production Log week 13

This week we have begun the editing phase of the music video, signalling the end of our recording phase. We are running into several problems which may require us to re-record certain scenes such as poor lip syncing or poor camera positioning that we are only just started realising as we attempt to edit. Thanks to our previous work in AS we are already experienced in editing but we want to get better and have begun experimenting more with colour gradings and effects that weren't originally on Final Cut Pro itself so that we become better at using final cut pro.

Production Log week 12

With finishing the Magazine advert, we moved onto finalising the digi-pack we wanted to create for Roob, our chosen artist. Being inspired by our previous Magazine Advert we added more grimy background effects onto the images which we already had, creating this kind of volatile imagery as shown on the inside cover. To re-enforce Roob's star status we have had his face in all but one sides of the digi-pack to make our audience familiarise themselves with Roob's face so that he would be more well-known as he is the focial point of my digipacks

Roob Digipak

Production Log week 11

This week has been dedicated towards finishing the magazine advert for Roob, our chosen artist. Through the process of making this I have learnt many skills in using Photoshop which can be very useful if I use it again in future. We have shown our magazine advert to several audiences who were willing to give their feedback on it and working off of their feedback we had finished a final product. When approached with the final product the audiences agreed that it is very professional looking and something that they believed they could identify with. We worked very hard on this, even going as far to place in our own graffiti from an originally graffiti clean tunnel. We also applied several layers of grimy backgrounds to re-enforce the street image of Roob so that our target audience could personally identify with it.

Magazine Advert For Roob

Production Log week 10

This week I have been analysing successful artists' digi-packs so that I have enough experience when I create my own digi-pack for my artist. Digi-packs are another medium between the artist and the audiences so it is crucial that I get it right and create a digi-pack which my target audiences will respond to and want to purchase. The digi-pack which I am creating also has to appear professional so in response to this I will have several features which will add to the legitimacy of it such as reviews, new media sponsorships and a track-list despite only making a music video for one of the songs. I have to consider the colours we are going to use and any effects because it is all about presentation and it needs to catch my audiences eye but still convey the right message. I am using Photoshop to achieve creating a digi-pack but this is my first time using Photoshop so we are having introductory lessons on how to use it on a basic level, basic enough to create a digi-pack.

Digipaks

This digipack was designed to advertise the band distorture. Just by looking at it you can instantly see the intentions of the digipack due to it's imagery of blood red and clean white which heavily contrast from eachother and can be used to atract a certain type of audience which the band tries to appeal to. The red colour has connotations of blood which denotes the images of hands covered in blood to send the message to their audience saying that blood is on their hands and for the audience could either give a sense of personal identification because they may feel guilty about something or escapism to run away into a completely different life where they can  be harmed. On the back of the digipack contains information about the bands. This could identify the target audience of the band being 12-16 because of the genre of its music. The imagery denotes that the audience can use the music for catharsis to let their pain out through this music  as there.

This digipack was used to advertise the famous singer - Rihanna. This digipack can be identified by an audiece very quickly because of the focal point that is used because of the highly recognisable Riahanna in the middle. The streak of light across her face can connote that she is holy and pure like her music and that is why audiences should listen to her music. Rihanna's mouth is left partially open enough to see her teeth which can connote the desire and sex which some of her songs are based around. Rihanna wears alot of makeup which can inspire her target audience of 12-20 year olds to look up and aspire to her and start dressing like her and having the same makeup as her to be like her. Her demographic is mainly girls and she uses exhibitionism to attract a male audience, connoting the inside picture of her lying in a bed of roses wearing a very revealing dress.

This Gorillaz digipack is very plain and boring, the only images used are the faces of the band members. This can connote how Gorillaz music is melodic and actually very simple and plain. The band is known for being an indie/alternative band with cartoon mascots and this can be seen on these digipaks as they are very symbolic and unique to the band.

Production Log Week 9

We have finished our shooting script and clearly detailed each part of our music video deciding what shot and what angle to use for how many seconds. We are using a mainly quick cut type of music video so that it suits the genre of music we're making and so that audiences don't become bored of the  actual video itself. We have also interviewed members of our school to gain insight of how we should change or modify of our music video, for example what they don't like about the song and why they may not like the locations we have chosen or why they believe that it doesn't really relate to them as our target audience. The feedback was certainly useful because we changed some of the locations that we shot and went back to the same interviewees who agreed that the results were much better than previously.

Shooting Script

Production Log week 8

This week eight we focused on how to and who to distribute certain  job roles to within out group for the actual production of our music videos so that the actual making of it will be easier and more organised. Each group member has been assigned a specific role to carry out so there will be no confusion either. We also have begun the actual creation of our shooting script too so that we know what we're going to film and how were going to film so that we do not make a rushed and badly thought out music video. We are experiencing certain problems that any other student would face when filming in public such as random pedestrians cutting through the scene and making sure that noise pollution doesn't interfere with our communication

Treatment For Roob

Job roles

Production Log week 7

This week we analysed three different music videos that we thought we could use to inspire us in the production of our own music video. Because our chosen genre is rap we chose three rap music videos each with a significantly different style which we may feel that we want to pursue. We realised why each video is significant and the effect it has on the audience and the artists persona which is being sold through the music. Because our target audience is young black teenagers from ages 16-20 from working class backgrounds we have chosen three examples of the music that one of our audiences would typically listen to. We identified what makes them all so significantly different and evaluated what may and what wouldn't work in our own music video if we tried incorporating different things.

Music Video Analysis

The music video is shot in black and white connote to the way in which the artists are re-doubting their lifestyles which to them has become mundane and repetitive to them. The black and white illustrates the dullness and boredom so that audiences are able to relate to the artist, showing that anybody can get bored of a mundane lifestyle even if they are stars and celebrities. The black and white helps the lighting which focuses on the artist illustrate that they are constantly in the spotlight and they have become so used to it that it's just like black and white to the artists with the repetitive lines "gon be the death of me.' The music video also has several women fighting over the artist and being excessively pushy to show that their life may have plenty of pros but it also comes with the cons of never being left alone to their own business. The music video ends with the artist aiming a remote at the camera and an effect of a television being turned off to denote that once the audience turn off the television that's the end of their involvement in our lives, which is through the t.v. 

Kendrick Lammar's I is the only song in his How To Pimp A Butterfly album that is entirely positive, the original suicidal lyrics have also been removed. Kendrick says that he wrote the song for friends in the penitentiary and suicidal teenagers that come to Kendrick to inspire them to love themselves and appreciate themselves more to send a deeper message to his audience.  "Lucy" (satan) wanted to put Kendrick into a bowtie but Kendrick says that he was saved by god so this opens the audience to religious people also as it has sub references of God defeating Satan. The dark lighting in contrast with bright colours and ambient lighting help create a euphoric feel for the audience as the contrasts also denote the contrast of damning yourself with things like suicide in comparison to loving yourself and staying alive. Kendrick says the word "n*gger" in order to reclaim for black people who were so cruelly treated during slavery and the reconstruction period. Just like many other black rappers, they want the word to no longer be used as a reference of hate or prejudice but to normalise it

Ice Cube's Today Was A Good Day, is another example of rap, albeit an older example. Ice Cube's star persona as the embodiment of gang culture is prevalent throughout the music video. Ice Cube goes about his business and driving around town in an expensive car and gambling to give audiences an view into the daily life of Ice Cube to gain a better understanding of him.Ice Cube also raps about having sex which is a common feature of a lot of rap music videos. However the end of the music video Ice Cube is surrounded by the police aiming his weapons at him to again show how much of a gangster he is to his audiences. Audiences are also supposed to be entertained by the appearance of the police as a lot of emphasis is placed on it and it gives the music video action and intensity as to what might happen to ice Cube after this.

Production Log week 6

This week we have been constructing Flat Pans for our artist in order to get a better idea of how we could try and "sell" him to his audience. We thought the best way to do this was by hiding his face to create a feeling of mystery and suspense so that audiences would feel more inclined to find out about our artist and listen to his music to generate interest and popularity for him because popularity is an important aspect for artists. We also designed the cover for the digi-pack so we could see how we were going to sell his actual music. An attractive flat plan is necessary to properly sell our artist swell while the digi-pack is rubbing shoulder with thousands of other artists' music we needed our to be able to stand out so we used thunder and a raging storm to send a message of our artists thunder.

Flat Pans

Production Log 5

We have each prepared and presented a power-point detailing why we have chose our own individual artist and the type of music video we will create for them, what style, angles and genre in order to compete with our other group members to narrow down our choice of music video.

My group decided to use Chris' music video because it  has the most potential especially as Chris personally knows the artist so we can directly go to him for help with any thing that we need. Also mine and Fabio's ideas were too similar and wanted to go for something different. Chris' artist's music also appealed to me and Fabio and we thought it would be more enjoyable to do a song that we liked the most. We thought that we could all incorporate our ideas into Chris' music video of choice through one way or another though such as my idea of the main character being highly distinguishable compared to other rappers in the industry to quicker create a brand image for him.

Production Log 4

this week we analysed magazine adverts from various different artists and the way in which it generates popularity for the artist and the impact it has on the audience, ranging from the fonts, colours and images used to send a certain, particular messages to the audience. We will use the research we conducted for our own music video advert which will advertise our artist and the right kind of message we will want to send our own audiences.

This will be effective because we will be able to personalise our music video to the audience that we're trying to reach through examples of other magazine adverts. This is important because soon we will have to create our own ancillary products like magazine adverts and posters and we need to take in as much inspiration as we can from successful examples of this.

Call List

Music Magazine Advert Analysis

This album advert is advertising The Killers, the focal point is the band's name written boldly and in bright white that contrasts with the dark background to draw even more attention to the focal point as an album advert would obviously want audiences to know who is being advertised. Below the band's name is the album's name so audiences now know what is being advertised to the, which is the album. This advert lacks some traditional features of album advertisement such as an action line, body copy, review and pack shot which could make it difficult for audiences to obtain the album with this limited information. 

Above the album's name is the moon illuminating the rest of the advert and bears close imagery to a disco ball which could represent the band's pop-ish music is only more reinforced by the design of the advert using collage to make it unique. Also the typography used for the band's name is written like its being shown in theatre or stage lights to show that their music is something people want to hear. This gives a hint as to what kind of music this band produces and people who enjoy that genre of music may be more tempted to listen to this band as a result of that. The use of collage also gives an suggestion that the band is also quite indie as its that unique yet soft and subtle at the same time.

The imagery also used for the advert is a bonfire lit and behind it is mountains and trees to give an indie feel to the album and those who are also interested in indie music may also want to listen to this music because it appeals to them and therefor listen to the band.

The audience that this advert may be trying to attract is listeners from 17-25 and those who enjoy spending nights and days alone or with other friends under the stars. The kind of message that this gives to the audience is that this music is meant for calm listening with friends at a night out under the stars which may appeal to people's nostalgic and adventurist wants in life.

There also isn't too much information given, making audiences more likely to read it because they have less to read and the advert is short and simple, making it easy to read in a busy, quick environment.

The artists name is clearly and largely capitalised on both sides of the artists face making it quick and clear for audiences to identify the artist, especially when the focal point is not a normal picture of the artist and is unique. This also  gives light to the fact that he is a solo artist and is known for his name which fits with the focal point of just one face instead of several. The artist's face is also in strong contrast to the yellow background so that it instantly draws attention before anything else is read. Also the strong yellow is eye catching to the audience is more likely to draw their attention than a bland advert with morose colours. In addition the yellow can connotes happiness which creates a cheerful vibe which can make the audience feel good which may be enough the make the audience consider if they should buy the album.

The typography used is like an alarm clock which can be used to say "wake up" to the audience and listen to Calvin Harris and the fact that he creates EDM which is played at late night parties and wakes up surrounding neighbours.

On the right hand side is a promotional aspect which encourages the audience to buy the music from this distributor. The distributor will also likely promote the artist and uses synergy to benefit both the artist and distributor in becoming better advertised.

The text on the bottom says "I created disco" to seem like the god of music because he is the "creator" and is probably the name of the album and shows when the album comes out ensuring that the audience can buy the album at that certain date. It also says "including singles" this denotes what single tracks are used in the album so that if the audience recognises one and likes it they may be enticed to also buy the rest of the album.

This magazine advert is very in the audience's face. The black and white background for this advert would ironically draw in audience because it would contrast with the environment around the magazine reader. The black and white style has connotations of action and danger which would entertain audience and make them want to know more about the artist in question. The person in the middle is designed to be the focal point of the magazine advert and this is why intertextuality is used as the person in the middle is a 90's supermodel whom certain audiences may recognise  and feel personal satisfaction for recognising. The costume used also connotes danger and action because it is a black latex suit that is often seen in action-spy movies and the audience can notice certain mis-en-scene such as the two katana swords.

Again action is connoted through the typography of the magazine advert as it is bold, red, slanted and has slash marks through several parts of it. This would attract audiences as action is a widely received genre in all mediums of media. The red has denotations of blood which again inspire action which is nearly over-emphasised.

Production Log 3

We have learnt about the meaning of artists' choice of lyrics and began to analyse them and their meanings and we have found that meanings can differ from different artist to different artist and this is what makes each artist unique and draw in a certain type of audiences over other certain audiences and is part of the defining features which decides an artists' style or genre. We have also discovered that the lyrics do not have to follow the tempo of the music or follow the music video at all, and these music videos are usually considered to be conceptual music videos.

V-Dogg Lyrics Analysis

Genre

Grime

Grime is a popular genre in London, targeted solely at youth and those who come from working class backgrounds. Grime features quick rapping over an instrumental that is either on youtube or original to the artist. It is a common sight to see quick pace editing and an overemphasis on close ups of the star with a thick south London accent and this is what makes Grime unique. Grime having a small audience, compared to mainstream genres such as rap and pop, often includes embodiments of cultures which can lead to fallout between different Grime artists. These fallouts are turned into whats known as 'diss-tracks' which are intended to harm another artist and offend them, retaliations are to be expected as well. These 'diss-tracks' are perhaps the largest feature of Grime as audiences enjoy other artists disagreements with each other. The costume that is prevalent in Grime is also very important as every single grime artists tends to wear a tracksuit and trainers and they make references to it in their lyrics as appearance is very important as they want to embody the culture of South London.

Pop

Pop is mainstream genre which is widely received by many people in many locations throughout the world, and perhaps the largest genre out there. Pop tends to focus on having a target audience of young teenagers and young adults. Pop genre music videos tend to also have quick editing at certain points and eye-level close ups of the artist in order to brand them as a 'star' as Dyer states. Pop music videos can have all types of meanings and interpretations as it is a very open genre and most pop songs tend to be about love. However, as pop is a mainstream genre artists are quick to find their own identity and are enthusiastic to show it through their music videos. This lets each artist have their own unique styles which audiences may be more attuned towards. This is better explained through the repetition and difference theory by Stuart Hall. For example Katy Perry's music and Taylor Swift's music both feature the artist being the focal point of the videos have several close ups to brand them as as star and having bright colours which are prevalent in pop genre music videos. These are the 'repetitions' of this genre, but something called 'difference' separates their music videos. Katy Perry's 'Roar' is constructed to empower women by denoting them as strong, powerful and independent whereas Taylor Swifts' music video 'Love Story' is a more traditional romantic boy meets girl music video. Depending on the audience, they may choose to listen to either one because of these difference which separate so many artists.

Rap

Rap is another mainstream genre and tends to be more celebrated by older and male audiences, whereas Pop isn't. Rap tends to pain the artist as a dangerous person who is also very successful and will use this success in their lyrics. the lyrics of rap songs are often very self-empowering as they call for violence and their superiority in the genre of rap. Rap music videos also have very quick editing with lots of closeup but tend to have a different type of camera language. the camera is often at a low angle which looks up at the artist to make them appear more superior and dominant than the audience, adding to the image of danger and success. This is also done to make the audience aspire to be like these artists and want to be as successful and as rich which can be denoted from their expensive clothing, gold jewellery and lyrics about expensive cars. Rap has the quickest tempo of all the music genres, even the point where it becomes a competition and main selling point in artists such as Busta Rhymes.

Production Log Week 2

In this week we completed our parody video of Macklemore's Thrift Shop and just completed editing the video to match the lyrics of the song. There were many problems during the pre-production of the music video such as disorganisation within the group such as who wanted to act and who wanted to film and who wanted to edit. but eventually they were sorted out. We put our knowledge of music video conventions and theories to the test in the production of this video to create a video that audiences would enjoy.

We understand that this is just another task to make us accustomed to making music videos and editing them using baby steps. Thanks to this opportunity we have learned to cut to the beat of the song and using specific parts of the song to suit our visuals in the music video we have created. Because the task was just to create a music video we also had a lot of creativity and flexibility for creating it and adding our own personal touches. We experimented with different types of camera shots and angles but because the task is a mash-up we had to intentionally leave out an establishing shot.

Thrift Shop Mash Up Evaluation

Thrift Shop Mash Up Evaluation

Our group chose to use a parody style of music video to inspire some humour into our finished product for the audience to enjoy and make them like the music video more. Parody is also easier to do because you do not have to strictly follow the original music video and you can add your own material to make the music video more original. I thought that doing interpretative would be too difficult and time consuming considering the lyrics of Thrift Shop being very random and sporadic making it too difficult to produce.

We added music video conventions such as editing the hue of the music video snippet to make the visuals look livelier and more suiting to the tone of the music video. Also some of the shots we had were too dark because of poor lighting affected by the weather so we decided it would be better to have a bright video than a darker one. Some of the shots also correspond to the music video in order for it to tell some kind of story in the midst of all it's chaos so that the audience can understand the music video better.

It's too early to decide for our music video genre for out final production but there we can definitely tell that we're going to use certain music video conventions over others. One convention we will use is a relationship between the lyrics and video of the music so that the audience doesn't become confused or think we're making a surreal or conceptual music video. One convention we won't be using is exhibitionism because we think that it won't suit the video we'll try and make or the message we'll be trying to send through the video.

We had a few problems from pre to post-production of the music video such as a lack of communication within the group which led to confusions at some points and general disagreement about which ways we wanted to move forward with the music video. We recognised that we were wasting time by disagreeing with each other and make compromises to suit everyone's wants in the group. This could have been avoided if we discussed more in the planning phase of the music video

We thought that we had a lot of successful elements in the production of our music video such as the lip syncing of the lyrics which was usually smooth. Also our editing matched the beat of the music to make a smooth music video and keep our audience from getting disorientated from watching an off-beat music video and make it clear that the genre of the song is hip-hop. Also after the we sorted out our differences in the production of our music video everything else ran smoothly afterward, we quickly completed the work whilst having fun and working in our new group.

Richard Dyer Star Theory

Richard Dyer argues that musical stars are exploited by institutions to serve the purpose of making money for the institution. Once the star has been completely used up they can easily be replaced  by another star for the benefit on the institution. Richard Dyer also argues that stars fit into one or more of these four categories.

Stars as Embodiments

Stars can become embodiments of a certain type of culture, and more than one artist can represent one type of culture. 

A good example of this is the popular 2000's punk-rock band, Green Day. Green Day embodies the punk culture and this is where audiences who identify with this culture would go. This is because everything about Green Day represents this as the costumes in many of their music videos are black and have black accessories denoting darkness and anger, the band members even go on to wear black make-up to re-enforce the image of Green Day being a punk-rock band. The lyrics and sounds in their music videos can also be seen as connoting punk culture as they demonise the government and society which they live in, showing the bleakness of their lives. Even the strong, volatile colours used in the music video represent this as the colours and lighting that is used aren't usually seen as 'happy' or 'glad' colours but rather grimy and dirty to again embody the punk culture to speak out to a certain audience and have a sense of their own independence. 

However it is important to realise that stars can embody more than just cultures and actually embody ideologies. Katy Perry is a good example for this as  in her music videos she regularly empowers women and promotes their own independence. Early on in this music video we can see Katy Perry having her heart broken by her boyfriend who flirts with other women despite already being in a relationship with her. Katy sees this and transforms herself and joins the American army. We can see several shots of the hard work and training that Katy Perry has to endure. Then there are other shots of other women in the army, triumphantly walking through the desert having completed their training. Through this Katy Perry embodies the ideology of empowering women as she shows them to be strong and independent, capable of doing whats seen as a 'man's job' such as joining the army and serving in a foreign country.

Stars as Merchandise

Richard Dyer also argues that stars can be seen as merchandise which is extremely profitable for companies. This is especially true in the famous example, One Direction. One Direction's target audience of young girls from 10-18 are prone to buying products which represent their loyalty to this band. The members of One Direction's faces can be spotted on millions of products world wide, and this is another reason why the band is so successful. The members of this band attempt to retain their youthful image to keep their target audience's interest.

Many, many stars have their own types of merchandise and open their own product lines which will definitely be successful because of their wide audience base who will want to purchase these products to be able to align themselves with their favourite artist and such. These products have amazing reach in their variety as it can come in all forms of products whether it is perfume, clothes, games, posters and make-up.

Stars as Constructions

Stars that are constructions are stars which are constructed by the music industry to suit a certain gap in the market. However, these constructions tend to be of poor quality as they are often recycled with the star or band only having a short career then hiding in obscurity. The reason that they are so easily recycled is because the images of the artists are artificial and fake, making it easy to parody and copy. This is very easy to spot in the example to the left. This band known as Little Mix can be easily identified as artificial due to their overly-bright costumes and overly exaggerated smiles which are intended to gain the trust of an un-suspecting audience member. While not being unsuccessful, they are also not too successful.

The factory which produces these 'recyclable' stars is often Simon Cowell and the X Factor. Many young artists who appear on X Factor have dreams of becoming stars after winning the competition but many do not stay as stars. It is a well known fact that winners of the X Factor will be signed by Simon Cowell, a music industry mogul, and have an album in your name. However these albums are often not that popular because the X Factor is viewed for many reasons besides actually wanting to hear music.

Stars as Personalities

Stars can also be identified as personalities. This is strongly visible in stars such as Ed Sheeran whose lyrics tell as story that can be happy or sad. Ed Sheeran has a certain type of cult around him, especially on online media websites such as Facebook and Tumblr. On these sites there are numerous videos of Ed being kindhearted to his fans, approaching un-suspected fans in public them preforming a duet in public adds to this image of Ed having a personality in which the audience are able to like. It is also known that Ed used to be a street performer and came from humble beginnings as just an ordinary person. Again things such as these add to his personality or what the audience perceives to be his personality and support him for it.