How did you use media technologies in the research stage?

Throughout the Researching stage. A lot of Youtube research was conducted.

This was used, in order to watch and analyse the different types of music videos in order to gain an understanding and appreciation of how they are created. Low budget videos, Rock videos, Pop videos and Hip-Hop videos were just some of what we viewed on Youtube. We done this to get some ideas from different genres and budgets to help with how we wanted to present our videos.

AllCDCovers.com was also used a lot in order to obtain the CD covers of artists and groups that I had studied to get some inspiration and influences into what I may like to do with my Digipack.

Wikipedia was also used to gain some background knowledge about the record labels from the genre of our choice. This was informational and also helpful to us, because it then gave us a foundation to choose what type of look we wanted our artists to be represented under.

I also used picsearch in order to find pictures of artists or logos to add visual imagery to my research.

Microsoft Word and Excel were also both used during the research stage. I used these media technologies to create an audience research table, presented with different types of graphs to show how my audience reacted to the questions that I put to them. This was very handy for me because it gave me my answers in a very slick and clear way without any misleading information going astray.

How did you use media technologies in the construction stage?

During the construction stage of our project, two main media technologies, Final Cut Express and Adobe Photoshop were used throughout to create and develop our music video and ancillary texts.

Final Cut Express:

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Our products are heavily linked throughout eachother, and we wanted to make that as evident as possible during our brainstorming throughout the research section. if we look particularly at our ancillary texts, we can see a lot of influence of both in eachother:

[Our video here]

[Picture of Digipack here]

As you can see, our complete product is very similar in appearence and context. they all have quite a dark theme with a twist running throughout. The ancillary texts have white text on black background to keep the consistency from piece to piece. the fact that the ancillary texts are complimentary, I felt it was crucial to include our artists as much as we can on them. Images of them are dotted all over the ancillary texts to make our artists a recognisable face time and time again. The combination of our video and ancillary texts is very successful, as the easy on the eye video is reflected in our ancillary texts as we made sure it was all corectly spaced and aligned, our video is very slick in the way in which we have cut a lot on the beat, so this is also emulated in our ancillary texts. The combination of both products is very experimental. The colour theme is very generic, but the ancillary tasks back up the music video, as the video isn't striking, it is very aesthecial, which is what we wanted to get across, as the beat and lyrics are very soulful, so we have used the a lot of bold techinques in the fonts to encourage a balance between both products to create an equilibrium for our whole product.

In what ways does your media product challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

[Pictures of our artists in clothing in talk about here]

Throughout the whole process of creating my music video and ancillary tasks, one of our major aims was to make sure that we challenged or changed the stereotypical views of the Hip-Hop genre in 2011. We added a personal and morden day twist to the clothing that our artists were wearing. Our artists wear pieces like blazers, leather and baseball jackets, trilby and flat hats/caps to add a more professional, and stylish effect to there overall image. We wanted to be rememberable, and for our artists to come in at a new angle in which nobody else has come in from before. The Hip-Hop genre is evolving, and we are not the first artists to start dressing more appropriately towards reaching out to a wider audience, but it is a crucial factor for us to consider because the look of our artists is very important to our success.

In what ways does your media product develop forms and conventions of real media products?

My product Develops a new trend starting to emerge from the urban music scene. We have latched onto the latest craze that has overcome many successful Hip-Hop and R'n'B artists in working with a fellow composers of music to create a joint album in which they both contribute tracks, some of which both feature on and some on there own to add a lot more variety to the whole package and encourages a lot more sales due to two sets of fanbases that will look to purchase the album. Notable stars from this genre who have already made a joint album are Chris Brown and Tyga, with their album, Fan of a Fan:

Other major stars that are looking to join this ever increasing popular fad are Kanye West and Jay-Z upcoming album; Watch the Throne (above), Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame, Drake and Lil Wayne. These artists are some of the most popular in the genre, so if they are looking to take advantage of this new type of music production, then us as new artists to the scene need to look at new trends being set because we need to make an impact what is a hard industry to break into.

In what ways does your media product use forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses a lot of stereotypical and cliche forms and conventions of a real life product from the R'n'B/Hip-Hop genre, such as the focus of our artists on the glamourous side of life, interested in money and of course, success. It takes inspiration from a lot of mainstream and underground sources and adds a little twist or bit of character to how it is presented. The colour theme of our ancillary tasks is black and white. Very obvious, but it is quite sophisticated and portrays a serious side to our artists. We toyed with the idea of the colour scheme, but came to a decision that white lettering and effects would suit our overall image a lot more than any other combination as it signified our intent to make our target audience understand that we are professional artists looking to make an impact. Our video also uses forms and conventions of real media products. The picturesque and idyllic images of city buildings and sky scrapers to start with conforms to stereotypical media products of the genre as it is something that is seen a lot throughout the mainstream music videos of the genre. My media product follows the 'Illustration' approach of Andrew Goodwin's Theory of Music Video Construction; the majority of the cuts of our video are on the beat to create emphasis on the change of scenery or artist. Our video matches the lyrics, and my artists act out the lyrics in the video. This theory was also important to us as we had planned to use the 'Amplification' method in the 'Band Image' section. Doing things such as playing on the lyrics to do with money, involving homeless people to show they are "unfamiliar" to money. This was something we decided to use the 'Illustration' technique to get a more complete effect in our video, we wanted to make sure that is was completely understandable and easy enough to engage with, so choosing the same techniques throughout of adoption of Andrew Goodwin's theory into our video was a good decision.

Location Permission Letter

Shooting Schedule

A Shooting Schedule is a planned document of your whole shooting process. It covers the when, what, where and who questions of your filming. We have created one because this will give us guidance as to any problems with filming we may have, and also give us support when we do go out filming.

Talent Release Forms

The Talent Release Forms are needed to protect the producers of any talent uses from litigation if the original talent were to accuse the users of not giving permission for this use of talent. The production of this form will eliminate any issues in court.

Location Permission Letter

When we decided upon Westfields Shopping Centre for one of our many locations, we realised we needed permission to film in there. We found what we thought would have been a relevant department to send a email to them, but with no reply, when we went to film on the day we was turned down for security and advertisement issues, they insisted they had no email from us, but it was later revealed that we had emailed the wrong department. This was an unforeseen error in our filming and we filmed the specific scenes elsewhere, so we did not need permission to film anywhere that we had decided to.

Track Permission Letter

We did not have the legal rights to use the song, so a letter was sent to Young Money Entertainment to ask permission to use the track.

Photo-shoot Plan

Here is my groups planning document for our photo-shoot. we decided to make sure everything was neatly typed up to make sure we had a back up for any unforeseen troubles.

Concept

We have decided that we want to use the title of the song, 'Successful' to be the main concept for every thought in the video. We have made sure that our artists are differentiable to show the levels of success. We have also decided that we will shoot in locations that show off our artists in a successful light.

Advert Designs

This was our original idea as a draft for our advert design. Since this was created, we have changed our minds about the positioning of our artists, because we feel that our main artist should be the centre of attention and our second artist should be slightly out of the main focus. we need to promote our main artists brand image, and making him the focal point will only help us to achieve this.

Props/Costumes/Make-Up/Equipment List

We decided on these to enhance the visual aspect of our video. we especially chose the "I love haterz" t-shirt because it coincided with a line in one of the verses of the song, it is completely typical of the genre to do this type of thing, we have made the t-shirt noticeable during this line.

Location Shots

This was one location that we had initial ideas to shoot some scenes for our music video in. We would of used this location, but as we wanted to shoot our video early, so in the end this location was ditched, but the look of it would of complemented our song, genre and artists. There is also a shot of outside Westfields Shopping Centre. We wanted to show off our artist in a light which suggests he can afford to shop in places like this.

Song Details

We have chosen the song, Successful, by Drake. We chose it because of its soulful, but catchy beat and lyrics. It is a mix between Hip-Hop and traditional R'N'B.

Technical Tutorials

I learnt a great deal from the technical tutorials we were given, as they helped me to understandthe technical ability and effort that goes into making real life Digipacks.

Photoshop

I had previous experience with Photoshop, so this was good to use the application again. I went over simple techniques such as cropping and resizing, and due to my previous knowledge, I used the extract filter to make cut out of picture. We were asked to create a CD front and back cover to help us get used to the tools in Photoshop, my attempt is above.

Green Screen

The introduction to the Green Screen technology has been a great insight into how we can take our music videos to the next level. The use of these could be a real help into crisp shots and photos for use in the Digipack. We will need to remember to set up 3 cameras, showing 3 different shot types; 1 long, 1 close up and 1 moving camera. We need to make sure we direct our performer(s) into how to get the best shots of them.

Final Cut Express

For AS Media we were first introduced to iMovie, a video editing application to edit our music videos, but now for A2 we have been asked to use the step up software which is Final Cut Express. I had a little bit of experimenting time on their and found a lot of differences between the both, the majority improvements, but it took me time to understand what did what in Final Cut Express. The main information I need to remember is that we need to have filmed everything needed in the music video before editing because problems can occur otherwise.

Roles

Within my group, it is me, Arun and Vida.

My role within the group was to find and obtain the props, Arun's role was to look after getting the actors, and Vida's was to make plans to shoot in appropriate locations.

Initial Ideas

When our group first came together our first ideas of genre, was from the urban scene of music. We all had interests in it, and so it would of been a good decision of us to keep to what we knew about, in order to get the best out of song. We researched into a few recent popular songs, artists and locations within videos to gain some extra ideas. We all came to together after this and put our individuals points of view across to decide what we all thought would be the best decision. In the end we did choose the Hip-Hop genre as we felt we could portray it in a better light than what it already is in the media.

Lyrics Annotation

Our ideas can come from whether we look to be illustrative with our lyrics, being very narrative minded and keeping very cliche, or whether we decide to amplify the lyrics and present them in a very different way. The lyrics themselves are very broad in meaning and we have the creative freedom to portray them any which way we want.

Genre Research 3

The conventions of a typical R&B/Hip-Hop genre based music video normally include a lot of use of money, whether that be in assets or physical cash, and women, normally in very little clothing being very provokative towards the males within the video. These two go hand-in-hand in the world of the artist, hence the phrase, "Money Over Bitches". There are normally lots of close ups and establishing shots, to make full exageration of what the artist has to show off within the video. This is used to create a envious feeling within the target audience.

Low Budget Ideas

Videos Analysed:

1. Hifana - Bangzaï Cookin'
2. Cibelle Feat. Devandra Banhart - London, London

Genre/Sound:

• Quirky Video which represents the genre completely. Sharp editing also mirrors the 'Breakbeat' genre of which breaking the normal is normal.

Cinematography:

• Close up shots are only used to put importance on specific things, such as the demonstration of the cooking itself. The camera also seems to capture the boss's facewhich ironically shows off its low budget techniques of cosume.

Mise-en-Scene:

• Boss Dressed in black, chefs dressed in white, whcih is done to distinguish the difference in power between the two.

Editing:

• Very snappy editing, accompanied by cartoon edits to show emotion. Blade movements emphasised to show off the impressive editing techniques. Knife chopping on beat to connect the music video to the song. Microwave used as a reload of the beat to add interest.

Genre/Sound

• Old market and costume of artists portray the vintage sound.

Cinematography:

• Lots of establishing shots to let the audience understand where we are within the video. Lots of interested shots of London locations to keep the theme of the song going throughout.

Mise-en-Scene:

• Cibelle and Devandra dressed in old fashioned clothes to go against the new settting which they are in. Cibelle in white, Devandra in black so that they repel in colour but attract in the physical video.

Editing:

• Very slow continuous editing to compliment the ambient tone of the song.

Analysis of Rock Videos 1

Video Analysed: 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens

Location: The video is set in and around New York.

Clothes: No real stand out features, the cast of the video are dressed in naturalistic clothing to make the strong use of editing stand out.

Props: The use of the bicycles through the streets is a unique spectacle.

Camera Angles: Lots of establishing and master shots of the backgrounds of the frames are used to make the cast look better.

Narrative/Abstract: It is an abstract piece, but its naturalistic approach gives it a more narrative look.

Effects: There is a lot of film influenced effects within the video. The start of the video begins like a film, with the top and bottom cropped off with the titles to give it a professional look. Montages of pictures, combined with lots of sharpening and light on dark techniques are used to make objects stand out.

Continuity/Montage: This video contains various bits of continuous pieces, and of montage pieces, but its the parallel editing of locations and storylines help the two to work in-sync.

Analysis of Pop Videos 3

Video Analysed: Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Locations: There is only 1 location and that is inside a high-ceilinged and wide-walled room.

Clothes: The artist is dressed in quite a peculiar outfit, which has probably been designed to fit the quirky video which has been created.

Props: The 3 sofas within the room generate a wierd atmosphere.

Camera Angles: A lot of spatial editing is used here, as Jamiroquai is focused on a lot, and is always tried to be placed within the centre of the frame.

Narrative/Abstract: The video is very much an abstract piece, to represent a 'virtual insanity', in which the room has played the major part in.

Effects: The gliding of the sofas and the artist create a real feeling of a moving room, as the edited Jamiroquai looks as if he is gliding like the sofas.

Continuity/Montage: The continuous flow of this video is hlped by the constant moving of Jamiroquai.

Genre Research 1

The artists in the R&B genre like to portray themselves in a 'gangster' like persona. They like to be represented as cool and as a role models for their fans. The artists that I have chose here, (Nicki Minaj, Taio Cruz, Drake Chris Brown and Lil Wayne) all have very unique styles and images that they show to the public.

Audience Research 2

Audience Research 1

1. Age?
2. Male or Female?
3. Ethnicity?
4. What would you expect to see on a music album from a new artist?
5. Would a creative album cover encourage you to purchase it more?
   
6. What would you expect to see on a magazine advertisement for a new artist?
7. Would a creative magazine advertisement encourage you to purchase it more?
8. Would you like to see as much of a new artist as possible to get to know their image?
9. How would you a video and a song to be connected?
10. Does image matter to you in a recording artist?
11. Would you rather see.. (An artist to conform to/break typical media views of an artist from that genre?
    

Theories 3

Carol Vernallis' Theory; The Kindest Cut: Functions and Meanings of a Music Video

• Classic Continuity
  

• Montage
  

This will be interesting for me and my group because I might have to choose between using the Classic Continuity or Montage use of editing in my music video. Typical R&B/Hip-Hop music videos follow the 'Classic Continuity' route, but my route have decided that they would like to break the boundaries, so it will interesting to see if we could attempt to create the 'Ultimate Goal' of Montage in The Kindest Cut.

Advertisement Research

This magazine advert connotes a very vintage feel. With the coffee-like stained paper all cringled, the type of font, and the single cover itself being of the same mould. It explains the main information in its simpliest form, bold lettering to tell the audience's when this single would be released.

This is a very eye catching advertisement, which is very similar in the ways of the cinematography of the poster of a scary movie advert. The three men, all affected by the different forces (wind, fire and water) are sat in the chairs, which captures the whole photo, so it is the whole of the advertisement which is under focus. The bold font of the band also helps their fans to understand a their personality or see them development a new one through this advertisement.

The very dark Mise-en-Scene of this advertisement adds a lot of mystery to the poster, but its professional looks also adds to the bands solid and already established image. The font of the advertisement works really well with the dark background, and it helps pull attention to the piece, as its easy-on-the-eye and very persuasive.