Our Project Blog

This blog is our groups area for planning and research for our project, it is in chronological order from the first things we completed through to the last, which is navigated by hitting the older posts link when the page is completed. We welcome you to the blog and hope it is a pleasant experience,

Existing Media Analysis

Here are our analysis from each of us in the group, analysing different music videos, music DVD covers and adverts. Here we see what works and what doesn't from videos which we are interested in to take inspiration for our own video. From this analysis we will have a good idea of what different shots, lighting effects and other techiniques will work and suit us best.

Richard Tubman:

Video 1: Keep Movin On – Vinnie Paz ft. Shara Worden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChXlPd0H1MU

I have selected this video to analyze because it is in the hip hop genre that I would love to make a video for. And again further into the underground hip hop scene. This is type of video which is a strong narrative base and also has the right mood for an effective video to be created. First of all I will start with the performance elements of the song. All of the performance is done on a black screen in the back ground at around the medium/close up shot range. The camera is active constantly zooming in and out of his face not to make the shots static and uninteresting. He is not wearing the typical costume you’d expect a rapper to wear. And that’s a strong point in this song is that it is not a typical mainstream rap/hip hop song. It is something deeper and different to that product. The costume he wears could also convey that he is serious in this song as apposed to other songs by the artist which contains him wearing street clothes. He is rapping for a purpose and this is conveyed through his suit jacket and hat, showing that he is not just rapping about the streets and the generic rap product. There are also close up female performances which add effect to the song. They also use a filter on the video; they add a sepia tone onto the video and increase the brightness on the performers. This adds good effect as the light on them is showing the good side of them and the good that they stand for while rapping this song. There is a variety of shots in the narrative parts of the song. A lot of them are long shots and close ups however. The whole narrative part except from the flashbacks of his earlier life tend to nearly all is in slow motion, which adds effect to the actions of the narrative. How he loses his job and house, the emotion is given greater effect when it is slowed, and it is the opposite of the usual hip hop editing given to videos but in this instance it works. The target audience for this video would be people who have been following the underground hip hop scene, especially Jedi Mind Tricks; this is the type of audience not bothered by the mainstream rap scene and look for something different and meaningful. But the audience for this song is greater than this as well however as this is the first video of his debut solo album so it will be released to a greater spectrum of people allowing other rap followers to get into the underground scene.

Video 2: Ill Bill – Society is brainwashed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjNmGsQ16Vg

This video again comes from the underground hip hop scene. The mood in this video is darker and more sinister than the previous one due to the subject matter. This is a performance video as it has no real narrative video to support the performance, just different clips of random political and religious clips which society is supposedly getting brainwashed with. The performance shots in this video are very dark. The lighting is very yellowish on his face and body and around him it is hard to see anything. He is always sitting in the same place also; there is no variation in the backgrounds or locations like in the last video where it was just against one backdrop. Nearly all the shots that are taken are medium shots and the angles change regularly to keep the shots looking active and interesting. Again this is a change from the mainstream rap scene as it is a song which is talking about something deeper than what the subject in the mainstream rap talk about. These are deep political issues being thrown at you in a dark song to make you understand better. The TV screens which are around him while he is performing adds effect because it shows in an exaggerated manner the things that people get brainwashed by, and he shows that he is not bothered by these things, its more showing you what you are being brainwashed with and telling you why. The target audience once again is the followers of underground hip hop but also the mainstream is targeted with this video as well as he is appealing to the general society and explaining why people are being brainwashed. These people would pay attention to this song and be interested, wanting to listen to more of his songs to understand why he’d make a song like that.

Video 3: Wu-tang clan – Protect your neck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZrz8siv4Q

This video is a more traditional rap song/video. The genre is no longer underground hip hop and has moved onto west-coast hip hop. Which is more mainstream as the Wu-tang clan are more famous than the previous two artists I have looked at. This video is entirely performance but it does deliver great effect because it is filmed in their hood of New York, the camera quality is gritty, the camera is always moving even though most of the angles are mid shots. The rappers are very active when they rap with hand actions and moving about. They also have angry/intimidating facial expressions which could convey threat they are trying to send a message to the music scene to say we are here as this song introduces the Wu-tang clan, with their own lyrical introductions and the text introductions. A lot of the performance is filmed in black in white as well to add to the effect of the location they are in. Showing that they come from a rough area which has been exaggerated by excluding all colour from the scenes. They are also surrounded by a lot of other people, which would be perceived as being in their posse. There is a substantial amount of people around them which shows that they have a big posse and are a powerful group not to be messed with. The target audience for this video would be mainly at the time fellow people in their area and scene where they are trying to make a statement. But also they are aiming for the mainstream audience; to set this song out a long side other popular rap songs at the time would be a something different. While the mainstream rap at that time was east-coast gangster rap, this bring a new element of faster lyrical skill along side the gangster rap and contrasts with it and makes thw Wu-tang clan stand out.

DVD cover 1: Wu-tang clan – Legend of the Wu-tang, the videos

This is the first DVD I have looked at and it is of the Wu-Tang clan, it is not so much an album realised by them in their active stage but a greatest hits type album. The prominent thing on the cover is the logo which takes over just over half the cover. The logo is an important part of the Wu-tang clan as it shows the element of their shaolin style which they imply into their instrumentals and lyrics. Their logo has the essence of a Chinese emblem while also making a W. The text on the cover is simplistic and the font is not anything out of the ordinary. It is simply easy to read. There are no pictures of any of the rappers on the cover either. This maybe because it might become convoluted as there are 9 rappers in the Wu-Tang or that they are just trying to keep the cover simplistic. Either way this cover is effective and gritty due to the stone type background which the cover has, with the logo bevelled out from the rest of the background to stand out.


DVD cover 2: Dr dre – Up in smoke tour

This is the next DVD cover I looked at which is of Dr. dre’s up in smoke tour. This is different to the last cover because it is a live gig compared to a album cover so the cover is a lot more active. With various shots of the performance dotted on the cover. There are pictures of the rappers this time around and they all look intimidating on the cover. The fonts are also more adventurous than the last cover, using grittier fonts which fit with the title of the tour. The text changes colour from white to green to fit the title of the tour also and it also fits from dr dres previous album cover which has green text on it also. There is a small description on the back which introduces the DVD and then there is a large track list, followed by the bonuses and the disclaimers. All of the usual DVD logos are on the back excluding the parental advisory logo, which needs to be on the front to warn people before they even pick up the DVD that this will contain explicit language.

DVD 3: Eminem – Live in New York City

This DVD cover incorporates a different style to the others I have seen. It is no longer dark and gritty but this one is bright and full of colour. It appears that there is an eruption coming from eminem and this could be suggesting the energy that he gives off during his concerts. This cover is dissimilar to the to dr dre’s live cover as there are little pictures on the cover, and the back is full of text, probably more than is needed for the back of a live performance cover. This cover looks like it has been manufactured for more than just a rap audience; the first reason for this is the lack of a parental advisory logo. This suggests that eminems songs will be censored. Making the songs appeal then to a younger audience because there is no fear of profanities throughout the DVD. Another reason for this is because of the bright colours. It is unusual for rap to be advertised with bright colours, this is done to catch more people attention to the DVD and give it more of a pop type feel to it, even though it is keeping a heavy rap theme on the cover. This is a cover I am less likely to take inspiration off for one of my own.

Advert 1: Wu-tang clan - Wu Tang Forever

This is a poster for one of the Wu-Tang clan albums, Wu tang forever. It is different from the previous Wu-tang items that I have looked at because it was released later than the others, so this design looks more modern than the rest of them. The text is less gritty. This could be to appeal to a wider audience. As people already know what they are about so they can make their campaign more appealing to the eye and allow other people to get into it as well. The logo is once again a prominent feature on the advert. The motif of the globe behind it is a good implication of how big they intend to be and what there aims are. The main title font is similar to the ones on the DVD cover. Another thing to note is that this time they have included the pictures of the rappers in it. It works well and they are in dark lighting conditions which is a common rap trait which I have noted, which gives them the intimidating, street effect.

Advert 2: Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

This advert is dissimilar to the eminem DVD cover that I have analysed. This style of advert is a lot more street than the DVD cover. The picture is the main feature on the advert with eminem taking the centre. He is dressed in baggy trousers and a large coat with a hat stereotypical of a rapper and gangster rappers. Behind him further exaggerates the gangster rapper side by including a low rider, which is a typical vehicle in the west coast hoods. The font that is used for eminem is the same font which he has always used for that title, keeping consistency throughout. The font underneath is quite sketchy and cartoon-ish, this fits with eminems lyrical style, as he has jokes in his songs and doesn’t always release the most serious songs.

Advert 3: 2pac - Trapped

This is an advert for 2pacs debut album. This is sticking with the west coast gangster rap genre. The feature that stuck out to me the most the 2pac logo, the black background on the logo takes the shape of a gun which is a typical weapon used in the west coast ghettos. The main picture is very gritty and shows how children who live in these areas can not have freedom from the life which they live. This mood is brought on even more because the poster is in black and white, making the poster darker. The font on trapped works well and so does the font on the logo. There is a small chunk of information in the corner unlike the other two adverts which I find useful because people have more information about the album as the other two may leave people confused.

Eminem - Stan (VIDEO ANALYSIS)

This is a rather dark music video. It follows the violent obsessive Eminem fan Stan. He keeps writing letters to Eminem and doesn’t get any replies for one reason or another and Stan ultimately becomes suicidal and kills himself and his girlfriend. The character of Stan comes off as creepy and unbelievably devoted and this persona is helped created through the darkness of it all. The lighting makes everything dark and gives the feel of the house and basement being a bleak depressing setting. This video has strong narrative but at the same time has a clever performance which is fitted in with him reading his own letters and messages out loud. This is good because it makes the character not seem like Eminem. Stan is portrayed as just any typical guy whose obsession has gone too far. The audience see him as relatable and at the same time not. Overall the video has a very charismatic and scary feel to it. It makes the audience feel constant sorrow for the character. I want to get a feeling similar to this in the music video me and my group produce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSLZFdqwh7E

Tupac - Ghetto Gospel (VIDEO ANALYSIS)

The premise of the video is that it re-enacts the last day of Tupacs life before he was murdered by drive-by. With this being the theme, the video is understandably 100% narrative (mainly because performance would be impossible seeing as Tupac is dead). The setting of the video is done quite well, making the neighbourhood seem bleak and yet vast and wonderful. The performances from some of the cast is brilliant at making tension between different social groups darker than they could or could not be. It sets the tone for the rest of the video’s occurrences. The locations were well-picked as well. The church which, linking to the theme of death and murder, symbolises afterlife. The murder itself is done in quite a good way suited to the song as well, the location of the diner and the subtle rolling up alongside him and the even more subtle way of censoring the gunfire, replacing it with a shot of the car on the opposite side and the flash of gunfire. It gets the audience on the edge of their seat through the power of suggestion. Speaking of “power of suggestion” the mise-en-scene is good in this video as well. The exchanging of cash doesn’t actually explain what the money was owed for or why it’s being exchanged in the first place. The audience will assume that it is something seedy and ganster-esque. The costuming as well to make them all look gangster with baggy clothes and jewellery, we immediately recognise these characters as being intimidating people partaking in illegal activities. At the beginning of the video there is a short segment of Tupac lying dead in the road and his wife or girlfriend or mother approaches his body, weeping. The diegetic sound in this segment before the music begins is moving and upsetting and gets the audience feeling sympathetic for both her and Tupac. This would be great for portraying loss in my music video project, or to build character and narrative. The camera shots and angles are well done too. There are a lot of close-ups on characters to show reaction or emotion, it fits the video well due to the subject manner and the grief that needs to be portrayed to give a convincing performance. The establishing shot of the city was very good as well, although I feel that the raised arms and smile by Tupac was a bit cliché. This lessened his tough guy front and somewhat ruined the view and effect of the establishing shot. The video ends with a quote and a picture of Tupac. This is done to perhaps teach a lesson or moral to anyone watching, to convince people not to go down the route that Tupac went down in his lifetime. This gives the video a rather poignant message and an educational value. The influences of people with such cultural significance as famous rappers are rather strong, so it makes the video all the more saddening that the subject matter is very much real. I shall try and give off the same impression on my groups project if our subject matter turns “ugly”, which, knowing the rap genre, it most likely will. This video is a great reference point for the gritty style of rap video, showcasing the consequences of a life of crime. The acting is great, the mise-en-scene and camera work is spot on and it leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. The video epitomises gangster and will no doubt help my group recreate the same background and feel of this video. The locations as well are great inspiration for where we shall ultimately film our video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxR4AweLeXE

Good Life - Kanye West (VIDEO ANALYSIS)

This video is very different to the others I’ve analysed. This video is 100% performance. The entire focus of the video is Kanye and T-Pain, but instead of props, scenery or narrative they opted for a style which incorporates graffiti/doodle style visuals surrounding them. The way these doodles work is that they follow the lyrics, visually representing whatever is being rapped about at the time. This is done almost exactly to what the lyrics are, even at times just spelling out the lyrics. This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time because on one hand it’s showing entertaining and exciting visuals that get people to know all the lyrics and sing along as opposed to just liking a song for its beat. It’s a bad thing though that the video becomes a bit empty and without content. In an overly critical perspective one could say that the video has nothing to offer if the visuals do nothing. But I feel that the animations and art carry the whole video throughout, making it entertaining and exciting. I like the use of colour in this video, very vibrant and matches the style of the song itself. As a result, theres very little mise-en-scene throughout, but one thing that they use is a pair of sunglasses with additional animations in the frames. I think this a good fit for the songs theme. The song itself is about how good life has gotten now that Kanye is an established name in hip-hop and the sunglasses symbolise what he is seeing now that he has prestige and fame. This would be a great thing to attribute into my own video, the concept of seeing things through someone’s eyes. The sound in this video is pretty much just the audio from the original song, which is fine, except some of the censoring is awful. It takes some of the fun out of the song when there’s a massive blur over things. Some of the swearing as well is censored by deepening the voices and reversing them at times. There was also a lot of times when swearing was replaced with just silence. It breaks up the rhythm of the song and makes some of the animations make little sense. When I come to making my video I want to make sure that the song I pick doesn’t have swearing in it or inappropriate props such as drugs or pornography. The lighting and filters in the video are minimalistic due to the main focus being the animated graffiti. They use a black and white filter on Kanye, T-Pain and the model in the video. This is to emphasise the graffiti because like I said they were the main focus. The editing is rather limited because of the graffiti as well. The shots and camera angles throughout would often be fixed full body shots of Kanye rapping while all the animation goes on around him. I feel that despite how well everything fits together in this video and how well the intended final result of this video is hit dead on that it isn’t entirely relevant to the genre of rap. Rap videos are generally edgy or gritty and show despair or roughness. I feel I can incorporate certain things about this video into my own project but unfortunately a lot of it I don’t feel I can apply. Although, if I were to make a light-hearted music video with a light subject then I would definitely take a lot of inspiration from this video. It’s eccentric illustrations and performance make it an enjoyable and enticing video to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEKEjpTzB0Q

Eminem Psycho Killer (DVD COVER ANALYSIS)

This is a DVD cover that seems to be glamorising violence. The dominant image on the front is Eminem holding a massive knife and with a hockey mask near him. As rappers base their appearance and mannerisms around intimidation, and in this merit Eminem has definitely achieved it. The image seems to be trying hard to mimic the stereotypical serial killer in an attempt to either scare or entice you, it manages to entice me but it seems a bit corny at the same time, but something tells me that’s meant to be intentional. One thing that bothers me about this DVD is how packed it is on the back. It’s a good thing that the DVD has a lot of tracks it means good value for money but visually it looks ugly and crammed. Maybe if they laid out the tracks in a different format such as a block of text. This way it would not only make the text look a lot better but also free up a lot of space for additional images, because the back of this DVD cover doesn’t have any images from the videos in the DVD. Overall this is a good looking DVD cover on the front but it becomes a bit empty looking on the back, not to mention too cramped. Although I really like the choice of colour throughout this DVD cover, I will need to replicate it in my groups DVD cover.

n.W.a (DVD COVER ANALYSIS)

This is a rather interested DVD cover. Very different from any I’ve seen. This is purely because whereas other rap DVD covers feature the main rappers getting right into the camera with hand gestures, whereas this video has absolutely no one on it. The main image of the DVD cover is a car. This isn’t very good for people who don’t know he nWa are. The car doesn’t really give away anything about nWa so it’s inappropriate for the cover image. There are also absolutely no images of the DVD on the back of the DVD either. The design of it completely isolates new fans by giving them no information about the DVD whatsoever. Positives about this video are that it has a very violent, rap based colour scheme. The black to show darkness and the red to resemble blood, being the style of nWas rap. It also has a very practical layout for the song list. The white text stands out very well and it’s all positioned to one side in order to fit a large image on the back. The image of the car is really cool as well, with the bling in the window. I believe the main image should still be the members of nWa but as far as the photography goes the picture of the car is crystal clear. Overall I think this DVD cover let’s itself down with the lack of group members. It really needs them to make the cover make more sense. It does well to hold its own without them as well with a great layout and colour scheme but to stop it from being a great DVD cover it left the group out which is the entire of appeal of the nWa name.

Up In Smoke Tour (DVD COVER ANALYSIS)

This DVD cover is for a tour that Dr Dre, Eminem, Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg did. Straight away the cannabis leaf in the middle of the front cover gives people an inkling as to what the show is going to be about. The leaf also accompanies the title of the DVD for an immature but still clever play on words “Up in Smoke”. The colour scheme is very well suited the theme and the DVD cover, black and white. The only downside to this choice of colour scheme is that it might be a bit too dark. Some people at a glance might not be able to comprehend what is on the box. This is a minor problem though because the other things to make the cover stand out more than make up for the darkness of it all. The smoke font used for “featuring” makes the DVD cover look intimidating and fits the title of the DVD. The white text also stands out very well against the black background in order to get information across in a minimalist and yet effective fashion, and for the most part the text are very noticeable. One complaint I have about the DVD is that the back’s song list is in a dark green text. Dark green against a black background is at times rather hard to see. It fits well with the controversial cannabis leaf motif but maybe a white border around the text would make it stand out a bit more. Something I rather liked was the picture of the actual concert from the DVD on the front, looking very fiery and vibrant. This gives the audience a look see at what the DVD is all about without having to buy to find out and fits the whole “intimidation” theme. There are images like this on the back as well but they are far too small and far to general, not really showing much happening apart from 1 involving a motorcycle. The layout of the back could’ve been improved to make sure the images were a bit bigger because that’s what is going to draw people in when they go to look at the DVD. I feel that this DVD is a mixed bag. There are some things about it that are done really well and there are certain things that needed improving. Some of the images needed to be bigger and more “in your face” to match the theme of intimidation, the colour scheme needed a bit of change as far as the dark green text goes and the background could’ve been good as a dark grey, not a full on black. This being said, the motifs, the portrait images of the featured rappers, the smoke references and the title of this DVD were all well done with great font or effect. Certain things I shall take on with my groups work and others I will need to steer clear of. In the long run this DVD cover will definitely help me.

Methodman (POSTER ANALYSIS)

This poster is to advertise Methodman’s digipack. The poster itself is very simplistic and boasts a graffiti style font for the main heading. This already at a glance give the audience the impression of street relations, sort of referencing the slums and bad parts of the streets and what style his rap is. To add to this vibe he is bellowing out smoke and doing a waterfall trick with it. The colours are also very minimal too. There’s only the one colour and it’s quite a dirty looking colour as well, again adding to the impression of a street rapper. Where there isn’t colour it emphasises the date of the release too. Whereas all the colour here is dirty looking and run-down looking the white text not only adds to the run-down feel by making the text look grubby and missing fragments it stands out from the rest of the picture, making sure people know about his DVD. This could be a good thing and a bad thing because as I’ve said it’s very noticeable but maybe it could be too noticeable. The main title “Methodman” blends in with the rest of the images background and if it wasn’t for the overwhelming size of it would be completely ignored in favour for the release date. An interesting motif is also how the title is presented but in a transparent concert ticket style. This makes him seem more established and important and makes people want to buy a ticket of their own. The san serif font gives this poster a very light-hearted feel as well, it’s a sensible choice for the style of music he performs and the feel of the posters theme. Serif text would ruin the effect and make it overly prestigious. Overall this poster is good for it’s genre, the gloomy colours work well, the dominant image in the middle is very influential and intriguing and eye-catching and the motifs of the ticket are a clever reference. The things in this poster I hope to incorporate in my groups own work, because it has positive inspirational qualities to it and definitely represents his style of rap music.

Busta Rhymes (POSTER ANALYSIS)

This rapper is very different to Methodman. Busta Rhymes is a lot more gangster in his rap style, the way that the poster is set out though you wouldn’t guess. The poster definitely doesn’t compliment Busta Rhymes at all, it makes him seem less significant in rap than he actually is. The colour scheme of it is all wrong, most notably because the background is white. It should be a lot darker and grittier for his style of rap. The poster is also a bit too busy. There’s too much information and branding in this poster which not only restricts the size of the image but also becomes incoherent at a glance. If someone were to pass this poster the only thing that would stand out would be “Busta Rhymes” in big red sans serif font. This is effective and helpful in its own way but everything else would go unnoticed because of it. The colour scheme is a red and black for the text. I find this problematic because red stands out a lot more in this poster. The text is made red in inappropriate places so that the essential information is overlooked and not noticed. I like the filter used on the main image of Busta Rhymes but that being said I’m struggling to find relevance. If anything the black and white filter is making him blend in more with the white background. There isn’t any advertisement of nostalgia performances or anything old so the age reference to black and white doesn’t work, but I guess the filter is purely aesthetic anyway. One thing I do like about this poster is that it provides you with information on how to book or order, something that the Methodman poster lacked. I don’t particularly like this poster overall, the layout is appropriate for a pretty boy singer not a rapper, the colour scheme is too bright and lacklustre for someone as gangster as Busta Rhymes, emphasis is placed in all the wrong places and the image is too small and has a cliché and pointless filter over it. I shall use this poster and my analysis as a sonstant reminder of what NOT to include in my groups poster.

This poster is very different for Snoop Doggs style of rap but nevertheless it is a good poster in its own right. I like the emphasis on the “Ego Trippin’” part of the poster. The entire poster is in a black and white filter which I have found to be an overused filter and the only thing in colour is ego trippin’ in nice yellow. Whereas other videos have used this filter to purely aesthetic effect this use of the black and white filter is justified. It’s used to accompany Snoop Dogg wearing a lettermans jacket, suggesting a reminiscence or look back on things e.g. nostalgia. This makes the black and white filter make more sense than just making the image look darker. I really like the choices of fonts and the colour of the text to fit and emphasise the rest of the posters colour. They’re rather simplistic and grab the audience’s attention. The huge white date and the white website URL, this helps people find out more information. The font on Snoop Dogg’s name is really intimidating and enticing to look at as well, very aesthetically pleasing. In conclusion this poster may not be Snoops “player” style but it’s still an effective poster. It grabs the attention of people passing by and gives a brief, simplistic yet detailed account of what the product is all about. As brief it may be it even allows people a gateway to find out more about Snoop Dogg. I shall try and incorporate all of the positives of this poster into my groups poster.

Music video research

Blur- Song 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlAHZURxRjY

This music video is mainly visual; the whole of performance is in a small room with all the instruments. It shows a variety of different shots in the video such as a long shot of the whole of the band to show everyone who is performing. Another good shot is a close up on the main singer to focus on him and his singing performance. They also included all the props they need but not any more, they use drums, guitar, and microphone and music equipment. The video also includes some slow motion effects when the wind is blowing in the room. In my opinion I think that the music video is quite good but not a huge success, it is mainly the song that is the success whereas the music video could have been improved in many ways. The target audience for this music video would be aimed at a young audience e.g. young teens to young adults. They are targeted by using the special effects such as slow motion and they are also targeted with the age of the band being quite young and the type of music they are playing.



Take that- greatest day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzMLGH1Rfs

This music video is mainly visual; the video is all performance and special effects. The video features many different great shots such as, a panning shot from a helicopter at the start to show the location of the video and to make it look appealing to the audience. There is a low shot to show that it is like the person is on top of the world. There is a long panning shot of the band member on top of the high building to show the significance of the location. There are not that many props included in the video, the only thing in the video is a hat worn by one of the band. There are some good edits such as cut shots from the bands performance to the surrounding location. The lighting plays a very good part in making the video successful, the lighting is just from the outside light at a sunset, and this makes the video look more appealing and interesting to the audience. In my opinion I think that the video is very successful because of all the special effect, lighting, performance and the location of the video. The target audience is aimed for all audiences this is shown by the type of music, performance, age of the band and the things included in the music video.


Eminem- Not afraid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5-yKhDd64s

This music video is mainly performance based throughout. The video features many different camera angle and shots throughout. There are a variety of camera shots such as establishing shot at the very start of the video. There is also a close up at the start when the performance begins; another shot is the birds’ eye view after the close up. There is an over the shoulder shot many times when Eminem is on the rooftop and also there are many medium shots throughout in the basement and on the rooftop when doing the performance.

There are not many props used in this video as it is mainly performance based but one of the props used at the start is a letter that is shown to the camera and he crumples it up, another prop used is the chair that is used to throw at the wall to show his aggression in his life and to show that he is enraged.
There are many camera movements in the video, one of them is at the very start when the camera zooms in to Eminem, another movement is the tracking shot when he is walking and performing in the basement. There is also a panning shot when Eminem is walking down the street, this could be to show his emotions and to show that the mirrors let him see what kind of person he is
Eminem uses a very stylish look in this video; he wears very fashionable and expensive clothing to show his wealth. He wears what looks like expensive shoes which are focused on many times in the video. He also wears jeans, black top, leather jacket and jewellery such as a cross, this could suggest that he either wants to look good or he could be quite religious or even both.
There are 2 different kind of lighting in the video, one of the lighting is very bright and sunny when he is outside and when he is in the basement it is very dark with very little light, this could suggest that his life is different and better when he is outside but when he is inside the basement his life is horrible and dull. There is very good lighting when he is breaking through the wall, this lighting suggests that he is breaking free and escaping his bad and dark life.
This video could be targeted at all audiences who like rap and who enjoy performance based videos.

DVD covers
Wu Tang Clan:

Here is a DVD cover from the Wu Tang Clan. There are many good features in this DVD cover that make it stand out and look appealing to the audience. One of the good features about this DVD cover is that it shows the logo on the cover in a very large size taking up half the page, inside the logo they show everyone from the Wu Tang Clang in individual boxes, this is a very good effect.
The background of the cover is very interesting and appealing, the background is their home state of New York, this is obvious because of all the large buildings, the thing that makes it effective is the red colour of the background which makes it look dark and simplistic.
Another thing that I like about the cover is that there is a very stylish and effective boarder around it which is quite different because not many DVD covers feature this but it suites the background and makes it look darker and interesting, it makes the viewer want to know what it’s about.

















Michael Jackson’s-This Is It:

This is the DVD cover for Michael Jackson’s “This is It”. This cover features many good effects and imagery that makes it really stand out to its audience. The main thing that stands out in this cover is the image of Michael Jackson. The image is very effective because it is very different to other covers, the main image is many different images of Michael Jackson’s last performance, the images inside the picture of Michael Jackson make it really stand out and look powerful and eye catching because of all of the different colours and lights coming out.
Another thing that I thought was good about this cover is the background cover, the background colour is very plain but effective, the colour is a light blue with a white light effect coming out from the middle of the main image, this also makes the main image stand out. There is very little text on this DVD cover but this is could be good because it means that it is image dominated and there isn’t a lot of text which could make the audience aware of the DVD.
















Jay Z:

This is the DVD cover for Jay Z Fade to black. The cover is very dark but suites the music it features. The title is at the top of the page in a large white font to make it stand out to its audience so that they know who it is without having to search the cover. The DVD cover is image dominated with the main image being a picture of Jay Z during a concert; this gives a nice effect to the cover.
The cover is very dark but features a small bright light shining on Jay Z to make him stand out and make him look effective in the image. The darkness of the DVD cover could relate to the album title “Fade to black” this is so that the darkness of the DVD has meaning.
On the front cover Jay Z is in all white, this could be so that he can stand out on the front of the cover and show the audience who the main character is on the front cover, the white clothes also fade in to the white light coming in, this gives the DVD cover a nice effect and doesn’t make it look too dark.

















DVD Adverts

Black Eyed Peas:

This is an advertisement for The Black Eyed Peas. There are many good and effective features that are on this advert which is why I chose this one to analyse. This advert has many good qualities which make it very eye catching and appealing to its audience.
One of the good features that I found with this advertisement is the main image; this is the main part of the advertisement. The image is the whole band each one in a different pose, each person is also wearing different clothes and different colour clothes to make it more bright and colourful.
There is not much text in this advertisement, this could be because it is image dominated and the main focus is trying to attract the audience using the main image and colours. The only text that appears in the advertisement is the title “The Black Eyed peas”, the title look very appealing and eye catching because of the effects it hold, effects such as the font which look very relevant for the genre of the band and also the zig zag effects from the Y and the A coming together.
There are many different colours used in this advert. One of the colours used is the red gradient used for the background, the red used changes to brown on the right of the page and the red starts on the left, this gives it a nice effect so that the background isn’t just one colour. The props used in the advert are very bright colours, there is the bright green ear muffs that one of the lead singers is wearing, this could be to make her stand out more to make her look more important, although the singer to her left is wearing the only white and also wears fashionable clothes to make him stand out as well.


















Red Hot Chili Peppers:

Here is an advertisement for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This advert is very effective and eye catching, I think that the main focus of the poster is the colour scheme, it is very unusual for a music advert to be focused on the colour, most adverts focus on the image and making the image as best as possible.
The colours used are very effective and make each individual image stand out. There is not a main image in this advert, each band member fills up a quarter of the page, each one also has a different colour to make each one stand out, everyone stands out in this advert, not one person by himself stands out to make himself look the most important. The title is not bad; the colours are quite plain but are effective although I think the “Chili peppers” doesn’t look that good with the black background.
In the middle of the page is a spiral which gives it a nicer effect and makes the advert look more interesting and makes it doesn’t look as plain.
The images are very good; each band member is pulling their own pose and the black ground makes the images stand out more. I like that the background is black because it means that the title and images are able to stand out because they all have a bright colour to them that makes them all stand out to the audience.


















Disturbed:

I have chosen this DVD advert because it is very different to normal adverts, the main image is very effective and it is very eye catching with the red and orange colours.
I really like the image in this advert, the image is a picture of a demon or monster, and this could suggest that the type of music is going to be dark and evil. The image really stands out on the front; this could be because of the fire behind the demon casting a strong light and effect on the demon making it stand out and look more powerful and eye catching.
The background is a plain black, this could be because it suites the genre and also so that it could make the fire and the image of the demon stand out on the cover. I like the fire in the advert because it also suites the genre and makes the main image stand out and gives it a light effect.
The title on the advertisement is effective because it has a good silver, metal effect which relates to the type of the music and the colour of the font also makes it look good and stands out on the fire.
The font used on this advertisement is appealing and eye catching because it relates to the fire because of the orange colour of the font, most of the things in this advertisement relate to the fire and its colour, the fire plays a vital part on the advertisement. The white font also looks good because of the black background making the white font stand out with the orange text.

Pitch Presentation

The following powerpoint slides are from a presentation we did to our teachers, pitching the idea for our song choice and why we thought we could do it. This powerpoint also includes the intial ideas we had for the music video and the list of roles that every body will be partaking in.

Pitch Slides 1 - 5

Pitch Slides 6 - 10

Rough Story board ideas

These are a couple of rought story board ideas that were put together before we dedicated ourseleves to creating the actual story board. It was basically putting out inital ideas onto a sheet roughtly before we started properly so we could see which direction we were going to go with it.

Eddy's rough ideas for story board

Lawson's story board rough ideas

Narrative theory link

The following paragraph is simply an explanation of how our video links to Todorovs narrative theory

The video is about a man has had a troubled past, demons of a bad lifestyle have caught up to him and he wants to change himself, he enters the church and lets out his feelings, flashbacks of what his life used to be and realises what is important.

I believe that out music video conforms to Todorovs narrative theory but this is a minor conformity. Our initial balance is that the protagonist has a bad lifestyle, living with a bad attitude. This includes being hindrance to other people and hurting himself.

Throughout his time in the church, the narrative then turns to protagonist having a self realisation while having flashbacks about his life. He realises what is important in his life and enters his new state of mind, which is his new equilibrium. He realises now what he must do to change his life.

Final Story Board

These are the final storyboard designs that we ended up with that would then turn into our animatic. We think that this is still a rough guide for us and things will most likely be changed when put into practice however these are the ideas we have as of now.

Storyboard

Killah Force! Logo

This is the Killah Force! logo which has been designed. It is a simplistic design yet conveys grittiness and the dark image of Killah Force! style, put forward by the blood drips. The white outline is for if the logo is displayed on a darker background. On a lighter background it would just be the black design.

Brand Image

This word document that has been produced below is about brand image and how the group (Jedi Mind Tricks) has kept there brand image throughout a lot of there products, and how this can inspire us to do the same.

Killah Force! Brand Image work

Killah Force! Target audience questionnaire

Here is our target audience questionnaire. This questionnaire features 10 questions and gives a quick sneek peek of the logo 1st draft and the final draft of the 1st 5 slides of the storyboard. We will be giving this questionnaire to around 20 people who listen to rap music. This questionnaire will hopefully be able to help us in the proccess of the actual making of the music video.

Survey results

Here are all of the results of the questionnaire that we gave to 13 people. We gave them 10 questions to answer so that we could get feedback from them and see what we could improve in the future for our music video.

1: Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness x2
Eminem – Without Me -
NWA – Express Yourself
Eminem – Love the way you lie x2
Most of eminems
DJ format Ft. Jurassic 5 – We know something
Eminem – Lose yourself
Deception – Blackalicious
Bad boys for life – P-diddy
50 Cent in general
Wu Tang Clan – Gravel Pit

2: Everyone is slow apart from Kid Cudi
The instruments used, the lyrics
The story x2
It’s Graphic
The emotions and energy of the characters
Good beat and good lyrics x2
The lyrics, emotion and anger
Break dancing beat
Stereotypes
Good visuals

3. Kid Cudi x4
Young Jeezy
50 Cent
Tinie Tempah
Eminem x6
Drake
The Game
Kanye West x2
Jay – Z
Lil Wayne
Dr. Dre
Jurassic 5
Cunninglinguists
Jedi Mind Tricks
Blackalicious
NWA
Goretex
Nicki Minaji
MF Doom
Sage Francis
Dan Le Sac

4. Promotion of the artist
Gritty
Interesting storyline
Attractive artist
Exciting and funny
Lots of energy
Needs lots of passion
Mainly performance based
Good storyline x3
Facial emotion
Gangsters
Originality, playing with conventions

5. Looks like a Y x5
Very Urban and current
Shows letters well
Clear and outstanding
Very rap-like
Good integration
Needs some colour
Good idea
Unique

6. Make K more distinct x3
Add colour x6
Add fire or wings
Remove K looking like Y
Add water/ice effect
Put exclamation mark between 2 letters

7. Sometimes x4
All the time x4
A lot x2
Quite a bit x3

8. Good camera movement.
Church is a good location
Shows actions
Good footstep idea
Detail in writing
The man in the archway
Well coloured x2
Good idea of rain at night
Setting of first slide overlay
Detailed camera angles
A lot of detail
Plenty of colours

9. More detail x2
N/A x7
Too vague
More camera angles/movements
Too much information
Doesn’t quite explain the story

10. Think more about editing
N/A x9
Could add sound effects
Shorten bit with lyrics on
Different camera angles
Less time for lip singing

Results Summary

We gave our questionnaire to 13 different people that matched our target audience. Each one had 10 questions relating to our video in some way or another. From these results we will take the pros and cons we can identify and improve on them.

The first question was “What are your favourite rap videos?” For this question the main answer people gave were Eminem. Sometimes it was just non specific and just his name. This indicates that Eminem is widely recognised and is all around likable. His main reason for being noticed originally was the fact that he was a white rapper, different at the time. This shows we need to make our video different and noticeable. Even nowadays a successful white rapper is a rarity, so our main actor is white. This will add to the “being different” factor.

The second question was “What is it about the music video that interests you?” This question had a lot more variation in answers. Lyrics were said to be important about the video so it’s clear that in the video we need to follow the lyrics context. Along with this a few people relied saying that they really like story above all other things. This fits well with the lyrics answer because the lyrics are primarily there to tell a story. Knowing that this is peoples primary desire in a rap video we need to make absolute sure that our video follows context to the letter and execute it well. Visuals are also important as the results state. So we have these in our priorities.

The third question relates back to question 1 and asks “What rap artists do you listen to?” to find out which artists we should use as inspiration to appease our target market. Again, Eminem came up top with almost half the people putting him, followed closely by Kid Cudi and then the second most being Kanye West. So we have gathered that we need to analyse a lot of Eminem’s videos to see what we can incorporate into ours to get the best response we can. The same needs to be done with Kid Cudi and Kanye West. This has let us know what to analyse further in our researching.

The fourth question asks for a more varied opinion on rap videos in general. “What do you think makes a good rap video?” The prevailing answer again is storyline. So this tells us how important playing into context is. Other things that people have put are stereotypes of what are in other rap videos such as seedy, gritty goings on, misery etc. We need to abide to these stereotypes but at the same time stand out of the crowd.

Question 5 came with an image for people to see. We asked for peoples opinion on our logo design. The main problem everyone had with it was that the K we had to represent “Killah” appeared to look like a Y or an X. This was a mistake on our part. We needed to put the K closer to the F so that the 3rd line that makes it look like a Y is hidden. This questionnaire helped us realize the obviousness of it. We’ve now remedied this now.

The 6th question that we asked people was “is there anything that we could improve for the logo?” everyone answered this question and a lot of people said that there needed to be colour added to the logo and quite a few people said that the K in “Killah Force” needed to be changed to look more like a K. All of this feedback was very helpful for us because it was able to show us what we need to change and improve.

Question 7 was a very simple tick question. The question gave the person answering the questionnaire a few options. Most of the people chose all the time, quite a few chose sometimes, a couple of people ticked a lot and some chose quite a bit. These results showed us that the people giving back feedback were the right people to give it to, most of these people listen to rap and this is very important for asking the rest of the questions because we know that we are getting good feedback.

For question 8 I was able to put a few slides from the first page on the storyboard and put them on the questionnaire, this was to give the person an idea/sample of what the storyboard is like. This was very helpful because whatever feedback we received back then we can improve/change it on the actual video. The question was “Here are a few slides from out storyboard, what do you think is good about it?” There were no tick boxes on the question because we needed the person to specify what exactly is good about the storyboard. The feedback was able to help a lot because we were able to see what we could keep and what was good. People answered the question by saying things such as good detail, good colouring etc. Most of the people who answered the question put different things to other people who answered; this is very good because it shows that there were quite a lot of things that were good about the storyboard.

The 9th question was asking the person what they disliked about the storyboard and what was bad. This was a very important question to ask because we needed to see what needs to be improved and what needs to be taken out. 2 people said that there isn’t that much detail. 7 people could not find anyway to improve it, which is a good sign because it means that they couldn’t find any problems with it, some also said that there was nothing bad about it, it was perfect.

The final question asked the person what could be improved for when making to actual music video. 9 people who answered the question said that there was nothing to improve on and it was very good. I did get some feedback though, some people said that there could be more camera angles, could add sound effects and less time for lip singing.

Killah Force! Filming Schedule

This is the fiming schedule that we have produced for our rought cut video, on here in includes the date, where we will be filming, if we need permission to film there or not and what props/equpitment we need

Razorblade Salvation Animatic

Here is our animatic that we have made for our project. We have gathered all of the slides from the storyboard and we have cut them down individually. We have made it in to a music video, the same length of the song that we have chosen. The cover for this video is Razorblade salvation, this is the original song that we had chosen for the task.

Various drafts of work

Here below is a few drafts of pieces of work we have done, which includes a DVD inlay and two adverts . These are by no means our final products but they were early designs that were done that we will be getting feedback for and working on again.

DVD In-Lay Rough Draft