Analysis: Ne Yo- One A Million

With the start of this video , there are white credits going acroos the screen including; entertainment company, picture company and the name of the actual song. You also realise that the beggining of the song, Ne Yo is actually speaking to the two other girls, while they are sitting on the backup dancers lap. This song is in particular related to other music videos, that all follow up on a story and him starting with speaking to the two girls, this doesnt make sense without watching the other videos that all create a full story.
Ne-Yo starts with a devious image, wearing a smart black and white outfit; with black trousers, and a white shirt, with a matching black tie and black hat, something that people relate to him with as it is a stuck to his image and helps for him to get related to.  The white in his outfit connotes innocence and purity but this is highly contrased with his black trousers that dennote darkness and devious intentions. These two are both a weird good and abd mic, something that is protrayed throughout the video, wiht him liking and flirting with the main girl but than moving his focus form the main girl to other girls and flirting with them.

There are female actors are overly galmorised in this genre, but in this case the main girl is in casula clothing not too much makeup and normal hair, keeping it real and to the level of normal people, not like other females in videos in this genre. although this is relaistic approach is taken, there is still a big attraction for the male gaze, as the natural real women factor is used and so she still does stand out, this is linked ot the lyrics with Ne-Yo saying 'makes your soul stand out from all the rest'. The main female actor is playin hard to get, with Ne-Yo having to constantly going after her. This story can be realted to real life., as throughtout there are female with a gaze on Ne-Yo, but the girl he is after pays no attention to him, tryin to act unintersted.

The set of this video, is mostly on a city street in either LA or NY. We find out very easily that it is set in the uSA as we go in the video, the cab, busy streets and the shops.
There are a few areas where some special effects ahve been added, suhc as when he gives her the flower, or when he stops in fornt of the cab, other movements include his hand movements whilst dancing.
Towards the end there is a fade to black, and ther there is the line of 'TO BE CONTINUED', this idea that is done by Ne-Yo, fro a subtle move from music video to just movie, as tehre are different sequences shwon in as music videos. This is a clever diea ot keep bringing back viewers, keeping them ready adn hooked onto the story so they will definately go onto the next video to watch it finihs on forward form the cliff hanger.

Promotion- Above the line + Below the line

There are many ways for promotion of a product or service, i will be talking about two in particular; above the line promotion and below the line promotion, i elaborate on the two below.

Starting with above the line promotion, this type of promotion focuses on using methods for mass media and aiming at a large/mass audience. Type of above the line promotion include; print, online media, television and even cinema advertising. An example is for the music industry, it is key for them as they need to let people know when the artists will release a new album or song. This is represented in many forms in terms of above the line. Recently the boost has been towards using Youtube and to have an advertisement on Youtube is effective, due to the website being a common place to listen to music from, channel such as VEVO, it allows advertisements before the actual video plays, banners, website promotions and even the creation of Youtube pages for the artist or band. All of the listed are forms of 'above the line promotion'. It is difficult to tailor a promotion to a specific group of people through above the line and this is because it is viewed by a mass audience will all different needs and demands making above the line very expensive as well.

Another form of promotion is 'Below the line', this is a more specific type of promotion and are memorable focused activities targeted to consumers, in  a way under the control of an organisation. Group which are defined group such as specific genre consumers e.g: rap, pop and rock. These are specified and clearly defined group, that are targeted specifically rather then mass targets These are consumers/people who have promotion towards them using above the line activity. Using these the purpose is to develop the brand by creating awareness and building a brand profile. Other below the line methods include; Sponsorship, telesales, direct marketing, public relations, sale promotions and personal selling.  An example of some sort could be towards the sales promotion which links in with direct selling. This is below the line and could be done by smaller artists who have less to spend on marketing, promotion. Using direct selling and promotion outside venues where music is related maybe a show is happening for a larger artist and their maybe a queue of some sort, the smaller artist could be going around to the people in the approaching them about their music or albums. This usually happens and occurs when the music genre of the artist with the concert is similar or the same to the artist that is smaller doing direct sales/promotion. E.g: rap artist is having a concert and there is a queue, smaller rap artist goes around trying to sell his albums or promote himself but usually both.

Shooting Day 3-19/12/12 Location-Highstreet

Today we went out planned to shoot a lot of the storyboard with numerous clips, this is what we achieved. We set out to Kingston and knew about a very good car park, again with roof being in use, although this car park had something different about it, it had one straight piller which figures out the main artist Angle(Harris) from the rest of the scenery and this was very effective, we used this in contrast to some locations which big name artist use in their videos, sometimes we could not entirely do but, achieved it in a similar but not the same manner and it was very effective. In addition for this shoot we used the tri-pod an effective accessory to the camera. At the roof a few different shots, we tried a panning shot, handheld and just keeping the artist center and tracking him around.

 We also went to the highstreet and tried a few differnet shots, we tried a panning shot, tracking shot and stills. Below is a shot where we wanted Angle to connect with the audeince, looking directly at them in a sense by him not looking any where else and he was very close up to the camera. These shots that i just spoke were those shot in the higstreet as you see below.

Lastly our final location was the Kingsoton, Bentalls shopping centre. We only got two shots here, something we could use as a cutaway as the shots were diffeicult to procede with, they were difficult due to the busy christmas shopping period and so a large amount of people were there, this meant taht even ahving a tripod in a space was hard to execute, so many people coming in the way and the tripod being in the way for some, so we had to resort to handheld shots. We got a POV-(point of view) shot that we could use, where we have a person walking past Angle whilst he is listnening.

Shooting Day 2

Shooting day 2 another few shots added, that can be used for the cut aways also performance shots. We did not have that much time, but got some good shots. We based the shots around Angle and we did get one or tow shots that may be unnecessary such as with him searching the actual song.

Shoot Day 1-05/12-Location: Rooftop

We had one of our important locations tested and shooted some of this footage, which possibly be used for the final video. This location was the rooftop of a car park, on New Malden high street. We have thought of some very good ideas for the final video, in addition we had previously learnt the importance of cut-away and so saw a major opportunity to shoot some today at the rooftop, we had learnt this from our research, where we could see a lot of cut-aways used which allowed and let the viewer piece by piece create the location of the particular shot.
We had also learnt something very important to look out for whilst doing this shoot, which was about the lighting, which could show your shadow, in addition is the, camera angle and which way the camera is facing.

You may just be able to see the shadow on the bottom left, this was one of the problems we realised instantly, the cameraman needs to be placed in accordance with the artist but somewhere that the artist is not deeply effected by the natural light in their eyes or the camera and the cameraman are not effected either, as the if the sunlight went into the shot, it destroys the surroundings in the shot, scenery and usually that frame or shot would go bright white and the camera struggles to focus, finding the right positions and angles was difficult but, in the end we were able to get good shots.We were able to find angles where neither factor would be effected, examples of this are shown below.

Analysis: K Koke- Turn back ft. Maverick Sabre

This video is by K Koke featuring Maverick Sabre and is called Turn Back, K Koke is a new artist in the main stream market, part of the USG group. This video is to do with the change that happens from being on the streets, acting out as a gangster carrying out wrong stuff, to now being quite successful and being well known and making money, it is there to show him leaving or trying to leave his old lifestyle.

The location used throughout is the broken down, typical mass estate in London, we can see his clothing being casual wear nothing to much, such as other people  living in the flats wearing; hoodies and tracksuits.
Throughout this video there is a story being told, where there is hardship, how he feels, what he went through and hat his mum went through, how he had to live his life when he was younger and how he lives it now.

K Koke uses an actor fro the role of a teenager, facing issues with drugs, gangsters, single parent, poverty and general struggles of life, this is a story being told, where metaphorically he is talking about his own lifestyle as a younger kid. In the video you can see the stereotype of estates, with hoodies, thieves, drugs, gangs, weapons and a tough life.

Test shots with Angle(Harris) + Wretch 23(Shaq)

Our lead singer and the main artist on this song, Angle(Harris) and featuring Wretch 23, i thought of testing their lip syncing/singing and with that to record some test shots. Due to these test shots, i have learnt many things to look out for whilst, producing and recording shots, overall it has been very successful with me gaining knowledge on how to gain the best possible result on the final music video.

In many music videos they have informal endings or leave at the point of something gone wrong in a video or even some bloopers, this kind of footage engages the audience making them feel closer to artist, such as getting some back stage access to the star. In this clip it is performed by Wretch 23, just a simple dance and then a point to the camera. Even something this simple could be used in the ending to the final music video.

 

This shot is something that could represent the lyrics, whilst previously going through troubles and issues- represented within parts of the lyrics. Now the star/artist is successful, living the dream and people/fans looking up to him and so as a possible transition shot, this could be the camera representing the people/fans who look up to him and the artist just walking down the street. Simple but yet again, very effective in its purpose. Issues faced were the lighting, looking up to the artist could means that the sky and other areas where there was light colours they turn white, really effecting the camera shot. In addition was the shaky camera, recorded by me, i understand what that this can be conquered with either additional accessories to the camera such as the tripod or the method of me holding the camera; i tried afterwards using this technique of elbows tucked in and camera has two arms and the body to stabilise on, i found this to be very helpful and effective.
This clip is with Ashad, a member of the group who is a backup to Angle and so thought to test him as well as testing the shots. In this clip the movement of the camera, personally i think is very good with the flow of the lyrics and the action of Ashad. This is something i hope to achieve in the recording for the final video, it will really add as the artist needs to perform and that this is shown but the camera also needs to add for an improvement to the overall video, bringing up the excitement expressed by the artist, this is achieved with clever movements of the camera, keeping with the rhythm, lyrics actions of the artist and overall keeping it in good pace. I feel this clip was a good example of what sort of camera movements could be added to the final video.

Another shot performed by Harris(Angle), this time in the park for some additional practise with lipsyncing and in terms of location this is probably not something we will be using in the final video, this is down to the genre the artist's and the song represent, with grime and rap as the main themes, this is not the ideal place, although it could possibly be used for a shot in the storyline part of the video. The only issue again, would have to be the lighting, as you can see it is not great and wouldn't look good in the final video and definitely does not look professional.


In this clip you can see the level of performance is very high, done by Shaq-Wretch 23, this is something we definitely aim to do in our final video, with him being the feature in the video, we will expect this level if not better and aim to do this throughout our final video. The lighting is much better then the other clips, understandable of why this is. In addition the location of this clip could be a location used in the final music video. Lastly the movement of the camera, is in line with the lyrics, rhythm and actions of the artist. As mentioned before something we will definitely doing and performing in our final music video.

Infuential Videos: Wiz Khalifa- Work Hard Play Hard

This song is by the artist 'Wiz Khalifa' and is called- 'Work Hard Play Hard'. This video does really relate to our song in the way that it motivated a person, as we go on we are focusing more on the kid becoming popular, will known and in conclusion being a successful artist. This song is definitely something that is in a similar genre, maybe not the visual or the actual story exactly in the video but, this definitely relates to the main principal being Go In Go Hard, our song. They both mean and show that you need to work hard and go in whilst you are doing it, for you to be able to achieve something good. In this Wiz Khalifa video its all about, people working doing there own jobs, all motivated and doing there own thing not lazy or inefficiently, but actually working hard, the result of working hard than leads to playing hard, which is seen at the end of the video, where Wiz gets all the workers acting in the video into one club/room, they mess about and have  party. Wiz Khalifa could be relating to him self for this song, that now he is playing and living life how he wants, due to him putting in focus and attaining the factor of playing hard.


In this video it is not the conventional music video about achieving in life, as other rappers have done this, but is not on this sort of focused level, as other rappers tend to show their wealth and are on a bit more towards the serious level, in comparison to this, keeping it in a celebration mode and showing that something has been achieved in our case it would be the actor to become a real famous artist. In the way we are to portray this is by having him struggle, having to work really hard, keep on going and stay motivated until he reaches the top level of his abilities, he will have a bully, someone who will be deterring him and demotivating him and a girl who pushing him forward, this means tow forces battling it out and as all good videos/stories end the good guy wins beating, with even the bully coming onto his side congratulating him. In comparison to Wiz Khalifa's video they people are there working really hard, they are working to the best of their abilities, Although instead of our take where the main character would become famous, in this video all the people party and have fun, play hard. There is a clear link between the lyrics and the visuals, this works very effectively to get the point across and we will be doing basically the same sort of method, although we will have performance and narrative on continuous strip, some not related and most of it connected to the lyrics.
In terms of the camera angle, the shots throughout are mid shots, this could be represent full focus on the artist, as well as the surroundings, in a sense the people who are behind him, the location is set, letting people know the whole story, another reason could be that the song is not just about him, having the mid shot, gives the chance for other people in the video to be seen, as it is about those who work hard an play hard, there is no full focus on the artist as it is not just about him an he is targeting to all people, although even with this we still having the artist giving attention, by maintaining the eye contact directly towards the audience.

A comment left by a fan/viewer of the song by Wiz Khalifa

Analysis: Eminem- When I'm Gone

This video is by Eminem called, When Im Gone, this video doesn't not face the usual conventions of a rap video. it doesn't portray a gangster, money, power and rich life, instead is portrays a deeper message to hard struggle brought to artists and some could be in this position, with clever use of editing, lighting and face expressions, there is a certain message of a gloomy mood and a sad message.
There is a mix though as some parts are nto as clear as others, such as Eminem keeping the stadards away from the conventional rap image, but in his performance shtos he is wearing a baggy costume. Also the mix is the part of him being verry emotional thorughout, giving off the sense that he has had this happen to him, relating to family, with emotions and gestures.

This video is mainly about how in a way his ego came betwee him and his family almost seperated them, but with the help of the little girl and a bit of sense that is avoided. The video does have some important performance shots but, the key in this video is the narrative which in this case is the real situation and is explained through this video.
There is a great link between the lyrics and the visual, with all that is being said is shown on the video. The video is a great example of the struggles and the downsides to becoming an artist or even jsut famous, in this video specifically capturing what life used to be like and what it is now. The colour scheme throughout is pretty dull, with mostly black and grey visuals and not much lighitng used.
The quick and effective cut in and out in the video worked very well,  as it is tiem with teh beat at some mpoint when it needs to be jumpy to fit the lyrics.

Analysis: Eminem- No Love ft. Lil Wayne

The following music video I have chosen to analyse is ‘No Love’ by Eminem featuring Lil Wayne. The main narrative of the video is of a young boy being bullied but is being throughout inspired to fight back by Eminem and Lil Wayne, in a way acting as mentors.

The first 30 seconds of the video starts with transitions of different clips including;  a boy being hit with dodge balls by three older boys, being pushed around by them afterwards in a locker room and this all during the start. There are also shots of posters in the boy’s bedroom of Eminem and Lil Wayne, one of which is a promotional poster for the film ‘8 Mile’ (which Eminem starred in). This is to start off the video with an immediate scenario straight away, to show that the video obviously has a theme of bullying and inspiration. The posters are to establish the fact that these are the artists in this music video and that it seems that the boy being bullied is a fan of their music. It could also show that both the artist face similar hardship, possibly bullying or in relation to this.

Lil Wayne then starts to sing his part of the song, singing in front of a dark and smoky background- this being the centre of the performance in the video, there are than transitions with clips of the boy being bullied and listening to music in between. The dark background portrays feelings of negativity and darkness, this is being emphasised by Lil Wayne’s lyrics;

• ‘Throw dirt on me, and grow a wildflower’- That the way and manner he acts now is due to the dirt thrown on him, the troubles he faced, he still grew and continues on his path, but with struggles.
• ‘You can keep knocking, but won’t knock me down’- Detailing the manner where there are many points at which they try to break him down, keeping getting at him, keep knocking, but he wont fall down or back down, but wont knock me down.

Eminem comes out the car and enters a studio, which is seen in the upcoming shots.
After this the boy is in the toilet and there is another bullying scene, than Lil Wayne finishes his part of the song and Eminem steps in, whilst this there seems to be projection of images, showing images of a jungle gym, monkey bars, fences and dark clouds. These images could represent the school life and also playgrounds, this could be to represent the places where the boy could get bullied and the clouds showing to be the dark days and bad moments of the child life being another sign of negativity.
From here onwards things change, the boy and his ways are going to change, although the imagery is showing else wise.
The next scene is where the boy comes up and is walking down in the school after listening to some music, the previous day. The lyrics say else wise such as;

‘You show me nothing but hate, you ran me into the ground, but what comes around goes around’

‘You get no love’

 ‘You can never break my stride’- This is the key simplifier in the video on this part, the visuals are the boy walking down in the school, where the bullies approach him, this is where the inspiration and rebelling starts.

From here where Eminem raps', the slideshow pictures change, you can see sunshine, dark pictures are not their anymore, sunshine and normal lighter clouds. The boy is approached, the 3 bullies come across while he is on his stride. There is an aggressive tone and harsh rapping of the lyrics, these combined with the serious look on the boys face imply that he is going to do something about the current state of the  bullying but, not on his won with the help of both rappers, motivating him with the music and inspiring him.
After this is where he stands up to the bullies proving the previous statement, although strangely there are three different endings, Eminem finishes his rap and the chorus comes in, with no love. In the first ending, the boy punches one of the bullies, trying to escape but gets caught by another guy. Another ending shows the boy just beating all of them up, with some clever editing involved during this editing section, there are same wave forms shown from the punches and does not get hurt. The last one, he is simply going away, walking away from the opportunity of fighting. This is clever and something not seen in other videos or even movies for that fact. Although these 3 could be different view expressed, could even be there fro the audience to guess which one actually happens but at the end of the day it could simply be because usually when yous tick up to bullies you have to face them physically but it could be that the rappers do not want to send a message that fighting  is the right way and walking away is just the positive option.
In the end you can see many artist shown in the end finishing off the chorus, this could be that other artists like the ones shown, faced issues of bullying and overcame this issue, with inspirational figures and music. Also with the various endings , these clips may act as if the rappers are almost the guardians for the boy and looking over him, being that inspirational figure to stand up for himself, overall inspiring him to do something, partially through the music.
Lil Wayne in his parts of the songs portrays the part of what has happened, how the boy is and what has happened, while Eminem shows the upbringing and the spirit/inspiration bought towards the boy getting up and fighting for himself.

Record Company

Angel overall in his songs does produce his own songs as he is a record producer. Although he is singed to, two labels in particular who are his distributors and promoters and would also help to produce songs.

One of the labels is 'Island records UK' this label is heavily involved with Angel due to being the UK label of that company and Angel situated in the UK as well. This company can be said to be the company that lifted Angel and brought him to being a mainstream artist.

The second label is 'Universal Republic', this company is heavily situated all over the globe, mainly America. The reason for this is that UMG (Universal Music Group) is the parent company and over looks his songs that he produces, alongside with Island records. These two labels also connect due to island Records distributes for Universal Republic.
The fact of the matter is that two are both inevitably are owned by the same conglomerate, 'Universal Music Group', this company has the largest shares in a music company business. Although if you go even higher UMG is owned by Vivendi, the massive giant in; Mass Media and Telecommunications.

Other artists signed to Island Records worldwide include; Akon, Justin Beiber, Mariah Carey, Alex Clare, Taio Cruz, Dappy, Jennifer Lopez and even PSY.
In overall fact i can state that these are then un-offically signed to and are working for Universal Republic but in fact are mainly signed to Island and UMG.

Genre Research

The song choice being 'Angel-Go In Go Hard ft Wretch 32', the genre is a mix of Pop, R&B and Grime. This is due to him having the ability to rap but then more recently has averted to a more grimy pop genre for his songs. More grime due to him having a different style of Pop compared to other artists who are in the Pop genre. Artist who represent Pop in the diferent manner and are at the top in recent days include; Katy Perry, Beyonce, Rihanna, Usher, Once Direction, Adele and Bruno- Mars.Some of these Pop artists also come into the next genre, R&B these other artists include; Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, R.Kelly and Jay Sean. Finally the artist in the Grime scene, Dizzee Rascal who was said to be one of the first to bring the genre to the attention o not just the UK but the world, due to some very important tracks for that genre. Other artists in Grime include; Kano, Ghetto, Clique Movement and Lady Sovereign.
Having about 3 genres covering his music, Angel then gains a vast amount of the target market as well, being able to appeal to a large amount of people who are interested in the specific genres.

Influential Videos

Jaja Soze ft Steelo - That's who I am 

This video is a influential video due to the relation with the idea we had, of the kid growing up, contrasting to him in the old ways and how he is now living is life. Although our idea is different in terms of our kid is chasing for the dream and aiming to be a star, whilst in comparison to this video, which is based on 'Jaja' the artist and how he was on the wrong path, doing some bad things and how he is now doing well in terms of music and life. In this video there are a few shots that we can think to use, such as when the younger version of 'Jaja', it freezes and says 'Jaja' also the shot where the younger version comes out of the college and the camera is looking up at home and behind him in contrast is the college and the name of it.

The camera shots were clever and very effective, showing that who is a t the top or he feels like that because he has achieved something in life(jaja), this hot was i the roof, similar to what we plan to do. In addition the transitions were smooth, cutaways were effective and you do not realise it as there is continuos editing.  There are a wide range of mid shots and high shots were the camera looks up at jaja once he has achieved the main objective of changing his ways and becoming a better person and achieving in his music. There was some very quick editing, showing the names, places and the times. Some shots were directly looking at the camera and performing which gives that sense of looking and communicating directly with the audience, sending a message, of wrong doings. Also there a lot of close ups on jaja's face signifying the pain and stress, from his wrong doings in the past. for editing there are some moments where the camera freezes and zoom in, showing the key elements, such as when he shakes hands with the guy leading him on the wrong path.

Overall in the video the shots were based and followed the setting of the lyrics, so both interlinked and worked very well, in addition there is the storyline which is Simultaneously showing the performance and the story line, something we have planned to do as well.

Initial Pitch-draft

Angel - Go In Go Hard ft. Wretch32

Simultaneously showing performance and the story line.

Wretch- Shaq

Angel- Ashad? –Harris?

Story: The maturing of a kid becoming an adult. The kid then is living up to his dream to become an artist.

·     Showing the change from young to old

·     The transformation of the dream; chasing it and then achieving it

·     Use trees, cars and lifts for transformations

·     Keeping contrast but also variety of performance shots

·     Example: Kid writing lyrics with headphones on and in contrast of him grown up in the studio singing

·     Instruments and dancing on stage

·     Location: Car park roof, Stage in school, Park, Studio, College/University, Estate and Lift.

·     Keeping the look of a grime but in contrast with pop and R&B

Opening shot: younger version of the singer walking down the road listening to music in his headphones. He will then turn a corner as the song starts and then he will become the older version of himself.

Establishing shot showing the kids whole body and the street, then show a close up of his feet as he is walking. Followed by a side on shot and a shot over the shoulder. Finishing with a front on shot as he turns the corner.

The singer would start singing for few seconds then it will change to the performance shot on the roof. The performance shots will be continuously switching between each other throughout the video. This will be in conjunction with the storyline.

In order for the performance shots not to be tedious, some of the performance shots will be introduced later on; there will be shots with each artist within them and shots were they are together in the shots a two shot.

Lyrics-‘cant give up the fight’- having the older version shadow boxing. Preparing for a run.

The different clip and cut away: writing lyrics on a notepad, microphone, drawing guitar in detention, practicing in front of the mirror, running for the bus.

Group working - pics

Ashad doing the screen list draft copy

Me and Shaquille are just putting some finishing touches to the editing of our lip-sync, this is now finished and will be on the blog.

Shaquille working on the group blog; in particular he is adding to the post on videos which have influenced us.

Music video analysis- Rihanna man down

Rihanna- Man Down


This video is by Rihanna called man down.
The video starts with the star image, Rihanna and her being the main star. She comes from a dark lighting in a room and watches the man get shot in a crowded area. This is a very strong start for the video but could be due to the problems Rihanna may have faced during the time around the making of this video. One thought is towards the complicated relationship with Chris Brown after the big beat-up things have been on and off in terms of their relationship. I feel that there are many scenes in this video expressing the way Rihanna may be feeling. It moves to  a black screen, then shows text saying, 'yesterday morning' and it moves straight back to the star, Rihanna. Her image is shown as playful and as some sort of local queen. She is happy with everyone and the people are happy with her and this is including children.
After this local scene and her on the bicycle, establishing shots, it moves onto her around with some of her thug mates, these could be there to show she is protected and to act strong even though she is to be insecure and hurt from the incident with Chris Brown.
Again it goes back to story and performance, but mainly to the shots where Rihanna dominates the screen and she is the visual. Soon after she is at a party and is with dancing with another man, could be signify or Rihanna's way of sending a message to Chris Brown. She goes and takes off at the side, this could be a signifier in the story part where she is waiting got be approached by a target of some  sort. She is approached by the guy shot at the beginning and they start ot dance. From here is what she could be relating to what actually happened to her in real life, in accordance with the incident involving Chris Brown.The man who is later on shot, follows Rihanna and this is attraction of sort and from here on the man gets a bit aggressive and forces him self to be with Rihanna. This could be seen in comparison to Chris Brown being aggressive and assaulting towards Rihanna.
In the end it shows the Rihanna to be running to the draw and getting hold of a pistol, which was therefore used to kill the man, leading to one thing and answering who the killer was.

Target audience to Rihanna on the whole is; mainly girls and some boys ages 19-21 with them being White and black. Also due to her clever marketing, the fans she had are crazy about her star image, who is alos a fashion icon and is a big trend-sitter. Who can be said ot be a big role-model for the audeince who may have had relationship problems or feel they can realte to her music. Rihanna is also an artist who stands fro womens and that of empoweremtn, this is something that is shown through her new image and videos.
 In terms of her image it has definately changed and i also have a post upon this top and you can find this stopic elaborated more on teh post.
Throughout the video is voyeurism and this is the normal image shown throughout Rihanna's videos due to her new image and this is something that is there to in a way satisfy some of the people who watch the video. She often expresses sex appeal and mostly wears tihgt clothing for the gaze in attraction or for the seducement of some. Getting so much intrest and gossip over her, and basically a lot of attention, something the audeince feel they ened and so follo the way she dresses or acts like her.
All in all i think that the video is Rihanna's way of expressing the events, showing her opinion and her thoughts but also a consequence and a message possibly to Chris brown. Although this contradicts to what is happening now, with the two doing a song together.

Album Art

I felt it was necessary to research album art, it will be very helpful due to gaining a greater understanding of what styles are used and messages which are expressed by modern and past era artists, helping to know what kind of art we will show on our album this will ensure once we complete our music videos that there will be an album with art representing either the artist or what they specifically wish to express, some examples of this are shown below.

 

<- Adele-Adele 21.

Bob Marley & The Wailers, Uprising. ->

<- Jay z ft Linkin Park.
In relation to one song but a cover has been made for that song.

Christina Aguilera, Bi-on-ic. ->

This is the 4th studio album Bionic.

 

<- T.I. Paper Trail.

Paper Trail theme for T.I.'s post-prison comeback, building an incredibly intricate portrait collage out of scrap paper and money.

Trey Songz, Passion, pain & pleasure. ->



<- Labrinth, Electronic Earth.
Close up and in a pair of aviator style sunglasses with a futuristic skyline complete with an alien ship in the reflection.

Schoolly, Schoolly D.
Content to just self-produce and run his own label. ->

 

<- Lil Wayne Tha Carter 3.

One of the many series of 'Tha Carter' He mainly poses and features a little kid.

Tinie Tempah, Disc-Overy ->

Star Image-Rihanna

Star Image- How it can change over time

Since 2005 Rihanna's image has changed due to mostly her audience need, interests and for their satisfaction. I also believe an event in her personal life has averted her star image.
Rihanna's first music video single "Pon de Replay" in her debut alum called "Music of the Sun".


In this album her star image was illustrated as a pure complete innocent, good girl. Her music was categorized as reggae due to her Caribbean backgrounds. Rihanna's image within the music videos in "Music of the Sun" is seen as a very pure and innocent girl who was very recently discovered. Her main iconography at this moment was her natural beauty, innocence and her background played a huge part in her image. She was seen as a role model to young girls as she was a teenager whose dreams had recently come to life and was seen as an inspiration to young teenagers, that is is possibile to do what Rihanna has done.

In 2007, Rihanna's image has entirely changed in her attitude out of music and in relation to her album "Good girl gone bad", suggestions of this change are hinted in the tittle of her album. She has changed mainly within the industry by becoming edgy, mischievous and outspoken. Visual change, towards her image was, that she cut her hair very short and dyed it all black. Slowly with the start from this album and this year, her work started heading towards a different genre, producing more dance, hip hop sounds instead of the reggae sounds.


Rihanna's take on her change, as explained by her was that she felt, every album puts you into a different mood, which then requires change, it then has an effect on the music.
The change once again is een particualry in her song "umbrella", where her new image is properly introduced and shown to the world.

Another signifant factor towards her change, the inicdent she had with her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, when she was badly beaten up. Rihanna claimed that the expereince was for good and for abused womne to speak out or leave their partners. This whole incident made her whole look of being bad go down, portraying her as a victim, making her look vulnerable and innocent, this led to a lot of people becoming very supportive torwards her.

Since that incident, she has changed her image once more, semming more matured, a bit more playful, visually her hair is the biggest change dying it bright red, she seemsto be driven towards powerful ballards. Her current transformaiton is a mixture of features from her previous albums/images. It is now a new, original mix of Rihanna, being her self, something we as audience can relate to. She is defiantely know seen ad a inspiring fashion icon, becoming a massive trend setter, for clothes and hairstlyes.

In conclusion Rihanna has changed her star image greatly over the time period of her career, starting as an innocent reen quenn, later on bein edgy, releious-following envents of her personal life and finally to her hair colour being red, although this has been a major hit upon people. Her fan base and to whom her star image is represented at has expanded over time in her career, just as a her image has changed. Her constant changing image has helped her to stay relevant in the ever cahnngin music industry.

 

Music video directors

Gil Green

Gil has always been into music and especially hip hop and rap. He started as a DJ and then took his passion further, to study Film at the New York University, his thesis was what got him the attention nationally. He had directed a music video and being successful enough to be featured on MTV and BET channels.
His music videos are orginal, authentic and have a creative edge, this is due to his life xperiences and exposure to many sub-cultures, in an interview he had said ' I'm about telling stories... music videos are mini-movies to me.' He has shot over 100 videos expanding market from, latin, popo and the European market. Catering for massive, succesful artists including; John Legend, Usher, Timbeland, Diddy, Akon, Nelly, R Kelly, 50 Cent, Natasha Bedengfields, Lil wayne, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Common ,Three 6 Mafialastly DJ Khaled and many, many more.

Gil green has been named, the 'Top Music Video Director' in the Source;s power 30 edition furthermore he has bene nominated 'Director Of The Year' for 2008, 2009 and 2010. He won 2008 MTV video Music Award for Best Hip Hop video for his direction in Lil Wayne's-Lollipop video.

In terms Gil Green and Dj Khaled, i feel both fall into category for me where i admire and really like the two as people and Director/Artists. The two have worked together on numerous occasions, below is a screenshot of some of the videos the have worked together on. I think that both have a similar vision and is the reason for so many succesful directed videos by Gil Green and songs by the DJ Khaled.

 Gil still continues to expand his directing talents into various meduims. Some of his recent expansion work, has directed the 2010 opening introduction for teh Miami Heat, it featured Dwanyne Wafe, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. The next is his directing and filming a Pepsi commercial and music video for the 2010 World Cup, featuring famous football stars; Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres.
You can see that wether it be videos or commercials, Gil's creative palette expands through several visual meduims. Gil's near future ambition is to go towards feature films. He says 'My goal as a film maker is for the viewer to see it once and think about it twice.'

Mood Board

MoodBoard on Prezi

Goodwin’s Theory- Wiz Khalifa I roll up

Mr. Phillips- Goodwin’s Theory-Wiz Khalifa I roll up

Due to our current idea for our music video to be a rap video, I felt that it would be useful to also research a rap video but in relation to Goodwin’s Theory.

Wiz Khalifa is seen as an up and coming hip hop rapper, therefore I felt it was a good idea to study his music video "Roll Up".

The key features Andrew has said to be in the video are all used in the current example by Wiz, the features include: to demonstrate genre characteristics, show a relationship between lyrics and visuals; illustrating, amplifying and contradicting, next is the demands of the label such as close-ups, then frequently refer to notions of looking and voyeurism and lastly intertextual relations.

The costume designs for Khalifa and the other characters fit in very well with the artist wearing baggy jeans, baseball jacket and a massive gold chain throughout the video. Other costumes used were tank tops and flat peaked caps which we have already found out suit the genre, rap, hip-hop. When the artist is rapping in one particular location there was a big graffiti wall in the background which many viewers can automatically associate with this genre and because of this frequent use we could easily fit this into our video or something to combine street and rich. We also saw close ups of the rapper which we are always going to seen in a rap video and this also adheres to the part of Goodwin's theory that the record label make sure the artist is the biggest part in the video with there being a lot of close-up’s. Also there are many shots of other main characters including the girl he can be said to referring the song to, however we were always sent back to Khalifa which we expected as he is the artist and the centre of attention.
When it came to the relationship between the lyrics and visuals, Khalifa definitely amplified the main lyric "I Roll Up" with a storyline shown of him attending in different places to this girl - perhaps his girlfriend and also the editing of shots and the movement of his hand are shown to be rolling up adding emphasis to this, during the chorus there was the very effective camera technique which looked like it continued to roll up and down referring to the lyrics well. It would roll up into the sun and come back down - each time it came down the artist would be in the centre of the frame. I found this was a very effective addition to the video and it certainly amplified the lyrics of the song. This could be something we bring into our video; this makes the video flow a lot better, as it doesn't jump from one shot to another, and instead moves easily from one location into another, making it look very professional and is very effective.
The relationships between the music and the visuals aren’t that illustrative or amplifying in my opinion, there were often many establishing shots, such as shots of sun, palm trees, the beach and basketball courts. The song is fairly relaxed so slow pan shots and slow motion shots seemed to set the mood of the chilled out song well. This was the same with editing, that the editing was in conjunction with the beat of the song and not fast and crazy editing but relaxed.
In terms of voyeurism in the video, there is a brief moment that can be described to be in the video, with the girl the artist is talking about and to. The main girl in the video is shown, with her features shown at in some point of the video, haven chosen a girl who is curvaceous and directing it to the viewers attention although this is not as much for the viewer but saying that the artist gets beautiful girls like that, lips and eyes and face are signified mostly, wearing clothing which is revealing and is also expressed slightly by the friends of the girl as well.

Analysis of 13E8

This music video, does capture some key elements, the lighting in some areas of the video is good, not many props are seen, locations are basic; mainly based in around one room. There is emphasis and a connection with the lyrics and visual video shots. The actual lipsyncing is good in the parts that there is lipsyncing, which there aren't that many parts which are lip synced, a lot of the song are just still shots of the main artist in the frame. There are a lot shots emphasising her lips and eyes, which is good, this the only really sign of connection with the audience, as in other shots she doesn't really focus or look in the camera, for that feel of connection to the audience. There are some very good uses of cutaways, where you do not really recognise it has occurred, some areas where very well thought ideas to the storyboard and others weren't so good.
It seems as this video was a bit rushed, quick locations were set, some lipsyncing was good but other was not exactly on point this could be partially down to the editing. The actual acting looked like it was well suited to the song, although there could be a few changes in the facial expression differentiating form the storyline and the performance, even if the song has a certain genre or mood.
The lighting in a few shots could be significantly improves, as at one point i thought there was a black gap, but than i realised there was a figure (the artist). In terms of the artist making the song look realistic and get their point across legitimately, there seemed to be a bit of hesitation and a lack of confidence.
Her body language was unclear, with the mix of misenscene, because in one way it seemed as if the song was to show this style of acting form the artist but, at points it felt as if she was just naturally like that, possibly a bit unclear of her role and shy, as said before lack of confidence, which defiantly helps to secure viewers for the video.

Voyeurism 50 Cent- Candy Shop

Voyeurism of 50 Cent- Candy Shop

In this video, the image of a hip hop / rappers life is shown, living a luxurious lifestyle, with women, jewellery and expensive cars, 50 Cent being a famous example for this.

 Also in the video it is mostly female voyeurism, with voyeuristic treatment of the female body, in this case with use of dancers, these are to endorse the male artist’s ego. During this video there is a combination of some long shots and close-ups, showing numerous females, dressed in revealing clothing, all acting very seductive towards the artist, 50 Cent, this all helps to portray his luxurious lifestyle to the audience. This could be something wanted by some teenage boys, who see 50 cent as an idol.

There is voyeuristic treatment to the female body throughout the video, but also some voyeuristic shots of 50 Cent, with him being topless, showing that perhaps in this video males are also to be treated in this manner. This is just then one example, demonstrating the target market of hip hop / rappers, to be reaching to females as well as the males.

Analysis of I Made It- Kevin Rudolf

 Music video project

Below is the presentation analysis of the music video 'I made it' by Kevin Rudolf Featuring Birdman, Jay Sean and Lil Wayne.

Reflection on AS work

Above is my year 12 AS project with my group; Ashad and Vithush, we created this opening sequence. I think overall we didn't do to badly, with some key features of an opening sequence included such as; a wide variety of camera angles, well structured storyboard, good locations, strong performance, good editing and good sound.
Initially we did waste a lot of time on research and planning, we thought about many different takes that we could do, ideas were being discussed but we weren't getting anywhere. Although as we went along we managed to collaborate a few ideas, in a way creating our final project. I feel that are locations were something that we received positively on many occasions as feedback from people watching the video. We definitely could have improved on the plan of shooting, where solely organise the day to shoot, edit etc. Due to lacking in this we did effect the other actors' lesson time partially. Although this was something him and his teacher understood so was not a major issue, our main character Ashad, was a strong, confident lead character who understood how to portray out story in the right manner, with face expressions, gestures and movements of the body.
Another big piece that we could and should have changed, was the length of the chase scene up to the roof, this could have been shortened as it just seemed way too long and extended, all around the high street. The lighting was mostly positive and well sued although there should have been much more consistency, in addition we could have payed much more attention to the misenscene, in particular the other actors' clothing, his acting also could haven been improved, in comparison it was not as effective.
In terms of editing, i think the shots were placed very well, cutaways at the right time, smooth transition to the next shot with no stuttering, the middle of the story in the lift, was to release the tension and create a bit of relationship between the audience and the character, for them to feel sorry and connect with Asahd the main character.
Some challenges we faced include the; lift scene with one moment the camera being left in the lift for one scene and the doors shut and the lift was about to leave the floor. Another issue not really thought bout, was the physically attainment of the other character as he was really tired as we had to do a lot do chase  scenes and a few attempts with different shots and angles, this tiredness effected his performance, with us than understanding that the performer will need well rested amount of breaks in between the shooting. The sound in the video was very effective, i think(not only because i edited and mainly created it), due to the interaction with the footage and the two really working together and linking.
Another issue was the beginning camera, a bit shaky, at some other stages the camera was a bit wobbly, but we created some good moment where we overcame these, such as having good movement shots down the stairs for Ashad main character and slow the scene with the splash of the water, which was slightly edited.
Lastly another issue, not fully related to the video, the evaluation, because this work needed to be done asap and there were quite a few questions and it would be best to start preparing for the answers at earlier state and not leave it to the last minute.