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.