The Music VIdeo

Rahul's Evaluation

1.)In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product deviates from a conventional music videos because instead of choosing from either a performance based video or a narrative based video, we decided as a group to incorporate both type of narrative structures. Our narrative featured real life situations for example the heavy drug use, and followed a linier narrative. The emphasis on the following narratives separate our video from the current dubstep videos that have been released such as 'I need air' by magnetic men which is performance based along with 'on a mission' by Katy B.
Click Here To View I Need Air

The message we tried to get through to the audience via mis-en-scene was a well off, upper class girl who fell into the drug problems. First off all, you see the actress entering her room in not just plain tops and jeans, but in a dress, a trench coat, and heels to show her being well off, However the use of bloodied ripped tights gives the audience an creates doubt in the viewers mind.

The fact that the room she’s in is not just a normal bedroom, but a very large room that consists of a four post poster bed, a sofa and en suite bathroom all contributes her to looking like a wealthy individual. The other location was in Oxford Street. Central London is the place where the rich fine and dine, as well as party in some of the best clubs in the world; we tried to show that this particular girl only goes to ‘fine’ places. The main feature that makes our video different from what’s out in the market right now is the use of drugs.

We tend to see videos about happiness and as a group we wanted to go against the conventional videos and the way we tried to demonstrate this overall aura of a sinister feeling was by a variety of camera and lighting techniques. The most powerful technique we used to place the viewers in the actresses shoes was the use of 1st person shots. It makes the audience picture everything how the girl would see it and creates a sense of realism. Canted angles further add to the feeling of disorientation for the viewer, and this helps us to exhibit the woman being on drugs by having the camera shake more often then what you’ll usually see on traditional videos. Low key low level lighting created shadows and played well with the use of drugs because of the shady feel to the final shot. A lot of close ups of objects and props were used in the final video to show viewers what things the girl engaged in her nights out and how it affected her such as alcohol and illegal drugs. Close up on the face added to the facial expression as the viewer can relate to what the actress is going through.


Editing was the most influential part of the video. It created professionalism and the variety of transition we could use to depict certain scenes helped us on the overall continuity of the video. A lot of short takes were placed because it speeds up the final video, and matches the overall pace of the song. Another thing that helped us with the pace was the use of elipses. This helps us to give a sense of urgency and positively affected our video as it built up to the most pivotal part of the scenes. The performance part was crucial for thermer. Deep editor to show properly. When performing, heavy emphasis has to be played on the lip syncing as it shows the viewers that’s the perfocolours such as yellow and red were used to show caution and danger as they respectively mean the following. The TV editing style was used not to help the story of the video but to create randomness and set our video apart from what we usually see.


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

The combination of both our main product and ancillary texts have been flown through with a similar pattern. Marketing is no doubt vital to any product. When selling a product to consumers you want to show them what your product is all about without giving a sense of false indication or misleading them to thinking something else. There are only a handful of genres compared to the amount of videos put out. To stand out you either follow convention that everyone would like or deviate from them and attract viewers to it by giving them something new. We decided to go for a genre that just recently has been getting global recognition. Its heavy bassline, use of drums and random melodies makes it stand out from any genre. Not many videos have been shot for a genre like Dubstep, but a recent surge of videos in this type of music is being noticed. However, they all seem to be performance based, for example magnetic men’s video of ‘I Need Air’

The video that inspired us a great deal was smack my bitch up by prodigy. We incorporated its vision of 1st person. It makes the viewer feel as if their main character, and from it we can show moods of the character, e.g. when drunk, the use of canted angles and very shaky camera technique helps us to portray a drunk character.
Click Here To View Smack My Bitch Up

Regarding our digipack we’ve prominently followed typical conventions of digipacks. Firstly we have a front cover of the artist. This is seen in many covers we looked at across all genres. As Sophia was the actress in our video we put her up on it as she sang the lyrics to the song. A full length body shot allows us to see the body language of the person. This can be related to Katy B’s cover where a mid shot of her is seen on the front cover. With Katy B’s body positioning, we feel as if there’s a mood of motivation behind the album artwork as she’s looking beyond the cover. There are plenty of things we were able to do with our cover, but as the overall aura of the video was unsettling, we had to show a cover that related to the digipack. The use of the crossed hands shows that there’s this sense of secrecy as if the audience do not know what is expected from this digipack. As our track had an overall mood of sinning, the colours of black and red bring out the sinister. The red in particular made the black stand out as it was the outer lining, and made the emphasis more on violence and abuse. The colour black can also be connected with mystery and the overall digipack looks mysterious through the shady colours. With many digipack covers, we see that their main labels are put in the front, for example the parental advisory or dvd/ cd logo.

Another thing we notice is that, the track list is always located at the back of the digipack design, and separated from it is the links and companies that have distributed it. As we were an indie label, we do not need many labels and only needed the name of the band as it was the sole contributor to getting the music out there. However we added an extra element to the back cover, mostly the back covers tend to be plain and only consist of a track list. We put a picture of red lips to connote a devilish theme, as red can mean cupid and the devil at the same time. With this, we send a message of naughtiness but nice at the same time.


We can draw comparisons from the movie Sin City. Although a movie, it also holds an ominous vibe to the overall film, and this was shown through its marketing campaign. For example its digipack cover. It also consists of high shadowed pictures, the heavy emphasis on black and red to connote evil and danger. The details are located in the back, just like in our digipack, such as links and websites. To continue, on the front we have the mid shot of Jessica Alba. She is pictured with plenty of shadow around the facial area, and the background is similar; very dark and this gives out an eerie feeling, and creates that anticipation of what’s expected to come when watching or listing to the to the product.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Initial target audience research

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From our initial target audience we found that from our sample size of 40 (20 males and 20 females). Hip Hop and R & B was the predominant choice of music amongst our audience. As 90% of our results were done by 16-24 year olds we can say that, this is the choice of music the current generation are interested in. To continue, 50% of the audience was of Asian ethnicity, and 30% were white, whilst black and other only accounted to 20%. From this we can conclude that our results are bias towards an Asian community, and looking where we handed out the questionnaires (harrow) we can relate to the Asian ethnicity being high when compared to other places such as Essex.
Another thing we can conclude from initial audience feedback is that, majority of them watch independently made videos. 50% said yes whilst 20% didn’t know. The ones who did select ‘No’ and ‘Don’t know’ only did however watch Hip-Hop or R&B the most. This may affect the final decision on what to go with in the end as the views of the audience were not properly expressed.

An interesting fact we did evaluate from the initial feedback was that the pop genre was not the most favourable genre for the audience. But it’s the genre that sells the most and is the most radio played out of any genre; commercially it is the most successful genre. We gathered that this maybe because of the videos pop singles put out. Nearly every number 1 song has a video and majority of the times it’s a pop song. Whether it’s Lady Gaga or Rihanna they are pop singles. 50% of the audience said that a music video changes their view on a dong positively. This may be how the pop genre influences people into liking their genre.

Our final question asked what people wanted in a music video. Majority of the votes showed that, the audience doesn’t really care where it’s shot. Thus suggesting that the creativity in the video is what entices the viewer. This helped us in making our final decision quicker and easier as creativity was a very important part for the audience.

In order for us to this, we decided that the feedback given to us was positive. We went outside the traditional methods of making a video and challenged it straight away by incorporating danger and heavy drug abuse. By targeting a growing genre, we feel that it’s easier to challenge conventional videos and go for something new as viewers are not costumed to seeing a particular thing in Dubstep. If we choose a Hip Hop or R&B video, you would always expect a performance based video with things such as flashy jewellery, models and love to be associated with their videos. Dubstep however can have many meanings in no lyrics are a part of it. Shots of central London, alley ways and the booking of a country hotel helped us to show a wealthy woman. Alley ways played its part in the mis-en-scene as the audience could feel the impression of something bad. This was what we were targeting as people who do take drugs tend to do it in closure where people cannot see. This definitely gave of that feeling of sinister in our final video.

Audience feedback on final video, digipack and magazine advert

‘WOW, I love this, its so different from what out there’

‘I think u need to use some focus pull, I think it'll make it look real authentic in some parts. the soundtrack is bangin hot too man, nice work bro’

'twas truly epic! Awesome music, stunning visuals

‘I really loved this. The music is ace. The girl who isn't Joedy should have her wind blowing and I would have made her greyscale and not so contrast. Focus pull here and there would be good.’

‘Love the POV shots of Joedy resuming her drug-fest. You could also try some ECU of her pupils dilating to highlight the influence she's been put under.’

‘wow. im so impressed. its proper good. its like those little 3 minute dramas on channel4 or something’

‘The magazine design is top class’

‘For a minute I thought you were showing me a real artists album’

‘How much would it cost if i payed you for this’


I feel as if we exceeded many people’s final expectations including our own. My favourite part is the magazine and digipack design done by Julio. The genre is parallel to the actual meaning of the song we were trying to show. The use of black and red throughout the main digipack flows excellent with the theme of sinister. The magazine cover certainly looks of a professional standard, and the effect that was put on by our editor truly depicts disorientation. When seeing that at first you feel as a viewer of what’s going on, and the fact it raises questions makes you realise it is interesting and eye catching. It makes it unique fro what’s out there as majority of them are plain and set to a staple colour tone such as white or black. Whilst most digipacks try to show elegance, ours creates a sense of danger and i feel we succeeded in challenging what out there right now.

We did get criticism which was expected as it is a niche genre and not many videos are based around heavy drug use (evil) The audience did want more pull focuses and more close ups of the actress Joedy who was snorting the drugs. This they felt would have made the final video more realistic.

Our USP (unique selling point) is the actual genre. Not much is known about Dubstep, although its growing very rapidly, people are not familiar to it as say Hip Hop. The genre allowed us to create a brand new digi pack which is different from so many album covers there. The video had abstract bits to it, which you don’t see much of as everything contains a performance or meaningful narrative. If backed by heavy promotion for example a major record label, you may be able to see the full effects of how successful the genre is. However as majority of Dubstep videos are independent, the mass appeal through advertising is limited due to the price. Major labels work their way through vertical integration, from making of the raw materials to print producing, advertising and distributing. Indies will have to pay people to advertise and distribute its stuff. But saying that, the viral market is playing a huge factor, and future stars have been scouted via the internet. Firms still haven’t established a proper way to fully take advantage of the net, and as an indie, you would be able to draw in a wide fan base if you can use the internet very well.


4.) How did you use new media technologies in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages.

The internet played an extremely vital role in this project. The song we decided was first discovered over the internet, and without the internet, majority of this work would not be possible and kept to the same high standard it is right now. From the very beginning we’ve used blogger to upload all our work. It’s made everything paper free, which supposedly helps us as everything can be kept organised on one dedicated website. Blogger allows us to easily show links and demonstrate certain parts of the videos we want to show, for example YouTube links and pictures. Another vital internet tool is the social website Facebook. It proved to be very usefull in getting audience feedback. As many people have Facebook, we could easily target a number of audiences and see their opinions instantly. This in return helped us stick to deadlines and sometimes be ahead of it as within minutes we could analyse the data. YouTube, another social site and video site was instrumental in many of our decisions. It gave us ideas for our final media product, and with some many videos up we could compare similar genre videos.


We had a vast array of technology provided to us by the college. Firstly there was the video camera (Cannon XM2) which was a professional video camera. Some of the functions it had were a white balance feature. This feature tones the colour of the shot by balancing the rich and dull colours between the background and subject to make the final shot more realistic. In the hotel this was very useful as it would set our shots to the best colour possible, and brings out the more vibrant colours in the hotel room, such as the reds and greens. Another thing the camera had been an in built microphone, which made our recording process more fluent because it was at a high standard already which.

We were also given a tripod which was very beneficial. The three legs it stands on reduces the camera shake and blur which makes the final video much smoother and sharper, and also provides better leverage as you’re able to get a better angled shots. For example allowing us to shoot worms’ eye shots or high angle shot without shake or blur. The ball in the tripod allows for maximum rotation and makes it easier to pan from left to right, vice versa due to the way it’s constructed, this makes us get wider screen shots as you can show more of the environment you shoot in.

Ways in which the college equipment enhances our ideas were the editing software they provided. This was by a programme called ‘final cut pro’. Final cut pro is editing software from apple, and its use is to provide editors a chance to manipulate their videos in a way which will seem abstract or as something you’ll see from a music video, and as we were aiming for professionalism in went hand in hand.

We would use our raw footage filmed earlier on, and from the use of an external video rusher, final cut pro allows the user to log and capture our recorded data onto a hard drive. This was a feature that helped us a lot in the early stage of post production because we could upload and name files in a certain order; that allowed our editor to read and search for a file that needed to be placed on the timeline. The timeline was split into four rows, the reason for this is it allows for narrative voice over or external sound to be put over our edited clips to compliment certain shots and keeps the video organised when editing From it, it then could be altered and the clips could be cropped, edited with fades such as, gradual fades, wipe and slide to name a few, as well as adding different colour tones such as black and white to connote the past, or sepia to show a more warmer mood in the video.

All this allowed us to portray certain moods in a scene. For example quick takes of canted angles, first person shots and extreme close ups within a scene created disorientation for the viewer. But we could also create randomness in the video by adding effects such as broken tv. This brought something else to the table for our group and completely went against conventional videos as it is hardly seen in any music videos.

Story Board

Storyboard

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CD/DVD Digipack magazine ad convention

I am going to look at the key features of cd digipacks as well as magazines and how they address its customers. The following things I’m going to look at are chase and status’s brand new LP called ‘No More Idols’ as well as Katy B’s debut album. Both of these are relative to our genre and have both been released in 2011, so this means it will follow current trends.

The key features and conventions of a cd digipack are the following:

• Artist name
• Image
• Same font and colour throughout inner sleeve and back cover

This cover by Chase and Status immediately catches our attention for two reasons. The colour yellow is very bright, and when placed behind a dark background it creates high contrast and catches our eye. The colour yellow tends to be associated with hazard signs and some emergency vehicles, because of the high visibility of bright yellow holds. The use of an emergency type of feeling can unconsciously create excitement for the viewer because of how much it stands out. However we can also notice an extreme close up of a bulldog behind the writing. Bulldogs are beefy, strong and when things are linked with this animal we do think of menace. Perhaps
Chase and Status are showing that this album is dangerous in a good way, it will get you excited and pumped up, and the fact that the bulldog is there creates a statement that it means business.

Once again the colour theme of black and yellow again adds to the feeling of caution. You as a buyer feel that this album should be handled with care. This goes well with the genre that Chase and Status are connected with. The deep bass that’s linked with dubstep and the quick drums all make a very quick paced genre and when played in clubs, dancers feel as if their getting a shot of adrenaline.
Another thing we notice is that the barcode, label company and distributors are put into one side of the back cover. We know that all this is associated with Chase and Status, however the people who have designed the cover know that when buying an album, the consumer wants to notice the main contents of the album such as the album front cover and track list.


Another album we’re going to look at is Katy B’s self entitled album. As an artist blessed with a strong voice, but on the same hand challenges melodic theme songs and goes with powerful bass ridden instrumentals, she’s an artist in her own separate category.
This album goes for the simplistic look which is very effective. We instantly see a mid shot of the artist behind simple plain white writing. Another feature that adds to the simplicity is the environment Katy is in; an empty street. When seeing this cover a sense of inspiration is placed in our head. Katy B is looking ahead of her in an empty street, which gives us the feel that it’s an inspiring experience for her and maybe that this album may motivate others.

The main colours associated with this album are blue and violet. Blue is calming and can be strong and committed or light and friendly. Whilst the colour red shows powerful emotion, blue on the other hand conveys importance and confidence without being sombre or sinister, hence the blue power suit of the corporate world and the blue uniforms of police officers. We can see this throughout the album when Katy has songs talking about love and having a good time through her powerful voice.
Lighter purples are more romantic and delicate and this goes well with Katy’s over all voice, which gives a feeling off delicacy within her songs.



The key features and conventions of a cd digipack magazine hold are the following:

• Artist
• Image of the artist
• Reviews
• Release dates
• Additional features (other atists/whats hot)

DJ MAG is a magazine that is heavily influenced by club /dubstep/ drum & bass music.
To promote the artist, in this case Chase & Status, the magazine follows the norms of making a successful magazine. We have the close up of the artists as well as the logo of the magazine brand and the main mast head.
The former is seen in a bright yellow bold writing. Once again, these vibrant colours are all intended to do one main thing, to attract potential readers. It cannot be done with small writing e.g. 12 times new roman, it is expected to be done in the sizes of 60-75 with a bold font such as Arial to name a few.

Other features include a banner on the top showing the promotion of a free cd. Readers would look at this and see it as an extra as they’re just paying for magazine but are getting an extra thing for free. It is an effective tactic used to attract more users.


Extra stuff such as album reviews, interviews of other artists and events are seen on the side but in a smaller sized font. This is a good way to set the magazine because white and yellow makes the fonts consistent and not over top, its simple but yet effective. Fonts are usually smaller as they do not divert the attention of the reader from the main part which is Chase & Status. However by being a reasonable size they do not make the reader ignore what else the magazine holds.

Idle-Mindz Project Schedule

Idle

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Conclusion of textual analysis

Genre

The genre for many videos analysed by our group show a urban area. For example we see the use of a grimy high-rise council flat in the song by Wiley called “Never Be Your Woman” Ft. Emeli Sandé. The use of high rise council block in a dull setting connotes a lack of energy in the neighborhood and also represents Bow of East London as it is one of London’s deprived areas.

The next video which was analysed was by Katy B called “on a mission”. There’s an establishing shot showing a dark shadowed using low level lighting in a London area. When the camera pull focuses, we learn that the building is the O2 arena in south London which is an urban area. Urban areas are a common feature with Dubstep music videos.

However a different video which will be still counted as in the ‘Grime’ genre starts of differently, it’s by Skepta called bad boy. The video begins, and within the establishing shot in which we are able to see Skepta’s back with a large tattoo reading ‘SKEPTA’ beside him we see a pretty lady who is well dressed in a black evening dress. Though it starts of different, it can signify many things. The tattoo may mean that Skepta prides him highly and had to prove it with the tattoo. The woman who was beside him was wearing a black dress which may mean sadness and neglect. She’s also serving him breakfast on a silver platter. This implies that he always get what he wants, derived from the saying “served on a silver platter” and can be related to the name of the song “Bad Boy”


Another music video is by chase and status called “end credits” featuring Plan B. It starts off with a mid shot, slow motion of a hooded man falling down on a concrete floor, just as he’s about to touch the floor we have a close up of his face to show the full impact of the fall. Once he touches the floor everything is back at normal pace and we can see a foot walking past him. This is quite different from the other genres because at the beginning we hear an acoustic sound of a guitar, however when the video begins to pick up momentum it changes into a drum and bass genre and throughout the video we see plenty of visuals to compliment the sound.


Music

In terms of music Skepta’s “bad Boy” song is chart music. It entered number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. Katy B’s “Katy on a mission” is also seen as mainstream music which debuted and peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart. The single then dropped three places to number eight. It has since spent four consecutive weeks at number eight and six consecutive weeks in the top ten. Though Dubstep is seen as an underground genre due to its low publicity in mainstream music, Katy B’s song challenged that and showed how successful it can be and therefore is unique in its own way. “Never Be Your Woman” by Wiley entered the UK Singles Chart at its current peak position of #8 selling just under 20,000 copies. It showed the level of success and an influence Wiley has in the British music industry with his crossover sound that bridges underground and dance genres together. End Credits reached number nine in the UK Singles Chart. To follow on, it was used in a trailer for the video game F1 2010 as well as the Michael Caine film Harry Brown, in which Plan B co starred. It shows that even though the genre is fast paced and more underground, it can be used in different contexts to relate to visuals for certain scenes or adverts.


Theme/ideology

The Theme behind Skepta’s “Bad Boy” is about a guy treating his girlfriend in a bad way by not complimenting her, not turning up to events she wants him to as well as arguing with her. Skepta justifies this by saying “you’re too deep in love, you need to jump out like free wily”. It shows that although he’s seeing this girl their not in a relationship and he’s looking to take things slow, hence whey they refer him as the ‘bad boy’.
Katy B’s “Katy on a mission” is about being trapped by music, which has taken over her gotten herself lost in the sound. This can be seen on the song in the 40 second mark, where the DJ is caught seeing ‘vybsing’ a term for getting lost in the sound
Click Here To View Katy B’s Video

The meaning of the song by Wiley is about Wiley as himself, growing and maturing as a person from a toddler to a young adult. He’s is seen being brought up in his estate in east London. It also shows what use to happen around his everyday life from a very young age as well as what he used to do at certain points in his life. An example is when he’s seen rapping around the teenage years.

End credits by Chase and Status is a cold, eerie song that is emotionally driven by its wordings. “When the blood dries in my veins/ and my Heart feels no more pain/ I know, I'll be on my way to heaven's door” These lyrics suggest that Plan B, the vocalist in the song is suggesting when he dies he knows he will be going to heaven.


Narrative

All four videos have a narrative behind it. Skepta’s song is about him being a guy and just enjoying life as it comes. The meaning is about how his girlfriend wants to control him but he wants to enjoy life at the same time, this is mentions in the following lyrics. ‘All you do is moan and complain/ It was good when your friend came/ But anytime when my friends want to come around/ You start going insane in the membrane’. In the video Skepta is playing himself and the viewers can immediately relate it to him as he’s narrating the video about himself. Katy B’s “Katy on a mission” is a performance based video, which is about her losing all control and sending yourself into a zone where you let the music control you. The performance based video shows how her fans react to it and how they also indulge themselves into the song and just start partying. Wiley’s track is also a narrative based video like Skepta’s. It shows him at 4 stages in his life; being a toddler, infant, teenager and an adult. Although we do not see Wiley as himself in the end, it still sends the same meaning as Wiley is explaining his life to the audience. By having a kid, a teenage we could see how it was for Wiley when growing up. From End credits, Plan B is giving a narration about an event that happened to him and how it affected him. Moreover, you see he has passed away and that he comes in the form of a ghost and is telling a story of what went on that made him commit those actions. Plan B who sings the lyrics sets the narration in the 3rd person so we as viewers know what happened.


Technical codes

The technical codes from all four videos have some similarity, but on the whole are generally different. Only one video is fully performance based (Katy B- On a mission). However the other 3 are all narrative based. End credits uses many different shots, especially close ups and quick takes to create uncertainty for the viewer. The canted angles allows the viewer to feel confused, but with the quick takes and close ups of some pivotal scenes, the viewer is able to relate to the video. The close ups show the lip sync for the performance based in Katy B’s video as well as the performance part that Plan B does in End Credits.
To continue, close ups allow the audience to see the emotions of the characters. This is best seen in ‘Bad Boy’ by Skepta, where the girl is left by herself on her boyfriend’s birthday whilst he parties with his friends. We can easily see the girl is distraught through the close up and that’s the effect it creates.
Wiley’s video, ‘Never Be a Woman’ uses a variety of tracking shots to set the mood and the environment Wiley was brought up in. In the performance parts, it also continues using mid shots and close up to demonstrates lip sync.


Symbolic codes/Representation

Mis-en-scene plays a part in every music video. First we have the props of each video. In bad boy by Skepta he’s seen being served in a sliver platter as well as wearing a smart white shirt with black trousers when getting ready to go out. This connotes to a fancy life and a life of party as seen in the video. His girlfriend is also dressed up well in a black dress long straight hair to show simplicity and elegance.... Link to Skepta’s Bad Boy video: Click Here To View The Video

Wiley’s video is set in east London, in a place with high rising estates. The area is in fact one of London’s most deprived area known as Bow situated in east London.

The clothes he’s seen wearing shows us how deprived he may have been when growing up as a child.


Katy B’s song shows us the codes for performing in a live show. We have a live stage, microphone and fans dancing to her song. It shows us a live atmosphere. To follow on the use of colours can be seen in the smoke used at live performances to set the mood which in this case was letting yourself go in the music and having a energetic mood. Katy B is seen wearing red lipstick, tight jeans, a jacket and trainers. The lipstick being red could represent seduction or alerting the audience. The reason for this is because it stands out from the normal everyday life and red can be seen as sexual. The clothing however is not what you find people wearing to parties as teenagers and young women of similar age are known to wear dresses and heels, however as Dubstep is an underground genre the outfit Katy B is wearing follows its conventional codes of jeans trainers and a track top of some sort.

Codes and representation that distinguishes End Credits by Chase and Status from conventional genres are its low key, low level lighting. This creates a secretive ambience through its high level of shadown and surroundings in which the the music video is shot. This is all parallel to the lyrics. For example “When my mind stops thinking/ My eyes stop blinking/ I hope/ Somebody's there”. There’s also scenes of violence, sexuality as well as possible drug related problems. The use of hoodies falls into the violence category as it’s stereotyped that people in hoodies should not be approached and may be dangerous. Chase and Status along with Plan B picked up on this and followed these codes.


Culture codes

All the videos represent modern culture. The best example for this is Wiley’s video. It shows current town Bow in east London, as well as how it use to be before. You can see from the location how run down the place looks but also how people live in those types of areas to socialise and commute.

Skepta’s video on the other hand shows a more stylish life which is best represented as a Hollywood lifestyle. Champagne bottles, elegant suits and beautiful women are just to name a few things seen in the video. The ‘perfect' life shown to the audience by Hollywood is what has young kids dreaming off as they all want to be having that lavish lifestyle when their older. This is also represented towards the end of Wiley’s video when he’s seen celebrating with champagne and going home in an Aston Martin worth around £250,000.

Katy B’s video can be seen as a party culture with teenagers going to raves seeing performers performing their favourite songs. This is a everyday thing that happens late night across London and England which London formidably is known for that which results in many tourists coming to the capital.

The culture codes for ‘End Credits’ tell us the more anti social side of London which include violence, sexuality and drug related issues across the youth and young adults. This stuff is shown in the news about violent crimes across the UK and chase and Status are showing what the reasons may have been for their actions and whether it can be justified or not.

Initial ideas

From the research we have collected we found the following. The type of music videos the general public tend to prefer is visual art. The second most popular choice was a narrative based video. This lays the foundation for what I have to design to make a music video that the general public would like. Another factor for me to consider is that our results also showed that the location of the video does not matter that much to the viewer. This could indicate maybe of the majority of the population finds artistic visuals a more of a deciding factor to engage the viewers.

For my music video I’m thinking of including a realist, non linier narrative. This is because relationships are a real life event that occurs in everyone’s life which makes it real. The non linier narrative allows the viewer to see what happened in the past and how it’s affecting the couple in the future.

My ideas have come from drum and bass artists ‘Chase & Status’. This group is known for making videos with many different concepts. For example their song “Hypest Hype” featuring Tempa T is a performance driven video. It included flashy lights, the fans reactions to live concerts and most notably the back stage to the artist’s pre preparation and actual live performance. Click Here To View Hypest Hype

However they also have narrative driven videos such as “End Credits featuring Plan B” It is a non linier narrative video, and from it you’re able to see the stark contrast between the imagery and shots and how it makes it completely different to Hypest Hype. Narrative videos are constructed in a way which relate to the lyrics for the viewer to see. Our song is by blue foundation called “Eyes on Fire” which is remixed by zeds dead. I personally feel that it is a video about a relationship. Click Here To View End Credits

With the video I’m thinking of having a woman in her mid twenties having flashbacks of being hurt by her lover by lies and arguments. This will be shown in a greyscale image to signify the past. We’ll have an establishing shot of a woman in her living room sitting down on a sofa contemplating her life. Her boyfriend is out at that current time and she thinks that he’s hiding things from her, so she uses a friend to spy on him and take a few pictures. After gaining an insight about him seeing other girls, she looks back at what has happened so far and now as she’s ready to confront her boyfriend and seek the truth. The lyrics in the background that will compliment the visuals will say “I’ll seek you out/ Flay you alive/ One more word and you won’t survive/ And I’m not scared of your stolen power/ I see right through you any hour”

She’s mulling over ending her relationship and at that moment her boyfriend enters home. The girlfriend asks questions about where he has been etc. They are seen arguing, with the boyfriend saying you shouldn’t break up and pleading his innocence. This will be done using shot reverse shots and many close ups to signify emotion and each other’s opinions. She’s having none of it and is just laughing at his lies. When the following lyrics come
“I’m taking it slow/ Feeding my flame/ Shuffling the cards of your game/ And just in time/ In the right place / Suddenly I will play my ace”
The ace she refers to in the song which will be the pictures her friends take and she is just going to be sitting on her sofa waiting for the perfect time to show it to him.

The girlfriend would then storm out and go to London to take her mind away from what has happened, in which the rest of the video would be shot at night to supplement the mood. From this we can show the woman walking through London and gather shots such as clubs, tourist spots like the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.
A variety of shots such as cut shots to switch from one place to another. This would allow us to create the perfect atmosphere of a cold winter’s night with the added extra lights of London City. As she’s walking she will see a few couples who seem good together and she will wonder what went wrong with hers, and parallel editing would be used to show her bad relationship and what she really wanted.

Record Labels

Major Record Label

These can be best decried as music industries that sell compositions, recordings and performances of music. They have many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry which are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music.

The 4 major record labels

In a recent study by Nielsen SoundScan in 2005 reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of total market share in the music industry. On the other hand independent labels accounted for only 18.13%.

Universal Music Group (France based) — 31.71%

This is the biggest of all four labels and is the subsidiary of the French media conglomerate Vivendi. A media conglomerate are companies that own large numbers of other companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies to name a few.
Vivendi's headquarters are in Paris, France. The UMG global headquarters are located New York City, Santa Monica within the U.S. The UK the group has a number of offices in London and Romford, and in Japan the group has a office in Minato, Tokyo.

List of few labels owned within Universal Music Group:

• Interscope Records
• Geffen Records

Sony Music Entertainment (Japan based) — 25.61%

Part of Sony, which is the world's fifth largest media conglomerate and is a Japanese based conglomerate whose headquarters is situated in Minato, Tokyo, Japan .
List of few labels owned by Sony Music Entertainment are:

• Columbia Records
• Aware Records
• Epic Records

Warner Music Group (USA based) — 15%

This is the 3rd largest record company and also has a music publishing subsidiary called Warner/Chappell Music, which is currently one of the world's largest music-publishing company.

A Publisher would be in this case a company who works with the songwriters to promote their songs. Publishers usually get either partial or total ownership of the song copyright, known as "assignment" or "transfer" of the copyright. They pitch the songs to record labels, television or movie producers, or anyone else who may be interested in it. They then license the rights to use the song and charge fees which are typically split 50% with the songwriter.

EMI Group (UK based) — 9.55%

The EMI Group (Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.) is a British music company. It is the fourth-largest record label, and subsequently makes it part of the ‘big four’ Furthermore it is a member of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA is a trust that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors. The RIAA claim to distribute approximately 85% of the U.S.A.’s sound recording sold. EMI Group also has a major publishing sub company formally known as, EMI Music Publishing which is based in New York City.

List of few labels owned within Electrical & Musical Industries:


Major label release model

The label here is really only a brand. It is used by the record company to give a distinct identity to the release.
Once part of the record company, it is the company’s responsibility to create the release; this will include recording, marketing and packaging. They will then work regionally to distribute the product. These regional offices are likely to be in different countries or continents around the world. The original copy of the audio and any artwork will be used to replicate. One of the main benefits of having many regional places is that costs are kept down by manufacturing close to where the item will be sold, rather than shipping container loads of releases around the world.

If the record company doesn't have a branch in a particular territory, it may license the release to another company in that place and they will arrange the manufacturing and distribu

• Virgin Records
• Get Money Gang Entertainment
• Angel Recordstion of the release. This company could be a record label, or it could be a distributor, manufacturer, or any other company that has the ability to organize the manufacturing and distribution of the release.

Usually, each separate branch of the chain will include their name on the release, as well as the label name. Also, manufacturers and distributors may be mentioned on the release artwork.


This Picture represents where the money goes when signed to a major record label.









Independent Record Label

An independent record label (or indie record label) is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. Indie record labels are where a great number of bands and musical acts get a start, and where many find their success.


Independent release model



This chart shows an idealized path for the artist’s release, from the recording studio through to the public.

The label here is one and the same as the record company; they both have the same name and are the same unit.

This is a standard path for releases on Indies, and most likely are to operate in one country or continent. Non-major label releases in the folk, and jazz genres are likely to follow a path close to this. If you substitute the recording studio for the artists own studio, the model also fits a lot of electronic releases.
The ‘importer’ in most cases is likely to be another business in another country or continent that buys a certain number of copies of the release from the distributor. From that they distribute in their own distribution area. The import will be exactly the same release.

Professional Job Roles

Professional job roles are the roles given to people needed to make a movie or short film clip. The list below gives you information about the key factors involved to get the perfect picture or video and the certain people involved in order to make it a success.

Our Group

In our group the duties involved in making a movie/music team are taken up by the following members.
Producer (Janay)
Director (Robert)
Editor (Julio)
Camera man (Rahul)


Producer Responsibilities

Producers have an overall control of a film’s production. They bring together the screenwriters, director, cast members, finances and the production team. Their primary responsibility is to use everyone’s skills and creative talents and to make them flourish to the best of their abilities. They are held mainly responsible for the success or failure of the finished film. The producer’s responsibilities expand on all four phases of production;

Research & development
This includes coming up with the foundation of a production, or selecting the screen play. Selecting the right screen writer and story edit team, raising finance and to supervise the development process.

Pre-production
This is everything done before producing the film. For example; location scouting, approving the script, finance and keeping an eye on the budget.

Production
Responsible for the day to day running operations of the producing team. Delegating to the line producers and any associate producer. Stay communicated in any script changes cost reports

Post production and marketing
Producers are expected to stay communicated personally with the post production personal, including editors, composers and visual effects staff. They consult with the financial personal on the final print and are usually involved with the distribution entities in planning the market and distribution of the finished film.

Producers assistant responsibilities
Duties range from writing coverage on the scripts, drafting letters, making phone calls to the Clarence of copyright material, arranging business meetings and social events, as well as handling floats and unimportant cash. Their responsibilities are defined by the producers, on an almost daily basis. They must be well organised, have a good overview on the production process and able to rise to the challenge of having so many responsibilities at once. They are sometimes accorded an associate producer credit if he or she has carried out a significant producing function in the producer’s absence
and to stay in contact with all production partners investors and distributors.


Director Responsibilities

Directors may write the film’s script or commission it to be written, or maybe hired after a draft of the script is done. Director must then develop a vision for the finished film and show a practical route which shows everyone how he/she plans to achieve it. They make key decisions in selecting the right cast, crew and the right location for the film. This is all done in pre production. They then direct rehearsals and the performances of the actors and actresses involved in the film. To continue they manage the technical aspects of the filing including camera, lighting and edit. During post production the work closely with the editors to reach the final cut of the film on how they intended it to be in the first place. They are overall responsible in motivating the whole team in general and must meet the need and expectations of the film’s financiers.


Camera Person Responsibilities

A camera operator works with digital, electronic and film cameras in multi and single camera operational conditions. They also produce pictures for directors by combining the use of technology and creative visual skills. The camera operator is usually supported

Types of activities included are:

• Assembling, preparing and setting up equipment (tripods, monitors, lighting) prior to filming.
• Offering advice on how to best shoot a scene, explaining the visual impact created by certain angles.
• Planning shot. (An explosion scene can only be done once as it is expensive, so planning needs to go into it)
• Finding solutions to practical or technical problems (if lighting effects your current shot, the cameraman will need to find a way to overturn it)
• Working quickly. The reason being is because timing is an important factor.
• Keeping up to date with filming methods and equipment.

Video Editor Responsibilities

Working closely with the director to meet his or her intensions of the final product. As digital technology grows day by day i.e. new computers film techniques software etc, the video editors will have to keep up with the new ways of editing Video editors have to be reliable as they are usually given deadlines, the ability to listen to others, excellent communication skills as they have to tell directors and keep them up to date daily about the progression.

The video editing process involves two stages:

1.) Offline editing

Initially the offline editor has to assemble all the raw footages, called rushes, in an offline edit suite. The equipment used relatively cheap compared to online editing. The work involves the following

• Inputting all the uncut rushes onto a computer where they are all stored in files.
• Sorting, re-arranging and creating a digital rough and fine cut of the programme to the director’s wishes.
• Drawing up an edit decision list (EDL) which is the visual ‘script’ for the next stage of the process which is the online edit.

2.) Online editing

The final stage involves an online editor, who is responsible for a more polished version of the product working according to the director’s wishes. As he/she is working with high cost equipment the editor needs to have high amounts of knowledge on how to use them, as they are counting on the editor to make a video of the finest quality.

Material that is involved in editing are:

• Editing rushes to bring them to a higher quality resolution
• Editing the rushes according to the offline editor’s EDL
• Add any special effects and grading colouring required to get the ideal final product.