The form of my A2 media studies work is music video with two ancillary text that being a website and a album release advertisement. I decided to do this on my own not as group work as if anything went wrong I only had myself to blame. I needed to research, plan and create my video. I also had to create two ancillary texts one being a album release advert and a website for my artist. The style of my music video will be a performance based video. This means there is no narrative to it its soly based on the performance of my artist. I will talk about the genre, the planning, the research and the making of my video. I will also discuss codes and conventions of my chosen genre. I will also talk about audience feedback, technology I used and the the work put behind the whole project.
The genre for my music video is UK Garage music. Garage music was established in the very late 1980s and was very popular through the 1990s till the 2000s. However it isn’t as popular now and very rarely in the charts. Garage music is a mixture of House music and electronic dance music; it was created in the UK and was mainly popular in the UK. This is why the majority of Garage Artists are from the UK and the majority are DJs. Garage music is often related with graffiti, bling, wealth, Britain, British culture, youth, DJS, club and female sexuality. I wanted to show all these elements in my video. Garage music is a bricolage of different types of music and influences like hip-hop and house music. These influences are also shown in the videos. Garage music artist's are often from independent music companies this is because 'Garge' music doesn't have a global influence into the world, its only popular in the UK. Therefore a lot the music videos are low budget or don't have a video at all. This is why when finding videos on Youtube often they didn't have a video for garage music songs they just had the album artwork. I wanted my video to have the same influence of the independent company look. I want my video to look like a typical UK 'Garage music video' I will follow the codes and conventions of a garage music video.
The audience of my music video will be majority males, this is because 'Garage' music was male orientated music genre. The majority of artists themselves are males and 'Youtube' statics show that majority males watch garage music videos. The males that wtahc this are usually of the younger age range 16-30 this is because of its 'House' music influences. With my video I wanted it to appeal to woman as well as the males and make a wider female audience range. This is why I have decided to use a female artists, theres only one big female artist in UK Garage music that being 'Miz Dynamite' I want to make my artist as popular as her. However I also want my artist to still appeal to its male audience as that's the only audience that are interested in agagre music so I still need to follow the conventions of the other videos in mine.
Before starting my video I needed to do some planning. This is extremely important because I need to know whether its going to target the correct audience and research the styles of my genre, research its audience properly, brain storm ideas for my video and make plans and meet safety procedures. There was quite a lot of things I needed to do and all for improtamnat purposes. The first thing I did was research the history of music videos. A good way to get an understanding of music videos is to look back on the music video history starting from the beginning. The beginning was in 1984 with 'The magic Lantern' although it was nothing like the music videos now it was a start. I looked at influential videos like David Bowies, Queen and Madonna who eclectip borrows her main idea for her video 'Material Girl' from the famous Maylin Monroe's famous film 'Gentlemen prefer Blonde's.' Music video in past helped brake morals and influence audiences to have different attitudes to life, the main culpertaes for this were The Beatles. This shows music videos have a huge affect on audiences. I then critically analysed last year and the technologies I used last year which ones I found hard and reasons why. Last year I really struggled with 'Adobe Photoshop' I tought it was difficult to use and was very complicated. After reflecting back on last years work I started to mind map ideas on possible songs I could make a music video too. I didn't know which genre to do and what artist to do. This was one of my most important decisions because this would be what my whole project would be based around. I thought of a few songs that I could do a possible video too. At one point I wanted to do a video to a song called 'Pure imagaination' by Glee but when I tought about it logically it didn't have a big target audience. So I decided to mind map a few songs and conventions. I then made my final choice. I decided on the song 'Never Let You Go' by Tina Moore however the 'Artful Dodger remix. The orgial by Tina Moore is not 'garage' music its R&B and the lyrics are slightly different. Also the pace of the song and beat is entirely different, its an entirely different song when remixed by Artful Dodger. I also did an analysis to the lyrics of the song so I could realise in depth what the song was about and so I could use mise en scence in my video to match the lyrics.
After I chose my final song I decided to create a go animate on the website http://goanimate.com/ this was very easy to make and very enjoyable. The reason why I made this is so people could understand why I chose the song in a more entertaining way and way that stands out more. On Go Animate I got to choose the voices and my characters and make it seem like a realistic scenario as if somebody was asking me why I chose the song. After this I wanted to create a interactive mind map on the web site http://prezi.com/. This allowed me to add pictures that I found inspirational to my video and show the codes and conventions of my video. It was a starting step towards my video and gave me ideas for my video. It was an inspirational mind map I took a screen shot of my prezi. I was inspired by such photos as graffiti, this is because a HUGE influence in 'Garage' music is graffiti it also relates to the audience of garage music. I also added photos of female artists although not of the same genre inspired the 'garage' music look these artists are Jessi J, Gwen Stefani and Christina Agularia. I also had photos of gold jewellery this is because garage music is often associated with bling. Bling is associated with wealth and a British 'Chav' like culture, it reflects on the audience and this is a trend audiences of garage culture would wear themselves. I also used a photo of lace this is because lace is 'sexy' and woman being sexy in garage music culture is very known and very vital. I wanted my artists to have sex appeal.
I now needed a bit more inspiration for my video, so I decided to look at three inspirational videos that would inspire me with mine and analyse them. I chose three music video 'Jessie J - Do it mandem,' 'Gwen Stefani - Sweet Escape' and 'Christina Agularia - Cant hold us down.' The key thing I had to remember about these three videos is they are NOT from the garage music genre. All three are a brickolage of music genres this includes pop, hip-hop , R&B and electro. This meant the conventions were going to be different to that of a video by the genre garage music. On the contrary they did show some conventions of Garage music this is why they were influential to me. Some of these conventions were the: sexually dancing, the use of bling, the use of gold, flash cars, graffiti and woman and man are equals attitude. All three videos showed this and thus why being influential towards mine. Although they had some conventions that weren't apprise to mine I ignored them. The main convention which was influential in mine was man and woman being equal. In my video I wanted my woman artists to be powerful even the lyrics make her overpowering I want her to be successfully in the garage music industry, the majority of artists in garage music are males so I want her to brake through this and expand the audiences get more females interested in garage music However I needed the typical conventions of Garage music to keep the orgial audiences entertained and to still see my main artist as a sex object not as a female trying to dominate the male world.
After exploring influential videos I needed to explore a music video of the same genre so i could understand the conventions. I looked at a few that were garage music however I believe this video in particular was the one that showed the most conventions of garage music. This being the slow transitions in shots, the low budget video, the bling, this instruments and DJs involved with the video, graffiti and most of all sex appeal.The video I analysed was 'movin too fast.' This video was by the same artists as the one I was going to make so it was very vital I stuck to the same codes and conventions of what his video was. The video itself is very low budget ad you can tell this by the costumes, mise en secne and the special affects used and slide transitions. I wanted mine to be the same as it reflects the fact they are an independent artists of that of a global dominated industry. I also looked at the statistics on Youtube of another video in the same genre called 'Wearing My Rolex' by DJ Wiley. The statistics proved that my audience is majority males and from the ages as young as 13 to as old as 34.
This was another research for me to understand the full conventions and audience of my music genre. It was time to start looking for a potential artist. I decided to start with the females, my entail idea was also to use a male in my video like the 'Movin too fast' video. This was to show the DJ within the video. However in a later date I changed my plans of this and just used a female in the end. This is because I wanted my video to look female dominated. However at the time of my search for my female artist i wanted a male artist as well. I started with the females first, I took photos of them to see who looked the part and got them to fill in questionnaires to see who felt most comfortable doing the video. I compared the photos and the questionnaires to help me pick the most suitable, I also repeated this method with the males to help me choose my male role which I didn't end up using in the end. My chosen performer in the was Eve Boynton, this is because she was very confident, had a good look and had past experience with dance and drama. However in a later date due to matter of different problems I changed my performer to Chloe Carrol, this was a wise choice because she looked the part more, not only that she had a better time table that matched mine, she was perfect leading role. I also created a consent form which I got both performers to sign this is so they accepted me owning video footage of them which would be posted on Youtube and the web so anybody could access it.
I then needed to create a potential location list and costume ideas. I started with my location list these ranged from location from Spring Bank Hull, Marina Hull to Wyke college. All these areas are very public areas and I wouldn't have to get permission to film anywhere , however due to a tight schedule and the problems with my performer and having to change I only ended up using one location which was Wyke College grounds, it was the right mise en scene as it was industrial and had lots of brick walls and industrial features which mathced the conventions of a Garage music video. I also made a risk assessment of this area and how I could prevent these risks. Its very important that my performer was safe and wasn't braking any safety rules or regulations. If there was any risks I needed how to know how to prevent them. This is so I felt like I was in a safe enviorment and so did my performer. I also tought of ideas of what my performer could wear in the video. This was vital because clothes are big part of the mise en scence in a video. I needed her to look sexy, dark, mysterious and garage. I looked at possible clothing I could use for my video to help me decided. I wanted my artist to wear black as black shows darkness, sexiness and a nightlife look. I also liked the idea of my artists wearing fur, fur conveys glamour and I want a glamour element to my music video as well as the street look. I also wanted my artists to wear 'Gold' jewellery this is to show the 'bling' affect. I now needed to think of an album name for my performer and and artist name. This is very important as it helps establish the performer and make them recognisable it also helps them be associated with the genre of music they are associated with. I came up with the artist name to be C.C because its short and easy to remember. It also gives garage a little sophistication which will make her stand out in the 'Grage' music industry. It also reflects back on tagging in the graffiti world which is also associated with garage music. The album name I came up with is 'Movin Up.' This is because its the artists new and first album so she is 'Movin' up' in the music industry world. Instead of calling it 'Moving up' I've called it 'Movin' up' This a street slang and it relates back to its value.
The next big thing before starting my music video was creating a storyboard. This would give me an idea when filming what to instrcruct my performer what to do. I also colour coded my storyboard to help me know which bit is which part of the song. I did a pink outline round the box for the chorus, a yellow outline for verses and blue for instrumental. This helped me not get confused which part was which it also helps anybody else who intends to use my storyboard be able to understand it.
Filming was the most enjoyable practical part of the whole project. For my filming I used cannon md205 recorder I enjoyed filming however i did have some set backs. I filmed a lot of footage wrong, I missed out her head on some shots and one huge mistake I made which next time I will not do is hold the camera the wrong way round, this means the footage I filmed was the wrong way round it was unusable and uneditable. Therefore I had to re-film a lot of my footage. The weather on the day of my footage was not how I wanted it however the dull weather created a 'slums' like look to my video which gave it that ghetto look I was looking for. I didn't stick to my storyboard at all apart from the chours, I think this was a mistake as I feel if i stuck to my storyboard my video would have more continuity and be a more of a narrative based video rather than a performance based video. When filming I was aware of camera shots I wanted to use so I purposely try to do these shots. I used a range of shots, the main shots I used and which showed conventions of Garage music was: medium close up, long shot, zooms, pans, extreme close ups and establishing shots. I also recorded my filming progress and editing progress on an editing log which was then signed by my teacher, this proves its all my own footage and own edited progress. I was originally planning on using lip-sync, however my plans cvhanged for this. This is because hardly any low budget music videos in the UK garage music industry use it as its time consuming and costly. Not only that my music video is a performance based video therefore it doesn't need lip sync its about the performance she gives this includes her dance moves. Garage music is bickolage of Hip-Hop and dance music. Dance music videos are all about being sexy and the dance moves, therefore I will not use lip-sync in my video and base it more on the dance moves and facial expressions. I used two different outfits in my video, one being a big brown fur coat with a big hood. This I used to cover her eyes to make her look mysterious, also the hood cover her eyes when the lyrics say 'I was blind before' the hood convering her connotes that she was blind but now she can see. The other outfit was an all black outfit with a black fur coat. The fur represents glamour and the black represents not being innocent and nightlife. It also makes her have more sex appeal. I used gold jewellery to show 'Bling' and trying to be wealthy. Due to my video being performance based throughout the video she dances sexy and I have a shot of her eating some candy this is a phallic reference to female sexuality. This is too keep my male audience entertained as she has 'sex' appeal.
Here are some screen shots of the shots I used in my video and why:
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CLOSE UP
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-This is a close up I used this shot to be close up on her feet to show heels which have 'gold' jewellery on which shows the 'bling' element. I also used a close up on her feet to show she's not walking away from her 'Lover' she also walks to the beat of the song so it creates a good brake from the other shots.
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| ESTABLISHING SHOT |
- I used an establishing shot to show the audience the scenery. The location shows the audience the background of the artists. It has a very street look. the metal stairs, cheap mobile buildings and pepples show this.
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| MEDIUM SHOT |
- I used many medium shots, this is because the artist is a new artist and I wanted to make it clear who she was and make her face recognisable. Using many of these shots makes audiences recognise her more for the future. It also shows of her 'Gold' jewellery which also relates back to 'Bling' culture.
Once I had completed my filming I started my editing process on the programme Adobe Premier pro. I didn't like this programme I found it very hard to use. None the less I still edited my video. I first named all the footage I had so I knew which shots were what. I binned all the footage the was usless as I didn't need it i then began to edit. One of editing techniques I used was speeded up footage. I did this to match the tempo of the song and give it that effect of a 'Dance music' video.Which is a genre that is incoopriated within Garge music. It also made it more performnace like narratvie. I also speeded footage down, this is beacuse I didnt use lipsync and on the slow parts it was hard to place footage that went the the tempo. So I slowed down my footage of my performer laughing. This is to show she is happy and overcoming her problmes, she is happy and has 'joy' in her life now she has her man back. I used cross dissovles to make it flow better istead of having sharp cuts as i already have many sharp cuts. I also repreated footage in shots to emphesise the point my performer was making the lyrics go 'Ill never let you go' and on this bit she wags her finger and the camera this conootates she isnt goimng to let him go and the fact its repeated throught the video somtimes staright after each other it emphesises her point.
It was now time to create my ancillary texts. I wanted to make an album release advert and a website page for my artist. I started this by researching other artists album release advert and website however in the same genre. I analysed the album realease cover of 'The Streets' and 'Ministry of sound' This helped me know the codes and conventions of garage music album release adverts. Looking at these two adverts helped me understand thw conventions of an album realease advert of garage music. Thye are both very simple and very minimal however keep that 'steet/ghetto' look which represents garage music. 'The Streets' ablum release advert has a big industrial building however very modern, this shows garage music is getting more modern and braking into the modern world its leaving the 90s and enetering the 200s. It also still has that shows that typical 'common' attitude that garage music had this is by putting the artists name on the side of a lighter. The ministry of sound album release advert also has a brickwall and graffiti as the background this a massive influence and convention of garage music. Once I anaylsed these two I created my own album realse advert. I had to make everything match the codes and conventions. This meant the font, the images used, colour theme, background and layout. The whole purpose of my music album release cover is to promote my artists new album 'Movin' up.' The most dominate garage music feature is the background which is an image of graffiti on metal shutter. The graffiti colours used on the metal shutters also match some of the colour in my music video. I used a colour theme on this album release advert to match the website. The colour scheme is very masculine this is to relate to its audience once again. Its also very sophisticated and cool. The blue also connotes night life and 'cool.' Garage music is all about being cool however still have that typical garage music attitude. The blue is used for boxes to put my text in this also helps the text stand out against the background and not look parts of the graffiti on the wall. In the boxes is the most important information needed. I also used the colour white for the text this is too make it stand out, a lot of garage music video album are against white background same with the advertisement's, this is because white represents 'fresh' garage music is a 'fresh' type of music so the colour white conveys this. I also uploaded a photo to show what the advertisement would look like in magazine this makes it look more realistic and allow me to see the finishe product in its true form. My advert would be shown in a magazine like 'DJ Mag.'
I also researched another artists website fan page before I created mine. I researched and analysed Dizze Rascals fan site. Although his music is that of a huge variety he is majority 'Garage' and 'grime' this also shows through on his websites due to his conventions. His web page has main conventions of 'Grage' music. It also has links to other social networking sites, this helps fans promote dizze rascal themselves and build up his fan page. This is one technique I would use on my wepage. At the top of the web page there are links to albums which are little boxes of his album covers. This allows artist to access his albums and look at tracks and songs. Also lets them buy albums or download which has become increasingly popular. Next to the albums there is Dizze Rascals logo. This is so when audiences see the logo in other places they can associate it with Dizze Rascal. It also makes Dizze Rascal more of a brand than just a person. After my research I created my own web page, I created it on Adobe Photoshop same as mine album release cover. My completed website main page helps promote the artist and let fans become members which will give them regular updates. I also used conventions of 'Garage' music to cater for the target audience. I used one main image as my background. This was a brick wall background. I tought this was very important a big convention of 'garage' music is brick walls. It completely represents the culture of 'UK Garage music' I also used an image of blurred graffiti as a background to put my icons in. Graffiti is a big convention in garage music it shows the background of the audiences themselves. I used a world wide recognisable media institution logos. I put these on the web page so fans and audiences can use these other institutions to link from one to another. This also establishes a less known artist into a world wide sensation. All these networking/ streaming sites help fans to share, upload information, new songs, tour etc to other people round the world. I made the Itunes icon much larger than the others. This is because less people are legally downloading music. This will encourage people to download music legally if they see a larger icon. On a whole I think my ancillary texts were very successful and relate to the video. I used similar colours to that what I used in the video, its very simple and minimal. It also relates to both genders of my audience, however it relates more to males this is because majority of my audience are males.Once I had a completed video and ancillary texts I needed to get audience response, in order to see if there is any changes i needed to make and what they tought of it in order to conform to their opions as my target audiences. I made a questionnare asking demographic and sycographic questions. This allowed me to get a wide response of different questions. I also put some of my results into a tally chart and bar graphs this allowed me to view my results in a clear and responsive way. I did a graph for 'number of people who enjoyed my music video' and 'results for does my video want you to make you download the song legally and pay for it?' The first graph allowed me to see how many people actually enjoyed my video 15 out 20 people enjoyed my video this is more than half, I now known that my video is enjoyable. the second graph allowed me to know if the video sold my song enough to make people but it legally rather downloading it illegally 6 people didn't want to download the song at all, so my video obviously didn't make a lot of people want to buy my song, hower I did have some good feedback. On my open question 'what do you recommend for improvements?' one comment said that they tought my ancillary texts needed an image of my artist and my video needed more footage as it seemed all the same'. I will take all this is into consideration and make these changes or make these improvements in the near future.
The I used many different programmes, websites and technology's during this project. I used websites like Google and Wikipedia to research the music history and conventions of my genre of music videos. I also used Youtube to look at other videos that inspired me with mine. I found Youtube easy to use and very convenient. However I found it hard to use when I wanted to upload my video and create my own Youtube channel. I also used programmes like Prezi and Goanimate in my planning and research section as it created a simple, colourful and easy to understand format of my work. I used the programme Photoshop to create my website and my album release advert. Last year I found this programme very hard to use however this year I found it a little difficult at first but afterwards I found very simple and very quicker to use. It helped me make a professional looking website and album release advert. I also used the programme Edexcell to create my graphs in to show my audience feedback, this was very helpful as the graphs helped me understand my data in a easy way and presentable way. I also used the programme Blogger which has been very useful as it allows me to upload all my work and progress. The main programme I used this year and the most important it Adobe Premier pro. This is an a programme that allowed me to edit my footage on. I had many problems with this programme, it took me a while to understand and to use. Next time I would allow myself to do a small project first so I know how to work the programme properly. I also used a SRL camera to take photos of my artists, this was very easy to use I also used cannon md205 recorder to do the filming on. I had some difficulties with this but none I could overcome.
To conclude my evaluation, I think I could make some improvements, I would give myself a lot longer to film as I rushed it and made many mistakes and it didn't go to plan. I would also make sure that when choosing an artists they wont let me down because half way through my project I had to find a new performer. I would also anylse more nacillary texts as I belive mine wasnt quite meating the codes and conventions. I feel as tough I didnt do as well as last year howeveer I learned a lot more this year and more on in my knowledge of media.
