Thursday, 28 October 2010

Feedback

Enyinna, this blog is well organised and easy to navigate. Your use of slide shows are particularly useful in viewing the more visual apects of the research and planning and work. You now need to upload your group's vox pops. You have worked hard so far - well done.

Thursday, 21 October 2010

Vox Pox questions used

What do you expect to see in a music video of this genre?

Which music TV channels would you expect to see this music video on?

Why do you watch a music video?

What themes or narratives do you expect to see in a music video of this genre?

How do you think a male performer in this music video should be represented?

How do you think we can make an RnB/ Grime music video original?

Friday, 15 October 2010

Potential Performers for Music Video



The performer, Kyle, who will be taking the main, leading role as Wretch 32 was chosen by the group because we believed he had the key appearance to that we were looking for in the artist. This is due to our assurities that he fits into the conventional ideology and stereotype of what you would conceive an artist within this genre to look like, so we thought he would consequently be the best representation of the artist Wretch that we could find. We felt that he had all the features and attributes to depict a realistic and most importantly believable grime artist, therefore he would be an ideal performer to use for him.



Kalise we believe has key features as well to displaying a great image for Wretch's partner and being an appropriate, believable actress that would be able to illustrate companionship between the couple vividly. She not only has the looks but also, along with Kyle, has a certain amount of knowledge into the field of music, film and media; and therefore would also be suitable to work with in order to display an excellent and fitting embodiment of the character she is acting as.



Tara was also another actress we considered of filling the role of Wretch's partner, as we believed she fulfilled the necessary requirements both in image yet also in belief and realism. This is as she possesses great skill and ability in theatre and drama, and therefore could be able to perform top level acting supporting the realism and immersion of the performance.

Friday, 8 October 2010

Shooting Schedule

Weekly Shooting:

Date: Monday 11th October – Sunday 17th October
We will hope to get the performance shots done within these dates.
Date: Monday 18th October – Sunday 24th October 2010
Within these dates we hope to get some footage for the narrative scenes.
Date: Monday 25th October – Friday 29th October
Within these dates we are attempting to get more footage from the narrative scenes but at another location.
Date: Monday 1st November- Sunday 7th November 2010
Within these dates we are hoping to get more footage for the narrative scenes within the video.
Date: Monday 8th November – 22nd November 2010-10-03
Within these date we hope to go over and reshoot any parts of the music video we feel need to be improved.
Date: Monday 23rd November – 30th November we hope to get the final pieces of footage done within these dates.
Date: 1st December -19th December- get all filming and refilming of both performance and narrative scenes done, so we can move on to editing after holidays.

Some Equipment Shots

A few examples and types of equipment to be used for the production of the music video:









Type of equipment to be used for production of the Vox Pox:








Equipment List

Props for the music video (Potential)

Props

Themes into music video (Potential)

Themes

Generic Codes and Conventions

Generic codes of R&B/ Hip-Hop

Technical codes

- Many two shots can be used to show the two people (Boy and Girl) together (highlights romanticism that couple share).
- Tracking shots and performance shots of the artist towards their "lover" in the video is also generic and will convey their relationship to higher gravity, virtue and significance.
Symbolic codes
- Interactions with the other model who is playing the part of the lover such as; touching, holding, deep stares into their eyes and a common generic symbolic code is when a male/female holds their partners chin and gazes into their eyes as an example.

Generic conventions

- Items of Mise en scene such as rings, bangles and necklaces/ expensive jewellery are all generic for an R&B/Hip-Hop video
- Clothing will range from stereotypical attire for the main grime artist, his spouse and other minute characters in the video in order to fit into the conventions of the genre appropriately and aim at our main target audience well. However the costumes will also have a sense of casualness to them, that can illustrate a less intimidating and more sophisticated/ laid back feeling to the performers and the video on a whole, which will be useful to subverting the conventions because of the romantic tone that the video will possess.
- Dark colours are often used to portray negative feelings of the artist (through the grime genre and somewhat stereotypical portrayal of artist from a Marxist perspective)
- Bright and vibrant colours however will also be used to show the artists positive feelings, which will connote well towards the song as it is meant to be positive and uplifting, and therefore also subversive to the genre.
- R&B video's tend to be performance and narrative based

Possible Video Plan

Wretch 32 and Haydon actors will perform in front of the green screen doing the performance scene; this is going to be done by us because we have seen performance scenes in a lot of Grime music videos. So for us not to include a performance scene would have meant that our music video does not look properly like a grime music video which is essential in attracting your target audience.

The next part to our video would be wretch 32 properly introducing himself and talking about him and his girl, In this part of the video we want to include some narrative scenes. These narrative scenes would be of wretch 32 and his girl going through minor difficulties, we may even include a love triangle as we feel there are parts in the song where he says there maybe a another involved in the situation.

The third part to our music video is a performance of Haydon, performing his part of the song. The character Haydon is not going to be included in the narrative scenes because we feel as though this will blur the storyline between wretch 32 and his girlfriend; we don’t want to confuse audiences so we opted out this idea. In the performance scenes we will try to shoot Haydon from a range of angles and use some close ups to engage the audience and withhold their interest. There may also be performance parts where both Haydon and wretch 32 will be together, so that there is some variety to our music video.

The next part of the music will focus back on wretch 32 and his girlfriend we will show them together having a good time in a range of places which we are thinking maybe their neighbourhood, central London, out to dinner, at a funfair and other places where they can enjoy themselves. We will want to show how they have progressed by changing location to more sophisticated places as the scenes move on.

In between the different scenes where wretch32 and his girlfriend are going out we will show Haydon performing the chorus, we will try to make this subtle as we do not want the audience to be put of from the jumps in scenarios. There will also be a combination of performance and narrative towards the end closing the video. Our group wants to also include stop motion or some other technique within our video which we may possibly do in the end if we are able to because we have not thought of how we will do this so far.

Storyboard for the Video (Ideas)






Initial Ideas for Music Video


(MAY NEED TO CLICK IMAGE TO ZOOM IN IF TEXT APPEARS TOO SMALL TO READ.)

Analysis of the lyrics

This song is sung by Haydon and wretch 32, wretch 32 is a predominantly grime artist whereas Haydon is an RnB artist. The main performer of the song is wretch 32, he is discussing his relationship in this song. Wretch 32 has made many songs about his love life; this is one of his more famous ones. He is an unsigned artist who is relatively well known in the Grime scene.

The opening verse of the lyrics of the song, reaffirm that this is a love song, as the Haydon singer says “Me and you”. This shows that this singer is talking about a relationship with a girl, as very few if any grime songs are based on homosexual relationships. We then here wretch 32 explain that he will not leave his girl, this represents him as caring which I think our group will have to take into consideration when thinking of how we will represent the main male performer. Wretch 32 then describes the reasons as to why his girlfriend likes him, e.g. he says,”with my smile she can’t stay mad at me”. This represents the artist as confident and comfortable with himself, this is a stereotypical representation of grime and hip hop artists. This alpha male representation is something our group will try to mediate in our music video. The fact that wretch then says “my egos a problem, were working around”, shows that he is aware of his over confidence and need to please, which is unconventional representation of a grime artist, giving our group a option to make the main performer less conventional. The mentioning of another male suggests that there may be a love triangle involved, which is a theme that we may also be able to incorporate into our music video.

In the next verse wretch wretch 32 shows that he is committed to his relationship, as he mentions the idea of marriage in the lyric, “i can put a ring around your finger”, this is also an unconventional representation of a grime/ hip hop artist as they are normally represented as disrespectful towards women. The chorus then plays where we hear the singer Haydon, expressing his care for his partner. He says, “you, words can’t describe”, this a quite stereotypical representation of an rnB singer as these type of lyrics are commonly seen in RnB music videos.

In the next verse we hear the artist wretch 32 acting like a alpha male once again, as he shows his supposed authority over his girlfriend. He says, “She knows what the rules allow”, here wretch 32 is claiming that there are certain rules which his girlfriend must abide by, making him look like the more superior in the relationship. The representations of wretch 32 we see in this verse reflect the stereotypical representation of grime artist in music videos. We are also given this impression of wretch 32 in the following lyrics where he says “money ain’t a Thing”, here he shows off that he is reasonably wealthy. This is commonly done by grime and Hip Hop artist, two very similar genres, as this is a genre in which artists are very money motivated and like to show their wealth and success.

In the next verse we here wretch 32 assert his affection for his girl, he says, “she makes me smile on a rainy day”. This lyric once again represents wretch 32 as a caring and affectionate person, especially towards his girlfriend. Here wretch 32 is not being represented as a stereotypical grime artist as grime artist tend to be portrayed as “tough guys” , who are not very emotional. We also her from wretch 32 in this verse that he in the past was with a lot of girls but has matured and changed his ways, he says, “ girls come and go, I’m tired of the campaign”. This lyric shows that wretch 32 is trying to settle down and commit to one girl.

In the next verse we hear Haydon proclaim his affection for his own girlfriend, just as wretch 32 had done previously. This is a conventional representation of RnB artists and something the audiences would expect. He says, “all I need is your touch”, which shows that Haydon is very passionate. The song ends with wretch repeating “all i need is you baby”, this ending is similar to the opening of the song in that it makes it clear that the songs main theme is love.

Overall, we can say that this song is represents the main artist both conventionally and unconventionally considering the genre of the song. There are some verses where the artist, wretch 32 is represented as caring and affectionate, which is not a stereotypical representation of grime artists. However, there are also verses where wretch 32 is represented as a macho alpha male and the more superior in the relationship. The two different sides to wretch 32 identified in the lyrics shows that in our music video we can have some creative freedom considering the fact that it is a grime song. Our group will also consider making the artist less stereotypical considering the lyrics are allowing us to, also this will help us to make our music video more original.

Lyrics to 'Me and You'

Me and you, me and you (Haydon)
N I ain’t ever said that I was (Wretch 32)
leaving you (H)
Coz u aint never given me a (W)
reason to
its just me and you, me and you, me and you (H)

N i aint neva sed I was (W)
leaving you (H)
Coz u aint given you me a (W)
reason to
its jus me and you (H)


Im saying im sky fly, dark skin galaxy (W)
and with my smile, she cant stay mad at me
im a wild child my last name's casualty, so i like seeing nurses in outfits
she can wear the skirt, i'll work with the trousers, woah look i aint perfect, im clownin
my egos a problem we're working around it,
but he a throws an option to further the outings,
me and you, me and you (H)
We're out of this world but the earths got us grounded, i can give your index a circle around it,
ring.., its worth every pound is,
bling.., but thats only when the times right, the diamonds will shine like your smile when your outside,
grim.., I know that your down like 3-2, im down like me... too,
sing (W),

You got me feeling right. You girl i cant deny. You words i cant describe, because i jus cant get enough of..
You got me feeling right. You girl i cant deny. You words i cant describe, because i jus cant get enough of your love (H)


Look and we aint never falling out, coz she knows what the rules allow, and if her phones engaged, i just text her call me now, exclamation my juice aint water down,
i tell her blatant, n when we fool around, i always see the back of her n she aint walkin out,
i only got her tab now cos i bought her gown, but honey money aint a thing coz its all about (W),
me and you, me and you (H)
N I ain’t ever said that I was (W)
leaving you (H)
Coz u aint never given me a reason to
so lets jus keep it like that, n we can stay close coz i feel it like that,
i make notes, believe i like cash, and you can stay home n be in like rags,
n we wont break the oaths coz jesus likes that (W),

You got me feeling right. You girl i cant deny. You words i cant describe, because i jus cant get enough of..
You got me feeling right. You girl i cant deny. You words i cant describe, because i jus cant get enough of your love (H)


Look i aint sayin its really love, im jus sayin that she cheers me up,
on a bad day girls come n go n i am tired of the campaign, my chrystals got me tired of the champagne, but you don’t get closer then us,
we share the same bed n I thought the sofas enough, n on her bracelet it says there always in love, n it hurts me to say this aint only a crush (W),

You got me feeling right. You girl i cant deny. You words i cant describe, because i jus cant get enough of..
You got me feeling right. You girl i cant deny. You words i cant describe, because i juscant get enough of your love (H)

Girl you're all that i've got, n you're all im thinkin of, you are everything I want, everything that i need, we aint gotta sing much all i need is your touch, n i'm falling in love, (ohhh) with you baby (H)

I said im feeling you baby, I said im feeling you baby,
I said im feeling you baby, I said im feeling you baby, I said im feeling you baby, I said im feeling you baby, I said im feeling you baby, I said im feeling you baby (H)

About Wretch...

Wretch 32 (real name Jermaine Scott) is a grime MC and rapper from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective "Combination Chain Gang", before forming The Movement with fellow artists: 'Scorcher', 'Ghetto', Devlin and 'Lightning'. Despite his claims to be a grime MC, Wretch has faced frequent criticism from dedicated grime fans, who accuse him of making "bait" hip-hop which he attempts to pass off as grime music. This is due to his tendency to spit over hip-hop sounding beats. He is also often associated with the TMT crew, also from Tottenham, due to his close relationship to fellow Tottenham rapper Cell 22. The pair have made several songs together.

After years of endeavour, Wretch 32 is now recognized as one of the leading urban artists that the UK has to offer. In 2009, he performed in every city in the country and to date his music catalogue has independently sold over 15,000 units. Already this year, Wretch 32 has been honoured with the Best Hip Hop award at OMA (Official Mix tape Awards) and he now plans to expand his profile and clothing line ‘Wretchroboys’.

Radio stations such as BBC 1Xtra, Kiss FM and Choice FM, heavily support wretch 32. He has even won an award from BBC 1Xtra to acknowledge his high volume of radio play. His renowned word play has made him a firm favourite amongst DJs and captured the heart of audiences not only in the UK but also across Europe. In fact, despite never being signed Wretch 32 has performed in venues, which include The Indigo O2, The BBC Big Weekender and the Hip Hop Kemp Festival in Czech Republic.

Wretch 32 already has a popular twitter with over 10,000 followers, a blog and now launches his new website Wretch32.com with a free mix tape. He is currently working on his new album Black and White which is due for release later this year.

Research Into Potential Music Channels

Research into a Music TV channel which may distribute my product
MTV Base

Is owned by MTV Network Company and launched in 1999 in the UK. Mostly shows music videos from the genres Hip Hop, RnB, Grime, reggae and Soul. MTV Base is available in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Republic of Ireland, Kenya and South Africa. The channel was previously available in the Netherlands, Germany and other European countries but was replaced by MTV Dance in some territories from March 2009.


Kiss

This is a music channel owned by Box television channel, launched in 1998. The music channel predominantly plays music from RnB, Dance and Hip Hop. The television channel was created by Guy Wingate who was the original creator of the kiss 100 radio station.
Daily Programming

Deaf Jams - Music videos with sign language.
Fresh Kiss Cuts - The newest urban music of the moment.
Friday Night Garage - Non-stop new and old garage tunes.
Good Morning Kiss! - New and old urban music videos to start the day.
Kissalicious - The very best classic and modern urban tracks.
Kiss Party Flavas - Non-stop urban party music.
Kisstory: Rewind Thru The Years - Non-stop classic urban music videos.
Kiss Urban Hitlist - The biggest urban music videos.
Late Night Jamz - Urban music videos.
Masterclass - One artist’s entire music history with facts and album statistics.

ViVa

A music channel, which has recently changed its name in the Uk from TMF to Viva. It also shows entertainment programmes. It is famous for showing uk top 40 every week. In the Uk the channel was launched in 2009. They show music videos of all genres especially pop, rnb and Hip Hop videos. The channel is available on freeview channels in the UK and originally the channel came from germany where it was launched in 1993.

4music
A music channel which is limited to the uk and some Ireland digital TV providers. It is owned by Box Television Company, who also own channel 4 in the Uk. The channel is free to own as it is shown on freeview television. The music shown on the channel is predominantly Hip Hop, pop, Dance, RnB and rock. They are a relatively new channel having only been launched in 2008. There slogan is “music and more”, and there sister channels are 4 channel, E4, more 4 and film 4.



Further Similar/ Potential Music TV Channels

Thursday, 7 October 2010

Wretch 32 ft Haydon - Me And You (Chosen Track)

The Chosen Track For The Music Video Production.

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire results group conducted

Camera & Editing techniques

Camera and Editing techniques we may possibly use...

CAMERA

Extreme long shot/establishing shot-establishes physical context of action; shows landscape and architectural exteriors

Long shot -shows a large scale action; shows whole groups of people; displays large architectural details

Medium shot- small groups such as two or three people

Close-up- focus on one character; facial expression very important

Extreme close-up- facial features in a character or small objects framing where people etc. are placed within the frame ( composition)

Angles

High angle/birds eye view ( filmed from above)

Aerial shot - (usually filmed from a crane or helicopter)

Low Angle - worms eye view filmed from below so camera is looking up

Movement - pan/panning (camera moves on a pivot from one direction to another

Tilt - camera attached to moving object to follow action

Tracking - tracking shot (camera attached to moving object to follow the action)

Zoom - camera moves in on a object/moves out from the object

Short take - shot lasts for a short time

Long take - camera lingers on the frame

EDITING
(cutting and refining the footage to create the finished text.)

Quick cuts - shot moves rapidly from one frame/shot to the next

Fade (fade to black) - one shot fades away to black and the next shot fades in

Dissolve - one shot fades out as the next shot simultaneously fades in

Wipe - a shot is literally wiped off the screen by another

Slow motion - a sequence is slowed down

Fast motion - a sequence sped up

Stop motion - a series of still shots or drawings etc. are taken with a still camera and mixed into a moving image programme to create a digital animation sequence

Friday, 1 October 2010

Production Log - Planning Work

Now that I have finished the textual analysis' and gained a certain amount of knowledge from existing videos, I will soon be uploading our own planning work and ideas from our group that will be useful to us in the production of our own music video.