Storyboard AND Animatic

I decided to storyboard the first verse and chorus, along with the start of the second, so you can see a general idea on the structure of the video - this repeats itself up to 3:17, then continues, before stopping again at 3:51 - this is the start of the end.

The animatic can be viewed below:

Slow Motion - Research and Planning

Macro/Micro Analysis - Grime Music Videos

Shot List COMPLETE

Shot List - Draft 1

This is the start of our shot list coming into existence: the yellow highlighted parts make up our chorus, and we have done up to around our 50th shot. While doing this, we have decided to not introduce all our settings (and therefore costumes) at the same time, and will slowly add new tracks for the chorus and verses.

Pitch Feedback

The Feedback from our pitch was, in general, positive. The audience appreciated the thought that had gone into location planning, and praised the audience research due to its detail. We also received feedback about our branding: we had a clear idea of our key elements that will make our artist recognisable, which tied into our costume planning also.

However, we did receive some points to work on:

• To research how to do the Slow Motion shots - looking at double-speed etc.
• To achieve a full Storyboard/Shot List so we have clear plan for filming
• Complete an animatic to work out where cuts are

We watched the second half of this video to help us work out what to do for filming our slow motion shots, which we will experiment with when filming and editing.

Camera Stabiliser - Planning (FINAL)

Production Schedule

Story board

Costume Pitch Task (TRISTEN)

- 12 - Industry (Thabiti)

Who would be signed to our artist and why?

• We plan on keeping the artist independent as that seems to be what is admired more in our genre. A lot of the audience consider artists who have signed to a label as sellouts and therefore don't give them as good a reception as they got before they signed to a label. Also, fans consider the albums made by artists after they have signed to a label to be more restricted and controlled than the albums they used to release , as the artists them have the label looking over their shoulder to make sure they make an album that meets their requirements.

Will your song be available for internet download only ? if so why ?

• Yes our song will be available for internet download only as it is the media platform that is most used by our target audience, nowadays albums and singles don't make as many sales as they used too, even albums made by the worlds most popular artists. as we are independent, spending money on producing a physical copy , which may not make us the profit in return isn't worth the risk, especially as we don't have a label offering us financial support. Also, if the single was available on the internet then the audience will be able to listen to it while they are out and have it on their phone. And since our target audience are known to be more tech-savvy. it will be more convenient for them to have it as an internet download.

-11- Post Production (Thabiti)

Twitter and Instagram (Pitch Task 17) (Callum)

Pitch Task 9 Synergy (Adriana)

Risk Assessment - Pitch Task 16 (Callum) (Thabiti)

-10- After Effects, Green-Screening and Colour Grading (Thabiti)

We don't plan to use green screen in our music video as it doesn't suit the genre of song we have selected. The genre and theme of the song is talking about what its like to live in an urban environment. That topic is most accurately presented by filming real footage from those areas. Therefore a green screen will not be needed.

Colour grading on the other had is something that we will use throughout the music video. We plan of making the colours and tone a little bit darker than the natural colour to make it look a little more grimy and dirty. We don't want out music video looking too joyous and bubbly seeing as that isnt the tone of the son.

an example of the type of colour grading we plan to use is this

the colour grading used in this is very subtle , this in my opinion is the best kind of colour grading for our genre as the viewer doesn't immediately notice that the colour has been editing , but it still holds the same effect.

Camera Stabiliser - Update (PLANNING)

As an update on a previous post regarding the availability of a friend's camera stabiliser, we have organised a date and time to meet Marlon (the friend) to recieved a tutorial from him. Although the whole group may not be able to attend, we only need one member to be able to work it and pass the skill one to the others.

Evidence is displayed below:

UPDATE:

Over the last couple of days (after this conversation), there has been a great deal of discussion between me, our teacher, the technicians, and Marlon. On the 12th I asked about the availability of the DSLR as opposed to the JVC camera, which our media department has a lot of, and asked about things such as the difference in appearance, weight, and compatibility with the camera stabiliser. The technicians suggested that the JVC may work, and it would be available more often (and therefore restrict less our filming timetable), and may or may not go with the stabiliser - however, we agreed it would be unwise to use two different cameras for filming as the difference in footage (due to depth of frame, etc) would be obvious. I then went to Marlon to discuss whether or not the JVC could be used with the stabiliser:

The answer was very much clear; our DSLR would work with the camera stabiliser, which was good news, but the JVC would not. This presented us with a dillemma; do we use the stabiliser but be restricted in terms of DSLR availability, or ditch the idea and film with the standard fig rig. I made the executive decision that we would prefer a more professional video with a restricted timetable than to sacrifice the appearance of the project to make it easier. Our teacher, Louisa, then presented us with what we needed to do:

We plan on testing shots this afternoon (Thursday) to make sure we want to DSLR. Then we will over Friday and Monday discuss with Fergus our timetable, which by then would be ready due to our pitch almost being complete. By Tuesday, we should have a clear timetable and be ready to use the DSLR for filming on Thursday and in OR after half-term.

Idea Generation - Other Video

Sections of this video have concepts in that we as a group can take inspiration from - for example, the mise-en-scene in the park (0:52). Although the songs are not similar at all, Kano raps about the 'Endz', and the video shows tower blocks in the distance. In terms of location, we could film a base track at Lordship Rec (N17), with the view of Broadwater Farm Estate and it's tower blocks in the distance.

Also, the framing of the shot is interesting; we have another person/thing going on in the background to the right. Although John Barnes is doing kick-ups, we could have something that you would expect to see in the 'Endz', such as somebody running from the police OR another person.

Auditions - Pitch Task 7 (Planning) (ALL)

Final Decision: Our performer for 'Endz' by Kano shall be Thabiti as his image and rapping style fits the voice of the song best.  

Setting and Location (Pitch Task 6) (CALLUM)

Preliminary Ideas:

As you can see, we had our own early indications of where we wanted to film. Fitting in with the conventions of Grime, we knew we wanted an urban setting; streets and estates. Also, with the connections to the lyrics we thought of the chip shop, which was reinforced by the fact it epitomises urbanity. The Church fits less with conventions, but DOES connect to our lyrics.

One of our early concepts which did not carry through to the honing of our ideas was that of filming a base track on a football pitch. This came from another grime video,

However, this was soon discarded. The reason for this was that in 'Picture Me', although the location looks good on camera with the floodlights, it is to an extent relevant to the song, as it talks about ambitions vs reality. For our song, 'Endz', it would be less so due to the nature of the lyrics.

UPDATE

Having looked at another video which was analysed in a later post (New Order - World in Motion), the idea of having a base track filmed in Lordship Rec with a background view of Broadwater Farm Estate is also under consideration.

UPDATE:

Due to the practical reason of filming in our hour and a half lesson, the location team had to come up with a new idea for an estate local to Angel, where we could film. I had one in mind, but as I was less familiar with the area than the other locations we want to film in, I went to take pictures and check it out:

The location works well, with an Urban feel despite it being relatively close to the City of London. It has free access into the structures, and a green space we can film in. It also has low walls in some parts, where our performer can sit to perform - although this must be taken into consideration for the risk assessment.

Audience Research - Pitch Tasks 4 AND 5 (CALLUM)

Our primary research can be seen on it's own here:

Idea (NEW SONG) (Planning) (PITCH TASK 3) (CALLUM)

Lyric Annotation

As was posted for our previous song idea, 'A Roadman's Hymn', embedded is a version of lyrics with annotations which we believe we can use for illustration or alternatively amplification.

In terms of amplifying the lyrics as a whole, the song gives the visual impression of somebody touring 'The Endz'. As a result, we will have a number of base tracks featuring our artist walking the streets of an urban road or estate, to convey this throughout the video. We could, like our previous idea, change the setting towards the end of the song to a 'posh' area such as the streets around Green Park such as near The Ritz hotel - this would add meaning as it would take a positive slant on our artist getting out of 'The Endz'.

Similarly to the previous idea again, some of the language at the start of the song is very much religious, and this theme can be kept up throughout the song. Our first shots, for example, are likely to feature our artist outside of a beautiful Catholic church, sitting/kneeling in a praying position to convey the sad mood at the beginning. This would be amplification as we are adding layers of meaning that are not explicit in the lyrics themselves.

Idea Generation:

Where did our concept/ideas come from?

1. Our concept of walking down the street did, funnily enough, originate in part from Kano's 'P's and Q's', a music video made over 10 years ago.

This is an example of how walking down the street, despite how boring it sounds, can be shown in a very entertaining way. The focus remains on the artist throughout, a convention of music videos which we aspire to replicate, and it portrays the urban theme very well indeed. Like our idea, it fits in with the concept of travelling around an area, in this case being him always walking round with his 'P's and Q's' . However, some of the video is created with a green screen - not something we wish to replicate as it looks obviously out of place here.

2. Our second idea, of our artist performing in front of a church, is less common in music videos, and it is difficult to find any examples presently.

However, Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' does amplify the lyrics with a funeral setting, which is the kind of affect we are aiming to achieve in our work.

3. We are also contemplating filming a base track, or a verse at least, in a Fish and Chip / Chicken and Chip shop. Music videos in shops or stores are not as rare as one may think, and an example is in Mostack's 'Liar Liar' video.

Some of this performance is set in the shop, which we think adds to the urban theme, especially if we choose our locations correctly and get a grimy/run down store. 

Pitch Task 2 (Adriana) - Brand Image

Evidence of Discussion:

SONG CHOICE - NEW (Plannng) (PITCH TASK 1) (ALL)

After some discussion with the group, we have decided to change the song that we will use for the video. It will now be 'Kano - Endz' The change is not drastic, as it is from the same artist on the same album, but it is for a number of practical reasons.

Firstly, we believe the style of rapping in this song will suit our potential performer more, as the voice is more generic. Not only this, the song is faster and therefore we will be able to utilise quicker cuts between shots. Despite the change, the song portrays a similar message, and as a result our illustration and amplification may remain similar - this will be expanded upon in a later post. It already has a video, but ours will be different and, hopefully, better.

Camera Stabiliser (PLANNING)

Having realised through research that a lot of music videos, especially of the grime genre, use stabilisers to give it a more professional look. Although a fig rig would do the job, a camera stabiliser would help our camera movement to look more smooth and seamless.



A camera stabiliser



However, we contacted a friend of Callum's, who is part of an organisation (Black Label Visuals) that makes music videos and has a number of stabilisers. This could be extremely valuable for our project, and Marlon (the friend) has agreed to let us borrow one for a period of time. However, he has clarified that that we as a group need a tutorial from him on how to use it, which we will schedule closer to the time. This is part of our early planning and is being added to the blog for the purposes of recording our progress.

Song choice planning

Our group has been discussing ideas for potentially changing our song choice. We originally chose to do Kano's song 'A Roadman's Hymn'. However Thabiti has suggested another Kano song that he already knows the lyrics to and thinks that it may be more appropriate to do as a music video.





Callum and Adriana also suggested another Kano song called 'Drinking in the west' however the group unanimously decided against it.

-13- Reflection On Progress

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-9- A Review Of A Previous Student Video (unfinished)

-8- YouGovProfiler Research

The target audience age was as expected, as well as their location. Seeing as wretch 32 is a uk based artist it makes sense that the majority of his audience reside in the uk.

Seeing as the age range is from 18-24 it also makes sense that the average time his audience spends using the internet is from 46-50 hours per week.

-7- Laura Mulvey's Theory on representation

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Lyric Annotation

As part of Idea Generation for our music video, the lyrics to our song "A Roadman's Hymm" will be posted with annotations - we will point out specific words/phrases which could be illustrated, or even amplified in a video.

The first and most obvious illustration which we could, and intend to present is that of a journey. The song as a whole conveys the meaning of a journey from nowhere to somewhere. We intend to make this literal, by using walking down a street/road in more than one location to illustrate the journey our artist is making. To an extent, this is also amplification, as we are adding another meaning to the song - despite the fact our addition is simpler.

Also, using some of the religious imagery in the lyrics (not to mention that the song is a hymm) we could film outside a Catholic Church as they are beautiful to look at - despite this not fitting genre conventions for setting it allows us to include a degree of amplification in our music video.

Final Song Choice (PLANNING)

Final Song Choice:

We chose this song for a number of reasons; most are listed in the 'Song Shortlist Presentation' blog post. The combination of tempo, rhythm and lyrics we can illustrate with make it good as an artistic opportunity, but the practicality (in terms of having only one artist) was also a contributing factor.

Fortunately, this song from the album does not have a video already - this version is a live performance for the radio. However, we will try to adapt it from some of Kano's other music videos from this album without deferring from the genre conventions that the audience would expect to see.

Example:

This is the music video from 'Hail', another song from Kano's recent 'Made in the Manor' album. Our video will be different to this; we will avoid using grey-scale filters in editing, although we may use darkened colour gradients as it fits in with our genre. In terms of location, although the urban setting would be the same, we would prefer to use an estate as opposed to terraced housing, and a high road as opposed to an industrial area. Conceptually, we want our illustration to feature the artist more, and in terms of costume we will try to use obviously branded clothes (sports/casual) as part of our own brand synergy for the artist. 

Song Shortlist Presentation (PLANNING)

Our shortlist consisted of 'Kano - A Roadman's Hymn', 'Krept and Konan - Nightmares ft Siah' and 'Krept and Konan - Brothers ft Anthony Thomas'.

Kano's song has a clear verse-prechorus-chorus-verse structure and obvious changes in tempo which repeats, which could help fitting with music video conventions. Practically, it only uses one artist which would be easier to cast than 3 people. Also, as a challenge it would be interesting; it's a little off-tempo but we could make this work.

Both Krept and Konan songs have 3 artists, which practically would not be beneficial - we only have 2 potential rappers in our group and lack a singer who would be reliable. Also, the voice is very much generic and would be harder to brand in an original way. Finally, the song/artist is commonly used by other media groups and we would like to be a bit different. 

Song Shortlist

1. Kano - Roadman's Hymn



2. Krept and Konan ft Siah - Nightmares



3. Krept and Konan ft Anthony Thomas - Brothers



4. MoStack - Pornhub and Cream

Research unfinished

While looking for inspiration for creating for creating a music video I came across the music video for JME's 96 F**kries which had a very interesting concept

Summer storyboard work

Blog post 13 - Reflection

Overall I feel that I am doing much better blogs this year in comparison to last year. I have definitely put much more effort into my blogs this year. I have also done more blogs at this point in the year than I did last year and have met the deadlines more effectively than last year by far. Meeting the deadlines for blogging health-checks was an issue and I wasn't able to get the feedback I needed to improve my work. The main ways that I know my blog is better than last year is as follows.

1. I have used a wider range of ICT and used it more effectively

2. There is more content to mark

3. My research is much more in depth

I plane to maintain this standard of blogging at the very least as I will constantly look to improve my work as the year progresses.

Blog post 12 - Synergy Research

Kendrick Lamar - To pimp a butterfly

Both the album cover and track-list show a grey and blackish color scheme. This is probably to reflect some of the bleak content that some songs may contain. The color palette also suggests a hint of nostalgia within the albums music and perhaps some of the videos. The track-list is written in Kendrick Lamar's handwriting to emphasize that this album is a reflection of his own creative mind.




This is the promotional video for Kendrick Lamar's 'To pimp a butterfly'. The video showcases the cities that Kendrick Lamar has been to and just how popular he is and his appeal to many different people.



This is a music video for the single 'King Kunta' from the album. The video features Kendrick Lamar and some 'friends' wearing older fashion clothing. This can be interpreted as an intertextual reference to the album cover which can also be considered nostalgic. There is also the appearance of famous black leaders. This could be an intertextual reference to the color palette of the album cover as it features a crowd of black people in front of the white house.

Blog post 11 - Independent vs Maintream

Blog post 11 - Virgin emi records vs bbk from Tristen henry

Blog post 10

I used time toast to create a timeline of when different costumes, locations and props are shown in J Hus' music video for his single 'friendly'.

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/1359760

This is the link to the timeline and below are some screen shots

Blog post 9 - Previous student video

Blog post 9 from Tristen henry

Blog post 8

-6- Carol Vernallis Theory

Carol Vernallis’ music theory states that the camera work and the editing in a are used to portray an artist and their music in a certain way.

Carol vernallis also believes that common conventions in film as a whole , such as continuity , don't apply to music videos. It has now become the norm for music videos to break continuity. Editing styles such as jump cuts, match cuts, obvious edits often take the viewer away from the scene that they are currently watching and sometimes takes them to a completely unrelated scene in a different time period.

These edits take place throughout the video and usually occur in time with the beat and rhythm of the music video.

A music video that displays this use of editing is Konan - Last Night In LA

-5- Andrew Goodwins Theory

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Blog post 7 - Laura Mulvey Theory

Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey's theory is centered around the phrase 'male gaze'. This is the idea that women are mis represented in the media in order to fulfill the desire of a male. This means that women are often objectified and made a victim of degrading stereotypes. Laura Mulvey states that women are often portrayed as erotic objects for men to view for pleasure. Often these portrayals are very obvious and very common in films. Mulvey states that the female characters are portrayed as the weaker characters that slow the narrative down or are often playing the role of a 'damsel in distress'. This is the complete opposite of how the males are often represented. The male characters are usually the heroes that are 'active' and keep the narrative going. Mulvey states that this is due to fact that we live in a patriarchal society (a society where men dominate the ideology and representation of both men and women)  This is very common in action films such as the James Bond films. 

In terms of music videos, the male gaze and scopophilia are very common in some certain genres. For example hip hop music videos often cater to the male gaze by using models in very revealing clothing. For example the rap group known as 'Migos' use this in their song called 'Handsome and Wealthy'

In this screenshot it is clear that the main focus is on the females curves and Mulvey would describe this as both scopophilia and the objectification of females.

Blog post 6 - Carol Vernallis theory

Carol Vernallis Music Video Theory

Carol Vernallis’ music theory presents the ideas that the camera work and the editing in a music video are used to portray an artist and their music in a certain way. In terms of editing, Carol Vernallis believes that certain editing techniques break conventions of continuity editing and are now the norm for most music videos as they have become conventional to the style of music videos. This includes editing techniques such as; jump cuts, cutting on beat, juxtaposed frames, obvious edits etc... These edits usually occur throughout a music video. For example, a music video that I have been studying and that has given me inspiration for creating my own music video is called ’96 F**kries’ by UK grime rapper JME. This video shows how editing on beat is so conventional to a music video.

This music video also shows the importance of an artist breaking the 4^th wall. As you can see, JME is rapping directly to the camera and his body language is also directed at the viewer. This is also another concept that Vernallis found to be very conventional of music videos and also quite important. Vernallis’ theory also mentions ‘Diegesis’ which is the setting of a music video. In this particular music video the diegesis is quite unclear as there isn’t much variety of shot types and the background changes frequently so we are presented with only one clear base track.

Blog post 5 - Goodwin's music video theory

Blog Post 4 - Function of a music video

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Blog post 13 Reflection on progress

In comparison to last year I feel as though I have put much more effort into completing my blogs before or on deadlines. For each blog post I've tried to use different types of ICT/apps as last year I didn't use a variety of them. I would give my blogs 10/20 because I don't think the quality of the content isn't as good as it could be.

3 things I would improve:

• Content/quality
• Format of presentation
• Research put into the work

Blog post 12 Synergy Activity (to be finished)

Name of Artist/Group: Nicki Minaj

Album cover: Pink Print

Key features highlighted:

·         Simple pink and white colours

·         Actual fingerprint on the album cover(links with album title)

·         1 artist (1 name on the cover suggests that)

Music video single:

Pills and potions

• Same simplicity as album cover throughout for example the background many times are one colour
• Artist sometimes wears a white costume which corresponds with the white background on the album cover

*To further promote the album,Pink Print Movie was released*

Blog post 11 Mainstream and Independent

Mainstream and independent research from adrianadasiv