Final Draft Cd Cover(Front)

This is my finished cd cover.

Cd Cover(Draft)

This was the original idea behind my Cd cover, I was going for a simplistic design that was still full of life and conveyed the mysterious image for the artist. I outlined the figure of the artist for this picture and not the features of hisface etc. as to leave the star image as rather blank, much like a 'blank canvas'. The reason I added the 'Q?' in the background as to continue with the theme of the mysterious character and I made it it a bold red colour to give the character a slight bit of depth and to make the cover bolder and more interesting.

Analysis of magazine advert

This is a magazine advert/Poster for the legendary John Legend and Roots collaboration albumn, entitled Wake up!

The simplistic design is complimentary of the artists star image in this picture, as it is a fairly plain image with

basic details on the band/singers and the title of the actual product, it has been placed like this,

so as the advert doesn't scream for attention but yet demands it with the flush of the cool blue colour and the easy on the eye beige/yellow colour

of the text fits in perfectly well with the entire image, as it contributes to the actual music which the artists produce, cool, calm and soulful.

The artist' are the main focal point of this image, as they are the only figures on the advertisement and also as the image has been centred aroung

uthe artists, with the main focus being on the lead singer and main attraction of the albumn, John Legend'.

Final Edit Music Video

This is the final edit of our music video entitled The Samba Thelonious Theory.

Friday 12th november

Kojo and Zack completed the editing of the final video. Whilst Craig and I helped pass judgement on whether the clips used were in the right place.

Shooting Schedule

Date & Time	Location	Shots needed
Saturday 16th October	Outside the drama department building	The entire 1st draft of the music video. Mid to close up shots of Kojo rapping into the camera.
Saturday 23rd October	Under a railway bridge littered with graffiti (Shadwell)	Photographs to be used as magazine adverts etc.
Monday 1st November	Under the railway bridge littered with graffiti (Shadwell)	Range of shots, mid, close and long shots(for projection).
Thursday 4th November	School theatre(Bishop Challoner)	Range of shots, mid, close up and long shots of Kojo rapping whilst images are being projected onto him.

Evauation of planning

The song we will be using is of the Hip Hop genre and so we decided to make a video that suited the characteristics of the genre but with changes as well.

We plan to have our actor stand alone in the video performing to the song whilst using props and projected images to link to the lyrics, for example when the artist QuEST says

"Let these stars hit you till you fall and lose your balance like the "Roc boy"

We have decided our actor will hold his hands up over his left eye in the shape of a diamond to represent the Rocafella recording label. This is to create a direct intertextual reference for fans of Hip Hop to enjoy and recognise instantly.
Many Hip Hop videos focus largely on the performer and not the performance and so we will try to do this as well, although we have not neglected the performance.
Our actor will also have three costume changes for each verse, each one hopefully symbolising what the artist is trying to convey through his lyrics whilst also keeping our own twist on the video concept.
As the video progresses we hope to show that our performer is conscious about his image as he changes costume three times in order to stay looking "fresh" and on trend.
We will also have a projector that we will use to place certain images on top of our actor to use as a form of props for example when QuEST says

"Worldwide the scriptures get me spotted on the atlas"

We plan to place a globe on to the actor with an arrow pointed to a certain part of the world in order to symbolise the performer having his place in the world.

As the beat changes in the song we we cut the video to match for example when the chorus plays we will show a kaleidoscope to go with the chilled music during the chorus and hopefully not to confuse the viewer by showing fast paced camera work whilst the music is very slow paced at the time.

We will use plenty of close up shots to get the viewers accustomed to the artist and also to work with the conventions of the Hip Hop genre's music videos as the artists tend to try to show themselves off in their videos.

Our video's main hook will be that our actor will be performing in front of a projector so that a video is playing on top of him and so the viewer will have two different things to watch.

We also plan to reference such Hip Hop videos as "Brooklyn Girls" by Charles Hamilton, in this video Charles Hamilton is seen wearing Monster Beat headphones by Dr. Dre throughout and we plan to do the same thing in our video.

This is the email which Zack sent to the Artist who performs the song in order to ask for permission to use it in our music videos.

This is the reply granting us permission to use the song for our music video.

Props & Locations

Props - monopoly money

- Children’s dolls (Barbie & ken)

In the end we chose not to use these props as we believed they were irrelevant to the theme of the video and in some way over emphasized on the nostalgic feel which the video provides.

Locations - School theatre

- Urban setting littered with graffiti found under a railway bridge

- Basement in a theatre in Shoreditch, clips used during chorus’

Friday 12th november

Kojo and Zack completed the editing of the final video while Craig and I sat by and helped decide whether the clips chosen we3re right for the video and whether they suited the concept and theme.

Music video 1st draft

Monday 8th November to Thursday 11th November

Kojo edited the first two verses of our final version of the music video whilst I edited the Behind the Scenes video and uploaded it to YouTube. Craig, Zack and I then continued editing the final video.

Group communication

Arranging where and when to meetfor filming of the video via facebook messages.

Photographs from shoot 1

These are the pictures which were taken at the first drafted of the music video, at the original settings before we changed to the theatre and graffiti wall. This photoshoot was conducted by Zack and Craig, but the reason I have chosen to showcase them on this blog is to show the developmentr of the star image of the artist 'QuESt'.

QuEST -Samba Thelonious Lyrics

Hello my ladies, Hello my fellas
Lets get this money
Ayyy
Q and thelonious (uh uh)
We owning this (uh)
Like you aint knowing this!
So let these stars hit you
Till you fall and lose your balance
Like the roc boy ,mmmm
I open up my mouth
And come out fresher
Than an altoy
That rap shit
Giant pain and silence
Kill that wack sh*t
That 20 pounds of composition
Books up on your mac sh*t
World wide the scriptures
Get me spotted on the atlas
Banging beats
And placing minor competitions in a casket
Dodging traffic, please
You couldn’t hang a rope on oak trees
Reasons why I keep my standards
Higher than a nose bleed,
Higher than a hippy in the 60’s,
Smoking dope weed,
Higher than a Sixer,
Calvin Mercer and his colleagues,
Higher then Pacino sniffin' soda
Watching Low Bleed,
Admire verbal essence as I proceed,
Please just let me breathe.
Hello my ladies, Hello my fellas
Lets get this money
Ayyy
Q and thelonious (uh uh)
We owning this (uh)
Like you aint knowing this!
Im tryna get that Irv Gotti money
Back when rule was sporting head bands,
And dudes shouted murder like they slipped
And see a dead man,
Guess I gotta walk through muddy waters like I’m Red Man
Tryna keep my balance like a headstand,
Come up out that swamp without a stain obtain my land and chuck a deuce up,
Running into strangers who convinced themselves they knew us,
Interviewers interview us,
Staring at the reporters,
Like we basic and oblivious
To shit they try and throw us,
And we laugh,
Chuckles to the mattress with the knife cuts,
Glancing at the models with the nice buts,
Who like us,
Precise cus’,
Fade into the 97’ escort,
Word to my barber,
Cut the check though,
Please just let me breathe.
Hello my ladies, Hello my fellas
Lets get this money
Ayyy
Q and thelonious (uh uh)
We owning this (eh)
Like you aint knowing this!
Time is of the essence
So I always count my blessings
More than mishaps,Rappers still complaining out whats wack inside
Their chit chat,
Acting how a b*tch acts,
Makes me wanna quit rap,
Like Christian Ward did,When Maino hit him with that bitch slap,
Clown face crying through the smiles I tend to force now,
Hoping I don’t run into the act of being brought down,
Notoriety has got me questioning my self worth,
Guess I’m in the state ere all my thoughts are drawn from hell first,
But,
Lessons of living got driven like the artist acts,
Keep a steady hand,
When facing drama,
Calling all the shots,
Homie its hard as rock,
Rolling on a honest block,
Hoping that them liars never breed,
Please just let me breathe.

Making of music video

This is a video which was taken during and of the music video whilst we were filming. I was not present in the video as I had prior engagements in an academic lesson, although I did play the role of stage manager at the very beginning of the shoot before we obtained the second camera, arranging props and going to get extra props which we decided to use last minute, e.g. the extra lighting and extension cables so that we could use the lighting in the appropriate places.

Photographs from shoot 2

Animatic Storyboard(Music Video)

Friday 5th November

We began editing of our final video.

Thursday 4th November

Kojo and Zack went to collect the props whilst Craig and I set up the filming equipment, lighting and projector in the school theatre. As a group we spent the whole day in the theatre filming the final version of our music video. We also filmed a Behind the Scenes video of our filming.

Wednesday 3rd November

Kojo and Zack began to edit the footage which we planned to project and uploaded it to YouTube once it was completed.

Monday 1st November

We filmed footage that would be used for the images projected onto our actor in the final video. I was responsible for the under the railway shots with the urban backdrop whilst Zack and Craig collectively shared responsibility for the rest of the footage.

Wednesday the 27th October

-Craig and I went out and took pictures of possible locations to use in the final version of the video. We came across a location which perfectly suited this video, which was the setting we usedfor the under the railway shots which are projected within the video.

Saturday 23rd October

A photoshoot took place to establish the artists image and also so that we could use the images we obtained from this shoot for promotion, to be used in magazine advertisements etc.

Tuesday 19th October

As a group we continued editing of the first draft of the video.

Monday 18th October

Today Kojo and Zack spoke to Mr Hitchinson in order to organise using the theatre to film, they then tested the projector in the theatre to decide whether we would use it or not. We then all began to plan for the filming in order to decide how it would work. After school we then took pictures from our initial video shoot and began to edit the first draft.

Eminem Stan

The music video I will be analysing is Stan by Eminem, the genre of music that it belongs to is Hip-Hop and I have chosen to analyse this simply because unlike most typical Hip-Hop videos it actually contains a structured narrative and it does not contain many characteristics of its genre.

The lyrics within the song are well illustrated through the visuals in the video, as we see the character Stan becoming more increasingly angry as Eminem doesn’t reply to his letters, whilst the vocals of the song are also becoming more aggressive and the subject of the lyrics begins to get more sinister until we come to the end verse of the song and we see the lyrics and visuals in perfect harmony, as the character of Stan is seen shouting into the tape recorder whilst telling the situation on screen, ‘I’m in the car right now ‘m doing ninety on the freeway’, this has been done to add emphasis and create a greater dramatic story behind the lyrics of the song. The props within the visuals, such as the posters of Eminem on the wall of Stan’s basement accentuate how much of a fan Stan is of Eminem.

The visuals are directly parallel to the song, as the fades and cuts are directly on the change of pace within the beat; for example, when the drum pattern begins we see the darkness and eerie scene of the basement, which is parallel to the audio, as the k=notes that the bass is played in create a very dark feeling track and the overlay of the rain and thunder sound effects which are fluent throughout the entire song, which become relevant to the visuals later in the song, during the second and third verse, as we see the rain flooding the car.

The video does not contain many close ups of the artist, but still manages to sell Eminem’s star image as being a famous rapper simply through the narrative of the video and the way we see him rapping on stage from a low angled mid shot creates the idea that he is a important person. The record company aims to sell the track through the serious tone which is being delivered and by the star image that Eminem offers in the video, as we see through the reoccurring themes of sinister violence through Eminem’s previous work that his star image has been created so that we take Eminem as a more meaningful lyricist and this can gain an audiences respect for the artist.

There are intertextual references within the actual song lyrics, as the song 7 Bonnie and Clyde’ which is also by Eminem was referenced during the first verse, but the more obvious references to the star image of Eminem and his previous work would be the posters on the walls also the television in the background of the first scene is playing footage of an Eminem performance. The scene which starts off the music video, before the actual song begins is also a intertextual reference to Eminem and his star persona, as it shows the character of Stan dying his hair blonde, which is also what Eminem has been known to do, accentuating on matters of his personality and personal life.

The video is a mix of performance based footage within the narrative of the video, as we see the character Speaking in sync with the song whilst writing the letters to Eminem and the same thing can be said for Eminem as he is writing a letter in reply to Stan, it can be seen that this is not enough to be considered as a performance within the video, but I believe that it is substantial enough to be classified as a performance/narrative based video instead of simply a narrative based. The main focus of the video is the concept, which it can be seen is primarily the sad, depressing tone of the song, which is further emphasized through the dull, drained lighting and the constant sights of the rain, thunder and snow, as it can be seen that these have been included within the video to increase the feeling of depression which is delivered through the video, although the bright lights within the scene in which Eminem is performing on stage, the lighting becomes more bright and this is to show the difference of emotions from when he thinks he is being ignored by Eminem to where he actually gets to see his idol in person.

Artist star image

The artist that I am analysing is Christopher Bridges, more known by his stage name ‘ludacris’, He is a well established rapper within the music industry who started his career in Atlanta in which he moved to at the age of 9. He has received huge success within his music career with his debut album entitled ‘back for the first time’ reaching 3x platinum status, alongside this he has also made appearances in films and television shows such as, gamer and Law & order. The genre that Ludacris’ career has been based upon musically is the rap/hip-hop genre.

Ludacris’ star image during the earliest videos was to be set as a light hearted, comedic yet ‘gangster’ rapper, videos such as ‘rollout’(released by def jam music) emphasize this point exactly, as while he is heard reciting lyrics basically bragging about how much money that he has and how much money he spends, the image which the video provides is slightly comical, as a fish eye lense has been used to give him a disproportional body, which along with the fast motion editing provides a comical experience.

This star image has been forever changing through his career, as he has released songs for the more hardcore rap/Hip-hop market, such as Blow it out(2003) which was a song off of his album ‘Chicken-N-Beer’ which was a more gritty, underground track that he had put up for release again with island def jam records. Although throughout the years he has consistently returned to his original star image of the fun or maybe even ironically ludacris nature of behaviour. Throughout the videos which he has released or featured in, a transformation can be seen, which has taken the star image of Ludacris from a creative, comedic artist into a more commercial figure within the industry who conforms to the music of the recent pop culture. Within the music videos that this star has been featured in, the act of performance is the primary focus, much like what is stereotypically seen within most rap videos. There are also reoccurring motifs which we can see with the use of props such as expensive cars and provocatively dressed women within his videos, this again shows that Ludacris is falling intothe same stereotypical star image for a rapper.

Throughout the years and developing portfolio of Ludacris, we see that in his videos there are many close up shots of the artist within his music videos, this is predominantly so that the record company can sell the star’s image along with the fact that it helps the artist to become better recognisable to the audience. The record label which Ludacris is signed to, Island Def jam, capitalises on the ‘gangster rapper’ persona which involves the main focus of the videos to always be centred around the artist which gives him a very self centred image, as he is not aiming to convey any specific messages through his music, other than that of how he lives his lavish and expensive lifestyle.

It can be seen that the star image of this musician is actually perceived to him being a negative character, although he also holds a widely evident significance, this is because his music and the visuals within his music videos often show women to be acting as what can be seen as immaturely, wearing minimal clothing and dancing very provocatively, This therefore creates the star image for the artist, as a musicians music videos are made so that the artist can get their point of view to the public, so we can take that it is Ludacris’ view that all women behave in this manner.

Music video analysis 1

Video: Eminem – Guilty Conscience ft Dr Dre

The music video that i will be looking at is, ‘Guilty Conscience’ which is by the rapper Eminem and features other rapper Dr dre.The video belongs to the hip-hop genre of music and shows the culture broadly through the fragmented narritive and performance based visuals.

Throughout the video, the relationship between the lyrics and visuals is pretty obvious, as the narrative in the video is being told through the style and way that it has been structured, which is a narrative reminiscent of a reality tv show, as there is a host who at selected intervals explains the storyline to the viewers, this helps connect with the lyrics, as after the host has explained the events which are taking place, Eminem and Dre enter the scene acting as the characters conscience, explaining why the character should or shouldn’t go through with the act in question. Overall the video and lyrics share a close relationship and are parallel throughout the video.

The video and music also share a similar relationship, as the film has been edited in such a way that the scene stops in motion whilst the verses are being performed and the next scene is being introduced while the chorus plays, this is to create a bigger focus on the artists performing within the scene. It also creates a more structured approach to the narrative, as towards the end of the verse, the narrative begins again and this becomes the main focus again and the viewer is then aware of what’s happening.

The video relates to Eminem’ other videos through the storyline and the themes within the video, as in other Eminem videos, such as Stan, there are also scenes of violence and also in ‘Stan’ the video ends with the character murdering his pregnant wife, this shows a star image for the character of Eminem, as it continuous with the theme of violence and gritty scenes. This start image given to Eminem is not typically seen to be given to a artist from the Rap or Hip-Hop genre, as usually the star of a rap video is seen to be centred around the themes of money and wealth and will be a typically performance based video, whereas this video has been given a structure and a fragmented narrative.

The theme of voyeurism has been used once again, as we are referenced to the reality show within the video, as this invites the audience to view the scene as if it was being viewed on a television show. The artists also change outfits so that they are dressed identically to the main characters within the scene, it can be seen that this has been used to emphasize the focus on the actual scene instead of the artists, this also strays from the stereotypical music video from the rap genre, as the focus is predominantly the artist or ‘rapper’, however this is not the case within the Eminem video.

The main intertextual reference within this video is the reality television style narrative, which is centred around the lives of these characters who have a decision to, make, whilst being persuaded by both Eminem and Dr dre to make the choice between right and wrong, this has been used so that a wider audience can relate and understand the reference, as reality television shows are shown and recognized worldwide. Another intertextual reference within this video however is not as obvious, but still common to the hip-hop genre or lifestyle, the reference to the robbing of the liquor store is often seen in movies centred around the urban or ‘ghetto’ lifestyle and is seen in films such as, ‘Boyz In The Hood’ and ‘Four Brothers’, this is used to emphasize on the star image that has been created for the characters of Eminem and Dr dre.

There is a constant narrative which is present within the video, although there are a lot of performance based shots in where the two artists are seen rapping whilst surrounding the scene of the narrative, this emphasizes on Goodwins theory, as it helps amplify the relationship between the lyrics and visuals whilst it challenges the typical conventions within a music video from the hip-hop genre, as the video contains complexities within the storyline and is not centred around the artists, much like what is typically seen within a music video of this genre, however the artists do frequently appear in the video, this is so that the record company can still sell the star image of the artist without over shadowing the actual narrative of the video.

The conclusion I have come to is that while the video still used a method of performance and narrative based imagery, the use of camera angles and shots do not conform to the typical or standard shots seen within a video of this genre, this is mainly because of the stars image of Eminem in this video and as he is such a controversial character within the hip-hop scene it is possible for him to go against the conventions whilst still appealing to the same target audience.

Music video pitch

The song presented is a melodic feel good jazz inspired hip hop song from young rapper Quest and producer Thelonious with a fast paced beat including witty lyrics which provokes the feeling of nostalgia through the use of sampling.

The mood of the song takes you back to memorable moments in music without the references being too obvious, easing in the listener as the song proceeds.

We feel with the direction of the video should keep it parallel the tone and mood of the song, making it almost visually nostalgic without being overdone; the style of the beat is reminiscent of a classic J-dilla song from the mid 90’s. Listening to the track you can hear classic electric piano sampling which is reminiscent of a scene from a jazz and blues club form the mid 70's.

The song contains many intertextual references within the content of the lyrics and then occasionally interjects with old jazz sample which is possibly played by the bebop pioneer ‘Thelonious Monk’, which also contributes to the basic nostalgic feel that the song delivers.

In terms of directive styling we researched the work of Quest’s past videos and also the work of new creative directing teams like “creative control” While at the same time looking at concepts presented by other directors like Sanaa Hamri and BLKDMNDS. We enjoyed the pacing and styling of their videos and wish to implicate this in our videos.

We enjoyed the style of fast paced editing and dramatic camera shots which these directors brought through their videos and this is why we would like to develop this and intricate it into our final product. *******

We want to give the Artist, Quest a clear-cut image of a young witty rapper who’s creative and artistic direction coincides with his the direction of music when it comes to his styling and direction of his video.

For this video we want address the topics raised in to the video by the artist via video projection on to the artist him self as he narrates this through the lyrics. We plan to shoot a video in the style of the directors referenced and then project the video on to the artist and rerecord, similar to the techniques used by the band THE XX on the song Crystallized. We’ll include quirky costume changes and clever props that will help communicate things sighted in the lyrics.

The song opens up with a skipping sample and a Mario sound effect, we want to reference this visually On the projection we have an short clip of The video game character Mario jumping into a pipe Following this, the main star of the video jumps up into the scene as if he is emerging from the Mario pipe.

Once this is over, the performance beings; introducing the concept of video. A projection is played on to the stars face as he beings to narrate the lyrics of the song, also we’ll introduce the props for example

“hello my ladies” – The artist would pull out a Barbie doll and throw it away before pulling out a ken doll on the line “hello my fellas” . This would act as an intertextual reference to the rap stars Nikki Minaj and Drake and their Barbie and Ken like personification. For references to money we’d use monopoly money and make it rain down from the sky like the typical convention of many Hip Hop videos; while the rapper continues to narrate and perform, we’ll more visual representations of his lyrics on the project while at the same time allowing him to interact with the things projected. In between verses costume changes will occur

In verse one – The artist talks about him self and how cool he is so we want to reflect this in his costume; dressing him in key brand names that are considered “cool” in hip hop media

In verse two – the artist talks about money and how much he wants to get in his career; so to help reflect this we plan to dress him in more formal attire. Blazer, white shirt maybe even a red bow tie.