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.