Planning:Outline Of Narrative

 



What I think our song is about?
Our song is about a male that gets high but he is not getting high on weed he's getting high on the music he listens to as he imagines his perfect girl.

What themes are evident in the song?
The themes that are evident in the song are relationships as their will be interactions between the male actor and the female actress. Loneliness as the male actor throughout the song is lonely despite being in a imagination where he is not. Addiction, the audience will get the impression that this is what he regularly does when he's alone at his home, making it a addiction. Love the lyrics in the song will show love being especially in the hook when the male artist says "My druggy love me". This theme will also be shown with the interaction that the male actor has with his imagination adoring her.

Narrative assessment:
After analysing the song were making the video for. We have identified from the lyrics the themes that will be portayed in the music video which includes: loneliness, relationships, addiction, imagination and love.

The storyline of the music video is about a male who regularly has imaginations of his perfect girl. In the process, he will be 'getting high'. But instead of getting high on weed, he's getting high in his imagination of his dream girl. There will be 2 males and 2 females, 1 artist and 1 actor for each pair.
This will take place at the home of the male actor.

As the music video starts with a hook, a jump cut will be used to speed up the tension of what's going to happen in the music video. This is where the theme of loneliness will be portrayed, and there will be only camera focus on the male actor in the music video. The male artist is referring to his imagination, this also represents a performance structure. The male artist will start sing about the imagination.

Cinematography will be pivotal as it will help portray the male actor as he is getting deep into his imagination. The audience will get the impression that this is what the male regularly does, therefore portraying the theme of addiction. A mid shot, close-up, high and low angle shot will be used  to help emphasize the male in his imagination of his dream, which is the female actress in the music video being seductive. When the artist says the word "oh oh oh". There will be a duplication of him this will be to emphasize the atmosphere in the song. Next the hook returns and different shots will be taken.
In the 2nd verse, there will be a narrative and performance structure in the music video. Connotation will be used when the male says the words "time" and "pussy" through flash pictures of a clock and animal. There will also be a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, when the male artist mentions the lyrics "aight let go" twice. To emphasize  the worry of the male actor of losing his imagination. As the 2nd verse continues, the male and the female actress who is his imagination will be making out.  As the male actor and his imagination are expressing their love for one another, the theme of relationship is portrayed as well as love. The hook returns, where the male artist will mostly be shown. Then unto the 3rd and last verse. The 1st and 2nd verse will both show the male artist as well as the male actor.

Star Image has been present on the male. But this time, star image will be on the female artist meaning more focus will be on the female actor. The audience will be able to see, if the imagination of the male's actors dream girl is fictional or real, but he just doesn't know it.

Theories that apply:

Goodwin theory- Star image, relationship with lyrics and visuals and technical elements.

Dyer's theory- Character/personality-portraying the character in our music video.

Mulvey's gaze-Will contain females but not portray the full features, due to the purpose of the song.

Hebdige-Active audience- They have a choice to view the video or not. Were portraying the song for the mainstream as well as subculture.

Adorno-We don't follow the theory of Adorno where it states that the audience is passive about their song choice and music. We consider our work as a piece of art, where the bourgeoisie don't.

Conclusion: This is the breakdown of our narrative for the final idea.

Planning:Copyright letter.

Oasis Academy Hadley 

South St, Enfield  

EN3 4PX 

TEL: 020 8804 6946 

Chance the rapper LLC 

8055 South Princeton 

Chicago 

IL 

60620 

CLEWISGROUP@CAA.COM 

RE: Chance the rapper “Lost” 

Date: Friday the 7th of November 2014 

We are Paradime Productions writing to inform and ask the record label that we are hoping to use your song “Lost” by your artist Chance the Rapper. The single will be used in order for us to create a music video for our A2 media coursework. The coursework involves making our own music video as well as create a digipak and a magazine advert. The coursework will make up 50% of our final A2 grade. 

We have chosen your song for our music video as it will best appeal to our intended target audience and we know the artist well. Through detailed research and discussions, we have chosen your song from many others as it is the best song for us to use in our music video. Our narrative will be original with our own original ideas. We are therefore asking for your permission for the use of the song in our music video.  

The video will only be for educational purposes and there will no commercial gain. The music video will be on social media sites such as Facebook. If agreed, we are happy to acknowledge the artist and company through our credits and mention them on our blog. 

We look forward to hear from you and if there is any problem we will be delighted to cooperate and do please not hesitate to contact us. 

 

Yours sincerely,  

 

Paradime Productions  

Abdullah Miah 

Rex Okere 

Ken Nuygun 

Planning:Final Idea

Artist: Chance the Rapper

Song title: Lost

Genre: Soul, Hip Hop, Rap and R&B

I have chosen the artist and the song because I believe that we as a group can represent the artist well and we have a good understanding of the genre to make a music video of this genre. Also it is mainstream and we can make the music video conventional to the music video genre.

Video content: The artist will be shown to be in love with a imaginary girl, he only sees her when he is listening to the song. There will be a movement of flashbacks out from a picture and in addition it will include pop culture such as dancing and acting.

Video structure: The video structure will performance and narrative.

Why have you chosen this?: We have chosen this because the genre hip hop/RnB 

Star Image:  I will be using Dyer's star image in my music video within 4 elements which is: Star as construction, where the artist will be constructed and have a unique selling point from our music video. The audience and the Industry and audience, where the audience will be attracted to the artist in our music video and it will lead them to other ventures that our artist can attract them through. Ideology and Culture, Ideology will occur as our artist will promote messages that will relate to our target audience. As for culture, it will occur within the narrative of the music video when our artist is getting high but on music, along with his Imagination of his ex girlfriend. Getting high tends to be a popular culture that is followed. Most Importantly, character and personality where our artist will stand out due to his personality, this will help attract our target audience.

Theory Influence:
The theories that will influence our final Idea will be Goodwin's theory as it will contain micro-elements as well as star image motifs. Also, it will be influenced by Mulvey's male gaze theory when our male artist has his flashback and imagination of the girl who seems to be his ex-girlfriend.

Mise En Scenes: 
The costume that will be worn will be normal clothing that is usually worn by our target audience which is branded clothing.
Two Music video influences:

 Cashmere cat: Wedding bells- The specific influence this song had on our decision to chose our final idea was due to the narrative where emotional feeling and needs our portrayed within a loving relationship. This is similar to our final idea because they both express their attitudes of emotional needs and the subject of love.

Chance the rapper: Juice-  This music video relates and influences our final idea from the lyrics which portray the artists Imagination, as the lyrics of our final idea does although it is on a different subject.

Our final idea relating to feedback:
One of the questions we considered was do you prefer the music video to be shot in various locations rather than one?. A lot of our target audience wanted the music video(our final Idea)  to be shot in various locations adding excitement and creativity.

Why and how is this music video conventional to mainstream music video making?
This video is conventional to mainstream video making through the themes that are expressed which is imagination and love specific cinematography will be used in significance to it as well as specific editing. Also, our music video will contain star Image of our artist through his character which is conventional in the way he expresses the issue he's talking about. Also, special effects will be used for our music video that will be mainstream.

How is the music video conventional to your chosen genre?
Our music video is conventional to our genre hip hop/RnB mainly through our themes that will be expressed and our Mis Es Scene which will be shown through the costume. More importantly our artist will portray a character that is expected from a rapper.

How will the music video represent your artist?
The music video will represent our artist as active, as features of Mulvey's male gaze theory will be represented when he has his imagination of the girl. The artist will have star Image motifs which comes out of Goodwin's theory.


Conclusion:
This is what we have prepared for our final Idea.
 

Planning: Audience

Introduction: It is Important for us to very well know who are target audience is before we launch are music video cover. The benefit of this is that it ensures that the cover is a success, as we will include elements that will be specifically be made to appeal a certain target audience.

Song: Chance the rapper-Lost featuring Nomane Gypsy

Now I'm going to break down the target audience were appealing to.

Age: 13-40

Gender: Unisex

Race: Appeals to all races but predominantly black.

Audience category: E-C1

Income bracket/status: This audience will earn a very low age, because they are likely to be unemployed as their students or they will just be casual workers.

Hobbies and interests: The target audience we are going target we expect to have a hobby of playing sports that are usually American or watching TV programmes that relates to their age. They will also like to go out to parties, get drunk smoke cannabis etc.

AUDIENCE REACTIONS:

The reaction we are expecting from our target audience will be excitement about the music video . The reaction we also be chilled from the audience as they will be able to relax watching this music video, largely due to the narrative. We want all reactions from the audience.

Audience engagement:
I want my audience to engage with my product as I understand that all audiences are active and I want them to be able to read and interact with the messages within my video.

Audience expectations:
We expect our audience to relate to the music video cover, as it contains elements that are conventional to the genre of Hip hop, which appeals my target audience. The elements include the lyrics the rapper is saying, the dancing in the music video and the narrative which is about getting high.

Audience Foreknowledge:
The audience will know about the rapper very well as he is up and coming at 21 years of age. The audience will also know that the genre usually has catchy instrumentals.

Audience Identification:
The audience will be able to relate to the artist through what their rapping about as it could represent the situations the audience goes through.

Audience Placement:
We will make the music video cover feel especially for them through the clothes the dancers and actors will wear that is popular amongst our target audience.

Conclusion:
This has shown me the full picture of the target audience we are trying to attract with our music video.

Research: Planning Initial Ideas

Introduction:

As a group, we each had to present our initial and personal Ideas about the cover music video we want to make.


Rex Okere:

Song: Ed Sheeran- You need me I don't need you.

Genre: Folk, alternative, hip hop

Narrative: A personal rivalry taking place between 2 characters on a dance competition.

Narrative structure: I want the music video to be performance based and narrative

Characters: The artist, 2 actors and dancers

MES: Black suit and tie for the artist, normal branded clothes for the actors and dancers.

Advantages: The Idea is easy to understand and relate to.

Disadvantages: It could be time consuming to execute the whole video cover. It will be difficult to recruit dancers and actors.

Ken Nguyen:

Song: Usher- Good kisser

Genre: RnB/Hip hop

Narrative:  Guys and girls that are flirting

Narrative structure: Performance-based and concept

Characters: Singer, male and female dancers

MES: Dancers will wear colour and fancy clothing.
          Smart dress white shirt and black trousers with a bowtie.
          The singer will also wear stylish clothing that is colourful.

Advantages: This is easily planned and it saves time. This will appeal to the mainstream and has a concept that is simple which will be enjoyable for the viewers. Also the concept is simple to understand.

Disadvantages: It will be difficult to find dancers. Most people won't be willing to do this for free. This would very time consuming and there will be loads of footage to contain.

Abdullah Miah:

Song: Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith- La La La

Genre: RnB, Pop, Soul

Narrative: A little boy grows up from a bad environment, the portrayal of his life is reflected through the narrative in the music video. Even though he comes from a deprived area he still has ambitions.

Narrative structure: Narrative based

Characters: The little boy and people in the background (extras)

Advantages: The music video will be mainstream , the idea will be original and will relate to the audience with it's narrative.

Disadvantages: A child might be too immature for the role. It will be difficult to be granted parental permission from the child's parents.

Conclusion: This has been beneficial to my group as we have explored each other's Ideas giving us every chance of being successful with our final music video cover.

Planning: Graphs from music video questionaire.

Introduction: From the questionnaire, I asked 20 people on what appeals them to alternative music videos and what will be the most important in making a alternative music video cover exceptional. In this post I'm going to show graphs that represents the most important answers from my questionnaire.

Do you value star Image in music videos?: This graph showed that more people valued the use of star image in music videos. This helps me to understand that the use of star image  will help to construct an image of my artist in the music video to the audience as well as he or she being a good performer in alternative music. Also, this gives me the target of presenting my artist to a large and loyal audience, it doesn't have to be within the mainstream. Another target, that this gives me is to make my artist in the video ordinary, in other words having their original identity but extraordinary for the consumer(target audience).



Who appeals to you the most to the music videos?: This graph shows that most people are drawn to alternative music videos by the artist. Therefore, this gave me the target of making my artist the most appealing in my music video, this doesn't mean that I will disregard the other elements that could appeal the audience to my music video(which could be dancers or actors). Further more, this result has also shown me that despite the artists being the most appealing all 3 talents that I would most likely have in my music video contribute in gaining the attention of the target audience. In other words, I would have to focus on the image of the dancers and actors as well as the artist, so I would have to be a bit balanced with my focus on the actor, dancer and artist.

 

 

 

 What types of issues do you want to see portrayed in music video?:
These results show me that social issues should be the main priority in my music videos. Therefore, within my music video, a lifestyle must be portrayed and promoted in order to attract the target audience. Further more, it has shown me the that I need to make sure my artists is interested in societal Issues which will persuade he or she to promote social views that are moderate in the music video which will attract a fan base. In addition, this graph also shows me that moral issues is also highly valued by my target audience not as much as social but still highly valued. This also gives me the aim of portraying moral issues in my music video cover to make the video appeal more to my target audience.

What micro-element would be the most important for the music video?

The results show that most people out of the 20 hold the opinion that Mis en scene would be the most important micro-element in making my music video successful. This provides me with the target of making sure that the use of costume, iconography and lighting relates to my music video. This will be a huge influence in making my music video cover a success. However, the results also show that I need to be balanced with my focus on micro elements to perfect the cinematography, editing and sound to make the music video successful as a whole. My second priority concerning the results given will be cinematography, as it shows the opinion that cinematography will also be a huge asset in my video cover attracting an audience.

 

 



Should the theory of Hebdige's subculture be represented in the music video?:
These results show that more people in my target audience believe that theory of subcultures shouldn't be portrayed. This makes me aware that I must carry out a task of carrying out a music video cover that doesn't exclude people who are usually into the mainstream music. This could very well help my music video cover to become a success. But, I also have to take in consideration that I must give the right representation of the original music video's genre as I'm making the cover for it, for the benefit of the people that wanted the Hebdige's theory of subculture to be represented.


Conclusion: These results have given me a clear indication of what I must do to make my music video cover a successful and appealing to my target audience and maybe outside.

Planning: Questionaires

Introduction: A questionnaire had to be set to know thetarget audience I'm aiming at with my music video?

Age:

 

Gender:

 

Occupation:

 

Ethnicity:

 

 

 1) Are you interested in acoustic alternative artists?

 2) Do you like watching music videos?

 3) What attracts you to a music video?

 4) What appeals to you most in the music videos?

The artist         Actors          Dancers         

 5) What specific cinematography do you like to see in music videos?

 6) What specific editing do you like to see in music videos?

 

7) What specific MES appeals to you the most to music videos?

 

8) What interactions do you want to see in music videos?

 

 9) What type of location would you like to see this music video shot in?

 

10) What do you want the narrative structure to be for the music video?

Concept         Performance         Narrative

 

11) Do you value "Star Image" in a music video?

Yes                 No

 

12) What themes should be portrayed in the music video?

 

 

13) Name the type of lighting you like seeing in these music videos?

Low-key                  High -key

 

14) How would you like the see the artist represented in the music video?

 

 

15) Should the theory of Hebdige's subculture be represented in the alternative music video?

Yes       No

 

16) In your opinion, what makes a good music video?

 

 

17) Would you prefer to see acting or dancing in the music video?

 

 

18) Would you like the music video to only have 1 setting or more?

 

 

19) What types of Issues should be portrayed in the music video?

Social     Political      Moral

 

20) For the music video, what Micro-elements would be the most Important?

Cinematography     Mis-en scene     Sound       Editiing