Kendrick Lamar is an American rapper born in Compton, a city known for producing great rappers like Dr Dre, Coolio and Tyga. Kendrick first gained notoriety with the release of Section 80 which received huge critical acclaim. He then went onto release Good Kid, m.A.A.d city which was one of the biggest hip hip albums of the decade and has already been dubbed a classic album by many reviewers. With singles like Swimming Pools (Drank) Kendrick managed to reach a global audience to people who don't even particularly like hip hop music but liked the singles.
Logic:
Logic is an American rapper born in Maryland he gained a lot fans through the internet and is a part of the RattPack group.He is signed to VisionaryMusicGroup and DefJamRecordings. His latest album Under Pressure received wide critical acclaim. Logic is one of the less commercial rappers still releasing a lot of his tracks on SoundCloud for fans to listen to for free.
Krept and Konan:
Krept and Konan are an award-winning English hip hop duo. They are known for making an impact on the UK underground scene and for their punch lines and metaphors. They combined releasing mixtapes such as Young Kingz to satisfy fans of Grime and releasing more pop, hip hop inspired singles such as Freak Of The Week.
Before making any major decisions about the Digipack I thought it would be best to research everything first. As with the websites I have looked at artists similar to iSo to try and take inspiration from them. I researched two of Logic's album covers and one of G-Eazy's.
Logic's first album Young Sinatra features a picture of a mugshot of Sinatra with his eyes obscured. This is a subtle link to crime which very much conforms to the Hip Hop genre. Also the first cover is in black and white, dark colours are very common within our genre.
The second Logic album cover is Under Pressure, which has just been released. The front features a portrait of three friends in what looks like a bedroom studio. This could be Logic trying to show what little he started from, with just friends a laptop and some speakers visible. This also confirms to genre conventions as staying 'grounded' is a big part of hip hop culture.
The last album artwork I looked at was G-Eazy's album 'These Things Happen' which is very simplistic. The front features G-Eazy standing in the centre of the shot in a White shirt with his name in very small text in the corner. The album cover could quite easily be a male pop solo artist as the white background and shots being focused on the artist are not typical of the hip hop genre. However as a white rapper G-Eazy has to stand out. When we create ouralbum artwork we need to find a balance of conforming so it is obviously hip hop but like G-Eazy we need to appear slightly different.
Conclusion: G-Eazy's website has a very simplistic effective layout which I liked. I will use G-Eazy's home page as a template when creating iSO's as it has everything necessary and looks professional. The other pages were also had a great layout but didn't have much content.
G-Eazy's store is exceptional and I will refer to it when designing iSO's store and the products in it. The range of products on G-Eazy's store is huge and they are all high quality items.
Conclusion: Logic's website is like heaven for Logic fans it has everything they could ask for all in one place. I really like the blog on the home page it's a great way of keeping fans updated. However I thought the Home page was too content heavy so when I create iSO's website I will incorporate a blog into it but on a separate page like a news page for example.
I also really like the layout of the store page, Logic doesn't have many products but I thought the way they are shown is good. I also really like the header image for the store. After doing a photoshoot I will edit something very similar for iSO's store.
Clothing is a huge part of Hip Hop music and probably more important to rappers than any other kinds of artists. Below is an article from the Guardian which explains how Skepta, a relatively small UK grime artist, has helped increase Sports Direct sales.
Guardian article on how Skepta affected Sports Direct sales
From this research I have learned that when we film or do photo shots it's vital that we think carefully about what clothing labels iSO is seen in as this is a huge part of our artists representation.
I wasn't sure what would be the best form of interview to do for iSO. I narrowed it down to either a social media Q&A, magazine interview or a conventional video interview. So before deciding on what to do I decided to research what similar artists do to communicate with their fans.
Logic:
This in an interview that Logic recently did for 'HardKnockTV' it lasts for seventeen minutes and is with an interviewer who has interviewed him many times. The interview stands out to me as it is very relaxed and appears more like a conversation between two friends than a commercial interview. The interview is mainly about his music and how it has progressed. However the interviewer does ask a few questions about other artists and his personal life to try to create a headline.
The main thing I learned from researching Logic's interviews is:
Logic's interviews are all videos and a few magazine articles
All the interviews have no background music in the video
The interviews last for about ten minute on average
The interviews are very informal and relaxed
G-Eazy:
This is G-Eazy interview was uploaded this week by Wild 94.1 radio station. As G-Eazy has only recently gained mainstream exposure the interview consists of his story,how he made it and what he represents more than talking about his music. The interview lasts for twenty minutes, which is more common among radio interviews. G-Eazy's interviews are much more useful than Logic's to us as he is not yet an established artist so his interviews will be our main source of inspiration.
What I learned from researching G-Eazy's interviews;
He is hugely loyal to the area he grew up and does a lot of local radio interviews
Like Logic none of his interviews have background music
G-Eazy's interviews consist of YouTube interviews and magazine articles
As a newly breaking through artist his story and who he represents is just as important to discuss in an interview as his music
After researching I decided that doing a conventional video interview and a magazine article will be best as they conform to the Hip-Hop genre the most. We will do our interviews taking inspiration mainly from G-Eazy but also Logic.
Logic this week just released his new album The Incredible True Story. As Logic is a similar artist to iSO I thought I could learn from how he released the album.
The Incredible True Story artwork
Logic released the album on iTunes and Google's music store as well as selling physical copies. The album is priced at only $4.99 and for a limited time people who purchase it will be sent a free poster and t-shirt. This sparked a lot of Logic's fans taking to Twitter and Facebook to praise Logic for making the album not only cheaper than all other new releases but for giving away free stuff with it.
An example of the social media reaction:
On the surface it look likes Logic is happy to make less profit to benefit his fans. However there could be a more cynical motive from the record label, as pricing the album at half the average price has given Logic loads of promotion, like the tweet above, from fans on social media which would have cost thousands to buy.
Tinie Tempah is a UK grime artist who broke into the pop mainstream with the release of his debut album 'Discovery' in 2010. This album was especially important for us to take inspiration from as Tinie Tempah is a UK solo artist and this was his first album.
Tinie Tempah is portrayed as a powerful and successful man on the front cover. He eyes are covered by sunglasses and he is holding the world in his hands. This adds to the representation of Tinie Tempah being powerful and mysterious. His watch and bracelet are clearly visible which adds to his powerful image and makes him the envy of young men aspiring to 'make it'.
The colours on the album are clear and colourful and the background is outer-space. This could suggest that his music is 'out of this world'. His name, in the corner, is in large bold white text this could be as it is his debut album it's important the name is clearly visible. The album title is identical but is much smaller in comparison. However as it is white it contrasts the space background well and still stands out.
Discovery album front
The outer-space theme is consistent and clearly visible on the back and the triangle is the same front to back but is more visible on the back as Tinie Tempah isn't blocking it. The font on the back is identical to the front except it is smaller for the track list than album title. The album doesn't conform to the Grime/Hip-Hop genre as the theme is more futuristic than Urban.
For this student music video I would give them 38 out of 40 which would be a Level 4. There was a wide diversity of shots throughout the entire video, whereby they all change from being close ups to wide shots. The audience is left captivated due to this, as it interesting to watch. The camera-work is consistently good and when moving, the shots are stable and are of a good quality. All of the material included in this video, is appropriate to their genre which makes their video make sense to the viewer, leaving them understanding the general theme. The video is clearly edited in chronological order. They chose a concept clearly and carried it on throughout the music video. All of their costumes fit the theme, also matching with each other and they all look like a real band and the genre is shown clearly throughout. The shot transitions are appropriate and fit in time with the music, there are many shots too which keep up with the pace of the video.
For this student music video I would give them a 30 out of 40 which would be a Level 3. The pace of the editing is too slow for the song in this video, with the shots being too long and so the viewer loses concentration. However, there is a variety of different interesting locations used throughout our video. There is a variety of shots but they don't look interesting as the main character doesn't move around much, the shots are mostly static which makes the audience lose interest. Her costumes don't look as though they match or suit the genre which makes the video look disjointed and confusing. However, the shots transitions are appropriate and fit to the music video but there just aren't enough. The concept is slightly confusing and not clear and there is no narrative with little performance. At times her lip syncing is out of time so, it's made really obvious to the viewers that she isn't singing.
As it has been established within my group, it's clear that the hip-hop genre we have to create a music video for. There are not many well established white hip-hop artists in the industry at the moment in comparison to black hip-hop artists, however, notable Caucasian artists include: Eminem, Mac Miller, G-Eazy, Logic (our song's artist), Yelawolf, Action Bronson and Macklemore.
Below is Eminem performing "The Real Slim Shady" live while on tour in 2000. The kind of people you see at tours are typically the artist's primary audience. His audience is mainly comprised of people who are late teen up to around their early thirties. From what is shown, the majority of Eminem's audience are female between late teen and thirty, of all ethnicities. However, I expect that the audience was a near even split between male and female at the time. The audience interact with Eminem in a very positive way.
As this tour was in 2000, it would be unproductive to analyse what the audience are wearing as a lot has changed clothing-wise in the past fifteen years. However, artists commonly sell tour merchandise which the majority of the audience would be likely to purchase and Eminem's tour wasn't omitted from this.
Nowadays, music artists are moving forward with other business ventures, especially investing their time into fashion. For instance, Kanye West recently released his Yeezy Boosts in 'Pirate Black' as part of his Yeezy Season 1 collection with Adidas. The desirable shoes retailed for £130 but were very limited in number and now can only be bought on eBay for around £750. It's safe to say, hip-hop fans want to wear what their idols wear.
Artists can also have a cult-like following. For example, the picture above was compiled by a Kanye West fan
who tweeted the image so their followers could see what his latest outfit was so
that they could try and find the exact clothes or something similar.
California Gurls by Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg is an example of a concept music video. The music video extensively uses CGI to create a candy-land world.
The video begins with the whole concept for the video, built from CGI; a board game named 'Candyfornia' with the phrase "Face the Sugar Daddy's dice to free the queens of Candyfornia" set on a background of a sky full of pink clouds, reminiscent of candyfloss. On the box is also Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg introduces the audience by controlling a board game character in the form of Katy Perry. The camera then zooms into this character and then cuts to Katy Perry dressed in a candy-themed outfit, while walking through what is presumably Candyfornia. There are computer generated gummy bears featured in the opening thirty seconds as well.
Days Are Forgotten by Kasabian is an example of a performance music video. The video is not purely performance though as nowadays this simply is not enough to keep the modern day audience interested. Use of CGI in the form of sound waves and shaping around the instruments the band use have been implemented to make the video more interesting. The video features Kasabian playing their instruments and singing. All of the instruments used are shown within the video.
Survey:
As a group we came up with some questions to ask 32 people in order to find information to help us determine how to target our primary and secondary audiences.
SurveyHypothesis: From personal experience and stereotyping, I feel as if our primary audience will be a male audience between 16-30 and I feel as if our secondary audience is a female audience between 16-30.
SurveyResults:
My survey questions are written below with the results underneath:
Q1) What is your gender?
We asked an equal amount of boys and girls, 16 of each.
Q2) What is your age?
The overwhelming majority of people who answered the survey were between 16-25.
Q3) Do you watch music videos?
The results showed that an overwhelming majority of people watch music videos.
Q4) Do you like music videos which have stories unfolding?
The results showed that more than half of the respondents to the survey preferred a music video which had a narrative, just over a fifth of respondents said that they sometimes like a video with a narrative.
Q5) Which is your favourite music video genre, in order?
The results from this question revealed that Pop was the most popular category, followed by Dance, closely followed by RnB and Rap music.
Q6) Do you like to see dancing in a music video?
The results from this question showed that most people like dancing in music videos, but a similar number of people think that it depends what type of music video it is; whether dancing should be involved or not.
Q7) Do you like the artist to feature in the video?
An overwhelming majority stated that they prefer the artist to appear in music videos.
Q8) Colour can be important in a music video. Are you put off if a music video is in...
The majority of voters said that they aren't particularly put off by certain colours in music videos. Sepia however, did cause just over a quarter of survey takers to state their dislike for the colour's use.
Q9) Do you like a music video to have multiple locations or just one?
Over three quarters of survey takers said that they prefer music videos to be shot in multiple locations rather than just one.
Q10) Do you think a music video can detract from the music itself?
Just over 70% of voters said that a music video CAN detract from the music itself.
Q11) If yes, how?
To the voters who answered yes, the majority of people said that they felt that they don't like it when music videos are unrelated to the content of the lyrics/music.
Q12) Has watching a music video ever led you to buying the song?
Just under half of the survey takers said that watching a music video did not make them purchase a song. Half of answers suggested that a music video can influence someone to buy a song.
SurveyEvaluation:
By evaluating my results, I can understand what the viewing public really want and then make educated decisions on my own music video. Question 1 helped because when added to other information, I could determine what my primary and secondary audiences were. Question 2 allowed me to further narrow down my primary and secondary audiences. Question 3 made clear that making a music video was a good idea as the majority of the public watched music video content, with an overwhelming majority of survey takers voting in favour of a music video. By analysing Question 4, the results indicated that the majority of the viewing public prefers a music video with an unfolding narrative. With this knowledge, I feel as if creating a music video with a narrative would be a good idea. Through inspecting Question 5's results, I came to the informed evaluation that the top music video categories were as follows: Pop, Dance, RnB, Rap and Indie. Suggesting that any of these categories would be good to create a music video for, helpfully narrowing down the categories to select from. Question 6 suggested that the viewing public wanted dancers in the music video, with just over 45% of people asking for it. Just over two fifths of survey takers said that sometimes dancing would be relevant in a music video, with just over 15% of survey takers voting suggesting that dancing would be bad in a music video. Question 7 undoubtedly stated that it would be a good idea to include visuals of the performing artist in my music video, with over three quarters of voters suggesting this. Question 8 revealed that many people felt that it did not matter what effects were used as long as they were used in relation to the video so that it made sense to use particular colour schemes. One cause for concern was the use of sepia could put off some of the viewing public so perhaps when making my music video I should hold back on the use of sepia tones. Question 9's results advocated shooting in multiple locations for my music video, with over three quarter of the survey takers suggesting this would be a good idea. By analysing Question 10, the results showed that over 70% of people thought that a music video could detract from a song. This suggests to me that I have to be careful that my music video does the song justice. Question 11 when paired with this question suggests that people are put off mainly due to videos of an unrelated nature.This suggests to me to use things such as lyrically illustrative imagery in my music video.
Question 12 informed me that if a music video appeals to the viewer, it could lead to people to buy the song itself. SurveyConclusion: I have come to the conclusion that my primary audience are a male audience from 16-25 and my secondary audience are a female audience from 16-25. I have also come to the conclusion that my music video should follow a narrative. Through analysing the results of question 5, we have decided to look for songs from the Pop, Dance, RnB, Rap and Indie categories. It is clear that our music video should include some form of dancing or another similar form of performance. When making our music video it's also apparent that the artist should feature throughout. I should possibly avoid using a sepia tone on our footage as my primary and secondary audiences didn't seem to appeal to the use of that particular colour. My music video should be shot in multiple locations with lyrically illustrative imagery throughout. My music video must be engaging to viewers, the artist MUST interact with viewers through their actions and body language.
Notorious BIG feat. Puff Daddy, Mase - Mo Money Mo Problems (1998):
The video begins with an introductory narrative at the beginning. The video features frequent use of the Fisheye lens which distorts the camera view around the central focus which is one of Williams' signature styles. The shots have a limited colour palate. The artists in each shot will be wearing clothes which match their surroundings. At 5:16 another style trait of Hype Williams is the use of slow motion.
Busta Rhymes feat. Janet Jackson - What's It Gonna Be? (1999):
'What's It Gonna Be' is still to this day Williams' most expensive music video. At the time, the CGI effects were jaw-dropping, costing $2.4m to produce.
Aaliyah - Rock The Boat (2001):
Williams frequently uses aerial and tracking shots which move backwards and forwards, this technique can be observed at 0:39 for instance. This music video was shot several hours before Aaliyah's tragic death.
Kanye West - Heartless (2008):
For Kanye West's 'Heartless', Williams decided to venture into the realms of animation. This shows Hype's versatile nature. William's uses another of his signature style's in this music video. Williams combines a center camera focus in West rom the torso upward and a sold colour background witha sot different-colour light being shown in the center of the background. This illuminates the actors body and makes them the most important person in each shot. This can also help give other connotations depending on the colour of the illumination.
In class we were given the task of filming various camera shots and them editing them creatively. We had two lessons to complete this task; one to film, and one to edit.
Here are the following shots that we were asked to film:
A shot through a shot - Filming someone through the display of another device.
Cloning - Mount the camera on a tripod and remain in a wide shot. Artist is filmed in different locations of the shot and then through editing, the artist completes multiple tasks at the same time.
Depth of field - A focus on a particular object that is close to the camera, while blurring what is behind it.
Reverse shot - The artist's actions are reversed through editing.
Tracking/dolly shot - Film artist singing to camera, the shot will be parallel to the action.
Stop motion - Take still shots of a narrative made from LEGO, when editing, make each picture 1 second long so the narrative looks smooth.
As I was aware that this task was more focused around the camera shots and the editing process, I decided to not worry too much about lip syncing as I have demonstrated in previous tasks that I am able to do this successfully. Of course, in future tasks with less of a time constraint, lip syncing could be easily implemented.
Here's the end result:
Upon reflection, I feel like the Banana Phone task was useful to determine what camera shots will work well in my final music video and also to encourage creativity through camerawork and editing.
I think that my shot through a shot worked rather well, however the clarity of the other shot was rather poor, so next time if I was to use the technique, I would use a clearer display.
My cloning shot didn't particularly work as the camera was moved during the process of filming, meaning that my footage did not line up accurately. So instead I decided to duplicate a separate sequence and fade each one into each other on Adobe Premier. I felt that this was a good experience to learn from though as I learnt two alternate techniques.
The depth of field shot that I filmed didn't work due to the camera's functionality couldn't enable it, so in an attempt to still complete a depth of field shot, I applied a blurring effect on the footage on Adobe Premier.
I thought that my reverse shot worked well, however I think that next time I should film my reverse shots at a closer distance and perhaps from a different angle.
My tracking shot worked really well. As I was lacking professional equipment, to give a stable shot I used a wheelchair to offer balance.
I thought that the stop motion section at the end worked well. Perhaps next time. if I was to include the technique, it would be more interesting to include more frames.
I felt as though use of the green screen worked really well for some shots as it allows for different images to be displayed. However, I think that when filming my music video next time, if I am going to use the green screen, I will make sure shadows are minimal or are not in shot as they interfere with the overall quality of the end result.
St. Louis Blues (1929) with Bessie Smith is what could be considered one of the first music videos ever. Here it is below:
The video above is from 1929 when video could only be recorded in black and white, this shows that technology was limited at the time of filming. For this reason there are no special effects. The music video is much more performance than anything else as it mainly shows the artist with their band performing so there is no narrative. The shots are mainly medium long shots. There are some tracking shots but not many. The tracking shots aren't particularly stable though.
Below is a timeline of music videos and how they have developed and evolved over time in the form of two slideshares:
Issues
As of 2014, in the United Kingdom, if a music video is considered overtly sexual, violent or explicit, they'll all be given age ratings. Music channels will not be able to broadcast these videos till past a certain time in the day.
A non-governmental organisation called the British Board for Film Classification (BBFC) is the organisation responsible for the age classification of music videos.
Technically, I listen to music as soon as I wake up. I put my favourite song at the moment in time as my alarm on my iPhone so I wake up in a good mood- well, supposedly. I will listen to music in the car on the way to school on the radio, which is usually on BBC Radio 1. I'll get to school early and then I'll listen to music off of my iPhone using earphones until school starts. I'll listen to music during most break times and lunch times. When I walk home I will often listen to music and when I get home I'll play music off of my iPhone as well.
The only times I won't be listening to music is when I'm in a school lesson or when I'm socialising with my friends doing an activity which doesn't allow us to listen to music. I will listen to music anywhere and at any time I can really if I can help it.
I usually listen to music on my own because it relaxes me. I also like interpreting the lyrics myself and understanding songs in my own way. I use music to suit my mood, so if for instance I was sad, I would play a different genre or a particular song or artist to perhaps improve my mood. I am quite an open minded person when it comes to music so I like to listen to Beats 1 on my iPhone as it features a wide range of music genres and is on air 24 hours a day with songs that I enjoy listening to.
I follow websites such as HipHopDX, Complex and Bluntiq to see what new music has been released. I use Soundcloud frequently to stream music for free and I compile all of my favourite songs into playlists which are open to the public.
An example of one of my playlists can be seen below:
UsesandGratificationsTheory Personal Identification: is when a song expresses how you feel and you can relate to it and it makes you feel better about yourself. For instance, when I get frustrated with something I will listened to a mellowed song to chill myself out. Information: is when as song teaches you something which you didn't know before. For instance, by listening to Meek Mill's diss track "Wanna Know", I learnt that Drake was urinated on by fellow rapper, Q-Tip. Entertainment: is when someone listens to music for self satisfaction because of the particular song, album, genre or artist that they're listening to for instance when I listen to a new song from an artist I like, I am usually very happy. Social Interaction: is when songs are played and shared at social occasions such as when I'm with my friends and we're playing music from a speaker via Bluetooth and then I have found a good song so I tell them about it.
While thinking about my music video, I noticed that nearly entirely all music videos that fit into the hip-hop genre do not repeat visuals for the chorus, despite the chorus being a repeat of the lyrics. Instead, a music video will have reoccurring themes or locations throughout its duration. There will be varied shots, which the audience can relate to due to their previous usage.
For instance in "Stronger" by Kanye West, these visuals, effects and locations reoccur multiple times throughout the duration of the music video:
Here's a list of pictures that depict the locations which I will use to mimic the locations which feature within the first minute of Eminem's "No Love" featuring Lil Wayne which can be seen above.
