Production Log

10/10/10

Today we went walked around the streets to find a ideal location to film the video. We found a location which includes the following stereotypes which may be found in a hip - hop video. These include council estates which are known for having a high crime rate. We also managed to find old cars which were destroyed which really fitted in with the genre of the music video. We took pictures of these estates and now posted them on the blog.

11/10/10

Today we started to film the first part of our video. We only managed to film the first verse as well as the chorous as the actor we were using was not prepared, in addition to this he was also camera shy and lacked confidence which mean that we had to sack him.

15/10/10

Vox Pox - Audience Research

Stoyboard Part 1

Stoyboard Part 2

Potential car which may be used in video

Locations for music the video

Potential image of hall which may be used for 'Pepstar' concert. This includes the lighting as well as the band equipment such the drums which may be used in our video, to make it look more like a concert. This will probably be the last scene in our video as this scene in the video suggest that the artist 'Pepstar' has become successful.

Images of potential cast

Images of potential cast - Pepstar

Pepstar- Where I'm from lyrics

Verse 1-

Turn my mic up a bit

Yeah

Lets get in 2 it

Yeah …yo pep pep star

East London stand up ..north ..west ..south London stand up ..even up in The midlands ya dun kno

Oi oi and its not even a post code war

Its jus how were living

I’m from where we mostly grown up in a council estate

Probably never seen the day when love cancels to hate

If you’re in the shubz iced out with jewels on display

Jus believe there a bunch of goons with tools on their way

That’s the way it’s always been that’s the way it will stay

Thugs make a bit of money but don't plan their escape

All in the biggest cars and.. Living with their marges

Feeling like a star till their yard gets raid

Laws don't mean a thing

From a place where the government aint took a step in so how the heck can they relate

Where babies have babies like fabolous says one in the hand, pram and one on the way

Thought your hurt man dam then this guy came

Showed her bait of change.. She’s forgotten your name

Failures never our thought now we've forgot you to blame

And we all had targets jus forgotten to aim





-Chorus-

This is were im from ..

And we might not be pretty always gritty living in the inner city L.N.D Still

It’s where I’m from

Yeah it’s where I’m from

Still it’s were I’m from

And it might not be pretty always gritty living in the inner city LND still





-Verse 2-

I’m from where light skin was the in thing

Now its shottas AC droppers with sick rings

Where even your tight bredrins might show a different side

If you glide ahead of them you never win

See it’s a basic equation

P's brings the status

You’re famous

Now welcome the haters

Any given day you can ask what’s the latest

You'll always hear the same thing coz nothing ever changes

Like he fell in love

She set him up

He got robbed retaliated and he got shot

Now he's locked up, box punching a clock

While she's probably out deer jumping the cock

It’s a lot

Round my zones

Divided by post codes

You could of been a different person if you lived across the road

It’s that serious

Bloody all periods

I know all my London dons are feeling this





-Chorus-

This is were I’m from..

And we might not be pretty always gritty living in the inner city L.N.D Still

It’s where I’m from

Uh it’s where I’m from

Yeah it’s were I’m from

And it might not be pretty always gritty living in the inner city H.A.C Still

Its where I’m from ..yeah its where I’m from





-Verse 3-

I’m from where there’s been a few success stories

But all the rest I tend to here bore me

You can either kick, spit, legit you’re way out of it

But when all three fails you catch a murder mile in it

Mouthing it

They’re going out of town with it shit

I got a few brothers that were down for it but went down for it

Know a few smart brothers uni or apprenticeships

Know they gotta make it happen

Though we are not meant to win

And not mentioning

Those who kill for there zones like they own it

When there’s youths with no homes shit

Leting on the postcodes don't make no sense

Don't make no pounds don't make no pence

But it’s the mentality

Treated like a mannequin

Don't shoot the messenger

My nigga and be mad at me

Greaze spreads in every spot like acne

Knee deeper you know how that be shit


-Chorus-

This is were I’m from ..

And we might not be pretty always gritty living in the inner city L.N.D Still

It’s where I’m from

Yeah it’s where I’m from

Look it’s were I’m from

And it might not be pretty always gritty living in the inner city L.N.D Still

Its where I’m from..yeah its where I’m from

YOU KNOW ITS WHERE I'M FROM!!

Sexual objectification and the 'Male Gaze' - Laura Mulvey

States that the presence of women in videos solely for presentation purposes to appeal to male nature rather than being used for narrative function.


Female on display is passive and objectified for a 'male gaze' regardless of the viewers gender.


Voyeuristic treatment of the female body in 'male' videos, and the use of dancers as adornments to the male ego.


The inclusion of women for display is a staple element in music videos across all genres.


Women connote 'to-be-looked-at-ness' and are merely objects of the 'male gaze'

Modernism/Post Modernism

Modenism- is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movement, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The term encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world.


Postmodernism- is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the rejection of objective truth and global cultural narrative. It emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations; in particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus colonial. Postmodernism has influenced many cultural fields, including literary criticisms, sociology, linguistics, architecture, visual arts, and music.


A postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from modernist approaches that had previously been dominant.

Feminism/Post Feminism

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Presentation2

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Research into the music channel that would exhibit our video

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Narrative Theories

A narrative is a story that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events.

There are three main theories on narratives by Tzvetan Todorov, Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss

Tzvetan Todorov theory of equilibrium:

All stories begin at equilibrium however it is then disrupted, which is set in a motion of events There is then a resolution which results in the creation of a new or different equilibrium.


The chain of events is as follows:


Equilibrium>Disturbance>Resolution>Re-Equilibrium


This is a narrative structure found in most Hollywood films.


Vladimir Propp


Essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales and identified a theory about folk tales being similar in many ways.
They were about the same struggle and had the same 'Stock Characters'
He identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions; they provide a structure for the text.
His list of 'Stock Characters' consisted of:
The villain — struggles against the hero.
The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.


Claude Levi-Strauss: Binary oppositions


Meanings, including narrative, depends on binary oppositions- he explores these in terms of underlying typical themes rather than events.
Conflict helps to drive the narrative.
Man vs Woman
Old vs Young
Hero vs Villain
West vs East
Good vs Bad

Prop list

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Textual Analysis

Artist : Wretch 32 ft. Badness & Ghetto

Song : Ina Di Ghetto

Record Label : Independent

Wretch 32's " Ina di ghetto" has a very distinctive narrative which we can gather from the lyrics as well from the video itself. The narrative we get from the lyrics is about Wretch 32 living in the ghetto and the vast contrast in life in Africa which is what he calls the real " ghetto" and the life for people in England who think they live in the ghetto. We also get the narrative from the video itself as it shows you reality in Africa in the video and shows you a story about the real struggle in the world. The genre for this song is Grime/Rap. The music video was directed by Emil Nava and Produced by Ben Pugh. The music video is a narrative as well as having a bit of performance in it from all of the artist. At the beginning of the music video we see many establishing shots very quickly which really gets the audience's eye, these shots tell us that the video is based in the slums or ghetto of Africa. We get to see lots if building estates and we see the poor quality of life. During the video we get introduced to the artist Wretch 32 and he is surrounded by all of his friends in he background as he raps in the video. While the three artist perform we see lots of quick images of the ghetto with the artist's voice over the image. We see mid shots of two kids which might represent the artist and suggest that the kids are them when they were younger in Africa. I think that some techniques adhere to the conventions of a typical grime video such a a large number of people in the video, also in grime videos you usually see establishing shots o estates to show the audience the history of that specific rapper.

Wretch 32 is represented as a " gangster" in this music video along with his friends. This is done through the clothing he wears, we usually associate hoodies and dark clothing with what " gangsters" wear. Another way he is represented as a gangster in the video is through his lyrics, he says in the first line " Where straps are seen more than dads..", "straps" is slang for guns which is what most gangsters talk about in their music video. The use if a low angle shot makes the artist look powerful over the audience and this adds to the representation of a "gangster" who is seen as being a leader and being powerful over everyone else.

Wretch 32 is an independent artist. This would suggest that the he would have had a very small budget for the music video as would have had no financial backing, this also means that the artist isn't well known which means that the video could only be distributed on a national level. The music channel which played the video was channel aka which is where most unsigned artist can send their music video, the music video was also played on MTV hit's, this is because MTV UK tend to support a lot of local musicians in London. The audiences could consume the video as well as the song through the TV channels as well as YouTube and Wretch's MySpace site used by a lot of musicians to distribute their music.

The target auidence for this music video would be males mostly aged 16 - 24 who live in London as the artist would me more well known in London as this is where he is from and it will also Target people who listen to UK grime which in recent years has become very popular around the world. Audiences would watch the music video as the song or the video might represent them and their struggle.

Textual Analysis

Artist : Justin Timberlake

Song : Cry Me A River

Record Label : Jived Records

Justin Timberlake's " Cry me a river" has a very distinctive narrative which can be drawn upon from the video itself and the image which it is showing the audience. The narrative in the song is about Justin talking about his public relationship with female pop star Britney Spears. He finally talks about the break up which was scrutinised in the media in 2001. He talks about how she was unfaithful to him and how she broke his heart and he feels that he should get revenge on her which we see in the video. The genre for this song is Pop and RnB.The music video, directed by Francis Lawrence and was released in 2002 as the second single from Justin's solo debut album.

At the beginning of the music video we get a shot of Britney's house and it's pouring down with rain which relates with the song title "Cry me a river". As the song plays we hear and opera voice in the beginning suggesting that this song is telling a story. As the video continues we get a close up of a mirror from a car waiting outside the house of Britney, suggesting that Justin is preparing to break into her house, the use of a close up of his face suggest the anger he has towards her. Throughout the video we see Justin bending down low and doing flips which are impossible but the director's use of the matrix effect shows us that he is sort of immune to the world; it suggest that he can break the rules and get away with it which is reinforced by the fact that he is breaking into some one's house and isn't worried about getting caught. As the video continues we see why he came to her house, he wants to get revenge on her cheating on him so he gets the camera out and records himself kissing another girl on Britney's bed. We get a point of view shot of the camera screen he is using to record the kiss which allows us to imagine were actually there. Later on in the video we see him walking down the corridor saying " Damage is done so i guess I'll be leaving". The use of a mid - close up shot allows us to see the emotions on his face and he is very happy to get revenge. As this is happening we get a quick shot of Britney entering her house while he is still in it, which creates suspense for the audience as they don't know what he will do next; as she walks into the house pass him, we see a grin on his face as if to say he is up to something this is done by a close up shot. Finally the video ends with Britney walking out of the shower and seeing Justin kissing the girl on her TV. The techniques used in the video adhere to other music videos from the same genre, as other RnB videos talk about heart break and getting revenge and a lot of these videos have camera shots of the artist's face to show his or hers emotion in the song. In addition to this other songs usually have the artist getting revenge at the end of the video an example of this is another Justin Timberlake video " What goes around".

Justin is represented as someone with a lot of emotion. This is portrayed through the lyrics and through the chorus mainly " Cry me a river", suggest his heartbreak about his ex girlfriend cheating on him. The camera shots and editing portray Justin as a revengeful person as in the video he is constantly smiling while he is planning his revenge.

Justin Timberlake is signed to Jive Records along with other famous artist such as Usher and Chris Brown. This suggest how big the record label is and suggest that the budget for the music video would have been a lot. The video was distributed and consumed through music channels in the US and Europe such as MTV and Kiss. In addition to this the music video was distributed through the Internet on sites such as YouTube and was also distributed and consumed through I tunes.

The target audience for the video is males as well as females who are aged 16 - 24 as they can mostly relate to the artist as well as the issue. Audiences would watch the music video because they feel that the music video relates to a personal experience they might have had. Another reason why people might watch this music video is because the song had a lot of controversy around it as it was exposing famous Pop star Britney Spears. In addition to this the male gaze is one reason why women may watch the video.

Research into artist (Pepstar) that we are producing the track for.

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Where I’m From Video Plan

Where I’m From Video Plan

Performers:
The story line of the video is based on a guy rapping about where he is from and his council estate where he lives and what he has seen and what he still sees when growing up and he just wants to give people an insight into his life.
Storyline:
Walking through his estate and rapping about what happens within his estate. Walking through the estate he sees drug dealers and people doing scams in order to make money to survive within the estate itself. Flashback of his girlfriend setting him up and him getting robbed and he goes back for revenge. Trying to get away from the lifestyle estates bring and turns to music.
Scenes
- Walking through council estate
- Viewing people who are doing things to survive by any means necessary
- Sells drugs & gets arrested
- Flashback of being set up by his girlfriend
- Going back for revenge
- Studio shots (performance Shots )
Male:
Walking through the estate looking street like sort of a rough and ready approach to the role (to portray that he is this way due to the estate making him like this way)
Female:
Small role (just sets up the male actor in order to get him robbed pretends to be in love with the male).
Costumes:
Males:
Dark clothing (to add a more serious note to the video to portray the stereotypical view of someone from a council estate so e.g. Black hoodies)
Female:
Bright clothing (nothing to specific) however it is in order to make you stand out during the flashback as it will be in black and white

This is a print screen of our video plan

This is potential shots and ideas which we might include in our video.

Analysis of target audience with results

Target audience with results displayed and analysed

Stoyboard shots

Uploading work on blogspot

Vox Pox In the making

Pepstar Screen Grab

Textual Analysis

Artist : The Game Ft Kanye West

Song : Wouldn't Get Far

Record Label : Interscope Records

The muci video i will be analysing is "Wouldn't Get Far" by The Game Ft Kanye West, which was released in January the 5th 2007. This song was composed by American rappers Kanye West and The game and was produced by Kanye West. "Wouldn't get far is" The games third single from his second album Doctor's Advocate it rached number 11 in the US Rap charts.The song is talking about famous actreses and models who made it big though music videos or by going out with rappers. In the song The Game talks about models such as Karrine Steffans, Vida Guerra, Meagan Good, Gabrielle Union, Hoopz, Lil' Kim, Charli Baltimore, Toccara Jones, and Melyssa Ford. I think the music video is a bit of performance as well as narrrative; this is becasue he perfroms the song in the vdeo and when hes off set the camera is still rolling and you can the story about the video girls and how they really become famous.

The music video to The Game's "Wouldn't Get Far" has many sterotypical conventions of a Rap/Hip - Hop genre mucsic video, even though we wouldnt expect a song like this to be made by a rapper as they usaully don't make songs exposing female celebrities. However an example of a sterotype we would expect to see in a rap video is very expensive jewellery, which we see in the begining of the video when The Game walks out of his wardrobe for the secon time. We also see his expensive clothing such as his Louis Vuitton belt. In adition to this we also see other typical conventions of the rapper as he has tatto's on his fae which we usually associate with gang culture. The clothing along with the jewellery all connote the wealth of the rapper.

Another sterotype we expect to see in a rap video is girls and lots of them. As The Game walks out of his wardrobe he walks pass a large amount of girls who are dressed provocativly, this is done through the mise en scene. This would suggest that they are sex objects as they walk around half naked on the set of a music video s well as the video its self. This sterotype is reinforced by the chorus :
{"You wouldn't get far"} Fuckin them rap stars
You know who you are, put your hands up ladies
{"You wouldn't get far"} If you kept your legs closed
{"It would be best to wait your turn"} But you know
{"You wouldn't get far"} Fuckin them rap stars
You know who you are, I wrote this song for you
{"For you baby, I'd find you"} For you
And you, for alla y'all

This suggest that women are just sex objects and enforces the sterotype that rappers don't treat women with respect and feminist would also say this is a typical convention you would expect to see in a music video today.

The Game is signed to interscope records which has many famous RnB and Hip - Hop artist such as Pharrell Williams, Soulja Boy, Pussycat Dolls and Lady GaGa to name few. This shows how big the record label is as the label has many successful artist from differnt genre's. The fact that Interscope is one of the biggest music labels in the world allowed the video to be distributed world wide on a successful level. The song appeared on famous music channels around the world such as Mtv and was played on radios in America throughout Europe.In addition to this the music video was distribued through the internet on sites such as Youtube and was also distributed and consumed through I tunes.

Textual Analysis

Artist : Eminem Ft Rihanna

Song : Love The Way You Lie

Record Label : Shady, Aftermath, Interscope

The music video i will be analysing is Eminem ft Rihanna - Love the way you lie. This song is by American rapper Eminem which featured vocals from famous R&B singer Rihanna; the song was produced by Alex Da Kid. Love they way you lie is the second single from Eminem's seventh album. The music video stars famous Hollywood actors such as Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan who are in a love-hate relationship and there are many scenes throughout the video to show this. This music video is both a narrative as well as a performance video. We see the storyline of the couples relationship and we also see Eminem and Rihanna performing in the music video. I think you dont usually see the conventions used in this perticular music video in most rap videos, this is beacuse this rap video is going against the norm by talking about being in love and talking about relationships whereas rap music is generally associated with money or gang life.

When the video first begings we see Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan lying in the bed next to each other which suggest that they are in a relationship and everything is good till the music stops and when she waks up drama starts. During the opening scene we see the cople fighting each other for no reason and they later end up kissing each other after they juast had a fight which suggest the love hate relationship. At 1.16 to 1.21 we see that they both enjoy pain and enjoy hurting each other, we get a mid close up shot of Dominic to suggest this.

Other examples of the love hate realtionship is shots of the couple stealing in a liquor store and later end up having a fight as we see that Megan purposly makes dominic angry by flirting with another man and we see a closupe up shot of her giving a grin as if shes about to do something stupid. throughout the video we see lots of flashbacks of the cople and the good times they had which later leads to the both of them being burnt together in their house.

Eminem is represented as a story teller in this video, as he is mostly perfroming in this video he is telling the story and i think he suggest that the story is about him and Rihanna as when we see Eminem rapping he in a field wearing a white t shirt we suggest that he's dead and he telling his story. this is also reinforced by the fact that he is standing in a sunny field. Rihanna is represent in a similar way as Eminem as she also looks as if she is suggesting this story is about her and we see this in the penultimate scene when both Eminem and Rihanna are both looking back at the house buring down.

I think the target auidence for the video are music fans of Eminem and Rihanna, also fans of the hollywood actors Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan in addition to this fans of rap as well as pop and R&B fans aged betwwen 14 - 28 will also be the target auidence. I think this music video has so many factors and famous people in it that it can attract a large target auidence. Auidences would watch the music video beacuse some people may be able to relate to the love hate realtionship the two actors have. In addition to this women and men might watch the music video because of the people in the video such as Megan Fox and Eminem.

Textual Analysis

Artist: Drake

Song: Find Your Love

Record Label: Cash Money, Young Money

The music video i will be analysing is Drake - Find Your Love. This song was composed by Canadian rapper Drake and fellow rapper Kayne West. "Find your Love" is the second single released off Drakes debut album "Thank Me Later". The music video talks about Drakes encounter with his girlfriend who was heavily involved in gang life. The music video was shot in Kingston, Jamaica and features Mavado who is a Jamaican singer as the gang leader in the video.

The videos is about Drake becoming obsessed with a woman who is pursuing him( Model Maliah Michel), who already is in a relationship with gang leader Mavado. In the beginning Drake is told to stay away and was given advise by a wise Jamaican man however he refuses to listed to the old man and says he wont leave without trying to have a relationship with the girl. The video begins with the phrase " The worst thing about crossing a line is when you don't know, you already have.", this suggest that Drakes life is in danger if he continues to pursue the girl he desires.

The scenes starts with Drake saying "I gota see her one more time". As the beat starts to be played in the background, we start to see where the video is set, which is in the slums on Kingston and is shows, a broken car, as well as poor kids playing in the street, suggesting the poverty in this area. We see Drake in the studio, performing singing "Find Your Love" before he sets out to go and find the girl he loves. We see drake in the club, staring at the girl he loves sitting on the lap of gang leader Mavado, with envy. While she sits on his lap, Mavado has his hands wrapped round her neck and waist to show everyone, that she is his. As Mavado turns away she looks at Drake and from here she starts to seduce him and we see this in a scene when she and drake are lying on a beach together. Later on we see Drake and the girl making love in the girls house.However one member of Mavado's gang sees this and reports back to him about the situation, and this is when Drakes life is in danger.

After the night he spent with the girl, Drake assumes that the girl wants him, so yet again he set out on meeting her at her house in gulley side, where the gangs live and we see a shot of Drake looking worried and concerned as he is walking to go meet the girl. It turns out the girl set him up, she called him to come and meet her, but as he arrives he is shouting for her at the gates, and she feels guilty as she called her boyfriend Mavado. Madado and his gang take Drake back to his house where he is tied up and Mavado orders the girl to shoot Drake.

I think that this music video has the typical conventions of music videos from the same genre. Most pop and RnB music videos tell a narrative about a love story. Some conventions of this being a RnB and a pop video as well as being a narrative video are, a man and a woman who fall in love and their story.

In the video i believe that Drake is represented as some who is desperate for love and we see this in the video as he is prepared to travel to the slums of Jamaica just to be with a girl who he only met a week ago.

The target auidence for the video are people who like the pop and RnB genre, also fans of the artist would be the target auidence, these mostly being people aged 14 - 25 years of age. Auidence would watch this music video as this song my relate to then on a personal level, such as a relationship or a past experience as most people have experienced love once in their life. In addition to this auidence might watch the video as they like to see narratives in a music video and Find Your Love is a good example of a narraitve.