Evaluation Question 1. DRAFT

EVALUATION 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Research and planning had a major part to play to our final video as it enabled us to get a clear idea of how we needed to construct the genre we were looking to do and make it as professional as possible. We were going for the Hip Hop genre and we needed to use the correct scenes, mis-en-scene and props to bring this foward, if this did not work the whole video would not have been succesful and look a mess. The start of our research and planning was based around another song compared to the one we used in our final video so we started looking for conventions used in these to put into our video and to use this to bring the genre across. As we then changed our idea because we did not think this video we were thinking of doing would be a proper music video and although we had some great ideas for that video we thought it would be best for us to change the video and idea to something we both enjoyed and agreed on. The research and planning allowed us to get across the correct form of media and most of the feedback we got from people told us that our music video followed the correct conventions and genre of hip hop. Our new idea and song, has a narrative in the lyrics and we followed the lyrics to create a narrative.

Firstly, there is the digipak which i spent alot of time looking for inspirtations towards it. I analysed many different hip hop digipaks (as you can see from previous posts) and chose a few that i took my inspiration from in order to make it look professional and fit the conventions of the genre. After looking at numerous album covers from the hip hop genre i thought i would try to challenge it by looking into other genres and seeing if there is something i can add to the digipak to make it look different. I soon realised that this would not suit my digipak and realised that the genre is very strict and it has to look like a hip hop album cover in order for it to look correct as being a hip hop album cover. For this reason, i wanted to keep it simple and use the colour pallette most hip hop album covers contain to bring the right genre across for the digipak. After looking at various album covers, I found the digipak that I wanted to base mine around and this was the artist PUSHA T and his album EXODUS 23:1. The album was plain yet the colour scheme allowed the title and artist to stand out very well and also brought the genre of hip hop across. I therefore used a black background with white and maroon text in order for the text to stand out like it did on PUSHA T's album cover. Another convention I noticed with hip hop album covers was the use of props which were mostly expensive, shiny jewellery for instance RICK ROSS's album TRILLA where he shows of his watch and ring. I developed this convention onto my own digipak by adding a gold chain to the top of the digipak. I believe this will catch the eye of the targeted audience as it has all the relevant Hip Hop conventions that come with a digipak.

The video itself had many inspiring hip hop videos already done by hip hop artists and we took inspiration from all that we had shown on our blogs. Many Hip Hop videos do have a narrative that ties in with the lyrics, for example TUPAC ft ELTON JOHN with the song called GHETTO GOSPEL. Others have the artist rapping and in the background have something to do with the lyrics he is saying. This is where we decided to challenge the generic conventions of Hip Hop videos and have our artist rapping in the song as well as a narrative in the background which links to the lyrics of the artist. We used two videos that had a artist performing their lyrics in the music video and one of these was not a hip hop song which shows we did try to diverse the normal conventions of Hip Hop. The first song we looked at was 212 by AZELIA BANKS where the whole video consists of her on a grey wall singing her song, we also copied this idea with the wall shots used in our music video. Secondly there was the song HEADLINES by DRAKE in which he uses a range of different location for him to perfom his song; this also inspired us and is apparent in our music video. We wanted to create a video that had the same type of feel to general Hip Hop videos and this comes through with the darkness in the shots as this occurs in many of the videos we looked at. Hip hop is a genre which is very serious and colours represent this side of it a lot. We recognised this throughout our research and planning and for this shot most of our scenes during the night time. It also is a genre which involves a lot of showing of of your items and money and we also wanted to bring this across by using props and mis-en-scene like the big white car and the alchol bottle which is expensive and many people would know what, especially people in the target audience.
The artist himself had to wear correct clothing to link with the genre and this is very apparent in the wall shots where we used almost stereotypes to bring this across, this is by using dark clothing and a black NEW YORK hat which people would represent as being part of the hip hop genre and also worn by many famous hip hop artists, like JAY Z and LIL WAYNE.

My Video!

Comments please!

video!

comments!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SSdWsCk4O4

Costume during car shoot.

For the car shots the costume will be:

- Black NY hat.

- Black and white checkered scarf.

- Any black jacket.

The shots will only show my upper half so anything else I wear will not be seen in the video.

Weather during video shooting.

Unfortunately I had to get a picture from the Internet because the original picture I took, I deleted it thinking I'd already posted it but this is the closest to how the weather was which stopped up from filming.
We should check the weather next time!

Poster in Magazine!

This can give the audience a feel of what my poster would look like if it was in a real magazine. Magazines are usually places where you would find these types of posters and so i put it on here to show you. A real editor would not put it next to that page with the light colours and girls on it but i just wanted to see what it would look like.

Final Poster!

This is my final poster design and as you can tell from my inspiration, it is totally different to it. I was trying to create a similar poster but it didn't turn out the way it should have and so i took this picure and used it for my poster. I personally like it way more than my other poster (i will show you in another post) and i think it looks way more professional. Please give me feedback on what you think about it also as it would be helpful. Thank you.

Finished digipak.

This is my final digipak design. It took a lot of time and effort putting it together but i think it all paid off very well. The picture i was a bit, and still am, hesitant about having there but i was told by others it looks ok and it almost met the same representation as my other digipak which had the picture of jay z on it. I wanted to keep the branding of the artist and band the same and thought this picture works well.
Feedback would still be great so comments would be helpful, thank you.

Photos for Poster.

The funny thing about these pictures are they were not even for me to use on my poster, but another student wanted me to be on their digipak. I was willing to help them and allowed them to take pictures of me in the poses they wanted. I was not even close to thinking about using these pictures until my poster went horribly wrong by me trying to use my own pictures. I then noticed these pictures i had took on my phone and decided to try using them on my poster. After all my editing and things i wanted to use where put onto my poster with one of these pictures, i thought it looked really good and decided to keep it this way.

If you look at my inspiration for my poster which is the public enemy poster, they are totally different now but would've been a little similar if i had kept my old digipak how it was.

Final Draft for Poster- Comments please!

This is the final draft version of my poster. It was inspired by a Public Enemy poster and I copied the text directly from the poster but I will make it proper when I have taken the final pictures. I have already got the chain i need for my pictures and will add them to my poster as soon as possible. The gold chain links to the digipak as i tried to give them that relation so people would be able to recognise them both as being part of the same thing. I also tried to link the cross to the digipak by having a pattern with the cross on it on the digipak. The editing of the cross does not look good at all as it was hard to do it on photoshop but when i use my own chain i will use a white background so it makes it easier for me. I have also been advised to change the title of the poster to the same as the one on my digipak. I like the concept of my poster and how it is a plain black background which makes it simple but it is quite outstanding.  
Any feedback will be helpful so please comment on it.

Feedback For Digipak/Poster.

After my digipak and poster being reviewed, i recieved my feedback and, to be honest, i got told what i pretty much knew anyway.
Firstly, there was my digipak which looked better than the draft that i posted before because it looked better in the rule of the thirds and made it better for the eye to look at. I was unsure about the layout for the front cover and had to play around with it for a while, then on the deadline for the drafts i thought i would get some professional help on to how to make it better.
Secondly, none of the pictures i used on it where mines so i had to take my own pictures and make it suit the genre and the inspiration i was copying. Some of the pictures had been badly cropped out and so i need to make sure that for my final one, it looks good and professional.
These were the main areas that were poor for my digipak and poster but other than that it fitted well into the genre and by showing people my inspiration they was able to get a clear feel on what i was aiming for and what i wanted to do. They suited the genre and everything i used was good, i just had to make it my own.

Final Draft of digipak!

This is my draft version of my digipak and the real one will not be much different. The front cover which is located in the bottom right of the digipak is inspired from Pusha T's album called Exodus 23:1 (i have posted a picture of it on my blog so you can see how it inspired me to make mine how it is). It is a very plain cover with just a blakc background and a bit of text on it but that text stands out so well. I liked this about the album and so used the same idea on mine and i think this is the stronger point of my digipak and links it well to the genre also because of the chain and the Parental Advisory Lyrics that most Hip Hop album covers have. The name of my album is one that i have not justified but have left it to the audience and buyers of the album to decide as it has 2 meanings and both of them are key to the digipak itself and the genre. It can either be 'number 1' or 'no one' which shows that he is number 1 and also there is no one better or no one can defeat him.
The picture of Jay Z, is going to be replicated by the artist of our music video and i have used this picture as i think it fits well with the digipak and the genre. Most hip hop digipaks have the artist on it and their facial expressions being angry and showing power.
The track list and the back of the digipak,which is located in the centre between the picture of Jay Z and the album cover. I have seen that type of layout of many hip hop album covers and the colour scheme is the same as the one on the front cover which relates them. I have also go the copyright logo at the bottom and a capital P which again i have seen on numerous hipn hop digipaks so took the idea from there. I was also advised to have the record label my artist is under this makes it look more professional and the colour of it links to the colour scheme which was a bonus.
The top right hand corner of the digipak is just random i put together but this immitates the layout that i will use on the real digipak. Them letters will be a long thank you paragraph to people involved and somewhere in there will be a thank you to god as most Hip Hop albums have this. There is usually a lot of people invloved hence the small font.
Finally, the random patter in the top left hand corner links more to the poster than the digipak but it may need removing as it does look a bit random although it does link well with the colour scheme and also looks good on the digipak.

99 Problems- Jay Z.

This is one of the best videos ever made and I love the way it works. It is a perfect hood video, with an extremely interesting things in it. Jay Z is classic in this and has made it become one of the best videos and songs ever created!

Drake - Headlines.

I previously posted pictures of this video but i thought it would be better to get a better feel of some ideas of our music video. We like the way Drake leads the video and there are many scenes we want to copy. The lyrics link to the music video as well which will be what our music video will do.

Representations to music video!

As we are doing a Hip Hop song, most of representations will be Hip Hop artists. We inspire to people like Jay Z and Drake and watch their videos to get inspiration to as they represent our genre. The way they act, thier sense of dress and the mis-en-scene. We can imagine them making a video to the song we are using and that is why we like taking ideas from their music videos. Most Hip Hop artists create videos that we like and take inspiration from but its mainly them 2 artists who we are taking inspiration from. Additionally, Jay Z's 'rags to riches' story comes in handy with the video we are creating and the narrative behind it.

Videos like 99 Problems and Headlines are videos we will use to get ideas from. We are also analysing videos like 21 by Azelia Banks which are easy low budget movies to make and can work with our music video. The main thing that will be represented in our music video are money with fame and this can be seen in many music videos like Headlines by Drake. We will create scenes that represent a Hip Hop genre and this is where location and mis-en-scene are very important. We must look for the correct locations to show this link to the genre and this will be done by exploring around the city and using places we already know.
Representations are very important so the view gets the correct message and genre we are putting foward in our video. We must get it right so that it looks correct and if we get this wrong the video will not work and it won't be how we expected. Being professional is key in this video and we must try to use the best equipment and locations as we can.  

Location we will copy!

These snaps I have chosen are from the song DRAKE- HEADLINES. We like the way it is set out and can picture our music video working in the same way as Drake in his video.

Ideas for video!

We are using the song MY LIFE BE LIKE and the lyrics in the song are very deep in meaning so we have decided to do a narrative based on the lyrics but not show a complete story, however, to just use the actors facial expressions to show his feelings in life. 

One scene we are planning on doing is having the singer with a background of just a brick wall and lip singing the song. We will then edit this with our other ideas to make one creative and professional video. 

A song we can use for inspiration is 212 by Azelia Banks. 

Our song does have a good beat to it but is not as uplifting as this one so there won't be much smiling in comparison to this video. Also, the weird dancing done by the pair is quite disturbing to be honest so we will definately not use that. 
We just want to get across the setting of the video and show that we will use this idea in our music video. 

Track List!

1. Murder to Excellence
2. Jaam'
3. My Life Be Like
4. Sex in the Car featuring Political P
5. Swag Song ft Jusreign
6. Gimee the LOOT
7. Power
8. New Day
9. Homecoming featuring Chris Martin
10. Can't help it feat. Rocko
11. Ride Wit' Me
12. Good life
13. Notorious Thug
14. 25 To Life featuring Eminem
15. You Should Be Dead
16. Straight To The Bank

First Darft. (almost)

This is one of my first drafts for my Digipak, I am still unsure about the layout so I may change it yet but i thought i would share it to see if anyone has any comments or suggestions on this. I have also given it to people to look at to get their views and opinions; i am gettin good feedback on it and there are a few things i will have to change on this cover and the whole digipak.

Inspiration for Poster.

The reason why I like this poster is because it is very simple yet stands out well and tells the audience who the poster is about as it says it in the clock as well as relating to the the band. The colour scheme is very dark and plain but the red adds some flavour to it and makes the importants parts stand out way more. I will take some of the elements they used on this and add it to my own poster so it makes it look more professional.

Song for New Idea.

New Idea

NEW IDEA.

Me and my partner had a long hard discussion about some of the stuff and elements to do with our video which involves the song Harder than you think by Public Enemy. After working hard on the video which has the meaning of inspiration and perseverance in it, we started to get working on the video and finding locations, we looked at the video in a realistic point of view and learnt that it would be way to hard for us to film and we didn't think we would enjoy doing it either. It still contains the same genre as the previous video idea and our inspirations also remain the same. The moodboard and animoto of our idea would've been the same as what we are choosing to do now as they link with a not so different story as this new idea tells the audience, not to be inspired, but that money is not everything and happiness comes in many forms.
We spoke about it and confirmed with our teachers if we were able to think of a new and better idea which we have done:

The Song we are going to use is: GRITS- My Life Be Like.
The lyrics in the song tell the stories of a person who is finding life a bit hard and we want to use the meaning of the song to create our own narrative. This will include one person who is a successful artist but is not very happy with life. The moral behind the story will be MONEY ISN'T EVERYTHING and we will portray this in our music video. After the viewers will have followed the life of our artist, it will show him returning to his old area/home where he was born and raised where he will fell happy again. Also, as he is from a rough background and he realises money isn't everything and this is where he starts to give his jewellary and gold to people on the street because he doesnt't care about that kind of stuff.

Best Inspiration for Digipak.

This album cover has a very good layout and although it is very simple, it stands out well and looks different from the usual album covers. The layout is done well in thirds so it makes it look better and the colour scheme also makes it stand out. I am trying to apply this to my Digipak. Also, the name of the artist has been done in a small font just under the name of the album and this I've acquired on to my digipak.

Magazine Adverts for music magazine.



Wretch 32 is a English rapper and this is an poster for a one of his concerts. He uses the same colour scheme for many of his media and although it is not a dark colour scheme which most rappers use, the generic conventions still work. The bottom right hand corner of the poster has other adverts on it for different music stores which i could use to make it more realistic.     



This poster is of Gwen stefani and although it not Hip Hop, it shows the kind of colours that would not suit my genre of but really brings out the colour scheme that she would use and this is how i want my poster to look also so the audience gets a real feel of the colours i would use. You can also tell straigh away that she is the main artist as she stands out well. Finally, she camouflages well into the colours on her poster which is something different and makes it more interesting.

Although my artist is not a rock/indi band like Kings of Leon but I still like this poster because of the way it merges all the artists faces together and creates an eagle which is their sort of symbol. But the features of the poster are good as the date their album is released is hightlighted a different colour to everything else which makes it stand out. It also gives the reader information about what songs there will be on the album which is another key feature. The colour scheme on this is dark which is the same for hip hop posters so i could use this as inspiration for my poster.  

This poster is a typical poster for rock/indi music. What is different on this is that it does not contain any pictures of the artist but just uses pretty much cartoon elements. It has a good colour scheme which makes it stand out well and the signifcance of the fist pump also attracts attention as it is centered and everything forms around it. It has the same layout as most other posters with the release date and contact details on the bottom of the page, it is what is always used so i may make the detail a bit different.

Public enemy are a Hip Hop duo and we are using their song in our music video so it would be good to look at their poster. The clock represents the long clock chains that are always worn by Flava Flav which has the band name written inside it which is a very good contrast. It's a simple poster but very eye catching and its different to other posters with the information being in the top right hand corner rather than at the bottom. The colour scheme on it is also interesting as it only uses 3 colours yet looks so good as the colours contrast with each other very well as one is dark and the other is bright. This would be the most inspriational poster for me and the one I would take most of my ideas from.  

 





Colour Palette DIGIPAK.

When I researched album covers of big Hip Hop artists, they all had pretty much the same colours but there where some that where different so I want to experiment with different colours.

These are potential colours i may use on my Digipak. As the colours on a typical Hip Hop are dark, i want to keep the digipak the same genre and so will use these types of colours. 

Hip Hop AlbumCovers.

As we are doing a Hip Hop video, the digipak will need to follow the same genre and so we will have to analyse digipak's that are from the same genre as our video.

This Album cover consists of two big artists and i like the way they have been merged together into one person. First, I could not see who was who but then i covered one side of it and seen how well it had been created. I like the colour scheme to it and am thinking of using a dark colour scheme as it links to the Hip Hop genre. The name of the album also links to the picture which emphasises the album cover more and makes it different and outstanding. 

This album cover by ice cube has a good yet evil side to it.  People who will buy this album will obviously like Ice Cube yet the cover suggests that he may have killed Uncle Sam who's name is stereotyped to be a very kind, loving person and by having Ice Cube in the back makes him seem like a bad person. I like the idea of this album cover and how it plays with readers mind. He may also be paying respect to him which shows although he a Hip Hop artist, which are stereotyped to be people that may not really care about people. 

This is my favourite cover out of all the ones I have chosen and is very different and unusual from standard Hip Hop covers. He has a very positive attitude with the lighting and the nice smile, which goes against the genre of Hip Hop. Usual covers are normally dark coloured with very serious people on it and this is the total opposite yet it is still Hip Hop and stands out so well. 

This is a typical Hip Hop album cover you would usually expect as Hip Hop is a very serious genre and consists of dark colours and this is typically what you would see on a Hip Hop album cover. The darkness and angry look of the artist also links to the genre. One of the best parts of it is the yellow title which sticks out well and suits the cover.   

Nas is a Hip Hop artist who talks a lot about life and is also a preacher so talks about how people and things should be. This child on his front cover emphasises his songs and what he talks about. You can still tell it's a Hip Hop album due to the PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT LYRICS because this is on most Hip Hop album covers. The boy fading through the building is also a nice technique used by Nas and it is something different to the typical album covers. 

This is one of the most unusual Hip Hop album covers anyone has ever seen as the person on the cover seems to be a innocent boy who happens to be white and this is not what Hip Hop consists off but is the total opposite. Many people do not like this album cover yet everyone remembers it. The logo in the bottom right corner allows the viewer to know that it is a Hip Hop album but it is just very unusual. 

This is another typical Hip Hop album cover as he is showing off his power and uses props like the fancy rich car with the curtain on the side to show his wealth. Also the glasses and the gold bracelet emphasise his wealth. The colour of the font goes with the colour scheme of the album cover and as the S has been changed into a $ you know he wants to show of his money.  

Simple yet so bold. This is another favourite of mine as it stands out so well and the only 2 colours used on it (black and white) make it look more bolder. There is not much to say on this as the album cover just describes itself.

This is kind of the same as Rick Ross' TRILLA album cover as he is showing wealth with the gold rims and the chain. He is also showing of his body to make him look powerful and strong and staring straight into the camera to show the same attitude typical Hip Hop album covers have. 

Name Ideas for the band!

Epak
Kape
Infinate Ambition
Infintity
WolfPack
Infamous
League Of Gentlemen.

Audience Feedback.

After we did our pitches from Animoto, we waited for people to ask us about the video.Aswell as the animoto we also gave a small introduction on our video so we can enable the audience to understand it better. Firstly, we did not get asked any questions which is a good thing as it meant everyone understood what we doing well. We were then asked questions by the teacher only about how we would portray the athletes at the end reaching their goal. This got us thinking about it but we explained how we could change this fact and be unsure about the athletes becoming professional but having children who can be playing the sport and then it will show them as teenagers and them training hard. This was the main feedback that caused concern for our group but we are making decisions as a team to go through this.

Feedback From pitch.

Feedback.

After we did our pitches from Animoto, we waited for people to ask us about the video. Aswell as the animoto we also gave a small introduction on our video so we can enable the audience to understand it better. Firstly, we did not get asked any questions which is a good thing as it meant everyone understood what we doing well. We were then asked questions by the teacher only about how we would portray the athletes at the end reaching their goal. This got us thinking about it but we explained how we could change this fact and be unsure about the athletes becoming professional but having children who can be playing the sport and then it will show them as teenagers and them training hard. This was the main feedback that caused concern for our group but we are making decisions as a team to go through this.

Name of our Artist.

INFINATE AMBITION

we chose this name as it links to the context of the music video which shows people to follow their dreams and never back down. Our inspiration for the music video came from the Paralympic TV advert which uses the same song and shows disables athletes training to their max.

First Idea.

My original idea before the whole group decided to come with a final decision was a song by THE GAME called GOOD, BAD, UGLY. The lyrics tell the story about him being in jail and the police asking him what happened and him describing it to them. Using the lyrics we was going to recreate the scene with him being interviewed in a FBI room, with a dim light and FBI agents talking to him. We was then going to switch from the room into the kitchen of THE GAME (which would've been played by an actor) which links to him telling the FBI what happened. Then switch back to the room and vie versa. Some of the group didn't really enjoy the idea, so we came up with some more and came up with the one we are going to use now which consistss of the song by PUBLIC ENEMY- HARDER THAN YOU THINK.

Animoto.

Songs we considered.

Moodboard.

This is our groups moodboard. We used images that reflect the artists that as a group we are interested in and take inspiration from in choosing our own song for our music video. It features artists such as: 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Drake, Eminem, Lil Wayne and T.I

Audience Profile.

The genre of our music video is Hip Hop so the main target audience will be people who enjoy Hip Hop. However, we have put a twist in the video which can also relate to people who play sport as we have twisted Hip Hop with sport. In the UK (using UK tribes) the group of people who our video will relate to most is the Get Paid Crew, these are people who think a lot about money and aspire to people like JAY Z (who is a Hip Hop rapper). As we are twisting the video with sport, it can also relate to the UK tribe Sport Junkies. These are the people who have devoted their lives to sport since they were born. Our video is based on people growing up with sport and has a hip hop song in the background which adds the twist to it.
The age of our target audience can pretty much be any one as we have decided on making our video inspiring so all people can enjoy it. But with the Hip Hop song playing in the background, we think that song is more linked to people in their teens to mid 20's as it is an old song but has a very catchy beat to it. It is also mainly just men from 14-26 but the music video itself can be enjoyed by everyone.

Genre Of Music Video.

THE GENRE OF OUR MUSIC VIDEO WILL BE HIP HOP AS WE ALL ENJOY HIP HOP MUSIC

A2 Media Studies Schedule 2012-13 Lutterworth College