Final- Media A2 Music Video- "The Weeknd-Rolling Stone"

Final- Advert/Poster

We researched many contemporary poster/adverts. We found many typical conventions that were visible in all. For example a large or large images of the artist, also featuring the digipak. The same layout and font that the artist uses and inclusion of different modes of electronic media such as smart phones with the "barcode". They also influenced social interaction by adding facebook and twitter links so people could "follow" the artist, comment and see the latest productions of the artist. To avoid confusion and to add emphasis we kept the same layout throughout our project, in the digipak, poster and the music video. 

Final- Digipak

This is our final digipak. As you can see with followed the same 3 tone colour scheme and layout all the way through which links to the Weeknd's own album artwork. We juxtaposed his conventions by adding vibrant colours to our work of our artists. We followed the taboo ideologies by including props such as cigarettes. We used a domestic location so that it was more applicable to our target audiences lifestyle, the teenage demographic.

Here we added other songs of the Weeknd's mixtape as this is a convention that we found when creating digipaks. "Lonley star" is in fact the name of the song and isn't a spelling mistake. This may be a convention the Weeknd uses to link to his idiosyncrasy and irregularity as he also excluded the "e" in his artist name the Weeknd. (Weekend)

Conclusion of Evaluation

Conclusion of Evalutation on Prezi

Evaluation- Question 4

This is a video created through the use of a software called Camtasia. It enables you to record the screen and narrate upon what you are doing. This was my first attempt at using this new software.

Evaluation- Question 3

Evaluation- Question 3 on Prezi

Evaluation- Question 2

How affective is your combination of your main product and ancillary texts?


Throughout our creation of the music video and the ancillary products we tried to overlap and intertwine the products. For example, throughout the project our actor Roger, representing the Weeknd, is dressed in the same clothing, this is to put emphasis on him being the main character. This is visible in the music video as well as the images included in the digipak and advert.

We feel that our products link very closely together as we used the same theme and style throughout, the style predominately adopted from the original artist with a few adjustments to make it idiosyncratic to our selves. For example we followed the three tone colour scheme, but instead we used vibrant colours. This is visible in the video as we used black and white effects as well as an effect called "bleach bypass" which actually darkens the lighting giving a chiaroscuro effect but it also enhances the colours. This is then visible in the digipak as we used dark colours such as black and garnet of which is then juxtaposed by the strong vibrant colours in the images such as the girls lipstick for example.

When designing our products we adopted the Weeknd's style by following the conventions found in his album artwork, imagery and posters. We tried to capture the techniques he used to give our own work a professional look.

The advert and digipak are very closely linked, the music video is probably slightly different in techniques used as we tried to create an "enigmatic" appearance anchoring the lyrics to the video. The song deals with taboo ideologies such as drug abuse so we used dark lighting and sometimes abstract imagery to represent this. On the other hand, in the imagery of our digipak and advert, we wanted the images to be very clear so that our target audience, the teenage demographic could clearly identify who the artist was. We tried to imply the same layout throughout also so that our target audience would also identify the artist through the way.

The images on the poster and digipak include very vibrant colours with medium, close up, and extreme closeups to give different effects and representations to our work. The vibrant colours opposes typical conventions of the Weeknd. We also insisted an escapist approach by showing our actors blowing out smoke representing youth, drug abuse and the high life.

We decided to try and adapt our work to predominately appeal to the teenage demographic by including the mode of the internet into the advert. We believe that stereotypically, youths will be more technologically literate and therefore we included things such as a website, twitter and a scanning barcode for smart phones. This then represents the technological advancement of web 2.0 and influencing social interaction.

 Example of chiaroscuro lighting that we tried to adopt in our music video.

Example of the type of imagery and the layout that we tried to adopt in our digipak and poster.

Everything we have done in our music video, digipak and advert/poster was very carefully chosen to target a specific minority or represent something in a certain way. We tried to interlink them as much as we could without creating the same product across the border.

Evaluation- Question 1

Research + Helpful Resources

Apple Mac help forums and YouTube as well as guidance from my teacher provided the essential information to transform Eugene, Elise and I from Mac beginners to intermediates using Apple software.

On a very basic note, i watched YouTube videos on how to edit videos using iMovie learning the basic tools and techniques. I then furthered the tutorials on to more advanced techniques to try and help me music video to look more professional.

This is just a basic example of what help there is on YouTube.

Note: i didn't solely get my knowledge from these YouTube videos, they are helpful but they also are limited. My teacher provided a lot of help also as well as asking my piers for guidance.

Editing (During)

Uploading footage and beginning to link videos with the music and adding transitions. Learning the basic tools needed to create a professional music video.

Removing and cutting useless

footage and creating a storyline accor

ding to our storyboards. Following our storyboards very closely so it gives us a professional structure. Here i am adding a dissolve transition to the music video, throughout i also learnt

how to edit lighting and change it to black and white to follow the conventions and imagery we wish to create.

On location when filming, playing with natural lighting creating chiaroscuro effects to meet the conventions of our music video/artist.

This low angle shot represents the character to be very powerful with him looking down on the camera. It also creates an enigmatic effect as you can't see his face only a silhouette of his body, but you can still easily see his clothing. The bright lampost lighting almost creates the effect of the sun also with "organge" lighting.

In this picture we used the natural lighting from the lampost and positioned our actor directly under so it gave a spotlight effect. Once again we didn't show his face to create a mysterious effect linking to the typical conventions of the Weeknd. We also included in the backdrop a metal railing and the dotted lights from the town, this then insists the urban setting.

Possible Locations

Media A2

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We decided not to use the graveyard location as it was too hard to get bright lighting and our actor wasn't visible on camera, also the contrast and exposure of the shot didn't look very professional.

 

Outdoor Locations

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We decided to use the alleys and the outdoor locations as we thought they linked very well with the song and had natural lighting (lamposts) so the quality of the shot was of a good standard.
Signifiers such as the bridge and lampost had connotations of an urbans setting which then links to the conventions of the R&B genre. The natural lighting from the lampost gave an effect of almost a "down light" or a spot light on our main character making him the emphasis of the shot. The metallic railings and the leafless trees also convey the harshness of an urban lifestyle. The lampost and the bridge created a large shadow underneath the bridge creating a sense of light/dark, good/evil if you will in terms of connotations of colours.

Locations

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The domestic location we tried to make as ordinary and simplistic as possible so that it would be applicable to the target audience. So that they could emophasise with the main character and his way of living. Props on screen are very basic such as a bed, mirror, laptop, products on the window and a bag on the floor. This is what you'd expect in a teenagers room. All of these things insist an ordinary but comfortable environment.

The Weeknd Music Video

This is the first video that the Weeknd has constructed for one of his newest songs. Here you can see the artists idiosyncrasy compared to other R&B artists as well as the enigmatic video approach. This is not a conventional music video, its got a mysterious reading to the audience and creates a sense of "being on drugs".

In terms of how it relates to videos today, it still includes a girl and an intimate moment occurring, the rest is trying to portray that he is on drugs hence the "weird" images.

The story to the video links with how Haile Selassie was overthrown by his own people during his reign of Ethiopia. It's symbolism for how The Weeknd was betrayed by his girl.

This is just an example of the type of music and representations the Weeknd portrays, we aren't going to be following his footsteps in terms of this video, but we will be using very dark lighting and some unusual images in our own music video to try and meet the conventions of the Weeknds music.

Story board of music video.

These are pictures of ideas in a storyboard form we managed to elicit from our ideas, we had regular meetings as a group so that everyone could "have a say" and try and merge their thoughts and ideas into our work essentially to construct our music video the best of our abilities, along with an idiosyncratic style. The continuous meetings aided creativity as each member of the group constantly had an idea to put forward from camera shots and movement to mise en scene and location. Each member had a big part to play in the creativity and production of our music video, and ancillary products.

Photoshoot- Main character & featured women in our music video

Presentation of photoshoot

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Here is a quick montage of images we took of our main character. We are using this character clothing throughout our project so that it doesn'tconfuse the audience and puts main emphasis on this character. The clothing is also contemporary and stereotypical to the R&B genre with the denim jacket and baseball cap (snapback) for example. We also chose a young black arractive male to play the lead real which also follows conventions of typical R&B videos.

We photographed images of him smoking to anchor the artist to the Weeknd's lyrics containing ideologies of drug and alcohol abuse, love, and a party lifestyle.

Lastly, we subverted tyical conventions with the use of our female. Stereotypical females in R&B videos are dressed provacitvely and have blonde hair and tanned skinned with blue eyes for example. Our character has a pale complexion with ginger hair, so here we have purposely subverted conventions and stereotypes of R&B videos to make this idiosyncratic to our own project. In terms of costume, we used red lipstick, as you can see on the extreme closeup image. The red lipstick conveys promiscuity and elegance aswell as the fur jacket.

The Weeknd- Character Profile

Abel Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), better known by his stage name The Weeknd, is a Canadian recording artist and record producer of Ethi

opian descent. Though the identity of the individual behind the project was initially unknown as intended as it brought a mysterious vibe to who was actually producing this music. The Weeknd released a nine-song free album, House Of Balloons, on 21 March 2011. This album is a part of a trilogy which includes Thursday and Echoes Of Silence.

The Weeknd is signed to a record label of a contemporary, and very popular Hip Hop & R&B artist "Drake", This is also what fuelled the phenomenon. Due to Drakes popularity, they wanted to know who the artist was who was signed to his record label "OVO XO". By the third mixtape The Weeknd's popularity was visible due to The Weeknd's official site crashing due to a high demand of downloads.

, and Echoes Of Silence, released on 21 December 2011. On July 6. Tesfaye recently released his highly anticipate

Since hitting the scene, The Weeknd has recei

ved praise from a number of musical publications, including those of MTV, BET, Rolling Stone, XXL, The Source and 2DopeBoyz, who have all dubbed him the "Songbird of his Generation", as well as the "best musical talent since Michael Jackson" (John Norris, MTV).

The Weeknd's lyrical content is very dark and shows a juxtaposed side to life that other R&B artists percieve. He talks about many taboo subjects, predominately drugs, sex and alcohol. He creates a serial world that many can't empathise with, talking about mind sets and situations caused by drugs and linking it in with his r

ise in fame and beginning to live the "High Life".

This is an example of the images he released to hide his identity. This is cocaine shaped in the lettering of his record label.

Final Choice Of Song- The Weeknd

After concluding that we are going to follow the Weeknd in terms of song choice. We researched all of his songs and came to a final choice of the song we are going to use.

In this song he talks about a girl but mostly about smoking and taking drugs and relates himself to a rolling stone. He also includes powerful imagery in the lyrics:

"So i take another hit,

kill another serotonin,

hand full of beans,

chest full of weed"

This is very powerful as a lack of serotonin often leads to depression which may be a theme in this song as he talks about a girl and drug abuse. It also relates to contemporary illnesses.

With this song we aim to create a dark video which includes a person abusing drugs and suffering from depression. In term of techniques and actually constructing it, we will edit the video in black and white and use powerful and specific camera shots and chiascuro lighting in order to create a "dark" and tense atmosphere to our music video. We will use "derelict" locations to represent loneliness and depression also to represent an "empty mind" due to the effects of the drugs. We will use empty streets, under ground, tunnels, bridges and inside houses.

The Weeknd for all of his songs released has purposefully not created music video's as he would like to remain mysterious and thought about towards his fans. However, he does have one video to the song called 'The kowing', off of his first mixtape 'The House Of Balloons', in which it's more of a clever slideshow of images and dreams put together to create a un-surreal world and vision http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPp5Ty9EE6k

The Weeknd within his music is very emotionally tied, talking about taboo subject's such as Alcohol, Drugs and very commonly women. his lyrics are very deep and dark making his listener zone out to what is known as 'High Music'.

"I as a listener and fan of his music find it rather entertaining and inciteful as he sings and describes a dark world he lives in that many of us can only wonder about. his music being very viral has had a dramatic affect on his status as a musician raising awareness of him self to many big musicians and important people in the music industry."- Eugene Bongo

Lyrics- http://www.metrolyrics.com/rolling-stone-lyrics-the-weeknd.html

Example:The Weeknd- Wicked Games

This is an example of The Weeknd.

In this song he sings about taboo subjects such as sex, drugs and false love etc.

Production Meeting- Deciding On Song/Breakdown

Eugene, Elise and I held a production meeting planning on what we are going to create in our music video. We came up with a variety of different artists of which we would like our actor to mime to. Many songs, in terms of lyrics, told a story to do with some sort of relationship with a women.

We decided to juxtapose this idea and go for a contemporary new upcoming artist THE WEEKND. In terms of his lyrical content, females and hard relationships are present, but he also sings about a lot of taboo subjects such as drug abuse, alcohol abuse and sometimes suicidal thoughts. He expresses his emotions through lyrics representing predominantly when he is "high" off of a drug. His lyrics and videos are very "dark" in terms of semantics and connotations of the word.

"XO" is the logo of R&B singer 'The Weeknd" which stands for the drug ecstasy and also oxycodone, both very powerful drugs in terms of effect. "XO" can represent many things such as contemporary technological lexis "1337" or Leet language, "xo" often means hugs and kisses in text messages. This may represent him to be a kind and caring person unlike the other ways other artists represent themselves as sex icons.

He is signed by a contemporary Hip Hop and R&B icon Drake.

The Weeknd Twitter- https://twitter.com/#!/theweekndxo

As we came to a conclusion to settle on a Weeknd song, we decided to follow him in terms of mise en scene, heres a quick run through of what to expect in our video.

costumer/character- "rough look" (unshaven/tired), contemporary clothing (denim, snapback),

locations- streets, interior houses (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen), major city (London), interior/exterior of a car etc...

props- some sort of weapon, representation of drugs and alcohol, female company, car, mobile phone etc.

THE WEEKND HIGH FOR THIS LYRICS- http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/weeknd/highforthis.html

In terms of what we are trying to achieve links to Carole Vernallis theory on music videos. Vernallis says "Music video presents a range all the way from extremely abstract videos emphasizing colour and movement to those that convey a story."

We have decided that we are going to correlate the video in terms of the lyrics to convey a story. We have not yet chosen a song to do yet but this will be decided through another discussion.

In terms of target audience we are going to aid the gratifications of entertainment through the mellow beat and the lyrics, it can give them the effect that the listener is "zoning out" to the tune relating to drug effects. Relating to Dyers theory gives the audience a sense of escapism and could encourage audiences who are suffering from exhaustion from every day-to-day life to feel energised and exhillarated, giving them another reason to watch. Lastly, we wish to enable social interaction via posting it on facebook, twitter and youtube of which targets our specific audience of which is teenagers who predominately use social media websites.

To follow the conventions of the artist and his dark lyrical content, we are going to do the video in black and white, we also researched videos of which we can follow the typical conventions and make our video looks as professional as possible.

We found one example, although its a hip hop song, we ignored the song and looked at the video and its what we are aiming to achieve but obviously with our own touch and twist on the video. We will just be guided by the video in terms of what to expect of shots, colour, lighting, costume and storyline.

Here is a video of a brainstorm that Eugene and I created, this was to get down the main points such as song choice, location, camera angles, mise en scene etc. This allowed me and Eugene to get down the main points of which we could then decide upon to add into our music video and ancillary products.

Audience Research- Music Video

Genre Questionnaire

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Audience Research on Prezi

Contemporary R&B Artists

Some Contemporary R&B Artists

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R&B Icons (Old)

Music presentation

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Craig David- Walking Away Analysis

CRAIG DAVID WEBSITE

CRAIG DAVID TWITTER

MISE EN SCENE

The mise en scene is this video is fairly natural, everything hasn't been specifically manipulated in order to create some sort of representation. The two key locations are an urban city setting and a rural forest/woodland setting, these both run parallel with the lyrics of the song. The forest setting represents the artists "walking away" from the stresses and pressures of the city. The rural setting represents a relief from the stresses that are occurring in his life. To represent these stresses, at the beginning of the video he is stuck in a traffic jam, this is a common situation of which people get very tense and stressed. This appears to be a microcosm of his stress as well as his girlfriend shouting at him. Craig David leaving the car is representing him trying to avoid and escape from all of these stresses. The props used in this video are all very natural. Natural clothing and costume (nothing too fancy). Craig David the english artist, isn't conforming to the stereotypes of the R&B genre, he is wearing a chain but apart from that he isn't driving an expensive sports car, his clothing seems to be "normal" clothing, his girlfriend so it appears to be, looks natural and isn't dressed provocatively. There is a quick shot of a man shouting out of a van due to the traffic jam, i suppose you could say this is gender stereotyped as a van is often linked to the trade of building and then is further linked to males.

CAMERA
In terms of camera shots, there are many cuts that match the pace, base and tempo of the song. There are many tilts and pans to represent and show the current situation. For example there is a tilt showing tall buildings down to the traffic jam. This is effective as it lets the viewer know that they are in an urban city setting. There is then a pan to show all the cars stuck in the traffic jam. There is also a pan/track used showing his girlfriend in the car shouting at him then it pans over to him with his head leaning on the window, signifying that he has had enough and can't put up with this stress. There are many tracks and pans used to represent the situation that he is in, also the track helps to represent the lyrics of the song. There is a medium shot/pan of Craig David exiting the car, there is then a long shot/pan of him "walking away" from the car, the traffic jam and essentially all of his problems.

There is a low angled medium shot of the artist showing buildings in the background. This shot, along with the lyrics may represent that he is now in control of his actions and the problems in his life as he is towering over the camera. Furthermore the buildings towering over Craig may represent that although he is control of himself, there will always be superiors that are in control of him/the city, there is always something bigger than him. It may also signify that he wants to get out of the city setting, this is then aided by the juxtaposition of locations, remote rural woodland setting as this represents peacefulness and purity. The metallic manmade city represents; pressures, stress, work ethic and business.

ENCODING/DECODING

The preferred reading of this text deals with more social realist ideologies rather than the escapist ideologies that is often represented by other R&B artists such as wealth, fame, sex etc.

"A music video may offer energy through content and storyline which may be something like a party scene or a scene that builds up tension and an atmosphere, it may also be brought by special effects or camera movement/type. A music video tampers with the audience emotions but with the reassurance with melody, tempo and bass. This enables us to create an unusual storyline which could oppose social norms relating to the lyrics." This music video does just this, it offers energy through the content and storyline. It gives the audience some reassurance that everyone has stress and problems and these can be avoided or overcome. In terms of Maslows Hierarchy of needs this video offers affiliation and esteem. It offers affiliation as this may influence people to talk about the stresses in their life, esteem can be offered through people knowing that even the famous have normal problems and stresses in their life. This video also offers social interaction as friends can talk about this video and share it on social networking such as twitter, facebook, blogspot etc. A dominant ideology is that everyone has stresses even the rich and famous, these can be overcome by expressing yourself through music for example.

In order of representing that everyone has these stresses this is aided by the variety of people used in the traffic jam, there is old, young, black, white etc so therefore it represents that everyone has pressures and problems in life.

Editing

In terms of editing, the camera shots and movement have been commented on. The transitions are predominately cuts but there are some dissolve special effects. For example when he is walking through the rural woodland setting, his girlfriend shouting either side of him fades away. This represents that slowly his problems are fading away and the rural setting aids the idea of peacefulness and escapism. There is also a dissolve from the lake back to the city, this may represent that he is back to reality.

The cuts once again link the beat and tempo of the song, this is to obtain some sort of sequence or rhythm to the song and video, Linking the song, video and lyrics together.

Usher- Pop Ya Collar Analysis

USHER WEBSITE
USHER TWITTER

MISE EN SCENE

In this video it takes a slightly different approach to that of a contemporary music video. A contemporary music video will exploit

women in a sexual and provocative manor often with the artist in high quality designer garments with expensive props such as chains, cars, alcohol etc. In terms of the location and props of this music video, it is located in an American city of which the artist is trying to repres

ent conventional 9-5 jobs. One scene is an office setting which is a usual job in a city and also some sort of delivery courier/factory. These locati

ons are used

to represent the conventional

professions and locations that "normal" people do. This is juxtaposed by scenes of him in an expensive sports car accompanied by hegemonic/stereotypical females (good looking, dark hair etc). The props used are fairly stereotypical in some scenes but then these stereotypes are juxtaposed in other scenes. For example he is trying to represent how different his life is to those that do 9-5 jobs in terms of money, fame and fortune. The props used

are chains, expensive sunglasses (shades) leather jacket etc to represent that he is famous and wealthy. The props and costumes used in the city scenes are thos

e that normal people would wear such as a work uniform, a suit etc. This could be used to represent the difference in his lifestyle and that of others, it may suggest a sense of freedom due to him being rich and famous that he doesn't have to fit in the collectiv

e identity of the working/middle classes. There is also scenes of him at a college american football match, this may represent some sort of purgatory of which he transitions from being in a working class job, and then straight to fame. This football may symbolise a possible way out apart from the music as these are two predominate careers that manywish to have. In terms of representation and the use of people, it stil

l represents women in a sexual and appealing way but more tame than other music videos. In terms of other representations they are all very stereotypical, for example at the football match, all the men are the players and there are women cheerleaders.

This is a fairly old video of which may suggest that the attitudes have changed towards women, so this may be why this video differs to contemporary music videos of which females are represented in a provocative way and the artists follow the semantic field of the genre which deals with money, drugs, sex and materialistic objects.

CAMERA

Various camera shots are used to portray or represent something in a certain way for example at the beginning of the video there is a track medium shot of the back end of a sports car, this then pans to show him driving it with women in the car. This is effective as it could have been anyone in the car, but the slow pan adds some sort of surprise element to show him driving it (as at the time the video was made he was a new artist, now he is more of an R&B icon). The medium shot of the car allows the viewer to see what type of car it is and also the road of which it is travelling downwhich is in an urban city setting.Another representation given off is a police motorbike following the artist and then turning off. This may represent many things for example that this artist had trouble with the police but due to the fame this is no longer an issue. Or further it may represent that without this music career he may have turned to a life of crime and the officer turning off showed that he had avoided it. One last representation may be due to the stereotypes of the R&B genre dealing with drugs, sex, alcohol and women that the police are keeping a close eye on him. Lastly it may represent the common ideology that there is some sort of racial conflict between people of a black ethnicity and the police.

Another shot is a close up of usher dancing in the factory uniform, he has added his own idiosyncratic touch as he is wearing the uniform in his style of which stands out from the other workers. He is wearing gloves and a hat turned backwards, this may represent that he is an individual and different from the rest. There is also a medium shot of usher walking across the street in a suit. The medium shot allows us to see his costume and his surroundings. The urban setting may represent that he is from "the streets" as it is often referred as.

Lastly from the transition of Usher working in the city, it then moves to him becoming famous and wealthy of which this is represented by a long shot in a club setting of which looks like a V.I.P. area and a girl is leaning on him whispering in his ear. This represents Usher as some sort of sex symbol to women. The spoken verb "whispering" has connotations of secretism and promiscuous ideologies of which then links to the stereotypes of the R&B genre of which is sex, money, drugs, alcohol and materialistic wealthy objects.

EDITING/ENCODING

The preferred meaning of this video is to represent the artist doing some sort of transition from a normal working lifestyle to that of fame and fortune being adopted by the music industry. The scenes juxtapose each other, one scene will show Usher working in uniform in a factory surrounding, this is then juxtaposed by him in a suit which represents wealth and then a college football match and then usher in carpark exiting a sports car and entering a club setting. This may be used to show some sort of hierarchy. He may be portraying that he is at the top of the food chain for instance, that his profession earns the most money and most people dream to have his job as a music artist. It may also represent that he has left normality due to the wealth and fame. The Gratifications given from this video are that of entertainment and escapism as it is promotes how different their lifestyle is when their wealthy. It offers social interaction as the people within the video will socially interact and talk about the song or video. it offers escapism as people watching the video can imagine living that lifestyle. There are many reprsentations given off in this video, the key representation in terms of collective identity is that these R&B males are somewhat of alphamales as they are rich and can spend lots of money on alcohol, sex, drugs and luxuries. The dominant ideology is that there is different classes that run parallel with collective identities, this is represented through such things as costume, it shows that certain jobs have certain representations and stereotypes in terms of lifestyle. Usher is implying that his profession is the best and it links to the "party and fast" lifestyle as represented by the club setting and the expensive car and good looking females.

EDITING

In terms of editing there is rapid cuts that happen throughout, they're aren't many long shots, the longest shot is the medium shot at the beginning of the back end of his sports car.

The fast cuts aid the bass and tempo of the song keeping some sort of rhythm to the song and video.

Special effects are used when he is dressed in a suit crossing the road. Firstly he is walking forwards and people around him seem to be going backwards, this may signify that he is improving and becoming bigger and other people are going backwards in the sense that they are not moving forward in their life in terms of career etc. Another special effect is Usher swiftly putting his coat on.

Another technique used by camera angled and character movement is Usher body popping and puts his arm out of which a car stops right on time. This also shows him having super human powers as he stopped a fast moving object. Once again this may link into him being different to other conventional people, he is trying to imply that he now has some sort of superhuman status due to the fame and money.

Cassidy Ft R.Kelly- Hotel Analysis

R Kelly Blog-

R Kelly Twitter-
MISE EN SCENE
In terms of the mise en scene, this video covers many aspects that a contemporary R&B music video will include such as the props, costume, location and people. The video includes stereotypical locations such as hotel and club/bar setting which insists that they are living the "hollywood" lifestyle. The hotel location suggests that the music artists are always travelling due to being in the "fast lane" in life. A hotel room also has connotations of partying and sex which has been inhabited by these artists living the rich life, love isn't wanted they just want to fulfill their sexual desires. There is a medium shot of a plaque on the door saying "presidential suite" this further implies that they are living a wealthy lifestyle and that they believe that they are V.I.P's.
The costume worn by both artists has many connotations and semantics. R.Kelly, the R&B icon, is dressed in a pink mask and a pink hat with a pink basketball jersey and trousers. These colours have many representations that have been created mostly by films but has been adopted into this video. The pink and white outfit has a semantic field with a pimp. A pimp is a person, especially a man, who solicits customers for a prostitute or a brothel, usually in return for a share of the earnings. As prostitution is illegal the mask may indicate that his idenitity must be supressed. R.Kelly does not mean this literally, the representation he is implying is that he is somewhat of a sex icon to women, his wealth and appearance alures women to fornicate with him. This is a common stereotype that alot of contemporary artists imply, that they are somewhat of a sex symbol with their wealth and style. The other artist, Cassidy, a young R&B artist, wears a sports tracksuit, baseball jacket and a baseball cap. This is all very stereotypical to the Hip Hop & R&B genres as sometimes these intertwine. These tracksuits and hats imply an urban "hood" look, many artists try to represent their hometown through music either through lyrics or clothing as there is a sense of "state pride". In this video the women is dressed in a provocative way which insists stereotypes of proestitution especially with the costume of R.Kelly intertwined, she is dressed in a lace see through dress with underwear on, this has a semantic field of sexy lingerie which also links to sexual fantasies and desires. The props used are expensive luxuries such as champagne, sports cars (ferrari) and diamond chains. All of these are very stereotypical to the R&B genre as artists want to imply that they are living a fast and wealthy life saturated in materialistic luxuries.

CAMERA
A variety of camera shots are used to represent a situation in a specific way. For example, there is a long shot of the hotel room when the female is dancing over Cassidy, this represents Cassidy as being fairly dominant as he has a women dancing for him, it also has conotations of a strip club, paying a female for what is known as a "lap dance" of which the females dances in a provocative manor to seduce the male. This long shot also shows the hotel room, as commented on before, the hotel room has many common stereotypes of partying and sex.


There is also a long shot of Cassidy in a club setting looking across the bar at a female, This represnts him as being wealthy and powerful. Alcohol is also a common stereotype of the R&B genre as as well as other genres such as Hip Hop and Rock&Roll.
Another shot used is a close up of the artist Cassidy kissing the female who is lying on top of him. This represents the women to be in control of him but also represents him being powerful as there are many historical values that the man that can get the most women is seen as the alphamale and this is what he seems to be implying in this video through the use of props such as cars and money.

In the bar there is a use of chiascuro lighting to illuminate Cassidy, he is dressed in all white and has spot lights on top of him. This may suggest that they want to emphasize his presence at the bar, or they are trying to represent him to be rich and powerful. The colour which suggests purity and "angel like" features. This may be another way he is representing himself to women as some what "Godly".

ENCODING/DECODING

The preferred reading of this video insists that of a "Rock & Roll/Hollywood" lifestyle including drugs,alcohol, sex and money. No dark messages are present such as illness or poverty, all of these are juxtaposed by the lyrics, costume, location and props which insist that of a party lifestyle. Alcohol, Money and Women are the way to satisfy ones need's in life, which of course is not applicable to real life (to some). The Gratifications given from this video are that of entertainment and escapism as it is promotes how different their lifestyle is when their wealthy. It offers social interaction as the people within the video will socially interact and talk about the song or video. it offers escapism as people watching the video can imagine living that lifestyle. There are many reprsentations given off in this video, the key representation in terms of collective identity is that these R&B males are somewhat of alphamales as they are rich and can spend lots of money on alcohol, sex, drugs and luxuries. Another key representation is that women are just "meat" they are only needed to fulfull sexual desires, there is no sense that love exists, all these artists want to do is have fun. Women aren't represented as delicate, elegant and graceful, they are represented as sexual figures dressed provocatively in order to get sexual attention.

There are many hegemonic factors present, firstly in the women used, she is a very slim build with big assets as this has been mediated in comtemporary print and social media. Another ideology given off in this video is that poverty and other world affairs don't exist, these individuals just party every day with their wealth.

EDITING

In terms of editing there isn't a alot of techniques used. The are rapid cuts that take place throughout, no shot is longert that 2/3 seconds. On the other hand there is some scenes that have been slowed down, for example when the girl is pulling the cover over the both of them, the slow motion may suggest that they are about to have an intimate encounter. The rapid cuts might symbolise the fast lifestyle that they are living, on a deeper note, it may represent a sense of adrenaline sort of thing, due to the alcohol, drugs and sex in their lifestyle. At the beginning a "cinema" type transition is used, the shot of the door with a tag on introducing the artsists and the song scrolls out from black. This might suggest that what they do is behind closed doors, or another idea is that the black suggests emptyness, but due to their wealth suddenly its all turned into a big party. The tag on the door is also globally recognised, these tags on the doors often say "do not disturb" which then links to more sexual references.

Ne-Y0- So Sick Of Love Songs

Contemporary Artist

Example of a slow tempo R&B video that narrates a story.

Secondary Theories

Laura Mulvey a British Feminist Film Theorist claims that media is patriacle to men. All types of media is for the benefit and use of the "male gaze". She describes men as voyeurs and through gaining pleasure through peeping at others. This applies to my brief as many contemporary R&B videos support this. For example, music videos consist of creating euphemistic symbols aswell as representing women in a sexual way in terms of clothing and movement.

Our video will juxtpose this as our video is going to look very dark in terms of connotations, it will be black and white and focus on one male going through distressing times. There may be girls featured but they will not be shown in a sexual manor.

Experiencing Music Video- Carol Vernallis
Carol wrote a book about what conventions and stereotypes follow the making of a music video. She explains some features that are visible and how they are usually created. She says "some writers about music video have claimed that videos work primarily as narratives, that they function like parts of movies or television shows, others have wanted to say that music video is fundamentally antinarrative a king of post modern pastiche that actually gains energy through defying narrative conventions"

Vernallis also says "Music video presents a range all the way from extremely abstract videos emphasizing colour and movement to those that convey a story."

We will be following and taking this into account when creating our music video. We are more likely to convey a story as the song that we have chosen is quite dark with powerful indoctrinating lyrics. The majority of the video will be black and white to follow the connotations of the song.
Experiencing Music Video- Carol Vernallis

Rhythm & Blues History

Rhythm & Blues, often abreviated to R&B, was a name given to a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940's. It was created through a mix of many genres such as jazz, rock and roll, electric blues, soul and gospel music.

The meaning behind the term has different meanings for example. The "rhythm" part comes from the music's typical dependance upon four-beat measures or bars and employ a backbeat (beats two and four accented in each measure). And the "blues" portion came from the lyrics and melodies of the songs, which were often sad, or 'blue' during the music's emergence in the World War II era. Over time the name was shortened to R&B as a matter of convenience.

The "Rhythm & Blues" term was created to replace the term "race music," which until then was the stardard catch-all phase used in reference to most music made by blacks at the time. After the "race music" term was deemed offensive, Billboard began using the Rhythm & Blues name that Jerry Wexler created. By the 1970's R&B was a blanket term used for the soul and funk genres as R&B was the most popular. It was later introduced into Britain in the 1960's due to the popularity of it in America with Pop & R&B icons such as Micheal Jackson.

Some say Rhythm and Blues was created by slaves as they used to sing and create music in order to communicate and pass messages a famous one being "wait in the water".

The Blues Brothers then furthered the R&B genre and became very popular as they juxtaposed the African American stereotype of R&B.

Icons such as Marvin Gaye and James Brown were very popular but now R&B has changed and is less soulfull.

R.Kelly is also a R&B and Soul icon aswell as Gospel, he is very popular as he added his own idiosyncratic style on R&B, others followed him such as Usher, and now icons today such as Drake.

James Brown R.Kelly Usher Drake

Audience Identification

When chosing the genre of the music video, we took many things into consideration, one of which is that we talked about the genre. Collectively as a group, we knew the most about R&B and Hip Hop and as they are the most influential genres to youth culture we decided to undertake this.

When it comes to target audience we took many aspects into consideration Daniel Chandler's theory, these aspects included social status, age, gender and other media consumptions for example what they would read and watch. In terms of social grouping we have decided to target a young age group from ages 16-22 and both genders, we decided this as it reflects our age group and we have an idea of what interests teenagers and those of a younger age group.

We will also be targetting the social status of these teenagers from the C1 to E categories. We chose this as we took education into consideration, youths are likely to be still in some sort of education. This was also another aspect we took into consideration and schools, colleges and universities are such compact communities, it is more likely for our music trailer to become very popular in a short space of time.

I will be using Dyers Utopian Solutions Theory to motivate and engage our audience, offering the young target audience the "solutions" and "energy" through our music video. This theory gives the audience a sense of escapism and could encourage audiences who are suffering from exhaustion from every day-to-day life to feel energised and exhillarated, giving them another reason to watch. This theory relates to 10 key words; Inadequacy, Poverty, Confusion, Exhaustion, Isolation, Solution, Abundance, Clarity, Energy and Community.

A music video may offer energy through content and storyline which may be something like a party scene or a scene that builds up tension and an atmosphere, it may also be brought by special effects or camera movement/type. A music video tampers with the audience emotions but with the reasurrance with melody, tempo and bass. This enables us to create an unusual storyline which could oppose social norms relating to the lyrics.

I also looked at Maslow's Hierachy of Needs. This theory relates to these key themes; Safetey- offering assurance of safety, physically, emotionally and psychologically. Affiliation- the need to belong to a group. Esteem- the need to feel good about our selves. In the sense of a music video Maslow's hierachy of needs offeres originality and identity such as the listener/watcher feeling part of a community underneath the subheading of the R&B genre. Music videos build tension and atmosphere tampering with the audiences emotions through lyrics and different tempo's.

I will be using Graeme Burtons social grouping theory for target audience as he looks at; age, gender, social status, race, location etc. This is his first classification, his second classification consists of grouping media audiences via relationship with media, for example "concert goers", music listeners etc. I can then base my final identification socially or base it on my target audiences relationship with the media of which is two ideologies Burton promotes. Lastly, Hartley continues to narrow down social grouping; Aspirations- ambitious people? offer a motive such as performance enhancement and many other things such as style, cultural imperialism and social norms.

Target Audience Age: 16-22
Social Status- C1-E
Nationality- English (American+Britain)
All ethnicities
All Genders
Income- 0-18k