Thursday, 22 October 2015

Audience Profiles

Audience Profile

Young and Rubicam


- Mainstreamers 
-They go with the flow and don't want to stand out.
- Aspirers -They want more money and status, buy flashy products and the latest products send out this message.
- Succeeders -They spend their money on status goods reflecting their success.
- Individualists/Quirkies -They want to show the world they are different.
- Reformers -They look for the organic, the recyclable, the environmentally friendly.


General Registrar Scale

Mosaic




Uses and Gratification

This is a theory that suggests that audiences are not simply passive
consumers but actively take part in the media they consume. Serving a purpose for them. Blulmer and Katz devised the following list.
§Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.
§Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg) substituting soap operas for family life
§Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts
§Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living eg) weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains


Stuart Hall: Encoding/Decoding

§Encoding: The message/idea created by the creator of the text.
§Decoding: The message interpreted/received by the consumer/audience.
Hall argued that the message is not fixed/determined by the sender, the meaning is never transparent and the audiences is not a passive recipient of meaning.

Stuart Hall: Audience Reception Theory

§Preferred Reading: The dominant view and what the creator wants you to see.
§Oppositional Reading: The complete opposite reading to what the creator had intended.
§Negotiated Reading: An understanding of the dominant reading but can also see it from other perspectives.
§Aberrant Reading: Completely reject the product and have no view at all.


Ien Ang
§Ien Ang linked the dominant ideology of mass culture with social debate.
§
§She believed that even if audiences found a show ‘trivial’ (based mainly on Dallas). They could create some kind of cultural discussion based around the idea. (Links to the water cooler moment)
§She encouraged readers to become negotiated readers.







Thing is a song by Rae Sremmurd called "No Type"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzMrK-aGCug

"No Type" is a song by American hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd. It was released on September 15, 2014 by EarDrummers and Interscope as the second single from their debut album SremmLife (2015). The song was produced by EarDrummers-founder, Mike Will made it. Since its release, the song has peaked at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming their highest charting single to date. The music video of the song was released on September 17, 2014.[1] The song has been certified platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 1 million copies.

Age and Gender
The screenshot shows the two young artists themselves with two young females approaching. There are also young people in their surroundings. The artists are 20 and 19. The approaching females also look to be in their late teens/early twenties. The two girls aren't of the same skin colour, therefore this was intentionally done in order to prove the title of the song, they don't have a type in woman. So the age of audience they are aiming for would be ranging from 16-35 as these years would be mainly into hip-hop. I believe the gender of audience would be for both but mainly woman, as the artists are telling the woman the have no type so they have a chance with them. 

Race and Occupation
The video is a mixture of male and female, how as for race, is mainly black. They are also playing basketball which is a sports mainly with black people and males. In term of occupations, the would mainly appeal to those who aren't earning much money but are aspirers as they are wearing branded clothing, however are hanging out in a free place (Venice beach) and playing sport/arcade.




Demographic and Psycho-graphic


Although the artists aren't in the general registrar scale, they tend to be in the A scale due
to their wealth and professionalism in music. We can see this through their location and the clothes that they wear. What they wear doesn't necessarily appear as expensive such as suits, but they are expensive brands. However, the broader their audience, the more success they have, so, despite them being in A, they would want to appeal to everyone in the registrar scale ranging from A-E.

Geo-Demographic and Mosaic
Throughout the video, we can see they are set on Venice beach. This beach is very popular and well-known. Therefore they would target people who are out-going, social, mainstreamers and  O62 in the mosaic (central pulse, vibrant locations/nightlife).

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Narrative, Performance or Concept?

Narrative
A narrative music videos tend to focus more on presenting a show to the audience rather than focus on the lyrics.

This is a song by Gunplay ft Rick Ross called "Aiight"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGCQk9zExbE

This song, according to the lyrics, are about how Gunplay and Rick Ross are rich and are the men. They boast about their cars, money and their thuggish persona. This is the typical hip-hop type lyrics.
However the music video says otherwise.

The Music video is about a man who wants to make more money so he gets a loan from his boss in which he must give back in three days time. 


Next he goes to Gunplay's house and asks to get more money by selling drugs. Gunplay denies him on this request. 




Now the man asks to use his toilet, but instead he sneak into Gunplay's room and steals a bunch of money. 




He is then caught spending his money on a new car and in a gentleman's club.



This leads to Gunplay getting revenge by taking aim to the man head with a gun.










Performance
A performance music video is when the artist is performing the song. So for example he/she would be dancing, miming the words, socialising or showing off.

This is a song by Chief Keef called "Love Sosa"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyHZNBz6FE
This song is about how all the girls love "Chief Sosa" (Chief Keef) and he also expresses how his gang is better than others. Like "Aiight", it is too a typical hip-hop song. He performs the whole song in his house with his gang. The video follows the exact description of what a performance video is. He socialises, mimes the words, shows off and in general, performs the song.

                   









Concept
A concept music video is when it is based a concept or an idea which is usually obscure/unusual/surreal for the audience. However this obscurity is what attracts the audience.

Here is a son by SchoolBoyQ called "Collard Greens"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L2vJEb6lVE

This song is mainly about weed and how SchoolBoyQ drinks and smokes and enjoys it very much. 
This is the type of unusualness we see in the video as it is made for people who have taken what SchoolBoyQ is rapping about and are watching the videos whilst feeling the effects of the drugs/drink. However not every high/drink person browses YouTube, however for the sober audience, the effects are unusual and unique therefore attract audience.








180 Degree Rule



We would apply this in our production in the near future by creating a visible line on the floor with some tape, this way the cameraman, actors and rest of the crew can see it. This way we can avoid "jumping" or "crossing the line" unless we intend on using a "shooting in the round shot"

BBFC

Powered by emaze

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-bbfc

We will try to make our video suitable for 15 year olds, however, if we blurred out each offensive word then much of song song would be missing, therefore the audience wouldn't enjoy the video as much. We will be including concepts in our video and large text popping up on the screen. The is one part where we want to add text however there's a swear word. Although we won't blur out the words, we still don't want to promote the words therefore we will replace the letters of the swear word with puncheon symbols. For example "Don't give no dap to me n!%&@."

Overall, our video doesn't contain drug use, sexual content but does feature strong language, therefore, keeping to the BBFC guidelines, our video would be rated 15.

I have used page 20 of this pdf link to make this judgement.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202014_0.pdf

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Lyric Analysis 1

Lyric Analysis 1

These are the lyrics from a song by Kendrick Lamar featuring Drake called "Poetic Justice"


(Intro)

Every seconds, every minute, man i swear that she can get it
Say if you a bad bitch put your hands up high, hands up high, hands up high
Tell'em dim the lights down right now, put me in the mood
I'm talking 'bout dark room, perfume, go, go



(Verse 1: Kendrick Lamar)
I recognize your fragrance, hold up, you ain't ever gotta say s**t, uh
And i know your taste is, a little bit hmm, high maintenance, uh
Everybody else basic, you live life on an every day basis
With poetic justice, poetic justice

If i told you a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?
I mean I write poems in these songs dedicated to you when
Your'e in a mood for empathy, there's blood in my pen
Better yet, where your friend and 'em? I really wanna know you all
I really wanna show you off, f**k that
Pour up plenty of champagne, cold nights when you curse this name
You called up your girlfriends and y'all curled in that little bitty range I heard that
She wanna go and party, she wanna go and party
N****a don't approach her with that Atari, n****a, that ain't good game, homie, sorry
They say conversation rule a nation, I can tell
But i could never right my wrongs 'less I write it down for real, P.S


(Hook)x2

You can get it, you can get it
You can get it, you can get it
And i know just, know just, know, know just, know juts what you want
Poetic justice, put it in a song



(Verse 2: Drake)
I really hope you play this, cause ol' girl you test my patience
With all these seductive photographs and all these on off vacations
You've been taking clearly a lot for e to take in, it don't make sense
Young East African Girl, you too busy f*****g with your other man
I was tryna put on game, but you on a plane
Take you and your momma to the motherland, I could do it
Maybe one day when you figure out you're gonna need someone
When you figure out it's all right here in the city and you don't run where we come from
That sounds like poetic justice, poetic justice
You were so new to this life but Goddamn you adjusted
I mean i write poems in these songs, dedicated to the fun sex
Your natural hair and your soft skin, and your big a*s in that sundress, ooh
Good God, what you doing that walk for?
When I see that thing move, I just wish we would fight less and we would talk more
And they say communication save relations, I can tell
But I can never write my wrongs unless I write 'em down for real, P.S


(Hook)



(Verse 3: Kendrick Lamar)
Every time I write these words, they become a taboo
Making sure my punctuation curve, every letter here's true
Living my life in the margin and that metaphor was proof
I'm talking poetic justice, poetic justice
If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?
I mean you hear this, love is not is not a verb
It's you looking in the mirror, love in not just a verb
It's you looking for it, maybe, call me crazy, we can both be insane
A fatal attraction is common and what we have in common is pain
I mean you need to hear this, love is not just a verb
And I can see power steering, sex drive when you serve
I want that interference, it's coherent, I can hear it, uh-huh
That's your heartbeat, it either caught me or it called me, uh-huh
Read slow and you'll find gold mines in these lines
Sincerely, yours truly and right before you go blind, P.S


(Hook)


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before analysing these lyrics, I did some research about the song and the album it comes from. This way I could get a new look into the meaning of the lyrics and understand the actual story of the song, therefore I will get a more accurate analysis.

"If i told you a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?" 
He is refers to himself as the flower (good kid) who bloomed in a dark room (Compton).It's almost impossible for a flower to bloom without light, though there are exceptions, leaving hope. However the flower can also represent Sherane herself as it's unlikely that their love can bloom in such dismal circumstances, especially the gang tensions from her cousins.

"Your in the mood for empathy, there's blood in my pen"
A metaphor for the pain and heart he puts into his music. He is also telling us the blood in his pen is all truth and he wants to show both sides of Sherane and not just the bad side.
"I really wanna show you off, f**k that,, Pour up plenty of champagne"
It's uncommon for people in burgeoning relationships to want to showcase their significant other to friends or the public. There is a sense or pride and commitment associated with this interaction. Also the way he says "f**k that" is a referral to his other song A.D.H.D and can also sound like f**k though. This implies living in the moment and not thinking or worrying about anything else. 

                        "But i could never right my wrongs 'less I write it down for real, P.S"
This shows the irony of him being unable to right his wrongdoings and negative experiences of his youth unles he writes them down for real. Everything that he raps in real or has happened and the only way to right his wrong is by writing them. Also the usage of this post script (P.S) is to segue into the chorus by extending the play on the words write/right.

You can get it, you can get it, You can get it, you can get it, And i know just, know just, know, know just, know juts what you want, Poetic justice, put it in a song
Within the context of the short film, "poetic justice" is possibly following him going to see Sherane to get down, but instead he ends up getting jumped by two men in hoodies (see skit). However this also relates the the video when the lyrics are juxtaposed with images of a drive by shooting, implying the meaning of "you can get it", as being exactly that, in the hood, you can become a victim of senseless violence and anytime. 

"Every time I write these words, they become a taboo"
Kendrick's beliefs are considered taboo to mainstream society. Song he has created such as Keisha's song, m.A.A.d City, and P&P contain controversial themes. Also, Kendrick telling these stories and due to the fact that his lyrics contain meaning is taboo to today's rapper as they tend to just rap about money, woman, cars and other materialistic things. 


"Making sure my punctuation curve, every letter here's true, Living my life in the margin and that metaphor was proof"
Kendrick poetically justifies why is writing is vital to hip-hop. To explain this, he sneaks 4 literary mechanisms into the inner-workings of his rhymes (punctuation, letter, margin, metaphor):

- "Make sure my punctuation is curved", i.e. a comma, which is curved, instead of a period, which would signify a full stop. i.e. Kendrick doesn't stop!
- His use of "letter" not only emphasises that each and every character that he writes is truthful, but it also refers yo the fact that each verse of the song is structured as a letter, as evidenced by his sign-off and the postscripts.
- Kendrick "lives his life in the margin", which is literally the small blank space at the end of the lines he writes. Metaphorically he lives his life in the periphery outiside the masses.
- "Proof", as in proofread. One often writes the margin of the page when he is proofreading. But also, a mathematical proof to show the answer and conclusion to your equation. Looks like Kendrick's equation here is sound.


This song goes against the typical hip-hop way of rapping. They are usually more boastful and flashy. Their lyrics are normally about the crimes they are committing, how they are the man and being derogatory towards many woman. However in this song, Kendrick is more poetic and there is a lot more meaning behind the lyrics. He also intelligently links his songs together by either telling a story or hinting certain sayings from other songs. It's also very in contrast to contemporary hip-hop, as early hip-hop was mainly political and poet like. Much like Kendrick's song above. 

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Semiotics

Semiotics

Semitics is the study of symbols and signs and their interpretation or use. Semiotics was developed by Ferdinand de Saussure. In the tradition of semiotics, the sign consists of two things, a form of the sign (signifier) ad the meaning of it (signified). I will show a few examples of these semiotics in a music video. 

This is a song by Young Thug called "Again"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4gmGYhr-7k&safe=active 



Here we see a bottle of Sprite. This is the signifier, just a normal fizzy drink, however the signified is the fact that is is mixed with codeine
from a prescription cough syrup. It looks like a normal fizzy drink but its actually drugs also known as lean.

Next we see an rosary and a a chain with an ankh cross pendant on it. At first we see it as the men flashing their money by wearing chains (signifier), when actually the rosary is a religious accessory and the ankh cross pendant represents the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that reads "life". 
Another example would be the use of the red light. The colour red heavily connotes things such as blood, love and danger. 


Another sign we see it a box of baking soda. At first glance we think its baking soda. Well it is, but in the music video its not used for baking the goods we are used to. In this case its used to mix with cocaine in order to make a bigger profit. the baking soda is the signifier but the fact its use is for drugs in the signified.



Another example would be the setting of the music video that we can also see in each screenshot. In hip-hop terms, the environment is referred to as a "traphouse." At first we think its just a bunch of people in a house, but really its a place where everyone cooks drugs. 

Thursday, 8 October 2015

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
What do you do well?
What unique resources can you draw on?
What do others see as your strengths?
Weaknesses
What could you improve on?
Where do you have fewer resources than others?
What are others likely to see as weaknesses?
-I have good knowledge of not only the hip-hop industry but the artists and videos too.
-Due to my knowledge on hip-hop and its artists, I can keep an eye on other artists and from there adjust our product to better our competitors and appeal to our audience more.






- I don’t have “the eye” to find the best angle in which to record.
-I also have limited editing experience, I have experience editing JPEG’s but not videos.
-I am not rich like hip-hop artists therefore we don’t have access to expensive cars, house etc. therefore the music videos won’t be as exciting therefore we will have to work harder to use what we have in order to compete.
Opportunities
What opportunities are open to you?
What trends could you take advantage of?
How can you turn your strengths into opportunities?
Threats
What threats could harm you?
What is your competition doing?
What threats do your weaknesses expose you to?
-I have access to all types of media such as social media, YouTube, television and radio, therefore I can keep up with current hip-hop trends and competition.
-I am aware of certain artists styles and what they make their product about therefore we could use that to our advantage and do the same or do it before they do, For example make a song involving a current social trend before anyone else does.




-Our competition is our main threat
-Current trends are constantly changing, so it’s important to stay up to date otherwise our audience will become bored of our product.

Thursday, 1 October 2015

Genre Associations Spider Diagram

Genre is a specific style or category of art, literature or in this case, music. 
Hip-hop is a very controversial genre of music. It doesn't hold back. It will consist of rappers boasting about their possessions and abilities. We will often see money and hear/see them aggressively making their point on how they are "the man" due to their street credibility, female attention and domination. They can also express these by breaking the law through committing crimes such as selling, cooking or even taking drugs. Of course there are other activities they indulge in such as killings, assaults and robbings etc.


Pop is mainly for the mainstream youth. They innocent. It would mainly be joyful songs about relationships, parties and friendships. We can see much colour in this genre through attires, effects and personality. However their is slight sexual content but mainly from the artists themselves. It wouldn't be males objectifying woman like in hip-hop, but rather the female artists objectifying themselves (see above for example).

Rock isn't for the feint hearted. They are seen as very disturbed. They contain demonic and deathly themes. Also the way the artists present their music with their voice is hard not to notice. It's mainly them screaming and a very aggressive tone of voice. You will very rarely see any colour in a rock music video, daylight, a white shirt or their emphasis on their paleness may be the only brightness seen in rock.

Conventions Table

Below is a table I have constructed about the convention in genres hip-hop, pop and rock. I based my judgement of filling in the table by watching multiple different music videos form multiple different bands/artists from each of the 3 genres.

Conventions
Always
Often
Rarely
Never
Hip-Hop
Aggressiveness in lyrics and video




Controversial lyrics




Showing off expensive things e.g. cars money jewellery.




Sexualising woman




Slang




Storyline in the music video




Storyline in the lyrics




Tattoos




Pop
Fashionable/mainstream outfits




Current trends rather than independent trends




Lyrics based on love and relationships




Verse-chorus-verse structure




Bright and colourful




Sexual presentation




Animations




Storyline in video




Rock
Dark clothing/makeup




Bands rather than independent




Strobe and LED lighting




Tattoos




Demonic/disturbing storyline




Storyline in video




Sexual





This table will help a lot, while brainstorming ideas for the music video, we can refer back to this table in order to see which conventions we haven't/have met yet. It can also help us see which conventions we may decide to go against, for example, story lines. We don't have the intention of creating a story line despite there being a story line in some hip-hop videos.







I am going to list all the conventions that appear in two or more of the music below above only in order to identify the main conventions in hip-hop music.

These are songs I am going to be using for my convention analysis (hip-hop);



1.Groups of people performing along side the artist. Shown in videos Energy, Lifestyle and Best friend.

2.When performing the song, they presented as very aggressive and violent as they frequently make gun gestures with their hands. Shown in videos, Energy, Problems and Lifestyle.
 
3.The artists are wearing branded/popular clothing shown clearly with visible logos. Shown in videos Energy and Lifestyle. 


4.They tend to be very boastful by showing off luxurious toys such as cars, jewelry or their money. Shown in videos Energy, Problems, Lifestyle and Best Friend.



5.Girls are shown as very promiscuous and sexually objectified. Shown in videos Energy, Hotline Bling, Problems, Lifestyle and Best Friend.


                  6. Artists are seen with many tattoos. Shown in videos Energy, Lifestyle and Best Friend.



7.Also the artists all tend to be of black race. Shown in videos Energy, Hotline Bling, Problem, Lifestyle and Best Friend.



A little bit about hip-hop:
Hip hop as music and culture formed during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, particularly among African American youth residing in the Bronx. At block parties DJs played percussive breaks of popular songs using two turntables to extend the breaks. Notable artists at this time include DJ Kool HercGrandmaster Flash and The Furious FiveFab Five FreddyMarley MarlAfrika BambaataaKool Moe DeeKurtis BlowDoug E. FreshWhodinithe Fat Boys, and Spoonie Gee. The Sugarhill Gang's 1979 song rappers delight, is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain widespread popularity in the mainstream








These are songs I am going to be using for my convention analysis (pop);


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRh_vgS2dFE Justin Bieber - Sorry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg Taylor Swift - Blank Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEI4qSrkPAs The Weeknd - Can't Feel My Face

1.All artists/dancers have trendy and fashionable outfits. Seen in videos; sorry, blank space and cant feel my face. 

2.The relationship conventions is mainly shown in both sorry and blank space mainly through lyrics and partially through performance (sorry), however, cant feel my face isn't about a relationship although it can be interpreted that way.

3. All three of the songs contain an element of brightness and/or colour. 

4.The sexual representations aren't as full on unlike hip-hop, however still exist. However there wasn't any in cant feel my face.







These are songs I am going to be using for my convention analysis (rock);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LypjOTTH6E In This Moment - Big Bad Wolf

1.All the rock artists are wearing dark clothing. Seen in all videos listed above. 

2.All these rock videos contain a demonic/disturbed content within the music video. 


3.All the songs have a strobe lighting or a lighting effect of some sort featuring in their music video. 

4. Once again all the rock songs have the artists deliver the song in a very aggressive manner.