COSTUME - MIS EN SCENE
GoAnimate.com: Costume by AA25231
In the UK rap scene you also get underground artist's promoting this 'Hood' look by wearing hoods and trying to promote there fine jewelry this immediately connotes a 'Gang' representation, but this is rear for mainstream artist such as Devlin as he has broken through and received a record deal. In our music video you see one location the 1930's block of flats replica the scenery in the original video. Also in our video where we set it was conventional as it told the story and the audience understood the narrative. Below you see a screen grab of now up and coming UK star Sneakbo in his video 'Hometown' where he talks about growing up on the gritty streets of London. In this video him and his peers wear hoods throughout also trying to flash expensive chains and watches. Although this is an underground video you see influences from American Rap Artists as they are trying to reveal to the public the power of money. In Mainstream Rap in the UK Artists such as Devlin, Chipmunk,Wiley and Lethal B who have all grew up in tough estates in London are trying to get away from the 'Hood' look and be more formal with the Mis-en-scene they use in video's and when promoting themselves as an Artist for example Polo shirts. I feel the way Rap artist try to dress as unique as possible promoting brands such as 'Ralph Lauren', Stone Island and Levi's. I feel the way mainstream Rap artist in the UK dress is developing the scene as stereotypically it is normally seen as a bunch of youths in hoods as seen below, which again links to gang violence.
INFLUENCES
As you can see from above the Mary J Blige feat Ludacris influenced our Music video in more ways then one and the 1st being the scene which featured both artist in the frame whilst reciting the lyrics. I felt this was effective because it connotes togetherness as well as the feelings between the artist's and makes it easier for the audience to emotionally connect to the song as both of the songs were talking about pain. In this scene we also follow the conventions of a rapper featuring singer collaboration as they are mostly seen in the same shot in a numerous amount of Music videos. Look Below -
Ancillary Work
The Ancillary work I produced followed the conventions of a UK Rap artist. As you see below from other artist in my Genre they all follow the rule of having an unique urban look as well as showing there personality. What I really found interesting when researching Digi-paks in my Artist genre was how they used the city (London) and images from there personal background to show what they feel. A few that really interested me was Wiley's - 'Playtime's Over' and Skepta's - 'So Alive'. What I felt about both of these Digi-paks were they told a story just by looking at them which was what I also tried to portray with my Ancillary product by using this sharp eye contact. Also in my inside panel you see and image of me looking over London which shows you I'm in deep thinking. On Wiley's Album we see him in a neglected playground in a dark black tracksuit with his hood on immediately we think to ourselves there's a problem and in his songs he will tell us his problems hence the title 'Playtime's Over'. On Skepta's album he also goes for and Urban look with his use of Mis en scene wearing a wooly hat, but for me on Album the facial expression says it all. You see him screaming out which I feel connotes for people to hear his message, which I feel this Album is going to talk about hearing what he has to say and listening to his message.
EDITING
When Editing our Music Video we felt it was only right we edited the video on the beat as in the song we chose it had a nice sound on the 4th beat which we felt was perfect for us to go back n fourth from our narrative. Whilst editing we used base tracks which is a convention of a Rap music video which allowed us to cut clips we didn't need. During a base track the Artist performs the whole track without stop which is then layered on to Final Cut Pro. Whilst editing marked the 4 beat throughout the song on Final Cut Pro so we knew when to import a new shot this is also called continuous editing. I think this works as it helps the flow of the video run smoothly and after a while you get the beat of the tune for anyone watching the video will understand the narrative behind the song. Below are some clips which follow this convention of editing continously on a particular beat.
CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS
UK & US RAP
I feel our video also challenged a lot of video's in the rap genre especially in the U.S. In American rap you see a lot of the video based around three main things as you see below : JEWELS. CARS. WOMEN. I feel in the UK the videos take a very different approach again as you see below. I feel in British rap especially they talk a lot about life and there personal story as a rap listener I feel that's lacking in US rap as they focus on MONEY!! a bit too much but then again they still make quality music in my personal opinion. So I feel the UK challenge America to a degree with the representation of artist's.
Jewellery
Cars
Girls
UK RAP
MORE VIDEO INFLUENCES
* Influence - Nicki Minaj - As you can see in Nicki Minaj video 'Moment for Life' feat Drake her use of make-up inspired our 'Yasmin' played by Kudiwa Lipstick colour being a baby Pink as it helped the way she was portrayed to the audience as seductive but also respectable. Also the colour also helped in the video with articulation as when the lyrics where being recited it looked more genuine. She also inspired our make-up choice as the foundation used was not heavy and helped the connotation of 'Yasmin' be positive.
*The Game - The video 'Make the world go round' Feat Chris Brown we see famous Rapper wearing a Red Ralph Lauren Polo shirt. In this video we see the famous 'Horse' blurred as the owners of the company do not want to see Artist such as 'The Game' promoting there brand as they are gang related. The Rapper is seen to be a member of The 'Compton Blood Gang' who have committed a number of murders in there history.
*Duffy - In Duffy's video we where inspired by her use of emotion in the video which automatically creates a emotional connection with the audience. In our video we created tears with our character in the narrative as it showed the pain he was going through doing the story.
* Cheryl Cole - In Cheryl Coles video 'Fight for this love' we where inspired by her sense of style and felt it immediately linked to the character we where trying to portray with our 'Yasmin'. What I really felt was a key characteristic with our character was her Mis-en-scene, her dressing. We felt it was imperative her dress style was so cool it will inspire over young teens to follow her image. The leather jacket Cheryl Cole wore in her music video was very attractive and felt we'd steal this image as it was very appealing to our target audience.
The Narrative Inspiration
In our Music video we have a narrative which is basically a story behind the actual song. We had many inspiration for the narrative for example as you see below the videos - Professor Green feat Emili Sande - Read All About it, Mary J Blige and the original video for our song Devlin - Runaway. In our narrative we showed a break up of a couple and how it affected there relationship mentally as you see emotional shots of Shazray. The arguments affected the relationship so bad the male companion decided to leave and never come back and we see the full story in our music video.
And Of Course.... THE ORIGINAL VIDEO
Performance
Conventions
Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernalis created theories that music videos should follow the conventions of the genre they are catergorized in. In my music video's we also followed conventions of a Rap music video for example ;
Camera moves with music -
Artist looks directly into the camera-
Repeated shots of the Artist -
Base Track Editing -
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