Friday, 17 October 2014

Music Album Cover: Design Brief

RESEARCH:

1. Headings give in the brief.

Date:
Project Manager: Rhea & Lisa-marie. 
Dept:
Album Title/Artist: curious/partynextdoor
Release date: 18th October 

 Where are we now?

    The Album Concept: What is it?

                                     
  Why are we doing it?

    Comparable products

    Who is our consumer?

    What is the consumer reaction we want?

    How will we know it worked?

    Key Launch Dates



Description:

Deadlines:

Objective:

Preposition:

Tone of voice/brand image/positioning:

Restrictions/limitations (mandatories):

Productive Specs:

Creative Edge Spectrum:

Budget:


2.Media Language used: Trends, release, compilation, features, exclusive, commercial.


3.The differences between the product overview and the creative brief is that the product overview is very vague and general, summarizing what they need to do and the creative brief explains the steps in order to get to that point of success with the album.

PLANNING:


Thursday, 2 October 2014

Target Audience For Our Music Videos

We are going to create a music video fitting with the stereotypical Hiphop/R&B sub genre. R&B audiences are usually teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 & 25 and are mostly females. This could be due to the explicit lyrics, artists, music and how the music videos are shot and what they contain within them. Females are usually targeted by R&B artists because they stereo typically write songs about love, being in love or heartbreaks, this means most young girls can relate and it will therefore appeal to them. Fast   R&B songs usually will attract women as they involve fashion and synergy within the narrative or theme.

However, for our music video our primary target audience will specifically be aimed at males because the artist 'PARTYNEXTDOOR' is also male. His lyrics therefore are from a male perspective which allows others to relate to them. The video will sexualise women in a provocative mannor, be heavily focusing on 'breaking the rules' this being drinking alcohol/smoking, expensive clothes/flashy cars, gang sub-cultures - everything males see as the positive gaze in respect to successful rap music videos and what they'd expect to see.

The occupation of my target audience may vary, a lot of youth will be unemployed but studying. There hobbies may be sports - football/basketball, more masculine hobbies you wouldn't find many females adhering too. 


This picture collage below represents the style I believe my target audience that listen to the genre of hip-hop would possibly wear this includes, hats, sunglasses, baggy trousers, gold chains and fur - these can signify positive connotations to wealth:


When it comes to media grouping I believe our target audience would more than likely be into action movies due to the fast paced shooting and expensive lifestyles that also coincide with the hip hop music videos.   Our audience will get their music from urban music websites and possibly sound cloud - hip hop music these days is slowly becoming more mainstream so will appear on the radio/television but often due to the content, it doesn't air as much as other genres like pop would.
The problem with applying a music video to The Uses and Gratifications Theory is that everyone’s needs are different. But based on my assumption and the rap music videos I've watched, I believe people possess personal integrative needs which means people feed off media to reassure their status, gain credibility and stabilize and furthermore, tension free needs being the means of escapism and to relieve from tension. 

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Pop Culture -Adorno and Hebdige Theory

Adorno and Hebdige.

The idea of popular culture originated from ‘the Frankfurt school’ that were a collection of merit philosophers based in Germany, mid-20th century. With several other writers they concentrated with popular culture they capitalize on the masses and continue the control and power of the upper class.

Theodore Adorno was a German sociologist, musicologist and philosopher.



Theodore Adorno was known for the way he viewed and examined on society, he had a theory there were two different types of people, those who like classical music and referred to them as ‘true art’ he believed that those people were educated, cultured and that had a taste, most of these people were of the upper class. Then there was those who listen to popular music, he believed were absorbed by popular music, they were all the same and repetitive which is why they all listened to it, they were easily influenced by it, basically portrayed them as dimwits and apart of the lower class society which he looked down upon.
I believe that his theory is out of dated and there are so many different genres of music which all have their very own unique and respective crowd. Which weren’t around in his time era, I don’t believe your taste in music represents the person you are or serve you as upper of lower class. Everyone has their own style and culture, which I don’t believe represents them as an individual. Also I don’t think there’s a thing as ‘poplar music’, as music has so many different diverse genres.


Dick Hebdige is a British media theorist.



Dick Hebdige is completely against Theodore Adorno theory and has a more modern take on it; he believes that he mass audience can chose from different genres of music what they want to absorb. He goes against adorns theory and feels as if he’s too negative. Also that people listen to ‘poplar music’ without evening thinking about it.

I agree more with dick Hebdige, he’s theory is more realistic than Adorno modern theory; there’s such a variety of music genres these days with huge mass audience, that doesn't narrow done to two genres and i believe the majority amount of people would agree with me and Dick Hebdige theory. 








Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Music Video Analysis

Rihanna feat Calvin Harris - we found love.

www.youtube.co.uk/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg


Rihanna has created an intense story line and meaning through out the video. The voice at the beginning talks about how "You always feel ashamed that someone could be that important that without them, you feel like nothing. No one will ever understand how much it hurts. You feel hopeless, like nothing can save you. Then when it’s over, it’s gone, you almost wish you could have all that bad stuff back, so that you can have the good…" 

The relationship between the visuals and the music connected as there's images of drugs, various pills and dilated pupils. You see them tell a story through the ups and downs off there dramatic love story.   
Rihanna is singing about having such deep and intense emotions towards someone to the point where your love towards them becomes addicting. "yellow diamonds in the sky" is about taking ecstasy and represents how you feel towards that person, just like how you feel when you are on E, intense euphoria. In simplest form, it's basically about how love can be addicting and even when you know the person is not right for you, you can't let go because the love has become like a drug.


The lyrics currently with these shots are Rihanna singing about how she feels. 'We found love in a hopeless place' and when the song begins and we begin to see shot ofdrugs and the sexual nature and we begin to see what the video is about. Two people found love in a 'hopeless' place, basically wasting life, messing around, partying and doing drugsThe lyrics currently with these shots are Rihanna singing about how she feels. 'We found love in a hopeless place' and when the song begins to speed up and go up beat you begin to see shots of  drugs and the sexual nature. We begin to see what the video is about. Two people found love in a 'hopeless' place, basically wasting life, messing around, partying and doing drugs.
The narrative to the story is an relationship that was found in an hopeless place and was expected to end badly, there’s a lot of meaning to the story line, it shows what love can do to someone and the impact it has on your life when your addicted to something bad and hopeless.
Target audience I would say 16+ due to the content of drugs and sexual nature, it’s not suitable for prime TV, however it’s been edited so that’s its able to be shown on TV for everyone to view.




We then see things start to change and Rihanna no longer looks pleased with the life she’s living, we see the couple arguing and we see a shot of Rihanna where she looks as if she has over done the usage of Alcohol and Drugs and is looking as if she has no control over her actions.That’s when things in their relationship start to change, from there it goes downhill.

Camera angle mainly used is wide shot angle, you see this when the couple are getting up to bad stuff, for example in the beginning when there both sitting in the bath tub sobering up, showing both of their facial expression, looking disappointed and anger.
The prime color in this music video is the colour Red. Red is used a lot within lighting, clothing and variety of the drug coloring. The first glance of red we see is the lighting on the couples bedroom alongside the flag hanging on the bedroom roomWe then see a shot with lots of smoke and that happens to be lit with red lights. We also see Rihanna stood on the back of a bicycle with what looks to be some sort of smoke grenade and the smoke been released from this is red. The colour red is a sign of danger which goes with the usage of drugs, drinking and their behaviour in the video.

The genre of this music video is a combination of R&B and house music. We know this because the artist singing throughout is Rihanna who produces R&B music you can also tell from the melody of her voice and the lyrics. The other artist that features on the song is Calvin Harris he creates high production house music beats that’s played in clubs and parties.

Another target audience group would be people that go to clubs and like to party due to the song being a combination of house music. 









































Analysing music video
Wiz Khalifa – We Dem Boyz

In the music video ‘We Dem Boysz’ the genre of rap has been established. It has been established through camera movement, mise en scene and representation. The opening shot of the music video were introduced to their ‘tap house’ as rappers would call it, the camera follows him into the bedroom, showing around the house, the shot has dim lighting and not a lot of furniture, at the beginning you see wiz sitting on his bed on the phone smoking drugs. His bedroom is very stereotypical trap star bedroom, lots of shoes, music and a bed, nothing really else. As he enters to the house you see a kid lying on the floor on their own, which is very common in their lifestyle for kids to be left on their own and are able to do what they want. 

As he enters the front of the house you see lots of boys/other rappers outside on the porch dressed in baggy white tops, a few boys wearing the same as there representing the same team, caps, and big gold chains lots of bling jewelry, smoking and drinking surrounded by a lot of money.
The camera shots follow the main artist and all his movements, as he walks through his hood, the mise en scene show a rough hood/area, small houses. There represented as young troubled black American men.  As he continues to walk through his hood, the language in the song refers to a woman as a ‘hoe’ and shows a shot of a women’s body, representing her as an object.

Throughout the video you see a variety of mise en scene that represent the genre and narrative, for example them playing basketball is a sport know to be played in the hood, riding in experience cars being paid for with drug money, the dance moves and body language the use throughout.
   Also lyrics he uses ‘’Leave the club these hoes be tryin to chase me You got a ass so fat let's make a baby, Damn, I'm smoking weed in my Mercedes, Hol up, these niggas broke, these niggas lazy’’.
These lyrics indicate the lifestyle they live and how they represent women saying he would have a baby with her just because off her body. Also the values of the genre are made clear through drug use and expensive cars. This will appeal to the target audience.

At the end of the video is has an extreme wide shot of all his boys and women gathered together, dancing enjoying them self as there telling us there a team, a low angle shot is then used. It tilts form low shot of his boys and tilts to them at the top. Its shows wiz has high status and is the main man alongside the other two standing next to him. 








Lana Del Ray - Video games 


Video game is a song recorded by American singer - songwriter Lana Del Rey for her second studio album released to the internet on June 29, 2011. Video game was a commercial success, peaking at No.1 in Germany and Luxembourg and reaching a top 10 position worldwide. 

When video games first went viral it became an underground sensation praised for its authentic feel. Lana Del Rey amazing voice crooned the haunting song against a backdrop of grainy out-takes of home movies and Hollywood scenes.

Video Games" is a pop ballad that lyrically refers to a girl who, despite being ignored by her boyfriend, resolves to love him regardless. The song garnered acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised the uniqueness of Del Rey's vocal performance.
She explained to complex magazine: ‘’ When you’re an introvert like me and you’ve been lonely for a while, and then you find someone who understands you, you become attached to them. It’s a real release.

 Lana Del Rey’s lyrics were inspired by two broken relationships in her past. ‘’the verse was about the way things were with one person, and the chorus was the way that I wished things had really been with another person, who I thought about for a long time’’, she told social stereotype.com, breaking into an acapella of the song.
‘’swinging in the backyard, pull up in your fast car, whistling my name’. That’s what happened you know? He’d come I would and id see him. The verse is more matter-of-fact because that’s how it was. It’s a mix of memories and the way I wished it could have been.


She often has a dark, fuzzy effects added to the footage, to give a vintage, dated feel to the clip seen in videos such as ‘born to die’ and ‘summertime sadness’. Throughout her video there’s dated clips shown through out of a man and women and their relationship. 




















Friday, 5 September 2014

COPYRIGHT PERMISSION LETTER

COPYRIGHT PERMISSION LETTER
For this first task you must prove to the examiner that you have requested permission from the music company to use their track in your video.  You should lay this out like a formal letter / email and upload it onto your blog as the very first entry.  An example is shown below.

I am an A-level student and i am writing to request your permission to use one of the latest tracks by Two Door Cinema Club. the track we wish to use is I Can Talk.

with your permission, this task would be used for a current A-level Media Studies project, which involves creating a music video to a poplar music track, as well as producing an album and a magazine advert for the artist.

If i received your permission, this track would only be used in a educational context and be viewed by our media class, our teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It would not be released to a large audience.

The artist and your company would of coursed be fully recognized through out pre- production and the final video itself. A copyright notice with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project. if this is required, please send full details.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Lisa-marie Mcdonagh