My website

This was my initial website design, the homepage contained rolling images of my artist and the clothing designed specifically to market him as a brand as well as an artist - a technique I have seen used regularly by hip hop artists.

 

This was my webpage for the artist's photo shoot, I chose the 'Cntrl' brand of clothing because it is a very small brand for streetwear, and I realised through research that artist's took part in link ups between clothing brands and other things such as energy drinks etc. These were things which could be associated with rap music and so therefore I figured the use of this would bring a much more professional feel to my website .

Also, I set up articles to replicate a real artist's website, and created things such as awards that had been won and events which 'Ambush' had attended. Although this website looked very professional and worked well, I decided that it was simply too sharp and plain, and therefore maybe slightly boring, and so I set about creating a more eye catching and exciting website. That is when i began to design THE OFFICIAL AMBUSH WEBSITE

Time and schedule for video

0-10 seconds - quick cuts. shots of getting out of bed, waking up, getting dressed.
11-18 seconds - performance shots
18-20 seconds - shot of hands panning up to face (lyrics)
20-30 secs - performance, cuts in different places (low angle shots)
28+.. - panning shot from car, show urban area
30 - 40 - performance shots again, walking down the street towards camera
40 - (survival of the fittest of man) pen and pad, writing on desk shot.
47 - keep on coming at you til im done with it (gets close to camera)
50 - cap on, hood on. lurking in shadows, long shot.

First chorus - Walking, facing camera for the chorus

2nd verse, performance shots from car
shots from behind a fence, idea of being trapped

3:35 - end - point of view shot, performer walks towards mic which isn't visible then picks it up, then the camera pans up his body to show him.




2nd chorus before the end - Narrative takes over

IDEAS
shots of his eyes through the car mirrors
changing shots of him arguing with himself
beat provided by doors slamming
narrative - searching and eventually finding microphone
walking past different things mentioned
break up with shots of urban area's
shot from behind his head showing him looking over everything

Song Lyrics

Don’t try to work me out, cos I’m confused myself

I thought I knew me, but the person that I knew has left,

the newer me is born, and the pressures on. The world is in the palm of my hand and I’m feeling strong

You thought I’d never make it, but you were wrong. I even had the nerve to get this message to you in a song

The things you put me through made me what I am, made me see the world for what it is, took it like a man

Re-arrange my whole life and now I understand, sometimes I get flashbacks of the days when no-one gave a damn

Thats all it is, nothing more, nothing less, Im never going back again to the land of the stress

Where its survival of the fittest of man, and all of this cos I had a mic, a pad and a pen

I was blessed with a gift and I swear I let the world know it, never quit, keep on coming at ya til I’m done with it

13 years lurking in the shadows with my cap on, hood on, waiting for my moment to get put on

Stage with the biggest of names so I can shine, funk of the universe with a beat and a rhyme

 

(Chorus)

I’m a entertainer, I live to entertain

And now to keep performing, it has to keep me sane

80,000 fans yelling out my name

It aint about the fame, it runs in the veins.

 

I see the way you’re looking wondering what I’m cooking

What’s the LP gonna be called, Storms of Ruin

Maybe, maybe not, regardless the albums hot

Touch it and you’ll burn your fingers same way that I blew the spot

I’m not the type to stand infront of an audience, turn my back and perform to the floor, whats the point in this?

I thrive on the energy, am who I claim to be, I remember when I used to see the whole world as my enemy

I was paranoid but now the paranoia is not employed

Had a fight with the negative side of my mind and left it destroyed

Now I’m a different man, to elevate I had to be, I wasn’t built in a factory I was born and bred naturally

Im a human, an individual none the less, I talk through the music just to get stuff off my chest

Cos I’m like that, sometimes fictional but mostly fact, I’m deadly when I rap so you might as well compare me to anthrax

I strike when you least expect, come correct, and leave you standing with your outer shell cracked like you’re an easter egg

Break a leg, you want more, get on your knees and beg

I’m hungry like I ain’t eaten for years, what d’you expect?

 

Chorus

 

I’m far from an eccentric, protecting the world that I invented

When I’m dead and buried my aim is to be remembered like I’m Hendrix

I’m stubborn, I didn’t quite catch what you said pardon, if rhyming is a crime then I’m a criminal that’s been hardened

Forget about it you ain’t ever gonna match me, I’m like an athlete

Running the 100m is six seconds flat you’ll never catch me

Move on, or be blessed with the kiss of death, I came to the place with nothing but words and took away your breath

Now you can’t breathe, been nuts since the day you tried to starve me, its absolutely no use trying to calm me cos I’m barmy

Ordinary human being turned into a lunatic, a product of the environment, no way, thats not me

I’m 183,000 steps ahead of the competition, listen, thats the ignition

I mean business, if I die I come to life again

Just so I can finish what I started, make you say damn

Cos I’m the type who never quits, rip the mic to bits and you can see what’s going on inside the construction, and stick so it can handle what I’m feeding it

Every level exceeding it, you don’t believe me just wait til you see in it.

Chorus x3

I’M A, ENTERTAINERRRRR.

Equipment

The camera I will be using whilst shooting the music video is the Sony Carl Ziess Vario-Tessar. This camera has:

-High Definition 1080 recording -Large Capacity 30 GB HDD

-Active Interface Shoe -ClearVid Sensor

-Enhanced Imaging Processor -Dual Recording

-10x Optical & 80x Digital Zoom -Memory Stick Duo Shot

-4 Mega Pixel Still Picture recording - 3.5” Clear Photo LCD Plus Screen

The fact that the camera is handheld will make it much easier for me to be flexible with the shots I use as there are no limitations on where I can shoot from.

I will be using a Tripod. This allows me to keep shot are take particular angles without difficulty. A shot that is steady will create a more flowing and professional look; unless the a 'hand held' take is more appropriate.

My Actor

Location recces

Research into websites

 

When starting to analyse artist' web pages, I realised that generally they follow these patterns

-A bold, colourful heading with the name of the artist, usually in some kind of graffiti.

-Typical headings expected, such as 'Bio, Video's, Shop, Contact, Photo's

-They have several links to them and artist's similar to them through social networks i.e - Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr etc..

 This would usually be featured in a simple bar across the top of the webpage, as you can see in this example. This is usually in quite a simple font, as the colours and outrageous fonts are saved for the heading on the webpage.

Also, in most cases with an artist's webpage, the background is generally black as this sets a blank background for the bold colours which will go on top to stand out.

Lighting

Within my music video I wanted to bring in a variation of lighting, this would help my music video to be entertaining and avoid it looking persistently dull although I was trying to enhance the gritty feel in my video. This was employed by myself by using a wide variation of locations and settings for my shooting, but also spacing my shooting apart in order to film in varied weather conditions, for example, in one part of my video, particularly towards the beginning, a clear, fine and quite bright day was used to film on. However, as the months progressed I decided to shoot again in the snow. I think this brings a degree of variation to my video and moves it away from the typical same shot, standard issue rap mash up.

How artist's are marketed

Target Audience

I put together a questionnaire a find out not only what was a popular name for my rap artist, but what kind of audience would appreciate it, and what kind of music they would listen to.

I asked these questions to find out particular things about my target audience.

Age - This will give me an idea of who listens to hip hop music and what kind of age group I am trying to appeal to

Whether the person listens to classical or contemporary hip hop at all

Which artist's they listen to. This enables me to find out which artist's they consider to be hip hop artist's and which one's are most popular amongst different age groups.

How often a person listens to music will enable me to find out whether they enjoy music a lot more than others and whether that would effect their decisions.

Which of these names appeals to you most, as a rapper? This question gave me a feel of which would be most popular amongst people who enjoy hip hop music and would therefore allow me to base my decision on which name would be most effective.

 

Questionnaire

 

How old are you?

0-15  (2)  16-20 (18)  21-35 (7)  35+ (3)

 

Do you listen to hip-hop music?

Yes   (10)         No (5)     Sometimes (15)

 

Which of these artists do you listen to?

Plan B  (17)   Mac Miller (3)    Foreign Beggars (5)     Eminem  (26)

50 Cent  (22)    Kid Cudi (8)   TI (7)   Lil Wayne  (13)   Zuby (1)

Dizzee Rascal  (20)   Tinchy Stryder (14)  Wiley  (6)

 

How often do you listen to hip hop music?

I don’t (5)   1-2 hours a week(10)     3-10 hours a week  (12)  10+hours  (3)

 

Which of these names appeals most to you as a rapper?

T Fresh   (6)

Bad E (1)

Ambush (12)

Blow Kid (0)

Mischief (5)

Rogue D (6)

I found out that the majority of the people I asked only listened to hip hop music occassionally and weren't purely hip hop fans, and also that with the big American names in hip hop most people atleast listened to and enjoyed the UK Hip hop artists in the questionnaire. Also, I found out that most people listen to hip-hop music for about 3-10 hours every week, and that the average age of people who listen to hip hop music is 22, from the people i surveyed. Moreover, and most interestingly, the artist name 'Ambush' was most popular, which is why my artist will be called 'Ambush'.
 

 

Research into artist's costume

"Hip hop fashion, also known as urban fashion is a distinctive style of dress originating with African American youth on the scene of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit, Memphis, Virginia, Atlanta, and St. Louis among others. Each city contributed various elements to its overall style seen worldwide today. Hip hop fashion complements the expressions and attitudes of hip hop culture in general. Hip hop fashion has changed significantly during its history, and today, it is a prominent part of popular fashion as a whole across the world and for all ethnicities."

Rappers tend to be seen in baggy clothes, and the whole hip hop culture, much like other music genre's, has it's own specific attire, which is easily recognisable. The rapper Mac Miller once said "You can tell a Mac fan because it looks like they've watched one of my video's and been shopping!
This quote alone proves that the clothing that the artists employ is replicated onto their audience, and this further shows that these artists, as figureheads, aren't just musically infuencing the public, but are seen as fashion icons also.

#

The UK Hip Hop and Garage artist Dizzee Rascal is pictured here twice during seperate performances. On both occassions, he is wearing a flat peak or 'dipsy' baseball cap backwards. This is something that is very common amongst hip hop artists. Furthermore, their is bright print on both of his t-shirts, this helps him to stand out and seem relatively out of the ordinary and unconventional, which is a catergory hip hop artists generally fit into. The baseball cap is so popular it has become a

symbol of hip hop, and can be seen on almost every hip hop artist throughout the years.

 

 Here UK Hip Hop artists 'Foreign Beggars' are pictured wearing similar apparel. Again, baseball caps and bright print t-shirts are seen.

British rapper 'Skinnyman' is seen employing the similar genre conventions again in this picture.










I think as well as using several costumes chosen by myself which will help to make my music video appeal to my target audience, it would be useful to replicate some of these looks and follow them very closely in order to bring a professional feel to my media text. I plan tpo use the streetwear look along with bright colours, and generally match all of the genre conventions.

The costume in this rap video is particularly interesting because I found it to be very 'flashy' and hit all of the genre conventions, and so I would like to replicate some of the outfits in this music video, particularly the ide of the big furr coat and flat peak cap.

I've also found that large over-ear headphones are largely associated with the hip hop music genre, to the point where a huge hip hop figurehead released his own brand of them - Beats by Dre. This has given me the inspiration to show my artist wearing over ear headphones as it is representative of the genre and would help attract a target audience.

Magazine Advert Research

To design the magazine advert for my artist, I decided to look into previously made adverts by current and previous hip hop artists, not only for inspiration, but for some kind of direction as to how to go about creating my own and making it mirror that which would be expected in the hip hop industry today.

Firstly, this one is very simplistic and yet effective. The standard font which my research has taught me is expected appears, and the basic colour scheme of blue and green creates an eye catching media text. Furthermore, genre conventions continue to be met with the idea of some kind of spray or glow in the dark paint. The chaotic appearance of it creates the unorthodox and unconventional ideology that the artist is trying to create for themselves.

However, in this one, the artist is pictured and I think that helps to make the whole thing more eye catcyhing. This is clearly created by a professional, and advertises the album very well. The spray paint idea is featured again, however the colour pallet of blues and black differs from the first magazine advert. Furthermore, advertising for social networks and media companies such as iTunes and HMV are used. This is similar to the first album cover, except that also left space for social networks such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. This is one big media network that will allow fans to come into contact with the artist himself and that will feature several kinds of advertising on his behalf. On this album cover however, the date of the album release is also featured, which suggests he is a more commonly known artist in comparison to the first one, additionally, artists which also feature on the album are mentioned.

Research into similar artist logo's

In most of these covers, Impact is used often and the fonts are usually quite basic for small time UK Hip Hop artists. On occassion there are slight effects which connote the idea of graffiti and vandalism which are usually closely linked with hip hop music, but mainly, bold and simplistic fonts and logo's are used. It could be suggested that this is used in otder to force all attention on the artist themself.

 Furthermore, it is often found that the artist features on the cover, and some kind of hood or headwear deriving from hip hop culture is also show to symbolise their acceptance within this culture. This can be seen through sunglasses, baggy t-shirts or even accessories such as DJ decks or headphones etc..

 

 

In terms of researching into artist's logo's, I think the one employed by the UK Hip Hop group 'Foreign Beggars' is particularly interesting and so I am going to research into them a little bit further.

 

This is the logo used by Forgein Beggars, and it, although making no sense, is very eye catching and denotes the typical connotations expected og a UK Hip Hop group. The anarchistic appearance of it suggests they don't fit into general society, and the dripping paint work around the whole of it also brings denotations back to the graffiti idea, and the fact that the street/urban culture all ties in together.

Again, graffiti is used in the two of these logo's which represent the group. And although several artist's similar to foreign beggars employ quite bold and simplistic logo's to catch the eye of its audience, with maybe a small amount of graffiti or suggestions of it, Forgein Beggars are consistent in using graffiti and the idea of paintwork throughout all of their logo's to give them a sense of being unique.

This logo can also be fouind on the merchandise which they sell to fans, which is a clever way of marketing themselves as a hip hop group, something which is used by artists all around the world of all genre's currently. This enforces the logo to be identified with them specifically.

Linking this image to further research I have done into the clothing adopted by the hip hop culture, they have employed similar idea's and used their logo on a t-shirt, however they have used bright colours in order to help it to appeal to their target audience.

Inspiration

Recently, I went to see the horror film 'Sinister' at the cinema. It is a dark story about a child abductor, and although its genre conventions don't follow those of rap music at all, there were some which I intend to employ in my music video. For example, the protagonist was an author, and so he spent a lot of time on his laptop writing. This gave me the idea of using close ups on technology to symbolise certain messages without physically saying them.

 

I was researching the genre generally by watching UK hip hop music video's and I found this shot very interesting, in a music video by huge UK artists Foreign Beggars and Skinnyman

 

 

 

 

Record Labels - Hip Hop

Shady Records

This is the Shady Records Discography

Dented Records

Dented Records is a record label based in the UK, and best known as the home to critically acclaimed hip-hop act Foreign Beggars and Focused Few.

Dented Records record label was established in 2003 by Foreign Beggars as a vehicle to release their own material. Tommy Evans establish the name and the brand. Foreign Beggars soon released their 1st and 2nd single "Where Did the Sun Go" and "Seasons Beatings" featuring Task Force and their debut album "Asylum Speakers" featured prominent UK rappers and several international artists, and was quoted by DJ Magazine as the Best Unsung UK Hip Hop album of all time.

Signed to Coda Agency Artists, they tour extensively both nationally and internationally to promote their releases. Tours included UK, USA, Canada, certain Asian states and many many more.

Dented Artists have collaborated with huge worldwide artists to create their unique sounds, these include names such as Ja Rule, Plan B, Wu Tang Clan and Gorillaz. These are all enormous names not only in the hip hop industry, but in the music industry as a whole, and so this is representative of how far British hip hop has come in terms of popularity.

Foreign Beggars 2nd single 'Where Did the Sun Go"

 

This is another song by 'Foreign Beggars', the craftsmen of the 'Dented' Record label.

In this music video, as well as hitting genre conventions of appearing powerful, we can see that in this Uk Hip Hop video, they use a lot more humour and tend to portray a less serious persona in order to seem easily approachable by their audience as well as taking rapping seriously. I've chosen this track because the flow of it fits with my chosen track as it is really up beat and has a high tempo, although the message being conveyed is different. Also, I really like the way that lighting is used in this video, as it varies from black and white shots, to scenes with really bold and 'in your face' colours set on a dark background which highlights the artits and maikes the video visually stimulating.

 

I have posted this video because as well as it being produced by an artist under the Dented Records wing, it is exceptionally interesting for a very low budget video. It mainly consists of shots from London riots and TV. But what is interesting about this music video, is the way that signs are used from about half way in, and messages are given through short phrases on paper, which I think it expecially effective and helps to break the video up, enforcing it to be quite visually stimulating. I would like to use something along these lines in my music video, as I think it works well here.

This is interesting for a Uk Hip hop music video, as it is clearly low budget and performed by a member of Foreign Beggars again. There are several establishing shots of the city which I think are used well as they also pan, this is mixed in with shots of performance not only on the streets, but at a gig, which I think works really well, and so I would like to employ some of these techniques in my own video.

 

Hip Hop Overview

I took some general Hip Hop research into its history from Wikipedia

Research of Chosen Genre

Mac Miller - Nikes On My Feet

In this hip-hop music video, typical genre conventions are met in that there are several low angle shows in order to make the artist appear large and powerful, this is used in a wide range of hip hop video's as it is generally a genre which involves a lot of boasting and bragging, and therefore the artist is aiming to appear as important and significant as possible. Moreover, I really think the technique in which the artist knocks on the camera in tune to the beat is especially effective, and I plan to employ something similar in my own music video.
This technique can be seen here-

Furthermore, smoking is something seen in several rap/hip-hop media texts in an attempt to clarify that 'cool' and anarchistic attitude they are trying to portray. This video is not different in this sense, and this can be seen here-

Moreover, the portrayal that rappers have a lot of money and tend to brag about it in a deal of their songs is evident here as the rapper is filmed simply flicking through a handful of dollars. This would seem completely irrelevant in other genre's of music video, but because this is a hip-hop video and it is expected, it almost goes un-noticed.

Also, you can see that throughout the shooting of this music video, it is rare that there is any kind of warm lighting used. This is because a typical genre convention of a hip hop video is the idea of dim lighting, and living a gritty lifestyle. This also goes a way towards explaining the urban scenery typically used in order to portray their anarchistic qualities.

Eminem - Lose Yourself

In 'Lose Yourself' there is a combination of performance and narrative, as scenes from the artist's movie '8 Mile' are incorporated within.This video is particularly interesting as it hits a lot of the genre conventions expected, but does them in an interesting way which would help to captivate and intrigue and audience, for example, typical urban imagery is used but it is done in a way which is not expected.

For example, in this shot, (which is set at the beginning of the video and establishes the whole context of it) the typical city view of graffiti infront of a wall is not used like we have seen in other music video's, but a bird's eye view of the whole city has been used to bring a different representation, possibly suggesting that though it looks beautiful on the outside, it has a much more gritty truth the deeper you delve.

 

This is re-enforced when seconds after this extablishing shot, another shot of the 'street life' is used, but a panning shot is used and so it appears that the audience are physically driving around the street's of Detroit at this point. I think this is a very effective technique and helped to draw my attention to the music video, and so I plan to employ a technique similar to this in my media text.

Again, in this video, low angle shots are used in order to glorify the artist and make him appear powerful. Furthermore, the dim lighting that is used in almost every shot of this music video emphasises the dark underbelly of the hip hop culture. We can also see that again the artist is wearing a hat, which he is in several different scenes in this music video. This is a genre convention of hip-hop and is seen throughout several rap media texts. Typically it would be the baseball cap as a representation on the hiphop culture, however the 'do rag' and wooly hat are used in this scenario.

 

I compiled some hip hop album covers in order to get a general idea of what I may have top create for my ancillary task. As you can see, it is particularly common for close ups to be used on album covers, and also the colour pallets range, however there is a general feel of a bold and bright statement being made, this would typically be used to assert the dominance of the artist. Furthermore, there are masses of fonts which are used, and although graffiti is common in order to portray the typical anarchistic qualities of a rapper, basic and minimal writing is also used on more than one occassion. My research suggests that this could be to force all attention to the artist, and to avoid distraction from any kind of display on the cover. I did some research into graffiti fonts to explore what would suit my album cover, but furthermore, to discover what I presonally liked, and thought worked with the image I was trying to create for my artist. There are some I found..

 

These would be found in all kinds of media texts which derive hip hop connotations, from films, and magazines, right through to album covers and posters advertising particular hip hop artists.

Goodwin's Theory

Applying Goodwin's Theory to Drake - Headlines

'Music video's generate certain genre characteristics'

Typical genre characteristics of a hip-hop/rap video are:

Expression of Rich/Poor (Money)
Expensive Clothing/Costume and Props
Graffiti or Urban Scenery
General feel of anarchy
Dark Lighting
Quick Cuts
Smoking & Alcohol
Low angle shots to magnify performer
Voyeurism - The objectification of women

'There's generally a link between the lyrics and the visuals' 

This shot shows the artist, centred typically in the centre of the shot in order to make him dominant and force the focus upon him. At this point in the video, the lyrics read 'Those my brother's, I ain't even gotta say it, that's jus' somethin' they know'. This suggests that the men gathered around him are his friends, and this therefore signifies the link between the lyrics and the visual representation of them. 

'There is generally a link between the music and the visuals'

At this point in the music video, the rapper 'Drake' is pictured in front of several range rovers, a stereotypically expensive car, also one which is famously popular amongst modern day rappers. The backing beat at this point, and throughout, is relatively upbeat and connotes wealth and happiness, this therefore is a representation of that wealth.

'A record label would demand an amount of close-ups of the artist'

Throughout the song, close ups of the artist are frequent. This is demanded by the record label in order to help the video appeal to its audience's demographic and show a recognisable figure that an audience will be able to relate to.

Chosen Track

listen to ‘for brady’ on Audioboo

My first thoughts on this track are that it sounds quite gritty and serious, and so although it isn't American Hip-hop, which I have analysed so far, the genre conventions are completely relevant and fit well, with UK Hip-hop and Rap also. It conveys quite a set in stone message of hard work and determination brings achievement, which is quite a positive signal for Hip-hop artists to be sending out. It is known that within my chosen genre hard work is appreciated as it is typically appealing to a working class audience, although many rappers are currently rich, very much middle class figures in society, it is accepted that their origins are very much working class and so that 'grafting' quality that rappers convey is appreciated and respected amongst rap fans.

Music Video Research

1970's

This video consists of performance, by the band, and some basic narrative which is parallel to the song lyrics. The video makes relatively frequent cuts between the band and the actors in the video, but tends to avoid making them on certain beats, which brings an un-predictable edge to the music video, as it fails to fit into a particular pattern. There is a lot of focus on the lead singer, and similarly on other members of the band when their particular instrument becomes predominant. This goes hand in hand with the fact that there is also a portion of focus on the actual instruments being played. This makes the video recognisable to its audience, and easy to relate to for people who enjoy music of this particular genre. Furthermore, the 'zoom' effect is used a lot in this music video, as it puts emphasis on particular shots, such as the one used to enhance our view on the lead singer. I would conclude that it appears to be a rather low budget music video, but this is expected considering the time period in which it was made (1970's) and possibly taking into account that the basic narrative method was used in order to create ad simple, yet effective, and easy to follow storyline.

1980's

However, in this music video by Michael Jackson, there are many camera cuts on the main underlying beat, and this is relatively consistent, predominantly at the beginning of the video, but also throughout at particular points. This creates the effect that the video is in sync with the music, and therefore makes it all the more visually stimulating and intriguing throughout. The opening to the music video is completely narrative, and it is not until about one third of the way into the video that it becomes mainly performance based. Moreover, what is interesting about this video is that it is shot as one continuous scene, and it does not jump away from the narrative storyline we are set up to follow much like many other music video's tend to, it almost creates the implication that it is being shot like a scene from a movie, although there is a lot of focus on the performer (Michael Jackson) throughout. Additionally, it is intriguing to see how effects have been used in this media text, as there are sections where the screen is divided into three parts, and pauses are adapted in at particular moments. This could be in order to boast Michael Jackon's dancing ability and highlight it, but I also think it has been incorporated in order to visually stimulate its audience. Bearing in mind the fact that Michael Jackson was a global superstar at the time of this video, it would have been particularly high budget to shoot in regard to the time era, and so therefore it is interesting to see how the use of effects in music video's and generally media texts overall has changed and become much more of a priority since the shooting of this video.

 1990's

This is an interesting video, as although the typical mise en scene, particularly costume and setting, creates the depiction of any stereotypical 'gangster rap' media text and suits all of its genre conventions, it goes on  to add wit and shows a degree of intelligence and humour within the making of it. For example, the way that the cuts are used whilst showing a boy playing some kind of orchestral musical instrument creates the idea that he is playing the main beat to the song before its first verse has begun. Of course, as an audience we understand that he is not in fact responsible for the sound we are hearing, but nevertheless it brings a humour-us edge to the music video. In addition to this, quick cuts are made throughout the entirety of the video to match the quick and up-beat tone. This video consists of performance and narrative, and what is interesting is that they are edited so the narrative is portrayed in black and white, whereas the performance, although they are quite bleak, is shown in colour. Also, the music is dominant to the song, and the video has been constructed around the song in a way that even without the sound, you can establish the general tempo of the song. 

Introduction to Music Video Course.

My task during A2 media this year is to create a music video to a professional standard. I'm going to be researching different media texts and analysing the representations I can draw from them in order to achieve my purpose of appealing to a specific audience (dependant on the musical genre) and creating an authentic looking music video.

Analysis Of Short Films

Analysis of Short Films

Tick Tock

The genre of ‘Tick Tock’ is mystery, as it doesn’t imply any typical genre conventions such as horror or comedy. The plot consists of a man running backwards and travelling the opposite direction through time, this initially confuses and audience, and raises curiosity, which helps this short film to fit into the mystery genre. It follows a man who believes is in the last few minutes of his life, however his story is told in reverse, automatically alienating the audience. It begins with a apologising to his, we assume, girlfriend. The film then runs backwards through his school/college campus to a point which we realise his friend has told him he has a few minutes to live.

In these screen grabs we see a clever technique used in short films which demonstrates a familiar picture being shown at the beginning and the end of a short film. It creates the illusion that we began the film where we started, and helps to draw a nice conclusion. This also indicates to the audience that the film has finished, and gives them the chance to track over what they have just seen and appreciate it. Also, the familiar image of something like a clock being shown at the beginning and the end of a short film, gives the viewer a sense of satisfaction, and creates the idea that they have come full circle with the characters. Furthermore, a clock is used in this case as it is in close relation with the story line, and so a relevant object or shot could be used to create this illusion in my project.

Moreover, the technique used in this screen grab is a quote from a significant figurehead of a celebrity. These are used in short films to enhance the idea that they are representative of some kind of motto or have a deeper meaning that the audience will have recognised by this point. I think this is an effective technique to use, as it not only underlines the film’s further significance, but it also ties everything up and allows the audience to understand the storyline fully.

I think the techniques and ideas I can take away from ‘Tick Tock’ are nothing specific, but the concept that short films can be completely outside of the box and strange, to a point which it must be watched a few times to fully understand, as long as there is a strong moral message behind the madness, because ‘Tick Tock’ is far from easy viewing, but a sense of gratitude is still achieved by the end of every viewing.