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'.