Behind the Music: Evaluation

Question 1 : In what ways does your media product use, challenge and develop forms and conventions of real media products?

Meta-narrative

I believe that we have used a meta narrative as our video ends up combining narrative with the performance towards the end of the video.

We felt that this convention is a nice way of bringing a plot twist to the video whilst not really having to worry about adding extra  elements and scout additional locations which we were already short on.  An example of this convention being used in an actual video can be found in the Eminem hit Lose yourself.

It follows slim shadys development from quiet aspiring rapper to a successful artist who is performing in front of crowds. By the end of the video, they use the narrative portion as the performance also.

Effects

Another convention we felt was used really well was the use of effect layering in order to create a clear distinction between past and present. Many videos such as Eminem’s ‘lose yourself’ and 50 cents ‘love it or hate it’ song utilize this and we felt it should be something we implemented into ours. Additionally, the green tint to highlight the past is a common convention used in most Hip Hop videos and therefore is effective. The green colour are adds a washed out gritty effect to the video.  This kind of look is great when you are trying to convey the idea of a hard urban life.

Although as a group, we felt it appropriate to leave the present times as their original raw colours simply to retain the stunning red light coming in from the side of the camera. The red on black effect we ended up with looked quite bold and effective and so we felt that it would be a shame to lose it. As it is not a typical convention I believe that we actually ended up developing the trends of typical Hip Hop videos in this regard.

 

Developed

Urban Lifestyle

I believe that we have created a video which strongly conveys the type of habits and archetypes synonymous with the urban way of living. Filming our performance in areas such as an underground tunnel and having a narrative focused around such themes as drug dealing are what makes this video a convincing portrayal of the genre. I have been over my video and created a short list, bullet pointing what urban settings and themes we used and how they helped create that feeling of a realistic Hip Hop video:

·         Tunnel with graffiti background

Not only did we have our artists performing in front of an underpass, thus playing on the conventions of industrial settings surrounding our artist but we also made sure that the wall was smattered with graffiti. 

Street art is an important element associated with most Hip Hop artists (especially upcoming ones) as symbolically the two mediums share very similar attributes. Most urban artwork can be seen as being another way for people from an impoverished background to express themselves through a particular performance art.

SBTV is a YouTube channel that features many east London rappers, for this reason a big part of their culture is to be surrounded by such things as graffiti. I have an example of this in this video from

·         Drug Dealing, Shooting and the reformed artist

In many Hip Hop videos we get a sense that although our artist is now creating music, things haven’t always been easy for him/her. For this reason we wanted to focus most of our video on the hardships of our artists whilst also not forgetting the fact that life is not all doom and gloom and good things do come to those who try.

In short then I believe that we have developed the representation of an urban lifestyle through giving a much more realistic and less disjunctured take on reality.

An example of a real life media product that takes a more of a disjunctured look on the representing of their narrative is the video Riding Dirty by Chamillionaire.

Multiple Performance Area

We believe that by having our artist performing in front of more than one backdrop, develops our video as it makes him seem increasingly diverse and interesting. This use of  multiple backdrops acts as a catalyst to the representing of our artist as being an urban musician/artist. In our video, we felt tunnels would be best to use to convey the idea of urban scenery, whilst the white backdrop makes him seem as if he is a divine character thus playing on the egotistical nature of the Hip Hop Genre.

Most Videos such as Kanye west's Homecoming, Use only one or two performance areas per artist we have used three. Below is the video as an example of our varying performance backdrops:

Challenged 
Binary Oppositions  – Hero/Villain

Most videos choose to show artists as divine characters who are seemingly perfect individuals. The problems they face are all to do with the world around them and are not in anyway directly related to them. Nothing is ever their fault. That is why we felt it best to incorporate the idea that our artist isn't perfect, and to give him a more realistic true to life point of view. We captured this idea by starting him out as a drug dealer who due to a dodgy transaction got his friend killed and in his guilt decides to turn his life around and amend his wrongs. This implication of imperfection is effective as it allows our audience and other people out side the circle to relate to our artists more believable and relateable scenarios. 

In the video smack that, we see Akon being represented as the cool criminal who is resistant to all the pressures of the bad guys chasing him:

The use of artists in both Performance and Narrative

Initially, we felt that by switching between narrative and performance with the same actor for both scenarios may have become quite confusing. Luckily however it is easy to follow and actually works really well. 

The most common convention for videos of this ilk is to have an external actor in the video as the main focus of the narrative. For instance in the video Ghetto gospel Tupac although he sings the song uses another actor to play out the narrative:

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main 

product ad ancillary texts? 

This audio clip highlights the various elements that went into making our finished video and ancillary products as effective as they possibly could be.

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience 

feedback?

In order for my results to  be easy to read and to make this piece of writing easier to compile, I will break this section down. Each question will be related to my thoughts on the audience feedback we received: 

Do you understand the narrative?

After asking my friends and family to watch our video the response we got about our narrative was pretty positive. This research unfortunately only stretched to the oppinions of only a few people. It was not until we gathered the impressions of younger students and asked them for their oppinions on the matter that some issues started to arise. Audiences had some trouble identifying the more complex elements of our narrative, for example the fake drug transactions and killing of the driver scenes.

Do the visuals fit the song?

We had a even greater positive response to the effective nature of our videos visuals. This is something I am really pleased with as I feel the two main contributors to a good music video  are a clear message and quality cinematography. 

How loyal were we to the Hip Hop genre?

The audience believe that we stayed loyal to the genre. Unfortunately, some of our focus group did say that we could have tried to be more original. Whilst, I agree with this feedback and I think had we been given more time we probably could have explored this side of the genre abit more. In contrast to this however I think we managed to cover many genre conventions well in our video.

General Pros and cons of the Video

The overall consensus on our groups finished product was that it was a decent attempt at a hip hop music video. While some of the audience did point out some details about the video that they didn't feel worked, for instance the leaves being in shot during our alley way scenes and also the use of filters; these were not repeated issues and therefore more likely to be down to personal preference. To finish, I would say that the most successful elements within our video were the Black and white filter and also the cinematography, which is great as these were elements which not only abides to convention but also fitted in with our groups end vision for the product.

Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction production and evaluation stages?

Below is a video of myself, explaining the media technologies I have used to get to this stage in the project. I try to demonstrate not only many various website and software used on the mac but also some of the hardware such as cameras used whilst out filming.

Behind the AlbumDigi-Pack Final Design

Here is the final designs for our digipack, we felt we would maintain a black and white theme whilst also trying to maintain a sketchy effect made through Photoshop. Each and every cover within the digipack has been designed using the cropping tool; set to the exact dimensions of a CD cover.

Front Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inlays

Inlay 1

Inlay 2

Inlay 3

Inlay 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the images used in our Inlays were sourced from the Raw footage we had compiled during the filming of our video.

Behind the Music: Advertisement

 Here you can see the final advert we used, I feel it delivers the essential information found in most adverts of this genre.One element, I felt worked really well was the combining of the artists name and the album to create some connectivity between the two of them.

Behind the Artist: Digi-Pack Research Eminem

Eminem Front cover analysis

I feel that the front cover of the digi-pack and the case captures the performance and success elements of this album. Additionally it features certain indicators such as the parental advisory sticker denoting to the consumer that this is an item preferably catered towards an older audience. Unfortunately given the nature of today's world, these stickers become social stickers which further entice children to purchase them in order to make them seem like a mature and stronger character than their peers. By owning an album that is not permitted for them they becomes more respected and hopefully more like the artist they are emulating.

Another point to note would be the uniform nature of the text. It is centered in big bold writing which create a clear distinction between album and artist. This element of the digipack is going to be a main focus for our final design. I will keep asking my other class mates whether they feel the distinction has been created until we get it just right. By centering the text our eyes are automatically drawn to the focus of the digipack, the artist and his album. This use of simplicity and convoluted imagery makes for a strong message; that illustrates the describes the clean cut black and white nature of the album perfectly.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 1 

Our first image is of a young slim shady rapping with a black and white overlay. To see our rapper in his natural habitat automatically associates him with the profession and I think implies he is completely absorbed by his trade. The black and white again carries on this idea of clear distinctions between  the imagery and the artist. By having him rapping mixed with the effect denotes the idea that Eminem is making a distinct effort to distinguish himself from his profession and show that he does have a life out side of his music.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 2

On this page we have a continuation of artists track list with accreditation being carried through for each individual track thus creating the idea that this album was mostly down to other people and no all done by Eminem himself. This selfless nature is a common image transcended through many areas of the Hip Hop and rap genre.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 3

A black and white image of Eminem is offset to the left to 

make room for the song list. I feel it would be best to use this 

some where in our digipack as I feel it again cements the idea

that the artist and his songs are of equal importance. It would also be important to note that he seems to be holding onto ropes which could have a connotation that our artist will be on the ropes somewhere within this video, therefore contextualizing the album.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 4

This image shows our artist driven to destruction and at his lowest point, which could imply there will be negative songs as well as positive ones in this album. The image has been slightly enhance to make the colours more saturated, I would say this makes the image bolder and more eye catching.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 5

Inlay 5 brings the audience right back to nitty-gritty of the albums creation. The reason this image is so important and I feel we should try to include it in ours is simply due to the behind the scenes element of it. A picture of our artist thinking about his music instantly connects him with his tracks and gives the audience a look at the origins of this latest album.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 6

This black and white image denotes Eminem's connection with some of his own material items. He is wearing a knuckle duster, which can associated with street violence a common theme in the rap and Hip Hop genre plus he is wearing a fancy watch to the bottom left of the image which could imply his wealth and love of precious metals.  Another point to note would be the use of a low angle shot to give the artist that the artist is in some way more powerful than us. This theme is carried through in the way that he is looking directly at the camera as if challenging the audience in some way.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 7

The last picture of the inlays is a joint image which carries over slightly in to the next page. This continuation connects the artist further with the accreditation messages to the people involved in production of the album. Thus strengthening his attachment to our artists record label.

 

Eminem Digipack Inlay 8

Accreditation seems to be a big part of this digipack. What makes this final page so significant is the way they have been formatted. The album is named curtain call and these credits have been layed out like movie credits. The use of the word 'cast' to head the list of everyone involved in the production denotes the idea of showbiz and performance perfectly.

Eminem Digipack Inlay 9

A more light-hearted image finishes the digipack, this use of humility represents Eminem as being a guy who enjoys what he does.  Having the image being a behind the scenes shot makes it seem more genuine and a lot more natural.

 

The Importance of auxiliary Products

Auxiliary products are items that are made after the production of an album. They provide extra information and exclusive bonus content. The most common auxiliary products include adverts and Digipacks. The use of which are equally important to the label, artist and fans. These products are created on the inference that not only will the label who create the album see extra revenue, due to the success of the initial album, but that they can also offer fans with exclusive content not included in the original album.

Not only can Auxiliary products help to attract more customers and gather greater media interest they can also better supply to existing fans of the franchise. Digi-Packs provide fans with a greater insight into the processes the band goes through to create their music and also offers them extra bonus content that only they and a few others may have. Whilst Digipacks create interest from fans; advertisements help to create fans who may enjoy another sub genre similar to this one.

It is important to remember this when we are creating our Auxiliary products, as they will need to have behind the scenes images from the creation of our music video, whilst also including some more specific information related to our artist (Endo) and what genre of music he performs. By incorporating both a general and more in-depth view of the artist we can cater our aux products to two different demographics.

Behind the Album: Making of the DigiPack

During the production process of our digipack we needed to fin out relevant information such as dimensions and technical Jargon. In order to find such Data we used the Google search engine and also collected examples from digipacks brought in by our group. 

 CROPPING

Here you can see a picture of us searching for the correct dimensions for our CD inlays front and backs. 

(CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

Next I implemented these measurements into Photoshop, which restricted my cropping tool to those parameters making the designs as accurate as possible. The dimensions were 4.78 X 4.78 cm.

After cropping our image to how we best felt incorporated the urban lifestyle and introduced our artist, we then got to work on formatting and designing.

   FORMATTING

 

  We felt that by putting the name of the album together with the name of the artist, we created the idea that he shares a strong connection with the music he creates.

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Sifting through the effects we felt the best effect overlay to use was a graphic pen as it gave a gritty urban effect and it worked well with the black and white colour scheme which we had previously agreed would be used throughout our digipack.

We acquired the graphic pen effect through selecting Filter > Sketch > Graphic Pen. After selecting the effect we were also able to tweak the strength of the effect to make words stand out better and also to further enhance the gritty effect.

On top of this effect we tweaked the brightness/ contrast using this path Image > Adjustments > Brightness/ Contrast. 

 

 Moving onto the back of the digipack we see that I have used a different effect called Conte Crayon. I took relatively the same path to get to it as I did with the Graphic pen.  As a group we agreed that it would be best to change the effect used on the back from that of the one used on the front and so decided to go with something a little softer and less edgy. I like this change in effect as I feel it conveys the idea of a possible development throughout the album as a whole.

In terms of inlays we decided to maintain the black and white pattern, however we dropped the graphic pen and other adjustments that were made previous. Two main features that we needed to include in our Digipack were the accreditation's in which we need to say thank you to people who contributed towards the album and also a short message from the artist with his appreciation to the fans and everyone involved in the making of the product.

We decided that 3 of the inlays should be untouched (aside from the black and white overlay) screenshots from the raw footage we collected, and that the final two should contain accreditation to everyone that was involved in the making of the album.

Our Digi-Pack is now complete and we have begun to create our advertisement. As a group we have decided that it would make sense to include the same image from the digipack front cover, however it will be the uncropped version as this seems to be a convention used to relate both album and advert together.

Behind the Album: Hip Hop Adverts: Jay-Z

In order to make our artists advertising and promotional efforts as close to the real thing as possible, I think it appropriate to carry out research on existing Artist adverts. This advert from Jay-Z is a fine example of how to advertise an artist.

These images are exerts from the hip hop publication known as XXL official Hip Hop magazine. There are a few important features in this ad and promotional photo that show our artist as a strong individual who is admired in his respective genre.

The list is as follows:

• Album Name: The main objective of this advert is to try and sell you the new album that the artist is releasing. Although in this particular example the name of the artist takes precedence, I believe that in terms of our artist (relatively new, debut album) we should focus more on his album and his music as oppose to his whole persona.

• Artists name: repeated on both pages thus helping the audience to remember his name, Because it is important and new comers to the genre know who's music they are buying, important information such as the name has to be enlarged to make it clear to the customer.

• Date of his albums release: It is important for consumers to know exactly when our artists next album is coming out. For that reason they have enlarged and made the text much bolder. Additionally, I would say that the date is bolder than the name of the album simply because fans of the magazine are more likely to be fans of the Hip Hop genre and therefore will have a good idea of Jay-Z and the name of his next album so the dates therefore takes precedence.

  

• Imagery related to artist: If you look at the promotional image to the left for the front cover of the magazine you will see that Jay-Z is surrounded by tall towers, however they seem to only reach his shoulders. For this reason I believe the photographer has tried to give the impression that our artist is on top of the world and a very imposing force in the industry.

• Imagery related to album: On the second page we are given a preview of the possible artwork for the albums front cover. If you look closely you can see it is a mash up of different recording and music making instruments. These instruments are covered in white paint offering the image of simplicity and purity, therefore denoting our artists affinity with creating a clear message.

• Producer of the Album: Underneath the artwork, album name and date of release in very small writing we are given the name of the albums producers.  They are named 'Rocnation'. This is interesting as it suggests our artist is involved with a completely different Genre of music. this could mean our artist may not follow every typical convention of a Hip Hop artist.

• Colour scheme: A typical theme you tend to see in most albums is the use of a colour schemes to allow audiences to associate particular colours with the album and make it more memorable. Colours can also be great ways to represent the artist in a certain way.

From this research we can deduce that we need include key elements such as the date of the albums release, our artists name, the new album name, the record label and of course the artist.