Shot List

Brief account on Costume, Setting and Props

The genre in which my research is based upon is rap and grime. The setting and costume link together through their conventions, for example, the costume which they wear is normally quite street and casual and this links to the setting due to most grime music being filmed on the street. In our music video, we have decided to keep it as street as possible and contained graffiti constantly throughout the music video in order for it to always fit the genre. 



This is an example of one of our locations. As you can see it is a very large size piece of art which we have found a location in order to get it involved in the shot. We have used underpasses which have graffiti plastered down either side of the walls and by having this, we can constantly shoot in front of it and we can get multiple different shots in just one location.The props that are also usual in a grime, rap videos are flashy jewellery and expensive cars.The videos are also not high budget and will be most probably produced by the artist or an independent video producing company.A lot of things that are featured in rap/grime videos are often illegal. In our music video, we have decided to use a bb-gun which will link to our genre and also to our lyrics. For example one verse is "Pulled that pistol back and then burn it, Friday shit, I bap and big worm it." By having these types of props in our video, it can link to our music video really well and it will help the audience to understand it a lot more.

Synergy In The Music Business

Synergy is when the interaction of two or more forces working together creates a greater effect than the sum of their individual errors. Media Synergy is the way in which different elements of a media conglomerate work together to promote linked products across different media platforms. A music video helps to provide synergy for the artist starring in it; a popular music video helps to expand their audience but also serves to increase their power in the industry.

An example is Wiz Khalifa's song 'See you again'. This song exists across different platforms and they advertise each other through it. The song promotes the film 'Fast and Furious 7', and it does this by using clips from the film in their video to give it a bigger advertisement. From the power of the industries it allowed 

Reflection on Progress (Planning)

So far I have managed to get a draft of my music video and show it to the class. From this, I knew what shots I had to change and what shots looked good within the video. I also gained some feedback which said I should add some narrative to my video and this is what my next steps are going to be to make it more successful. I have gone back and added some more detail to the rest of my posts, this way my audience can understand more about the topics in which I have discussed. I also did some research into the Digipacks and I now understand what I have to do to make mine a success.

Three improvements:

1. I think I need to keep track of what I am doing a bit more so when it comes to reviewing what I have done, I can easily know.                                                                                                            
2. I need to make sure that I use all of the feedback I have been given and apply it to my work to make it more successful.                                                                                                                  
3. Finally, I think that I need to not rush anything that I am blogging because I don't want the standard of work dropping as my blog increases

Test Shots and Performers

This is one shot of one of our actors, it shows a rough performance of what the actor can do and it also shows one of our locations which clearly suits the genre. As you can see the actor is wearing all black which is traditionally done by grime artists. Following the actor with the camera was tested in this shot and me and my partner decided that this was a good idea.




This is one shot of our second actor, it shows a rough performance of what the actors skills are. As you can see both videos have not been edited which is why you can see our actors have made some mistakes in which they both have corrected now. From this clip, you can also see that this actor is also wearing black which allows both actors to link together and relate the genre clearly.

Digipak Analysis

This is the front cover for JME's album 'Famous?'. It only  has one strapline which includes the name of the artist and album. Also a simple close up of the artist. This manner of production for the album cover could have easily been produced by anyone who has access to Adobe Photoshop. I think that this close up of JME is very powerful due to him looking like he has some control over his audience, he does this through looking directly at the camera and making no facial expressions. The target audience for this album would be from 15-24-year-olds. Along with this cover, all of the artists are on the covers of their albums and are looking straight at the camera in an intimidating fashion showing no emotion which is common within this genre. Also, the mise-en-scene of most artists is common as they are wearing casual clothes.

The back of the Album cover is a very simple idea which is just the back of his head which has the song list advertised over the top. This would be a really good idea for my Digipack but I think I could do something different from the back cover to make it look more effective.

I think that when it comes to creating my own Digipack, I could include graffiti as the background and I could do a mid shot of the artists which are involved. 

Risk Assessment

The following is a risk assessment that details the possible risks associated with my shoot. The main risks on my music video came from filming outdoors and on a public street. This creates problems when it comes to possible conflicts with the general public. Also due to the weather being cold so the cast needs to be aware of this danger by wearing or bringing some warm clothing just in case.

Hazards	Harm	How likely?	Precautions
Weather  Risk Rating: 8/10	This can harm the camera and can also interrupt the performance and waste a lot of time.	Due to filming in January/February the weather is not the best so it is may have a bit of bad weather.	It may be wise to check the weather before going to film. Could also have a second plan just in case it does rain.
Members of the Public and animals Risk Rating: 7/10	They may accidently interrupt filming by getting in front of the camera. Also, animals may come near the setup and may disturb the performers or even knock over the tripod.	Due to filming in a public area, it is very normal if there are any interruptions. Also, due to filming near the city centre, it will be quite busy.	Search for locations which may not be as crowded and you can get a lot of filming completed.
The surface Risk Rating: 8/10	The surface may be slippery or uneven which may cause the actors or camera to fall when being placed down.	A wet floor surface can be easily missed, same as an uneven one. It is likely that there are a few uneven surfaces.	Suitable footwear should be worn. (should have grip) Everyone which are out should take care.

Lighting Risk Rating: 7/10	Can be difficult to see everything so there is a higher chance of tripping and falling over.	It can be very likely to  trip over due to not having full vision. It can be likely that the filming may come out poor afterwards if the camera and lighting are not set up properly.	To avoid this, there could be a check to see if there is anything in the way of the surface.   Also, make sure all lights work so there  is never total darkness.
Weapon Use Risk Rating: 9/10	For instance in our music video, we are using a BB Gun with no bullets but the public, however, might think we are doing something violent so you have to make sure that everyone is aware that it is a fake gun with no bullets. But they may feel threatened by this so it may be best to film away from the public.	It is very likely the public will see this as a threat and may start to ask some questions about the video. It is probably safest to film when there is no one around and that way there can not be any complaints made about it	could possibly inform the public whilst we are filming the specific scene where the gun is needed and tell them that the gun is not real and they can watch by all means if it reassures them.

Editting Software

The editing software which I chose was Final Cut Pro X. The reason I chose to use this editing software was because I had it available to me on my Macbook Pro and therefore, I could just edit on the go and be able to share it a lot quicker and easier. In my opinion, I believe that Final Cut Pro X is a very good piece of software to use when creating a music video because It has all of the different features which make it unique.It comes with a range of video transitions and a range of video and audio filters such as keying tools. Clips can be edited together in timelines called sequences. Sequences can be nested inside other sequences so that a filter or transition can be applied to the grouped clips. I found that, by allowing me to have access to many different layers I was able to edit more efficiently.

Within the music video, we used some colour filters which created a darker atmosphere to suit the genre and I also changed the exposure on a few shots due to it being rather too low or too high. I find that using this software is a lot easier to edit on than Adobe Premier Pro due to having past experience using this software to edit other pieces of work together.

In our song, we have 2 performers, in between both of them we use a simple transition as we had to separate them whilst they were performing, we also used transitions at the start of the music video when we were showing our different locations we used. I found that sticking to a theme made the editing easier due to knowing what style I had to follow. For example, at the very start, I stuck to graffiti everywhere in black and white which really fitted the genre.

At the very start of the music video I used slow motion in order for the shots to go with the beats and I also wanted to show the different contrasts between the fast rapping by our actors.

Grime Moodboard

Album Cover Review

This is the album cover for the song I have chosen. The album was made in 2015 and is the third album to be released by the artist JME. The artist barely released any hard copies of albums because he thought that Digital Downloads were more common. The album cover has just a picture of JME and nothing else because he wants to be as centre of attention as possible. Also, the album is called "Integrity" which means he has the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.

This album cover is what I am taking inspiration from for my A2 Music Video. The reason I am doing this is because of how well it links to my music video. For example, Grime album covers are normally neutral colours and this links to the opening and closing shots of my video which have been edited so they are black and white. I think that this album cover is effective but also very basic at the same time. So this digipak is something which I will take inspiration from.

Production Schedule

January 4th- 
Every Monday in the afternoon, I went filming with my partner and my actors and we went into different locations, for instance on this day we went filming in at various different underpasses to see which one looked best.

January 5th- 
 Each Tuesday afternoon,  I have no lessons so I spend the rest of the day seeing what different edits I could create.

January 11th- 
This week, we went into the outskirts of Bristol and in this location there was a lot of flashy cars so we asked if we can film near the cars and get some footage for opening scene.

January 12th-
Each Tuesday Afternoon,  I have no lessons so I continued to edit all of the latest shots.

January 18th- 
This week we went to Bristol City Centre and spent a few hours filming.

February 10th-
Due to there being a break, me and my partner used this time to get some filler shots and come up with some more ideas.

February 29th- 
We went back into the City Centre and back to the previous location. The reason we did this was because the actor forgot a few lines but we knew that could be fixed with a bit more filming on specific parts.

March 1st- 
With the new footage, I had to try and edit many parts together so the lip-sync was easier to recognise.

March 2nd- 
We have all of the footage so we can now complete the edit

March 15th- 
I went through the music video and made sure it was complete before we showed the whole class.

Artists Website

Reflection on Progress (Research)

Three things needed to improve:

• I need to improve my knowledge on some of the tasks. For example, I need to look into how a digipak is styled and take some ideas from it and start to make my own. By doing this I can link it to my practical work and then I can show what I have chosen for my final song choice.

• I also think I need to make sure I keep track of everything I am doing because I don't want to lose any information when it comes to putting it all onto my blog. To do this I need ti keep updating my blog of all the work I am doing so I don't forget about it.

• Finally, I believe that I need to put some more information into by blog work. I believe this because some of the posts I have created could have more detail on them and could be in a better format to make it more interactive.

Target Audience via Demographics and Psychographics

Previous Students Work Reviewed

http://a2michaeldaymedia.blogspot.co.uk/

The Students work in which I am analysing is Micheal Day's. In my opinion, I believe that some of the shots could have been better because there were a few shots that looked slightly out of focus but I thought it was all edited together really well.

I also think that a lot of planning went into creating the music video by looking into his blog work. There are a lot of plans in which he has shown what he was going to do and it shows clear links to his final project and has a clear evaluation on what he thinks he has done well and what he could have improved. 

Screenshots:

The Mise en scene was incredibly well developed, and it suited the genre strongly, for example, the playing of the guitar. There was a lack of narrative which often is not too much of an issue.

I found that on his blogger there were a lot of different styles used to present his work. He has a range of different Prezi styles and there are many interactive features.

Micheal Day is a Drama student so he has tried creating as much art as possible into his music video which is why he has decided to use a mannequin doll for his stop motion. The reason I believe it is a good idea having a mannequin doll is because you can control it to do anything which you want.

Final Song choice and Copyright Letter

My final song choice is the song 'Man Don't Care' by JME. I have decided to pick this song due to having some ideas which can almost create a whole new meaning to the song. My partner and I,  have decided to add a narrative to the start and the end of the music video and by doing this it creates a different effect which may relate to a wider audience. I also thought that Giggs's rap was a challenge to do, and it was also a challenge for our actor and therefore, it gave us more reason to go for this song.


Arlington Building
Fairfield Road 
London 
E3 2UB


Dear Copyright Holder

I am an A2 Media Studies student who is creating a music video with my partner. I am writing to you to request your permission to use your track 'Man Don't Care'.

With your permission, this track would be used in our current A2 Media Studies project which involves creating a music video for a popular music track, as well as producing a Digipak. 

If we received your permission, this track would ONLY be used in an educational context and be viewed by our media class, our teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. If there are any more concerns please email me.

Kind Regards,

Jake Taylor