Group - Digipak

These are the final images that create our Digipak.

Below is the front cover.

Below is the two middle sections of the Digipak

Below is the back cover.

Group - Advert

This is our final Advert

Group - Evaluation Audience Research

How did audience feedback inform rough cut development ?

The audience feedback which we gathered from our rough cut display helped us massively to make vital changes to our music video wich made our overal production much better.

The class and especially our teacher thought that our car shots were the weakest, after seeing our first rough cut. The transitions between the shots of our cars needed to be tidied up and we were told to play around with the fades and dissolves to find one which looked better than the one we had alredy put in. We found a dissolve which synchronized very will with our footage and was a fast improvement from the original.

This type of help is invauable as it gives us feedback from an audience who will pick up different problems and sections that need editing, ones which we may have overlooked when constructing our music video.

How did audience research inform your concept development?


The first feedback we received was when we presented our pitch to the class. We created our pitch as a slide show on Microsoft PowerPoint, including slides to present our; costumes, locations, concept ideas and also what we learnt from technical and product analysis'. In order to present it in the best way we used short summarising bullet points with images to display our point. We then put longer written answers in the notes section in order to explain our bullet points and to answer any questions our audience had.





The feedback we got from both teachers and other pupils helped us to focus on the detail of our video more as there were still aspects that we hadn’t completely thought of and needed to be worked on. Our concept was to create a humuorous narrative-based video in a 'boy meets girl' situation. Our audience posed questions such as 'how will you keep the video humorous?' Although we had ideas for much of our concept, we realised that it was important to focus on specific detail as well as the whole idea. This specifically was useful as when it came to creating our storyboard, as we realised we needed clear ideas of specific shots to depict our story in the best way.




Although we found there were areas of improvement to move forward with our concept we also recieved a great deal of positive feedback. The class particularly liked the track we had chosen and thought that our first concept and ideas were a good idea for a witty music video, which was our purpose. Everybody agreed that we had thought about a number of effective, specific locations, such as a coffee shop and London which match with the lyrics and genre of the artist. They also commented that our costume ideas for a potential 'geek' were conventional within media texts and funny. 'Especially the wig and glasses that made his personality stand out. The pictures below show the costume that we created for our artist to wear.

How did the audience feedback on your finished peices show how successful you were in constructing them?

Our final audience feedback proved to be very worthwhile as we found out a few things that we were and weren't expecting.

One of the questions we asked was: Did you enjoy the video? When our audience answered this question we got a 100% repsonse to Yes. We thought that this was very important as it showed us that we had set out to achieve what we wanted which was an enjoyable video.

Another thing that came out of our final audience feedback was that they thought the video was funny or along those lines most of the answers that came back were either funny,entertaining or humorous which is exactly what we were hoping to achieve as this would give our music video a unique selling point but also challenge the conventions of most mainstream music videos especially ones that are about some sort of romance. The audience we asked also said that they thought the print advert and the digipak were very good as both of them fitted with the genre very well and they specifically said that the digi-pak would have been stereotypical of a geek.

However one thing that we were supirised to come up in our final feedback was about the things that we could improve on. This is because 50% of people said that the type of shots could be improved which we expected as some of the shots were quite repetitive but 37.5% said that the lip synching could have been improved this was particularly suprising as we thought that this was one of our strongest points. The other 12.5% said that the editing need some improvement.

Another answer they we thought was extremmly pleasing was that 100% of people said they would watch it again so this proved that our video would stand up to repeated viewing so we must have done something right as people probably wouldnt find it boring.

LH -Evaluation of Music Video

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

We have tried to construct a brand image for the artist as the lyrics specifically say that ' I am a Nerd, and I'm 17,' that can be identified throughout the ancillary texts. We thought that this was a good starting point as the narrative that we thought we could create would be sell able, unique, creative and introduce a lovable character. Within the ancillary texts we have tried to use a lot of visual motifs that would portray the artist as a stereotypical geek which the audience can easily identify and recognise that he is quite a nerdy character. By geeky we mean that in our audience research we discovered that a stereotypical view of a geek would have glasses, a shirt, tie and long un-styled hair. Continuing from this we discovered that the audience thought that a geek would probably be intellectual, a book worm and not very good with social interaction.

Through the creation of the Digi-pak we tried to reinforce the geeky image as he has a few drawings of what he wants to achieve in life which may suggest he is not as geeky as his exterior image suggests. However saying this, Example as an artist is not visually geeky in appearance but during our research stage we discovered that in 1992 he won the young poet of the year award which could suggest that he is slightly 'geeky.' To further this we decided that it would be appropriate if we created the digi-pak in a note book style to try and portray the continued intellectual persona, as we thought that it would be typical of a geeky person to be doodling and scribbling within a school note/exercise book.

Within the video we have tried to use a few visual motifs that suggest that he is a geek rather than the obvious exterior image of a geek. A few examples of this are the books that he has been reading are called "Coping with Girls and Coping with Love" this books combined suggest that he is a geek as he is not only reading but he is reading about social interaction so you would presume that he can't interact with girls very well. Another example is when he waves at the camera in a geeky way as it is the Star Trek wave, this could also be considered as an intertextual reference as Star Trek is often considered as a geeky programme.

This geek brand image is also represented in our print advert as we decided that it would be good to use an image that could easily be associated with from the video. This lead us onto deciding that we would use the image where he is in his 'nerdy' costume and is in front of the colourful background as it is easily identifiable.

When creating our ancillary texts we used Dyer's framework to try and create the star persona that would help us to sell the artist to a large and loyal audience. To do this there were quite a few things that we had to do to try and create this star image some of these things included the actual representation of the artist, a unique selling point, and creativity.

According to Dyer "A star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films and music)" Therefore we have tried to construct the brand/star image using Dyer's principles throughout the advert and digi-pak.

We tried to follow this principle by making our artist as unique and creative as possible. We felt that through our video, digi-pak and print advert we have achieved this as our video is very post-modern as the character is similar to some American Teen comedy characters such as McLovin in Super Bad.



Specifically within the advert we have tried to construct the star as humorous as he is in the costume of the geek but is doing quite a 'jock' pose as he is tensing his muscles which we thought would suggest that he wants to transform to a 'cool' kid which is exactly what happens within the video. Within the Digi-pak we tried to portray the star as a lovable geek as he wants the finer things in life such as a nice car and a "i want a girl like Angelina Jolie".

Dyer talks about two paradoxes, they are : Paradox 1 the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. Paradox 2 is the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.


Paradox 1-We felt that by creating an image that was humorous this would create appeal as most people would find this funny as it is a 'stereotypical' geek so this would allow us to create a star image that would be unique, creative and have a unique selling point as it is like no other music video. This is because within the video the two characters are binary oppositions as one is quite geeky and the other (who is addressing the audience as 1st person - rapper) are opposites as he is quite stereotypical of a normal person. This is emphasised within the cross cuts within the video as it reinforces the star image as the 1st person mode creates as para-social connection. As people would be able to relate with both characters.From using a stereotypical geek image we also thought that this would leave consumers intrigued as to how his life and music career would continue as during the song he changes to a 'normal' person so this creates some sort of suspense as his is a lovable hero meaning that people want him to do well and 'get the girl.'





Paradox 2- the music video constructs persona which is simultaneously present and absent, the audience strive to make sense of or complete the 'image' and what eventually happens to the geek character. The branding satisfies the audiences questions by presenting the artist in the digi-pak and again the print advert.


Overall we felt that our combination of ancillary texts proved to be very effective especially as we were trying to create a brand image for the artist. Our use of visual motifs within the digi-pak, advert and video were particularly effective as a few of these were specifically mentioned in our final feedback, quite a few people specifically mentioned the Star Trek style wave and the wave when the character runs down the stairs. A few quotes from the final feedback in response to the question what was your favourite shot? And did this portray the character as a geek? were 'character waving and rushing down the stairs,'and ' portrays in a very geeky way as this was similar to star trek episodes.'

J.J - Evaluation of music video / Question 1

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

The Genre of our music video is British Indie rap and our video does reinforce this genre in many aspects. We use the first person mode of address during the performance shots a typical convention, which many other Indie rappers such as Jamie T and The Streets use in their videos. Luke our performer rapped straight into the camera as if he was looking directly at his audience. This 1st person mode of address is often used in music videos to make the artist more appealing, and give the impression that their songs are more personal to anyone who watches them.
















Our Video is a mix between a narrative storyline and performance. The performance sequences are filmed in close up to show of the artists face to the audience and to enhance on their star image, another generic convention of this type of music.

The constant use of cross cutting between the narrative and performance is a standard procedure in most rap videos. However, our video challenges the usual stereotype of this genre as our narrative has created a new persona for our artist which would not normally be used by artists involved in rap industry. Our main character is a ‘Geek’, who falls in love with a girl at first sight and wants to change his style and image in pursuit of the girl of his dreams. The ‘Geek’ is played by Luke who is also the performing artist.

This gives our artist a more approachable feel as he is not afraid to make fun out of himself in order to tell a the story. The costume was very important when creating this geeky persona. We used big thick glasses, a messy wig, a shirt and tie and chino shorts which gave a very nerdy image to our main character.

Another convention of this genre is the use of costume regarding the artist. Luke is dressed in smart jeans, shoes and also a designer polo shirt all things you would expect your typical Indie rapper to be wearing. We ideally wanted to model the style of our performing artist on someone like Mike Skinner the lead singer from the Streets.

The involvement of a beautiful girl in the narrative also is a convention of this genre as most young men are in the pursuit of stunning women, fast cars and lots of money.

We also have a strong link between visuals and lyrics in or music video, we feel this is important in telling the story being told by the lyrics. For example there is a passage in the song which says “I was hard up couldn’t get a large cup” this is illustrated in the visuals with the protagonist sipping a small cup of coffee. This ironic illustration is aimed to provoke humour and show off just how ‘hard up’ our main character is. This video clip is an example of this link.

Another example of a link between visuals and Lyrics is shown just after Luke raps “fine young pussycat, woman that I’m looking at”. The on screen visuals then show like getting up from the floor and staring in slow motion at the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. This is effective in showing the love at first sight aspect to this relationship and how it all started. We have used amplification in our music video as the fantasy girl and car reinforces the stereotype of a young man in this industry as it is something he strives for. this clip illustrates the link between visuals and lyrics,

We have constructed a link between the music and visuals in our video when our main character dreams about something or an ambition he has. For example in the chorus Tracy Chapman sings the Fast car section to our music video, this passage is very melodic and slow in comparison to the fast passed rapping in the verses. Due to this we have used much slower shots in these sections to match the tempo and mood of the video. These shots include a shot of his dream car pulling up and picking up the beautiful girl and right at the end after the crash. We have used shots of Luke walking around and cuddling his new girlfriend with an almost dreamy effect placed on top of the shot making it somewhat surreal. These slow passed shots synchronize with the music and illustrate a very slow beat an as a result a slower cutting rate.

we believe that our video is postmodern in style because we use bricolage. Our video is largely conforms to the conventions of Indie rap however, we borrow the theme of the typical American teen romance of boy meets girl, then falls in love at first sight. This reinforces a heteronormative discourse in that the narrative follows the stereotype of a 'normal' heterosexual relationship. We represented the girl in a traditional way as her role in the narrative is largely passive whereas the male takes dominance in the storyline and is more active.

We broke the 4Th wall when creating our music video with the 1st person mode of address; our artist broke the conventions of usual media texts and spoke directly to the audience as he performed directly to them. The Ratio of our music video is 50:50 with half being performance and the other being a narrative storyline depicting the lyrics being rapped.

We also created a digipak to go with our music video which would be the album layout for Examples new album, including the track we have transformed into our own music video. We designed all the sides to the album very carefully thinking deeply about the layout and the juxtaposition of the images and their size, the text we used and which style we designed it in.

The front cover for example took a long time to arrange and we wanted to make sure everything was perfect as it was the first thing people would see. The front cover had a total of 5 different signs which needed arranging. The background is a note book as we wanted the style of our digipak to go along the same geeky theme as our main character in the music video. We wanted it to look like something the geek would sketch down, an aspiration rather than reality. The main image is a sketch of a sporty car and in relation to the rule of 3rds it is situated in the middle third showing that it is an important image which we want the audience to focus on first. The name of the artist is written in a large and scribbled font again another connotation of something which follows the sketch pad theme, and is situated in the top third. We placed a real key on the note pad underneath the drawing of the fast car. This could work on two levels. Firstly merely denoting the key to open a fast car. Secondly it could work as a signified to a new and better life. for our geeky character.

We have continued the theme of the notepad throughout the rest of the digipak and we have tried to tell a story through the different sketches all the way through. The middle of our digipak shows images of his geeky glasses and a cup of coffee with various objects placed strategically to illustrate the narrative storyline in the music video. For example pens are placed next to the sketch of geeky glasses to link in with the main characters image. Alongside the sketch of the cup of coffee there is a coffee stain, this could be a connotation that this image was sketched in the coffee shop which was filmed in our video.

The back cover continues this theme however there is an image of his fantasy girl sketched out. This is used to signify our main characters ultimate ambition to be in a relationship with the girl of his dreams.

The last task we were asked to produce was a magazine advertisement for the album which we had created. The magazine advertisement is a promotional tool used to support the artist and the release of his new album. Our advert included a large photo filling up all the space we had, showing Luke dressed in the Geek outfit from the music video striking a comical pose. We wanted our advertisement to catch the eye of someone flicking through a magazine and this full page spread of a geek would prove effective in grabbing people’s attention and forcing them to see what this is advertising.

E.L- Evaluation - Media technologies

How did you use media technologies in construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Premier Elements- This is the software that we used to capture (circled) and edit our footage to create the final cut of our music video. This software is useful for inserting transitions or effects to the footage we have. The software contains an easy to use timeline (circled) in which to split clips, add sound, zooming in and out whilst interchanging them into the correct place.

This is also used for inserting transitions or video effects. By using the transitions and/or effects that the program provides, we were able to create a dreamy effect with blurs and also by altering the opacity of the footage. (The opacity and video effect are circled below and the final edit is shown in the video clip.)

Photoshop Elements- We used this software to create our print work; the digipak and advertisement. This allowed us to create the specific size and layouts of the CD case and advertisement, including editing the images and applying texts (circled).

The software can edit images in more detail than some other editing software, and with the use of layers and magnetic tools we were able to insert a record label image (circled bottom left). As well as the text and enhanced editing techniques, it is still possible to insert other standard 'shapes' such as the stars used at the bottom (also circled). Below is the original image that we cut around and altered to create the final, smaller image. By using the ‘magnetic lasso’ it is possible to select pixels around a specific image and use the selected image in other layers or documents. This was the technique we used when applying our record label to the front of both the Digipak and advertisement. Below is a screen shot from Photoshop as we used the 'Magnetic Lasso' to highlight an image.

Below is the original image that was then inserted into the advertisement and Digipak via Photoshop
The picture below is the original image that we began with before we added any text or images.

The finished advertisement is shown below, this is clear the changes that we have made in both Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher.

SurveyMonkey.com- This was the website that we used to create a questionnaire for our final audience research. We can gather the information for each question online and evaluate feedback. This along with Slideboom and Youtube are examples of web 2.0. They allow us to share information to a wide variety of people which is an influential factor in the music business. Surveymonkey allows us to create questions with a number of different answers. For example: There are open questions where the audience can write freely what the feel as apposed to selecting from given answers. The two have their advantages and we felt it was important to include both types of questions. The website also enables us to go back and alter any of the questions and answers at any time with easy, unlike a word produced questionnaire. The editing buttons are circled along with an example of a closed question with set answers. (picture of specific questions)The online service is good for collecting and analysing data. With the multiple choice questions the website creates an easy to read graph, with percentages showing the choices and highlighting the most popular choices. (picture of graph)

Microsoft PowerPoint- We used PowerPoint to create a pitch for the class and teachers in order to display and communicate our concept and ideas for the music video. This allowed us feedback from an audience but also meant we could have the concept written and insert images of locations and costumes for example. When creating a slide show it was important that the pages do not hold long-winded paragraphs filled with detail, but to have short bullet points that summarise a point. We then used the ‘notes’ feature that PowerPoint has to write the long version in order to help us present to the class in more detail.

It is also important to reinforce points made with images where possible and these images, along with the text can be set up to appear on the page in a number of different ways. This helps to keep our slide aesthetically pleasing and more interesting than just reading information. There are a number of different ‘entrance’ and ‘exit’ effects which we added to our slide. (Circled below are examples of our short bullet points, images and notes for our pitch.

Slideboom.com- This was another website that we used to upload our pitch to create a slideshow format that we were able to post on our blog. The slideshow is already embedded in a previous post. This works by uploading the originally created slide show, where it is converted into a different format to embed in our blog.

Youtube.com- We have uploaded our animatic and final video onto Youtube in order to allow our audience to watch the video with ease and give us feedback on what they think. It is possible to post comments (circled) on our video for easy feedback and these could well be valuable to our project. Youtube.com is the best example of web 2.0 as it allows extremely wide viewing as it is possible to watch any video from anywhere in the world. This creates large distribution and for an up and coming artist, very like example, this would be key in starting off in the industry. The website is free to upload and watch any videos which also help amateur artists, however is also a great place to post professionally produced videos, in order to gain a wide viewing and promotion of the artist/band which is of course the aims of a music video. However, although Youtube provides many advantages to the music industry, it also brings one large disadvantage. By being free to access videos and sound files there is an increase in plagiarism. This means that anybody can take selections of clips or sounds to use for personal use, which was important to consider when creating and uploading our video. As our videos are not the official ones, it was important to make sure that we did not use the name of the artist or track in the title.

Final Video

Obviously we have used blogger.com as an e-portfolio in order to present and keep track of research. This use of media has allowed us to all collaborate with one another and post comments (circled) on each others work, allowing us to all benefit from findings that one of us had come up with. This has also meant that we can insert a number of clips and images in order to illustrate the things we have commented on, and the use of hyperlinks has made a neat, effective way to insert website addresses.

The easy to edit feature is useful when posting our more important, final pieces of work as we are able to change and alter original posts, or drafts (circled) in order to produce the best work possible.

When filming we used DV cameras which allowed us to capture our footage in a relatively high quality. These also mean that the footage is easily captured onto Adobe Premier Elements for editing. The cameras that we used fit with fish-eye lenses and almost all tripods which made our footage unique and our shots and movements neat. Some of the footage that we did capture was in variations of light due to numerous shoots and re-shoots. With the cameras we used it was important to make sure that the light was correct for filming in order to reduce changes of light differences. This was the main problem and we were able to overcome this with the use of a spotlight.

In order to create the final layout of our Digipak and advertisement we used Microsoft Publisher. By inserting the edited images from Photoshop into the layout that we had created at the correct sizes for both texts, it was possible to produce our Digipak and if needed, our advertisement. We were able to use the 'picture toolbar' (circled) in order to crop or format the pictures we have inserted into the document, as well as inserting text just as we could with Photoshop (circled).

For the stills that we used for both the Digipak and advertisement we took photos on a Samsung, 10mega pixel digital camera. We took a number of different shots, and the use of flash meant that the lighting and images were always captured perfectly. The camera could be synced with our computer in order to upload the files for editing.

Shoot Evaluation #3 - Group

The third shoot was filmed to caputre footage of the numerous cars we needed to create our dream sequence and also the ending for our video.

This shoot took up a fair bit of time as we needed to practise a number of times to ensure that we captured the perfect shots. We also had to be cautious and aware of other traffic on the road, and although we filmed in a housing estate in North Tonbridge, we had to wait for traffic to pass.

We managed to get the majority of the shots that we wanted and the shoot was successful. This was imperative as the sequence with the cars is the most important in linking the lyrics with correct visuals.

We decided to re-shoot shortly after to make sure that some of the shots we captured were fitting with the exact lyrics and we also felt that to portray the narrative in the best way we needed a small amount of extra footage, which in the end would enhance the viewing of the video.

Shoot Evaluation #2 Group

The second shoot that we did was to take footage of the 'geek' meeting the girl in a coffee shop/starbucks. We filmed in a local cafe and everything went well, the location was good as we had checked it during our reccie.



Everything went well we were able to film all the shots we needed following our storyboard. We also had other customers to contend with but this was not a large problem as we were able to film in a relatively small space.

Responce to video rough cut

Did they enjoy the video ?


The class responded well to our first viewing, an seemed to be highly amused by our use of mise-en-scene regarding our geek. Our main aim when making this video was to make people laugh when they viewed our work and everyone seemed to enjoy the majority of it. The classic Teen romance theme seemed to work well and shots like when our 'geek' accidentally touches the hand of the beautiful girl got a positive response and all the class let out a cheeky laugh.


Does it stand up to repeated viewings?



The class we showed our footage to seemed to think that this music video would stand up to a repeated viewing. The performance shots were well shot giving the sense that the artist is actually performing, and the narrative was interesting enough to warrant repeated viewing.


How is the genre of the track apparent throughout the video ?



The Genre of our track is apparent throughout as the indie rapper performance shots occur all the way through. This gives the impression that the artist is part of the narrative and also involved with the music behind the storyline. The class seemed to recognise the genre and no one was confused with the link of visuals to music.




How do you perceive the artist/band? how does this construct/reinforce their image.



The class perceived the band as very humorous but also very cool and modern, not shy at taking the micky out of themselves in the pursuit of laughs. This is good as it reinforces the image of Example our artist as a jokey lad, which he is.

Name one shot you liked and why

After showing our video to the class it was clear that a few shots stood out from the rest. The shots in the coffee shop including the slow motion hand touch emerged as favorites. Another shot which received positive feedback was the clothes changing transitions, they were synced very well and once edited together looked very impressive.

Name one area which could be improved any how

The class and especially our teacher thought that our car shots were the weakest after seeing our first rough cut. The transitions between the shots of our cars needed to be tidied up and we were told to play around with the fades and dissolves to find one which looked better than the one we had alredy put in.

Digipak ideas

Digipak designs

We have worked together in producing some ideas for our design that we think will fit in with our artists star personal and link in with our track. We wanted trhe 'Fast Car' to be a dominant theme on the front cover as that is the name of the song, and all other sides of our Digipak will relate to the song or specific lyrics.

Animatic

Our animatic for the video can be viewed via the hyperlink below.

Animatic

Filming Evaluation #1 GROUP

Overall our first shoot went quite well although lighting was a slight issue as some of our shots are slightly to dark. We will be trying to edit this out but if not we will have have to refilm. However there were some interesting shots that we can definatly use within our final cut such as the hair cutting shot. This was definatly a good start however there are things that we would need to consider for next time such as mise-en-scene and more spcifically lighting.

LH -Pitch Evaluation

Overall when we presented the pitch it went quite well and was very successful as well as useful.
The main points that came out when we had finished the pitch was the concerns about the amount of locations that we would be using as we are planning to go to London, Elliots house, Lukes house and Brighton. We will be overcoming this challenge by ensuring that all of us are free and to try and make ourselves available so that we can film as much as possible. Another possible problem that was highlighted was that we will need to organise in advance so that we can ensure that every body is avialable when we need to film.

The pitch- Group

The Pitch

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Slide 3 notes- The product analysis’ have proved very useful as it has allowed us to identify and experiment with ideas about costumes and locations. It has been very helpful as we have looked at artists such as Jamie T, The Streets and Just Jack who all have a similar type of music and therefore many aspects of the music videos are similar. Shots – The use of shots such as handicam goes well with the representation of drunk males in the ‘sticks and stones video.’ this is representative of young males and the artists that occupy the genre. Many of the videos do not relate with the lyrics very much for example in the streets video ‘could well be in’ the whole of the 4th verse talks about his ‘date’ being on the phone… ‘with the phone stuck to the side of her face.’ In the video there is no reference to her being on the phone or being occupied. This therefore highlights the fact that the lyrics do not always relate to the visuals and this is a technique that we intend to use for our own video. The costumes differ a great deal between artists who all have their own specific style of clothing. For example Mike Skinner from the streets always has quite expensive clothes related with the ‘casual’ fashion. This includes Fred Perry polo shirts and expensive jackets. However Jamie T is seen in a regular plain t-shirt a cap and skinny jeans. Our video mentions that he thinks he is a ‘nerd.’ This means for our video we will have to chose costumes that represent this stereotype. Locations often change as the streets ‘could well be in’ is shot in a hotel and ‘never went to church’ is shot in the mountains covered with snow. This is the same artist and so locations are representative of the song and not the genre. The lighting for the videos such as ‘Me & Mandy’ is very realistic and creates a low fi effect. This is the effect we are going for.

Slide 4 notes-The technical analysis has been very useful as it has helped us to understand the massive amount of shots used. With each of the videos that we analysed we realised there were a huge number of shots used. Many of these shots were repeated and seemed to be one shot divided up interspersed with others. For example in Jamie T ‘Chaka Demus’ There seemed to be one long shot of the artist performing in the back of the car but was interspersed with shots of other cars and characters in the car race.
This also made us realise that the duration of each shot is very low. Some shots would be less than a second and the longest shots seemed to be of the artists performing in both ‘Chaka Demus’ and ‘Business Woman.’ This means that when shooting and editing we will have to make sure that there we have literally hundreds of shots to use.
The technical analysis also reinforced the costumes and locations that were used in each of the shots. We listed everything that was seen in the shot and this was what made us realise that there were a great deal of repeated shots.

Slide 5 notes -Our perception of the geek was very accurate as many people thought that the geek should be wearing glasses, having a bow tie, ankle swingers and having a shirt on with a pullover.
We were on the right track with the costume for the performance rap shorts as we thought he should be wearing smart “indie clothes” that were quite stereotypical, however from our results we have found out that the majority of people thought the rapper would be wearing smart designer clothes.
After our research our initial thoughts about locations were reinforced as we found that the majority of people thought that a suburban location should be used with back streets (similar to brightons back alleys). A few people actually specifically said brighton came to mind when they listened to the track.
The majority of people also said that they preferred a narrative based video or a mixture of performance or narrative.

Slide 6 notes- We have decided to go down the teen romance route with our music video. This has enabled us to create an interesting narrative based around our ‘geek’ falling in love and chasing the girl of his dreams. We hope to add an aspect of humour to our video with the inclusion of Luke Hawkins as our Geeky hero. However our video may have a dramatic twist at the end which will change the mood and prove to be thought provoking.

Slide 7 notes-When coming up with our narrative, due to the lyrics at the beginning ‘I’m a student a nerd and I’m 17’ we have decided that the narrative can include the artist dressed as a ‘geek.’ To do this we used the results from our audience research and came up with a costume that would perhaps include a number of these items.

Slide 8 notes-We have many possible locations we hope to include in our music video, one in particular is London as the car we hope to use is owned by Elliot's dad who lives in London so it would make it easier on him.
Other locations include Tonbridge, Leigh and Brighton.

Slide 9 notes-Filming in car – we will need to drive the car in our music video, however Luke cannot drive and as he is the main character this could prove tricky. We will have to film all Luke's parts when the car is stationary and then switch drivers when on the road.
Getting our other actors together.- we hope to use outside actors especially girls. This means we have to be very organised with times and dates when shooting to save time and get all our shots done accurately.
Lip- synching- our track is relatively fast paced with a complex range of lyrics, this may prove tricky to lip- synch well. However Luke our main performer has learned the lyrics off by heart so it should be easy for him to rap in time with the song.

Slide 10 notes-Youthful – The inclusion of 17 – 18 year old in our music video will keep this song young and enable people of that age group to relate to the lyrics and visuals on screen when they watch. Our story includes a love story and some aspect of tragedy which all people of this age will be going through some for the first time.
Humorous – We hope to add an aspect of humour to this music video, some of the lyrics are quite funny and we hope to translate this humour into an effective narrative story.
Unique style – Example has a reputation for doing things out of the ordinary, we hope to enhance his by creating an original music video along the lines of something similar he would be associated with.


Slide 11 notes -So far we have discussed 3 possible ideas for the front of the Digipak.
The first one being a sketch of a nice car which would fit with the title ‘fast car’ and the track that we are filming the video for. We have asked Nick Walker a well known street artist for some possible sketches. This would be good as they are completely original and as did Kanye West with the graduation album, we will have had a well known artist help to promote the album.
Another idea is a shot of ‘example’ (Luke). Many covers use the artist which helps promotion and recognition of the artist. We have taken this idea from ‘Press Play’ by P. Diddy where there is a striking picture of the artist.
The other idea that we discussed was perhaps a picture of a City Skyline, and as we will do some shooting in London we thought the capital would be the best option. There are a number of different styles this could be in, using either a sketch, a cartoon or a photograph.

LH-Deconstructing a Music Video Example-Watch the sun come up

Genre Characteristics

As example is becoming an established artist in the sense that recently a few of his songs being broadcasted on Radio One it is obvious that Example is establishing himself in the Indie Rap subgenre, however this particular song is less obvious. In a lot of example videos and similarly in the indie rap genre it is easy to identify what type of music it is straight away from the video. In the video for ‘Watch the Sun Come Up’ however it is not so straightforward, typically you can identify the genre from the locations, costume, characters and the effects that are used. This is not the case in ‘Watch the sun Come up’ as it is not set in the stereotypical suburban location and does not contain the ‘laddish’ lively characters that many indie rap videos do. This song is set in a foreign country and only contains Example and a woman as the characters. This song is also very out of context as the lyrics in example songs are often ‘jokey’ and put his own unique twist on the narrative but within this song he is quite serious and raps about a romance which is most unlike Example and the genre itself. Although I have said that this video does not coincide for many parts with the genre, Examples costume throughout the video does as he is wearing a denim shirt, relatively skinny jeans and VANS plimsoles all of which would often be seen in an indie rap video. The video is mainly narrative based as it tells a story within itself about romance, lust and love however the video has aspects that are performance based much like many videos of the indie rap genre for instance Plan B- Bizzness Woman.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals

For the majority of the video the lyrics do not directly relate to the visuals but the generall story that the lyrics are describing is apparent. By this I mean that the lyrics talk about a girl and a holiday romance and that is what is shown in the visuals but there is little direct correspondence. Although I have said there is very little direct links there are some for instance “you and that red dress what a pairing, I kept staring,” whilst these lyrics are sung the visuals show a few shots in which Example is staring at a girl that is dancing in a red dress. This is often typical of narrative based videos as it would not be plausible to directly match each lyric with a visual. An example of where the lyrics do not directly link with the visuals would be that it says “love at first sight or holiday romance” and then shows a shot of two beer bottles which imply that there has been some drinking going on. This also fits in with Examples music as it is quite a humorous extract and would suggest that the whole song is down to a drunken night.

Relationship between music and visuals

The music is very important in creating a certain feeling about songs and this is particularly the case with ‘Watch the Sun Come Up.’ The music throughout is quite upbeat and produces a happy feeling that ties in very well with the lyrics as he is describing an enjoyable experience throughout in which he ‘fell in love.’ The music is quite repetitive and this fits with the story as for a lot of the song he is describing and elaborating on the same thing.

Close ups of artist and star image motifs

The bulk of the video is mainly narrative but there is also quite a bit of performance based shots. As both of these are combined there is quite a lot of meat shots and close ups of the artist (Example.) Throughout the video Example performs directly and indirectly to the camera the majority of which are in close ups or mid shots. A possible reason for is that because Example is a relatively unknown artist in the music industry the producer wants to get his face known so that he is easily recognised which will enable his career to have an extra boost. Example features in virtually every shot within the video this helps to add to the narrative as it gives you a sense that example is actually feeling the emotions that he is writing and describing.

Notion of Looking

During ‘Watch the Sun come up’ there is one instance of notion of looking and that is when Example looks at himself in the mirror after he gets up out of bed. The notion of looking is used in this instance to add a first hand more realistic feel to the music video, as this is something that you would expect to do when you woke up so it add to the authenticity of the video.

Intertextual references

Within this video there are no direct intertextual references to something in the ‘outside’ world but the song its self could be considered as a reference. This is because previously he made a song called ‘One Night’ which has very similar music and a lot of the lyrics are exactly the same. However when this song was made he was an illegal pirate artist so this could be viewed as an intertextual reference as it shows the progression that he has made as he is still using the same lyrics but has now ‘made’ it in the industry.


Performance narrative or concept based

The majority of the video is narrative based and this is particularly important as this is a predominant characteristic of the indie rap genre. The story line is of Example allegedly falling in love on holiday, he experiences lust, romance and love although you can gather that they have been drinking alcohol so it is left to you to decided whether they are truly in love. The video also had quite a few performance shots in which Example is still the narrative character but speaks to the camera as though he is speaking directly to you and telling the story. This may have been done so that in future you would recognise him if you saw him in another music video or on TV.

Story Board - Breaking Up The Track

1.You got a fast car.

2 I want a ticket to anywhere.

3Maybe we can make a deal.

4Maybe together we can get somewhere.

5Anyplace is better.

6Starting from zero got nothing to lose.

7Maybe we'll make something.

8Me, myself, I've got nothing to prove.

9I was hard up, couldn't get a large cup

10Waitin there for my change in the Starbucks

11Thinking bout just how much my car sucks

12Then I was star struck, one of those mad things

13Pickin' up a napkin, sippin on my latte

14Saw her shoes but her face looked blasé

15Whatever, knew this was our day

16Wanna take a ride in my car pretty lady?

17Maybe not, that's too cheap

18This ain't hollywood, need a jolly good linefor this fine young pussycat

19Woman that I'm lookin at

20talkin back fine, but I've only got rookie chat

21If only I had a Ferrari

22Then I'd be a Ken doll and she'd be Barbie

23We could ride together with the roof rolled down

24With the whole town jealous of my girl and my fast car

25She's a woman of the likes that I've never seen

26And I'm a student, a nerd and I'm seventeen

27It's a given that she'll never like moi

28Unless I get a car that she'll wanna ride far with

29me into the sunset, we could have fun

30wherever she'd wanna go I'm headin for that

31When she wants to drive fast I'm ready for that

32My hand on the wheel with her head in my lap.

33You got a fast car34I want a ticket to anywhere

35Maybe we can make a deal

36Maybe together we can get somewhere

37Anyplace is better

38Starting from zero got nothing to lose

39Maybe we'll make something

40Me, myself, I've got nothing to prove

41I want a woman like Angelina Jolie

42to show me, where the grass is greener

43on a daily basis. A proper fit lady

44Friends say I'm cool, but they never persuade me

45Try an chat her up but I ain't got skills,

46an I never do it proper. Never bought high heels

47for a woman all I know is they like high frills.

48I need cash for a new set of wheels

49that's not possible, what about that tosser Paul?

50Left the keys for his Porsche,

51with my dad he had only just bought her.

52Here they are by our phone in the saucer

53What a find, I'm sure he won't mind

54if I take his little beast on the road for a test

55drive. To suggest that I took the piss

56is an understatement, look I need this.

57On the road with the roof rolled back

58You never seen a killer with a smile this hard

59but now I'm in charge and it's cos of these keys

60Have any girl I want cos I'm the bees knees

61Look at her over there with the long hair

62She lookin back, givin me the long stare.

63A proper connoisseur *Tyres screech*

64Oh Shit, I didn't see her

65You got a fast car

66I want a ticket to anywhere

69Maybe we can make a deal

70Maybe together we can get somewhere

71Anyplace is better

72Starting from zero got nothing to lose

73Maybe we'll make something

74Me, myself, I've got nothing to prove

1. Inro including first 3 lines of the 1st chorus: Our actor (Luke) in close up displaying his 'nerdy' nature. Then shots showing him buying a SMALL coffee in Starbucks as he performs the lyrics to the song. 'I was hard up couldnt't get a large cup, waiting there for my change in the Starbucks.'


2. Line 12 - 16: Shots in Starbucks/coffee shop as he sees the girl that he falls for, she laughs at him as he spills his latte down his shirt. Flicking through a magazine he thinks about his bad car. Then as he leaves he drops his books, girl helps him pick them up.


3. Line 17 - 22: Slow motion as he leaves he looks back at her, show her reaction, her friends are laughing but she is concentrating on him. At the end of this shot perhaps a 'geeky' wave back at her.


4. Line 23 - 30: Shots of him dreaming about being with the girl, still in geeky clothes, sat in a nice car laughing with each other. Perhaps him performing some of the lyrics at the same time.


5. Line 31 - 34: Looks at his reflection in a shop window, realises he looks silly and wants to change. Close up of him on his phone calling his friends.


6. 2nd Chorus: Shots of his friends turning up at the door, geeky star-trek sign as they enter with bin bags full of clothes for him to try.


7. Line 43 - 50: Shot of clothe changes as he and his friends try to make him look cool. Different hair styles and clothes along with him practising some 'cool' moves. This shot lasts a good number of seconds as there are a lot of different outfits and hairstyles
8. Line 52 - 57: Thinks about taking keys to keys to the 'porsche.' He decides to take the keys and looking cool he drives off.
9. Line 58 - 66: See girl while he is out and they meet, decide to go for a drive. They then end with a car crash as he is not paying attention to driving. Dramatic twist using slow motion and a fade to black.
10. 3rd Chorus: Reaction shots of the girl and boy as just after they have crashed.

E.L - Product Analysis

The Streets – Could Well Be In

Genre Characteristics
The Streets are well known for their rather unique style and can be classed under a number of genres; grime, rap and UK garage. Within the music video for ‘Could Well Be In’ are a number of characteristics that The Streets use in most of their videos. The video itself is predominantly narrative-based and the video uses locations and costumes in order to fulfil this requirement. The mise-en-scene is representative of a realistic story. The costume that Mike Skinner wears is very typical of the UK garage genre with smart, expensive, branded clothing. Many other artists within the same genre would be dressed similarly as perhaps a sign that they are successful and wealthy. The locations also match the expensive costume as it seems to be set in a relatively posh hotel.

Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals
The video itself seems to match the lyrics as the story that he tells within the song suggests that he and a female are out on a date. This is also the case in the video and the visuals constantly relate to the lyrics. At numerous occasions throughout the track there is reference to playing with her hair. ‘If she plays with her hair she’s probably keen.’ As this is repeated in both the chorus and verse the woman that he is with flicks her hair and is constantly ‘playing’ with it. Also at one point in the song Mike Skinner mentions his hair ‘looked a bit cheap’ and as he does so another image of him looking in a mirror brushing his hair with his hands is shown.
However there are still a number of lyrics that do not seem to fit with the visuals. The third verse has a focus on the woman being on the phone. ‘She had her phone stuck to the side of her face.’ This is never shown within the video just as he never plays ‘with the same ash tray.’

Relationship between Music and Visuals
There does not seem to be a large focus on the music track in the video as most of the video enhances the lyrics. This is conventional of The Streets as their unique lyrics are what make them stand out and so most of the focus of the video is used for the lyrics. There aren’t any evident cuts or movements specifically to the beat of the song and as there are no instruments featured in the video it is almost impossible to see, if any, the relationship between both the music and visuals.

Star Image Motifs
The music video uses a large quantity of close-ups that help to promote the artist and as much of the video is performance it is important to show the artist. Mike Skinner features in almost every shot within the video and there is almost an equal number of long-shots and mid-shots as there are close-ups. These are used as much of the video shows him in the background of a shot that features a second Mike Skinner on the date. This gives the impression that the artist is reminiscing about the date as he can see it happening. The Streets do not have a particular star image however can be distinguished by their unique sound and perhaps the expensive ‘casual’ clothing. This is evident within the ‘Could Well Be In’ video as mentioned previously.
The video also features Alexa Chung, a well known television presenter with a keen interest in the music industry. She is very alternative in both the way she dresses and acts which fits perfectly with the song as The Streets produce, unique, alternative tracks just as this one is.

Notion of Looking
This video for ‘Could Well Be In’ refers to the notion of looking most of the way through. There are a number of shots that feature Mike Skinner, the artist, twice. One example is as he goes to the toilet another mike skinner comes in and looks at his hair in the mirror. By doing this the video creates almost a sense that he is reminiscing about the date that he was on and is watching it as it happens in his mind. This fits perfectly with the song as the lyrics seem to be a description of the date that he was on, from the past.

Intertextual References
The song itself is based upon a programme that the artist has watched on ‘TV the other week.’ The chorus uses the lyrics, ‘I saw this thing on ITV the other week.’ This could be classed as intertextual reference as the specific media channel has been mentioned. However this is never represented in the video through visuals and there doesn’t seem to be any other focus on intertextual references other than the odd close-up of the Fred Perry badge on Mike Skinner’s polo shirt.

Performance, Narrative or Concept Based
The ‘Could Well Be In’ video is a 50% split between performance based and narrative based. The main story is of a date between the artist and Alexa Chung and their night together while a separate Mike Skinner reminisces or overlooks the evening. This second Mike Skinner as he stands at the bar and goes about his own evening performs the lyrics of the track. This is not performance based as many videos are with the band or artist performing live to an audience or separately but the two are combined together, a conventional genre characteristic.
The character portrayed in the video is a representation of the artist Mike Skinner as a character. The images fit perfectly with the traits of the artist and therefore help to add to the realism of the video and also help to keep the song as meaningful as it is. Richard Dyer stated that the problematic fir occurs ‘there is a clash between two complex sign-cluster,’ meaning that if the character being played does not fit the persona of the actor, or in this instance the artist, the characters have been miscast. This helps to create what would probably be classed as a Low Fi production.