Adding all the final shots for editing - Editing Process Blog 2

I have now imported all the final shots in need for editing and I will now add filters and editing the colour, brightness and contrasts on the videos. I will also add transitions and change the video scales to give it a cinematic and music video look. Here you can see the screenshot of final cut pro and you can see my editing project.

Filming the final scenes - Production Blog 4

We decided to film the final shots in the local area of welling. I was directing this scene as well as starring in the scene as a background actor. Thomas who is in charge of props and lighting was also acting in this scene. Thomas and Jacob decided on what the costumes should be in this shot and Jame and I decided on the location we wanted to film in which was a alleyway with garages. James filmed this shot handheld while I directed him and told him how I wanted him to film it. It was hard for me to direct and act in this scene and therefore James was confused on how he was meant to film this scene and how I wanted it to be. It is best for me to be behind the camera and direct the Cinematographer (James) in how I want to film this scene.

We also filmed in the Chip Shop because I wanted the artist (Jacob) to be in a natural environment. I again wanted to break the fourth wall in this music video and I wanted Jacob to talk towards the camera and the audience when he said "Hold the phone". The owner of the Fish and Chip shop was happy for us to film in his store as long as we promote the name of the store which we do with a pan up at the end of the shot. The shots were shaky and again because I was acting and directing at the same time, James was confused on how I wanted him to film the shot and that is why we are going to reshot this shot as well for our final edit.

My group and I are going to use these shots in the first edit but for the final edit we are going to refill these shots.

Filming the 3rd Scene in the Studio - Production Blog 3

We have filmed another scene of our music video and we filmed it in a music studio. Initially the plan was to create a concert but with the budget and cast members we had, it was not possible for us to achieve this concert scene. Instead we decided on creating a studio scene which I was inspired to do when I saw another music video which had this. We filmed in a studio at the music department and we set up a microphone and stand.

As I was directing I wanted this scene to look dark but I wanted the artist to stand out. So we decided to turn off the lights in the studio and we used one studio light which we set up and aimed towards the artist. This made the artist stand out and the room around him more dark and I liked the look that this gave.

I will soon add this into my first edit of the music video onto final cut pro and I will edit this scene so it look and sounds great as well as trying to get the lip sync right on.

I have started editing - Editing Process Blog 1

I have no started editing. I am using Final Cut pro X to edit the music video. I have imported the shots we have donee in scene 1 and 2 which I have blogged about before. Here you can see the screenshots of my screen while I'm editing. I have added transitions, filters and cropped the video in order to give it a music video scale and look.

Once the other shots are done I will add them into the edit and I will update you on my editing process blogs so the progress of the editing can be seen.

Filming 2nd Scene in Thamesmead - Production Blog 2

Yesterday my group and I went to film another scene of our music video in West Thamesmead, this location was the we found while taking pictures for our digipak photoshoot. We had the artist (Jacob) wear his costume that day and we also took equipment such as a dolly, tripod and camera. James was filming this scene and I was going to direct how I wanted the shot to look like and what I wanted the artist to do. I wanted the artist to walk and interact with the camera while it was tracking him walking. I wanted this music video to break the fourth wall, I want the artist to talk to the audience who are watching and listening to the music video.

James tried to film this shot with the dolly provided by the media department but because the ground was not level and was not stable, the dolly was very shaky and therefore the shots were shaky as the dolly had no suspension. I then decided we are going to have to film the scene handheld, James then filmed the scene multiple times in order for us to get the best shot. The shots looked okay but were still quite shaky due to it being handheld, my group and I will reshoot this shot of the final edit and we will this time use a shoulder cam or a steady cam to keep the shot smooth.

I will then soon import these shots and the Party Scene Shots into Final Cut Pro and I will start to edit the first edit for this music video.

Creating my Digipak

I have been creating the Digipak on Adobe Photoshop and I have used my editing skills to create the digipak. I have created each digipak panel separately and I will then combine it into one image with 6 panels on it. I will have the main CD, behind the scenes CD, concert advertisements, album front cover, album back, spine and a poster of the artist. I will also make sure I add all the legal requirements a digipak needs such as the copyright statement, the barcode and the Parental Advisory logo. I will also put the record label logo all over the digipak and I will also put the artist name and album name on it as well as I want to heavily promote this.

First Scene Shots have been filmed - Production Blog 1

My group and I have filmed the first shots for our music video which was the Party Scene. The scene was filmed in a Drama Classroom and we chose this classroom as it had black walls, ceiling and flooring which makes the scene look more dark like a club/party. Jacob who is in charge of mise-en-scene and Thomas who is in charge of props and lighting helped us with the prop ideas and lighting style such as the use of RGB party lights. Thomas also had the decision of what type of clothing should be worn by the artist (Jacob) in order to make it suit the Hip Hop genre. I wanted to use a smoke machine in the shits as I felt it would make the video stand out more and make it feel more like a club/party. The media department provided us with the smoke machine to use in our shots.

I was directing where the party scene should be filmed in the room and I also directed how it should be filmed, what it should look like and what I want the artist to do in the video. I also filmed some of the shots as we used my personal camera to film these shots and I also used my own personal dolly as well to get great shots. I wanted the video to have panning and dolly shots and therefore I filmed the shots which looked like that and the other shots were also filmed by James.

We had a slight issue of lighting in the shots and therefore the quality of the video was lowered and the picture quality was a bit noisy as the lighting wasn't great in the set. Despite this minor issue, the shots still came out great and it looked great.

Our Pitch

Day 'N' Nite - Pitch from Ghanshyam Shiyani

The Digipak Photoshoot Images

On this blog you can see some of the many pictures I took with my camera the Canon SX710 HS for our Digipak. As mentioned in my before blog, we took these images in West Thamesmead for our Digipak. I used various adjustment settings on the camera in order to get the best shots such as changes in colour, saturation and contrast. My group and I really liked the quality of the images that were rendered and we also had a variety of images we could use for out Digipak such as low angle shots, high angle shots, mid shots, long shots and also a silhouette type shot. I made sure that the artist modelling who was Jacob (King J) was in the right positions for the shits to have the best lighting and best look. Here are the pictures we took for our digipaks.

(Talk About Costume, Lighting and Shot Types)

Location shots for Digipak and Music Video

My group and I went to West Thamesmead to look for Locations we could film our music video in and so we can take pictures for our digipak. This location felt like the best location to suit our genre of Hip Hop. On this blog you can see all the picture I took with my camera the Canon SX710 HS. Here are the pictures we took for our location search for the music video and for the digipak.

Genre Rap/Hip Hop: NWA - Express Yourself (1988) vs 50 Cent - No Romeo No Juliet ft. Chris Brown (2016) Old vs Contemporary Music Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u31FO_4d9TY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFTyeXVQ0Ko

The Dr.Dre music video from 1988 was very simplistic, all it had was some shots and closeups with a little bit or jewellery. The video and the song was mainly trying to send a message about racism. The 50 Cent 2016 music video is more about Girls being presented in a sexual way and they are wearing expensive gold jewellery. The modern music video doesn't have a narrative or a message behind it, its just a video of the artist and some girls for a song.

Both music videos has plenty of close ups of the artist and tries to promote the artist to the audience as the main figure.

My Digipak Plan

I have created a 6 Panel drawing plan of what my digipak may look like. This isn't a exact design of what it will look like but it will help me decide what type of pictures I want to take and use and it will help me decide what each panel will be and roughly what it will look like such as the text and and cover etc.

I want to make sure that the record label and King J is promoted throughout the digipak as my aim is to promote the artist and to promote the record label as well as the Album itself. I want the theme of the digipak to be quite dark with clean modern style fonts and high quality photography images. Once my group and I have taken images for our digipak. I will import those images to Photoshop and I will start to edit and create my digipak.

Put the plan picture here:

My Group And I Have Made A Mood Board

My group and I have created a mood board in the shape of a pyramid to represent the record label comply "Tri-Angle". The mood board has the Clothings worn by Hip Hop Artists, props used such as Cars, Jewellery and other hip hop artists and usual settings for Hip Hop Music videos. Everyone in my group made this mood board we printed off conventional hip hop pictures and put in on our mood board to help us with a music video idea.

The idea to make an exact 3D pyramids did not work so we decided to leave it as 4 triangle sides.

The Artist Logo That I Have Designed

I have created 3 logo designs from Photoshop for our artist King J. My group and I decided to choose the last logo as our final design as its represents a Triangle which is the name of the record label as well. In the music video my group and I also decided that the hand symbol of a triangle will be used in the video to promote the record label. My group may decide to do a questionnaire and see what the age range of our target audience prefer as the logo.

Genre - Hip Hop: Wale - My PYT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRGzlvOuigc

The music videos starts with bright colourful text showing the Artists name and the name of the song.  It then starts with shots of a woman and the artist which pans and jump cuts between each other so it synchronises well with the beat of the music, this shows the use of editing in this video. It then shows a mid shot of the artist saying his name "Wale" which shows the record labels demands in promoting the artist and this supports Godwins Theory. There are also many shots with women showings notions of looking and it shows women in a sexual way. There are also many close up and panning shots of women models and of the artist wale singing the song showing the audience that this is his song. There is a panning birds eye shot of the artist laying down and singing the song. The artist is taking about women and their body in the narrative and the visuals are also very well linked showing the body of a model and showing many shots of these models, these shows the link between lyrics and visuals. The shots stay for longer when the beat and tone of the music goes slow but when the pace builds up there are faster cuts between shots showing the synchronisation of the audio and visuals.

The whole music video is just set outside a mansion and near the pool showing the artists wealth which is common in the hip hop genre. All the people in the video are wearing bright colourful clothes which makes the video different from other music videos in this genre and it stands out more. Theres also a high angle shot showing the artist with his cars and wearing gold jewellery again showing his wealth. Theres also a seen with one of the models who has a projector shines on her showing various colours and effects which makes the video more interesting visually. Slow motion was also used on some of the shots of the models, such as the one in the bath tub which shows the sexual symbolism of women in the video.

Biography of our Music Video Artist

Artists Name: King J
Age: 19
First Album Name: Born 'N' Bred
Record Label: Tri Angle
First Hit Single: Day 'N' Nite
Born: 13th February 1997 in Brooklyn New York
His Favourite Artists: J Cole, Jay Z and Drake were inspirations to King J as they were the artists that he liked and the type of music he liked.

Background Story: King J is also known as Jacob King and was born and rasied in Brookyln, New York. He grew up with his single mother however as he grew up he became involved in gang activities and started selling drugs. At the age of 15 his best friend was shot jumping infront of a bullet meant for King . His friend had aspired to leave the drug business and become a muscian. Upon dying King thought to take his friend's dreams with him and became a musican. At the age of 18 he finally found a record label Tri Angle and obtained his first hit song Day N Nite.

Clothing:  Designer clothing with Jewellery. Similar to artists like J Cole, WizKid, Drake, Kanye West and 50 cent.
                      

British Hip Hop Artist - Skepta Research

Skepta is a Grime and British Hip Hop Artist. Skepta heavily promotes his record label in his music video through his lyrics or visually through branded clothing saying "Boy Better Know" or "BBK". Skepta usually has a theme of colours in his music videos. Sometimes he wears all white and sometimes all black. Skepta also usually wears a cap as well but his not the type of hip hop artist that wear a lot of jewellery.

 

Skepta ft. Prey Kalidasa - Cross My Heart (Music Video Analysis)(Hip-Hop)

The music video starts of with some high quality cinematography with tracking and panning. Theres a black and gold theme throughout the music video to show his wealth. There was also a panning shot of a Lamborghini again to show his wealth and to show off his car. The whole music video is filmed in a mansion again which shows off the money he has and the music video also features female models in a sexual way which supports Goodwin's theory of how women are represented in music videos. There are many close up of the artists as well as close ups on the female models. Skepta also mentions in his lyrics "I'm with Boy Better Know let the all in" which is promoting his record label and this shows record label demands which supports Goodwin once again. The shots and the scenery are quite receptive in this music video which can make it quite bland and boring.

Hip Hop Artists - 50 Cent Research

50 Cent is an American rapper, actor, businessman, and investor. He began selling drugs at the age of twelve during the 1980s, Although he left drug-dealing to pursue a musical career, he was struck by nine bullets in a 2000 shooting due to gang involvement. In 2002, 50 Cent released his Album "Guess Who's Back?" where he was discovered by Eminem and signed by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. After being discovered by Eminem, 50 Cent then received a lot of fame. 50 Cent now has his own record label G-Unit records and his also the founder of SMS Audio an audio electronics company. 50 Cent has won three awards from six nominations at the annual American Music Awards. His also won 4 Pop Music Awards, 7 Rhythm and Soul Music Awards, 4 AVN Awards, 3 BET Awards, 1 BET Hip Hop Award, 13 Billboard Music Awards and 16 Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards as well as many other awards.

50 Cent has many female models in his music videos and they are usually shown in a sexual way to attract male viewers. 50 Cent also wears a lot of Jewellery known as "Bling" with a lot of sports clothing or expensive designer clothing in his music videos to show his wealth and richness. He also features expensive and luxurious cars in his videos to show his luxurious lifestyle.

50 Cent ft. Chris Brown - I'm The Man (Music Video Analysis)

The music video starts off showing the setting is a high angle tracking shot. The setting is a expensive and big mansion to show the viewers wealth and luxury. There are various shots of inside the house to show how luxurious it looks. We then see close ups and slow motion shots of female models who are represented in a sexual way. This is all done to create a build up until the audience gets to see the actual artist. The audience then gets a small glimpse from behind of the main artist 50 Cent, this is to build up suspense in the Music video as the artist hasn't done a music video in a long time. We then see mid shots and close ups of the artist who is wearing Gold Jewellery and expensive clothing. In between these shots we also see shots of some female models, this is done to attract the male target audience as the models are represented in a sexual way, this supports Goodwin's theory of how women are represented in music videos. The audience then carries on seeing the switch between close ups of the artists and models and then shots of the house the are in. There was also editing used for simple fading transitions between shots and some shots of the female models in slow motion. The music video is filmed and presented in a very high quality and classy way, and this is very commonly done with most hip hop music videos and my group and I want us to present our music video this way as well.

Hip Hop Artists - Dr. Dre Research

Dr. Dre is a American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. Dr. Dre has worked with many of the top Rappers such as 2Pac,The D.O.C., Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Xzibit, 50 Cent and The Game. Dr. Dre does Hip Hop, Gangsta Rap and G-Funk music genres. Dr. Dre has been nominated 20 times and won 6 times the Grammy Awards and he has been nominated 11 times and won 2 times the MTV Video Music Awards. Dr. Dre clothing is usually designer clothing or sports clothing with jewellery sometimes.

Dr. Dre - Still D.R.E ft. Snoop Dogg (1999) (Music Video Analysis)

The music video starts off showing who the production company is. This shows the record label demands and this supports Goodwin's theory. Theres a high angle shot showing some expensive luxury low-riders with female models all inside the cars. Theres also close up of the Gold Alloy Wheels which shows the wealth they have due to the value of their cars. There are many panning, dolly and high angle shots of the cars which is to show the richness, this is very conventional in hip hop music videos. Editing was also used with simple fading transitions between the shots. The music video is filmed and edited in a  high quality way to make the video look smooth and classy. There are also many close ups and mid shots of the artists which is to promote him in the video. The shots of the female models are in slow motion when they are dancing, this is to present them in a  sexual way and it appeals to the male target audience the music video has. The video also has some scenes where two shots are shown in one scene, this was done through editing and it make the video more visually interesting. The rappers in the video are also wearing designer clothing or have gold chains and jewellery.

The Song My Group Has Chosen : Genre Hip Hop: Kid Cudi - Day 'n' Nite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrDfSZ_6f4U

My group and I have decided to choose this song for our music video as we all agree on an idea we can do for video and we feel it suits well to the genre of Hip hop and it can be quite conventional as well as different to standard hip hop.

The music video starts off with an animation of the artist walking in a black screen. The animations then moves away and we see the actual artist walking down a road in what seems like a run down area in USA. The artist sings the lyrics and he is centred in the shot while he gets tracked on a dolly when he walks. This shows record label demands as the artist is constantly throughout the whole video. The music video then transitions back into an animation with the artist inside of an animated store. The artist goes to pick up an animated drink but when he goes back into real life there is no drink there. This music video has a strong narrative, the artist Kid Cudi sees a world that isn't really there, he imagines how he wants the world to be when it isn't really like that. The lyrics of the video sort of talk to the audience and it tells them audience about his life and how he feels. He feels like he is being followed by like this monster when its actually just normal people, show it shows how he see the world. There are various shots of the scenery and there are also shots of the artist at side angles and face front angles throughout the whole video such as high angles, long shots and mid shots.

I like this music video but I find it very repetitive as it doesn't show any other types of live performances or other sceneries. I feel that my group and I can create a new music video for this song and hopefully improve on visuals.