Final Products

Hello everyone, this is my music video, my digipak and my music poster, I hope you enjoy and take care.

Evaluation Question 1

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

What are the forms and conventions of rap/hip-hop music videos? Within the music video industry, especially in the rap and hip hop genre, there are many stereotypes and conventions that audiences are used to. I have discussed many of these in previous blog posts. I have also mentioned the semiotics, signs and symbols that I have used (theorised by Ferdinand De Saussure). I textually analysed three music videos during my research which helped me to understand the conventions of the genre. The main ones for music videos regarding this genre of music entail things such as a plethora of jewellery, fast expensive cars, busy yet quiet roads, a lot of girls, wearing casual and expensive clothes and so on. There are also frequently low angle shots and shots of the musician posing and performing as this is done in order to show confidence and also to represent the masculinity of the man. Also, when analysing and doing textual analyses there is also an abundance of scenes and settings which are frequently used such as streets, standing outside an abandoned area, being in a club making sure they stand out from the background is always the main thing that the musician and the director wants to focus because this shows that they are different from the norm and that they are part of the bourgeoisie. As mentioned in my previous blog post on the matter of forms and conventions of the hip hop genre, the matter of the topic of the song is always something that arises, because if it is a romantic rap song, you're not going to have guns and violence in the music video as this would not fit.The topic of the hip hop genre is usually of gang culture from where it originated. However many artists have found out that they are far more commercially successful in the genre when they produce music that is more relatable to the wider audience therefore some other topics include relationship and prejudice. Despite this, there is still a large amount of rappers producing songs based on the topics of sex money and drugs.

How have I used forms and conventions? Despite the fact that there is a shallow focus (which is another semiotic and convention of rap/Hip-Hop music videos) you can see that the road is quiet as there is nobody there, and that the musician is wearing a chain. The audience can also see that the musician is making eye contact and using the direct address in order to communicate his message to the audience. Another conventional element which is seen rather regularly are things such as hand gestures. These are something that is in every single music video no matter whether it is a rap music video or a pop music video and therefore I feel like this needs to be included and has been, proven by the screen shot above. In rap videos they are typically an expression of confidence and masculinity.

These are shown throughout the professional videos especially in "Starboy" by the Weeknd where the main icon is a man with a piece of jewellery and "Don't" by Bryson Tiller. In these there are various scenes (Particularly "Dont" and my third music video, "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots) where the main roads are completely quiet and there are things such as establishing shots which I would also associate with Hip-Hop songs because the scene informs the viewer what the musician is going to rap about and what the lyrics may be associated with.

Throughout my music video, I have used stereotypes such as a gold chain as the music comes in and the protagonist of my music video actually begins to rap properly. He also shows it off at the end when he is below the statue which he is mirroring, while doing this he is laughing because rappers are known to be able to do whatever they want and therefore, I feel that the pose I chose for my protagonist is one which perpetuates this feeling of freedom. Next is the clothing, as I previously mentioned it is commonly known that rappers wear what they like and it is always designer and expensive. They do this to show off their status and wealth. While this is something that I contradicted at the beginning and the middle of my music video, it is something that I exposed at the end when the rapper is expressing himself, he is seen wearing a long designer coat with a gold chain underneath his jumper. Therefore, I feel that I have reinforced this stereotypical representation. 

The mise en scene and the quiet/loud roads along with the images of the tube are something that I really wanted to get right. The locations featured in music videos are often ordinary places to which the audience can relate to. My use of location and establishing shots early on sets the emotion, the tone, the atmosphere and immerses the audience in the world of the video. This could be linked to the Diversion/Escapism element of the Uses & Gratifications model. For me the quiet roads meant things such as privacy and everything being close and therefore trapping/stifling. However, with the transition to the large roads there was a sense of space and freedom and freewill, and therefore this is why I chose to change the scene towards the end.

Furthermore, the thing that every single rapper does is show eye contact towards the camera, to express confidence. My protagonist was always looking at the camera in order to show things such as confidence and direct appeal. The final main convention that I followed was the low camera angle shots, I began with a slight low angle due to the aim of showing the fear and annoyance through the body language of my protagonist along with some low angles at the end (although slight), towards the end it was to show the sign of confidence and happiness like the previous topic of hand gestures, I feel like these two things go hand in hand because of the message that they send across.

How have I developed existing conventions? Next is what I developed. The main (and only) thing that I believe that I developed was the fact that rappers were not always rappers, beforehand they had day jobs and they have only ever explored this very vaguely. However, I have developed this convention by showing the transformation from a regular person to a very popular person. Although this is something that the rappers discuss in their songs, I feel like it is something that can be expressed and used a lot more and this is why I did this in mine. As you can see by the image below, the protagonist is wearing a full suit and is still living a normal life at this stage in the music video. 

How have I challenged existing conventions? Finally, the elements that I challenged. The stereotypes that I challenged were the fact that the protagonist was very shy at the start and very sensitive showing emotion on his face rather than through the body language. Another thing along these lines was the fact that the protagonist was listening to his music through his earphones, the stereotype is that the protagonist listens to the music through a speaker or though his fast car, however, he was using public transport and he was listening it though his earphones, this in my opinion shows embarrassment and insecurities and self-consciousness. Furthermore, at the start of the music video, the protagonist refused to look at the camera and basically ignore it, I feel like this shows shyness as well. Furthermore, I also feel that the rapper wearing a suit also challenged the stereotype that most if not all rappers are in their music videos wearing expensive clothing along with a chain, however, in this opening sequence, the protagonist was doing nothing which followed the conventions.

Overall, I feel that the analysis of the existing media products that I did on music videos allowed me to gain a strong idea on what to include and what not to include and therefore, I understood what conventions and semiotics that I could include and develop and which ones would not be incorporated at all due the fact that it wouldn't fit and would not even be something that challenges as the type of action would not fit at all. I felt that I was able to develop the uprising of the rapper as it is something that hasn't been done very often to this level of detail and therefore I felt that this was original and makes my music video stand out from others. Furthermore, in terms of the signs and symbols that I followed there were more obvious things such as the mise en scene and the camera work and what I should have and shouldn't have included. Furthermore the fast editing is also another convention of hip hop and rap music videos due to the fast paced lyrics and the flow of the song. I feel that my music video didn't follow the conventions overall because the majority of the music videos are focused on the masculinity of the man and women and drugs, however, none of these came up in the music video. The other main one was money and showing off what the rapper owns and there was a slight inclusion of that with the showing of the gold chain. However, it still wasn't to the same level as the majority of the other rappers who wear 10 gold chains, rings and also tailor made clothing which is universally known for being expensive.

Evaluation Question 2

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

This is a powerpoint presentation that I have created in order to address this question, Enjoy.

Evaluation Question 2 Ppt by Andreas Nicodemou on Scribd

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Producing this video has helped to inform me about what I need to rectify in order to appeal to my target audience. Indeed I have since rectified many of the points since the production of this music video. The lip sync issues has been resolved and some establishing shots have also been included of the area in which the music video was filmed; I felt that there were some extreme focusing on the protagonist at time in the music video and I agreed with my audience feedback that it perhaps needed more variation. I'm glad that the narrative I was trying to tell throughout the music video was clearly communicated to the target audience and expressed with passion.

Furthermore, my audience also felt that the acting of the musician was also helpful and I feel that my audience were able to relate to the protagonist because of how he was acting while travelling to work. He was also a confident and charismatic performer which I also think added to the audience appeal. This was the idea, despite the rap industry being a very wide base, I was trying to create a music video which would adapt to a wider base of people who didn't just follow the rap industry, I feel that I did this by having a while protagonist and by having a man who was wearing very formal clothing.

I've learnt that my audience also gained the idea I wanted of the fact that my music video was rather unconventional. Furthermore, my audience felt that he wasn't going to be a good rapper off their initial thoughts due to his race and also due to his body language, my audience felt that he was rather shy, however, like Fem said, when he became more comfortable in his own skin, he became himself and that was an expressive rapper.

I have also learnt that the colours are all very similar and therefore 2 of my participants felt that I should have a look at the colour and edit the colours using the lumetri colour scheme as this would add more emotion and allow the audience to feel the emotions of the user better. I have also learnt that the rapper should not be as focused on and therefore, I am going to add more colour as this will allow less of a focus on the rapper and more of a focus on the emotions that should be felt.

Overall, I have learnt that the music video is very good however, in some areas the lip synchronisation is not incredibly accurate, there are a lack of establishing shots and that there need to be a wider variety of colours, these are the targets that I have been attributed and these are what I will work on from now until the due date of my production.

Audience feedback has therefore been a very important and valuable part of my production process. I conducted thorough focus group and survey research when developing my idea and have now done another focus group now that I have finished post production of my music video. With rap and hip hop music more popular and mainstream than ever before it is vitally important that I successfully target my audience so that they will consume my product.

Evaluation Question 4

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

Media technology has been vitally important in helping me plan, research and film my production. Firstly I will discuss the platform which I have used the most throughout my entire research and planning; YouTube. YouTube has been an excellent resource for me as it is a large, free and online video community. I have used this website to upload, embed and refer to throughout explaining my plans, my feedback and ideas for and the effects that I am going to use for my music video.

Some examples of videos I have uploaded onto YouTube are my qualitative audience research (above) and my shotlist video (below). These are 2 of 4 videos which I have exported and updated onto YouTube throughout this project. Producing the videos allowed me to practise my camera and editing work, uploading the videos to YouTube was quick, easy and convenient for me to then blog about them.

I have also used YouTube to watch a vast amount of existing music vieo products for my textual analyses. Watching a range of videos within my genre of hip-hop/rap allowed me to understand the stereotype and conventions that I could use, develop or challenge. Furthermore I also used YouTube to learn a number of new skills, for example learn how to colour correct when everything didn't go as planned during filming. YouTube was also used in order to enhance my camera skills and to know what settings to make and how to set certain equipment up, such as the Rode microphone. The videos are easy to embed onto the blog post simply copying and pasting the embed code onto the html side of the blog and then shuffling it about to where you want to see it. I used a wide array of YouTube tutorials to help build my confidence in using a range of different hardware and software.

The next media website (and example of technology) which I have used is Scribd - this has been used by me twice for PowerPoint presentations. It is a convenient and easy platform to help me upload and embed certain research and planning tasks onto my blog.

The website is incredibly easy to use as all I had to do was link my PowerPoint presentation and then I was given an embed code to put into my blog post, much like the videos that I linked from YouTube in this post, and the many others which I posted throughout this year. I used Scribd for documents such as the pitch presentation that I delivered to my class (below).

Pitch Presentation PDF by Andreas Nicodemou on Scribd

If I used Scribd, I therefore also used Microsoft PowerPoint. This was used for another evaluation question and for my pitch presentation which is one of my earlier blog posts. 

This was a useful stepping stone for me as it allowed me to get my ideas across better and to convey what I wanted to a lot easier allowing me to communicate with my studio audience and my target audience. PowerPoint allowed me to inform my class and my examiner on my initial ideas and why I liked my ancillary products the way I did. IT is a particularly useful programme as it combines visual elements with text and explanations.

Another application that I have used is called Survey Monkey. 

This is a free and online and accessible service that allows me to collect quantitative data on my target audience. This was used for my online feedback from my questionnaires, this was one of the key turning points in my ideas because it told me what my audience wanted, what they didn't want and who my audience actually was in the first place. From survey monkey, I learnt that my audience is aged from 16-25 and is male dominant due to the artist. Survey Monkey is excellent at summarising my results in the form of tables and charts. Some examples are below which helped me to understand my audience.

These are some of my survey monkey online questionnaire results. Next up are how I edited my photos for the digipak and for the poster. I used a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

This is the Adobe Lightroom user interface where I edited this photo. It allowed me to edit the image in post-production and enhance it in a number of ways. I adjusted the colour balance, the lighting and the contrast to create a more appealing main image for my promotional poster. I did not have much experience with Lightroom at the start of the project but found it a particularly useful media technology resource in creating my print products.

This is the Adobe Photoshop user interface. I used Photoshop to design both my digipak and promotional poster. Whereas at the start of the project my understanding of Photoshop was rather basic, throughout the project I became more confident using a number of tools. After producing my poster and digipak I was confident in doing things like adjusting the levels, using guides and grids to improve my composition, and adjusting layer effects and styles to produce a more appealing product.

These two applications were very useful in helping me to develop the synergy between my two products. I used colour correct to ensure a consistent colour scheme, the spot healing brush tool to remove any irregular elements and the clone stamp tool to complete a similar concept (used to clean up what the healing brush tool couldn't). I also experimented with the layout of the digipak and to see which fonts would be the most suitable for what I was aiming to create. In order to learn how to use these and how to incorporate them, I also used YouTube tutorial videos and learnt about how to use the Lumetri colour scale and what things such as the saturation and exposure actually meant. I also used things such as the margins in order to divide my page in two informing me how big the front and the back of the digipak will be.

Moving on the the video editing software - Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro was easily the most important application that I used; without it I would not have been able to create my final product! I learnt how to use so many different tools and techniques within the programme thanks to YouTube tutorials, advice from my peers in class and my teacher. By the end of the product I was very confident in my editing ability. I achieved a number of advanced effects, for example the flashback effect towards the end of my video. 

Next is Dafont, a website that allowed me to use typography.

Dafont is the website which I used for the typography on my digipak outside covers and my poster. All of the fonts were downloaded from there and were consequently very eye-catching. The website allows you to search for different types of fonts, and you can also write in the words that you want and it previews the fonts for you. This helped me to choose the right fonts that would fit the style of my poster and digipak and also appeal to my target audience. 

Finally is the website which I am uploading all of my research and planning onto - Blogger

Blogger is very useful and allows me to write until my heart's content, which is why I enjoy using it. I have uploaded over 50 blog posts and that shows how simple it was for such a difficult job of uploading what may be over 4,000 words and over 30 videos. One of the issues with the blog posting itself is the formatting of the blog page, sometimes the layout can be difficult to work around having issues with some of the words being highlighted in white, however, other than that this website is very useful and I like it. It allowed me to keep track of all of my ideas, plans and research. Now that I have finished my project I can look back at all of the posts and how my ideas changed and evolved.

Finally is the hardware (media technology) that I used. My camera and microphone.

The camera that I used was the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, and attached to it was a 16 - 35 mm lens. Throughout the entire time I was also using the Rode VideoMic Pro, which attached right onto the top of the camera.

Overall, technology has allowed me to complete all of this work and to be able to find different ways in order to explain my idea because if it was merely text and that was it, then I don't feel that it would be very presentable and I also feel that my moderator would find it rather boring to just read through a load of text without showing screenshots and videos which also explain my aim but in a better way. In addition the ability to use both hardware and software has allowed me to understand the vast variety of how much I can actually do. Without things such as Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Premiere Pro, my videos and photos would be too overexposed and the ISO would be too high, but with applications such as these, I have turned what I thought would be some videos which I should abandon into videos and photos which I have used for my final products. Furthermore, the use of YouTube, Scribd, DaFont and Survey Monkey have been formidable for me as these have been important in finding my audience, getting the best and most fitting design, explaining to my moderator and my audience better and overall developing my idea and finding the best way to develop it.

My Poster

This is the final edition of my music poster, I have used the conventions that I analysed from the textual analyses that I have completed throughout my blog. Conventions such as the signature of the artist, the big front of the album name, the parental advisory sign, the small print in the bottom left and the big stand out font of the artist. Beforehand, there was also a pillar directly behind the artist and this was something that I took out, I did this using the time stamp tool and the spot healing brush tool which only took 20 mins as i used a YouTube video in order to understand how to use them. In order to create this poster I have used the applications Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom.

These are the videos which I used and not only did I use them for the poster, but I also used them for the inside of my digipak.

Fonts that I am going to use

Throughout this blog post, I am going to share all of the fonts that I am going to consider using for the front of my Digipak cover and for my cover poster. All of the fonts will be from a website called "DaFont". On this website there are millions of fonts to choose from which just makes my job so much harder! I am going to post screenshots and comment on the fonts and what I like about some of them and what I may dislike about them as well.

The font which i am using mainly is "American Captain". This will be used for the front and back of the digipak - for the songs and the generic terms on the bottom of the digipak at the back.

The second font that I am using is "PROGRESS PERSONAL USE" I have used this for the word Logic only because I feel that it should stand out from the rest of the digipak due to it being the composer and a very proficient and meaningful name.