Treatment - 2nd Draft

Logline

So the overall idea that I have for this music video is to in the end send the message of unity and that nobody, no ethnicity, neither any race is alone. The overall summary of the music video is that the protagonist is going to work in the morning on the train however, instead of doing so, he actually ends up preaching unity on the streets.

Plot

As mentioned perviously, there will be a medium shot which will turn into a medium close up shot of the protagonist leaning forward in his chair on the tube, as this is occurring, there will be the sound of the train speeding up and slowing down. As he does this, the protagonist will put his earphones in and the song will begin to play. Furthermore, as the beginning of the song plays it will show the protagonist getting up and leaving the tube.

As soon as he exits the train station there will be the beat change in the song and it will become more upbeat, this will coincide with the sun shining down at him and representing a more positive emotion. At this point there will mainly be long shots of the protagonist. As the song appears to become more upbeat the camera will orbit the protagonist and show to the audience how happy he truly is. After this, there will be a cut to the protagonist walking through his neighbourhood. As he is doing this, there will be people looking round at him, giving dirty looks and wondering what on earth is wrong with him. Furthermore, throughout this, there will be a cut back to medium long shots until the words 'black is beautiful, be black and proud'. After these words are said, there will be some cuts to some darker race people who will repeat the quoted lyrics.

In the end of the song, there will be a sort of dance sequence where there will be many differently cultured people who will surround the protagonist and will be dancing and happy around him.

Media Language

The first shot will be a medium shot of the protagonist leaning forward in his seat on the train. Within the same scene, there will be a medium close up shot of him which will show his real emotion and how he's feeling. At this time, the protagonist will put his earphones in and it remain a medium close up.

The next part will be a tracking long shot of the protagonist walking out of the station, this will be from behind/ the back of his head.

Once he exits the train station, there will be an orbiting shot of the protagonist as he is outside the train station looking to the sky.

As the beat comes in and music changes, there will be a smooth transition onto the protagonist in a medium close up walking towards the camera as the camera is moving away from him and he is saying the lyrics in the song.

The next part will be a silhouette as it says "I just want to be free" with the sun in the background as I feel like it represents freedom.

Generic Conventions

Genre Analysis

A music genre refers to a certain category of music that is defined by conventions and stylistic criteria that characterise the particular type of music. The various genres within the music industry had their origins from different cultures, however in the last 20 years music genres have struggled to hold on to their and therefore music genres are becoming obsolete. I will analyse two music genres which I am considering to use for my main production task. The first being RnB and the second being Dance music. These two genres offer different styles of music video and have different conventions which I will adhere to when creating my main task.

RnB/Hip-Hop

The RnB and Hip-Hop genres offer many conventions which I believe will aid me in completing the main task to a high standard. The songs are not often that fast therefore enabling me to produce a strong narrative to the piece. The genre conventionally has elements of love and heartbreak which I will touch on if choosing this genre. In terms of clothing, conventions in the RnB genre differ for men and women. Men are typically dressed in expensive designer clothing with a lot of jewellery on at the same time in order . to emphasise their wealth and to show off and exploit their masculinity and their confidence. This is often accompanied with jewellery that is sometimes marketed within the song.
Women's attire is commonly classy, however there is little clothing that they wear, this is to be more attractive to the male audience that are the target audience for RnB and Hip-Hop music. Additionally women dress towards the sub genre of RnB/Hip-Hop that the song is about and also in conjunction with the song's lyrics.

Classic examples of songs in the RnB/Hip-Hop genre are;
R-Kelly - Ignition,
SWV - Someone,
R-Kelly -Your body's calling,
Tamia and Fabolous - Into you
Nas - I Can
The Notorious B.I.G - Big Poppa

This is an example of a traditional stereotypical rapper. This is not much more different from today as the audience can still see his confidence through the mise en scene and they way that he is looking at the camera. Also he is wearing some jewellery which is considered to be a contemporary stereotype more than a stereotype of the past however, as we can see, this is also a traditional stereotype.

 Some more contemporary examples of songs from the RnB genre are;
The Weeknd - The Hills,
Jeremih - Planes,
Chris Brown - Liquor,
Kanye West - Waves,
Logic - Black Spiderman

This is a contemporary rapper who is seen as very traditional despite his race, he is seen as traditional because he is wearing designer clothing, as you can see in the bottom right of the image and he is also wearing a lot of gold chains, he is also seen as very happy and liberated because the rappers of todays era are very rich and therefore would be comfortable in their own skin. 

While the artists within the list of 'classic' examples are strongly associated with the RnB genre, the more contemporary artists are not solely associated with the RnB genre. This is due to the fact that in order to appeal to a wider cohort of people, many of artists affliate themselves with multiple similar genres, including hip-hop and pop.

Target Audience Profile

When creating my music video I need to know who my target audience will be. This is done in order to market the song and tailor it to what they want to see. By marketing it in this way it will achieve its full potential in reaching to as many people as possible. however, what I have to work out and distinguish is who my target audience is and who would be interested in the music that is being produced or in the video that I am creating?

Demographics - The demographic is the characteristics that describe my target audience e.g. age, gender, class and gender.

Psychographics - This segments my audience into groups based on social class and lifestyle. It is not as relevant today as demographics and in the lower age band however it is still important to recognise. The young and rubican life style classification model is used and has been developed by advertising agencies.

Given the conventions of the genre that my song belongs to, the record label that would release my video and traditional artist representations this is what I believe my target audience would be using demographics and psychographics:

• Age: 16 - 30 however generally depends on the age of the artist.
• Gender: Slightly more men than women when referring to Rap/Hip-Hop.
• This would appeal to the C2,D,E side of the social grade demographic.
• usually low income earners however, people that spend their money on things that they love.

The target audience of hip-hop music is generally considered teenagers to young adults from the ages of 16-30. This could be due to the content and ideas that are established in hip-hop lyrics and that continue to be the themes of the music videos. The theme of hip hop videos that links with the RnB genre is the theme of love and this attracts the female audience to the songs. However, the music videos and the fact that they are filmed from the mans point of view (the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey) is something that attracts the Hip-Hop genre to the male demographic, along with things such as the lyrics and the fact that at times they can be very meaningful and that the flow is very strong and catchy. An example of a music video which is filmed from the a man's point of view is the video linked below:

There are secondary themes of fashion and wealth which are implemented into the music videos through synergy and this will appeal to teenage girls and young adults. The male artists of hip hop videos will attract more of a female audience through as the artist is portrayed in a sexual way therefore the women will be physically attracted to the artist. Men will on the other hand be attracted through the perception of wealth. The idea of being in the private area of a club with fans surrounding you is what attracts the male audience as it give a sense of aspiration to that audience.

What promotional materials will I produce?

The promotional materials that I am going to use are a music video, a digipak and a cover poster.


The image below is a music poster advertising Logic's album "Bobby Tarantino". In images such as these, I feel that the mise en scene and the semiotics are vital as they are what provide the meaning for the music poster.

These are 2 magazine front covers which are also 2 album covers. However, the music poster will need to be a lot more creative, however, in the modern day era with music posters, they are becoming less and less creative and instead are just using the same photo that was used for the digipak front cover, I feel that this is a marketing idea which will spread the same image all over the place and so the customers wont get confused on whether this poster goes with a previous album etc. This is done by the use of synergy and cross media convergence. 

A digipak is a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs. An example of this is like the photo below: 

This is a labelled and annotated digipak which shows what should be where and whats on the inside and whats on the outside. My digipak needs to be eye-catching and also needs to attract a wide audience base. Based on the conventions shown and from the textual analyses that I will do on posters and digipaks I know what I'm going to base mine on and what to include while also knowing what not to include. I will be doing a 1 fold digipak however, meaning I will have 2 photos on the outside and 2 on the inside unlike the one shown in the image above.

This is what my digipak will look like - however, based on the conventions of the Rap/Hip-Hop genre, the design of mine will vary as I want my music poster and digipak to follow the conventions of a regular digipak and music video.

Treatment

For the beginning of the music video, the protagonist will be on the train and the audience will hear the tube stopping and starting, and then after about 5 seconds the protagonist will put his earphones in and the music will start. And for the first 50 seconds, due to the lighting in the tube it will seem rather dark and this will match the mood of the main character.

However, as the beat comes in the scene will change to a main road and will be more upbeat, this is because the sun is out and because he isn't alone and he is more happy because he's surrounded by so many people. The protagonist will be smiling and walking more gaily down the road. As he does this some people will look at him like he's weird and like there's something wrong with him, however as the lyrics - 'Black is beautiful, be black and proud" Some other members of the public will say the same words at the same time and a they are repeated in the song there will be more people who follow the same movement and will be as if more people agree with the lyrics that are being ushered. All of this will occur from 50 seconds to 2:24.

However, as the music video continues, there are more people following his motion and by the end of the music video there is a multicultural group that follow and begin to dance with him. I believe this will be filmed in central London. This whole dancing group strolling down the road will begin at 2:24 and will end as the song slows down and eventually stops.

My Chosen Song and Why I've chosen it

My chosen song is Black Spiderman, I have chosen this song because of the meaning behind it and the message that it is trying to portray, furthermore, I will soon, publish the 1st draft of my treatment and share the idea I have for this song, not only for the music video, but for the magazine cover as well.

First of all I have chosen to do a music video because I feel like as the lyrics to a song are said it's easier to make the video flow with it. For example, with one of the songs that I have analysed so far - Stressed Out, the lyrics really merge well with the music video because it is talking about how their childhood was and what they used to do and the song is expressing the same message. I want to do something similar to this because to me it makes sense rather than just making some random music video which only people on the inside or some die hard fans of the musician to understand. Too often, music videos have half a story, or become some cliché stories we’ve seen a million times. But “Countdown” will be a unique film with a thrilling conclusion that can stand all on its own.

Although my music video idea has changed and I'm not going to do something about a flashback, I still want it to be meaningful, the song I have chosen is a song that appears like a sort of anthem talking about equality and unity. Therefore, I would like a plethora of multicultural people that way the message that I am trying to send across to the audience is conveyed.

The rap genius lyric music video for 'Black Spiderman' shows the message that Logic (musician) is trying to get across to his audience. This song and one other have been huge hits and have allowed for a great diversity in his audience showing that he caters for a large fan base.

Just through this video and the way Logic says his lyrics to the camera, it is blatant that he means these lyrics and that he wants them to be heard.

I also feel that the lyrics flow very well and that they also play a bit part in the entire music video because without these meaningful lyrics, he would have had such a meaningful music video and he also wouldn't have had the ability to say the lyrics so meaningfully within the video linked below.

These lyrics are incredibly meaningful and already tell me what I am able to base my storyline on just because of the lyrics are ushered. This is why I chose this song.

Don't - Bryson Tiller Music Video Textual Analysis

Track - Narrative

The song discusses various aspects of relationships. In the first verse Bryson asks the question, why do men have to lie to girls to get what they want? and he is confused by this. He feels the girl he is interested in is not being treated correctly and he is the person to correct this stating he is 'on a whole other another level'. He tries to talk to this girl and show her what she means to him and takes his opportunity when she says "he been killin'  the vibe". These ideas develop throughout the song. The song is about a traditional theme however steers away from ideas of fame and fortunes. It is not about various girls just one which could be seen as not conforming to the traditional hip hop generic conventions. This is partially due to Bryson being in an early stage in his career therefore not being seen as pretentious by conforming to these ideas.

Lighting And Colour

A lot of the lighting in the music video contradict each other for example in the initial beginning of the music video they are light colours such as pinks and whites, and the atmosphere is quite bright and intriguing. However as we develop through the music video a lot of the shots are no longer bright and are a lot more dark and mysterious with a lot of the shots having black and greys colours associated with them.

In the dark shots where the protagonist isn't looking at the camera this implies that there are some insecurities and these would be justified due to the narrative, furthermore, due to the fact that the shots are dark also suggests that the musician doesn't want to be seen either.

Just like the lighting and colouring in the music video, the costume, hair and makeup also contradict each other. For the most part Bryson Tiller is wearing normal clothes that would be associated with  the Hip-Hop/RnBb genre. e.g baseball jackets hoodies etc. However in a lot of the lighter shots he is also wearing clothes that are not usually associated with the genre. For example shirts. In the scenes where he is wearing a shirt the shirt is also white which could be used to represent purity and innocence. And in the shots where he is wearing baseball jackets and hoodies the jacket and hoodies are also black which could be used to represent impurity.

Setting and Props

The music video seems to be set mostly by a roadside in a quite urban area. A lot of shots seem to have cars in the background and some of the shots are even look like they have been shot inside a car tunnel. On the other hand, there are also a lot of shots set inside a building most likely a hotel as the model/actress is wearing what appears to be a bathrobe. Lastly, Bryson also seems to have gold grills on the bottom of his teeth and he also wearing a 'Kentucky Life' baseball hat all these components along with his hoodie help build the narrative that he his possibly a thug.

Facial Expression and Body Language

Bryson uses his hands a lot in the music video to express his emotion and to further build the narrative. Because of this as an audience we begin to understand the lyrics of the song more and the lyrics build up a deeper meaning. This is also done in order to enhance the viewers and could also be done in order to gain direct appeal and is another alternative way and a conventional way that a rapper expresses themselves.

Positioning In The Frame

For the most part Bryson is usually the centre of attention and is at the forefront of the shot with a shallow focus behind him meaning the viewer has no alternative but to focus on the musician. However in some of the shots the model can be seen in the background with the focus on her even though Bryson is still the one singing/rapping the scene. Also in the car tunnel scene, Bryson is far away from the camera make it appear that beneath all the outward appearance (gold grills, black hoodie etc) he is still vulnerable, insecure and very shy.

Video Narrative

The Music video to this song narrates the story that is said in the lyrics. It is a linear narrative. Before the lyrics are introduced there is a shot of Bryson and the girl together individually and not together showing how their relationship is distant. As the lyrics are introduced the shots alternate quickly and this emphasises the beat of the song. Bryson's character has his head low to resemble his emotions. The video continues with Bryson alone in the shot in different locations, usually a medium close up. This is a successful idea as the song doesn't really develop there are no peaks or drops in the song it stays constant and this style of slow paced editing captures this. Fading shots or cuts to black are often used to move from Bryson to the girl he pursues. The music video concludes with the same location that is begins, Bryson in no closer to getting the girl and she is no longer in the shot. 

Message and Potential Audience

The message of this song is a personal one, it isn't about the pseudo environment that is portrayed in traditional RnB or Rap music videos. The message is to women, to not suffer in mistreatment, there is someone better out there if you are in that situation and in the song Bryson is that person. 

Generic Conventions of Rap/RnB songs

I have chosen to tell you about these conventions, as I feel that they are ones that will come up in some of the music videos that I am going to analyse and possibly some that I may use for my music video as well. These are based off of music videos that I have seen in the past as well as with the ones which i have textually analysed.

1. Low angled shots - These shots are generic because they convey power. The power is of the main character over its audience, they are usually delivered in close-up shots giving the impression that they are looking down at the audience. This type of shot also expresses the masculinity of the man and how confidence he is.

2. Clothing - Clothing in hip hop videos is usually sports clothing, this is to show a commitment to the area where they grew up and a loyalty to a group. This aids the sporting teams prestige when it is promoted by successful artists. The rappers are always wearing what are considered to be their comfort clothes which are always very expensive as rappers enjoy showing off their most expensive things. Furthermore, they also like to wear chains and various jewellery which is expensive to further show off.

3. Jewellery and props - This signifies the wealth of the artist through the mise-en-scene of the shot (cars, money). In the profit driven capitalist society that we live in, wealth signifies status and happiness to an extent. Therefore the wealth that is portrayed in these videos (even if superficial) is a show of the artists happiness. They also do it to show how confident they are and the idea that one rapper is richer than all of the others which is driven by their materialistic gain.

4. Women are considered sexual objects - Women are objectified in hip hop videos, women are shown as disposable and interchangeable they are the object within the genre. Women are given I aim to not follow this convention and portray women as on a level with men as I believe this representation of women is not positive for the music industry. Rappers do this in order to exploit their masculinity and to show things such as money gets you everything in my opinion.

5. Given that the general audience for hip-hop videos are male, the music videos are usually shot applying the 'male gaze' theory. The videos keep its audience attracted through the objectification of women in addition to men being the dominant power. The industry has made this inequality considered 'natural'. This is always occurring and it happens due to the fact that the majority of the rappers in the modern day rap industry are in fact male, plus in music videos, they feel that this will give them a greater capability to understand their life better and to possibly give the music video more views as well.

6. Usually shot in a club - The significance of this is to portray the audience dancing to the music, by people dancing to the song brings credibility to the artist as it portrays the artists popularity. A club is normally where most rappers spend most of their time when not producing music and that is because they want to show off how much money that they have.

7. Topic- 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 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.

8. Within traditional music videos for this genre there isnt often many if any other characters and therefore there is direct contact with the camera. This is done to get direct appeal with the viewers and also to show the confidence the 'lyrical genius' possesses when saying the lyrics to the camera along with the idea that the rappers say the lyrics with passion and power.