Permission letter

This is the message that I sent to the artist (Hope Bushe) to ask if we could use his track for our music video

Song Lyrics

These are the lyrics from the song that we have chosen use Intro Never let the party stop (x6) 1st Verse Fly like a jet, H to the B yeah I'm flyer than the rest. Steppin' on the scene with the red and white on, Fresh white tee's ready to take the skies on. People know the name, Rappers stay low, always looking for the fame. Game so tight, other rappers still lame, Been on the block 08 010. Ladies go crazy, See the kids ravin', stems goin' nerdy. If you like my style girl, Call me oh baby. If you wanna hit the bar, Tell me when your ready. Me always ready, Still lookin' good with the hat still fittin'. Still in the hood gettin' dough, still gettin', See that fat chick she'll never ever get it. Chorus Never let the party stop (x4) 2nd Verse Versatile on the track but you already know, set it off in the club g-g-get ready go. Oh, and the beat so heavy, I'mma let it bounce like a chevy hit, here we go. Swagger tighter than the tight, Flyer than fly cos I'm higher than the sky. I'mma do I yes I'mma do me, Flossing like i got something stuck between my teeth like. Jees Party all day, Up in the VIP baby it's ok. You're now rocking with a vice junior president, That might feel heavy cent. So, l-l-let the beat bang, Versatile and HB we're doin' our thang. Party till the morning then party a lil' more, So till they lay me in my coffin, Know this party ain't stoppin' Chorus (Repeated) 3rd Verse I'mma show you how it goes, The party never stops, i'm the one to let it go. HB fly from my head to toe, You know me, yes I gotta lotta dough. If I find a beat, I'mma show you how to set it off. If ya party whack, I'mma show you how to turn it off. Ladies, you better shout my name loud. If you like the money i'mma show you how to get down. Chorus (Repeated)

One of the main points that I can pick out from the lyrics is about how much he talks about success and sex, and we will try to implement these in the journey through different urban areas and in the club (this also fits in with a theory from Michael Shore [1984: 98-99] where he states that music videos should contain 'adolescent male fantasies' and 'speed, power, girls and wealth').

Example/Influential Videos

In my opinion, I believe that one of the best ways to make our music video look as professional as possible, is to look at examples from highly successful artists. By doing this as well as absorbing creative ideas, I will be able to pick up camera, editing, sound and mise en scene tips.

The Game - Dreams

One of the main reasons that this video was influential in our creative ideas was because of the studio clip, where the artist is seen recording his track. As well as this, the studio scenes help the video to flow, and I think it could help up to break up some long clips e.g. if we have the artist walking along a path then a clip in a studio will help to keep the viewer interested (as the change in scenery will catch the eye). As well as this any gaps on the outside production could be filled in with a clip of the studio and it helps to create the feeling that the artist is on the road to success (as professional artists use recording studios).

Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna

This video is one of many from a very successful artist, Eminem. Eminem has many music videos and is one of the biggest Rap stars in the USA and the UK. This video features Rihanna and one of the shots that caught my eye was the repetitive and extreme close up of her face (when the chorus is played). I feel that this shot really emphasises the chorus, which is likely to catch the user's eye and keep them interested in the video. As the music video we have chosen has a female singing the chorus, we could incorporate something similar e.g. an extreme close up of the lips, which would support the words being sung and I think that if a viewer sees lips saying something then they will focus their attention on working out what is being said.

Jay-Z & Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind

Jay-Z has also been a hugely successful star in the Rap and R&B music industry. In the video shown above there are many shots of New York city (one of the largest and most affluent cities in the world). There are many shots showing the rich parts of the city, which in my mind creates the feeling of success, which is why our digi-pack shows an image of a rich city - one of the places that a lot of aspiring artist hope to be living in, in the future. Also another point that I noted was the whole video is black and white which creates simplicity. I don't think that we will use the black and white theme in our video as we have chosen to use lots of bright colours to emphasize certain items e.g. the red lips in the chorus.

Throughout the video there are several different shots that keep reoccurring;

• Ariel shots - These shots look down at different locations and I think that this is good as it creates a of point of view e.g. you are seeing what the artist is seeing (looking down on other people)


• Establishing shots - These shots set the scene and clearly show the affluent areas


• High angle shots - Theses shots look down at the artists showing that more success can still be achieved


• Low angle shots - These shots look up at the artists, and this could be form the audience's point of view


• Panning and tracking shots - I think that these shots keep the focus on the character or location as the camera is moving, so the viewer will keep the item in their sight e.g. when the camera is tracking around the piano your attention is drawn to it.

In our media video I think that it will be really important to include all of the shots listed above and many more. These shots will give a professional feel and the variety will help to keep customers interested. As our music video will be strongly be based on the theme of narrative shots such as the high and low angles will be very useful. They have clear connotations of success, for example if a camera is looking up at someone then the audience will see the person form below, they will be looking up to them, possibly a feeling inferiority could be created. I think we may use a shot like this at the end of the video, as it will show the increased success of the artist, and a high angle shot could be used at the start to show the the artist is still very much 'at the bottom of the ladder'.

Mood board

This is the mood board that I created using pictures from the Internet. We had some ideas in our head of the sort of shots that we wanted to use so we thought that the best way to explain them would be to show them in picture form. In the top left is a picture of an artist recording in a studio and this is something we also want to do to break up the walking and fill in any gaps that we may find. The city skyline is similar to the image that we want to put on the cover of the album. The car with the camera in the back (top left) is similar to an idea that we have to create a tracking shot the artist walking down a street. The picture of the lips will be similar to when we film the chorus of the woman singing, and this will be a good example of lip syncing. The picture of the man backstage holding the curtains is similar to a shot that we want to create when the artist goes on stage. The image of the man stood in front of the green screen shows how we would like to create a background for some of the lip syncing shots (if we have the technology to do this). The picture of the crowd is something that we would like to create near the end of the video as the artist goes on stage. And finally the picture of someone tying up their shoe laces is a small clip that we would like to insert near the beginning of the video when the artist is getting ready for his day.

Star Analysis - Eminem

Eminem was born on the 17th October 1972 in Missouri under the name of Marshall Bruce Mathers. Since gaining popularity in 1999 he has been a successful record producer and actor, but is better known around the world as a rapper.

To date he has a total of 13 Grammys and is the first artist in history to win best rap album for three consecutive LP's. Eminem has had 13 number 1 singles worldwide and in December 2009 he was named the artist of the decade by 'Billboard Magazine'. Even though Eminem has only released a hand full of albums, in the UK alone he has sold over 12.5 million records, and in the US has had over 37 million album downloads.

Eminem's first album was called 'The Slim Shady LP' which was released in 1999 and managed to sell 283,000 copies in its opening week. At the time Eminem was signed by Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records. 'The Slim Shady' turned out to be one of the most popular albums of the year, and it actually went triple platinum (over 3 million copies) by the end of 1992 and to date it has sold over 9 million copies. Even thought the album was seen as hugely successful and popular, some of the lyrics struck controversy with many members of the general public, but in response to this fans say that the lyrics are not to be taken seriously and that the it is an exaggerated persona of Eminem's real life.

I think that that if it were not for this album's break through, then the music industry (especially the rap industry) would be a very different place to what it is now, as it has to be one of the most influential albums in the past 15 years and I feel that the controversial aspects of the production helped to generate publicity, thus increasing sales.

The next album to come from Eminem was called 'The Marshall Mathers LP', and this was released in may 2000. The album sold 1.76 million copies in the first week of sales, making it the fastest selling rap album in history, doubling the previous record held by Snoop Dog. The album was the second highest seller in 2000 and by 2010 it had sold over 10 million copies, making it the fourth best selling album of the decade. Currently it holds the record for the best selling rap album in the USA and it has a 9x platinum certificate.

Again the album caused controversy (with one of the songs causing most offence called 'Kill You') and even the attorney general of Canada said the Eminem should be stopped at the border as his lyrics 'advocate violence against women'. But once again could all of this controversy increase in public and media attention?

Another major album (fifth studio album) to be released by Eminem was Encore which was released on November 12th 2004. In the US alone, in the first two weeks the album sold just over 1.5 million copies, and it was awarded the quadruple-platinum award in December. After nine months worldwide sales stood at about 11 million with sales being boosted by the single 'Just Loose It', however many fans criticized the lyrics, which were seen as simplistic compared to previous albums, and it also lost out to 'Late Registration' by Kanye West in the annual Grammy Awards.

Once again the album sparked controversy, and this time the United States Secret Service admitted 'looking into' allegations that Eminem had threatened the President in the song 'We As Americans'. Also the single 'Just Lose It' was notable for being disrespectful to Michael Jackson, with comments referring to child molesting.

The sixth studio album to be released by Eminem (15th May 2009) was called 'Relapse'. It was the first album to be of original material since 'Encore' and it was to be one of the most anticipated album releases of 2009. Even though the album was to sell 608,000 copies in its first week (in the US) and by June 2010 sell almost 2 million copies (in the US), it had not had quite as much success as some of his previous work and received some mixed reviews with NME saying; "What he presents is still powerful, but narrowly cast".

In my opinion the decrease in success was down to two main factors. 1. Some people may have been put off by the language and controversy in from previous albums, and secondly due to the large gap in album releases (due to his addiction to sleeping pills and writer's block), new youth (who are the one of the largest consumers of this type of media) may not have known who he was, as they may not have heard his previous work. However the album was defiantly not unsuccessful as it still reached number 1 in many countries, and the sales may have been affected due to the increase in illegal downloading.

The next album to come from Eminem was 'Recovery' which was released on June 18, 2010, and designed to be the sequel to the previous album - Relapse. Compared to 'Recovery' the album received much more positive feedback and won the Grammy award for best rap album. Selling 714,000 copies in the first week (in the USA) and becoming the second best seller in 2010 was defiantly a 'recovery' for Eminem's career. I think that this may have been helped by contributing artists such as Rihanna on the single 'Love The Way You Lie'. The album spent over seven weeks at number one in both the UK and the USA amongst other countries and it is currently at number 1 on the list of all time albums with the most digital sales.

Music Videos From Eminem

One of the earlier singles in Eminem's career was 'The Real Slim Shady', and this track also had a music video.

One if the main things I noticed whilst viewing the video was the amount of controversial things that are shown, for example a prostitute. The images that are shown may be a contributing factor to Eminem's image, and they may have helped him gain the reputation of a 'gangster'.

Another video released by Eminem, from the album 'Recovery' was for the song 'Not Afraid'.

There are many similarities that I noticed while watching the videos which make it quite clear that the video is from the same artist. Firstly there are all ways lots of close ups of Eminem, which clearly show his facial expressions, and how well the lip sync has been created. Also in both videos there are reoccurring shots throughout the videos, and these usually show Eminem in the same room, singing the lyrics. I think that these reoccurring shots are very powerful in the production as they help to keep it flowing, and they are often accompanied by low angle shots which make the audience look up to the artist (which adds a feeling of power to him), and I think that this helps to reinforce the image of Eminem.

I feel that this video does show some of the changes that has happened in his career and possibly his age (he may be more mature), as less controversial images are shown. Another big difference that I spotted was the increase in special effects, for example, he is seen flying through the sky. I think one of the reasons for using more (and quite advanced) special effects is because of the increase in technology, since the video 'The Real Slim Shady'.

Auteur Theory

Auteur Theory was created by a film director and critic named Francois Truffault in 1954. Auteur is the French word for author and auteur theory states that a directors film will reflect their personal creative vision, which means that most of the videos they create have the same kind of themes and are put together in a similar way. Some producers also have such strong creative vibes that it is said that this creative vision shines throughout all of their work. And Auteurism is the term used to analyze films.

In this post I will be looking at the director and photographer Ray Kay

Ray Kay is an award winning Norwegian music director and photographer but he is now based in Los Angeles. Since creating his first professional music video (voodoobeats - "The One") in 2000 he has created many more and from bigger artists such as; Destiny's child, The Dream, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Jordin Sparks, Enrique Iglesias, Sean Paul, Cheryl Cole, Justin Bieber, Willow Smith, Flo Rida, James Blunt, and Alesha Dixon. And having artists such as these and many others in your library makes you highly desirable as a director, meaning that he is very much in demand. As well as this he has the most viewed video on YouTube (Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludicrus) which has a staggering 400 million+ views. These videos have also enabled him to win several awards, including MTV Awards, Much Music Awards and ZTV Awards.

His strong sense of fashion combined with his innovative European style and approach means that his videos are 'beautiful, believable and full of personality'. After watching several of his videos I have easily been able to find a distinct style that he uses and this seems to be the use of bright, sharp and clear colours. I feel that this use really brings out the main characters that are being portrayed, and adds emphasis to their movement.

The picture below shows a shot taken from Justin Bieber's 'Baby', and it shows Bieber in a city while the camera circles him at a low angle, with a tilt shot. For me this shows several features; including the fashionable clothes that the star is wearing and the fashionable area that he is in, also the light is mainly coming from behind him from the buildings, but there must be a light from behind the camera to make his clothing and facial expressions visible to the audience.

In the rest of the video I have seen many more examples of shot types, with another main one being a close up of his upper body, showing facial expressions (for the lip sync) and you can also see the hand movements that he is making.

Below is a shot taken from Cheryl Cole's 'Fight For This Love' which is another video that Kay directed. I have taken a similar shot and it really shows the similarities and the style that Kay chooses to use. Again a low angle tilt shot is being used. The lighting is also similar as there is a bright background but your attention is still drawn to the star as she is brightly lit and she is also wearing fashionable clothes. Other similarity's include; close ups, and mid shots (again these are used to show the lip sync and hand movements).

Amateur vs Professional

To help judge the quality of professional videos i have chosen to compare one against an amateur video Amateur Video (Teenage Dirtbag)
Professional video (Teenage Dirtbag)

The video that I have chosen to study in amateur vs professional is "Teenage Dirtbag" by "Wheatus". The professional video is the second one and the amateur one is a video that I found from YouTube, and it was actually made by media students from a different school. The professional video was directed by someone called Jeff Gordon and the song was included on the soundtrack of the movie "Loser". It was released in 2000, peaked at number 2 in the UK charts and the video is set in an American high school.

Camera work

In both videos the quality of picture is very good, with the professional video just having the edge, on bigger screens. This is quite surprising really as with a larger budget you would expect the professional video to have a professional standard of equipment, which leads me to believe that the amateur video group must have had good cameras or the quality of the professional video was reduced when it was uploaded. On another note the shots in both videos are almost identical, with very similar angles and timings. One of the few differences that I can pick up between the two videos are that the tracking shots aren't quite as good (a bit slower and less smooth) in the amateur video and this is probably due to the lack of equipment. Most of the shots are very steady as well, which is probably thanks to the use of a tripod.

Sound

In both videos the sound has been added in 'post production' so I cannot find any differences between the quality.

Editing

Once again the editing in both videos is very similar, with quick edits done especially well and the timings are almost immaculate. The lip syncing is extremely good in the professional video (as you would expect) and the amateur video also boasts reasonably good lip syncing although there are a few bits that are slightly out of time. Also the transitions between shots are the same in both of the videos. The lighting is different in both videos, and I have noticed that in the amateur video most of the light is natural where as in the professional video it is clear that professional lighting has been added and this helps with the detail that can be seen.

Mise en scene

This is probably one of the most important factors in making a video look professional and I feel that the amateur video has done this quite well. Firstly the main difference that I can pick up between the video is the location, as the original video is set in America so obviously the amateurs can't travel over for the filming. The clothing is probably the biggest difference in the mise en scene that I can see, and this is probably due to the students being unable to obtain the same clothing as the professionals have used. A really good attempt has been made though and example of this is of the main singer in the school gym, who has a similar shirt, hat, hair and glasses. Other similarities include, the crowds, score card (in the gym) and the musical equipment. In conclusion I think that the amateur video is very good in comparison with the professional video, which is something that I hope our video can achieve, however there are a few differences that give the video away as a amateur remake and these include, the acting, lighting and clothing. To make our video as professional as possible we will endeavour to make all of these points a high standard with the equipment that we have at our disposal.