Cultural Studies Approach On Audience

This approach, according to David Morley, says that audiences aren't just passive when consuming media forms of text. Instead, an active role is taken, and based upon the indivual themselves, readings can vary within the same social group. The Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies concluded that audiences adopt different standpoints in relation to the values expressed within a media text. This includes:

• A preferred reading, whereby the audience understand the values being presented by the media form and accept them as natural and correct.
• A negotiated reading includes audiences which recognise the values in the text as legitimate and accept them to a degree, but adapt their reading of the text to fit in with their own strong values based upon experiance and belief.
• An oppositional reading where the understood values within the text are rejected.

Our music video will most certainly cause divisons in readings dependent on both interest and age. Elderly audiences will most certainly take an oppositonal view of the text, due too the uncouth glorification of wealth and gluttony and the many close ups of cigars and alcoholic beverages. However, because our target audience consists of a 14 - 25 year range, this oppositional reading would not find itself too relevent in the success of the video. Those in publishing and reviewing, the writers who work for music magazines like NME are paid to be critical of media texts, however our music video will hopefully be recognised as a text that uses the convention of gloating and greed in successful rapper music video's, but twists it on it's head as we find out the success is immaterial and part of the rapper's dream. Perhaps this will cause UK magazine reviewers like NME and uncut too take a greater preferred reading too the text for this reason than, for example, an American magazine like Empire.

Time Mangement Success

So far we've managed to keep to our deadline's set in our course time mangement table. Up to the 19th we are supposed to have completed all our digipak work and gained the required feedback. Over the next couple of weeks we are supposed to have completed our planning, but we already have begun on that so are currently ahead of our predicted timeline!

Our original time mangement sheet - http://jameswallera2mediastudies.blogspot.com/2011/11/time-management.html

Shotlist

Shotlist:

*Our shot descions in editing are a matter of improvision. Therefore shots listed here are not all that we will take, but the neccessitiys. Many more shots will be taken inspirationally on-location.*

In Hyatt Suite Hotel -

1. Close Up of Jon's face
2. Zoom out and camera tilt as Jon sits up
3. Still MS of Jon
4. Vertical Tilt up Jon
5. Over shoulder shot of jon looking out window
6. Long shot of Jon looking out window
7. Close up of Jon's face looking out window
8. MS staring out of lift window
9. Close up of Newspaper in hands
10. Over shoulder, high angle towards newspaper in lap
11. Dolly backwards as Jon walks towards cam
12. Close up of Jon walking towards dolly cam
13. High angle shot looking down on jon on bed
14. Low angle of jon on bed
15. Close up of money in hand
16. Pan up hand and arm
17. Close up of Cigar
18. Pan towards mouth
19. MS of Jon's face with cigar in mouth
20. Long range shot of Jon with legs up on piano
21. Close up of shoes on Piano
22. Close up of view outside window
23. Close up of view as going up lift
24. Close up of Diamond earring
25. Long range of walking through lobby
26. Stationary MS behind pillar of Jon walking across frame
27. Close up of champagne bottle
28. Pan across to champagne glass
29. Close up of Jons face
30. High angle shot of Piano keys
31. Low angle shot of Hyatt
32. Long range shot of Hyatt

In Train Station -

1. Close up of Train Doors
2. Long range wide lens of Train
3. Stationary establishing shot of Train in station
4. Close up of Jon's Face
5. Close up when head against window
6. Over shoulder shot of Ticket master
7. MS of both having conversastion
8. Low angle shot of two having conversastion
9. Close up of ticket in hand
10. Close up of cheap jewellry
11. Pan up of cheap clothing
12. Long shot down carriagway of Jon on own
13. Close up of tacky newspaper
14. Over the shoulder shot of Jon opening up newspaper
15. Reactionary shot after looking at newspaper
16. Close up of feet getting onto train
17. Close up of fingers nudging Jon's shoulder
18. Slow pan following arm of ticket master

Outside Street View -

1. Stationary Long shot as Jon walks towards Camera
2. Pan as Jon walks past camera
3. Stationary LS as Jon walks away
4. Close up of Graffiti
5. Pan Down of Jon's clothes
6. Close up of lager can
7. Close up of shoes
8. Establishing shot of warehouse
9. Long shot of cracked pavement
10. Dolly cam of Jon walking across pavement

Storyboard

An 'animatic' storyboard of the first 30 seconds of our video. Liberties were taken on location, props and actors because of the difficulty in gaining access too all three.

Movement and blocking

In our music video, coreography and movement will be a reaction from the artist to the lyrics. This is unlike other music videos, where dancers etc are used to illustrate points and our music video research shows that nearly all hip-hop or alternative rap music videos do not use dancers.
Therefore, the matching of lyrics to specific movements from our star peformer are of the highest priority.

"Never take a time out"
These lyrics are in the first verse, and as an example of our technique of Andrew Goodwin's theorys of music videos, we will not be illustrative of the lyrics and instead amplifying. This is shown by how the lyrics do not relate directly with the video. However, their is slight irony in a connection of the artist calling for 'time out', whilst being lazy in the video and clearly taking a break.

"I'm in a major zone"
These lyrics are part of the first verse away from the beginning chorus, and this medium body shot will be used as part of a long take, to then be interjected throughout the rest of the verse by varying shots and locations. This will therefore be a dolly camera, as the artist walks towards the camera before gestures like seen here - in order to gloat his weatlh and success.

"Serious, higher than a nimbus"
Yet another 'riches' shot, the material boasting is highly present in this wide angle shot, and we would use a similar shot in order to show off as many expensive possessions as possible. The lyrics relate to the video here, in that whilst our peformer will smoke a cigar, lyrics will be talking of being high.

"To the penthouse we go"
These lyrics will be illustrated by the video, as a glass lift as seen in this image is available in our filming location straight to the penthouse. This allows us too pull off dramatic mid-range shots and quick cuts to reflect the movement of a rising lift.

"Watch me as I come up from the bottom and ascend the charts"

The first of our 'Rags' examples, this will be a dolly camera where our main peformer walks down the pavement towards the camera. This gesture of pointing towards the sky will be used alongside these lyrics, in reference too the future success of our star's rap.

"Train noise"

At the start of the muisc video, our track contains the noise of public transport in the background. Instead of trying too wait till the perfect shot, we came too the conclusion a close up of our star image will be used as the firstpart of our video's narrative.

Costume and Props

Our costume and props are mainly two different, opposing styles of 'rags to riches' that will be juxtaposed in the video  and so I'll differentiate between the two when listing them here.

'Rags' Costume

Costume - Adidas Red Tracksuit -Jon's
Costume - New Era Red Cap - Jon's
Costume -Nike SD Shoes - Jon's
Costume - Black Under-vest - Jon's


'Rags' Props
Props - Lager Cans- Jay's

Props - Coke Cartons - Tom's

Props - Tobacco Roll Ups - Tom's

'Riches' Costume

Costume - White Shirt - Jon's

Costume - Black Straight Tie - Jon's

Costume - Black Smart Shoes - Jon's

Costume - Black Silk Trousers - Jon's

Costume - Black Waistcoat - Jon's

Costume - Black Fur Coat - Jon's
Costume - Diamond Earing - Jon's

'Riches' Props

Props - King-size Bed - Supplied by hotel

Props - Piano - Supplied by hotel

Props - Champagne - Jay

Props - Cuban Cigar - Jay

Organisation of locations/permission

Hyatt Recency hotel, Birmingham

This is the Hyatt recency hotel, Birmingham. The idea of our video is to express the juxtaposition between rich and poor. This is where we're going to film the rich and glamorous scenes.


Permission ? 


Luckily, One of us have family who work there. He has managed to grant us permission.

Foregate train stations, Worcester

An idea within our video is that the star is going to fall asleep on a train and dream about becoming famous, so this is where we're going to film it. We are also going to film other general shots here.

Permission?


It's a public place, however we are going to contact the station before filming.

Worcester City

This is where we're going to contrast the star as a regular person using the 'rags to riches' theme.

Permission? 


Worcester City is a public place, therefore we're granted to film there.

Possible Casting.

Role? Main performer.

Who? Jon Goddin.

Why? Jon is very photogenic. He enjoys performing arts which he performed at college, he's at ease in front of a camera. His lifestyle, as reflected by his Facebook pictures here, matches the star image we wish to create, making him a natural fit to be our main peformer in our music video.

Role? Main performer.

Who? Marcus Dowdeswell.

Why? He is very reliable and confident, who will look good on the camera and be able to act well & efficiently . However, I'm concerned that because we are such good friends that he won't take it seriously and will mess around and it might be harder to film more complex shots.

Role? Main performer

Who? Stefan Vasiljevic.

Why? He fit the genre of a rapper appearance very well with some features like dreadlocks. He's close and reliable, however he's very busy and may not be reliable/flexible that we require.

This led us to conclude that out of our potential actors, Jon Goddin was somebody who could help with our organisation and mobilisation (E.g has a car for us all to travel is and lives by the area were filming at in Broad Street, Birmingham), and suits the star image that we are trying to create through our music video!

Research into target audience

Target Audience Profile

View more presentations from Drwallerbong

Our Audience Feedback from digipaks and advert suggested that our hip hop genre was being adhered too and ideas fulfilled in our finished design, this audience was just under 30 people in quantity.

Response to Digipak:
As you can see, the comment related to the questions posed, but gave constructive criticism alongside praising comments like "Really like the font".

Response to Advert:

The immedite response too the question of what genre this advert relates too, shows that we progressed onto the right direction for our music video in it's most conventional form.

This is a list of those in our focus group, an audience specifically picked out of our audience feedback group. I had a short interview with one, whose responses left us with far more positives then need for admendment.
Us: Out of our two music videos shown, did the two show enough to convince you a 'rags to riches' idea is feasible?
Audience: I think that both would work well together, like directly against one another. It would show the greater difference if both were sharing the same screen.
Us: Would you honestly consider purchasing our digipak, and if so why?
Audience: I probably would, it is similar to other rap albums. It's good idea though because while rich people are shown off all the time, poor people are not usually given the oppoutunity.
Us: In the music video we are using, 'Danger Zone' - Chiddy Bang. After hearing this song, do you think it suits our idea for a music video?
Audience: Unlike other Chiddy Bang stuff, this song is quite aggressive and i think the idea of a rich guy in a skyscraper shows that well. If you'd have picked nearly any other Chiddy Bang song though i would have flat-out refused.
Us: Finally, how realistic do you think a professional execution of our ideas for a music video is?
Audience: You'll be cool, just need to make sure the main actor gets their on the day.

Time management

In november we sorted of the time management sheet that we created on Microsoft exel and included every detail of our project that needs completing in a certain date to have full organisation on our project. I have included the idea process, the final research summary, and final deadlines.

I also used my Iphone which allowed me to update blogs on the move. Also I used my calender to help manage time management.

Advert

Swagpak

This is a magazine cover for Plan B's album called The Defamation of Strickland Banks is a story-based soul-up volte-face about a man being wrongly sent down. 


The star image or this magazine is self centred, taking up the majority of of the page. The colour scheme is very basic which is only black, white and red. The black and white effect is very effect but very conventional for this type of genre. This advert is very detailed, it's consists of websites, the album cover, awards positive album reviews. This has encouraged me to included such fine detail on mine, positive reviews will attract the audience and pre-set the listeners opinion. 


 This magazine advert is A4 size, this is due to popularity of the artist, the target audience for this advert is aimed at a very general audience, soul music can connect to many people. Therefore using a large advery would attract their attention.The key element find I find interesting from this advert is the fact it's in the soul music genre, therefore old. The black and white newspaper effect is very effect. I also find the fact that he's wearing 1950's clothes confirms the fact that they are moulding this advert around an iconic genre.  



This is an advert from the rapper Scott Mescudi, also known as KiD CuDi. His alternative sub genre of hip hop album is portrayed very unconventionally as his CD is been advertised as in the form of a move poster.


The image is very savage and the mood is also manipulated through the dark, cold murder scene. The black and red connote a very disturbing scene, reflects the dark lyrical content within the album. However the font for the artists name is made of the cosmos, this also reinforces the artist's star image which is mystery and adventure. It also reflects that the artist is intrigued by space.


Instead of a conventional advert, this wasn't advertised in a magazine. This 'poster' was advertised very much like a  film poster, in the street and on buildings. This alternative type of advertising very much reinforces the stars alternative image and expresses his creativity.


Finally this is a magazine advert from the soul-hip hop group Gnarls Barkey. Unlike the two other albums this one doesn't include the stars, but instead includes cartoons. 


The main element within this advert are the graphics used, the idea within the concept show's a mushroom cloud exploding with a vary of cartoon images varying from bombs to panthers. I feel like this explosion connotes of creativity. This reinforces the star image as the group as


This advert was found within a music magazine which took up the 2/3 of the page, the target audience this is aimed at a very broad market, therefore needs to be a very clear, eye catching image. 


The key element of this advert is the contrast between the beige back ground contrasting between the black smoke cloud and colourful cartoons. This heavy contrast between colours is very effective and I intend to use this in my print work. 

Researching Digipaks.

This is the digipak for the KiD CuDi album 'Man On The Moon: The End Day'. The genre of the music is alternative hip hop, the use of album art is iconic. KiD CuDi's music is very sophomore, it leaves wonder within the listener and creates its own sub-psychedelic genre.

The key elements within this digipak lies solely within the front cover. The image of the KiD CuDi's face blended in the moon is very powerful, it connotes mystery and fascination, reinforcing the alternative genre and the style of the stars image.

 The use of the detail on the album cover is very basic, personally I feel that this amplifies the image to the audience. This is also achieved by the strong contrast between  the red and the blue is very compelling and attracting, this color scheme would separate it from its competition on the selves within a record store. I feel that this primary color scheme is very power and aim to include this within my work. The target audience this CD is aimed at is 16-30 year old's with a different taste of conventional hip hop music.

This this is the album cover to Drake's oncoming Album 'Take Care'. He ruminates on the trade-offs of his rapid ascent and uncomfortable personal history, including family debt and his mother's illness, both of which drove him to chase a career in music, he says. His genre would be described as a mix between and conventonial hip-hop and alternative. 


This album appears that Drake appears draped in gold jewelry and looking bothered, with his head hanging down. Influenced by a created fictional world, describing a love affair with an ambitious stripper who can't quite get out of the life and the hard adjustment to fame. 


This Album cover challenges the convention of the genre by the emotions that Drake is expressing, the majority of the digipaks within this genre are showing the star images as joyful, however here; Drakes head is hanging down. Although the genre is reinforced by the amount of gold and classy environment. This is an idea that I want to incorporated into my own printing work. The font used is very similar to and autograph which also reinforces the concept of fame. The target audience for this album is very generalized as he is such an mainstream artist, this aimed at the majority of 15-30 year olds. 

This is the album cover for the KiD CuDi album 'Man on the Moon II- The legend of Mr Rager'. As like the first one this album is very sophomoric and very unconventional within the hip-hop genre. 


This album shows KiD CuDi slumped of a weathered and worn copy of his album, he's sitting on a wooden stool looking upset. He's dressed in a suit while hunched over a portrait of the cosmos . 

Again, this album cover challenges a conventional album cover within this genre, however the niece target audience would appreciated it's artistry. If you find this the album cover interesting, KiD CuDi's unorthodox style of rap is probably for you. As like the other pieces I have analysed this digipak is very basic, like is to amplifies the connotative of the message within the cover. The main element that attracted me to this digipak is the weathered, crumpled effect. The lighting is high key, focusing on the star and the rest is shadowed, I feel that I'm going to use a similar concept within my own print work.

Feed back evaluation.

Pitching our idea.

This is our Prezi presentation which is pitching our idea for our music video.




This is me and Jay performing our pitch.

Seeking permission from Chiddy Bang.

Creative swagboard task.

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. - Edwin Land. 

Creativity-'The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns,relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations.'

During this week, we decided upon our song: 'Danger Zone' by Chiddy Bang.
 

This enabled us to begin to 'brainstorm' ideas for our music video, beginning to discuss location, costume and props that would suit our preferred song. We  then explored our surrounding area at college taking pictures that we felt reflected the mood of our music video. We were, however, limited by points of interest in the surrounding area. This collage in fact only reflects the mood of half our music video, the rest being inaccessible to us at this moment in time.

What effect has YouTube had on music?

I have been reading an article by Mitch Rotten (http://www.quora.com/What-effect-has-YouTube-had-on-music) who has done research on how youtube has changed the way of music. He's focused on the way people access musical content on the site and how stars can be born.

In the early days record companies argued that certain clips infringe copyright therefore wanted to remove them, courts argued  that content owners can't indiscriminately issue takedowns claiming infringement without considering the use. Youtube now takes a lean approach to the matter, linking the original content to the orginal artist. In this article research states that  '250 high school students at a Grammy event this year how they consumed their music and nearly all of them agreed that YouTube was the easiest way to listen music (not to mention there are many browser plug-ins that let you convert audio in video clips to MP3s).' This could be a growing problem for the music industry.

Several global superstars who top the billboard charts founded their career on youtube. Youtube birthed the  "pseudo video" which is basically a static image or a montage of images to the video components. Such as the one below. 

This is a perfect example of a "pseudo video" which is basically a static image over their track.

This track as generated nearly 800,000 views, therefore boosting popularity of the track at the artist. Youtube has a second nature of creating superstars from musical talents, sometimes in the matter of months. Justin Beiber was discovered on youtube and now is the most popular artist in the world at the moment. However such artists as Rebecca Black' paid $4000 to make a professional music video on youtube.

(shown below).  


This video has generated more than 170 million views online turning Rebecca a viral megastar, kicking starting a profitable music carear.