In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The promo package contained three separate pieces of media that would contribute to advertising the artist chosen in relation to his/her genre and audience. My research before this was targeted towards the mainstream, looking at artists such as Lazee, freeway and alchemist, so that I could get some ideas as to what editing and effects are used in the genre which my chosen artist is based within. I also researched CD covers, to gain an idea how the artist’s are represented. My research told me that, for the practical of the music video, a lot of green screen work is used, but the connotation within it, is that the artist is shown to be something to aspire to, with the camera shots, props and effects used in them.
I wanted to create something similar to the style used in the mainstream videos, but as my artist was currently knew in the scene, I would need to find some artists who are in a similar position, and less main stream, therefore aiming towards the grime scene. Typical artists in this area include the likes of; Tinie Tempah, G-Fresh, Bashy, Wiley and Kano. Typically they wear certain clothes to advertise themselves or their clothing brand, and will use the locations around them as part of their video, to link the artists to the area that they live in. A lot of further research into music videos from these artists and similar ones were done to make sure I could gain the most knowledge possible before beginning to create my own music video for this artist. The video was to be a performance video as my initial idea did not fit with Goodwin's narrative theories.
Upon researching music videos, I came across several theories which are applied to some music videos. The semic code theory (by Barthes) was something that we focused on, how the character in the video takes on a meaning within the culture we live in, through the scenery, clothing and appearance. Our audience was something we had to consider, because the idea behind the video was to promote the artist, so if the targeted audience was wrong then it wouldn’t be that successful. Typically the grime genre is aimed towards the teens up to young adults, and that’s what we also targeted with our video. We used a face pace of editing between the shots, which was in time with the instrumental beats, allowing the video to be fast paced, and make good use of the excessive footage that we gained during the filming stage.
To follow the typical features of a grime music video, we used both scenery and green screen, so that we could cover both audiences that favoured one of the two. The only problem with this was that, if the outcome was not good enough, then it wouldn’t be liked by the targeted age range. To be able to succeed in this, we decided to keep the green screen footage simple, so that the scenery footage could enhance the video and make the video look effective, simply because of how good the scenery actually was, with the camera shots used and the experimenting with them, such as the 90 degree rotating shot, inspired from La Roux’s video; bulletproof. The technical part of this shot involved propping the video camera up against the wall, and then as the artist moved away from the wall, I had to rotate the camera slowly until both the artist and the camera were level again, which would create the idea that he was lying down and stood up, when in fact he was standing the whole time. We did have a few problems with getting it right, but after a few attempts and editing it to cut several times, it looks seamless and was an effective camera shot to include.
For the mise en scene we were able to find a great location, called ‘Smuggler’s tunnel’. It’s a tunnel that leads down to the beach, but it is a perfect area for a grime music video. Looking at the picture below you can see what I mean, the amber/ambient lighting, and the brick walls, it creates a definite grime feel to it, as it does to experience being in that location.
Our inspired music video initially was one by Torchy Stryder entitled, ‘You’re not alone’. As shown below is examples of how we attempted to replicate similar ideas from this music video.
Our tunnel location is a similar idea, using a lighting which is from a distance, and the artist set into the focal ground. This was used in the direct address sequence, also typical of grime videos.
Our clothing idea is similar to that of Tinchy Stryder’s. He includes his own apparel in his music videos, promoting his clothing brand in his videos.
We tried to copy the idea of using certain props in our video. Here we used an amp for the artist to sit on during the green screen part of the video.
A similar style of camera shots have been used. Beside the difference in camera quality and ability for some shots, we did however use some similar styles for close ups of the artist.
Our ending is similar to that of Tinchy Stryders. The artist turns around and pulls his hood up, walking off. In our music video, the artist turns around, puts his headphones back on and walks back through the tunnel.
In some cases I feel that we managed to use the same idea as the mainstream artist better, such as the ending, and the amount of different clothing we promoted within the one music video. Our tunnel location has a stronger grime feel to it, due to the natural lighting, and the texture of the walls in comparison to that of Tinchy Stryder, where it looks similar to that of inside a ship, with the bolts on the wall.
To conclude, I feel that our video uses the typical conventions of a grime video, but also develops/challenges them, due to the several specific camera shots, such as the 90 degree rotating shot, which was taken from La Roux who is an electro-pop artist, and the contrast between green screen and scenery rather than sticking to one theme. The reason behind this is that the green screen was placed to keep with the current style of grime music videos, but then using the scenery to emphasis on the fact that the artist’s aim is to bring back the retro style to the music culture of grime, such as the tunnel scene, and all of the old, ruined walls shown within the music video.
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