Proposal - Zane

For the music video I will be showing Zane ‘Zenif’ Pritchard, a new grime music artist. He targets the teenage youth audience, from his lyrics about his life, and how typically the youth audience is the biggest audience for this genre. The lifestyle would be based around the streets, relaxed, an everyday life. Due to promoting himself on web 2.0 with social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace teenagers will find it easy to find him, as they use these types of websites on a regular basis.

The video itself will form a narrative, creating a story to represent roughly the lyrics spoken in the song. The artist will wake up, get ready and then go outside, walking through the streets to his location. Along the way he will stop to look at photos, and then some other scenes will be included. A tunnel scene will be used to emphasis on the music genre, as he raps to the camera in front of a quiet tunnel. The photos he looks at will be moving images/videos of himself at ‘MC Battles’ to show himself and what he does, and enjoys. At the end of the video he will be stood in front of a mic where he will say the last few lines of the song, and as it ends, the spotlight on him will go out, as he walks off and it will fade to a black screen to end the video.

As grime videos are used to promote the artist, a possible use of artist branded clothing may be used. As far as the shots are concerned, a lot of medium/long shots of the artist rapping in different locations may be used, with some close ups for certain scenes such as looking at the photos. The photo idea was taken from the video ‘Fit but you know it’ from The Streets. It’s effective as it allows you to include another story while continuing with a different one.

The artist will be represented as a new potential grime music artist, showing off his talent to rap, clothing, and using typical grime setting of rural area such as streets, building works, tunnels, and empty areas.

As far as ideology is concerned, there wouldn’t be many messages implied with the video. I guess that it could bring across the message that not every teenager influenced with rap music and hanging around the streets, aren’t violent, as this representation is commonly thought of by adults.

The camerawork will be very basic, as the focus is on the setting and artist being focused on. Long shots and medium shots will be used mostly, with a few extras to vary it, such as close ups, tracking shots as he walks through the streets.

The Editing will be simple cuts between each shot, and a few fades to the next scene. Special effects such as green screens will not be needed here, as the focus is on the setting with the artist. The editing of the shots will be transitioned after each line is said. E.g. ‘’It’s just one of them days’’ will be a one shot, then when it says it again on the next line, another scene will be played. There will be certain scenes for each stanza so that it doesn’t just look like random shots put together, and so that the narrative can be shown and understood.

The sound will be the soundtrack, played over the recorded footage of the character in the specific areas, voice-lip synchronised with it so that it works.

The mise en scene will be stereotypical to the grime scene. The artist will be in typical hoodies, jeans, jewellery, caps. The setting will be rural, quiet, streets, abandoned areas such as building works, tunnels and more. This will emphasis on the genre of grime hip hop, and give across the representation within the soundtrack, of ‘’one of them days’’, the impression of it being dull, lonely, boring.

Zane is not currently on a record label as far as I know, which means he could have a promising future depending on how successful this video turns out to be. This video would most likely be promoted on his web 2.0 sites, such as Facebook, Myspace and YouTube. It would also be possibly shown on Channel U, as artists with early experience in grime/hip hop music have their videos shown there.

Music video ideas

After a quick informal presentation to my media group about my plans for my music video i'll be creating for the task, and the suggestions they gave back to me in response, I decided to research a few music videos for ideas.

The Gaslight Anthem - Old White Lincoln





















In this video there are videos being played in what looks to be a book, beside pictures. This has been used to show off the artist, not only live, but on album covers and pictures of him at the same time. This allows the artist to be fully advertised in his own music video, with several different medias and scenes.


Nizlopi - The JCB song





















This song is simply a cartoon animation the whole way through. It is effective because it is slow, and looks like a comic strip drawing on pieces of lined paper. Using the cartoon sketch for the video helps to create the calm, chilled atmosphere that the song itself is representing.


Wiley - Wot do u call it





















In this video there is a nice shot where a close up is used while Wiley raps into the mic. This idea I was wanting to use in my video. Another shot I liked was where he is walking out from a tunnel, with the dim orange lighting. I could possibly use this one aswell.


The Streets - Fit but you know it

















In this video, there is the use of playing videos through the photo that he is holding, which is used throughout. This idea of playing a video through the photo I was thinking of using, to show the live performances from my artist.


Aha - Take on me

















Within this video, there is a nice use of sketches used with actual taken footage. This helps to create the idea of realism and fantasy, representing what the artist wants, and in reality they get it.

Camera techniques

After a quick introduction to some of the effective camera shots and transitions which we could use in our music videos from our teacher, we decided to go out and attempt filming a few of them. Here is the first, the 'dissapear' shot;


















This shot can be useful to allwo the visual to keep to the musical beat of the instrumental in the background of the music, or the vocal. It also allows the video to not need so much footage to be taken of different areas, as it can tyake up more time by using the dissapear shot, which does in turn look really effective also, as shown in the video below;



The next shot we attempted was the 'Time lapse', speeding up the background while the character/artist is still moving at a normal pace.

Initially the footage will have to be considerably longer than what the final footage will be. I took about three minutes of footage, and cut it down to roughly 10 seconds. The effect this time was a little scratched, but i'm sure with some practice this shot could be a very professional, polished scene to include within my music video.



We then moved onto the shot I will call 'Graphic match transition', as I cannot think of the proper term right now.

















Basically, the character will walk into the camera, and will then walk out of the camera, but in a different location, this is used in many films and videos, such as Snatch, during the introduction with the use of objects to transite to the next shot.



The final shot we took was called the 'reverse' shot.It involes filming something, and then playing it on the video reversed, so that it shows the opposite of what was recorded.

















The idea behind this is to make it look like something happens which naturally, couldn't in our world we live in. For example, the well-known idea of "using the force" to pull something towards you, we don't have the supernatural powers to physically be able to do, right? Well in this video below you can see it happening, but remember it is just simply a reversed video of the actor simply throwing the object out from his pocket. This shot would have to be thought about as to how it would look in reverse for it to be successful in the final outcome.



Although many of the shots discussed, and those I filmed I may not use in my music video itself, this has given me a better idea of what I could put into it, and how easy it is to make these effects happen.

Ideas for cartoon character of artist

The past few days has been spent creating ideas for this cartoon version of the artist, from the requirements which he asked for, which include;

• shoe laces in a bow shape, hanging down
  
• adidas trainers
  
• a 'bling' belt
  
• diamond ear
  
• wearing a hoody/jacket
  
• looks similar to the artist
  

In the previous versions of the image below I did include the requirements which were not in this final one, although this was my more successful one in terms of the shape of the character and his clothing, though not perfected, or a face on him.

I did use reference images to get it right however, such as taking pictures of my own feet wearing adidas shoes, so that I could get the view right as I find it hard to draw shoes head on, and using a reference picture of a belt i felt fitted the term 'bling' dur to it's reflective texture, and camouflage on the strap of the belt.

here is an image of the reference picture;

















So as you can see, the use of text on the belt inspired me to use the artist's name in the same position as it has been done.

Here's the final design for the character, alongside my own which was unfinished.




Personally I feel that my design would have looked alot more professional had I finished it. Over the next few days I might finish it so that I can compare the two properly. Mine had included all of the features that he had asked for, and yet he thought that his design looked better. Althought I wasn't happy with his decision due to my efforts, I decided to accept his decision because what the artist thinks is the final decision as what is being made is for him.

Lyrics to the chosen song and moodboard

The song Zane aka Zenif gave me is called 'One of dem days'.
I was not given the lyrics, but I thought best to try and figure them out myself so that I could get a rough idea of the meanings and thoughts within the song itself.

Here is a list of the lyrics;

Chorus
Its just one of them days
one of them days
with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past
its just one of them days
one of them days with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past

Verse
Once again it seems like
one of them days
with that same old pattern
and that same old craze
every single day i'll see a familiar face
its like everythings moving at the same pace
its all the same stuff
nothing varies
that's why you'll catch me, away with the faries
'cos they keep me from getting anxious and getting lairy
'cos as i said before man, nothing varies

Chorus
Its just one of them days
one of them days
with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past
its just one of them days
one of them days with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past

Verse
Life nowadays is extremely tedious
too much hype which can not be taken serious
never to to plan star, period
i find your humour on the roads acting mischivious
so i chase and I team with a paper and pen
i spit bars on the mic i try for 10 out of ten
then the next day comes its the same thing again
rusty saying things have changed i'm like when blud when

Chorus
Its just one of them days
one of them days
with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past
its just one of them days
one of them days with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past

Verse
This had gotta chase me i cant take it no more
im taking life as it comes but im thinking what for
this same old routine its driving me to the core
the core of insanity my brain is red rore
its the same old shit just from different days
the same old pattern, and the same old ways
the same happenings and the same old ways
but i guess, its just, one of them days

Chorus
Its just one of them days
one of them days
with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past
its just one of them days
one of them days with the same old drafts
its just one of them days
one of them days and i gotta let it past


Apologies to any of the mistakes with spelling, I was writing it down while listening to the song over and over.
While looking over at the lyrics, I decided to comment a few notes about them.
A use of repitition of the phrase "One of them days" has been used throughout the song, to represent a sense of regular occurrence, of this thing he does each day that 'drives me to the core'. A sense of aggrovation, wanting something new to happen, from what he is used to doing day in day, out each day.
It ends and starts with the chorus, which allows a constant flow of the music, and creates an easy path where you can add a similar into and ending, so that it can flow with the visual of the music video also.

I then decided to listen to it again, creating a mood board, which I decided to lay out as a spider diagram, to quickly put down the ideas and room for branching off to further ideas.

A detailed list of the mood board includes;

• Cheerful
• Relaxing
• Uplifting
• Pretend/Surreal - Fairies around him on the verse "Away with the fairies", a happy feeling
• Underground scene - Tunnels, under the bridge, clubs
• Character rapping infront of a mic, with spotlight maybe
• Walking through the streets
• Urban area - Building works, lonely streets - represent lyrics and atmosphere a
• Camera followed by the artist - walking
• Dull, gloomy -sky/atmosphere
• Waking up, show what happens for him during the day to tell us why it's just "one of them days"

This rough set of ideas will help me to create a good theme to base the video on, and many ideas I can focus on using.

Promotional idea within music video

After speaking with Zenif erlier tonight, we discussed possibly promoting himself in the form of clothing in the video,
He gave me ideas which he had, in the form of images, and explanations.
I was given a picture for the temp idea of his for the signature of his.
The text on it is really nice and simple, which could be used for the t-shirt idea.
















The second idea was to create a kind of cartoon character of himself to be printed onto his t-shirt. He gave me the ideas he wanted, such as the big diamond ear ring, hoody, chain etc, the typical gangster kind of appearance, emphasising on the main items. As he has had a slight experience in graphic design also, we agreed to both create an idea over the next few days and compare them, which is a great chance to compete and make one better, but also use two different sets of ideas together to make a quality t-shirt design.

Discussion with client, music artist 'Zenif'

We had a discussion about possible settings, ideas in the music video and the initial ideas for the scenes, in comparison to some of the lyrics.

Our basic conclusion was to use a setting by a forest/field with trees, with a gloomy background/sky for the chorus. For the main verses, a short story will be shown, possibly the artist getting up in the morning, roaming the streets, doing his everyday things, to relate to the lyrics, "same olf pattern, same old ways", repeating certain scenes to emphasis on this.

The ending will consist of the artist by a mic with a spotlight upon him, he will be rapping to the lyrics, and then as his part ends, and the instrumentals are carried on, and a repear every few seconds of "beats" in a high pitch voice, the lights will flash on and off, as he walks off from the spotlight and out of the scene, which will then go to a full black screen as the song ends, and the artist's words "Zanif Productions" will come up to finish it off.

This is just a basic outline from the discussion we both had, I will be creating a mood board next, to give me a wider range of possible ideas for this video.