By Warsan Bargadle

Our media product develops the conventions already in place for Hip-Hop music videos. This is mainly due to strong performance element that we have incorporated within the structure of our music video. This has become evident to us when we analysed a range of different indicative videos.

Also, through the use of Mise-en-Scene, a technical code we told our artist to wear a costume that was comfortable, since all the artists in the videos we analysed they wore casual clothes like jeans, hoodies and jumpers. We did this because this costume is associated with the Hip-Hop genre of music. Since our artist is part of our target audience, he owned several of the costumes we wanted so we chose the best ones. This were the character codes which are recognisable to our target audience.

Chris Brown and Eminem both wearing typical clothes that fit the Hip-Hop genre (hoodie and jeans).

In this 2 pair of shots, I have used the Devlin Brainwashed video which integrated the elements that we wanted to achieve through the used of close-ups and medium close-ups.

My artist fits the Hip-Hop genre by conforming to the mainstream outfit usually worn.

Through the use of facial expressions and body language we were able to interpret the mood and atmosphere, non-verbally. The facial expressions that our artist used showed that he was open and a confident performer. The body language of our performer had very open body language, this is due to a lot of upper body movement particularly the hands. As we have found out gesturing a lot is also very much apart of the Hip-Hop convention, since these several artists currently constantly show. I believe this has become so well-known because a lot of Hip-Hop artists do not dance, so instead they show their passion for their lyrics through the use of a lot of upper body movements. An important thing we wanted to conform to was ‘cult of the star’, which is the making of artist into a star like these rappers have achieved.

Importance of conforming to the mainstream conventions? These conventions are important so that we do not lose our target audience.

Therefore, they have recognisable aspects that they can realise is part of the Hip-Hop genre.

Our audience are the most important people to impress, therefore there must be a range of elements that we need to incorporate in order for them to be familiar with them.

This is the reason we used a range of indicative videos that we have taken our inspiration from, as well as adding a few extra things of our own.

These artists all fit the Hip Hop genre. They show a lot of expression on their faces, as well as a lot of hand gestures to signify a particular point. These performances are what make it memorable, therefore our artist adopted this style to use in his performances too. These codes and conventions are the vital elements that our target audience can relate to the our performer and his lyrics.

•The locations we used in our music video consist of generic and common places that youths are associated with. This includes in front of graffiti walls which most likely they would have created. We asked our target audience, they explained that they had expected to see these kind of locations as they relate the genre with the locations.

•The technical codes also helped to construct a conventional music video. Through the use of camera we were able to position it in such a way that we could conform to the conventions. Throughout the music video we arranged the frame of the shot mainly as an eye-line shot, so the camera angles would not signify anything like vulnerability or superiority. However, we used a range of shot types to show a capture footage from different distances, so that when we edited it we would have a variety of different shots.

Close up of face. Medium close-up of waist upwards.

These 2 shotsedited together.

Location we used of graffiti wall that youth are normally associated with.

Immortal Technique ft Diabolic: Frontlines music video where artist is performing against a graffiti wall.

The lighting used in music videos can also create an intended mood. For example, the scenes on location we didn't use additional lighting, we just made use of natural lighting. This is also a convention of Hip-Hop music videos as shown in many videos especially Devlin ‘Runaway’ and Lowkey ‘Something Wonderful. The graffiti is a way of expressing their combined love for art and music. It originated from teenagers who had a passion for music and could only articulate them through spoken word. Therefore, in my artists case performing these lyrics in front of a graffiti wall was an effective way means of getting emotions and feelings about terrorism and violence he talks about in his lyrics.

These are music video indicatives that we choose to replicate. We liked the idea of the graffiti background and the Hip-Hop target audience like it too. Therefore, we conformed to the Hip-Hop genre by imitating to the locations they used.

But in the projection we were in a dark room, so the projected images could be seen clearly against the white background. This made our artist the central key image in the centre of the screen.

Here are before and after pictures of projection scenes. The picture below is heavily influenced by the indicative videos. We recreated this by including a light source, which inevitably created some shadows.

Both are music video indicatives that we wanted to replicate in the projection scenes. Therefore, does conform to mainstream Hip-Hop.

Small light we had to use to make him appear clearer. This is part of three-point lighting, but we decided to just use a key light which is the strongest and most influential light. Placed on side so that side is well-lit whereas around our artist their are some shadows which make him stand out more. Low-key lighting used here.

There are also other types of elements that we conformed to. The music video that we looked at for inspiration was the ‘Enimem-When I’m gone’. However, this in particular was very important to us in trying to convey an important message. The lyrics displayed here say ‘You ain’t seen terriost yet’. This is a very controversial issue so we wanted to highlight this by making our artist write them down and we filmed this. This is the same in the Enimem video, as the lyrics he wrote down are mean a lot to him too. Therefore, this freedom of expression was very important to us. We haven't glamorised these aspects as it is more reality based and a sensitive issues to express.

This is another element that we saw in the Jordin Sparks- One step at a time music video indicative. We replicated in it in a dark room in Beach studio and placed a spotlight so his feet could be seen clearly. This was an aspect that we thought was very successful in this particular music video as the rhythm of the beat matches the beat of the soundtrack. Since, they placed this scene at the beginning of the video, it introduces the beat of the music. So we adapted this element as placed it at the end of our music video to close and end of our music video effectively.

On the left is how our final video looked when we replicated Enimem video on the right.

On the right is our end product when we incorporated Jordins music video. However, she placed it at the beginning but we put it at the end, but it gave the same effect.

In this particular song-Straight up Hip-Hop, some of the lyrics are explicit and not suitable for really young people. Therefore, there are a lot of ethical issues from the lyrics that we need to address. This is the main reason we have put a logo on the front of the front cover of the CD to ensure that young people under the age of 10 shouldn’t be listening to it. The main reasons for the explicit lyrics are because our artist covers and tackles with a lot of controversial topics and issues. For example, in regards to religion he says ‘I’m governing my own religion’ and ‘I practise scientology’.

Also the lyrics ‘all you people do is talk about terrorist threats, give me a break man you ain’t seen terrorist yet’. This verse we wanted to highlight as this is a major topic that he covers in this song. This shows his frustration to how the terrorist attacks here was bad, however not as bad as the bloodshed occurring in his hometown. Therefore, we thought we should emphasize this particular lyric by making him write it down so everyone recognises it as significant.

Another bit that I wanted to elaborate on is the lyrics that state, ‘Man I don’t understand you people sometimes ,

I don't understand why motherfuckers use each other all the time

pissed off, I’m chopping the head of racist reverend

running through the streets on September eleventh. This particular part of the lyrics could be considered very controversial; this is

because in the events of September the eleventh, there was a lot of hatred towards the people that initiated it. From the media blaming a particular group of people, this could have led to racist views arising from the victims and the American public. Therefore, this event has definitely touched and affected our artist and the racism that has spouted from this event so he decided to express them in this song.

Another ethical dilemma is that this type of persuasion to buy our product could be seen as manipulation . Manipulation seems like a bad way of saying influencing someone to do something. Due to the propaganda that some people perform, it could be seen as manipulation if there is a sheer amount of it everywhere.

However, on the other hand big corporations could consider it as promotion of their product on there cross-media ownership of different subsidiary companies.

These corporations are an elite group of people that try to influence people by or consume their product which is called hegemony. However, our artist talks about a range of different issues and views that we consider to be pluralist.

Thus, there are always 2 sides to every story, it just depends on the individuals own interpretation of the situation.

The main issue how we overcame the ethical issue of his lyrics being to controversial is that freedom of speech is a very important aspect that many people agree with. This is a foremost element that my artist has considered when writing the lyrics, which is the opposite of censorship.

Also, another ethical issue that could be considered not morally right or unethical is, to be selling and promoting a lifestyle that the majority of people cannot afford.

This means that people could find ways which are deemed illegal to fund and support this way of life. Since, our target audience are at an impressionable age, these type of influences could really affect them.

However, when we were all individually designing a front cover, we all included the parental advisory label. This is to ensure a level of censorship, so that younger people who shouldn’t be exposed to this cannot consume this product.

The real judge of how effective the combination of our music video and our ancillary texts were our target audience. This is why we gathered 30 people and held a focal group. The large sample size will overcome bias and reduce the risk of chance results. They described what they liked from the CD cover and advert and what elements they could relate to the music video.

After they described what they thought of how well the ancillary texts markets the product we constructed a questionnaire.

I gathered the results of the questionnaire and made a graph to illustrate how effective the ancillary texts were in marketing the music video.

The results will either prove or disprove what we hoped to achieve and the best way to see how successful our end product is, is to get target audience feedback.

The questionnaire that I created consisted of a combination of 8 quantitative or closed questions and 2 qualitative or open questions. The advantage of quantitative questions is so I could gather numerical data that I could put into a chart to represent percentages. On the other hand, I wanted to gather a range of different responses that would improve my final product so I also included qualitative or open questions.

There is definitely synergy between the music video and the ancillary texts. Due to the audience feedback that I analysed in the next slides, the percentage of people by glancing at the ancillary texts will consume our product.

This means that my proposed target audience will clearly recognise the relationship between the ancillary texts and the product which is the music video.

The main thing the focal group liked was the bright and attractive colours on the advert and CD covers, so the music video also has these bright colours. For example, on location natural lighting used in the daytime and in the projection colours like red are projected onto the white screen. Therefore, the bright colours is a theme that runs through the video and the ancillary texts.

Especially, with the front cover and advert that we chose, the audience feedback was that they could clearly see the relationship between them. However, the advert that they chose as the best was another advert that we designed, however it didn't correspond and connect with the front cover as much as this particular advert. This we all gathered from our audience feedback for which we were truly grateful.

Pictures of our bright final chosen front cover and advert that has strong relationship with the main product which is the music video. This is due to the bright colours and the main central image of our artist.

This is my back cover that was chosen. This was the reason because it contrast with the front cover but still shows synergy as it is a location shot that matches the genre of music the artist portrays which is Hip-Hop.

This is Ariba’s advert that we chose as a group to market our final product of the music video. This is due to the tremendous amount of synergy between the digi-pack as a whole and this advert. During construction she placed a little picture of the front cover which showed a great response by our target audience.

This is Ariba’s chosen inside cover. This shows synergy and relationship with the back cover as the same shades of colour are used. Also, our target audience responded greatly to the picture on the left hand side as it looked very appealing.

Synergy is very important to us with respect to choosing a final set because there has to be an evident relationship and correlation between the two things, otherwise it will be unrecognisable by our target audience. This confusion is what we aim to avoid therefore when choosing a final digi-pack we made sure we had strong connections between the front, back, inside and advert.

The main reasons for audience feedback are:-

To make sure the consumer audiences views are heard so we can spot bas aspects of the video earlier. This means we have a chance to improve the video to fit our target audiences criteria. They are the people we need to impress, therefore we need to give them a say so we know which areas to improve upon.

Also, if our video does finally fit the criteria they require and desire from us then we know that our music video could potentially be very successful.

On the other hand, if our video is perfect by the end of it our target audience would appreciate it and we as makers of the video will get recognition for our hard work and effort.

Based on the responses we can also figure out and predict how successful our artists career could potentially be.

1) From the advert and CD cover do you think the music video will be mainly performance or narrative based? Circle one.

Performance Narrative 2) What do you like most about the CD cover and advert? Circle one. Colour Picture 3) Was the link between the CD cover and advert and the music video easy to

establish? Yes No 4) Do you usually listen to this genre of music? Yes No 5) Does the video look like typical Hip-Hop video? Yes No 6) If yes what features did you like about the music video? Please write here. ................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................... 7) Did you like the colours used in advert and CD cover? Yes No 8) What kind of TV program do you think you would see this video on? MTV base 4 Music Viva Channel AKA 9) What improvements could you suggest that would make the music video or the

ancillary texts more attractive? Please write here. ……………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………..10) Finally, would you watch the music video after seeing the advert or CD cover?

Yes No

From the advert and CD cover do you think the music video will be mainly performance or narrative based?

Performance

Narrative

The response of this question is that the majority of the people in the focal group said before they watched the music video, they predicted it would be a performance. This is because the target audience mainly watch Hip-Hop videos so they know what to expect.

To the second question, the majority of people said that they preferred the picture more than the colour. Some people also went on to explain that it was because the artist was attractive (mainly by the females) and the background was appealing.

The majority of the people in the target audience we surveyed said that they could establish the link between the ancillary texts and the music video. They explained that it was because they had similar features like colour, artist performance skill and location.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Do you usually listen to this genre of music?

Yes

No

Our target audience in the focal group answered that nearly all of them usually listen to this genre of music. This means that they would be the perfect people to judge the quality of the music video and how it fits into the typical videos already out there today.

Again, the majority of our target audience responded that our music video does look like a typical music video. As, I already explained they have a lot of knowledge of what a typical video consists of (as the majority of them listen to this genre of music) , so this response was what we hoped for.

The features of the music video that they enjoyed in particular as they explained were the performance scenes because he was gesturing and had a lot of emphasis on his lyrics which they said they can all relate to. Also, they said that the locations we used were normally used and they recognised that. They also like the projections as it wasn’t that well-known but looked very nice in our video.

In the previous question, we asked do you like the colour or the picture, and the majority said picture. So we enhanced the colours that I used in my CD cover and advert and I posed the question again. This time I got a better response because I got a picture with the background having a variety of different colours.

In this question, we were trying to find out which channels our artists music would be most suitable. The majority people said MTV Base since they normally play Hip-Hop tunes. The others weren't so popular as they provide a range of different genres like pop and rock music.

Did you like the colours used in the CD cover and advert?

Yes

No

Some people had some suggestions that they addressed to us and if we had the chance we would incorporate. One suggestion was that a narrative should be included, however we made a conscious decision not to include that. Also, one person said more locations, but as a group we thought we had enough already.

Finally, we asked if they would consider watching our music video if they saw the advert or CD cover. The majority of the focal group answered yes and we were so pleased with that end result. Therefore, I have realised that our ancillary texts have marketed and promoted our music video successfully to the extent that our target audience would watch our video and raise its popularity.

Finally, would you watch the music video after seeing the advert or CD cover?

Yes

No

Here are additional comments that we gathered from posting our video on YouTube. These comments along with the answers from the focal group all helped with the final project.

These are all the views we got in the space of 2 weeks of being published. Based on the popularity of our product due to posting the advert and CD cover on social network sites, we were bound to get a lot of people watching.

The person that commented thought that continuous shot was considered boring, however we adapted and modified our video so that we edited close ups with medium close-ups with the camera positioned in a different angle.

Audience feedback on music video via YouTube

This person has explained that they feel the background of the performance in front of the camera shouldn’t be pink because it clashes with his vibe, but I feel that it brings out another side of our artist and makes him stand out since he is wearing darker clothing.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Ethics

I used a variety of different technologies to research, plan and construct my final product of CD cover, advert and music video.

Before beginning to plan what our music video would consist of, we watched and analyzed a range of music videos on YouTube that we used as indicative videos. Check blog.

I also surfed the internet to find a suitable label that my artist could potentially be signed to. I chose ‘London Records’ since it’s a subsidiary of Universal which is a major Hollywood corporation that can easily promote the product with its cross-media ownership of other companies.

Whilst filming stage we captured the footage on a DV Tape, which allowed us to transfer the contents onto the computer later on in the editing process.

The construction of our music video, we used a lot of technical technology. We used digital camcorders to record footage, digital camera to take pictures to use in digipacks, lights used in projection scenes. These technologies helped us to gather the recordings we needed in order to assemble all the pieces together.

Since my role was the producer during the construction and filming of our music video, it was my job to contact the members of the group to stick to the scheduled plan though the use of mobile phones.

In the editing process, we used apple computers with high-tech software's on it like ‘Final Cut Pro’ On here we accumulated all the separate pieces of footage that we cut out and placed them onto a timeline that included the track as well.

Since we captured footage of the same scene but from different positions, the software ‘Final Cut Pro’ allowed us to log and capture these particular ones and drag it down to the final copy.

To understand all the different edits we watched a series of different tutorials on YouTube to help us in deciding the best ones for our video.

The different types of edits that we incorporated weren't too much, just a couple of dissolves and fades at the end.

During editing, we saved our work on a hard drive. We used the same hard drive everytime so we didn’t lose our work.

The evaluation and the step-by-step process was recorded and all written on blog that we kept up to date. We took pictures of us shooting, analysed other videos and CD covers for inspiration and presented our final versions on the blog to keep a record of our progress electronically.

When we gathered the images of our artist on location to use for the CD covers and adverts that we had to design and create. We gathered the images and used the software ‘Photoshop’ to add the finishing touches to make it look suitable as a CD cover or advert.

The software was installed with the necessary tools we needed in order to assemble together the perfect image.

Also, the tools that I couldn’t find on Photoshop, I used another software called ‘InDesign’. This software also helped me with the construction and designing of my final CD cover and advert.

We used a variety of marketing tools to promote our product which is the music video. We used YouTube which is a free viewing site which gives us free publicity to promote our artist. We used this site so that we could broadcast the end product and get some feedback on it when it come to improvement.

We also used a variety of social networking sites that the majority of our target audience are addicted to. This gives us a range of different ways of notifying them and bringing our product to their attention. Due to all the members of our group owning accounts ourselves, we posted it on our page so we could get maximum publicity. These sites for example Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are excellent sites in order for us to get awareness for our artist and for him to have a potential prosperous career in the music industry in the future.

Finally, here I am using PowerPoint to display my conclusions and findings that I have come to due to my audience feedback. The focal group that we surveyed gave us quantitative and qualitative answers when they completed our questionnaire.

This particular software gave me the chance to represent my data in a way that looked appealing and presentable.

This then gave us a chance to represent the findings in graphs and charts that we found to use in Microsoft Excel.

I answered all of the questions set using the PowerPoint software which I will then post onto my blog that I have created.

I placed the whole evaluation in this particular format so that I could illustrate them electronically. Overall, I have come to the conclusion that we used a variety of technologies and softwares in order to produce and make people awar of our product.

Overall, I have come to the conclusion that we used a variety of technologies and software’s in order to produce and make people aware of our product.

Also, technological convergence in modern technology makes it more easy to target our particular audience. Especially using the marketing tools like social networking sites that can be accessed through the internet via computer and updated phones also. So the convergence of mobile phones and the internet is the most important tool I think we have to target and aim to our desired audience. Since the majority have the latest phones like Blackberry’s, I phones, HTC, Samsung galaxy etc.

These advances in technology make it much easier for advertisers to promote their products through them. For example by making Pop-ups to appear on their phones. This increases their exposure to our desired product, so it increases their level of interest. This generates public awareness and consequently our products popularity.

The dominant ideology is that people are only cool and respectable when they own these new and specialized gadgets, that everyone keeps in touch with, especially social networking sites like facebook for example. So, on these sites we utilize them as a significant marketing tool that assist the publicity of our product. Therefore, acquiring the latest gear has become somewhat of new culture to my desired target audience.

Importance of technologies?

These internet enabled phones make it easier for promoters and advertisers to penetrate and reach out to the people they want to sell their products to. Their success in trying to persuade us to buy their product works as we give in to them. Therefore, we can learn from their example.

There are always positives and negatives to everything. Therefore, these two sides needs to be weighed out to see which side is more. This needs to be evaluated properly so a conclusion can be made about if technologies are really help or hinder.

Technologies also have their disadvantages. According to suite101.com ‘Technology can be misused and this can lead to environmental degradation and health issues. It is also guilty of increasing the gap between developed and developing countries.’ They also state ‘Access to technology is often restricted to wealthy homes and neighbourhoods, so could determine educational outcomes.’

In regards to this statement, I believe that technologies could be seen as disadvantageous and the spread of technologies could often be unfair. Therefore, due to this the real ratings of my music video could be seen as invalid, as not the whole population of youths in this country cannot get access to a computer. This is a sad and worrying report as the social divide currently could be due to the amount of technology you acquire or own.

On the other hand, in connection with my music video, if we were to publish our music onto I tunes for example, people could illegally download the music. Nowadays, piracy has become an important issue that needs to be addressed, however the adaptations in technologies has helped people to achieve this.

Also due to increase in social network sites and the majority of people owning accounts, if they don’t get pleasure from our product, the news of this could spread like wildfire amongst themselves. Therefore, the misuse of technologies could hinder our product severely and therefore eventually become unsuccessful.