Green Screen Practice

This is my green screening practice. It includes three different pieces of footage green screened into different settings.
In the new version of Final cut, it is very easy to create green screened footage. You just drag and drop the keying effect from the effects tab. This means I am able to do more with my green screened footage.
The hardest part of green screening is seeing up the lighting when filming it. The lighting needs to be done properly to make sure the editing software can crop the background correctly. A green screen would be good to use in a spectacle music video. This is because you can have anything in the video that you wouldn't usually be able to do in the real world.

Logo Ideas

This is a logo idea that I have created for our artist as I feel it best suits the genre of music which is rap. I believe it is also appropriate for the genre of our music video which is image. I think this because I have included a big gold crown above our record label name. Jewellery is one of the key conventions in Rap music and showing it off is another one. I have also included this as Rap is one of the most competitive genres in music. Everyone is competing to reach the top and most rappers are prepared to take down other artists in their music to get there. This is evident as there are Rap battles going on all over the world that aspiring rappers and even the biggest rappers in the industry take part in. Some rappers even insult other artists in their music to assert their power over one another. Most people would view Rap as very aggressive and the "devils music" therefore I added a black colour font to our label name. One of the reasons Rap is viewed like this is because of the use of strong explicit language.The colour Black has alot of strong negatives connotations such as power, evil, death, mystery and jealousy. I have also included a white background as there is also a beautiful side to the genre as well. Rap is one of the most popular genres in the music industry. The colour white has alot of positive connotations such as innocence, goodness and purity. All of these connotations are shown in Rap music. Rap takes extreme skill and knowledge and that is why I have made my record label logo look like royalty.

Representation of rap artists

Conventions of our genre

Levi Strauss and Todorov's Theory

A binary opposite is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another.
Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored.

The theory we will focus on is Levi Strauss's which is called Binary opposition. We have chosen to go for this theory as our song is about someone having a personal conversation with his alter ego. Because of this, the Binary opposite we have decided on is Good vs Evil. In the second video above we have used a range of different editing techniques, props and costumes changes to bring our idea to life. Firstly, we have used a yellow flower to represent the good in our artist. We have chosen this because flowers and the colour yellow have good connotations that will present our artist in a positive light. We have also alternated between black & white and a normal filter to show the binary opposite (good vs evil). This will show that he is trapped inside the head of his alter ego and is attempting to escape. At the start of the clip he is playing with a lighter which presents the evil in the alter ego character. This is because it shows that he has bad intentions. My group and I filmed this video in front of a Church which connotes that he has good inside of him trying to come out. For costume we chose a grey hoodie for our artist to wear. This is because hoodies have negative connotations and bad reputations. We also can use this item of clothing to cover his face which also covers his identity. This would be effective because the alter ego is trying to take control of his normal self therefore ruining his identity and covering up his real personality. Our intention of this would be to show a true battle of a good side and a bad side whilst using one person.

In the final version of our music video we plan to include a variety of different things that will represent the evil in our artist such as hand cuffs, chains, straight jackets, Black jumpsuits and many more. This is because these items all have negative connotations and it would best show the story of our music video. To represent the good in our final version we will be using white backgrounds, white costumes, jesters hat and many more. This is because the colour white has many positive connotations such as purity and innocence. 

In the first video above we tried to present Todorov's theory. The problem was that he had just been trapped inside of a shed and we attempted to show the solution by having him walking out of it looking enraged at the fact he was trapped for so long. 


In conclusion, we feel Levi Strauss's theory of Binary opposition best gets across the story of our music video much better than Todorov's theory, therefore we are going to use it in our final version.

Genre Stills

I chose to base my editing techniques, mise en scene and cinematography on the genre of Narrative. In the first still I attempted to tell the story of two friends who have had a lot of history together. I tried to this by using the editing technique of layering and the filter of Black and White. The Black and White was effective as this editing technique has a reputation of representing flashbacks. This made it look like the two friends had a deeper relationship. I layered the Black and White still with another picture of the two friends whilst keeping the original colour,to connote that they are still friends to this day and that the story could be that they are reflecting on past good times they have had together. I used the shot type of Two shot for both stills to show the friendship and bond between the two of them. It also showed the power and closeness in the friendship as they are both doing the same thing in the Two shot. For Mise en scene the two friends were walking together in a similar fashion both wearing casual clothing to show that they are comfortable around each other. We shot it outside to connote that they are on a adventure together as a key convention of the genre Narrative and friendship is adventure. The story we also tried to connote is that they had headed off outside in the open to explore and have an adventure. The stills we shot challenges the theory of Todorov is there is no problem in the stills we shot and no solution. However the stills we shot also supports Levi Strauss's theory of Binary Opposites. We tried to show this through the use of clothing colours. We had one person wearing a Black t shirt and one Wearing a White t shirt with more extravagant colours. Black connotes evil, death, depression etc and White connotes Good, Purity, Innocence etc therefore the Binary Opposite was Good vs Evil. So another part of the Narrative we were trying to show was that opposites attract and that they are friends but are totally different. We feel as a group that we could've showed this much better through our actions and not just clothing colours.

2 Examples of Costumes & Locations

Vloggers & Music

YOUTUBE VLOGS

These two vloggers react to various songs, either controversial or popular and they talk about their take on the songs which they are requested to react to. The music is similar to the one we are doing for our music video because typically they react to songs which have some controversy behind it due to the explicit content on drugs, sex and crime. These vloggers help promote these songs by sharing it to a web based audience who may come across their vlogs, this gives the artists 'free' publicity and also promotes the vloggers by showing themselves reacting to the music. The pro's of vloggers reacting to the music is that they can share their views on it which could possibly apply to the views of others. The vloggers are able to help spread the music of the artists and in turn creating a bigger audience for not only the artists but the vlogger. The cons of vloggers reacting to music is that it isn't their own actual material, they may get in trouble due to copyright laws and not earn any adsense through their work on YouTube. Another con is that sometimes the songs can be for a certain type of audience or not suitable for some, so they have to be careful when sharing this music to their media which could cause further controversy.

YouTube for Musicians

Odd Future Music
This rap group which Tyler is signed with promotes itself through YouTube and their clothing line 'Odd Future' - They upload all their music through YouTube and mainly advertise themselves through the music they post on their channel. This is from various artists who are part of the group and this helps publicize the group as a whole.




Pros of YouTube and Vloggers 

• YouTubers and vloggers can give insight into topics in more detail 
• YouTube is open and accessible to billions 
• Sharing videos through social media is simple and fast 
• Seeing other people's views and opinions can be an interesting insight

Cons of YouTube and Vloggers 

• Listening to others, especially when you don't agree with their views can be 'boring'
• Vloggers can be paid and endorsed to promote only positives 
• Vlogging can be a long process and can get invasive

Different ways that rap artists can promote their music videos 

Record labels: Awareness can come from a record label and help promote the artist to a much more mainstream audience.

Clothing: Clothing can influence a music video greatly. Sometimes companies will pay artists to wear their clothing or artists which deliberately wear brands which signify wealth and status.

YouTube: YouTube is a mainstream media platform which can reach out to millions and millions of potential viewers. YouTube is also a platform which is free so artists don't have to pay anything to have their content aired.

Twitter: This form of social media reaches out to almost everyone, young and old and especially teenagers. Teenagers can really influence the charts and trends.

Instagram: Instagram is a unique form of media as it only allows users to upload photos with captions. This can capture a music video and attract an audience right away. 

Vloggers Reacting/Reviewing music videos

Pros

• Youtubers are very personal with the viewers and you can tell their honest opinion.
• Youtube is easily accessable to everyone in the world
• You can share the videos with everyone very easily
• It is interesting to see other peoples views on music 

Cons 

• It can be boring to watch other people listen and react to music
• People may think that the vlogger is biased towards the artist and they do not like that 

Different ways that rappers promote their music videos

Clothing: The types of brands that they wear. It influences people to go and buy the brands if they see their idol wearing the same brands.

Youtube: They can easily promote their music on the video sharing website and is also easily accessable which is good for them.

Record label: Lots of awareness comes from a record label.

Twitter: Many people, young and old, use this social media platform which means they can keep up with the latest news.

Instagram: This social media website shows pictures of the artists and what they are up to.

VLOG - Music Video Expectations

30 SECONDS

In these pictures we attempted to produce the theory of Carol Vernallis who recognised that music videos typically consist of a montage of different shots which may be connected via the lyrics of the song.

Vloggers Promoting Music

1. The vloggers are promoting music by creating awareness for the artist. They are doing this by simply reacting to the song and by giving their final verdict afterwards. At the end of the video, the You Tuber tells its subscribers to go out and listen to the track. This is promoting music for the artist because if the subscribers like they song, they may buy it. The amount of purchases creates more awareness therefore even more people will also be interested in the song. The subscribers can also share the vloggers video which will promote the song even more. This is because more eyes will see the songs by the artist which will make the song even bigger. The You tuber even tells their subscribers to go to the comment section below the video so they can also review it themselves and discuss it with other people. People who are not subscribed to the You tuber can also view the video and the comments so if there are good reviews in the comment section, other viewers will go check the song out as they don’t want to miss out. The Vlogger is promoting rap music which is the same genre we are using in our music video. Rap is a very popular music genre and a huge number of people adore it for many different reasons.
   It involves intense permutation and combination of placements of words and rhyming phrases/words within and outside the sentence. All the rappers are extremely entertaining poets and sometimes their lyrics are taken directly out of their life, upbringings and the people around them. It’s much more personal than any other music genre therefore people can connect and relate to it. You can see the picture coming out of it. In most of the cases you can see the society they grew up in. When people listen to that, they unconsciously find a little piece of themselves in that person, which makes them come back and listen to his words even closer and more attentively. Because of these reasons it is very easy for vloggers to discuss and breakdown than other genres of music. The Rap industry is continuing to evolve therefore fans of the genre will be interested to see how we interpreted the lyrics for the Rap song “Yonkers” in our music video. Because Rap is such a big genre of music, a lot of people will be intrigued to see what ideas we have for our music video.

Pros:

1. Vlogs on YouTube are very popular as they are more personal. Normally no editing is involved so you can capture the personality of the You tuber.
2. YouTube is easily accessible so anyone can view the vlog and hear the music
3. You can share Vlogs on different websites so more people can view the video
4. You can talk about the music in a more personal way while the songs are playing
5. It’s interesting to see other people’s views on music
   
   
   Cons:

1. It may be boring for some people to watch other people reacting to music
2. People may just go straight to critically acclaimed reviewers as their opinion matters more than normal people on youtube doing vlogs. They also have more experience and expertise when it comes to reviewing music

2) 5 strategies the Rap group "Young Money Cash Money" have used to promote their music are the following:

Clothing- Our target audience are young adult’s therefore clothing merchandise will appeal to the young audience. This will promote the song/album as many people will be wearing it. The clothing has words written on it that either promote the albums/songs or the record label.

YouTube- YouTube is easily accessible therefore everyone can view the channel which consists of all their music.

Cash money records- the parent organisation is Universal music group and that is one of the best in the world therefore just by having this, there music will have a lot of awareness.

Twitter- Many young people use this social media website therefore they will keep up with the latest updates on the band.

Facebook- This is a social media website that most people use so they can create awareness with this by writing updates about their latest work, sharing their music on there and live stream.

Instagram is another strategy to promote music as they can upload videos and pictures of their work. They can also vlog on YouTube and keep their fans up to date with what they are working on.

Semiotics and Genre

Applying Goodwin’s Rules to music video

Summer assignment from sam_warner

Annotated Stills

Record Labels

BMG Rights Management is an international music company focused on the management of music publishing, recording rights and music distribution. The company operates as a division of the international media conglomerate Bertelsmann, its name being the legacy of the former Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), which was sold to Sony Music Entertainment in 2008. The company was established in 2008 as a joint venture between Bertelsmann and the global private equity firm KKR. The company's head office is in Berlin, and it operates regional offices in New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, London, Madrid,Paris, Stockholm, Hilversum, Beijing, Toronto, Sydney, and São Paulo. BMG is the youngest major international company in the music industry.

Warner/Chappell was formed in 1987 in San Antonio, Texas, when Warner Bros. Music Chairman Chuck Kaye led the company to purchase Chappell & Co. fromPolyGram. It was ranked in 2010 by Music & Copyright as the world’s third-largest music publisher with a catalog of more than one million songs and a roster of more than 65,000 songwriters. Among the songs in the company's library are "Winter Wonderland" and formerly "Happy Birthday to You" until the copyright of the song was invalidated in 2015 and put in the public domain the next year

Genre and semiotics

These are the annotated skills that we did in class. It shows our annotations for these two music videos.
In these videos, we have annotated the colours, props and mise en scene. This is to show what we can see and have found.

Group feedback on song choice

Our group discussion on our song choice was very varied with different opinions on the song. While the pro's of the song seemed to be creative and unique, it is quite a dark 'bleak' song with a lot of explicit language. 

Annotated Stills

Annotated stills from Kelechi Okorie

Peer assessment of Song Choices

Peer assessment of song choices from Kelechi Okorie

Record Labels

Record labels from Kelechi Okorie

Music Video - Draft Ideas

This is a draft for the ideas of our music video. The concept of the video is to illustrate the lyrics. The rapper is speaking to himself through a camera. This is meant to show that he is disturbed, angered and somewhat depressed.

The title at the beginning (Yonkers) shows the name of the song we could possibly be doing by this artist. The other on screen titles show some of the words which the second character of the song is saying (this character is meant to be the disturbed voice who is 'controlling' the main rapper).

Our main focus on the music video will be with the editing. The editing is crucial to represent the entire theme of the song, and to ensure that not only it goes to beat, but that the music is in sync with it all. The cinematography also plays a huge role in the music video as not only do we have to focus in on the rapper, but focus in and out of the camera to show the view he would see if he saw himself. This is difficult and our draft doesn't quite represent the idea's just yet.

The music video will be primarily black and white, with some special effects, overlays and certain colors which will appear unedited. This is to make points of interest visible to the viewer and to give the 'darkness' of the narrative much more of a meaning.

Our places of shooting the video and costumes are still being decided so this draft does not entirely represent the mise-en-scene which will be  shown in our official music video.

Lip Syncing-Yonkers

I believe that there was a certain bit of the lip syncing that went very well. This was at the beginning of the video till about half way. This was because Kelechi had learnt this bit very well and new it off by heart.

For the bits that didn't go well was when Kelechi tried to pronounce "Rapping as I'm mocking deaf rock stars" This is because the song was very fast paced at that point which meant the words were very hard to pronounce. Tyler the creator is also American which means Kelechi had to pronounce the words slightly differently to make sure that the lip syncing was spot on.

Lip Syncing- Yonkers

Lip Syncing - Yonkers

Here is the lip syncing Kelechi did for our possible song choice. I did 3 different styles of editing to represent the song. I believe the lip syncing went well in the video, however a few parts towards the end were slightly off or hard to see. I have learnt that with lip syncing you have to be quite 'aggressive' when doing it to make it look like you're actually rapping / singing the song. From this experience I have found out that lip syncing can be fairly difficult and can take a few times to get it spot on, and you have to stay focused in order to make sure that the whole performance is smooth

Active Audience Theory

In our music video, the form of information is through the lyrics. The lyrics represent a distraught young man who is suffering from a personality disorder.

If our audience were going to consume our product for entertainment then we would use editing techniques which would bring in the viewer and help display the narrative of the song. The editing will be slick, fast and to illustrate the songs meaning.

If our audience were going to consume our product for escapism then we would use distinctive, eerie and isolated locations that best represent the song and the artist in the video, and allow the audience to immerse themselves in a different world.

If our audience were going to consume our product for personal identity then we would show this through representing the artist in a distraught way. This will be represented through the way he is dressed and acts, and the lyrics he raps which talk about himself through two identities.