MUSIC VIDEO EVALUATION In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms or conventions of real media products?

OVERALL THEME/IDEA The song ‘Dreamsville’ is an example of Uk Rap also referred to as

‘Grime’ as a group we wanted to achieve a unit of work that challenged the stereotypical boundaries and roles of this genre of music. We hoped to do this by portraying ambition and a artist living and fulfilling a dream however we still wanted to incorporate the urban undertones Uk Rap has in order to demonstrate our genre through the work we produced and attract not only the stereotypical rap audience base but also widen our audience base.

From research it is evident that adhering to stereotypes associated with Rap the performers look was key as it would help form and shape our brand. Therefore we had to take into consideration the approach to rap music we were trying to take in this instance we hoped our brand would be a portrayal of a ‘fun’ side to rap music.

As a group we hoped our performers look would adhere to the regular conventions of Rap, this would stereotypically mean our performer would be dressed in a hooded jumper, generally baggy clothes and possibly a baseball cap. However we set up an initial idea that our approach to the video as well as the supporting Cd cover and Poster would challenge these stereotypes artistically.

FRONT COVER COMPARISON

Real Media Product Examples

I have chosen to focus closely on the CD cover created by my group and Uk Rap artist Wiley’s ‘Playtime is over’ album cover. I believed this would be ground for good comparison as my group and I hoped to produce a unit of work that would resemble that of a Uk Rap artist who appeals to a young audience. Wiley as an artist is a good example of this.

Beginning to focus on the conventions and aspects our Cd cover used and developed along side the real media product would be the main image and also how the artist is portrayed in this image. This can be said due to the fact that we decided to place our performer in a position that allowed the audience to have a full view of the landscape around him, we made this decision as the album is entitled true colours. So we believed this was a solid way to demonstrate this was an album that represented the artist. The idea of having the landscape behind him is a way of representing where the artist comes from and what shapes and forms his music. This is similar to Wiley’s Cd cover as again the main image and the Album title prove to have a link, as the artist is captured in a children’s play ground and simultaneously the album is titles ‘Playtime is over’. The images on both Cd covers are also similar as they both capture the artist in dark clothing looking straight toward the camera, choosing this pose has the same visual effect as is seems the artist is directing the album straight at the audience becoming captivating for an audience.

Choosing to use the conventions of real media products was a choice we made as after doing research into the genre of the track we were using we were able to deduce that Uk Rap artist’s tend to rap and make music about where they come from, ambitions and making it in the music industry. So our Cd cover is influenced by this and will successfully attract the right target audience.

Although we chose to use and developed some of the more obvious conventions of the genre, as a group we believed that we could widen our target audience range by adding a few unconventional aspects to our work. The Cd cover presented by the artist Wiley almost presents the main artist to be intimidating a feel that goes well with the album title. The cover we produced however portrays a softer side to the artist as the sitting pose along with the shining sun directly behind him softens the fact that the performer is dressed in a hoody and dark clothing and makes the performer seem open and approachable. Evidently aspects of our performers appearance contribute to the challenging of generic conventions of rap as the artist is presented in a different light.

The treble clef music note present on the Cd cover was another way we believed we could reach a wider audience range, due to the fact that many people believe Uk Rap is a genre that has an aggressive nature and often people will disregard the music and focus on the appearance of the artist. Adding the treble clef was our way to subtly move past this as it make music a dominant feature of the album right from the beginning as the Cd cover is what the audience will see first whether they are aware of who the artist is and the genre of music. When considering the brand we tried to produce the addition of the treble clef strengthens our portray of rap as a form of music enticing audiences to take the genre seriously.

ALBUM INLAY COMPARISON

Real Media Product Examples

Once again I have chosen to focus on another Uk artist of the same genre as oppose to an artist from America as it is clear the differences in the rap industry between the two countries will have an effect on how the artist portrays themselves through these products.

An album inlay is a chance for the artist to represent themselves in a way that is separate from the album however it can have an effect on the audiences assumptions of the music present on the album. The album inlay produced by my group and I is similar to inlay presented by Tinie Tempah in the sense that they both subvert the stereotypical ideas of rap, as the main images show the artist in a different light. Tinie Tempah’s inlay sees him dresses in a sophisticated shirt and bow tie allowing his audience to picture a different sound as well as being a way for a new audience range to be picked up, due tot he fact that the image would prove to be appealing to a range of different people. This is similar to our inlay as the intentions for the audience are the same, this can be said as the main image we chose to use captures our artist laughing. Rap is not usually associated with connotations of fun or laughter so this image was our attempt to again find ways to take Uk Rap and make it accessible to other people and hopefully make it a more mainstream genre.

Our inlay however challenges the regular conventions as we placed our artists reaction to his album onto the inlay. This makes the album personal and again focuses in on the music rather than the artist because the artists musical intentions and as the image is in black and white the texts strips the artist of stereotypes and allows the audience to see past his appearance. This is a new approach rap as a genre as we as a group didn't want to create an artist that was a typical portrayal of rap culture but an artist highlighting music and pushing rap into the eyes of mainstream audiences.

BACK COVER COMPARISON

Real Media Product Examples

In my opinion I believe the back cover we produced is the piece of our work that uses and adheres to the conventions associated with the rap genre. I say this because our back cover incorporated things such as layout, typography and main images that are seen on many examples of products from the same genre.

Beginning with layout the idea of having a main image and then the text placed the way it has been presented on our back cover is one that during research I saw many times. For this reason we chose to replicate this as we do believe keeping some aspects of appearance similar is a good way to enhance the genre during advertising and promotion.

The typography used on our back cover is key as again as a group we chose to act upon the influence of the style of examples we had researched previously. This is where we incorporated our element of colour much like the Lil Wayne example shown below. We have opted for a white font for the titles of the songs however chose a contrasting purple to number them. This way our way of making our colour scheme consistent and relevant. The back cover of Lil Wayne’s Cd cover was inspiration for this however the red present on his back cover is representing and incorporating elements of the gang that artist presents and supports through his music so the colour in that sense is a form of branding.

The colour elements of the back cover much like the other artistic aspects of the work we produced are in aid of our branding of the artist ‘Tom Tripp’. As it is clear we are trying to take a different approach to rap not making it an explicit type of music for one group of people. So therefore the small element of using a colour such as purple creates a universal feel that should enhance our brand.

POSTER COMPARISON Real Media Product Examples

As one of our main objectives when creating our unit of work was to hopefully push rap into the eyes of a mainstream audience we had to be careful when creating out poster. Tinie Tempah being an artist that is now widely recognised for his music that derived from rap was a perfect example for us as a group to take inspiration from due to the fact that the simplicity of his poster makes its accessible but at the same time promotes the music to the fullest as the title is the most eye catching feature on the poster.

As a group we chose to use and incorporate the urban theme of rap music by adding the border of the city above the artist this was a way to connote the urban culture regularly associated with this type of music. This urban feeling was again demonstrated through the main image we chose again to have out artist in a hoody but this time it is open to reveal a brighter coloured shirt replicating our album name true colours as it shows the artist may wear a hoody but underneath has a smarter but more casual polo shirt that challenges the original conventions.

Another way we as a group challenged the stereotypical ideologies was through our choice of typography apart from the album and song title the choice of font was simplistic and sophisticated. Much like all of our other decisions to challenge these stereotypes this was our way to open up our audience range as the font is general and wont restrict is appeal to any specific gender or age. However the choice was made to have the album title and song title in a different font that was more bold as we hoped to draw attention to the fact that the poster was there to advertise the music rather than the artist.

MUSIC VIDEO COMPARISON Real Media Product Examples

Conventional Shots

The shots shown above are examples of performance based shots taken from our video, as in many other videos of the genre the artist is seen to perform the lyrics straight to the camera. We believed it was important to in our videos for moments like these to be present as they significantly built on the narrative as over time our artist went from the streets, to the studio and on to a concert so these moments helped demonstrate our narrative, they are also similar to shots from real media products shown below.

Unconventional shots

The shots shown above are examples of our narrative based shots as explained before it is not a regular occurrence for a rap video from a Uk artist to show a narrative. This was our way of again pushing audience boundaries as these shots could be seen to replicate videos from other genres such as pop, examples of similar shots are below.

The final video that we presented was a video that aimed to have an underlying narrative that went along with the lyrics to represent the artists progression. This is not something that usually appears in Uk rap videos as they are regularly made up of mainly performance based scenes and shots.