The track i am using requires an independent record label and there a plenty of British hip hop labels to choose from. This is because there is not much money in the business and therefore there are not many major record companies for this genre.
One of the largest companies for this genre is the record label "boy better know" which includes such artists as "wiley" and "skepta"
http://www.boybetterknow.com/
This Record company does not suit my artist however as not only is it too large and now becoming more mainstream but the music in the label is more following the Grime route of British hip hop which does not work for my track, which is much more of a hip hop track.
The record label I will be using is Aim2Break records. They are a record label that keeps it simple and don't force the artist to change their music to suit the trends of the music industry to make them sell more records, the label simply takes the music as it is.
http://www.aim2breakrecords.com/index.php
Friday 30 September 2011
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Location.
I have thought long and hard about where i want to film my video. As the genre is nritish hip hop it needs to be a run down area of the country, it should be in London as that is the area the rapper is from. Therefore i need to create the image that the video is filmed in london.
To do this i need to create an illusion, by filming an establishing shot of a tall block of flats which are very common in london and are normally assosiated with the capital city. The nearest tall block of flats i know of are in southampton where i will go to and film this establishing shot.
By having this shot to start the video the audience will assume that the rest of the video is filmed around those flats.
I will not however be filming the rest of the video at the flats in southampton as it is such a long way to go if i get back and find i made a mistake on a shot or i want to have another shot in the video, therefore i want to film the rest of the shot in dark locations around bournmouth and christchurch in the underpasses and some of the dirtier areas i know of.
This photo is not from a flat block and may not even be from London but the audience will no know this and therefore the illusion that it is in the block of flats in London is complete.
I will also need to have a recording studio that can easily be done in a normal classroom or a room in my house.
This is american rapper Eminem in his video for "no love". As you can see the shot is of him recording and you assume he is in a recording studio but for all we know he could be anywhere.
To do this i need to create an illusion, by filming an establishing shot of a tall block of flats which are very common in london and are normally assosiated with the capital city. The nearest tall block of flats i know of are in southampton where i will go to and film this establishing shot.
By having this shot to start the video the audience will assume that the rest of the video is filmed around those flats.
I will not however be filming the rest of the video at the flats in southampton as it is such a long way to go if i get back and find i made a mistake on a shot or i want to have another shot in the video, therefore i want to film the rest of the shot in dark locations around bournmouth and christchurch in the underpasses and some of the dirtier areas i know of.
This photo is not from a flat block and may not even be from London but the audience will no know this and therefore the illusion that it is in the block of flats in London is complete.
I will also need to have a recording studio that can easily be done in a normal classroom or a room in my house.
This is american rapper Eminem in his video for "no love". As you can see the shot is of him recording and you assume he is in a recording studio but for all we know he could be anywhere.
Thursday 22 September 2011
Thursday 15 September 2011
My genre (UK hip hop)
Ok so i have thrown myself in at the deep end! This genre is not only a music genre but very much a way of life for some people, it is used and many ways to portray political views and peoples strong and sometimes overly strong opinions of the way Britain runs.
Your probably wondering where it all came about from and this is the tricky bit, if you have just listened to the track you may of mistaken it for an american track, this is because the genre originated from the american hip hop scene, it emerged like in america from the graffiti and break dancing scene, it quickly moved into the party and night club scene and was a real hit in its early years. It isn't however a conventional music genre as it is formed in a very much more urban scene that pop or indie music with gang culture now leading the way in mainstream British hip hop.
We have obviously now moved on from the likes on Dizzy Heights and now British hip hop artists are dominating the uk charts and even are starting to dominate the world stage. The genre has a fairly wide spectrum as we do consider uk grime to be a part of uk hip hop which has a huge underground supporting and this is depicted in almost every music video with them being filmed in car parks, underground clubs ad dark alleys to show us they're lifestyle and in many cases criminal upbringing.
Nowadays our hip hop scene is found in the capital London with massive names such as Dizzie Rascal dominating the scenes even with bands such as N~Dubz. These artists do not perform music that is similar to the hip hop i am making a music video too, the track i will be making a video to is very remenisent of the "old school" british hip hop that we used to see which is similar to bands such as JMC with this record "when i'm home"
This record is very reminiscent of the Americanised hip hop we were used to seeing in the 80's and 90's, this is also clear in the music video with big trucks and black and white effects, this is going to be a huge help when i am brainstorming ideas for my music videos.
The genre has a history that not many people understand and it has taken me hours to research it. It all started in the 1980's when british artist Dizzy Heights released their single "Christmas Rapping". I found a recording on youtube but it sounds like it has just be recorded straight from the vinal.
Your probably wondering where it all came about from and this is the tricky bit, if you have just listened to the track you may of mistaken it for an american track, this is because the genre originated from the american hip hop scene, it emerged like in america from the graffiti and break dancing scene, it quickly moved into the party and night club scene and was a real hit in its early years. It isn't however a conventional music genre as it is formed in a very much more urban scene that pop or indie music with gang culture now leading the way in mainstream British hip hop.
We have obviously now moved on from the likes on Dizzy Heights and now British hip hop artists are dominating the uk charts and even are starting to dominate the world stage. The genre has a fairly wide spectrum as we do consider uk grime to be a part of uk hip hop which has a huge underground supporting and this is depicted in almost every music video with them being filmed in car parks, underground clubs ad dark alleys to show us they're lifestyle and in many cases criminal upbringing.
Nowadays our hip hop scene is found in the capital London with massive names such as Dizzie Rascal dominating the scenes even with bands such as N~Dubz. These artists do not perform music that is similar to the hip hop i am making a music video too, the track i will be making a video to is very remenisent of the "old school" british hip hop that we used to see which is similar to bands such as JMC with this record "when i'm home"
This record is very reminiscent of the Americanised hip hop we were used to seeing in the 80's and 90's, this is also clear in the music video with big trucks and black and white effects, this is going to be a huge help when i am brainstorming ideas for my music videos.
Saturday 10 September 2011
Why do we have music videos?
In the past there were only records on vinal but now we have music videos wherever we look!
the first ever music video was produced by the beatles and the track was called "strawberry fields forever" it was produced in 1967 and had almost everything in it! from stop motion animation to jump cuts from daytime to night time. It was very simple to do, it featured the band running and dancing around an open field. It is now recognised as the first music video ever.
From then on music videos appeared everywhere with all bands making new music videos all the time.
the first ever music video was produced by the beatles and the track was called "strawberry fields forever" it was produced in 1967 and had almost everything in it! from stop motion animation to jump cuts from daytime to night time. It was very simple to do, it featured the band running and dancing around an open field. It is now recognised as the first music video ever.
From then on music videos appeared everywhere with all bands making new music videos all the time.
Thursday 8 September 2011
how have music videos changed?
Music like all things changes from generation to generation.
We used to have very relaxed and simple music videos like this one by Rick Astley:
All it is is a man and a woman dancing, how simple can it be! This is a classic music video from the decade and there are many more like it, this came from a time before narratives were introduced into music videos.
How is this different from today's music videos?
Music videos have evolved and adapted to compliment the demands of the rapidly growing audience. People don't want to see a one hit wonder dancing to his own song any more. People want to see the lifestyle and the partying of the celebrities superstars. We see a much different location to the older videos as a huge amount of videos are now filmed on and around the coast in warmer holiday climates, examples of this are JLS's new hit "she makes me wanna" In this video the artists dance round topless on the seafront. The use of the video in this example is simply to make more sales!
Another example is Nicki Minaj's new sing;e "superbass" this video features her dancing around a pool stroking muscle filled men in a sentual way!
We used to have very relaxed and simple music videos like this one by Rick Astley:
All it is is a man and a woman dancing, how simple can it be! This is a classic music video from the decade and there are many more like it, this came from a time before narratives were introduced into music videos.
How is this different from today's music videos?
Music videos have evolved and adapted to compliment the demands of the rapidly growing audience. People don't want to see a one hit wonder dancing to his own song any more. People want to see the lifestyle and the partying of the celebrities superstars. We see a much different location to the older videos as a huge amount of videos are now filmed on and around the coast in warmer holiday climates, examples of this are JLS's new hit "she makes me wanna" In this video the artists dance round topless on the seafront. The use of the video in this example is simply to make more sales!
Another example is Nicki Minaj's new sing;e "superbass" this video features her dancing around a pool stroking muscle filled men in a sentual way!
Wednesday 7 September 2011
What makes a great music video?
Like in Film music videos are found in many different categories:
The other music videos are the ones produced on a much smaller budget usually by "indie" bands or by solo artists just coming into the main spotlight. This is what we would call an independent film in the film industry for example the kings speech. A great example and one of my favourite music videos is the stereophonics hit "Could you be the one"
This is a brilliant music video because of its simplicity, the cuts aren't so quick you can't tell whats going on and there isn't too much going on, it was really cheap to film and had both performance and theatrical takes to it and this is why i think it's great.
The reason for the stereophonics video being so great is that it is just so simple; there are no special effects or Hollywood style pyro techniques that you see in Eminem’s video. This works so well because it goes with the rhythm of the song itself, if the song had a much faster BPM (beats per minute) then it would not have such a good effect. The video has been thoroughly thought through as all the lighting in every shot is perfect to show a clear silhouette of the performers, the shots are all perfectly done and the close ups on the guitars are immaculate.
There are the mainstream music videos that are very similar to the blockbuster high budget films that are out there for example the harry potter series. These music videos are normally the chart toppers as there is a lot of money used in the budgeting of them. A great example of this would be the video to Rhianna and Eminem's chart topper "i love the way you lie". This blockbuster of a music video went straight to number one with estimated budgets going well into the millions!
The reason for such a high budget for a music video was because it had Hollywood movie stars on it with Megan Fox from transformers taking a star roll.
The other music videos are the ones produced on a much smaller budget usually by "indie" bands or by solo artists just coming into the main spotlight. This is what we would call an independent film in the film industry for example the kings speech. A great example and one of my favourite music videos is the stereophonics hit "Could you be the one"
This is a brilliant music video because of its simplicity, the cuts aren't so quick you can't tell whats going on and there isn't too much going on, it was really cheap to film and had both performance and theatrical takes to it and this is why i think it's great.
The reason for the stereophonics video being so great is that it is just so simple; there are no special effects or Hollywood style pyro techniques that you see in Eminem’s video. This works so well because it goes with the rhythm of the song itself, if the song had a much faster BPM (beats per minute) then it would not have such a good effect. The video has been thoroughly thought through as all the lighting in every shot is perfect to show a clear silhouette of the performers, the shots are all perfectly done and the close ups on the guitars are immaculate.
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