location ideas.

Feedback on my ideas from a focus group.

The first person I asked for oppinions about my ideas was Dan finn.

I told Dann about my ideas for my shots and my locations.

He really liked my ideas and thought they were all really good aspects of the genre i am trying to portray.

He gave me a few new ideas like to keep the locations as run down and grotty as possible as it will fit the genre really well, he also said that to have some overgrown plants would look great in the video and he even gave me a few locations that he thinks would be good which you can see on my next post.







I then asked Dan Coulston for his opinions on the same thing.

He had a very similar opinion to the other Dan and said very similar things in comparison about the nature of the locations.

He also gave me the great idea that I should include a dog in the video, a staffy would be optimal he said.

I also thought it would be good to get a female opinion on my music video ideas.

Therefore i asked leah beavis her opinions on my ideas. I even ran through a couple of my ideas for the shots and camera angles.

She absolutely loved the ideas and gave me some new ideas in ways that i can use the locations that Dan suggested to me.

All the feedback i had from this focus group filled me with confidence and gave me a few things to work on so i'm really happy i did it.

Institutions of British Hip Hop

By far the biggest and best represented record label for British hip hop and Grime is Relentless which features artists like dizzee Rascal and Roll deep including Wiley.

As a result they are not the independant record label they were when they started as budgets for music videos reach many thousands and special effects are even used in some productions, as a result it is not the right record label for my music video as the artist is just starting out and as a result the video has a very independant theme and therefore a low budget is used to make the video whereas Relentless use a high budget.

A smaller more independant record label i have researchd is 1st blood records, a very independant record lable with low budgets and relatively small name artists, as a result it is the perfect record label for my artist to start at and my video will hopefully have the independant feel to it that a lot of the artists in 1st blood records have in their videos.

Target audience

British hip hop is generally assosiated with anti social behaviour and crime, this is backed up by many of the artist representing the genre getting involved in fights and criminal activity.
As a result the music generally talks about criminal activity and creates a representation of the audience aswell.

After researching where and when music from this genre is played it becoimes very obvious who the target audience for my track is. I found that tracks from the genre are generally played later at night on the radio generally on channels like radio one extra, a radio station owned by the BBC. I know for a fact that their target audience is the younger generation as many people in my friend group listen to it when they are driving and when researching it i found they are targeting a younger audience as their website is marketed towards that audience.

The channel AKA also play music of this genre throughout the day and have a forum online to promote artists in the genre.

Therefore it is fairly obvious that the target audience is of the younger generation and for people living in more urban areas and larger cities.

Album cover Inspiration.

I've looked through many album covers in my research and i have found a common image in many of them.



The common theme in many of the album covers is that the artists are stood up against a wall. I do not know why they do this but it is something i can easily reprecate for my album cover and it is also something i can use for all my pannels on my digipack!



This is Devlin's album cover, he is a very famous british grime artist and it is in many ways identical to the preview album cover of a very independant young rapper.



This is british rapper Chipmunk's album back cover and it shows a very similar image to the others. This means that i can easily use this kind of image in my digipak and it relates extremely well to my genre.

Another theme that comes accross in many covers is that they are in a park and there are kids park toys in the background. Again i can't say where this ideo comes from but i think it will be easy to replicate for my back cover for example.

This is Wiley from the famous Roll Deep crew.

This is British hip hop artist Giggs with his album Walk in the Park.

Camera Angles.

In Hip Hop the general image of an artist is of power and an uprising from poverty. To portray this in their videos artist use low angle shots to look up at the artist, this is commonly used in cinema and television dramas to show the more powerful protagonist.

Here are some examples of performers using low angle shots to create the visual presense that they are strong and powerful.



This is  the rapper TI performing in concert but when combined wiht the shot below would make a great shot for my british hip hop scene.

Shot ideas.

To create a visual motif for the artist in modern hip hop performers use hand guestures to either show they are part of a gang or graffiti to show who they are and what they represent, here are some examples.




Above is the crip signal, a famous gang in America.



Above is a graffiti call of the Latin kings, a latino gang in America.


By having a visual motif the audience will be able to recognise my artist not only by their music and their appearence but also by this visual motif in any future videos that he does.

Digipak

A digipak is the way i want my video or track to be distributed, all the best singles are now distributed via digipak.

It is essentially a CD case but made of card and has eithere a picture or a pattern on it. By having it distributed in this way people will be more likely to pass it and it will catch their attention therefore it will increase the good image of the overall product.

Here are some examples of successful digipaks in the hip hop market:

My Main Character.

My main character is going to be one of my friends at school. He is 17 but if seen by a random person in the stream they would normally assume he is around 19 which is perfect as the artist rapping says he is 19 years old at the start of the track.

It is vital that my character comes across as a youth from the run down areas of london, therefore the way in which i dress him is vital. For example it would look rediculous if he was wearing expensive branded suits or chinos and a polo shirt. He will be wearing a hooded jacket and most likely either tracksuit bottoms or scruffy jeans and some trainers typical of todays eastlondon youths.

This is a photo of the way in which some of the people from london dress.

The artist is an asian youth and it is key that my character matches this image. My character is very tanned and isn't asian but if hooded it would be very difficult to tell he isn't.

Above is a photo of Jordan my character. As you can see he comes across as a the ethnicity of british asian. We will have to work on some kind of make up to create a less clean image of him and to make the illusion he is from the area the artist is from and to create the image that the artist is a poor man rapping about his life.

Where My Track Will Be Played.

On sky channel 370 is a music channel called AKA, it plays all the big new hits from major artists aswell as the new up and coming artists. Millions of people my age watch this channel religeously and it wis hugely popular with the teenage party lifestyle, i have even been to parties where instead of a playlist on their ipod they simply put the television on channel 370 and played channel AKA. This would be a great way in which to get my music video out there!

This would hopefully produce a popularity for my track, not only can they view my video from the television but they can also whatch it on the internet via the AKA website or the obvious www.youtube.com.