As we discussed, we are a group of students studying A2 Media Studies at Harrow Weald College. As part of our A-level cirriculum, we are making a music video and hope to use your song "No More". This would involve posting the video up on YouTube.We would like to request your permisson to use your band and music to produce a music video and digi-pak.
Our group roles are as follows; Ameera Aziz- Producer Alexander Bradbury- Director/Assistant Producer Daniel Bond- Video Editor Gavin Man- Cameraperson/Operator
Producer
Responsibilities Producers generally have control of the entire film production and their primary responsibility is to create an environment for the cast and crew to best utilise their efforts. Therefore, the producer is held accountable for the completed film’s overall success or failure. The producer’s responsibilities extend over all four production phases:
Research & Development- Producers have the responsibility of selecting screenplays, securing rights, selecting the screenwriter and story editing team, raising the development funds and overseeing the development process.
Pre-Production- Producers bring together the member of the creative team (i.e. Director, Cinematographer and principal cast) and raise the finance for the production. Then, they choose key personnel (i.e. Line Producer, Associate Producer and Production Manager) and Heads of Department (i.e. Production Designer, Editor and Composer). They also partake in location scouting, and endorse the final script, schedule and budget.
Production- Producers are in constant consultation with Directors and approve all script changes and cost reports.
Post-Production and Marketing- Producers constantly communicate with post-production personnel (Editor, Composer and Visual Effects staff). They then consult with all production staff for approval of the final print and are most often involved with marketing and distribution of the completed film.
Skills Producers must be good motivators and negotiators and must be determined to do whatever it takes to get the best out of the film. They must be highly-skilled communicators with thorough knowledge of the narrative as well as all creative aspects of the film-making process (i.e. screenwriting, directing, editing, and composing music). They must know how to prepare a budget, secure finance for the production, control the overall production planning, control finance expenditure, ensure compliance of safety regulations, monitor progress of production and supervise the editing of the final film. Producers must also be able to work efficiently under massive pressure.
Producer’s Assistant
Responsibilities Assistant Producers are highly proficient administrators who work closely with the Producers throughout the entire production process. They must be highly organised and flexible and have a good overview of the production process. Assistant Producers responsibilities are specified by the Producer daily throughout production. These can range between any of the Producer’s duties for which they need assistance or cannot see to at that point in time.
Skills In addition to the basic skills of a Producer, an Assistant Producer must be adept at organising, planning and time management, as well as have strong communication skills. They must have excellent clerical skills and have a strong sense of loyalty, responsibility and confidence.
Director
Responsibilities A Director may either write the script or develop an early draft to create a vision for the film. They then select the cast, crew and locations for the film, as well as direct rehearsals and performances of the actors. The Director also manages the technical aspects of the production process (i.e. camera, lighting, sound, effects etc). During post-production, the Director works closely with the Editor to reach the final visualisation of the film.
Skills A Director must possess strong creative and visionary skills to be able to constantly create something original. They must be passionate and committed to the film and the industry. Directors must have strong leadership and interpersonal skills to be motivational and inspirational to get the best performance of all members of the production tams. They must also have widespread knowledge of the entire film-making process, both technical and creative. A Director must have a high capability for intensive work, attention to detail and strong determination.
Cameraperson/Operator
Responsibilities A Camera Operator works with on-set equipment and utilises complex technology with creative skills to produce the desired picture for the Director. Activities of the Camera Operator consist of; • Preparing and setting up equipment (i.e. tripods, monitors, lighting, cables and leads, and headphones) on-site prior to filming. • Suggesting how to best shoot a scene. • Planning shots that would be difficult or tedious to recreate (i.e. Explosions) • Practising for pre-determined shots. • Studying the scripts. • Finding solutions to technical and practical problems. • Taking instructions from the Director. • Working quickly and efficiently. • Taking full responsibility in situations with one camera. • Keeping up to date with development of new filming methods and equipment. • Repairing equipment. • Staying aware of health and safety issues.
Skills A Camera Operator’s main asset is technical skill and relevant experience. It is helpful for a Camera Operator to have; • A good theoretical and technical knowledge of cameras; • An interest in lighting, video, film or theatre; • Excellent hand-eye coordination; • Good hearing and colour vision; • Knowledge of editing; • Patience; • Attention to detail; • Knowledge of sound engineering. It also helps for a Camera Operator to possess a driving licence and understand the maintenance and emergency repair of filming equipment.
Video Editor
Responsibilities Video Editors work closely with the Directors to meet their requirements for the film’s vision. The Editor’s skill determines whether or not the vision can be realised. The video editing process consists of two stages;
Offline Editing- Working with the raw shots from the set in a relatively low cost editing suite. Includes sorting, rearranging and forming a digital rough cut according to the Director’s wishes.
Online Editing- Working with high cost equipment to create a more polished version of the final product. The Editor must be extremely technically competent, as the minimum requirements are set for broadcast standard. Any extra effects and materials for high-resolution are added here.
Skills Video Editor’s must be prepared for performing the most tedious tasks of all. They must also be skilled with the necessary editing software packages. Personality traits crucial for a Video Editor include; • A keen eye for detail; • Reliability; • Perfectionism; • The ability to listen to others; • Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
We played our video to some of our target audience and here are a few quotes as to what they thought of the video
‘’I thought it was really good actually. The way the story and the performance like blend together, it’s pretty clear what the message is and it’s shown beautifully. The black and white effect used was really good making the story like more significant”
“Yeah, it was pretty good. The lighting used in the performance bits impressed me a lot because of the way the shadows worked with the story line, like the guy ‘shadowing over’ the girl. Also the different coloured lights I think you used gave it a good effect.”
“I like how the editing goes in time with the beat of the song, it’s like proper in your face and fast paced. It goes with the domestic violence because that’s supposed to be like really aggressive just like the editing. It’s brilliant” “I liked the different shots used, like there was a lot of close up of the lead singer like elaborating on the lyrics and stuff. I would’ve liked to see more effects like shaking the camera around. But overall it is still a really good video, put well together”
We then asked them to look at our print projects and this is what they said
“I like how the colour of the band title matches the colour of the song list at the back, it links the digipak together, I also like the use of black and white to make the orange standout and I like how at the back the images look as if they photographs”
“The spine of the Digipak is very unique, I like the way the spider is hanging from the word Trantula. I do like the layout, but I don’t really like the colour orange”
“I really like the look of the magazine advert it looks like its advertising a rock song, because off the colours and font, and the logo looks cool”
“I didn't really get why there was a rose on the front at first, but now I think it's kind of clever, the colour theme is good”
Music videos generally reveal messages and values from the film-makers perspective. This is good to analyse how representation issues are portrayed.
Music videos generally use the “gaze theory” to attract and capture the interest of their audience. The gaze theory is related to Sigmund Freud’s concept of Voyeurism to refer to the pleasure that can be gained by looking at a sexual object.
One version of the gaze theory is the “male gaze” that is to do with using a female body in a video to create a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display. An example of this is Christina Aguilera’s 2002 hit; Dirrty. Mulvey 1975 suggested that women are often solely used for display rather than for a narrative purpose to increase the predominately male profit margins. Goodwin (1992) argues that female performers are often objectified in music videos through camerawork and editing with body shots to emphasis the sexualised treatment of the star. This suggests that women are used in music videos just for a sexual purpose, suggesting they are not equal to men. Also he also notes that in male artist’s videos there is a similar representation of women where women are used to boost the male star ego.
Another version of the gaze theory is the more complex “female gaze”. The female gaze is used to empower women and is used to describe when women look at men as sex object. Exhibitionism is a term used to the independence of female artist such as Madonna. Allot of research has been written about the representation of women and race. For example in rap music, the explicit Jamaican dance-hall moves show female-body confidence has influenced mainstream performance styles.
All these areas, come together to describe the notion of a “queer gaze” where representation is used to grab the attention of male and female artists to appeal to a homosexual audience.
Moving on to how an artist’s star image is representation; it is all about how an artist is perceived by the audience. Richard Dyer (1979) quoted “A star is an image constructed from a range of materials”. Within pop music, these materials include the songs – as in what they sing about and their musical structures like genres. The image they present in their singles and albums. Another material used to promote their star image is their media coverage; this involves what they say in their interviews about their career and personal life and most significantly their music videos, which helps draw up the image presented in the other material. Artists use each music video to reinforce their existing image. There are certain characteristics used to differentiate the artist from other celebrities in the scene. This is related to iconography which refers to visual features that regularly accompany a performer like Michael Jacksons glove on his left hand.
An artists’ star power refers to how much power they have over their career and it can take different forms. The first is economic power, which gives artists a status that allows them have artistic power, to have creative control over their own image and how they are represented in the media. Furthermore certain artists use their ideological power to influence the public. This can be in the form of their unique fashion trends such as Madonna or attitude towards the audience such as Bono from U2.
Before planning a script for this music video, we analysed other music videos to give us a more skilled approach to our own project. We looked at different music genres, like Hip Hop, R ’n’ B and Punk and found that they all had their own distinctive characteristics. For example in 50cents video –I get money, includes the common Hip Hop convention of lots of good looking women dancing around, a form of voyeurism; and in Hinder’s lips of an angel, characteristic of “grudge” music included the band presented themselves as no different from minor local bands ( i.e. not with a large audience in a big stage).
Other similarities I found was that in all the videos we looked the, the artist took a main role in the narrative as well as the performance depending on the structure style. This suggests to me, that in our music video the lead singer in the band should take a role in the narrative we decide to produce.
In addition music videos are a way to publicise an artist and their star image is important to represent in music videos. For example In Rihannas Take a bow video, she’s making a statement that she’s not a little girl anymore, which also works well with the title of the album “good girls, gone bad”. This tells me that when we construct our video, we should take into consideration, what kind of image we are trying to give off, in terms of dress, attitude and behaviour of the artists on screen.
Furthermore, music videos tend to have a fast pace and have lots of jump cuts. Also in terms of camerawork, there is a range of shots, including lots of close ups and tracking shots. I think camera movement is important in music videos to make it more interesting and this gives me an idea about what kind of things we need to add in our music video.
From analysing the questionnaires we distributed we have come to many conclusions which would benefit our end product. We distributed the questionnaires to our target audience of older aged teenagers. Our findings were from 50% females and 50% males; by doing this we can use our findings to generalise it to the rest of our target audience; this is because we have an accurate male to female ratio. The band focuses on reggae/hardcore rock music. Most popular genre in music for students would be either rock or urban. The band has a mix of the two which gives the band a likeable factor. The questionnaire shows us that there are more than half of the people like reggae, however less than half like hardcore rock. The questions were asked separately, but when we asked if people be open to a mix in the both, most were interested. Most rock videos consists of performance based concept, we asked if people would prefer performance, narrative or concept. Most people preferred concept and story; this may be because most urban music videos have less performance and more narrative. We have decided to mix the both to attract both genres. Because we are focusing on a band we wanted to find out whether to focus on the lead singer only or the whole group, this would help our filming on the performance shots, as people prefer to focus on the whole band rather than the lead singer. We asked if people would prefer a happy ending or a twist in the ending, this would help our storyline on how to end it. Most people prefer a twist as an ending; this would leave people thinking, creating more of an interest in the music video. Because the song is based on domestic violence issues, this would interest people who have had experience within this field, that can relate to and understand the lyrics. From the graph, we can see that 50% of the audience would like it, although it wouldn’t be a complete necessity for the video. Before planning a script for this music video project, we needed to analyse other music videos to include similar aspects to the theme. We analysed music videos from a few different genres such as hip hop, punk and R’n’B. The graph shows a clear indication that hip hop and R ‘n’ B were the most popular music videos amongst the audience. When further asked why, one of the main reasons were the popular uses of voyeurism, and how they tend to attract the male gaze
Research-14/10/09 Initially we need to find out what the general forms and conventions are for music videos and then research into the theme (Domestic Violence). Also for additional knowledge we need to analyse two music videos each to get a broader understanding of the styles of music videos. Then we need to find out what our target audience are looking for in music videos, and we will do with with questionnaires and focus groups.
Proposal-21/10/09 After we have got all our research covered and we know what interests our audience then we will all come up with video ideas that we will then agree upon to match our chosen song.
Script development-4/11/09 During the script development stage we need to come up with a scene by scene storyboard. We need to analysis the song to find the write timings for each scene. Think about camera angles and camera movement
Pre-production-2/11/09 Organise actors and decide on location. We need to decide on what props, if any, we need and get hold of them before the shooting of the music video. Furthermore we need to decide on customs. Go over all the arrangements with artists, so that understand what is going on.
PRODUCTION 9/11/09
Shoot 9/11/09 Actual filming of our production, including, environment, band, make-up/ costume, actors and props.
POST PRODUCTION
Editing 11/11/09 The editing of our production including special effects, inserting soundtrack, different cuts.
Audience Feedback This invloves summarising this feedback then improving our production either through more shooting or more time on editing or both.
PRINT PRODUCTION
Design a DigiPack 13/11/09 This invloves using the video to design the front cover, back and inside of a Digipack.
Magazine Advertisement 13/11/09 Create a magazine advert to advertise the digipack, music video and band.
Blog Uploading our project onto the blog, this will be throughout the project and not just at the end. Blog layout Making a home layout that will be the same for all members of the group to make it look presentable, this may include uploading our production video and other music videos that have gave us inspiration.
Skills development log- planning A record of the skills that have been picked up whilst creating our production. This maybe editing skills or filming techniques.
Eminem, real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor who was first overlooked and taunted by many due to him being white, where black and Latin rappers were the norm, but has since been hailed by many as one of the greatest lyricists of all time. His rise to fame started with his major-label debut album “The Slim Shady LP” in 1999. The following album, “The Marshall Mathers LP”, became the fastest selling hip-hop album in history, selling over 1.79 million copies in the first week just in the US and earning the title of Fastest Selling Solo Album Ever in the Guinness Book of World Records. It has been certified 9x platinum by the RIAA in the US and has sold over 19 million units to as of August 2009. In all he has released nine albums and appeared in nine films, including 8 Mile for which he was nominated for sixteen awards, of which he claimed ten.
The third single from “The Marshall Mathers LP”, “Stan”, is by Eminem featuring British pop singer Dido. It peaked at number one in the UK and Australia and is ranked #290 in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, as well as #45 About.com’s Top 100 RapSongs.
The lyrics tell a fictional story of a fan obsessed with Eminem who writes to him but receives no reply. The first three verses are from Eminem as Stan trying to contact him (the first two being letters and the third a voice recorder), while the fourth is Eminem attempting to write to Stan, only to realize that he’d already heard of his suicide on the news.
Eminem himself alongside “DJ Mark, The 45 King” produced the song using a slightly modified break from Dido’s “Thank You” as its basis. The opening lines of “Thank You” are also sampled as a chorus. It has a slow tempo and the programmed sounds have a very dark and depressing feel to them.
The original music video is 8:15 minutes long, but due to many censors in the verses and a shortened intro skit, the short MTV version is 6:00 minutes. It was nominated at the 2001 MTV VMAs for Video of the Year, Best Direction, Best Male, Best Rap Video and Best Cinematography. It was also ranked as #1 and #3 of MuchMusic’s 100 Best Videos and 50 Most Controversial Videos respectively.
It is a closed, single narrative structure with some parallel editing showing Eminem (appearing as himself) on his tour bus reading fan mail and Stan (played by Devon Sawa) in his house with his girlfriend (played by Dido). Although the video is non-linear with its many flashback scenes, it closely follows the lyrics of the song.
The intro skit of the video starts with an establishing shot of an open window, tracking towards it as a thunderstorm rages outside. We then see a mid-shot of Stan in the bathroom as he bleaches his hair in the sink (this shows his idolism of Eminem, since he bleaches his hair blonde). We then see an over-the-shoulder shot from behind him, showing his expression in the mirrors reflection as his hair turns blonde and he smiles. There is then a shot of Dido, seen to be pregnant, walking across the hall and knocking on the door to check on him. He fiercely opens it and shouts at her, showing his violent nature is not uncommon. A two-shot from the mirror has he her asking what he’s doing and expressing her concern about him “taking this too far”, which shows how much she cares about him and his well-being. He stares at the mirror and asks her if she likes it absent-mindedly, as if he is actually talking to someone in his own head, possibly Eminem himself. His mood switches when she keeps calling him “Stanley” and he shouts and raises his hand which visibly scares her. He then grabs her, pushes her towards the toilet and leaves the room and she sits. This sequence shows that this is their lifestyle and that his abuse has become the norm.
The music then begins with Dido singing the chorus, seemingly to calm herself down after the encounter with Stan. The camera then tracks downwards from a side view mid-shot of her on the toilet, through the floorboards to a long-shot of Stan in the basement. Then camera then sweeps across the room where we see a montage of Eminem photographs, posters, magazine cut-outs etc covering the walls and some parts of the ceiling. Stan sits at a cluttered desk where he has a number of envelopes with the same address on them (presumably Eminem’s) ready to send and a small television with an Eminem documentary. He then starts to write a letter as the first verse begins. The lyrics for the verse are the words from his letter and he says them out loud along with the track as he writes. The first line also has the sound effect of a pencil scratching paper.
The first verse has Stan writing to Eminem saying that he’s received no reply and his first two letters must not have gone through. He shows his devotion, mentioning his room full of posters and pictures as well as referencing some of Eminem’s old underground material, going as far as to say he’ll name his child Bonnie after his song “Bonnie and Clyde ‘97” if it is a girl. He mentions how similar they are, because of them both being fathers and empathizes about his uncle’s suicide, saying he had a friend who did the same thing. He ends by claiming he is his biggest fan and hopes for a reply.
The shots of the first verse are parallel edited and are mainly of Stan in the basement as he writes, alongside Dido upstairs as she sits alone, seemingly worried and feeling neglected. Some close-up shots of Stan’s face show him to have a dark and demented side to his obsession with Eminem. There is also one mid-shot of Eminem in his tour bus as he reads a letter. There is also the use of special effects when Stan is looking in the mirror in the basement and sees Eminem performing in it.
The first chorus begins with Stan finishing his letter and going back up the stairs to the main house. We then see a two-shot from the kitchen showing Dido looking through the fridge and Stan watching television. They start arguing and then he starts losing his temper to the point where he falls on the floor, before he storms out as Dido looks helplessly on. This all shows more of their abusive relationship and Stan’s instability. Alongside the shots of this scene, we see shots of a post office were a single letter falls of a trolley unnoticed. We see a close up and then an extreme close-up of the letter which reveals that it is Stan’s letter to Eminem.
The second verse is another letter from Stan, where he is obviously frustrated. He starts off optimistic, but wavers a bit by the second line “I ain’t mad/I just think it’s fucked up that you don’t answer fans/”. He also expresses his annoyance at Eminem for apparently ignoring him at a concert and refusing to sign an autograph for his little brother Matthew, who he described as loving Eminem even more than himself. The deterioration of his sanity then shows through when he says “Sometimes I even cut myself to see how much it bleeds/it’s like adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me/”. He also talks about how his girlfriend is jealous of his love for Eminem, but she doesn’t understand. He ends the letter with “Sincerely yours, Stan/P.S. we should be together too" which shows his growing obsession.
The style of the shots during the second verse are very similar to first, except they are slightly faster and more haphazard, showing that Stan is gradually losing his mind. The letter is written at the same desk and we still see Dido sitting alone upstairs. We see other scenes of Eminem’s show with him performing and Stan and Matthew in the front row, as well as him leaving the building and the brothers waiting outside in the snow to meet him, but bodyguards drag him away. We also see tracking shots of Stan’s desk with Eminem’s album artwork as he writes of his self-harming, suggesting that he believes he is following Eminem’s example. At the end of the verse we see Stan take a photo of him and Dido and replace the image of her with a torn picture of Eminem, showing his devotion and that he would rather be with Eminem than his girlfriend.
The second chorus shows Dido wake up during the night to see Stan with asleep with an Eminem magazine. She sneaks downstairs to the basement, as we see Stan wake up and notice she is not beside him. The camera tracks downwards through the floorboards from the bedroom to the basement and we see Dido enter and shockingly discover the doctored picture that used to be of her and Stan. Stan then appears behind her and grabs her. We then see a black car racing through torrential rain, the sound of the engine serving as a sound bridge for this shot and the opening shot of the third verse.
The third verse begins with Stan driving the car and shouting into a tape recorder. He has now clearly gone over the edge and freely expresses his anger and resentment towards Eminem for not reply to him for “six months”. He mentions his sorrow and the goes on to further vent his anger, saying "I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it/And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you scream about it/I hope your conscience eats at you and you can't breathe without me/”. He then interrupts himself by shouting “shut-up bitch I’m tryna talk” to the back of the car. He then continues with “that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk/But I didn't slit her throat I just tied her up, see I ain’t like you/cause if she suffocates, she'll suffer more and then she'll die too”, again referencing Eminem’s “Bonnie and Clyde ‘97” where he fantasizes about slitting his wife’s throat, before putting her in the trunk and dropping her off in a lake. Stan then wraps up and reveals he is “almost at the bridge”, implying he is about to drive off. He realizes too late that he has no way of getting the tape ton Eminem, saying “oh shit, I forgot, how am I supposed to send this shit out?”
The shots of the third verse show close-ups of Stan in the car as he drives at “90 (mph) on the freeway” through the rain. There are some over-the-shoulder shots from behind him showing a picture of Eminem hanging from the rear-view mirror. We also see an oncoming car’s headlights in the distance. While he vents his anger, we see sped-up flashback of Stan wrecking the television and furniture with a baseball bat and ripping the posters of the walls in the basement. Near the end of the verse, there is a road block which he ploughs through and drives off the bridge. The car falls in slow-motion, splashes into the lake and sinks.
The fourth verse is Eminem’s reply to Stan, apologizing for not doing it sooner and he had been busy. He asked about Dido’s pregnancy, sent an autographed cap for Matthew and apologized for missing them at the show. He then expresses his concern for Stan’s attitude and tells him not to take his lyrics seriously by saying, “but what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too? /I say that shit just clowning, dog, c'mon - how fucked up is you? /”. He advises him to get counseling and to treat Dido better, before telling him about a similar story that “made him sick” some weeks before about “Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge/and had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid/ and in the car they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to/” Realization then hits him what the name of the man was and that it was the Stan he was writing to.
The video addresses many serious issues, such as domestic abuse and psychotic fan obsession. Although he sometimes writes songs of a violent nature, many expressing thoughts of his ex-wife, this video seems to show him from a more realistic point-of-view, as a man who writes songs and performs them rather than the psychotic wife-beater of his artist persona.
The shots of Eminem reading mail in his tour bus and performing onstage show him as an entertainer. His reply to Stan’s letter shows him as a regular human being, watching the news and giving advice on his relationship. It shows famous people as powerful, but unable to control how others receive their actions. Eminem may have used this song and video to show critics, some of who oppose his use of profanity and violent scenarios in his songs, as well as his fans that he is an entertainer whose lyrics and thoughts are his own and should not be taken so seriously.
Stan is used in the video to represent the people who worship their idols as Gods, which Eminem is against. Stan is shown as unstable and highly psychotic. Throughout the video there is torrential rain, along with loud, non-diegetic thunderclaps and lightning flashes which can be said to connote the inner, violent turmoil and instability of Stan’s mind, as opposed to the calm atmosphere of Eminem’s tour bus. Many of the shots in the basement track around him either at a high-angle to show his engrossment in the letter, or low-angle which shows shadows on his face and gives him a more demented look. In the first verse, his expression shows him as slightly out-of-touch, yet he seems to be writing to an old friend. In the second begins to really lose his mind and shows his anger and frustration through his words, expression and body language. By the third he has truly lost his sanity and shouts and screams in anger and rage.
Dido is shown as an innocent victim of Stan’s psychotic behavior, as she had nothing to do with the letters and she still paid the price. Her vulnerability was further portrayed by her pregnancy and scenes where she would silently sit in corners on the floor. Her body language when she argues with Stan connotes pleading, as opposed to his frustration and anger.
To get a real insight into what it is like to be in a relationship that suffers from domestic violence, we need to read stories from people that have actually been through it. The following are two stories from Amelia and Danna that we have found on the internet. We have highlighted the abuse endured to get a feeling of what goes on.
The brief We have been asked to produce a music video with a print project, as part of our A2 media coursework, which includes a music video, magazine advert and DVD cover. The band we have decided to film is called Tarantula who incorporates reggae into their rock themed music. For this reason they are unique and are able to target a niche audience. Our aim is to produce a video which highlights their individuality and creates a star presence which looks conventional as well as original. The song we have decided to film is called “no more”, which is based around domestic violence.
Research findings The subject matter of our music video is a sensitive subject and from our target audience research we have found that our potential audience would appreciate a hard hitting video with a twist. This is because it would grab their attention and would allow them to feel empathy for characters. For this reason we have decided to look at narrative style videos. Furthermore looking at other videos from similar genres, artists are casually dressed and in terms of the subject matter there isn’t that many other music videos dealing with the issue of domestic violence. A key feature we found was that videos that do show some violence tend to try to create the illusion of violence rather than showing it full on, because that may be disturbing to the audience. In our case, it may be more appropriate to just show evidence of violence rather than showing it directly, because there is a risk that our attempt may come off a bit comical.
Psychologists suggests that domestic violence occurs in lower class families when the husband hasn’t got resources to threaten their partner with, which results in violence, therefore issues suggest as this need to be thought about in our characterisation and production design.
Initial ideas Based on the above findings, each member of our production team came up with an initial idea in response to the brief. 1. Alexander Bradbury My first idea was based around a young couple in a middle class home. The video would begin with the couple having a heated argument and the man hitting the women and then leaving the house. The rest of the video would follow the women around and there might be black and white flashbacks to show that the violence has been going on for a while. Each flashback could represent a different aspect of domestic abuse. The end of the video would show that the women decides to leave however with a big twist the man shows up at the front door and shuts the door behind him. This will show she is trapped like a prisoner.
2. Gavin Man My idea for the music video was a narrative of the women getting abused and deciding leave her husband. She decides to leave at the end because throughout the video she is seeing visions of her being killed. However I also thought there should be a performance part of the video, showing the band playing in a small room with coloured lighting; this would create a surreal visual effect. To link the performance to the concept of the narrative, I think the small room that the band are playing in, should show evidence of domestic violence, to suggest perhaps they are in a room in the house where the violence took place. For example, there may be a broken glass on the floor, or empty alcohol bottles.
3. Daniel Bond As I am in the band, my first thoughts were to do a performance structured video, filmed in the bands rehearsal studio. The reason I thought of this, is because I wanted to get the bands image noticed as much as possible so people would be able to recognise us after watching the video. Throughout the video there should be lots of individual close ups of each member and the instrument they play and mid shots of the band as a unit. The song is fast paced and therefore there should be lots of quick shots coming from different angles to make it interesting. The song has a heavy chorus and therefore I think at those parts in the film there should be a change in the video to highlight these changes. For example when we begin the chorus there could be neon lights flashing to make the video more attention grabbing.
4. Ameera Tayabali My initial idea when deciding how to film the video was to create a performance and illustrated mix. The song is about domestic violence which is a sensitive subject; therefore I thought the video had to be able to capture the seriousness of the topic. My idea starts off with the women feeling isolated and hopeless after her husband hits her and leaves. Throughout the video I don’t think we should show the man’s face; this can create an element of mystery and in turn shows that it could be “anyone”. As the video is in the women’s point of view it can show how, by the end she regains the feeling of self worth and fights back. By doing so, she kills her husband by accident, however instead of feeling remorse, she feels liberated and safe. Because the band is new, I thought this video would be a great way to get their image known a little bit more and therefore there should be cuts to them at a rehearsal for a gig. The way I thought you could link the band to the domestic violence is to posters of the band on the bedroom wall or leaflets of the bands upcoming gig on the kitchen table. Final idea Our final ideas incorporate a bit of everyone’s ideas. We all liked the idea of doing a performance and narrative mix, because this way we could illustrate the meaning of domestic violence and grasp the empathy and emotions from our target audience, whilst at the same time promoting the members of the band. We decided to create the story of a young woman, living together with her boyfriend suffering from the hidden abuse of domestic violence. We will start the video off with the heated argument and the man leaving the house. The story will be from the woman’s point of view and follow her while she is doing her daily routine around the house. Whilst tidying up she will be reminded of past abuse, which will trigger flashbacks. This will illustrate to the audience the abuse has been going on for a period of time and the victim has been suffering in silence. The aim of this is to show how victims feel trapped, isolated and embarrassed to seek for help. During the chorus that is heavier than the rest of the song, we will cut to a performance by the band in their rehearsal studio. This should help create layers to the production, making it more interesting for the viewer. By the end of the song she will decide she has had enough and pack up her stuff to leave for good. However to create a twist to the story, as she is about to leave her partner will be at the door, shutting the door behind him. We decided to do this because it creates a twist that from our target audience research has shown us our audience appreciates and also show the reality that their isn’t always a happy ending.
Production team roles Planning- We will all have a part to play in the planning of the production and gathering research on our target audience and subject matter. Gavin Man is in charge of creating a project schedule to make sure we have planned when and where all the stages of production are going to take place, so that we are able to hand in our final piece on time . He is also concluding our target audience research so that we know what is needed from us to engage our potential audience.
Ameera Tayabali is going to finalise all subject matter research and write a conclusion, so that we are able to make a genuine account of what it feels like to be in a relationship suffering from domestic violence. This is important, so that we are able to represent thousands suffering in silence and able to emphasis the seriousness of the issue. Furthermore she is going to make sure all paperwork is completed including misc production paperwork.
Alexander Bradbury is going to research the band so that we know how they want to be represented and the conventions of the genre of music they embody. Finally Daniel Bond is going to develop the script and make sure all the timings for each scene correspond to the timings of the actual video.
Construction- Gavin Man and Alexander Bradbury are going to be filming on the days, making sure we get enough different angled shots and are able to get good footage of the band members.
Alexander Bradbury and Ameera Tayabali will be directing during the day and help get the shots needed for dramatic effect.
Daniel Bond is in the band and therefore will be performing with the band during filming, furthermore, he is in charge of editing which includes visual effects to make the video exciting.
Domestic Violence is any type of ongoing violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship. This can include forced marriage and so-called 'honour crimes'. Domestic violence is more then just unprovoked physical violence, there are many other signs such as verbal abuse, lying to you (like having an affair), and even isolation like monitoring your telephone calls and telling you were you can and can’t go.
There are many different theories as to the causes of domestic violence. These include psychological theories that consider personality traits and mental characteristics of the offender, as well as social theories which consider external factors in the offender's environment, such as family structure, stress, social learning. Social learning refers to learning through observation, for example when growing up if the attacker was in a family environment which suffered from domestic violence, that may be the only experience they have of family life and imitate it within their own families. As with many phenomena regarding human experience, no single approach appears to cover all cases. Other factors associated with domestic violence include heavy alcohol consumption and side effects of drug addiction.
From personal accounts, we found that domestic violence is all about power and control. The victim completely looses their self-esteem and therefore may feel as if it is their fault. “He made me feel so bad about myself… that I believed I deserved that kind of treatment…” (Amelia’s story). They try to control every aspect of the persons life with fear, like Danna explains, “I would be locked in it for days and the hardest part is that there wasn't even a lock on the door, I was so afraid to leave the room I may as well have been locked in it, only leaving to ask permission to go to the toilet.” This shows that the attacker had so much control that he wouldn’t even have to forcefully isolate his victim in one room with a lock, he had instilled so much fear in his victim that she was terrified of the consequences if she left. This begins to explain why some victims find it hard to leave a violent relationship, because if they are so afraid to leave a room that isn’t locked how they are supposed to leave the whole relationship. Statistics from Humphreys & Thiara, (2002) showed that 60% of women that finally left did so because they felt that their or their children would have been killed if they stayed. Also it isn’t generally an irrational fear of being killed because on average two women a week are murdered by their violent partner or ex-partner (Povey, 2005; Home Office, 1999; Department of Health, 2005.)
In terms of representation issues, statistics shows 89 per cent of victims are women and women under the age of 30 are at considerably greater risk than those over the age of 40 years (British Crime Survey, Walby & Allen, 2004). With regards to ethnicity and social class there isn’t much evidence that provides a difference of statistics within the groups, therefore this information provides the idea that we should use a young female victim.
From looking at other music videos which theme around domestic violence we see how they choose to express the issue. Because domestic violence is a serious problem we need to take on the issue delicately whilst making a impact on the audience. A really good shot I noticed in both Eve- Love is blind (1999) and Ashanti- Rain on me (2003), is the mirror shot were the girl is like fixing her makeup in the mirror and the camera is focused on the mirror therefore we can see her reflection and her facial expressions -If done right it can be very effective. Another key technique I saw, was instead to showing physical violence which can be disturbing or if not done professionally can look “comical”, show a shadow of violence which can imply the abuse but not show it directly.
Our research into domestic violence has given us a broader understanding of domestic violence in the UK, which in turn will help us produce a music video with a realistic outlook on domestic violence situations.
Hinders’ lips of an angel, is a post grunge genre song and was in released in the U.S in September 2006. The song is themed around lost love.
The lyrics are about the singer describing his feelings when his ex- girlfriend calls late at night. He refers to the call being a secret, for example when he says “I gotta whisper, cause I can't be too loud”. This suggests he knows having the conversation is wrong; because if he truly believed everything was OK he wouldn’t be afraid to tell his current girlfriend about the conversation.
Themes of grunge music tend to typically be angst-filled, often addressing themes such as social alienation, apathy, confinement, and a desire for freedom. Hinders’ Lips of an angel does show themes of desire for freedom in terms of missing his ex-girlfriend and apathy because he doesn’t feel much passion with his current girlfriend.
The structure of the video is narrative based featuring a lot of performance. This means the video is telling a story but also just has cuts to the band performing. Within the whole production there are three main locations.
The first location is in a house, the video opens with a mid-shot of a house phone, then the lead singer picks up the phone and as he sings it is as if he is talking on the phone. In the house the camera is predominantly based in one place - one on the wall by the house phone; therefore facing directly at the man on the phone. Whilst he is talking, he pulls out a black and white picture of a woman from under some paper; this leads the audience to believe that is who he is talking to.
Throughout the video his current girlfriend is in the background. This connotes that she is not as important to the song or to the man in the video, as the girl he is singing to. Also you can see in the video that his current girlfriend wants the mans’ attention as while she is getting ready, she keeps looking at him, but he doesn’t notice, again signifying she is not as important. In terms of representation this shows that the man is in control of the situation because he has two girls after him, giving him a choice and a upper hand on either one of the girls.
When the song reaches the chorus, and the band plays more heavier notes, the mise-en-scene changes to the second location; a dark room (like a basement) filled with candles. This is where the band is performing. This is a characteristic of “grudge” music, whereby the band presented themselves as no different from minor local bands ( i.e. not with a large audience in a big stage). This is explained by Jack Endino in the 1996 documentary Hype! where he said Seattle bands were inconsistent live performers, since their primary objective was not to be entertainers, but simply to "rock out."
Whilst at this setting, there are a lot faster paced, close up shots of the band and their instruments. However, even within this setting the lead singer is still the main character rather then all the band members getting equal screen time. Post-grunge bands usually use the distorted guitar and apathetic and teenage angst ridden lyrics. However, Hinder uses a more hard rock structure in guitar solos, longer song lengths, more commercial sounding production and generally at a little slower pace. Also, another distinctive feature of Hinders’ lips of an angel is that it uses very melodic and emotional lyrics to get an emotional response out of fans. Bands that do use this feature tend to focus more on the lyrics than the music unlike Grunge who focus more on music than lyrics.
The video also then cuts to its third location. It features black and white shots of the girl in the picture and the lead singer in a car laughing and having fun. This suggests they are on a road trip as a couple. When they reach their destination, they get out of the car and walk hand in hand bare foot on the beach. This is a romantic setting and suggests that when he was with his ex, it was more about love and spontaneity and now he has settled down for a normal “boring” life.
The black and white editing serves two purposes. Firstly, by showing it in black and white, it differentiates the memories from real time, which makes it clearer for the audience to see that the scenes are flashbacks. However it also adds to the romance of the couple, like an old black and white love story.
The song ends just as it began, with the singer saying “Honey why you calling me so late?”, However, when he says it at the end of the song, it is less literal and more figurative, with the underlying meaning "so late" not as in at night, but as in too late in life; because he is now unable to continue the previous relationship.
In terms of representation, grunge musicians usually were outdoor clothing and keep an unkempt appearance. Hinder also keeps this appearance with brown and black t-shirts and messy hair.
• Destructive criticism and verbal abuse: shouting/mocking/accusing/name calling/verbally threatening
• Pressure tactics: sulking, threatening to withhold money, disconnect the telephone, take the car away, commit suicide, take the children away, report you to welfare agencies unless you comply with his demands regarding bringing up the children, lying to your friends and family about you, telling you that you have no choice in any decisions. • Disrespect: persistently putting you down in front of other people, not listening or responding when you talk, interrupting your telephone calls, taking money from your purse without asking, refusing to help with childcare or housework.
• Breaking trust: lying to you, withholding information from you, being jealous, having other relationships, breaking promises and shared agreements.
• Isolation: monitoring or blocking your telephone calls, telling you where you can and cannot go, preventing you from seeing friends and relatives.
• Harassment: following you, checking up on you, opening your mail, repeatedly checking to see who has telephoned you, embarrassing you in public.
• Threats: making angry gestures, using physical size to intimidate, shouting you down, destroying your possessions, breaking things, punching walls, wielding a knife or a gun, threatening to kill or harm you and the children.
• Sexual violence: using force, threats or intimidation to make you perform sexual acts, having sex with you when you don't want to have sex, any degrading treatment based on your sexual orientation. • Physical violence: punching, slapping, hitting, biting, pinching, kicking, pulling hair out, pushing, shoving, burning, strangling. • Denial: saying the abuse doesn't happen, saying you caused the abusive behaviour, being publicly gentle and patient, crying and begging for forgiveness, saying it will never happen again.
References from http://www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles.asp?section=00010001002200410001&itemid=1272
Domestic violence is physical, sexual, psychological or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and that forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. This can include forced marriage and so-called 'honour crimes'. Domestic violence may include a range of abusive behaviours, not all of which are in themselves inherently 'violent'.
Gender - 89 per cent of victims are women. (British Crime Survey, Walby & Allen, 2004) - 1 in 4 women may experience violence in their relationships with men (Women's Aid Federation [England] report, 1992) - 11% of women compared to 1% of men reported frightening threats (British Crime Survey, Walby & Allen, 2004)
Age - Women under the age of 30 are at considerably greater risk than those over the age of 40 years. (British Crime Survey, Walby & Allen, 2004)
- Ethnicity - Home Office Research Study 191 found that, among women, risks of domestic violence do not differ significantly by ethnic origin: about 4% of women of all ethnic groups said that they had been a victim of domestic violence in 1995.
Disability - 3% of women living in refuges were disabled during the year 1997/98, according to a research report detailing a Women's Aid survey of that period (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2002).
Social Class - can occur within any class, but risk increases in situations of poverty.
Fear of being killed In a study of 200 women's experiences of domestic violence it was found that 60% of the women had left because they feared that they or their children would be killed by the perpetrator (Humphreys & Thiara, 2002).
Homicide On average, two women a week are killed by a violent partner or ex-partner. This constitutes nearly 40% of all female homicide victims. (Povey, (ed.), 2005; Home Office, 1999; Department of Health, 2005.)
A music video is a short film that accomplices a song. The aim of having a music video is a marketing device intended to promote the sale of the music recordings. Music videos started to become popular in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium.
Music videos follow particular narrative structures; they can either be performance like JLS’s recent debut single “beat again” (2009); narrative like “November Rain” by Guns n’ Roses in 1992 or concept driven like "Land of Confusion" by Genesis in 1988. Saying this, in recent years a combination of two structures are popular, for example Hinders 2006 hit “lips of an angel”.
Narrative driven music videos use storylines or offer complex fragments in a non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again. Love stories are common in this structure style (e.g boy meets girl, boy losesgirl, boy gets girl back). Schwichtenberg (1992) highlights that action within a story is usually dominated by males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen. Feminists would be against these types of music videos which promote a patrical society. More recent females try to challenge these conventions like Lilly Allen's debut hit "smile" (2006).
Performance based music videos on the other hand; predominantly feature the artists performing on a stage of some sort. Gow (1992) suggests "the predominance of performance indicates that music video defines itself chiefly by images of artistes singing and playing songs". This allows the audience to have more varied access to the performer than a stage performance can. The aim of performance bsed videos are to give a live show feeling, such as a concert experience. The close ups allow eye contact and close observations of facial gestures.
Concept videos are structured with the use of metaphores. Firth (1988) explains that concept videos are used to create a mood, rather then tell a story and try to create a emotional viewing for the audience. Concept videos can be interpreted in different ways and there can be mulitple meanings for the metaphores.
There are overall conventions of music videos and Andrew Goodwin (1992) identified some of them. For one, music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, for example heavy metal bands generally have stage performances, such as the band Judas Priest and their 1982 hit “Bloodstone”. This is in contrast to girl bands that may have a cerographed routine; an example of this is like Girls Aloud, “Can’t speak French”. Also there is always a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (The Scripts’ video “the man that can’t be moved”, 2008). Another key convention is a lot of close-ups of the artists. This is to give the audience a feel of the emotions connected with the song. Furthermore over time, the artists begin to develop their own iconography, which over time becomes their star image. The term iconography is related to visual features that accompany performances by the star like costumes, jewellery or settings. Another noticeable convention of music videos is the references to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women; an example of this is “Destination Unknown” by Alex Gaudino in 2007.
Finally another feature of music videos is that they are often intertextual references to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc. This suggests that some music videos relate the concept of video to another video for example Madonna’s music video to her song Material Girl (1985), which draws on the film “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. In this case the intertextual image is not necessarily of Monroe, but of the Hollywood stereotype of the sexy blonde who uses her looks to get what she wants. It makes sense that many music videos draw upon cinema because inspiration for music videos must come from somewhere. Saying this, not all audiences will spot a reference, which would not mean that they would not enjoy the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. It also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product.
Key elements of music videos are also how camerawork is used along with editing and the mise-en-scene. Camera movement may accompany movement of performers, but it may also be used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performances, for example constantly circling the band as they perform on stage. By using close up shots to predominate the shots it provides a sense of intimacy for the viewer emphasising half of the product on sale – like the artist itself.
In terms of editing, music videos generally use fast-cut montages, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, which therefore means the audience needs to watch the video several times to notice everything. Saying this, some videos use a slow pace and gentler shot transitions to establish mood. Dido is an example of this because this style of editing appeals to many female solo artists with a broad audience appeal, another music video example is Alexandra Burkes “Halleluiah”.
Mise-en-scene varies greatly in music videos according to genre. The bigger the star, the bigger the budget, which means they can afford more exotic/ impressive locations as well as props customs and dance routines. In 1993 Michael Jackson and Janet Jacksons “Scream” was the most expensive music video produced at the time, and was set in out of space. The mise-en-scene can be effectively used to guarantee authenticity of a bands musical virtuosity, it also be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle, and as part of voyeuristic context by suggesting a setting associated with sexual allure, such as a sleazy nightclub.
I get money is a rap song off 50 cent’s third album “Curtis”. It is an iron fisted code to living large. In this song the artist talks about the large amounts of wealth he has and many ways of which he spends it. This song is a representation of the artist’s power< dominance and control over the rap industry. He also lyrically explains that all of his wealth has not come from his rap career but other ventures such as vitamin water. The video for this single was made initially as a promotion video for the Internet to create a buzz for his upcoming album, however it eventually made its way onto television.
At the beginning of the video there s an onscreen flame along with an audio snippet of an explosion, the explosion introduces the large letters across the screen which spells out “50 Cent”. This states the artist of the song. We also hear a voice which says “this guy has a lot of money man”. This is an early example of what message that this song and video will be portraying. We are introduced with large green letters that say the song title “I Get Money”, the colour green is to represent the American green dollar which also represents his wealth. The type of colour and font used stands out from the background. The word are also backlight which make the title look more important.
As the intro ends the opening to the video is started with a birthday cake made up of stacks of dollar bills and among it all are the candles which are numbers “5” and “0”. As the camera then pulls out we see that 50 cent has blown out the candles with a fan made up of hundred dollar bills. This opening is a good example of a convention that is seen in many rap videos; that being the appearance of large sums of money. This represents the amount of wealth that 50 Cent possesses. Then as the song begins with the repeated words “I Get Money”, an onscreen display of lyrics that match the vocals is seen along the top and bottom of the black straps.
As the words are repeated with matching visuals of the lyrics we are presented with an array of fast shot scenes which compile of the artist along with various members of the rap group “G-Unit” violently bouncing around with the beat of the song. This portrays a very masculine image to the viewers and represents the power 50 Cent has along with his group.
The music genre of Hip-Hop is very clear though the early images of the video. The conventions of good looking women, exhibiting seductive behaviour is present. There are many medium and close up shots of 50 Cent as he repeats the words “I, I get it”. The cuts are very fast and ar parallel with the speed of the words. In the first verse of the song he has a visual performance that matches his lyrics. As he says “ have a baby by me baby, be a millionaire , I’ll write the check before the baby comes, who the fuck cares”, onscreen there is a women standing next to 50 Cent whilst he holds up a child then it cuts to the women holding up a cheque to the screen with the artist name on it. Then as the bass beats the camera gets closer to the cheque so his name can be eventually seen.
As the verse goes on there is illuminated writing that appears along the bottom and top of the black screen. It is used as an advertising tool and persuasive tool in this video. For example in the end of the verse “pay attention stupid” comes up which noticeable attracts the attention of viewers to the action on the screen. Then as an advertising tool it is used to promote many Hip-Hop Djs which are known to the fans and viewers.
As the video progresses we see another audio visual link when he says “I bake the bread”, we see 50 cent rips open a loaf of bread. In the hip-hop culture, the word bread is used to represent money, so bread is money. This convention video is used to maintain the audience’s interest and put a message across clearly. In this case is used to illustrate that 50 Cent posses his humour in his lyrics. Then immediately it cuts to another shot where the straps along the bottom message to all viewers, that being “this is hip-hop”. By doing this it is ultimately telling the audience that the artist creates real hip-hop therefore bettering his image in the hip-hop community as a rapper.
Then the second verse he states that “I got rid of my old bitch, now I got new hoes”, as the lyrics are said three images are split on the screen with 50 Cent with three different girls beside him. This is an reinforcement of the hip –hop video convention that good looking women are always apparent. By using the effect of three separated images on the screen at once is that the viewers see he means what he says and that he can get any girl he wants. This shows his characteristics of being dominant, muscling and wealthy. Women are being represented as an accessory, given a degrading name, as hip-hop culture are criticized for there vision of woman as being a pleasurement or a toy.
We then see another employment of the advertising and promotion side of the video. Where the straps along the bottom if the screen displays the illuminated words “Curtis is coming”, which is 50 Cent’s third album which was soon to hit stores. Whenever the text appears it is always colour co-ordinated with the main colour and so was the clothing the artist and the women are wearing, along with a blue Lamborghini, this also being a representation of his wealth.
As we approach halfway the lyrics and again accompanied by matching video, when he states “I’ll make your whole click break dance”, we see a man performing break dance moves. Break dancing is very popular in the hip-hop culture and is used to symbolise that in this video. Then we get a shot of 50 Cent alone with the words “I’m #1”, this is to reinforce that he is the best at what he does. Then we get the words “I’m still undefeated” “undisputed”, this is more of an aggressive and physical notion. Because undefeated and undisputed are words normally associated with more physical sports which require masculine power and strength. Therefore in this case undefeated is used to signify that no one has yet beat him in the hip-hop industry and undisputed is used to reiterate that he has accomplished all there is to accomplished.
We are then presented with 50 Cent and four other women clinging onto his body, whilst the background is decorated with his upcoming album cover. The use of women in this shot is to show that he is desired by women and he can also acquire women. The camera then closes in on his chain. The use of chains around rappers necks are used to show their wealth and style it is used in almost every hip-hop video as a key convention. Then once he chain is in clear sight the next shot is within the chains pendant. As it gets closer we can see the chain is of a television with another shot. The television is then blown up into full screen. This editing technique is used as a wow factor. It creates a more special edit rather than just a plain cut.
We then are presented with a woman fanning 50 Cent with a wad if dollar bills, this image is used o represent his wealth hence the title “I Get Money”, and his constant company of women. As the shot cuts to 50 Cent wearing a bullet-proof vest with the words “I Run New-York” are presented along the top and bottom straps. The bullet-proof vests shows his hard, gangster image that he has and probably will still go through violent situations. The text is used to show that he is still the best rapper in New-York and that his power is so great he alone dominates the cities hip-hop scene.
Then as the last chorus starts we are shown various shots that are cut along with the repeating kick from the beat. The shots contain the artist along with a large mob of men. They are all dressed similarly and have cameos in which other famous rappers and Dj’s are present. The cameos are used to show that they are well connected with other big Dj’s and rappers. Then as a high pitched synthesizer is used in the beat which eventually drowns out it portrays a slow motion experience which is represented by a woman on the floor wiping her hand across in front of her face, and is slowed down to match the beat. Finally as the upbeat chorus comes to an end, 50 Cent turns his back on the camera and walks away from the screen. At this time the wall behind is decorated in the album cover in which the single is used to promote, also on the back of his bullet-proof vest is an image of him wearing a crown suggesting he is “King 50”, this is another representation of his power and dominance in the hip-hop scene.
Rihannas’ Take a bow video was released in April 2008. It is a mix of pop and R&B style genre, and is from here album Good Girl Gone Bad.
The song is about a girl breaking up with a boy because he has cheated on her, and not wanting to take him back even though he is consistently trying to make amends’. The lyrics in the song make her look very independent and in control and the video just helps promote this image. A key theme of the video is girl power.
The video begins with a close up of Rihannas’ crossed arms, we are focused on her left hand, were the audience can see she is wearing a ring on her ring finger, suggesting she is married. The camera then tilts up to see her looking at her hand then the camera, whilst she sings sarcastically “How about a round of applause, A standing ovation”. Sarcasm is s form of mockery; we can tell she is being sarcastic by her facial exprerssion while singing suggesting she is not happy. By responding like this it shows she doesn’t feel belittled by the situation but she is confident.
The video shows Rihanna in two situations. In one she is wearing all black and is standing behind a black back-drop, this is very simply and focuses all our attention on the artist. This is a performance, because she is singing to the audience. There is a lot of close ups of her face in these scenes to show her annoyance and anger, to link her to the second narrative situation. A lot of the time in these scenes, her arms are crossed. By keeping her arms crossed, it suggests she is using it as a defence mechanism and is therefore not allowing the man in her life to affect her, or some close to her emotionally. As she closes a door behind her she sings the lyrics “don’t tell me your sorry ‘cos your not, baby when I know you’re only sorry you got caught”, whilst doing this she points directly at the camera, connecting her confidence and assurance.
In the second situation, she is shown wearing a red jacket with bold red lipstick and sunglasses in a expensive car. This shot alone provides a lot of representation issues. Red represents sexiness and the red lipstick emphasises this because lips are a very sexual body feature. By wearing sunglasses, she is covering her eyes, this suggests she doesn’t want to show any emotion because eyes are key to seeing how someone is feeling, for example the saying goes “eyes are the window to the soul” suggesting eyes can show how you’re truly feeling. By Rihanna covering her eyes she is trying to suggest she isn’t feeling any emotion, and she is a strong woman. Finally by driving a expensive car it suggests she is economically independent, as in she can finically look after herself and she doesn’t need a man, to promote hegemonic gender roles. As she is driving down the road, the man in her life is following her by foot. The fact she is in a car and he is walking shows that she has the upper hand. When she gets back to the house she sends a text to the man that reads - Come to my house at 6 45, I have something for you. There is then a shot of the man receiving the text. Again this shows that Rhianna is in charge of the situation at hand.
At the beginning of the next scene there is an establishing shot of the room, it is a large room connoting again that Rhianna is well off. There is a close up of her picking up matches and then a point of view shot to look at her watch that reads 6 45. The man walks into the room and Rhianna stands up in slow motion, highlighting her curves connoting a “body beautiful” theme. She then lights his clothes on fire and walks away leaving him to put out the fire. As she walks out the room she sings “but it’s over now” – the last lyrics of the song and finally suggesting she has got her revenge so her relationship with the man is over too.
Rhiannas’ star image is adapted in this video. An artists’ star image is basically how the artist is perceived by the audience. This video shows her as a fierce, independent woman, which corresponds with her album title “good girl gone bad”, suggesting she isn’t the little girl she was portrayed as before. Her haircut in this video has influenced modern hairstyles showing her star power, in terms of ideological power – that suggests she can influence a majority with her unique style.
The following video is clip of the band performing in Harrow, before we began working with them. This gave us an idea about the bands stage performance and their unique sound.
