Planning: Characters

Character 1:

Name: Khaled Jaffer

Age: 21

Ethnicity: Mixed Race

Costume: He will be wearing a plain T-shirt, (white) to portray purity and innocence. Gold chain round his neck and trainers to follow the convention of a Hip-Hop/Rap music video.

Gender stereotype of role: He will portray the artist stereotypical to the Hip-Hop/Rap genre. He will be masculine and confident also.

Body language and facial expressions: This artist will have confident body language whilst rapping and also be confident around females. He will stand upright to portray his masculinity. The facial expressions in the music video will be quite laid back and cheeky as we want the audience to see his presence as something that is naturally effective and dominant, meaning that he is in control. 

Role within music video: He will play the main artist who is interested in the female however, she is not interested in him. He then finds another female at the end of the video.

Character 2:

Name: Denise Dogan

Age: 21

Ethnicity:  Turkish

Gender stereotype of role: She will be portrayed as an attractive female who is classy and smart.

Costume: She will also be wearing plain clothes like a crop top and jeans with trainers and also glasses to show she is clever.

Body language and facial expression: The body language of this character will also be confident as she knows she is his only interest. She will stand upright to show she is classy and also have a sharp facial expression. She will not be wearing much make-up to show her natural beauty along with her natural curly hair.

Role within music video: She will play the artist's main love interest.



Character 3:

Name:

Age: 15

Ethnicity: Mixed Race

Gender stereotype of role: Attractive younger version of the artist and will portray some of the same stereotypes as the older version. However, will not be as confidently portrayed as the older version.

Costume: He will be wearing similar clothes to the older version so the representation is clear. T-shirt, jeans and trainers.

Body language and facial expression: His body language will be humble and more shy than the current version. His facial expressions will be innocent as he will have a much younger mentality.

Role within music video: Younger version of the artist (Khaled). Portraying how he was when he was younger.



Character 4:

Name:

Age: 15

Ethnicity: Turkish

Gender stereotype of role: Attractive young girl, however, enjoys hanging with a different boy each day. Portrayed as unloyal.

Costume: She will be wearing a crop top and jeans to also portray simplicity. More revealing clothes to show her intentions.

Body language and facial expression: Her body language will be confident around the male as she knows how to act around males. Also, she will give off a flirty impression to all the other males. Her facial expressions will be cheeky to also portray her intentions of being with different males.

Role within music video: The girl the artist was once in love with, but she did not want him.

Planning: Locations

Planning: Research into similar videos

1) Artist Representation:

I chose "Over" by Drake for my analysis on a music video. This is because it applies to my group's idea significantly.




Body language/movement and facial expressions of artist:
In this video the body language of the artist is portrayed as extremely confident due to the status he has. He is simply sitting on the bed looking down whist an edit of fire occurs over his body suggesting the power he has even though he hasn't even moved. He looks straight into the camera when lip syncing the first lyrics of the song showing that the main focus of the song is him alone and as if he is talking to his fans. His facial expression whilst asking "Who the f*** are y'all?" is quite cheeky implying he doesn't care about the people around him. The fact that he portrays this line with a smirk on his face shows he is not serious at all. Throughout the song he uses his hands as gestures for his rapping portraying his passion for music as he is enthusiastic about it. As he says "Over" he makes even bigger gestures with his hands to emphasise the title of the song.

Costume, hair and make-up:
In this video, the costume the artist wears is mostly t-shirts, hoodies and jackets. This is a typical dress sense for a male because they are stereotypically seen in hoodies mostly. Also, the artist has jewellery on e.g. chains around his neck to portray the 'rich' and 'lavish' lifestyle he lives. This is also shown to prove to the audience the money he has. The artist's costume follows the conventions of a Hip-Hop artist which is why the song fits the genre well.

Interaction with others:
In this video the artist has no interaction with others as the song is focused on his representation. He is portraying the lyrics in his own way without the interaction of others. Although there is a female character in this video, the two do not ever come face to face with each other and only through edits they are standing side by side. The female is purely there to show she is the love interest of the artist however, this is not built upon as this is not the main focus of the song.

Camera work around artist:
In this video the camera follows and focuses on the artist around to grasp the life style of the Hip-Hop artist. The camera does close-ups on the artist's face in order to catch the emotion and expression whilst performing. The camera therefore follows whatever the artist is doing to ensure the main focus of the video is the artist. This will keep the audience engaged and entertained because the demand is to see the artist perform their song.


From doing this analysis, some of the ideas I have taken are:

• Body language of the artists - I would prefer to have the same confidence portrayed in my music video to show the audience that my artist's are able to be comfortable around other artist's and girls.
• Costume - I would prefer to include a similar dress sense because I will also include male artist's therefore, the dress sense being hoodies, jackets and jewellery would be conventional to the Hip-Hip genre.
• Interaction with others - I would prefer to include a similar interaction with the another female character as my music video will most probably be focused on the theme of love.

2) Content and visual style:

The music video "Over" also applies when analysing the content and visual style.

Themes Apparent:
Themes evident in this music video are, love, struggle, fame and wealth. These themes are the ones we want to relate to when we are making our music video also as this is usually the conventions of a Hip-Hop music video.

Lighting and Colour: 
The colours are dark, using blacks, greys, blues, greens and reds in order to follow the conventions of a Hip-Hop music video. The lighting is mostly low-key with some top-lighting to emphasise the artist as the main focus. We would also like to follow this convention of dark colours, and low-key lighting.

Setting:
The music video takes place inside a plain bedroom as this portrays the idea of him having time to think and being alone. Also, it represents that the rapper feels most comfortable rapping about his life in the personal space of his bedroom. Other settings take place through the projector which projects into his room which portrays his feelings, e.g. the busy people walking around suggests the confusion in his mind.

Iconography/Objects:
The iconography in this music video is limited as there are not many objects with significance. The only significant object shown are his chains which suggest the fame.

Character Representation:
There are no characters apart from the female which is only slightly shown in the music video.

Artist Representation: 
The artist is represented in a conventional way as Hip-Hop artists are always portrayed through fame and wealth.

Editing:
The edits put in front of the character of fire outlining his body shape suggests the power he has. These shots match the beat of the song also. Fast edits take place when the beat of the song gets faster whilst slow edits are used when the beat of the song slows down.

Planning: Outline of Narrative

As a group our task was to identify what parts of the song was narrative, concept or performance based. We did this in order to figure out what exact scenes and edits we want for each verse and chorus. Also, this would then help us when it comes to the production stage as we would have everything planned and ready to film.

This is our annotated lyrics:

Application of Theory:

Goodwin: 

• Relationship between lyrics and visuals: Visuals will reflect the lyrics e.g. “she don’t want to be saved” will show him leaving her and not trying any more.
• Relationship between music and visuals: There will be slow edits/motion to portray the slow pace of the song.
• Intertextual Reference: There will be references to George Bush and a quote of his will be mentioned. 
•  Notion of looking: There will be close-ups of the younger female character when the artist first sees her, and also at the end when the artist meets her again after several years to portray the lust.
•  Star image motif: There will be close-ups of the artist as he performs the song in his bedroom where the full focus will be on him.
• Performance, narrative, concept? Our music video will be narrative and performance based.

Mulvey: 

•  Mulvey’s theory doesn’t really apply, but the slight attraction of the girl may cause a ‘male gaze’.

Dyer:

• In our video, “star image” will be emphasised through the focus on J-Cole as he performs the song/rap.

Adorno: 

• Relation to audience through narrative of people being heartbroken which is a mainstream idea. This applies to the majority of the public as the theme of heartbreak is common in society.

Video Narration:
Starts off with artist performance on their own, in a simplistic white room. The artist reminisces on his high school days and how he loved a girl. Realised he had to give up because “she don’t want be saved” from the way she is acting around males. After reminiscing on the relationship that they shared she finds herself in a toxic relationship with a different man. The young lady realises that the artist now has money, fame and happiness and now wants him back; however, the artist is no longer interested. The older version of the girl will return at the end to J-Cole and they are standing face to face expressionless. Both the younger and older characters will wear similar clothing in order to portray the representation. There will be a clear use in Todorov’s theory with the equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium.


Overall, annotating our lyrics helped significantly as we were able to discuss what we wanted to shoot for each line in the song. As a group we were able to discuss angles, shots and movement with also the different edits we plan to use which helped us create a vision for the music video.

Planning: Group Roles

Director = Katie: We thought I would be better for this role because I have experience in directing from last year's thriller production where I was able to organise the production efficiently.  

Editor = Emine: In last years Thriller Production, Emine was able to edit her thriller successfully. Therefore, we chose her to be our editor as she has experience from creating a successful project last year. Emine is also the most creative in the group which suggests why she would be better for the role.

Camera person = Me and Emine: Last year, both me and Emine took part in filming our thriller production meaning we both have gained experience in filming and handling a camera well. Also, due to Emine's work experience in a Photography shop, her knowledge has been widened.

Print design = Emine: We decided that Emine would be the print designer due to her previous work experience in photography where she gained a specific skill set on how to take professional pictures which will benefit us when we are doing our digi pack.  

Producer = Emine: Emine was chosen for this role as she has experience of being a live sound producer within her music technology classes. This is beneficial to our pair because she has developed skills such as time keeping, organisation and spotting risks. Also, Emine is able to figure out and fix any technological downfalls.

Storyboard = Katie: I was chosen for this role as I have a very specific idea for the narrative of this video and this also led us to believe our music video would be most successful if we based it around my creative idea.

Location manager = Katie:  I was able to give the group several locations that we have easy access to which made it suitable for me to take on this role.

Photographer = Emine: Due to Emine’s developed skill set from working in a photography studio, she would be most appropriate and suitable to the photographer role. 

Cast control = Emine: Emine immediately acquired the cast consisting of the main performer to our artist therefore, she would be most suitable for the role to control and handle the cast. 

Costume, Hair & Make up = Katie/Emine: We will both be taking on this role are as we are very familiar with using make up. We are both also very passionate about fashion and clothing so we would have certain ideas for what type of costume our artist should wear to match the particular locations. 

Lighting = Katie: In last years thriller production, I took on the role of lighting and successfully provided the production with different lighting equipment. 

Planning: Copyright Letter

Planning: Audiences

It is important to know about audiences when creating a music video because it is easier to know the exact target audience the music video is being produced for. This then helps us decide what to include in our music video because we know what age group, gender, race and audience category to aim our idea to. Also, by having a target audience, we do not have to impress mainstream audiences and only apply conventions of a Hip-Hop/Rap music video. This will ensure our success when releasing the music video because it will gain popularity from the right audience.

Our target audience for the song "No Role Modelz" by J-Cole can be categorised into age, gender, race, audience category, income bracket/status, and hobbies and interests.

Age: The age group of our target audience is 16-30. This is because there are older themes in the song that is inappropriate for the younger audience. The song portrays themes of love, sex, envy and anger which are more suitable for the audiences over the age of 16 as these are adult themes.

Gender: The gender that we are targeting is mostly males and females as heartbreak is a common issue within society. Heartbreak may usually be associated with females mostly, however, in our music video we will flip this stereotype of girls being the emotional gender and portray J-Cole as an emotional artist.

Race: We are targeting all ethnic minorities since our artist is from a mixed background. Hip-Hop/Rap is usually listened to by various cultures and so we will follow these conventions. Also, because our artist is mixed race this may then also form a bond between the public that are of the same race.

Audience Category: Our audience category is C2-E which include skilled workers, trades persons (white collar), semi-skilled workers and unskilled manual workers (blue collar) and unemployed, students, pensioners and casual workers. We picked this target audience because they are most likely to be interested in Hip-Hop/Rap, as anyone from the categories A-C1 will usually listen to more classical music or jazz due to their higher job status.

Income bracket/status: The status of our targeted audience is mostly working class due to the genre of the song. It is more likely that working class people listen to Hip-Hop/Rap because the ruling class tend to listen to classic music or jazz. Also, the people in the working class category are not earning much money which meaning their income bracket may be low. This suggests that people that will be most attracted to our music video will be from the working-class.


Audience reaction to your video:
We hope for the audience's reaction to our music video to be positive. We hope that the audience is able to engage with the video and understand whether the video is narrative, performance or concept based. We hope to entertain our audience as we have targeted this video specifically for them so we would want them to be interested. Also, we want the audiences reaction to be positive in ways that they will then also promote the song in other ways, like word of mouth or using social media to give back positive reviews to other audiences. Lastly, we hope to gain a loyal fan base by producing this music video and to make the artist's career more sustainable.


Why have you identified this group as your target audience?
We have identified this target audience because we have planned each demographic in detail and decided that these are the conventions for the Hip-Hop/Rap genre, therefore, we will follow this. Also, we identified these groups because our questionnaire helped us to also identify the answers to these categories which has benefited us.

Planning: Final Idea

Song: No Role Modelz – J-Cole

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Target Audience: 16-30

Narrative: Starts off with artist performance on their own, in a simplistic white room. The artist reminisces on his high school days and how he loved a girl. Realised he had to give up because “she don’t want be saved” from the way she is acting around males. After reminiscing on the relationship that they shared she finds herself in a toxic relationship with a different man. The young lady realises that the artist now has money, fame and happiness and now wants him back; however, the artist is no longer interested. The older version of the girl will return at the end to J-Cole and they are standing face to face expressionless. Both the younger and older characters will wear similar clothing in order to portray the representation. There will be a clear use in Todorov’s theory with the equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium. 

Characters:

•    J-Cole
•  Older female
• Younger J-Cole
• Younger female

MES:

Lighting & Colour: 

• Low-key lighting, top lighting, spot lights
• Grey, blue, green

Setting:

• Bedroom- low key lighting with lamps
• Library - show the old times
• Restaurants
• Alley ways

Costume/Hair/Make-up:

• J-Cole – To portray simplicity, a plain t-shirt, jeans, bomber jacket, trainers. Jewellery to emphasise the fame.
• Older female – Jeans, crop top, trainers. Hair, natural and curly. Make-up, simple and natural look to show the natural beauty.
• The younger J-Cole and Female will wear a similar outfit to represent that they are a younger version of them.

Iconography:

• Gold chains/Medals/Trophies/Plaques to portray the fame and lifestyle he has adapted to.

Body Language & Facial Expression:

•   Confident body language.
•  Lust being portrayed through body language
•  Angry/frustrated/envy emotions

Theory:

Goodwin: 

• Relationship between lyrics and visuals: Visuals will reflect the lyrics e.g. “she don’t want to be saved” will show him leaving her and not trying any more.
• Relationship between music and visuals: There will be slow edits/motion to portray the slow pace of the song.
• Intertextual Reference: There will be references to George Bush and a quote of his will be mentioned. 
•  Notion of looking: There will be close-ups of the younger female character when the artist first sees her, and also at the end when the artist meets her again after several years to portray the lust.
•  Star image motif: There will be close-ups of the artist as he performs the song in his bedroom where the full focus will be on him.
• Performance, narrative, concept? Our music video will be narrative and performance based.

Mulvey: 

•  Mulvey’s theory doesn’t really apply, but the slight attraction of the girl may cause a ‘male gaze’.

Dyer:

• In our video, “star image” will be emphasised through the focus on J-Cole as he performs the song/rap.

Adorno: 

• Relation to audience through narrative of people being heartbroken which is a mainstream idea. This applies to the majority of the public as the theme of heartbreak is common in society.

Discuss your final choices in relation to your audience feedback:

We received audience feedback about our final idea which helped us significantly in planning. We found that the audience preferred a narrative rather than a concept based video which was something they could relate to. Also, the audience had stated they would like to see intertextual references as well as the relationship between the lyrics and visuals being strong. Our audience feedback ensured we had researched into the right target audience and finalised our idea.

Why and how is this music video conventional to mainstream music video making?

Our music video would come across conventional because it follows the typical theme of having a narrative that most mainstream videos pursue. Lip syncing is also a huge part of a conventional music video as this is the focus of it. Also, star image is significant because mainstream music videos concentrate on the artist throughout the video which we will follow. Moreover, the relationship between the lyrics and visuals are also a mainstream feature of a music video. We will also follow this to ensure we stick to the mainstream conventions of a music video.

How is this music video conventional to your chosen genre?

Our music video is conventional to the Hip-Hop/Rap genres because we will be following the conventions of the genres to ensure this. We chose J-Cole as he is a Hip-Hip/Rap artist who fits well in the genres due to the style of his music. The conventions that we chose to use in our music video are iconography such as gold chains to display the lavish lifestyle. Also, we chose to use attractive females in order to follow the Hip-Hop/Rap convention, however, not sexually which may challenge the convention. Moreover, another convention we will follow is portraying a love story between the artist and a female character which is usually evident in Hip-Hop videos.

How does your music video represent your artist?

Our music video will represent our artist in a unique way due to simplicity we will use. He will be portrayed in simple clothes to show that he is normal and ordinary like his fans. We would prefer to portray him in a humble manner where he is able to show his true self to his fans which will create bonds between the artist and the audience. Also, we want to show that famous people also go through the same problems as the audience. This portrayal of the artist will be beneficial and will ensure success because the audience will be able to stay engaged.

Planning: Initial Ideas

MY IDEA:

Song: "Run This Town" by Rihanna (Trap Remix)

Genre: RnB and Hip Hop

Narrative: First shot of a group of girls standing together representing feminism. Throughout the video one main girl being 'Rihanna' to lead and mess boys around for example, cheating on them ad playing them around. Shots of a group of girls also walking down street together wearing tight clothes, being attractive however, not in a sexual way. Being a 'squad' - what boys would do. Causing problems in public, being the stereotypical boy. Challenging expectations of girls as they are playing boys around when this is a typical action from males. Also, challenging the expectation of girls being 'lady like' and portraying them as the one who wears the 'trousers'.

Narrative Structure: Performance/Narrative based.

Characters:

• Main girl for the role of Rihanna. 
• Group of girls behind her (backup dancers).

MES: Black tight clothing (leather), dark make-up (purple lipstick), low-key lighting (car lights shining on the girls), lighters, fires.

Application of Theory: Mulvey - against this idea of 'sexy', more feminism. Goodwin - matches the idea of the pace of music matching the visuals. This is because the edits will match all the beats in the song. Dyer - the idea of 'star' image as the camera will be focused on Rihanna.


Advantages: 

• The beats of the song will match the fast pace edits.
• The costume and make-up easy to provide.
• Narrative is easy to portray.

Disadvantages:

• The location may be hard to find. E.g. a car park, however will need permission for this.
• Many characters (back-up dancers) may be hard to find and control such a large amount of people.
• May be hard to use iconography such as lighters in order to show burning objects due to the location.

Target Audience:

• 14-25
• Both genders
• Occupation - C2-E

My Questionnaire:
We all conducted a questionnaire each in order to gain more research into the music video we wanted to create. This ensured our music video was appropriate for our target audience and would reach their expectations. I asked 20 people to fill my questionnaire in so I would be able to use their feedback and change what did not suit them. For example, the question "Do you listen to Rihanna?" was answered "Yes" by 19 people suggesting that the artist is well known and will match the target audience. Also, the question "What themes do you particularly associate with Hip-Hop/RnB?" which was answered "sex" by 9 people, "love" by 5 people, and "wealth" by 6 people. This gave me a clear guideline in what themes to include as this is what the audience expects from the music video. These questions gave me a general understanding of which direction I should take when filming my music video.  

JOSH'S IDEA:

Song: The main song I had in mind was Tory Lanez - Diego which consists of a combination of the R&B and Hip Hop genre. The song portrays the idea of 'being the new Tony Montana' which is an intertextual reference to the movie Scarface.

Narrative: Concept Based/Performance - My idea mainly covers a concept based music video with some performance of the star artist. Therefore the camera would linger mainly around the artist, the majority of the video, making him the main focus. In addition to this, I would then include the use of young attractive females acting promiscuously towards the artist portraying the stereotypical idea of a Hip Hop artist representing someone who all the ladies want.

Narrative Structure: The narrative structure would differ from scene to scene. Meaning that their will be a simultaneous edit, combining scenes from three different locations (Party, underground location, bedroom). Therefore the structure of this video would be conventional to the Hip Hip/R&B genre because it would contain the repetitive use of attractive and luxurious locations with beautiful females and expensive iconography (Cars, jewellery, clothes etc.) which represent the stereotypes of artist using the basic idea in music videos over and over again.

Representation of Artists/Characters: Due to the song portraying the idea of 'being the new/modern day wealthy icon (Tony Montana), I would include scenes or flashing images from the film 'Scarface' to match the lyrics. As far as matching the visuals; I will make my artist dress in luxurious 'classical' clothing e.g suits, fur, coats, trench coat and top hats mimicking the character of Tony Montana in which, this way a connection with lyrics and visuals will be displayed (Goodwin's Theory).

Mise En Scene (MES):

Costume: All White, Tony Montana costume.

Colour: Their will be a consistent use of the colour white ONLY on the artist to represent the wealth and 'significance'. In addition to this, I would include the editing of making some of the scenes black and white to portray the time period of 'Scarface'

Lighting: High key, focusing on my artist to represent the iconic role being portrayed with the additional use of low key lighting which would represent that underground and 'illegal activity' atmosphere.

Setting: Their will be edits transitioning from three locations: Central London, mansion, underground area e.g. abandoned warehouse or under a tunnel.

Body language & Facial Expressions: The body language and facial expressions i will direct my artist to display would be the conventional 'cocky' and slouching posture, with exaggerated facial expressions that rap artist usually do as well as throwing hand gestures to represent their aggressive and flashy characteristics.

Iconography: Generally I will also use the cliched background atmosphere of attractive cars and objects (jewellery, drugs, clothes etc). For the use of drugs i will use a close up of a females lips with them smoking, to portray the idea of smoking weed.

Target Audience: 

• Ages from 16 - 30
• Both male and female
• Stereotypical black race who tend to prefer the genre of R&B/Hip Hop
• Occupation: C2 - E class

EMINE'S IDEA:
Song: Run this town – Jay-z ft. Rihanna & Kanye

Genre: Hip-Hop/ R&B

Narrative: I envision chaotic scenes that involve large amounts of fire and explosions. I want to work with the themes of gangs and violence. I imagine showing the youth as disruptive and taking a stand, showing that they are powerful. Personally I would like to focus more on the young females and using these stereotypical male-like themes to show them in a more empowered light. Whilst doing this I will also like to challenge the theory of Mulvey.

Narrative Structure: The narrative structure would be performance and concept. I will do this because all there will be slight narrative I still want it to come across slyly abstract and exciting for the target audience.

Characters: In my video I will use attractive young females however they will not fall into the conventions of the ‘male gaze’ theory. I will show them in a very masculine light so that it empowers them.

MES:
* All black clothing
* Black masks
* Low-key lighting (red, blue, white)
* Bats
* Gas/Smoke
Setting: Dark, urban streets and areas.

Application of theory:
* Will challenge Mulvey’s theory.
* I will involve intertextual reference of youth being disruptive and chaotic

Advantages:
* Mise en Scene would be easy to accomplish

Disadvantages:
* Things such as violence and disruptiveness and mayhem may be hard to achieve without harming anyone or getting into trouble.



AMANI'S IDEA:
Song: 67 (Dimzy, ASAP, Liquez, Smallz, Monkey and LD) Lock Arff REMIX

Genre: UK Trap

Narrative: A gang (67) do illegal activities and avoiding the police whilst doing so police tape off the road (lock off) as a result.

Narrative structure: Performance/Narrative based.


Characters: Performers (Dimzy, ASAP, Liquez, Smallz, Monkey and LD)
Police officers would also be needed.
Female back dancers.


MES:
* Tracksuits, hoodies, bomber jackets. (Black/dark clothing.)
* Ski mask/face wear.
* Police uniforms.
* Female clothing that plays on the male gaze.
* Contraband iconography. (Drugs and guns.)
* Low-key/Dim lighting.


Application of theory:
Laura Mulvey – The male gaze.
Dyer – Star Image.
Goodwin – Lyrics connected to visuals.


Advantages:
* Slow-paced instrumental and beats means slow paced editing. (Easier and still effective.)
* Slow lyrics mean easier lip syncing.
* Easy MES costume clothing.

Disadvantages:
* Swearing and explicit lyrics must be censored which dulls the effect of the music video. (No clean version to this soundtrack.)
* Multiple star performances means it’s harder to do the music video.
* It is hard to recreate illegal activity and the usage of real illegal items is banned during the risk assessment. Making it harder to link the visuals to the lyrics as we can display this.



Overall, this post was extremely significant due to the research I did and presented to my group to persuade them to use my idea. By listening to each other's ideas and giving feedback helped in improving each idea. We did this by giving advantages and disadvantages for each idea and also each giving out a questionnaire. The questionnaire was also used to show the people in my group that the audience agree with my idea and it ensured its success if it was to be chosen as the final idea. Later on, as a group, we realised that working in a group of 4 would be challenging due to a complex timetable that was inconvenient to all members of the group, therefore, I decided to work in a pair with Emine Ibrahim.

Research: Censorship

Censorship is the act of altering words, statements or visuals in order to conform with and abide by the rules and laws of society. Censorship is used to protect the public from offensive or violent content. 

Explicit content vs lyrics:

This logo is used on album or single covers to warn the audience that there are explicit lyrics in the specific song or album. This also gives a warning that the person buying the product must be 18+ due to the explicit lyrics. This is most likely to contain either swearing or sexual lyrics which is inappropriate for the younger audience.

This logo is used on album or single covers and also DVD covers to warn viewers on the explicit scenes that may be shown. This is also a warning to the buyer that they must be 18+ due to scenes of either violence, sexual or distressing scenes which is unsuitable for the younger audience. 

14 things that get censored:

• Nudity/sex
• Language
• Violence
• Drugs, solvent abuse
• Religion
• Political/controversy
• Graphic representation
• Corrupt the young
• Sexual violence
• Class
• Shock
• Culture
• Race
• True events

Nudity/Sex:

In this music video, "This Love" by Maroon 5 there are scenes that show this couple making love quite explicitly. The lyrics in this are also extremely explicit as they state "I tried my best to feed her appetite, keep her coming every night" which suggest his sexual intentions with the female. This may cause offence to the audience as the scenes may make them feel uncomfortable and also, this is not suitable for the audience under 18 which is why it's content was censored.

Language:
In this music video, "I Don't Fuck With You" by Big Sean, the language is extremely explicit. With the word "Fuck" in the title gives a clear insight into what the rest of the song may be about. The language in this may be offensive to the younger audience which is why the swear words were censored in order to be released on the TV or radio stations.

Violence:
In this music video "Bitch Better Have My Money" by Rihanna contain extremely violent scenes of abuse and kidnapping. This music video is censored in order to protect the public from distressing and harmful scenes and also protect children from the inappropriate scenes. As well as violence, there is also nudity shown and taboo language being used.

Drugs/Solvent abuse:
In this music video "We Found Love" by Rihanna there are scenes of taking drugs which her and boyfriend smoke and take pills, and also drink alcohol explicitly. This may offend the audience and may then influence them into this lifestyle which shouldn't be publicly portrayed. This may be censored and given a warning before in order to protect the public.

Political/Controversy:
In this music video "Outside" by George Michael there was a clear representation of homosexuality. His views were shown as being politically left wing exposing his own personality and moral beliefs. Religion and social class are also shown as an issue here which is why this was censored from the TV's and radio.

Lyric censorship:
Repeating = having last word said twice in place.
Blanking = Entire word is not heard however, music is still playing.
Disc Scratching = Using a scratch sound of a DJ to cover the word.
Bleeping = Putting 'bleep' sound over the word.

In this censored version of "Loyal" lyric censorship has taken place. Repeating occurs when the lyrics state "I'm the shit oooh" however, the censored version states "I'm the, I'm the oooh". Disc Scratching occurs every time the artist says "nigga", "bitch" or "hoe". This is done in order to protect the public from the explicit lyrics and is able to play on the radio without offending the audience under the age of 18.


Cut and banned:
When a music video is cut, it means that the music video is edited or the lyrics are bleeped out in order to make sure the content or lyrics are not in any more harmful or distressing. However, when a music video is banned, the video is not allowed to be shown on TV or banned from listening to it on the radio due to the lyrics.

Advantages and disadvantages of censorship:

Advantages:

• Protects children, as they are easily influenced and may copy.
• Protects emotional/physical reaction.
• Promotes a politically correct world.
• Prevents disrespect in individuals or community.
• Shields social morals.
• Restricts vulgarity and obscenity.
• Restricts violence as this may be easily imitated.

Disadvantages:

• Decrease in views.
• Artist is restricted.
• Freedom of speech is compromised.
• Restricts idea/creativity.
• Compromise entertainment.
• Create a 'hype' which may make people want to create a music video that is explicit.
• Control industry, there is no freedom.
• How to differentiate what's harmful? We live in a diverse society.
• Blocks legitimate criticism, e.g. Kanye West's "Diamonds from Sierra Leone".
• Individual taste.

Overall, from researching into censorship it is clear that this is a significant part in the production of a music video. This needs to be considered because this is how the public is protected which is why artist's should abide by this in order to not get any of their music video's or lyrics censored. The song I am planning to use will not have any harmful lyrics and I will not be making a music video which may have to be censored. Although, this bring controversy I would prefer to keep my music video suitable for all audiences.