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.