FINISHED!!!!!!

UN ANNOTOTED VIDEO - this is for the viewing pleasure :) ANNOTATED - this is for a break down of each shot :)

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Hardware:

iMac Computer – used in the editing stages of my production. Easy to use due to FireWire connection.

Handheld Digital Camera and Tripod – used in the filming stages of my production.

Software:

iMovie – video editing suite. Used in the editing stages of my production. Provided adequate but not quality editing software.

Photoshop – photo editing suite. Used in the creation of my album cover and poster.

Google Chrome – web browser. Used in the research and planning stages of my production, and also the evaluation stage too.

Microsoft Word 2003 – word processor. Used in the evaluation stage to write up my evaluation.

Online Resources:

Blogger – used to track progress of my production the entire way through.

Poll Junkie – used in the research and planning stages to best discover, from my target audience, the conventions of my genre.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

My audience feedback was generally positive, with almost every single observation remarking on the humour factor in the video. This signifies that my aim to make my rap video unconventional and comical imitating the styles of Busta Rhymes and Dizzee Rascal was successful. However, the majority of the feedback I had was from my friends and associates. This creates a bias due to the fact that they know and the notion of seeing me dressed as a spider would seem funny to them regardless of the video’s content.

Nevertheless, I did receive some feedback from random and unknown sources on youtube.com.

Here is one:

“Some shots are a bit dark and some are slightly out of sync. Other than that it is very good. The perspective shots are quite effective and high angle and low angle shots are used well.” Eithy1593.

From this I learnt that the blue light, although created the atmosphere I was looking for, it meant that the characters could be hard to see, thus jeopardizing the viewing pleasure and understanding for my audience. The comment about the perspective shots being quite effective was just the feedback I was searching for, considering the time and effort it took to singlehandedly construct these shots using ‘X’s sellotaped onto the floor in order for my characters to stand on. This was used to make sure the distance was perfect without the characters being out of shot.

The second such comment follows:

“funny as fuck ! good that you interpreted the characters into the video although in some places some of the video was out of sync with the song !” ScotneyP.

This supported the first comment’s remark that parts of my video were slightly out of synch with the lyrics of the song. This was partially due to the quality of the video after transferring it to youtube.com, and also due to the quality of editing software I used. In the future, rather than using iMovie, I will use more sophisticated software to get the perfect finish. My timekeeping also greatly affected the quality of the product, as the length of time taken to produce the costumes used in the production meant that I was rushed for time in the editing stages. Next time, I will ensure that the costume making process does not in anyway jeopardize the overall quality of the end product.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Location – The setting of my video and the backgrounds of my album covers are all black, depicting bare locations in order to strengthen the focus onto the character shown in each shot or picture. On my album’s front cover, I have set the spider on a web, which is not featured in the video production, but helps to identify the creature that it sat upon it. The plain black and white of this background helps to make the bright colours of the spider stand out. It also adds an element of reality to the image, by using the convention of a spider sat on its cobweb awaiting its prey despite the surreal feel of the actual spider.

Font – The graffiti font style used on the front of my album cover links in with the urban feel typically associated with rap artists. This is further depicted in my video through the spider’s use of rap-style postures. The colour of my font is a golden yellow, the same colour used on the spider’s ‘bling’. This insinuates that the title is made out of gold, also representative of the power theme that runs through much of the rap industry. Furthermore, on the inside cover of the album with the track list on, the font I have used links in with the spider and the fact that it’s the same colour purple which again is used to link in with the idea of royalty. Also, bold font is more noticeable than other fonts, catching the eye, and so is used for integral information.

Spot Lighting – The use of a spotlight on my characters both in the video production and the album covers is to draw the eye of the audience to that creature. It is also taken from the conventions of the rap industry to highlight that the person the spotlight is trained on is more important than everyone else, picked out with light when all else remains dark.

Colour Scheme – The colour scheme I have chosen to run throughout my video and ancillary product is purple and black. The purple, the colour of the spider’s costume and font, is to create a connotation with royalty. This aids the audience in understanding where the spider stands in his society (the food chain) – or rather, where he thinks he stands, as he is unsuccessful in catching his prey. Like most rap artists, the spider uses purple, the colour of kings, to impress upon the viewer his opinion of himself. Black is used to depict the dark humour behind the spider’s lyrics (sexual innuendos crossed with a predator chasing his prey).

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A form, or code, and convention of a media product depend upon the genre of the media product itself. Codes and conventions are the recognisable and predictable forms and methods used by the media to communicate specific ideas or to express a required impression. Technical codes include camera angles, sound and lighting. Symbolic codes include the language, costume and actions of characters. The genre of my music video is rap. The codes and conventions that are present in real rap media products today commonly represent power, sex and male dominance. In this report I will be comparing my rap media product with real rap media products from current artists such as Busta Rhymes, Dizzee Rascal and Jay-Z, all internationally award-winning rap artists.

In order to determine contemporary codes and conventions of recent rap media products, I conducted a questionnaire aimed at my target audience, which consisted mostly of teenage boys. As a result of this, I found that 100% of those who answered the question on my poll (which is located on my blog) “What would you associate with rap/hip hop artists?” felt that bling, big puff jackets and baggy clothes were stereotypical attire for the chosen genre. It was due to these results that I then included a flat peak and ‘bling’ (showy jewellery) on the front cover of my CD case. However, due to the costume itself, during filming these props proved difficult to use and sometimes ineffective as they were barely noticeable against the costumes colours.

In real rap videos, actions used include arms held out in an aggressive and dominant manner. This is to represent their power and standing to be high in the music industry. I incorporated this convention into my media production by having low angled shots of my spider, replicating this dance style in order to give the same effect to my target audience. This is also represented in real rap products and certain gestures can be ascribed to a certain person as their trademark. This is evident in the work of Jay-Z, who has the triangular hand symbol indicating his music production company, RocNation.

In accordance with codes and conventions of rap lyrics, the lyrics that I have chosen contain a constant stream of sexual innuendos. This is incredibly common in the rap industry, where most lyricists focus on the female form and its sexualisation. In my lyrics, the spider’s persistent attempts at luring the fly to his parlour, pantry and bed can be seen either as attempts at sating his hunger, or when viewed in more depth, as a sexual innuendo.

In addition to this, the use of spotlighting in recent rap videos, such as Pass Out by Tinie Tempah, is utilised to give of the impression that the person the spotlight is focused on is more important than anyone else, like royalty. It is also used to draw the eye of the audience to the artist, mainly when they are lip synching or singing the lyrics. I used this in my production to give off the same notion. When my spotlight is focused on the spider, it is to give the feeling to the audience that he has the undivided attention of the fly.

However, I have developed this convention by putting a blue tint on the spotlight to create a spooky and mystical atmosphere which also links in with the idea of animals having human characteristics, known as personification.

The conventional editing of a rap media product is commonly quick and cut shots so as to match the beat of the song and the machine gun-like lyrics. This is used in artist’s music videos, such as Busta Rhymes Gimme Some Mo’. This process is evident in my product mainly in the introduction, where the beat is the main point of focus in the song itself.

I developed my costumes from the accepted image of a spider and a fly by altering the colours to a more surreal selection of colours in order to link in with the mythical atmosphere. I have done this by using purple as the base colour of my spider. I used this colour to represent mystery and also again royalty due to his standing in the video as the dominant character. On the other hand, I used pink on the fly instead of a duller colour associated with flies, such as brown or green, to signify the femininity and innocence of the character.

In my development of editing conventions, I took a regular close up shot of the spider’s face and manipulated the image. I was left with a series of increasingly multiplied mirror images and facially distorted images so as to keep up with the beat of the music. I also used this to indicate a point of view shot from a fly’s eyes, which see multiple images instantaneously.

A typical mese-en-scene of a real rap media production is a male dominant environment (a male ‘paradise’), full of attractive women wearing barely nothing, dancing seductively and accompanied by a host of fast cars, large homes, nightclubs and so on, adding to the signification that the artist is better (more successful, etc) than the average male, again like royalty. This can be seen in the work of Jay Z in the production of Young Forever. Due to the fact that this was a low budget production, I challenged this by using a bare scene the entire way through. This works together with the spotlight to make the main focal point the artist, either the spider or the fly.

The costumes themselves are a challenge to stereotypical rap attire, which consists of baggy clothes, puff jackets, suits with canes, etc. These are used throughout the rap industry by generally all successful rap artists. However, some rap artists are well known for challenging this convention, by dressing as surreal characters in order to add a humour factor to their rap videos, and their overall wacky personalities. I conveyed this in my own production by creating cartoonish and exaggerated spider and fly outfits. These were used for the same reasons as Dizzee Rascal used a shark in his Bonkers video and Busta Rhymes dressed as a wrestler, policeman and cowboy in his music video Gimme Some Mo’: to give a fantasy element to the production.

view my music video through this link and comment please !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ5D6LMnmvQ

Inside CD cover on the right side behind the CD

again i used photo shop the same as the inside cover on the left hand side , i am planning on having the same image printed onto my CD so that when you have the CD in and when you have it out the image is still there.

Inside cover on the left hand side with track list on

I used Photo shop again in order to create this image , i did this by over lapping the two images and then using the tool known as a blur filter i then used the Brush tool to blended the two together so that they are both seen in one image . This effect worked very well i thought and gives off a creepy vibe which is what i was looking for .

The Spider And The Fly front cover

This image i drew myself i thought of the spider as a quite a dark individual and so i made him look scary and intimidating this style of the spider is the one that i used in my small animation in my music video. the many eyes adds to the spook factor that i believe i will achieve with my audience . the green slime that is being produced from his mouth also adds to the scare factor . However the flat peak and "Bling" gives the audience clues into the genre of the music this is by the use of codes and conventions , in other words the rap clothes indicate that it will be a rap song to the audience. the fly in the top right is a much smaller character in the front cover only taking up not even 1\20 of the screen , however her bright pink colour makes her stand out and shows of her personality as the nicer one of the two which is clarified during the music video as being true. her colour also shows that she is the Fly out of my chosen song due to the colour of her and the word "Fly " in the title are the same colour. I chose to put my drawing on a picture of a spiders web that i also took at the start of the project back in January . I am very glad i did this due to the amazing effect the frost has on the web itself makes it turn a brilliant white on the dark background of night . i used Photo shop in order to overlap the two and used a blending tool in order to make the two photos become one image.

Album covers that caught my eye because they are the same genre as my track i have chosen

http://bellespics.eu/keyword/busta%20rhymes%20mixtape/

i am going to use these album covers to give me some ideas for my album cover.

experimenting with wordle (potential cover or background for album cover or poster)

update on my music video

i am nearly finished with my spider and fly costumes which i have hand made myself , OK with abit of help from my mum . all i have to do tonight is turn a helmet into the head of my spider. however the helmet is full faced and blocks the mouth of my Spider actor . in order to solve this problem i will have to cut the bottom of the helmet off so you can see the spiders mouth which is an important aspect in a music video.

As for the Mese-en-scene the frames that i have painted hasn't turned out as good as i had hoped, this is due to the fact that the paint had bled into the cloth i was painting on there for making the overall frame harder to see. In order to use these but not so much as to ruin my music video i thought i could film some shots with a plain black background and a spot light on my actor in shot. This way i am still relating to other music videos in this genre such Bus ta Rhymes Break Your Neck . Also in relation to this the spot lights cold be different colours with each character e.g The Spider = purple lens on spot light Fly = pink lens. I plan to have the same shots though as to not stray from my story board.

Desired costumes

My costumes i am making myself like the Mise-en-scene , i am making the spiders costume out of purple cloth and the insides of a pillow to make the different sections of body of the spider. I also using purple cloth and insides of a pillow to make the arms which are all connected by string so when the actor moves his arms the other arms imitate. i want to use a helmet for the head which i will paper mache and paint purple with red eyes to show a evil streak in this character.

For my Fly costume i will use the same sort of stretchy material and insides of a pillow to create the body and legs of the fly but the fabric will be pink the chosen colour for a female fly on my poll that i put on my blog. i then plan to stick two sieves one on each side of a head band to act as the Flies eyes with two springs with pink fluffy balls on the end to act as antena.

Cast

at this present time :

Fly (Female) = Denni Mitchell, a blond ,small ,attractive young woman which will carry the sexual appeal for the male audience. she is also outgoing wich i think will benefit my video well as she will not get camera shy.

Spider(male) = Jacob smart, a brown haired attractive young man with a smile which is both cheaky and enticing so that it will appeal to the audience and will also sell my character to my audience he is also outgoing and isnt camera shy.

Location

My location for my music video of the song ' The Spider And The Fly ' is in the drama department of Mangotsfield Secondary School . this is so that i can use the lights and other special effects to give it a sureal effect commonly found in busta rhymes videos.(an artist that i have baised my idea on ) as for the actual mise-en-scene i have realised that the same location may sound abit bnoring . However my plan is to use bed sheats with different locations and scenes on them such as the Spiders parlor and his ' winding stairs' in a cartoon style simular to the technique used in Busta rhymes 'Gimme Some More'. however This will be time consuming and so i will have to make these scenes in my own time . i will upload pictures of the drama studio and the scenes i will have to make shortly.

Lyrical Evaluation

the lyrics to my chosen song 'The Spider and The Fly' tells the story of a spider trying to entice a fly into its layer so that it can eat the fly . however the Fly is too smart for the Spider and eventualy leaves the spider crying at the end of the version i have . However due to the genre of this version of this old nursary rhyme is rap which makes the hole song sound like a sexual refrence to a man trying to get a woman into bed. Refrences to the spiders bed are made in the lyrics to from the spider to the fly. This is the spin off that i am trying to create in my music video . with the use of fast editing and sexual refrences i think i could pull it off. the structure of the song however is typical of a traditional song because it doesnt have a corus however it does have a pattern to it where the spider speaks trying to entice the fly then the fly replies with a rejection to the spider . This interesting form of banter keeps the audience entertained because they want to know if the spider will succeed in his task.

lyrics for The Spider And The Fly

Spider:will you walk into my parlor said the spider to the fly, tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.

the way up into my parlor is up a winding stair, and i have many curious thing to show when you are there

Fly: oh no no said the little fly to ask me is invein , for who goes up your winding stair can never come down again. aw come on little fly theres always a way out . not from your parlor thats not what i've heard. well you've heard the wrong word.

Spider: Im sure you must be wiery dear with soring up so high, will you rest upon my little bed said the spider to the fly. There are pretty curtains drawn around the sheets are fine and thin and if you like to stay a while ill snugly tuck you in.

Fly: Oh no no said the little fly cuz iv often heard it said, they never wake again who sleep upon your bed.

Spider: Who said that ?

Fly: Well iv just heard it around

spider: Must have been that little old lady bug talking again

Fly: It’s the buzz around town

Spider: Said the cunning spider to the fly dear friend what can I do to proove the warm effection iv always felt for you, I have within my pantery good store of all that’s nice im you’re your very welcome will you please do take a slice.

Fly: Oh no no said the fly cind sire that cannot be , iv heard whats in your pantery and I do not wish to see,

Spider: Sweet creature said the spider your cunning and your wise , how handsome are your godly wings how brilliant are your eyes, I have a little looking glass upon my parlor shelf , if you step in one moment dear you will behold yourself.

Fly: I thank you gental sir she said for what your pleased to say , and bidding you good morrow now ill call another day toodalooo!

Spider: Dddd don’t go

Fly: Awww sorry mr spider gotta run

Spider: Ccccum back

Fly: Thanks loads but ill pass

Spider: I have cookies

Fly: Im rely not that hungry

Spider: I got cake?

Fly: Byeee

Spider: I hate flies