Initial ideas for my music Video

Nathalie Boakye

GenreHaving a diverse taste in genre makes it exciting to work with all types of music. However, I was able to get in touch with a very popular hip-hop artist who also happens to be a DJ. His genre in actual fact is hip-hop, R’n’B and urban grimes. Nevertheless, I have decided to only work with his hip-hop songs, which will allow to me to be creative and spontaneous. Not forgetting that I will only have a certain amount of time to complete my project and its two sub tasks, which are a CD cover and an advertisement poster.

In the UK, hip-hop is one of the most popular music genres, competing with hard rock/ heavy metal. According to research, hip-hop derived from New York, United States, which then became popular in the UK from the mid 1980’s. However, this genre culture became apparent to the British as grime as they had become highly influenced in rap.

Here is a quote from the Times newspaper in 2003, describing British Hip-Hop.

"...'UK rap' is a broad sonic church, encompassing anything made in Britain by musicians informed or inspired by hip-hop's possibilities, whose music is a response to the same stimuli that gave birth to rap in New York in the mid-Seventies.”

Target AudienceMy target audience’s age will vary from 16 years and over (mainly 16- 25 years). This is because the songs I have chosen are quite sensitive to the emotions such as love, politics and the contemporary culture in London. By setting this age range, I am not excluding ages below or above the boundary, as that might be considered inconsiderate. But due to the message of the story, I do not wish to upset or corrupt young and very sensitive minds. It is a form of awareness for whoever is listening, as topics on violence and sex are not appropriate for children as young as 10. Furthermore, adults above 25 may find the material immature.

16 is also the legal age to be more responsible. I.e sex, relationships, education and being given the legal choice whether to move out of your parents house or not.

According to a recent survey on hip-hop, 63% of its listeners are male, while 37% are female. The survey also pointed out that its listeners are mostly under 25 years old, which is ideal for my set target age group. Hip-hop’s audience in relation to race, are mostly black or have some black heritage within them.

Furthermore, by setting a target audience I am also setting myself a goal to entertain my specified age group. If my audience becomes bored by watching the first 10 seconds of my music video, then I have failed to entertain them. In order to ensure that I stay on track, I will be devising a questionnaire for my target audience to complete and inform me whether they believe that the song chosen suits the genre and their taste. I will also find out later on in the process to establish whether I am still on track.

Song for choiceIn order to produce a music video I must select a song preferably from an unsigned artist in order to obtain permission due to copyright reasons.

‘Treat you right’ was composed and recorded by the uprising hip-hop, R’n’B and rap artist called Wezley Coshare. He is known to some as not only a rapper but also a DJ, and has recently performed with well known British artists such as Chipmunk, DJ Ironik and Tinnie Tempah.

Story/ messageFrom the choice of the song, I am able to identify its message and proceed with the story for filming the video.

From what I have seen in other hip-hop music videos they do not all present the same story as the lyrics indicate. However, they present scenes reflecting the story or message, as well as presenting scenes featuring the artist. Through these displays, the musician is able to send to us as viewers subliminal messages.

‘Treat you right’ is a song about the artist who claims that he can treat a girl much better than her current boyfriend. The claim is expanded as he elaborates that he would take her out to eat, go to the night club with her, where she wouldn’t have to spend money because of his kudos. He explains to the audience that he understands that she is going through a difficult phase in her life. After a period of persuasion , she accepts and breaks up with her boyfriend, to be with Wezley.

My competition

• To know who will be my competition for my music video, I have done some primary research. Through this research I would be able to pin-point relevant ideas. I have gathered a few music videos, which I believe are my competition. However, there has only been one music video in particular that had caught my eye, as it very similar to the type of music video I want to create. 

The song is called ‘If you were mine’ by Kayne, who is a Caucasian hip-hop artist. The song lyrics talk about the artist being the “superhero” for the beautiful girl that he wants to make his. He sees her having “her heart ripped into pieces”, while she “pretends it’s all OK” that her boyfriend is cheating right before her eyes.

In the music video, the story starts of with Kayne being at a party and noticing the girl who is being ignored by her boyfriend as he texts on his phone beside her. He then decides to move away from her and walks to a room next door, where the girl he was texting was. The second scene is where he walks past a store and spots the same girl through the window looking upset, presumably waiting for her boyfriend who is late and is not picking up his phone. Kayne who is being emotionally empathetic, again shakes his head and continues to look at her through the window. The third scene jump-cuts the girl who was in the store, to walking on a path leading to where she could spot her boyfriend who was swapping numbers with a girl. She decides to ring him but is immediately “cut off” as her boyfriend continues to talk to this girl. The final scene shows the girl who is distraught, walking along a brick wall, as she bumps into Kayne and swaps numbers with him.

In between those scenes, we see Kayne singing to us from a mid-close up and close up. This is to allow us as viewers to gain a deeper insight to how tense his empathy for that girl is and how much he wants to help her and make her feel ok. It also allows us to see the hip-hop hand gestures and facial expressions that relate to the lyrics.

Here is a link to Kaynes’ music video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u8_K-syjXQ

My Competition: II‘Unappreciated’ is a song by an R’N’B group called Cherish .

This song will strongly represent the female character in my music video. Although ‘Treat you right’ does not boldly indicate within the lyrics that she is feeling hurt, it is only assumed that she is feeling this way.

Within the lyrics of ‘Unappreciated’ the group boldly open the scene by quoting in the opening line “ I’m feeling really unappreciated, you’re takin’ my love for granted babe and I don’t know how much more I can take from you”.

In the music video we see the different ways in which the female character is being hurt by her boyfriend. In some scenes it is the couple arguing and in other scenes it is her boyfriend who is cheating right in front of her.

I have decided to mimic two particular scenes The first scene is where the couple is going out for a walk, as another girl walks by and is being “checked out” by the female character’s boyfriend. The second scene shows the female character sitting on a table beside the window as she gazes out.

Another point I will be taking from this music video is that it uses a lot of bright colours. However, the male character is usually seen to be wearing dark coloured clothing to denote him as being suspicious and having a sense of mystery.

Here is a link to the music video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbPqVMbT34Q&ob=av2e

My competition: IIIA very popular song for this situation is a song by Mario called ‘Let me love you’. Most hip-hop and R’n’B listeners would recognise the 2004 song as it was ranked 45* on the top 100.

The lyrics reflect my chosen song as the protagonist Mario is seen as the ‘hero’ to the female character. However, the video shows how the artist is first an observer of a dysfunctional relationship and then become the person that the female character runs to for comfort.

Although the storyline is not portrayed through structural acting, the use of different combinations of shots and choreography, encourages the audience to connect with the visuals and the dance routine.

Furthermore, this video presents to us many representations that connote hip-hop, through the costumes, décor, props, location and colour scheme. This will inform the consumer that this is a product of hip-hop.

Here is a link of the music video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NARjr3fMMvY

My Video IdeasAs mentioned before, I will be using some of the ideas used in the various music videos, as I believe that they are relevant to the ones I had primarily thought of.

However, to make it more original, I have decided to incorporate a variety of scenes that will interest the wide targeted age range. The first idea is to open the scene with a group of young teenagers “hanging out” together on a path or wall. If possible, I would film the scene near a wall that has already got graffiti, in order to make the video more realistic and relatable to hip-hop music, as well as legal.

The second idea is to film the characters in only a couple of locations rather than filming the entire story that will match the lyrics. For example, in total there will be 5 main locations. The living room, outside a store, a restaurant, a wall and a blank background for which the artist will appear on his own.

While filming I will ensure that the scene changes occur in rhythm to the beat as well as using different colours for costume, props and lighting.