filming: house sequence

The process for the two house sequence is final part of our sequence after our planning for the video initial cut was decided. the sequence will involve more narrative and less lip syncing as we have already used the booth sequence for the lycing requirements. With incorperating the house sequence it will satisfy the criteria of our hybrid video of performance and narrative.

record label: the decision

we chose Atlantic Records as they seemed to have less big artists, which means they would have time to develop the ones they do have.

Atlantic Records' parent company is Warner Music Group, whom are widely seen as the second biggest record label in the world and are constantly in contention with the other major labels: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and EMI who prior to late 2011 would be regarded as one of the major labels.

Atlantic Records is an American label founded in 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. It was in 1967 that Warner became their parent company. The label are most famous for being host to many major rock acts over the years such as Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, and also helping the evolution of African-American music, as they held such talents as Ben E. King (best known for 'Stand By Me') and Ray Charles (best known for 'Hit The Road, Jack') in the prime of their careers. Currently their most popular artists are of the urban genre, as their website mainly promotes rappers; Wiz Khalifa (similar style to our artist) and T.I as well as RnB star Trey Songz. With such a convincing range of talent we were sure that Iceburg would fit in nicely at Atlantic records.

'its Rizz'

At the start of the song which we have created a video for the first words are its 'Rizz' and our tracklisting, features the title 'It's Rizz!' while our artist is signed under the title Iceburg, This is simply the name we have chosen to present. Many rappers have alternative names, for example UK rapper Wiley also goes by the name 'Esky boi', and Eminem of course is also known as 'Slim Shady', we decided that we would use the name Iceburg to promote our artists instead of his alternative 'Rizz'

video latest edit

this is our video after taking into account the feedback from the primary audience and with new footage to try and hit the new objectives.

digipack outside panels

This is the outside panels of my CD digipack which was developed and edited on photoshop, and unlike the inner layers it send out a more business message.

The first picture(front cover) is very unorthodox as we see Iceburg doing up his jacket from the top... he clearly doesn't conform which sends out a message like other artists including ed sheeran whose album cover showed simply his face with no other information making the target market have to listen to his music to see what he is about.The text is sharp and stands out on the white background so that it is easy to read after receiving feedback saying that the title and artist name couldn't be distinguished  we chose to spread it out so that it is very clear that we can tell which is which. the explicit content was a label requirement as we have to inform the consumer that the lyrics may be more than they expected.

The second shot (back cover) shows off the more business end of the album we see the artist in the studio as if busy at work. this shot was taken from the set for the music video 'Im 17' but because of the effectiveness it was promoted to the digipack. the tracklist is from the left because of the back backdrop which conveniently was in the studio and greatly contrasted with the font colour and style. 

The third panel is similar to that of the inner panels and shows the mise-en-scene of the artist that i have developed. The hi top trainers and the jeans are the only items that can be seen on a seemingly invisible background this is because using the art of contrast (and the magic wand) the background was feathered out and brought emphasis onto the two items in focus. 

digipack inside panels

For my digipack i have decided to make a six panel cd case to try and promote and expose 'Iceburg' as much as possible. These pictures are to show off the swagg and personality of our artist so that the fans can get to know the artist. The first picture (left to right) shows Iceburg in a serious thoughtful pose, although the promotion song from the album shows a lot of vanity part of common new english rap image is serious mixed with fun. The serious pose shows that he can be a more down to earth performer. The middle picture where the CD would sit is a close up of the artist in a similar way that Wretch 32 is shown on the cover on 'Black and White' as a similar we chose this shot so that we could market from the same angle. The the last picture shows the artist sitting on the corner of fountain. this is to reflect and remind the fans that he is one of them a boy still in college chilling doing what he enjoys.

finished magazine ad

possible digipack pictures

The first picture is of the artist 'Iceburg'  sitting in a thoughtful pose on the edge a fountain in a stereotypical pop culture pose.

This shot is a high angle of 'Iceburg'. The digipack needs to show a lot of the artist as it is his first album so the desired image needs to be promoted.

This shot is a close up of the artist's trainers. We may include to use this shot to show off the swagger of the artist to again promote the desired image.

label research

After the creation of Iceburg it was time to find an appropriate label to enter talks with about possible promotion and this meant going into depth on searching for the right label. As the rap hybrid genre was becoming more popular it was a good idea to start looking at some of the more commercial labels that would possibly sign him.

The label we looked at was 'Atlantic Records' because of its success and fame for producing successful artists's such as 'Wiz Khalifa' and 'Lupe Fiasco'. "Over its first 20 years of operation Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important American independent recording labels, specializing in jazz, R&B and soul recordings by African-American artists, " With credentials such as these and with their market expanding to the UK this seemed like a sensible label to use for the purpose of this task. As Lupe Fiasco showed with his debut album it was possible to mix the idea of rap with rock beats, The potential was spotted and Atlantic records chose to distribute this artist's music and with Iceburg being of a similar mould in a generally new market this gave him the opportunity to follow a similar pathway.

As Atlantic Records is a predominantly American label with UK links we thought it would make sense to look at other labels closer to home. This lead to the attraction of 'Island Records' which "is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group. The label now operates as a division of The Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the United States (where it is now a largely rock-oriented label, much like in its heyday) and as a standalone label in the United Kingdom (also known as Island Records Group or Universal Island).Since 2007, there is also a frontline local artist and repertoire label in Australia known as Island Records Australia, run by Universal Music Australia. Island Records was also the founding company behind the highly influential Anime licensor Manga Entertainment, which has changed hands numerous times during the 90's and early 2000's" and  has a more recent record of producing UK artists. With success stories such as 'Rizzle Kicks' on their books this was the logical path if we were to try and tackle the UK market. However as it was a rock based label we were not sure that it would such a great idea. This was still a possibility however. 

The avenue of looking at a UK grime label was also explored as the new interest and commercialisation of this genre meant that the market was fast growing and contained our target audience. With Wiley and Skepta becoming growingly popular the idea of singing with 'Boy Better Know' became more appetising. "The band and label were established by Jamie Adenuga (born 4 May 1985). "Boy Better Know" is a registered trademark, clothing line and Boy Better Know sim cards.In 2008, they pioneered a short-lived dance fad called the "Rolex Sweep" which accompanied the song of the same name by Skepta. The song and dance was later referenced by Chris Martin of Coldplay during a rendition of "In My Place" at Brixton Academy". With an advertising plan and commodity ideas already in place this label had a strong appeal as with a pioneering label in place this made a strong point for being considered as being a debut artist on a label surrounded by newly found success the fan base would have already been in place. This could have been a risky move as the general hype around the label could have died quickly and this would mean our artist would have a limited opportunity and may not make it. Similarly Professor Green's first record contract fell through when the label went bust meaning he could not legally release anything that he recorded with them and had to start his career effectively from scratch.

All three of these labels made a strong point for consideration which we would late have to address for our artist's journey to progress. 

 

narrative shoot

we decided to add a fresh sequence into our music video after the general consensus was that the scene in the booth was repetitive. Our response was to use one of the initial sequences from the planning part of the project which was 'the streets'. With artists such as Devlin and Wretch 32 developing there style from street video were they rap and interact with the camera we decided to mimic this.

mag ad latest draft

This is our magazine advert to promote our artist Iceburg's debut album. We used a large picture of the artist which shows his face and his style in fashion which allows fans to judge him based on his appearance and get an idea of what genre his music could be (jeans, trainers and baseball jacket are likely to represent urban pop or rap). This is conventional for a young urban artist who is not yet established, with such artists as Wretch 32 and Ed Sheeran using similar images.

We put the name of our artist at the top to clearly let people know, and the name of the album so that people can search it or identify it when they see it in stores or online.

The text for this is bold and stands out from the rest of the poster so it is easy for the consumer to see when the album is available.

The list of social and promotional information is clearly listed. Inlcuding the popular logos of HMV and i-tunes states where the album can be purchased. Putting such information on the poster is necessary toincrease chances of sales and alert the target market. The social network sites have also been used as a way of furthering the fanbase so that people can access future releases and follow the artist for information about concerts and possible free tracks. 

feedback : music video

The audience who reviewed our rough cut of 'I'm 17' gave some valuable criticisms and some feedback about the sequence. The general response was that the main artist has good mise-en-scene as the costume and general presentation accurately represent the steroetype of a teenage boy. One criticism was that the lighting in the bedroom can cast too much shaddow on the artist's neck and parts of the face. We will look to address this by using a light  relfector if a re-shoot is done so that the light is not concentrated around the face and is more evenly distributed.

The camera angles in general had good reception as we used a range of shot including the over the shoulder low angle and high angle. The audience were particularly  impressed by the camera shock as we successfully managed to get the angle almost head on without capturing the camera in the mirror. One of the criticisms of the camera work was that the zoom were not taken out with the editing so that will have to be addressed in the final cut.

The performance  may reqiure some altering as some of the footage lacked energy and camera interaction. One of the suggestions was that a second performer could be added to create a different dimension and add to the performance part of the video. The feedback has all been taken into account and will be addressed in the next cut of the video so improve th final product.

video first draft

Vernallis analysis

Narrative:
The video is half performance based and half narrative.
The video starts off by showing off a boy who is lying on his bed thinking about his life while Kelly sits in the closet narrating his life It cuts between The boy's past experience of being bullied at school and Kelly sitting in various locations around school saying what he wished people knew about him before he has to make people notice. It shows how being quiet has had an effect because "good to get attention" and after the abuse he has seen his mother suffer decides he can no longer take the pressure and commits suicide to that every knows his name after being on "prime time news".


During the second verse of the song it shows the reaction from the kids in school who that Kelly has given a voice to cutting between between her performance performing and their emotional response and the past were he was bullied. The parts of the boy's story are shown from his perspective so that the audience can understand why it has caused him so much anguish.During the second verse of the song it still cuts between Eminem performing and parts of B Rabbit from the movie. The parts Kelly Rowland show empathy for the people she is singing for because throughout she is on the outside of the large groups or is in plain view to the audience but invisible to those around her. It looks as though she is in the same situation and does not want to be identified with those who shunned the boy towards suicide.

The performance given is quite indirect as it is almost as though she is simply recollecting instead of performing to camera through the majority of the video. however there are scenes were Kelly becomes more direct and shows real emotion in her performance as there is a part in the last chorus when she starts to cry while singing.

There is a clear link between visuals and audio as when she reaches the lyrics "the chords on his guitar" she begins to start playing an air guitar and a random electric guitar is introduced to the track.

Diagesis:

We are made aware of what has happened as the video develops, and the video only becomes clear to those who have knowledge of the tragedy that actually took place which Kelly Rowland wrote her song about. As the song is a report rather than a standard pop song not a lot of information is given straight away to the audience in a jumbled sense before it is slowly unravelled by the lyrics that eventually match the visuals.

magazine mock ad

This is the initial design for Iceburg's magazine advertisement to promote his new album. It shows the artist in main focus because he is not well known enough to simply have an abstarct design with his name. New artist's have certain demands from their label and one of those is a lot of shots of them and this has been applied. The mise-en-scene is appropriate as a new style rap artist two fashion styles are used to compliment each other; he is wearing a varsity jacket to show his urban edge, he is also wearing hi tops and a check shirt which are normally ascociated with indie or pop artists. This shows the adaptibility of the artist and that he can be a versatile commodity.

The name of the artist and album are in bold and catchy colours so they immidiately stand out from the rest of the ad as they are the important factors. The release date is also in bold but is not as large so that it doesn't steal focus but still has prominance. The endorsement of music stores has also been used such as 'i-tunes' so that the reader is aware of were the product can be purchased from. Along with this there is a twitter page so that fans can follow his progress to find out about further promotional events and future releases.

magazine ad

the colour scheme of the background reflkects the mood of the album. As black and White is a emotional rap album the greyscale effect suits the advert which is showing the sincere sign of the artist. The centre of the picture is Wretch 32 in a thoughtful pose; this is to echoe the emotion that he is trying to convey through his music in such tracks as 'Don't go'.  The font for this advert is very basic so to not distract from the artist and follow his simplistic approach.