Evaluation

I decided to complete my evaluation on a software called Prezi.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW EVALUATION

RANDOLPH POSTER

Below is an A3 Poster I created which would be used to promote the release of Randolph's new album!

 

 

 

 

 

I have decided to use the same fonts as I did for my album art, as then they can be easily identified as information for Randolph, I decided to use a similar location as shown in the music video, where he is looking down a dark entrance, the reason for this is because many of the songs involve the line "looking for the fame" so having Randolph looking into the darkness symbolises him looking for the fame. Furthermore people can see the location of this shot, and be able to relate it to the music video. I have made predictions of people who are likely to review Randolph's work, including hip hop magazines XXL, KING, and VIBE. These magazines have sections where they review upcoming hip hop artists, which is why I have used them, furthermore I have tried to use the language which they are likely to use. 

 

The Reverse Effect in my Music

Reverse Effect

In my music video, there was a few times where I would have a clip in reverse, the reason I used this effect, is because I find it visually appealing to watch certain footage played in reverse.

I used this effect for this shot, where my artist throws money away, but played it in reverse so it looks like he grabs the money from the ground. The reason I decided to do this, was to resemble that the artist is chasing money. I deliberately used this, as in many hip hop music videos, there are artists who throw money away to connote their wealth, however in this hip hop video, I wanted to show that the artist values his money, as the artist Randolph has other songs where he says that he is not like the other rappers and wished to use the money he earns sensibly.

Slow Motion Effect in my Music Video

Slow Motion Effect

Another effect, which I used in my music video, was to have certain pieces of footage move in slow motion. This effect can work well to help build suspense for a scene, or make it more dramatic.

I used this in my music video for when I had leaves falling from a tree, the reason why I done this, was because the tempo on the song started to slow down, so I needed to match this, and I thought this would be a good way to do this as it also symbolises change, as it is a change of seasons to autumn, and the song is about his life changing which is why I decided to use leaves falling from tree to symbolise this.

I have also, used this effect for when my artist is walking towards the camera at an angle, this was also because the song slowed down at this point, but I decided to use this particular shot as it shows his getting bigger and bigger as he walks towards the camera, and each step is matched with the beat of the song. This also gave the impression that my artist was powerful as the shot ends with us looking up at him with a low angle shot which means that the audience is looking up at him which means he is of importance. 

I also had a slow motion effect so it would make certain clips easier to see, for example there was a shot in my music video where sweets were knocked out of my hand, from the artist, and in normal speed you couldn't tell what was happening very well, so I slowed this down, which made it a lot easier to see, and also looked more dramatic.

This is a very simple effect to do in Sony Vegas, as you would cut the clip so that you have the footage selected that you want to be in slow motion, then you would hold down ctrl, as well as dragging it to the right to slow down the speed of the shot. (This would also work for speeding up the clip, if you dragged it to the left). So from doing this you can slow down the footage selected, however it was important that you had the footage separate from the audio as otherwise it would also slow down the song. 

"Clone Effects" in my Music Video

For my music video, my target market was teenagers, and mostly males, and through market research I found out they were more entertained my music videos which contained special effects. So therefore, I took this into account to have special effects in my music video.

"Clone Effect"

To open up my music video, I decided to start with an effect. This is what I call the Clone Effect, as I have made the same artist appear more than once in a single shot, and all 3 of these clones are the same person, they are not all identical brothers... So to do this effect I used a software called Sony Vegas Pro, but first thing, was to get the footage which involved me making sure the camera was completely still, and on a tripod, as any movement or shaking on the camera would mean this effect would fail. So it requires me to record the artist in each position, but making sure they do not overlap, as this also would cause the effect to fail. So we started off by having my artist sit down on the right, and he was required to be in this position for around 10 seconds, so to be sure, we recorded this shot for around 20 seconds, then we would repeat this process but have the artist stand in the middle, like the above picture shows and finally we repeated this for a third time but the artist stand on the left hand size. So once we made sure none of the artist overlapped and there was no disturbance, such as a fly going across the lens. I was then ready to edit this using sony vegas pro. It works by having different layers, and as the scenery in the background is the same for every shot, all I had to do was remove the background where the artist should appear. As long as the bottom layer had no background being removed, then we could remove anything from the other layers, so the first piece of footage where I have the artist sat down on the right, was my bottom layer and the other 2 pieces of footage would be layer 2 and layer 3. So for layer 2 and 3 I cut the background to make sure all the artist would show using a tool called Event/Pan Crop. Afterwards, we would make any fine tuning, and adjust the lighting and what was called the "feather" otherwise you could still tell that they were 3 different shots.

Below are some more examples of me using the clone effect in my music video:

I think that this effect works well in my music video as it gives the opportunity for the audience to be creative as they can decide why there are more than one of them in the shots, which was one of my aims. I also took this effect a step further, as you can see the image above in this mirror shot, as I had the mirror version appear in black and white with his hood up in contrast to the artist in colour with his hood down. The grey version in the mirror symbolises the mistakes he has made which is why I have his hood up as it connotes violence and danger. Whereas the artist on the other side has his hood down and is in colour which is the opposite, which has him looking in the mirror as this symbolises that he is reflecting back on his life, as the lyrics at this time is "This is the way the Kick and Snare made me."

Auteur Theory

For extra research I decided to learn about the Auteur Theory. This is when someone creates someone creates something different as opposed to copying everyone else. I have been thinking how I can include the Auteur Theory in my music video, this will mean I will have created something different rather than copying everyone else. So for my music video, I have decided to "Clone" my artist, to make 3 appear at times. The reason for this is so the audience can use their imagination as to why there are 3 of them, however each clone is suppose to resemble a part of his personality, so one clone resembles his mistakes, one his success and the last one his ambition. However the audience can choose what they actually mean, and I have deliberately left it vague so they can have their own theories for it. Below, are some examples from my music video.

Binary Opposites in Music Videos

In this blog post I am going to look at Binary Opposition; this is where something is opposed to each other for example fighting. To explain this I am going to use the music video Not Afraid by the rap artist Eminem. Please click the link below to watch the music video on YouTube:

Eminem - Not Afraid Music Video

In this music video it compares two different Eminems, one being the present Eminem who is a celebrity, and the other Eminem being the past version of him, who is an underground MC.

Present Eminem:

Past Eminem:

In the beginning of the music video, it shows Eminem standing tall upon a skyscraper to show how far he has come whereas the "Past Eminem" is in a room resembling a basement, with stairs up to the world above him. This symbolises his low simple beginnings, and his transformation from being at low points in his life, and to his best points.  

The present Eminem (Top Picture) shows him being cleaner, by having him freshly cut as well as wearing slick clothes and an overall well put together person, whereas the older Eminem was seen to be covered in tattoos and in a vest, where he looks more dishevelled. Which symbolises the fame he has received from his music has allowed him to clean himself up mentally and physically to give him a better quality of life. 

Lighting can be used in music videos to create mood as having a scene which has light usually symbolises a cheerful mood, whereas having a darker lighting can symbolise depressing moods. However in this music video there is use of both light and dark scenes for both the past Eminem and present Eminem which is to symbolise that neither one is completely perfect or hopeless.

Eminem also has a similar method where he shows the present Eminem and the past Eminem being caged-in, then breaking out of the cage. The past Eminem breaks free from a room which where he was trapped into a load of light, where he is depicted for the rest of the song. I believe this light resembles his freedom. Whereas the present Eminem is stuck surrounded by mirrors showing that he is still surrounded by his own problems such as drugs, and then eventually breaks through a mirror back to freedom at the top of the skyscraper, to symbolise a new version of him.

The binary opposition of Eminem's Not Afraid shows that Eminem sees a successful person as one who is simple, plain and clean. He uses the binary effects to create two versions of himself, and shows that both versions of himself has positives and negatives to them, and they both have similar problems, and both can be "good" and "bad".