Narrative-Representation

Representation by the use of narrative

Representation theory is any medium that refers to the mass media that contribute hugely in the music video. The niche audience are those who are responsible to adhere or relate to the individuality of different aspects of reality that Are used. In this case the use of people places objects events and cultural identities including other abstract concepts. Such representation may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.Representation is an important theory used in our music video that is shown through the mis on scene.

Overall story line

Introduction

The overall story is handled by a young man, played by J. Cole, sharing his feelings with a young woman about being unequipped to care for a baby, and that perhaps she should consider an abortion.Throughout the lyrics there is a sense of disbelieve for the young man and sad emotions seen by the passive language used by J Cole. His language at some stages is very strong in texture as there is some swear words that have been used to express his anger and some stage his frustrations.

2ND
The second verse features the young woman's response, in which she criticizes the young man for sweet-talking her into sex, vows to keep the child and take care of it, with or without the young man's help. The young woman also reveals that the guy is the victim of an absent father himself "Bout your father and you told me that you hate that nigga" and had promised that he would never abandon his own children. Further on from the lyrics she then accuses him for presumably following the same footsteps as his father and that he is a coward. We also understand as audience that at this moment of time there is chaos and the trust between the couple has dissolved slowly because of the accusations that each one has mentioned about each the other.

END
The final verse features Cole rapping about the common perspectives guys who hear that they are suddenly going to be a father might have. On one hand, Cole raps, some women are known for using pregnancies to "trap" men, so perhaps a guy should be suspicious. In the end, though, Cole asks men to think about one thing: the "seed" inside the woman's womb.

However we have challenged this consumption of the seed representing life but we focused more closely on the strength of the marriage. The fact that this would help the relationship move forward and that we didn't want to think about the negative things that destroys relationships but making sure that we show that the relationship at this stage is at the strongest because both of them have agreed to become committed to each other.
we changed the last part as having the girl and the boy together but then the girl drops the ring after before the last line were the boy gets criticism from his friends and decides to make a rational decision.

Narration analysis

With the clothes and the setting being important in making sure our audience reflection of how they would want to interpret our beginning scene of J Cole Lost is by the fact that the first verse would be at the house and the boy reflecting and thinking about and weighing the options of the pregnancy issue .The identified ideology of this realism of a music video that relates back to reality is portrayed as being a constant theme of sadness and isolation between couples and their disagreement and discussion of the issue of pregnancy shown through dialogue.for example "i know you wondering if this gonna make me think about wifing you" the fact that this is at the start of the lyrics stage we thought that the boy could be arguing to the girl and explaining his side of the story that his girlfriend shouldn't be doubting him on anything. We knew when we had to come to talk about different lyrics that we would be bale to change some things and that's why we thought it would be necessary to have the boys feelings expressed to the girl as audience would understand were the story is eventually going to lead to which is more conflict and disagreement.
Other dialogue such as the repeating of the words "now i aint tryna" we knew at this stage he is trying to express that his not trying to be violent or leading her on in bed but trying to talk to her and explain that they should think about the situation that their in at the moment and reflect on what they could be doing to resolve it with other solution but not only one.this means that the targeted audience of 18-25 would feel that there is other ways that can ease the situation in this case either talk to your partners and explain whats going on.this is helpful that we discovered these lyrics as being important because it relates back to targeting a mass audience that are in the same situation dealing with pregnancy and they could relate to J Cole lost ones.

We feel that we should have some things in the background that can relate to the video that shows the environment being unsafe. Other scenes such as the theme of love is shown in the foreground as represented to show that love is evidently a good thing but they do have many consequences surrounding it. Like wise in the first hook there is a flashback on the things that made everything good for the relationship by having the verse "we could make it" could suggest that things can go right after all.
In the same verse 1 we manipulated the last line "so girl you gotta think about the option weight out" etc to have changed it that we don't literally say it but view it in a text so that it becomes broadcast and that it stands out that there is other options if there was more thought on what to eventually do next.
we also thought really hard on the verse "a niga barely over 20" suggest that it will target 18 year old and older people but we decided that this verse needs to be sang out loud to show that we have understood who our target audience are and that the youths who are not experienced living in the central London are sometimes affected by the cycle of life.

Semiotics representation is really important in our music video as it has significant meanings for particular scenes. As we agreed as a group that in the middle scene in the chorus part “ I aint too proud to tell you” we are going to show how love is important by presenting two hands holding together and a shot of a close up too. It symbolizes love and commitment and the couple’s strong bond in committing to each other. This connotation is mainly used in many music video conventions but however in our music video we are going to use binary opposite to show when love is being destroyed by the different needs in a relationship. Using symbols in our music video is important in showing the dimension of the music video and the narrative can show a story that is being told and begins with happiness then sadness in the end.

We changed the way the characters would do each part of the narrator parts because we had sub-verse it and changed it to two character which one is a bad boyfriend and the other good.so we decided on the first chorus or hook to be a happy flashback when sang and the second chorus being the sad one.

Many systems of meaning are based on binary structures (masculine/ feminine; black/white; natural/artificial), two contrary conceptual categories that also entail or presuppose each other. Semiotic interpretation involves exposing the culturally arbitrary nature of this binary opposition and describing the deeper consequences of this structure throughout a culture. In this case in our music video we are going to use the representation of a young man who is at his early 20s and his a teenager growing up to be influenced by the media and other people and therefore he would have to take responsibility for his actions. This would engage with different audiences including a diversity of niche or the overall gender and class in statues to show that reality sometimes can be challenging as our binary opposite focuses on love and discourage or hate.the fact that we used binary opposite good and evil helps us establish a better focus on the semiotic part of each chorus and challenge the consumption that all teenagers are bad and are from poor backgrounds that influence them to do bad.

We are mainly focusing on these theme because in our narrative of J Cole music video it shows a conversation that is being hard and interpreted differently by the different gender and their view point.
For example in the beginning the man is expressing his feelings and wants to "talk" about the issues however the women in the second verse is really upset and says things that she might have never meant to say. We can see this by the use of the swear words to show her rage and anger and how she feels that shes being left alone looking after the baby herself. In society many young people decide to get a women pregnant without looking after the baby and not being responsible for their own actions.
In the last few verses the antagonist becomes more in control of herself by mentioning "Regardless if I'm your wife this life here ima love it " referring back to her baby that whatever problems or issues are that bad they will never beat a life that is in her. Its quite important that this verse is at the middle part of the narrative to show that women have a different view to society as they are more caring loving and are passionate with what they intend to say.
The audience would interpret this part of the music video being from a women point of view and this involves not only just the man but also the women the fact that she is in control at this stage by saying "so don't think you finna force shit" .Shes indicating and telling the boy  shes in control of herself with whatever she desires to do.

Another quote from the music video that we can manipulate and use differently and not follow the conventions is “Now I ain't tryna spend the night with you, I'm kinda lost” The man is feeling very emotional because he knocked a girl up. He wants to keep his distance because he feels like his options are very limited now… not to mention they’re both really young.
the targeted audience is very important in our music video and the words demonstrates this that they are young and vulnerable with not much knowledge of what to do in order to solve the pregnancy issue.the constant retaliation and the disagreement doesn't let the couple think things through but makes them get even stressed out more.

The title of the song “Lost Ones” not only refers to the children of abortion that are forever lost, but also to the people involved who are lost themselves as far what decision to make and what will happen with their future.

In the representation stage we also manage to agree that we are going to use a character that the audiences understand and can relate to the story itself being told in the dialogue of this individual however this is not the case throughout our music video. Of-course the agreement that has been made that the protagonist is going to be the man’s feelings for the girl and his commitment to the relationship.  However the change of character as the women represents her feeling might be evidently different to interpret who is the villain and who’s the hero in sustaining a healthy relationship even though things could have gone wrong.
so we decide to have two characters for one being good and one being bad so that we can show that we understand the different opinion that people might have that they can relate to.

In doing this music video we have also encourage each other that the best solution would be making sure our cover for the music video shows a character that is the stereotypical male as it represent the patriarchal society however in this case we might change the conventions by making the stereotypical person as the negative, isolated of a person that doesn't understands reality but makes irresponsible choices.

"Lost Ones" by J Cole

[Verse 1]
Baby girl, I can’t imagine what it’s like for you
I got you pregnant now inside there is a life in you
I know you wonderin’ if this is gon make me think bout wifing you
Like if you had my first child would I spend my whole life with you
Now I aint tryna pick a fight with you, I’m tryna talk
Now I aint tryna spend the night with you
I’m kinda lost see
I’ve been giving it some thought lately and frankly
I’m feelin’ like we aint ready and it’s… hold up now
Let me finish
Think about it baby me and you we still kids ourself
How we gon raise a kid by ourself?
Handle biz by ourself
A nigga barely over 20, where the hell we gon live?
Where am I gon get that money
I refuse to bring my boy or my girl in this world
When I aint got shit to give ‘em
And I’m not with them niggas who be knocking girls up and skate out
Girl, you gotta think bout how the options weigh out
What's the way out?

[Chorus]
And I ain't too proud to tell ya that I cry sometimes
I cry sometimes about it
And girl I know it hurt but if this world was perfect
Then we could make it work but I doubt it
And I aint too proud to tell ya that I cry sometimes
I cry sometimes about it
And girl I know it hurt but if this world was perfect
Then we could make it work but I doubt it

[Verse 2]
She said nigga you got the nerve
To come up to me talkin’ bout abortion
This my body nigga so don’t think you finna force shit
See I knew that this is how you act, so typical
Said you love me, oh, but now you flipping like reciprocals
It figures though, should’ve known that you was just another nigga
No different from them other niggas
Who be claiming that they love you just to get up in them draws
Knowing all the right things to say
I let you hit it raw mothafucker
Now I’m pregnant you don’t wanna get involved muthafucker
Tryna take away a life, is you God mothafucker?
I don’t think so
This a new life up in my stomach
Regardless if I’m your wife
This new life here I’mma love it
I ain't budging, I’ll do this by my muthafucking self
See my momma raised me without no muthafucking help from a man
But I still don’t understand how you could say that
Did you forget all those conversations that we had way back
Bout your father and you told me that you hate that nigga
Talkin’ bout he a coward and you so glad that you aint that nigga
Cause he left your mamma when she had you and he ain't shit
And here you go doin’ the same shit
You ain't shit nigga!

[Chorus]
And I aint too proud to tell ya that I cry sometimes
I cry sometimes about it
And boy that shit hurt
And aint nobody perfect, still we can make it work but you doubt it
Now, I aint too proud to tell ya that I cry sometimes
I cry sometimes about it
And boy that shit hurt
And aint nobody perfect, still we can make it work but you doubt it

[Verse 3]
They say everything happens for a reason
And people change like the seasons
They grow apart she wanted him to show his heart and say he loved her
He spoke the magic words and on the same day he fucked her
Now she wide open
She put a ring up on his finger if she could
But he loved her cause the pussy good
But she aint no wife though
Uh oh, she tellin’ him she missed her period like typo’s
He panicking, froze up like a mannequin
A life grows inside her now he asking “is it even mine”
What if this bitch aint even pregnant dawg
Could she be lying?
And she be crying cause he acting distant
Like ever since I told you this nigga you acting different
And all his niggas saying man these hoes be trapping niggas
Playing with niggas emotions like they some action figures
Swear they get pregnant for collateral
It’s like extortion, man if that bitch really pregnant
Tell her get an abortion
Uh, but what about your seed nigga?
(What about your seed nigga?)

And I aint too proud to tell ya that I cry sometimes
I cry sometimes about it
And I aint too proud to tell ya that I cry sometimes
I cry sometimes about it

Narrative connections

The reason why we have chose this narrative from the song " Lost Ones" is because it relates back to our questionnaire and that abortion and pregnancy is quite an important issue in society. Many relationships in England have certain disagreement involved with taking risk and what would happen if those risk are taken. The fact that love is important and being together has its fundamental privileges but however things can go wrong as shown in the narrative connotations from the verse 3 "And she be crying cause he acting distant" and this relates to the fact that this issues is important to be told as a story and the men wants to avoid this pregnancy problem with his girlfriend. This is the part were there is disequilibrium and where the climax stage of the story line. The couple are left with questions and thoughts that are not answered and therefore there is a lot of tension and suspense that doesn't help the couple agree to a solution about the pregnancy problem.

With the first verse we have changed the way the narrative can show a scene of sadness and loneliness.with the verse "I got you pregnant now inside there is a life in you" its a feeling regret and disprove that the protagonist has managed to get her pregnant. The fact that the man says this and its the evil character as we agreed as a group would be saying the lyrics out loud. But then we decided to change it being the good boy saying the lyrics out loud following on with the next lyrics having the bad boyfriend saying it .we changed it in this way because we wanted to have the first boyfriends explaining the issues and with the bad boy discussing the issues.

Another important lyric is the verse 3 but the first lines "they say everything happens for a reason" suggesting that things can happen but people just got to have to deal with them.

overall looking at the lyrics and the narrative part of J Cole lost ones made us as a group understand that there is different interpretations when the tone of voice changes from a male singer to a female singer.the fact that the target audience is important in making sure that the lyrics are not hard to understand but are sang in a street slang vibe shows that this can make teenagers understand what all the lyrics are about.there is also swear words in the lyrics as we have discovered that young teenagers do get frustrated easily and can be aggravated sometimes then would just say things that they might not mean at the time.its hugely important that the women has been really upset and says these words because it shows that women are strongly challenged by man and the patriarchal society but they do tend to be emotionally stressed at times.
in the first verse we understand that the man doesn't want to get into something major as having a baby when importantly he should be providing the essential resources as money and food and somewhere for the baby to live . He emphasis this by saying "i refuse to bring my boy and my girl in this world wen i aint got shit to give him" the fact that the boy things about providing for the kids makes the viewers feel that before they get into something major they should analyses themselves and review were they are at in order to move forward in life.
There is a link between the narrative and our topic research in pregnancy and we thought this song would be essential in sharing an in view of how young people would think and view pregnancy and how society does have a big affect on the options that young people tend to go for as a gateway to make everything seem better.

Summary of lesson

Today we planned out our filming stages. For the first verse we decided that it will take up 2 weeks of recording because its the opener of our video needs a lot attention. we decided to record the first verse at the male characters house because the opening verses is about him.
The location is going to be at Wood Green and we decided the time of the day suitable would  be at night, because Wood Green night life emphasises on the mood of the character.

Target Audience

Target Audience

 

Our music video will be aimed at teenagers, who are up to date with the trends. They like rap music and sex. The way they dress is influenced and encouraged by their favourite artists and society as a whole. This is what a typical person in our target audience would wear and from this we can determine what social class they are from.  I have divided our target audience into race and gender

 

From this we can infer, an upper working class young black boy. He wears expensive clothes and has expensive things but the way he presents himself reveals working class roots. His baggy trousers are a convention in black youth culture which stemmed from prison. His hat is pulled low on his face to hide it. His ‘sleeves’ of tattoos, show a rebellion against his parents’ culture- as that was a deviant act. However in today’s culture and society it is more accepted. His family may have more money than the average working class family, but the way he has chosen to dress highlights his want to stay in and amongst the working class. This highlights the Media’s dramatization of the working class and the effects of it. His unwillingness to show his face also derives from gang culture. It makes a person anonymous. Anonymity plays a huge role in today’s youth culture as a whole. This is because we live in the era of social networking, which highlights a person’s private life, however anonymity is paramount in the barrier of classes. The police are especially badly regarded by the working class and are seen as of a higher class.

From this we can deduce, a working class white boy. The tracksuit he is wearing does not match which denotes blasé feelings towards his outward appearance and how people/ society see him. He is wearing a hoody- which in youth culture of today is synonymous with deviance and criminal activity. This and the cap will be used to obscure his identity if and when needed. His trainers are not discernible- this shows how much money he has compared to the ‘black boy’. He has slits on his eyebrow which derives from gang culture, the same as the use of hoody’s and caps.

From this we can denote how much influence sex has on female youth culture. Her belly and navel are on show as well as her shoulders and arms. The top she is wearing emphasises her chest. This is done to entice men, all the skin she has on show is keeping to youth culture which is accentuated by the male gaze which appears heavily in most TV shows aimed at the demographic this girl belongs to. Her jeans are low on her hips and tight which stresses her hips and thighs. This is done to subliminally hint a woman’s fertility to men. In black culture, especially youth culture, it is paramount for a woman to have big curves; as opposed to white culture where size zero women are the picture of the perfect woman. Her long hair which is most probably weave or a wig, as is the norm for black culture, is a testament to her femininity. A woman with very short hair goes against norms in both cultures and is usually associated with lesbianism and masculinity. The cartoon was used as this is the only representation of a black girl that fit into the stereotype we needed.

From this we can observe a young white girl wearing clothes that is expected of her by her peers and in a greater respect; society. Her bra and all the skin on show, highlight the over sexualisation of women in today’s culture. The cigarette in her hand is a social norm and not smoking subverts society’s conventions. Her blonde hair is one of the customs of beauty in white (youth) culture. Her flashy jewellery is supposed to highlight her wealth. Behind her, is a job centre sign, this is also a norm in today’s youth. A custom of today’s youth culture is to ‘get something for nothing’, hence the jobcentre- where people go to get money while not at work. A surging trend amongst lower working class white girls is to get pregnant young In order to obtain a house from the council. This not only increases the number of single parents but also the amount of children raising children. This is detrimental to society as it does not allow or sometimes forces a person to become an adult. It has also shown evidence of being a cycle; when a girl gets pregnant at sixteen while not in a steady relationship and with no further input from the biological father; the child born from this will also have children early. Premature adulthood and delayed adult hood which are the results of this prove to be adverse in the progression of society as those who have premature adulthood will negatively impact their child which in turn causes them to suffer from premature or delayed adulthood. This is most common with females as the birth or imminent birth of their child forces them to address issues they would not have had to address until later age. Delayed adulthood is the inability to accept responsibility for yourself and others around you and is very common amongst working class males who have a single mother.

camera work for the music video

 

Verse 1

At the start of our music video we chose to do a prologue, so the camera technique we will use for would be an establishing shot to give the audience a feel of where the setting is who is in the setting and what’s in the sounding environment, this is important that we include this because if we didn’t then the audience would be confused and wouldn’t really understand the narrative were trying to tell.

After the 20-25 second prologue it then starts with the main male character looking at himself and rapping in the mirror, with the mirror shot technique used to highlight that the character has a lot going through his mind and needs to let out his emotions it also demonstrates that the character is telling himself off because he got a female pregnant which was not planned. Furthermore the second male character is introduced doing the same thing as male character 1 showing a contrast of what two people are going through at the same time, choosing the method of technique is effective in its one way as this shows two males going through the same situation but handling it in two different ways which give the video more realism to it. The second male character will also be using the same camera work as male character 1. After the introduction of both male characters the camera then cuts to a close up of male character ones face this technique was chosen because it gets the audience to relate to the video and actually have a sense of feel of what that character is feeling. The camera then zooms out from the male characters close up of face to an over the shoulder shot of the male character talking to the female character this technique is effective because it shows that we have the understanding of how music videos cut from one scene to another and we took that convention and applied to out work. Moreover, the characters then go off their own separate ways with a two shot camera view to get the audience more engaged to the video as if they were random people watching them storm off which gives the music video that realistic feel to it.    

We then round up the first verse with a close up of a text message sent from boy to girl describing their options available, this convention was taken from a music video we watched when doing research on our target audience, and the music video we watched was Nelly feat Kelly Rowland they used phones to text each other about their break-up, so as a group we like this convention and decided to apply in our work as a camera technique.. We then decided as a group to show happy couples in the hook of the music video with a montage of happy clips because its a flash back of the couple before the pregnancy was announced by the females. This scene will include a variety of shots such as close ups of smiles and laughter, wide shot with both of the couples in the shot to show how close they are to each other as we want the audience to build a picture of a good relationship, we will also include a medium close-up to illustrate their devotedness to one and another.

 

Verse 2

 We start off verse 2 with a quick establishing shot to show setting, however theirs going to be a series of cuts for this verse as we are trying to show both good and bad couples input of the situation. The good couple are going to be discussing their options in a civil manner, we chose to make the shot look like as if the camera was hand held with a bit of camera trembling this will make the audience feel more attached to the music video as they can relate this to this situation as they could be going through it or they know someone going through this circumstances. The camera will be looking down at the two at a high angle to show the couples innocence’s  and also to make the clip look more joyful to show that it’s a situation that can be handled if discussed in a proper manner. Were also trying to show the contrast between the two couples as one camera work is very still and serious whereas the other is very relaxed and calm.  As both couples need to weigh their options out and discuss the situation in detail we chose to show their feelings through a series of close ups to show emotion clearly to the audience just to make the senior clear. After a series of close ups and cuts of the negative couple theirs going to be a final shot which will include the female character storming off with the male character stood confused we chose to make it a wide shot because we wanted to fit all the action in a shot and get the surrounding environment involved in one shot to show the drama and action going on, we also wanted to chose this shot because we wanted the audience to feel more engaged with the video and not letting their attention run away by keeping it exciting and thrilling for the audience.                   

Overall Mise-en-scene

Overall of our Mise-en-scene (Planning)

Mise-en-scene is very important in any form of media but ours in particular, due to the mise-en-scene needing to resemble the theme of our song and also relate it to our target audience.
Mise-en-scene includes:
- Set design
- Lighting
- Space
- Composition
- Costume
- Make up and Hairstyles
- Acting
- Film stock
- Aspect Ratio
However, we will only be focusing on a few key aspects of the mise-en-scene for our planning in relation to the research we have done.

Locations that we are going to use are: (Set Design)
- The main characters home (Male)
-  School
- Park/Arcade
- Community Cafe (Somers Town)
- Restaurant/Cafe
- Sex Clinic

Lighting ideas that we are going to use in each scene we have planned so far:
- Star effect filter (Mirror scene; verse 1)
- Diffusion filters (show youthfulness)

Main props that we are going to use are: (Set Design)
- Mirror
- Mobile phone
- Ring
- Beverages
- Bottle of alcohol

Costume ideas that we are using:
Characters;
- Mother = Casual/Smart (age 30+)
- 2 Males = Street/HipHop (American Style)
- 2 Girls (Pregnant) = Casual/Street/Feminine
- Groups of Friends = Steet/HipHop (if Male) & Street/Casual (if Female)

- School Scene = White shirt, Dark trousers, dark shoes (possibly trainers), tie (Boy Uniform)
                         = White shirt (blouse), Dark skirt, dark shoes (Girl Uniform)
- Girl on the date = Dress - showing her feminine side but must resemble youth and uncertainty within communtiy
- Mother = Dark trousers, red/purple shirt that buttoned up, heels that are dark smart and small
- Girl in verse 2 of the song = Denim jeans, logo shirt, trainers

Make up and Hairstyles:
Hairstyles;
- Mother = Ponytail/Updo/Short
- 2 Males = 'shape up'/shaved
- 2 Females = Lose/Braids/Long
- Groups of Friends = 'shape up'/shaved

Make up;
- Mother = Natural/Smokey eyes (not too much)
- 2 Males = None
- 2 Females = Natural/Eye shadow/Lipgloss (probably smugged from crying or heavy makeup)
- Groups of Friends = None

Video Analysis and Target Audience - PowerPoint

Moodboard of Audience

Textual Analysis + Genre Research

Textual Analysis

In this music video we discover many elements of fame. This is hugely done by the colour scheme and also the use of custom. With the shots varying and angles of shots changing from different aspects. Hot new hip hop r and b RnB mix tape rap techno and n featuring ft. Dj Khaled usher young Young Jeezy rick ross drake fed up full version full song track hit 2009 all new hits top songs song best better remix 100 50 25 music video major.

As a collective audience we have been placed in a fantasy world where there is a chase going ahead and the person is running away from a group of dealers. The glamour’s cars and other objects such as a gold chain are significantly important in grouping their target audience of at the age of 19 or over who are rich. There is also boats and air planes and these are seen to be expensive and very valuable however they are still used in this music video to extensively show that everything is affordable for these rich artist.

There is also a beach place glorifying happiness and relaxation and complete pride and then there is the contrasting settings where there is the negative part of being happy which is dealing with the dealers and this counts as doing something criminal in order to successful.

The story of this music video that features rappers such as usher and DJ Khaled is exploring the fundamentals of having money and were it can get you in the future. The story it shares is a person who is a dealer and has a suite case full of money ready to agree a deal with the Chinese federation to increase his wealth. However the deal doesn’t go ahead well and there is a disagreement and a fall out between the two main characters the dealer and the Chinese federation leader. Then there’s chaos and everyone starts getting angry and there is some sort of shootout. But the dealer escapes miraculously and carry’s on to show off his fame by escaping with a well-known branded car costing over 15000.

In this video there is a well-structured plot and story line that follows the structure of the equilibrium and then there is chaos. However some of the lyrics don’t relate back to the music video which suggest that Goodwins theory may be irrelevant in this case as their real focus is fame and money.

For example in the beginning when the character goes in to the restaurant of the dealers it has a low angle shot and the misce on scene also shows the place he is entering. This is very important as it foreshadows the events that are going to happen later on in the music video. It could also suggest the unfamiliar place that he is going where it could be new to him as his looking around.

In a particular part in the end the theory of Goodwin's is put in action just when usher does the chorus and says “I got my team” suggest that his got people to help him through the struggles in life and there are a unit which is shown in the video evidently.

There’s also foreshadowing of a scene in the beginning of a close up on DJ Khaled saying “I’m fed up” and repeating it till in the end and completely ignoring instructions and choosing to escape with the money.

 

Overall as a result the music video persuaded the targeted audience to make their own choice in live however it has been done in a negative way as the story is very intriguing but shows crime and bad behaviour that is unnecessary. In other ways it could attract the target audience of adults to make their own desicon  so that they don’t get fed up in life and enjoy all what life brings to them but if they were to target young teenagers the story wouldn’t be appropriate as it involves stealing and dealing with other dealers and therefore encouraging them to make rational descions.

Genre Research

More than a century before rap exploded o­nto the American music scene, West African musicians were telling stories rhythmically, with just the beat of a drum for accompaniment. Meanwhile, folk artists from the Caribbean Islands were also telling stories in rhyme. Indeed, these singing poets from Africa and the Caribbean lay the foundation for modern-day American rap music.

Rapping essentially involves the speaking or chanting of rhyming lyrics, often set to a beat. The rhyming created by rappers is considered by many to be o­ne of the most sophisticated styles of poetry. What’s more, these rhymes often address provocative subjects such as sex, violence and socio-political issues.

Rapping first gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1970s as a kind of street art, especially among African American teenagers. But it wasn’t until 1979, when the Sugarhill Gang released their breakaway hit, ‘Rapper’s Delight, that record producers took notice of this emerging musical genre. O­nce they did, numerous rap acts, including Run-DMC and N.W.A., surfaced, and rap’s audience began to swell. It wasn’t just African American male rappers getting in o­n the act, either: By the 1980s, white rap bands such as the Beastie Boys and female rap bands such as Salt-n-Pepa were reaching the top of the charts.

By the 1990s, rap matured from an old-school-style – which was based o­n relatively simple lyrics – to a new-school-style, which was louder and included more complex lyrics. Artists such as The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg and Tupac ruled the charts during this time, as did Eminem – o­ne of the most popular white rappers of all time.

Rap has stood the test of time and its popularity rages o­n with today’s artists such as 50 Cent, Ludacris and Jay-Z churning out hit after thought-provoking hit. The beat truly does go o­n. 

In these early century the rap music was known as the industry of poetry but however many rappers had essentially established them self’s to be amongst the best on telling their live stories. Some would tell stories in scenery and show off their magnificent talent by producing a music video that relates back to their memories as a young boy (2 Pac). Others would elaborate on themes such as family and the consequences of living in poverty or glamorous fame in a more empowering way to determine their power in the music industry such as Notorious B.I.G.

 

Target Audience

Target Audience

In our group were focusing on an age range of 16-25 where teenage pregnancy seems to be more demanding and the centre point of many female figures.

We also thought about the stereotypical views that go on in the world were women are viewed negatively based on the patriarchal values that most countries live to follow.

Based on real statistic women pregnancy is growing rapidly and therefore we thought to do a music video that is mostly based on the view on pregnancy in England.

We also thought about the concerns that women might have in general about pregnancy and the issue surrounding this topic in order to decide our target audience.

Pregnancy and Social Concern Statistics
Annual number of babies born to teenage mothers	468,000
Per cent of pregnant women who are diagnosed with post-partum depression	11 %
Per cent of women who smoke cigarettes while pregnant	13.6 %
Per cent of women who drink alcohol while pregnant	12.6 %
Per cent of pregnant women who are subject to domestic violence	4 %

In the end we decided to choose the genre rap to show this in more detail. Rap is mainly viewed as the negative influence in society with people swearing and etc but we wanted to challenge these conventions by changing the relationship between a girl and a man. That when pregnancy is involve there is a more loving relationship. Also as rap music is mainly male artist this also narrowed our target audience to be of a female gender to challenge that women shouldn’t be ashamed of their situation or pregnancy appeal.

Verse 1

At the start of our music video we chose to do a prologue, so the camera technique we will use for would be an establishing shot to give the audience a feel of where the setting is who is in the setting and what’s in the sounding environment, this is important that we include this because if we didn’t then the audience would be confused and wouldn’t really understand the narrative were trying to tell.

After the 20-25 second prologue it then starts with the main male character looking at himself and rapping in the mirror, with the mirror shot technique used to highlight that the character has a lot going through his mind and needs to let out his emotions it also demonstrates that the character is telling himself off because he got a female pregnant which was not planned. Furthermore the second male character is introduced doing the same thing as male character 1 showing a contrast of what two people are going through at the same time, choosing the method of technique is effective in its one way as this shows two males going through the same situation but handling it in two different ways which give the video more realism to it. The second male character will also be using the same camera work as male character 1. After the introduction of both male characters the camera then cuts to a close up of male character ones face this technique was chosen because it gets the audience to relate to the video and actually have a sense of feel of what that character is feeling. The camera then zooms out from the male characters close up of face to an over the shoulder shot of the male character talking to the female character this technique is effective because it shows that we have the understanding of how music videos cut from one scene to another and we took that convention and applied to out work. Moreover, the characters then go off their own separate ways with a two shot camera view to get the audience more engaged to the video as if they were random people watching them storm off which gives the music video that realistic feel to it.    

We then round up the first verse with a close up of a text message sent from boy to girl describing their options available, this convention was taken from a music video we watched when doing research on our target audience, and the music video we watched was Nelly feat Kelly Rowland they used phones to text each other about their break-up, so as a group we like this convention and decided to apply in our work as a camera technique.. We then decided as a group to show happy couples in the hook of the music video with a montage of happy clips because its a flash back of the couple before the pregnancy was announced by the females. This scene will include a variety of shots such as close ups of smiles and laughter, wide shot with both of the couples in the shot to show how close they are to each other as we want the audience to build a picture of a good relationship, we will also include a medium close-up to illustrate their devotedness to one and another.

Verse 2

 We start off verse 2 with a quick establishing shot to show setting, however theirs going to be a series of cuts for this verse as we are trying to show both good and bad couples input of the situation. The good couple are going to be discussing their options in a civil manner, we chose to make the shot look like as if the camera was hand held with a bit of camera trembling this will make the audience feel more attached to the music video as they can relate this to this situation as they could be going through it or they know someone going through this circumstances. The camera will be looking down at the two at a high angle to show the couples innocence’s  and also to make the clip look more joyful to show that it’s a situation that can be handled if discussed in a proper manner. Were also trying to show the contrast between the two couples as one camera work is very still and serious whereas the other is very relaxed and calm.  As both couples need to weigh their options out and discuss the situation in detail we chose to show their feelings through a series of close ups to show emotion clearly to the audience just to make the senior clear. After a series of close ups and cuts of the negative couple theirs going to be a final shot which will include the female character storming off with the male character stood confused we chose to make it a wide shot because we wanted to fit all the action in a shot and get the surrounding environment involved in one shot to show the drama and action going on, we also wanted to chose this shot because we wanted the audience to feel more engaged with the video and not letting their attention run away by keeping it exciting and thrilling for the audience.