Evaluation

Here is our director's commentary:

“Myself and Ismael used the studio to conduct our filming for the majority of the video. We believed that using the studio will replicate the conventional location for a music video that suits the hip-hop genre and is used frequently by Drake himself. We used a range of camera shots such as close up shots to emphasize facial expressions, drake being portrayed as being sad and Nicki being portrayed being her wild yet sophisticated self. We used long shots to show the studio and scenery of where the filming is being conducted in order to show that Drake is an artist and is being filmed. We used zoom to connote Drakes depressing mood as we zoomed out. We also used a following pan, tracking (dollying) to follow Nicki as this helped to build momentum which worked well against the pace of the song.”

“We used high key lighting in the studio as we thought it worked well to make the actors and environment stand out more and made the music video look more professional. We used low key lighting to portray Drake’s depression and sadness. Text on the screen helped to maintain the fast pace of the song. This convention has effectively been used in other hip-hop music videos hence we added it in ours. The attire chosen was crucial as Ismael was representing Drake. A similar red baseball jacket is worn by Drake in his music videos hence this was ideal for Ismael to wear as it represents a street image. Tiana's outfit which she wore during the filming, the attire chosen was crucial as Tiana was representing Nicki Minaj. A low cut top and skirt is worn by Nicki in many occasions hence this was ideal attire for Tiana. A fast cutting rate was used to sync with the fast tempo of the song, this was created by placing short shots together and using various fading effects such as a jump cut to increase momentum. The fade also helped to make the cuts less abrupt.”

“Case studies came in useful as we used Drake- Take care as an influence. We used various shots of images as there are in the Take Care video. These images helped to make the music video more diverse than just shots conducted in the studio. We were influenced by the slow motion which was used in Take Care as creates suspension however we used slow motion to create a depressing mood. We were highly influenced by Take Care as the music video promoted simplicity, as it was conducted on a plain background with the central focus on the main artists, we used this concept when creating our music video as we believed less is more. Take Care consists majorly of close up and medium shots which allows the artist to be the central focus of the video. We thought this worked well therefore we decided to use these shots when creating our music video.”

“I created 4 panels, a front cover, a back cover and 2 insert pages, along with this I created an advertising poster for my music promo. On the front cover I used a medium shot of Drake and Nicki as I believed this worked well even though most digipack front covers do not consist of medium shot angles. I used long angle shots in the rest of the digipack as they stand out and catch the reader’s attention. I believe my digipack does look like one that could be found in a shop as it holds all the conventions of a professional digipack. 

Although my photoshopping skills weren’t excellent, they improved in the course of making the digipack. We decided to have two insert pages, one that has a message from the artist and one page that has information about the songs. I got this idea as when conducting research, we came across Drake – Take Care album and this album had similar inserts. This case study was my primary reflective case study when creating my digipack as I liked the layout and simplicity of the digipack as although it was simple, it was bold and stood out. I believe that our poster looks like it was professional conducted as it holds all the conventions of a promotional poster and it is consisted of the same colours as the digipack.”

“Drake has been portrayed as being depressed and down as he is no longer with Nicki. This is a fairly standard theme in music videos and contributes to Drake’s portrayal in the real world. On the other hand, Nicki is represented as being bubbly crazy and unique. We decided to make our Nicki more modest than the original Nicki Minaj as we wanted our Nicki to be more of a role model. Towards the end of the video, as the camera zooms out, Drake is shown to be on the set of a studio. This portrays Drake as having status as a producer. This also shows that that Drake is lonely as he is conducting his shots in the studio alone instead of doing them outside. As a result, this relates to the song as he is being portrayed as lonely and depressed in the song. According to Goodwin the standard themes evident are love and depression. The importance of performance is high as the video is performance based, not narrative based. Actions codes were used as when the camera was zooming out in the video, it was suggesting that time has passed by. Another action code that has been used is direct address, this creates a link between the artist and audience.”

“Feminists may argue that Nicki is being portrayed in a stereotypical manner as she is shown objectified, subject to a male gaze. Her attire may be argued to be too skimpy as Drake is fully clothed however Nicki isn’t. Also, as the central focus is on Drake it could be argued that Nicki is just there to make the video more appealing to the male audience hence contributing to the oppression of women. On the other hand, postmodernists would argue that Nicki is the perfect example of how gender stereotypes have changed. They would argue that Nicki’s actions and attire represent how women have come away from the traditional gender stereotypes and have an empowered female sexuality. Strinati would argue that my music video has an emphasis on style over content as it is a performance based music video.”

"Our three media products work as a package as they have the same theme flowing in all three products. The location used is a studio which is similar in all three products. Conducting the photography and filming in the studio allowed us to shoot the filming in the exact pose and shot we wanted. We used the same font in all our products as this helped with consistency. We decided to keep our media products simple as the artist’s reputation is the main selling point. We kept the theme of depression, fame and money continuous in all three of our print products as we used shots of Drake being depressed whilst with fame and shots of Nicki dressed glamorously."   

"As the genre of our music video was hip-hop, when analysing case studies we found that advertising within the hip-hop genre was conducted with bold lettering and colourful backgrounds that tend to be unique. To maintain this we decided to make our poster flashy and modern whilst including the basic conventions. In the real world, we would market our products in other various ways for example through a Television advert or via social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. This would enable us to gain a larger audience as in this contemporary society social media techniques will aid us promote more efficiently."

   

"We received mixed feedback for our idea for our music video when pitching to a number of people. Overall, they were pleased with our initial concept of telling a story throughout the music video whilst including lip-synching however we did change this concept and change our music video into just a performance based one. We were given helpful criticisms, we were informed that it would be difficult to conduct many shots in a small time frame. To overcome this we decided to conduct most of the filming in the studio as this will allow us to film many shots more quickly rather than having to travel to various locations. We were also informed that our music video will be too similar to others as there will be similar shots throughout the video. To overcome this we decided to film various shots using props to make the shots look diverse."

"Overall the class enjoyed watching our music video and said it was a great attempt for the song. We were informed that the editing transitions used worked well with the song as the song was fast paced and the cutting rate we used matched this. The class agreed that with everything taken into consideration Ismael did an excellent job at performing the role of Drake and Tiana performed well too. On the other hand, the class raised a few issues, the lip-syncing was criticised for being off at some parts of the video and it was said that we used too many similar shots and should have conducted more filming outside the studio. The shot of Ismael when his back is turned to the camera was criticised for being unnecessary in the video. Overall, the class liked our music video and especially liked the end when the camera zooms out and the studio is shown in slow motion. If we were to do the video again we would include more shots outside the studio and try to get the lip-syncing more accurate. We would also have many outfits organised so both artists can be wearing different attires."

"We received some critical feedback for our print product’s design. There was a mix of good and bad feedback. The most mentioned criticism was the use of a full body image on the CD front cover. Many people saw this as 'different' to various other covers of the same genre which features close ups of the artist focusing on the upper body (this is evaluated in my research on CD albums). The reason why we initially wanted to go for a full body shot was because we wanted it to match our magazine advert which also featured a full body shot however many seemed that this would not fit in with the genre. The audience liked the idea that one of the insert will have a message from the artist, they said it was a nice touch and seemed professional. We took the feedback into consideration and changed the full body shot into a medium shot." 

"We demonstrated and learnt various technical skills when creating this music video and print products. For example when filming we used a tripod to create stability. We learnt how to balance the lighting in order to get rid of shadows that were formed on the white backdrop. We found this difficult at the start however we gained the hang of it. We attempted using the green screen however due to all the creases on the curtains, the green screen wasn’t functioning properly therefore we weren’t able to use it. We also used YouTube, to upload our music video and gain feedback on it from others not just college students. This was also used for research into similar songs from the same genre. We gained pre-production documents from moodle. We were familiar with using photoshop however when creating our print products we learnt many skills such as maintaining various layers and using the brushing tool to create a finer finish on the images we used."

"When editing the music video we came across a couple of problems, we encountered a “general error” which made our timeline disappear, consequently we had to restart our editing and all previous work was lost, this made us behind schedule. After we restarted we came across a dilemma as we had to render every clip we added onto the timeline, this was extremely time consuming however it soon became a habit. We learnt new skills whilst using final cut pro such as adding in text on the screen and adding in various transitions between shots. We used magazines such as XXL and hiphopweekly to gain an overall view on the hip-hop genre. We found that using technologies such as prezi and slideshare were easy to operate and were fun to use. Prezi allowed us to be more creative in our work and gave us freedom in how we wanted to lay our work out. Slideshare gave us a unique way of distributing our work instead of the general way conducted on Microsoft word."