J hustle

MEDIA EVALUATION
By Ama Adusei

Modern hip hop

Hip hop is associated with the black American culture it is a way of life how people dress act and talk. Hip hop deals with serious topics which occur in today's society it looks at drugs, rape, poverty, racism and discrimination between men and women. With this in mind in creating my hip hop music video the theme should consist of topic that society see to be taboos which they dont want to take about. I decided to create a three story narrative, performance and concept video which deals with domestic violence, drug abuse and insecurity issues. change in society comes with change in the way people think, dress I will be dealing with these topics in the modern hip hop artists such as Lil Wayne and Lil B and not in what would be know as the traditional hip hop which consists of artists such as 2pac.

1.In what way does your media use, develop or challenges forms of real media products ?

In order for my music video to be successful I looked at other hip hop videos and analysed the codes and conventions. I wanted my music video to have aspects of the hip hop conventions but I wanted to challenge and change up the style of a traditional music video. Looking at the different music videos I saw that their was a lot of male gaze being used this was something I wanted to change up. The idea of women still being central of music videos was still an objective which I wanted to keep so my music video was predominantly young black females. I still believe the narrative still reflects the themes which are seen throughout hip hop videos as it still capturers the lives of young adults and the struggles which they are going through this is a theme which is in the majority of hip hop videos. In hip hop videos such as I know what them girls like women are seen to be less important and objects and subjected to men this is something which I wanted to change up and in order for me to do this i would have to change up and challenge the traditional hip hop music videos.

Representation of women
Traditional women in hip hop have been seen to be sex symbols they are their for the male gaze. Women in hip hop videos are known as video vixens these are full bodied women who are half dresses and are used as props for videos. The video vixens in theses videos do have full length shots to give more of a sexual effect Women are seen in a negative way in hip hop known to them as bitches and hoes this could be due to the lake of female influence which hip hop has. Female hip hop artist feel that they need to be a sex symbol or they feel that they wont be successful this is seen in artist such as Lil Kim and Rihanna. The hip hop video which I created was their to challenge this, remove the sexual male gaze which are seen in hip hop videos. This is something which is becoming more common in hip hop artist such as Nicki minaj and Beyonce are trying to change the way females are portrayed. Wanting the roles to be turned I decided that I wanted the male characters to be seen in a negative light. This is something which is in hip hop but portrayed in a different way I was looking at it from a females perspective

Links between lyrics and visual

When you was just a youngun' your looks where so precious. But now you're grown up

The character stares as he baby picture when she is being bullied by a group of friends wanting to go back in time when she was happy and didnt have the insecurity issues which she now has. This shows how her life has dramatically changed over the years. She was once happy but now she doesnt even understand what she has to live for. This is the first time we get a clear understand of why at the start she was standing on the bridge about to take her life it gives the audience more background to her story.

Links between music and visual

The start of the music video shows how far they have gone in wanting to end their lives. Over the clips are a series of heart beats as a group we felt that it would be very useful as this is the heart beats.The heart beats gives the start a sense of anticipation of what is about to occur but it also catches the eyes of the audience as this is not something which is seen in traditional nor modern hip hop music videos.

Genre characteristics

A lot of effort went into the research and planning of the creation of the music video we had to make sure the settings of the locations were what we felt would fit into out genre of music. We analysed several hip hop music videos before we began casting to make sure that we had a the conventions right. We did this by creating power point and comparing music video together in how they were similar and also how the were different the first characterises which we looked at was the location and setting for out music video. We looked at artist such as J.Cole and bone-thugs and harmony. We realised that majority of their locations were outside in inner city urban areas this was something which we wanted to make sure that we had in our music video. I notice that hip hop artist used a range of setting but one which stood out to me was artist performing in the recording studio this was something which I recognised though a huge amount of hip hop music videos for example Trey Songz -sex aint better than love and Drake- find your love. The idea of the performing in the recording studio was something which I felt would be more appropriate for our new artist and we wanted to audience to have a better connection with the artist ,seeing J-hustle creating the song would be more of an effective way of them getting an understanding of him.

Genre characteristics

As a group we were looking at the modern hip hop music videos and the new artist. The casting was something which me made sure fit the criteria's of what was on trend now if the past it would have been more of a gangster artist with more of a hood street look but as the years has gone by hip hop has evolved in many different way and one of the ways is the way artist now present themselves we felt that Jason j-hustle would fit the person which we were looking for. characteristics such as high tops and afro hair is now coming back in hip hop fashion we see artistes such as lil twist with his signature high top. Casting for a typical video girl for a hip hop music video tends to have the characteristics such as long hair brown skin and great bodies this was a convention which we wanted to change up and this is what a lot of hip hop artist are now also going changing up what is seen to be the typical video girl in videos such as runaway love- Ludacris we get a better looking in the way artist are now trying to move away from what is know to be the traditional video girl.

As a group we decided that we were going to use a narrative, concept but also a performance in creating our music video we felt that it would be more interesting for the audience but we also realised that majority of music video which were out were using all three types in creating their music video. Audience like to see a wide range textures within a music video and as this was Jhustle first music video of him coming out as an artist we wanted the audience to know what he looked like and for them not to forget what he looked like and this is why their was a huge amount of clips of him performing.

The idea of use developing as media students and challenging the existing products lead us to look at more complex editing hip hop music videos which is not common in the genre. We came across split screen shots in music videos which dealt with more serious situation and revolved around women we decided that we felt that this effect would be more effective for our song. We used a split screen during the interlude were the three girls finally realised that they dont want to be in the situation which they were in Displaying the three storys as a split screen makes it more real for the audience and allows them to empathise. This is the shot when the audience realise the characters have been broken down this is the moment when they realise no on loves them .They are depressed the dont feel that people understand and most of all they are feeling lonely yet it is ironic as all three of the girls are on the screen but as the are so into themselves and what they are going though they cannot see the bigger picture and this is why the split screens have been put into place these are barriers for them from seeing what everyone else can see that they are not alone.

Important effects
Putting our music video in black and white was something which we felt as a group would make the video more effective and make it more unique to the other hip hop music videos We also felt that the idea of the video being in black and white gave it more of an unclear effect a state of confusion for the characters in a sense the characters stuck in the middle a cross between black and white as this effect gives the video a grey outlook. With the characters being stuck it has led to them loosing their identity In art the idea of black and white being mixed together in a painting shows the artist depression this is seen a lot in Picassos work. We wanted to make it very clear to the audience that this is what they are going though as this is what the lyrics are talking about.

The visual effect which we decided to use was one which allowed the characters to merge in with the artist but also which each other. Even though the stories were all very different we wanted to show the connection which they all had with each other the idea that no one loves this. This effect was seen in keri hilson-knock you down.

2.How effective is the combination of your main product and you ancillary text? Magazine advertisement

Album cover front and back inside art work.

For my research and planning I was able to analyse hip hop digipaks and magazine promotional adverts. This was to help and guide me in creating my own digipak and magazine promotional advert. I wanted to get a better understanding of the codes and conventions the colours which they used to advertise themselves.

Links
Both images of Young black men.

Images of the artist on the covers

Both of the art works have red and black and a key colours

Each have a sense of passion in the images

Similarities
I wanted the song how to love to connect with the video and also with the art work such as the digipak and the magazine promotional advert. In order for me to achieve this I knew that I had to look at the deeper meaning of the song how to love before I was able to create these products. The song how to love looks at the life of a female stripper/ prostitute who ends up catching HIV. The song is based around how women dont know how to love for various reasons. Lil Wayne sees these reasons to be deeper and dark reason to why they cannot love

But you cant have a man look at you for five seconds Without you being insecure

The whole idea of women not known how to love and the extremes which they will go thought which was presented in Lil Wayne version of how to love, made me wanting to pick colours which expressed theses emotions. Looking at other artist art work showed that a lot use dark colour such as black dark green and brown. This gave me the idea of having my art work in black and white the images but also having hits of dark red running through the work to emphasise on the idea of love.

This seem logical as my music video was all in black and white so having these colours run through the print work made more sense to me.

I didnt want J hustle to have strong emotions on his face as this was not something which I saw in the album covers which I looked at. I wanted him to have a neutral facial expression but one which was still eye catching.

Example of album covers and music videos

3. What have you learnt from the audience feedback ?

Before creating my hip hop music video I created a questionnaire which I asked 20 people 10 girls and 10 boys who were fans of hip hop I wanted to make sure I had an even balance of people and that my answers would not be bias. During this questionnaire I discovered the name for my artists and the album title. Once I had my information I was able to start my video.
Each stage of our music video from draft 1 to the final draft we asked the same 20 people what they felt could be improved and what they felt was the strong point of the video once we collect all the data we were able to create changes with the video. We were able to put the information into a table and show how we developed from their feedback this is shown in the next slide. I wrote down the things which I felt didn't really work well together and what I was going to change. We also looked at the audience feedback from the showcase and was able to take in account what they felt was positive and what they felt needed to be improved.

The audience feedback was a big part of helping me in creating my music video. The 20 people which I asked felt that their needed to be more to the video so we decided as a group to add two more stories but we also felt that this would be more effective and send out a stronger message. Once we added the three story lines in the second draft the audience became confused and didnt have an understanding of what the music video was trying to portray we felt that the only way to over come the confusion was to created sticky note types and allow the characters to hold it up this gave the narrative a better break down but was also an effect which has been seen in recent YouTube video which deals with women being depressed on subjected to abuse.

As a school we had a chance to showcase all of our media music videos for out friends, families and teachers. During the viewing the audience were asked to answer a series of questions relating to our videos they were looking at the editing skill what they felt was good and what they saw could be improved. At the end of the questionnaire they was asked to give an overall score 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. On average our music video was given a 6 something which I was very proud as I felt if the improvement were made it would boost the number.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback

During the last few weeks of having to hand in our music video we felt that it had to come a stage where we could upload it on YouTube and post it up on facebook this allowed us to get more feedback of the video but it allowed us to change the problems in time before we had to hand it in.

We were given a lot of good feedback and positive criticism which we were able to take into account and change if we felt necessary. On facebook we were given more likes then comments. So this meant that we had to go one step further and as our class mates.

Not only was I given feedback from my classmates I was also given feedback from my media teacher not only on the music video but also on the blog post.

Audience feedback
the video was effective and was easy to follow I enjoyed the way that it is not a typical hip hop music video they made it into their own hip hop music video. It was different to the original music video but still was able to address the issues within the lyrics

the video being in black and white was better than it being in colour it made it look more like a hip hop video and also made it more professional. the interlude in the music video was very moving and made it more realistic as it looked like a video diary of their lives

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

As an A2 media student I wanted to showcase my research, planning and evaluation in a different way to what I used during my course in year 12. I felt that me blogging would be more appropriate for the course instead of me using Microsoft word. I felt that blogging is now the new social network which is becoming more popular as a media student I feel that it is my duty to keep up to date with what is on trend in media today. Posting up my research, planning and evaluation on blogs made it more challenging because I had to ensure that my blog was up to date. I knew that me putting all my research, planning and evaluation into a blog would bring a lot of challenges to me as this was something new to me.

My video bar which was used in my blogs and the labels

When I first created my blog I was able to edit the layout of the blog how I wanted and set out the page in my own individual way. This was something which I like it was very easy for me.

The one thing which i didnt like was that aspects such as commenting on blog posts meant that we has to sign up for something new and creating presentations we were not able to create it on the blog and we had to embed.

The hard section came when I wanted to upload music videos this was something I found tricky but came easier for me during the process me using the blog.

Use of media technologies

I used prezi to create a case study of how hip hop has developed through the years I felt that this was more effective than a normal power point it also took more of a professional look. I wanted to explore and use a range of media forms and prezi was something which I felt would challenge my skills as it was a new program for me. creating the prezi was confusing at first but once I got the hang of it, it was much more easier

Use of media technologies

In creating my music video I watch countless music videos on YouTube and Vevo I was able to keep updated with the video bar which I had on my blog this allowed me to have easier access and be aware of when new and latest videos came out. Not only did I use Vevo and YouTube in helping me get a better understanding of the conventions in hip hop but it also allowed me to be inspired by other videos such as http://amasmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/if-you-really-knew-memusic-video.html This was able to give me more ideas in ways to improve my music video.

YouTube also allowed us to save our work on the website but also gave us feedback as people were able to click the like or dislike button this also helped when it came to changing the videos during the four drafts.

Example

Use of media technologies

I decided that the best way to create my front cover was to create it on photo shop I felt that it was able to give it more of a realistic and professional look. photo shop was easy access and is a software which I am very familiar with as in my AS I created flyers and a magazine article all by using photo shop.

I really liked using photo shop as I was able to create my front cover how I envisioned it and gave the work a flawless look. I was very happy with my outcome as it was exactly how I wanted it this was something which I was not sure if photo shop would be able to achieve.

Use of media technologies

For our filming as a group we decided to use a NikonL810 digital camera as it held 16.1 mega pixels and a 28x optical zoom. The camera was able to give it more of a professional effect which we felt was very important for us as we didn't want it seem like a cheap music video. The challenges which we faced during filming with this camera was that we didnt have a tripod stable enough to hold the camera which meant that we had to re film some of the scenes as it looked very shaky and not like a music video. Another problem which we ran into was that it was complex to understand the use of it but after the first week it became more clear.

Use of media technologies

To edit our music video we decided we wanted to make it sophisticated and look realistic. During the course of year 12 I used I movie to create my promotional video and the one minute extract which I created was also editing on I movie as a collective we didnt feel that it gave the sophistication and the realism which we were looking for and we wanted to develop as media students. In the end we decided to edit our movie on final cut pro we felt that using this programme would bring our ideas to life and could potential look like professional music video.

Final cut pro was a very tricky programme to use it wasnt as a straight forward as I movie but we were able to get help from Google which allowed up to have a better understanding but also made it easier for us to create the music video.

conclusion

Looking at my hip hop music video I believe it was successful, it fit the majority of conventions in hip hop. The music video has a professional look this is something which I am really proud of. As a producer I believe I could have improved in my work by having better time management coming to the end of the course. Even though my time keeping wasn't very good I still believe I was able to create a successful piece. On the other hand I portrayed the three stories and it was easy to follow and people were able to understand this. I was very worried that people would become confused.