Story board

When we designed a narrative alongside the music we used a story-boarding process to help keep on track and understand our narrative. We decided that the story line was going to be about a young people having dreams to live lavish but society is hard to make yourself rich. We also wanted to represent how friendships and good vibes can help boost a humans confidence when knocked down. We decided the protagonist is a female to break the typical, tradition grime genre of using males to tell a narrative. The are generally shown as sex objects or possessions. 

The poor girl/s will be shown to follow their dreams and succeed; we want a struggle or the outlook they have on life when being poor. When he deeped the concept we thought it may not be relate-able so we used two girls that are not together but are shown to relate on the same subject of living a wealthy, perfect life. We wanted to show they can take control of their life by using word play of ' I stir the ship i'm the captain'. We also thought to will empower and inspire more individual women but also males to reach their targets in life. Woman are rated highly for taking charge in grime videos so we wanted to change this.

Storyboard in Depth

(cowritten by Magda, Elorida & Jasmine)

In the story board which you can see pictured above, the frames show the following;

1) A panning shot of an escalator going up.

2) Pan from side of escalator to following motion shot of the first protagonist.

3) A motion shot of first protagonist rapping into the camera.

4) A Bird's eye view pan of the first protagonist walking through a shopping centre.

5) A motion pan from the shoe up of the first protagonist checking out very expensive cars.

6) The motion pan moves up to a behind the shoulder moving shot following the main protagonist.

7) Following the protagonist (behind the shoulder) as she walks through the shopping centre.

8) A pan across Gold Smiths (Jeweller).

9)  Following movement shot of the first protagonist while examining Rolex watches.

10) Introducing the second protagonist, who is sat in a playground car.

11) Glamorised first protagonist with other females, at a party. Mid shot (waist up).

12) A repeat of the first protagonist rapping into the camera.

13) A panning wide shot coming down the escalator as the first protagonist walks across.

14) A motion shot circling the second protagonist and another female.

15) An upper body shot of the first protagonist coming down the escalator.

16) Second protagonist with other female in the park dancing to the song.

17) Panning shot at a party.

18) First protagonist with other female kicking into the camera and back out.

19) Panning shot at a party.

20) First protagonist straightening her hair (pan)

21) Second protagonist at the top of an escalator glamorised.

22) First protagonist and other female and male, singing at a party.

23) A close up of second protagonist, coming up the escalator, looking around.

24) Behind the shoulder shot of first protagonist straightening her hair in the mirror.

25) A shot of the lift opening with second protagonist inside.

26) Following shot of the second protagonist walking out of the lift.

27) A rewind of all the events that happened so far in the story line.

28) Second protagonist with other female dancing in the park.

29) First protagonist dancing on the rooftop of a shopping centre.

30) A pan of a lit up chandelier (to represent the dreams).

31) Credits.

Editing the story line

Our original plan was to have a poor, lonely girl dream of being rich and popular but we decided to change the moral of the story and use the story line that everyone has a dream and want to be a captain of something in relation to the lyrics. We believe using more than one character would help convey a message that it isn't easy to become wealthy and everyone is sucked in to materialistic things in today's. society

Update

For the opening clip of the video we wanted to pan across a tree full of leaves but as now the seasons have changed that will not be possible. We have now used the idea of close up shots of our person with scruffy clothing travelling on their bike for the opening shoot this will give the opening idea its reality and a genuine story line.

A BBFC rating is the age restriction for a movie. This is an important aspect to process and think about wisely, as it must be suitable for the age restriction you have chosen. However BBFC ratings change every 4-5 years as they take in feed back from the public and see if their attitudes have changed.

The key restrictions of this is :
Children or vulnerable adults are protected from harmful of unsuitable visual content
Anyone under 18 should not witness or hear explicit language, that may discriminate or is racist. The theme and story line must be appropriate. Drug use, sexual contact and violence. This is compulsory

There are 5 age categories :


U rating : The U (universal) is suitable for all. The age is for any child over the age of 4 and over, it is hard to know what each individual child might find upsetting but this movie wont have anything to purposely upset. It will be a positive movie with no swearing, violence or sexual intercourse.

PG rating : This is parental guidance for a child age 8 but is not compulsory. The movie has nothing to unsettle a child but may include a scene of kissing or nudity but not under sexual content. Mild bad language and mild violence that is set for a character. However, unaccompanied children can watch but its up to the parent to stay and watch if the child is sensitive.

12/12A rating : This is a warning that a child under the age of 12 is not suitable to watching the content about to be played. A 12A you must be accompanied by an adult if your under the age of 12, its down to the adult if they find it suitable for the child. 12/12A movies may include drugs and violence but it wont be glamorized or frequent. sexual behavior and nudity may be included discreetly but not in a lot of context. As for language and violence it will be infrequent and a moderate amount, depending on the manor in which it is used; some movies may have more if its an action as to suppose a comedy.

15 rating: A 15 rating is strongly permitted that nobody under the age may see this or rent any movie. imitable behavior i.e domestic abuse, suicide and self-harming may be within the movie but not in depth. Horrors are classified as 15. There will be use of strong language and sexual scene but sexual language will/may be included more than the actual scenes. Violence will be shown but dwelled on or be encouraged as a viewer. Racism and discrimination may be the theme of a movie but not force it upon the audience.

18 rating: movies prohibit any viewer under the age of 18 as they are not an adult. The scenes in the movies will have strong explicit scenes; in regards to this adults are free to pick and choose any movie they want to see. They are in full responsibility of themselves but if the adult is vunerable or goes against their morals is up to them. Scenes of violence, drugs, discrimination and language will be highly/strong use throughout but wont reinforce it as an appealing to misuse. crime is excepted

18 restricted rating: Movies are only shown in licensed cinemas or sex shops. These type of movie will have a high content of sex and offensive language. However, the video must not breach the law or make domestic violence/sex look appealing and encouraged.

From this our music video will be PG as it representing a young childhood and the youth of today should feel that they can relate to our music video as it is based on reality. Everyone wants to live a healthy lifestyle but not everything is how it seems and we will absorb ideas from the youth and inject parts into the video. PG is good as we can get more of a verity of feedback and view to help it go further and put our message for everyone. Clearly reality lifestyle is harsh so a U wouldnt be suitable as some people might be affected at a young age a fear life or situations as some people are more sensitive than others.

Casting call

Having looked at the music industry its evident a casting call poster is needed. We therefore decided to create a casting call poster to attract actors for our music video. The background picture used was used as it has a miserable atmosphere to it. This also shows that we are trying to reflect a hard life in our music video. The picture colour is dull, boring and has flakes of rain, this is opposite effect of a happy lifestyle. Alongside the flats in the background it looks like a an urban estate that isnt really for the rich; looking like the persons view from their home/room. The font used is edgy, harsh and bold to stand out that the message is significant and important. It also reflects the reality of a harsh lifestyle and its not easy or nice as the font isnt very attractive of looking pretty or pleasant. We used question marks to get the public thinking and catch their attention as it almost comes across as a warning poster.

Conventions of Grime

We have decided to have our main focus and attention in the genre Grime. This has a cold artistic approach allowing us to convey a message and meaning through our techniques and themes used. Grime focuses on everyday life (reality) so viewers can relate and understand the feelings given off. The age range is generally adoesolents/teens/young adults. From research the  narrative is a story the protagonists life and we learn more about what they mean in their videos; they do this by the sense of lighting as dim lighting can show emotions are low and unsatifed. In contrast artfical lighting brings satifiaction and enjoyment as an emotion. A lot of these videos use the women as the subject and they have power to make the male feel a certain way by actions. In our video we want to break away from the typical storyline and bring a sense of self completion and how an individual has power upon themselves. We want to use a women as a reverse role. As a team we hope to present an effective music video that uses a range of techniques to portray this such as word play/pun. The videos heavily use what we intend on including in our music video. Here are music video from our chosen artist "Not3s".

In these videos it is evident they use :

Reality setting (estate)
Panning - Hand held, always moving, tracking movement
Eye contact
Members of the public
Close up on clothing
Natural lighting
Activities in the video
Camera shots change increasing speed
Props (cars, phones, bags)
Casual clothing



Here are other musicians using similar techniques:

Settle/gentle/nuetral lighting
Close up to facial expressions
Off balance camera angles
Iphone, cigarrete, cars
Home/residentual environment
Urban
Water
Refelection
Eye contact with viewer

-Yxng Bane

Water
Off balaence camera angles
Blurred/ out of focus
Reflections of mirrors
Close up on clothing
Public members
Dim harsh lighting
Visual effects (over lay)
Cars


-Skepta

Members of society
Normal casual clothing (some designer representing accomplishment/relating to words)
Slow-mo
Washed out lighting alongside artificial
Sync with lyrics
Protagonists centre of attention
Eye contact
Reflections
Urban
Repetative hand guestures

-Dave




Now reviewing my research it is evident that most grime music videos include the same objective as the protagonist telling a story using camera, lighting, props and reality a technique. This helps us conduct a video in order to satisfy the audience and fit the conventions with the genre. We have decided to challenge certain themes to make our piece original and unique; attempting to be more attractive to the audience to get more viewers.

Codes and Conventions 

-Codes 

In the world of media codes represents the feeling and meaning behind a music video. This can be shown in two ways: Technical, for example lighting allows the audience understand how a person feels (dark - harsh reality, bright - happy energetic feeling).
The second way is symbolic this is how the protagonist is presented on camera and read in depth of the character. Clothing, facial expressions and movement of the body projects their feelings/mood.

-Conventions 

Conventions are the ways and order a video is conducted or descions based. Each genre is specific to their needs to convey and fall into the correct convention.

Grime music technical codes : close up of the face, panning (hand held movements), dim/natural lighting, quick transitions also overlapping.

Grime music symbolic codes :  Facial expressions, eye contact with camera, sync with lyrics, hand repetitive movements, character centre of attention, human interaction. 

Grime music conventions : urban environment; on an estate, cars, the public, possible use of alcohol/ciggarettes/drugs. 

Questionnaire/audience feedback

My group and i went to a grime event - Yxng Banes concert. Prior to this we created a questionnaire for other attendees that were personal but not in depth. We designing the questions we thought of factors that attract a the grime genre. Knowing the age range could help us attract our audience by using more age appropriate gestures, so when regulated it would pass. Gender was another concern o we knew how to convey our narrative. Gender can help determine our content included and stereotypes that we could conform or challenge. Ethnicity we also considered to examine the diversity within the audience so we cannot discriminate or offend. Finally, we consider the financial state to see if they are eligible to purchase a magazine or digipak. Here is our example and answered questionnaire.

Our second half determined the success in the audience purchasing a digipak. This was our layout for the information required. Here is an empty and answered questionnaire.

Magazine Advert and Digipak Anaylsis

Audience moodboard

Digipak moodboard

Audience analysis

In order to understand the target audience of my music video, I need to be able to understand the age range, and what sort of people are inclined to view the video. Therefore, I am looking at market analysis of people who consume the product in which my music is intended for. In doing this, I will be able to understand the age/sort of consumer that I am trying to aim for.

A bit about Grime...

• Many grime artists, are often unemployed and make grime music on a casual basis.
• According to Sasha Frere-Jones, grime has developed a fierce sound by "distilling" rhythms to a minimal style resulting in a choppy off-centre sound.
• Grime is described as a cross-pollinated genre, taking influences from a variety of different cultural styles as well as musical ones, and is therefore still in many respects considered to be underground music, even after mainstream exposure.
• It exists in a largely informal economy in which most artists make their debuts on independently-produced battle DVD'z that, like mixtapes which are sold out of barbershops & make their way around the city.
• Grime is looked upon very unfavourably in the media, in which its lyrics have been described as being "vulgar"
• Grime can often be dark & aggressive, featuring MCs as opposed to singers & getting rid of R&B influences of earlier the UK Garage Band.

Typical consumer

• Black males between 16-21 years old.
• non-mainstream music genre and is therefore very popular w/ males & isn't marketed on a mass scale, (however, in the most recent years it has become more and more mainstream/popular)
• In the most recent years, females have also taken an interest in grime, despite it being more centred around males, introducing female artists into the game.

Grime and Violence

• grime is viewed upon very negatively by the government. The Home Secretary David Blunkett described the lyrics of grime artists as "appalling.
• Similarly Former minister Kim Howells made a statement in 2006 that grime artists were helping to create a culture "where killing is almost a fashion accessory." Howells went even deeper into the issue making comments that some grime supporters claimed to find "deeply racist" referring to popular artists & crews as "boasting macho idiot rappers"
• One particular MC Kano has taken a bashing from The Times who berated the decision to have Kano promoting a new government scheme describing it as using a rapper famous for his "violent & obscenity-strewn lyrics"

• Although grime is thought of as a violent genre, it has become more accepted in the past 5 years. It has become a huge part of the British and African culture, and the younger generations mass consume the unique style of music that we know as grime.

Development of grime

Grime first emerged in London's East End in the early 2000's. It developed out of earlier UK electronic music styles, including UK garage and jungle, and draws influence from dancehall, reggae and hip hop. The style is typified by rapid, syncopated breakbeats, often features an aggressive or jagged electronic sound. Rapping is also a significant element of the style, and lyrics often revolve around gritty depictions of urban life.

The style spread among pirate radio stations, such as Rinse FM and underground scenes before achieving some mainstream recognition in the UK during the mid-2000's through artists such as Lethal Bizzle and Wiley. Other prominent artists include JME, Skepta, Stormzy and grime crews such as Boy Better Know. In the mid-2010's, grime received popular attention in North America. The genre has been described as the "most significant musical development within the UK for decades".

 A Little background on grime:

Grime has origins tied with UK pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM. The style was known by a number of names, including 8-bar, nu shapes, sublow, as well as eskibeat, a term applied specifically to a style initially developed by Wiley and his collaborators, incorporating dance and electro elements. This indicated the movement of UK garage away from its house influences towards darker themes and sounds. Among the first tracks to be labelled "grime" as a genre in itself were "Eskimo" "Ice Rink" and "Igloo" by Wiley,  "Pulse X" by Musical Mob and "Creeper" by Danny Weed.

How Grime has developed:

Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, kano and Lethal Bizzle were among the first to bring the genre to mainstream media attention in 2003-2004, with their albums Boy In da Corner, Treddin' On Thin Ice, Home Sweet Home and Against All Oddz respectively. Dizzee Rascal gathered widespread critical acclaim and commercial success with Boy In Da Corner winning the 2003 Mercury Music Prize.

Despite the popularity and commercial success of individual artists, many underground Grime artists failed to find a platform. In response to this, Boy Better Know's Jammer created Lords of the Mics in 2004 which was an annual DVD series, showcasing underground artists participating in battle rapping and also giving them a platform through interviews.

Lord of the mics was originally sold by Jammer locally but eventually helped smaller grime artists find a platform through selling the DVDs to independent record stores throughout the UK and eventually helping  grime form an internet following from uploads to Youtube.

Grime has since received exposure from television stations including Channel U (now known as Channel AKA), the BBC's youth-oriented digital radio station BBC Radio 1Xtra, in particular Charlie Sloth's show, which showcases various grime artists such as Stormzy, Bugzy Malone and Akala, with his popular segment "fire in the both" and the MOBO awards, which launched its first "Best Grime" category in 2014 (prior to this Grime had been merged with 'Best hip-hop" since 2011) when the show was being broadcast on BBC One.

Grime is a subgenre that draws from a wide variety of influences. The genre's popularity grew exponentially in the United Kingdom.
This united many different music scenes, allowing for it to spread in the same word-of-mouth and mixtape-based style as hip-hop, yet still appeal to fans of electronic music. it allowed for more electronic music artists to incorporate stronger African and Caribbean influences in the future. Grime has received a lot of attention all around the world, but nowhere as much as in the UK. Much like many other less mainstream forms of British electronic music, its main scene and fan base remained in the United Kingdom.

Over the years:

2015  -Following Stormzy's performance of "shut up" during the ring walk to Anthony Joshua's Heavyweight boxing match with Dillian White, Stormzy gained attention and pushed the song further up the charts, peaking at number eight in the UK Singles Chart.

2016  -February -  Ministry of Sound and DJ Maximum released a grime compilation entitled GRIME TIME, which topped the UK compilations chart

May - Skepta's fourth studio album, KONNICHIWA, entered the UK Album Chart at number two. The album explored grime's relationship with the United States, and features appearances from ASAP Mob members Young lord and ASAP Nast as well as production and vocals from Pharrell Williams.

Drake later signed to Skepta's Boy Better Know Label. He later included Skepta and Giggs on his More Life album.

The song "KMT" featuring Giggs peaked at nine on the UK Official Singles Chart.

2017   -February - Stormzy's Gang Signs & Prayer was the first grime album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart.

June - British Phonographic Industry reported that Grime sales had risen over 100% with physical sales growing over 109%, Digital sales 51% and streaming up by 138%.

Sales Increase of Grime

Stormzy - number 1 on official album charts

Skepta's Konnichiwa album cover

Lyrical Annotation/analysis