Our media product is a music video which conforms to some of the codes and conventions of grime. We know this because through our research and planning we visualised the elements that made a grime genre different from other type of genres. For example, we watched British grime music videos and in there were numerous pejorative terms such as "nigger" which was an example of how artists create a subculture that a vast amount of black young males could relate to. Additionally, we find this is emphasised through the denotation of the artist as they often use profanities whilst rapping right in front of the camera.
This are some of the elements that we did include in our music video in order to make sure that our target audience, (ideally black young males and white young males) could relate to the song as well as the visuals.
On the other hand, we also managed to limit the amount of times our artist was rapping behind a block as we felt that this was cliche. In order to keep our audience engaged we made the video a narrative as it was a way to deviate from how normal grime music videos go, we gave our artist a relation to the the audience in the sense that were on the journey with him. We denote in the music video that the protagonist feels depressed at certain moments in the video. For example, the isolation in his house is to portray his loneliness and dissatisfaction at the hands of his mother. He continually refers to her during the video as he cared deeply about her and felt emotionally unstable when she was gone.
The various use of camera angles presented realism to certain shots and provided intensity with others. The use of quick and effective shots and angles had to be done repetitively in order to keep our audience continuously engaged with the song. For example, close up shots of the artist in the house captivated his facial expressions, from which we would denote how he felt. It was paramount for the audience to distinguish between his happiness and sadness and i felt that we done this successfully through the close up shots. We also used a number of medium close ups in order to denote the surrounding but still see how the characters face was. The implementation of low and high angle shots was a way to show control of power and belittlement in certain scenarios. At points were the artist was experiencing a happy moment in his life, we used low angle shots to show hie power and control of the situation. However, during other moments we presented his inferiority through high angle shots as he was seen as small and thus brought connotations of inferiority.
Furthermore, some of our camera positioning was really effective as it allowed for the audience to understand just how difficult circumstances were for our artist before he finally experienced success. An example of this, is how we positioned the camera in the fridge, this was vital in order to show that our character had no food to eat and that he needed an influence in his life. From the positioning we could also denote the characters face, from which we could infer the fact that he was sad and somewhat depressed.
On the other hand, during some of the times he is shown to be happy the deployment of medium close ups that worked effectively and was also able to show his closeness with his sister. The pillow fighting in his house for example was an example of bonding between the siblings. Although the setting remained the same, we could see just how happy the artist is by accommodation of his sister.
The movement of the camera never moved, as it conformed to the codes and conventions of grime music videos. It was also a way to ensure that all the scenes interlinked and through quick shots, we were able to this really well.
The mise-en-scene is often what differentiates genres from each other and from this particular setting, it becomes understandable that our artist could be denoted as an adolescent whom grew up in south east London and thus makes the lyrics real and meaningful to the target audience of male descent and deviant/problematic background. From this mise-en-scene, we could see that the lighting is dark and depressing in scenes such as the house one as it signifys the loneliness and unfortunate isolation of the character. The knowledge that the character is making progression is depicted through the light colours as a way to portray his happiness and joy at his success. This becomes emphaasised, through the visualisation of the expensive cars and branded wrist watches as well as a girl in order to show some elements of how we managed to challenge real media products. Throughout the video, there is a repeated change in clothes in order to demonstrate the appreciated of his success. The scenes where he is seen wearing old worn down clothes, are the ones where he is perceived to be a struggling, poor and detached individual who has no money to look after himself. However, other moments where he is seen to be content, we denote nice clothes again to show how far he has come to be the man he has become. There are also parts, where we see the artist with his friends. Like most teenagers, he is engaged in conversation with them and having a good time, this shows him not to a lonely and isolated individual, but to to sociable and happy. Similarly, there is a shot where he seen smoking a an illegal substance as a way to show that he is a teenager and this sort of behaviour exemplifies the mentality of how most teengers are. The inclusion of his girl towards the end, also coincides with the fact that he has become a very happy individual and that he has left the past in the past, but what remains crucial is what the future holds and he aims to make the most of that by working hard.
The editing techniques used in the video worked really well, as we were able to create a past and present feel just through the change of colour. The black and white effect for example, represented the past of the character. We also see a recording effect used at the start of the music video, to show what the artist gets up to off stage when he's with friends. In addition, through final cut pro we were able to alter the speed and visuals of the video in accordance to how we saw fit. Some bits of the song seem slow and we replicate this through slow movement and seriouseness of the characters face.
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