A2 MUSIC VIDEO BRIEF

1 What genre of music? Artist, song, record label, genre, sub-genre?

The song of my choice is “9am in Dallas” which was sung by Drake . He signed to cash money record (http://cashmoney-records.com/home.asp) label which was co-founded by brain baby Williams, aka his stage name is birdman. The genre of this music is often described as hip/hop rap and drake himself is one of the most popular rap artists in his decade.

2 Describe style, ethos of artist/band.

Drake is usually perceived as someone who varies in character. In many of his songs he is seen as a rapper who is generally happy go lucky but on occasions he tends to talk about his life which tends to give the song a melancholy tone. This then allows listeners to be able to relate too many of his songs and also apply it to their own life’s. However in “9am in Dallas” drake seems to have rapped in a cheerful tone however at the same time he talks about his life which allows listeners to relate. In the lime light he is seen as star who likes to go out and have a good time but on occasion he spends his time in the studio making more songs which can be seen as living a lonely life.

3 Describe content, narrative, themes of lyrics.

The song itself “9am in Dallas” doesn’t have a stereotypical male rap song where you see most of rappers such as Lil Wayne, Jay-Z bragging about the money cars and women they have. However this song is different as shown by drake in his lyric where he says “I hope you feel it in your soul, spiritual healing” which could therefore be seen as a song that he wants people to relate to and as well get motivated by it as well. You could say this song is uplifting. In the song Drake goes on to say “I try to tell them don’t judge me because you heard stuff” which could imply that people shouldn’t listen to what they hear about him on TV or in the magazines that his life is totally different. A controversial line in the song is where he say’s “people say that old drake we starting to miss it, but they need to me a little more specific, man is this what ya’ll want” in this particular part of the song we can tell by the lyrics drake is talking about himself and addressing his fans that they should tell him what they want from him.

4 Describe photographic/location ideas/concepts/styles, band name ideas for print work.

For my front cover I have thought of many ideas such as relating the name of the song to my front cover for instance having a picture of Dallas in order to match the song. However thinking further I have decided that I would have a picture of the main artist because the song itself “9am in Dallas” talks about himself so it would be ideal for him to be the centre of attention. There have been particular locations I have thought about such as one of him rapping in a studio or it could be a snap shot of the video itself. “9am in Dallas” was originally sung by “Drake” but I have thought of names such as “Tee Zee”, “Fresh L”, and “Tobias”. These are some of the names I have come up with and when I have listened to the song much more thoroughly I would have come up with a suitable name.

5 General treatment [your idea]:

Brief description of your video?

My video would be an orthodox type of videotape with my artist waking up putting on some headphones and rapping while he walks on the street, he engages with individuals who are walking on the street as well informally feeling him as a rapper and facing the camera trying to make the audience engaged.

What are the themes, or visual styling?

The general melody of the video is both happy but at the same time my artist is talking about himself which is quite personal so it gives it a melancholy tone. The visual styling is going to be informal and spontaneous because the rapper is trying to portray himself as a rapper who is real.

Special effect ideas?

The special effects I have thought of are using fluorescent lighting to give it a diverse type of effect. I have also thought of a split screen so it gives it a cool and young vibe to it.

Costume/props/mise-en-scene ideas?

The costume of my artist is going to be more of a preppy style with such things like high top shows a super dry jumper and jeans. The only prop my artist going to have is a beat by dre headphone.

Potential needs? Problems with idea?

For my video I might need a fluorescent lighting but problems with this are I might not know where to get it. I might also need to learn new software’s for editing videos which might be difficult.

Band/artist ideas? – Style, clothing, performance style?

I have thought of a couple of artist for the role who are confident. Their names are Joe Bruce, Callum Fyfe, Will Hewer and a few others outside school. The performance style is going to be just speaking there are no props such as microphones etc.

6 Real media examples of similar products – give examples?

similar videos

similar album covers

Similar adverts, and in which magazines?

Magazines such as Vibe, Rolling Stones and XXL would be where I would put adverts for the album cover.

7 Target Audience?: age, gender, hobbies, interests, education, occupation, fashion, social, aspirations, access and usage of internet, which TV/radio stations, [when and how often], mobile phones, iPods, gigs and festivals, technology use, twitter, blogging, downloading of mp3s, buy CD’S etc., where to they watch music videos [do they search on internet or watch on TV.

The target audience for hip hop/rap would be the age of 17-25. They would most likely be leaning towards males because this type of genre is more often associated with males rather than females who are consumed in genres such as pop. My target audience interest would probably lie with sports such as football rugby and basketball. Some of them might be into their music and also take it up as a hobby and have their own rap group, some might become music producers if they don’t have the talent to rap or sing. They would probably be students undergoing their GCSE’S, A-levels and other might be in university. Fashion wise they might perform a media effect theory such as copycat and dress alike to their favourite rap artists such as Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z etc. socially most of my target audience would want to live the dream of their favourite artists and have the fame and fortune, knowing my target audience they would listen to such radio channels like kiss FM, Radio 6 and BBC Urban Radio. My target audience would probably have the latest gadgets for instance an i-phone or a blackberry and with these they can use such social networking sites like Facebook to find out the latest Gigs and concerts or they could use Twitter to follow their artist they enjoy listening to and see what they have to say and find out if they might just luckily be near their home town so they can go watch them perform. In this day and age my target audience would not be the ones who go out to buy Cd’s unless they are really committed to their favourite artist but most of them would download illegally to listen to their music and put it on their iPods but the “good” ones might want to see their artist excel so they might buy their album on iTunes. Music channels such as MTV, BET , channel AKA and Kiss would be where my target audience watch their music videos. This might be during the day but most likely during the evenings.

8 Consumption; TV or sat channels, particular programmes on TV… advert for your artist’s album [and thus its supporting video… when would you advertise it… when will your TA be watching TV?] Also websites, social networking, advertise in what mags/newspapers, at what festivals, in what types of retail outlets etc

My target audience would definitely be interested in what certain TV channels have to offer. Programmes such as MTV cribs (www.mtv.com) where they can get to know more about their favourite artists and maybe even some of them might try and adopt their lifestyle. For the marketing aspect for my artist album and its supporting video I would promote it on websites such as Facebook (www.facebook.com) and twitter (www.twitter.com) because this are very essential social networking sites I really see my target audience spending hours on and if I can have good PR with my target audience, the promotion would be able to reach out to the certain individuals I want it to entice. Magazines such as XXL and VIBE which are big names magazines in the genre I am working on is certainly where I see my artist’s album being advertised. Things such as double promotion for instance XXL advertising themselves, but with my artists album as well might give my artists album a bigger brand name and therefore help him sell more records. Festivals such as wireless and maybe even Glastonbury could be carnivals where I could advertise my artist album because most definitely my target audience who like my genre would be there and they might be interested in what my adverts have to say and therefore leading up to them buying the album. Retail outlets such as HMV and MPO who sell cd’s could definitely be places where I can “kill a bird with one stone” that is both promote my artists album and also sell it there.