Lesson Notes - 26th September 2011

Aims;

·         to continue thoughts on genre in terms of music video coursework

·         To explore possible options in critical perspectives exam.

What Defines a Genre?

·         Typical Instruments

·         Typical Sounds/Pace/Volume of Music/Tempo

·         Style of Singing/Voc al

·         Context/Themes

·         The Look/ Typical Appearance of Artists/Bands

3 Genre Focus

Rap

·         Typical Instruments; no actual instruments/ computer based software used to create soundtrack

·         Typical S/P/V of M/Tempo; fast paced soundtracks

·         Style of Singing/Vocals;  fast vocals, less melodic than most genres

·         Context/Themes; most commonly connoted with guns, drugs and violence

·         The look/typical appearance; Laidback, baggy loose clothing

Mainstream Pop

·         Typical Instruments; Computer based software blended with instruments i.e. piano, guitar, violins etc.

·         Typical S/P/V of M/Tempo; Soft sounding, mellow tempo

·         Style of Singing/Vocals; Melodic, sounds compliment an artists’ vocal

·         Context/Themes; generally positive, most common subjects include love, happiness and parties etc.

·         The look/typical appearance; Smart Casual

Indie/Alternative

·         Typical Instruments; guitar, drums, bass etc.

·         Typical S/P/V of M/ Tempo; Slow with elements of fast pace, mixture.

·         Style of Singing/Vocals; Mixed, try’s to stay away from mainstream conventions of singing, melodic yet lazy/laidback

·         Context/Themes; mixed, takes themes and contexts from other notable genres and adapts to suit the genres own styles and conventions

·         The look/Typical appearance; Scruffy, lazy style, Casual

Genres can be defined and explained in the following ways. Definition can be added by involving heavily connoted items and themes e.g. guitars and dark clothing in rock or disco lights and dancers in club music. This helps to explain beyond the words of a song or tempo of the beat by giving the audience a visual representation, from which they can interpret the artists motives into their own, giving them familiarity with the genre conventions and icons.

Icons; “Something which is really typical of a set genre” – Edwin Panofsky (1953)

Paradigmatic – What we select from a genre’s conventions to become a feature of a video

Syntagmatic – How these selections are combined i.e. filming/editing

Pleasures from watching Music Videos

·         Escapism – release from reality

·         Catharsis – release of feelings/energy’s

·         Visual representation- ‘See the song’

·         Voyeurism

Early Video Ideas

Early Video Ideas

The video will be a predominately performance based take on ‘No Regrets’ by Dappy. The video will be shot in a number of locations, adding variation to the shots and camera angles we will be able to use i.e high angle, long, pan etc. Possible locations could vary from roof tops and other outdoor locations to a stage based performance. Within the locational shots, we intend to use various genre conventions evident within the Hip Hop scene.

The genre will be conveyed through the acting style used, props used and the costume chosen. The acting style will need to portray dappys cocky and arrogant attitude, so powerful gestures, posture and facial expressions are essential. Props will include things such as hats, masks and the costume will be mainly baggy clothing to enhance the convention of the hip hop genre. IN the actual video for the song we chose, an establishing shot shows the artist on a roof top, giving a superior image of the subject, almost in a spiritual/preacher like capacity. I fell that we will use the same idea of giving the subject a powerful stance, however we will adapt the shot and scenery to show differentiation between the original and our own version.

Video Comparisons

N-Dubz – Love for my Slum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGMIIKmAU90

I have chosen this video to analyse as it is one of Dappys’ earliest works, and provides a stark contrast in quality with that of his debut single ‘No Regrets’. In regards to the style of video this is excessively performance based, even including clips from live shows, whereas ‘No Regrets’ provides a narrative parallel to Dappys performance. The camerawork within this video seems extremely amateur compared with most music videos, shaky camera angles seem to convey that the camera is being hand held rather than using a tripod or mount, which was a general convention of early UK hip hop videos due to a lack of funding available. This shakiness is extremely evident in a scene of a police arrest where the low pan is almost too quick to incorporate the whole scene and quickly fades to an opposing shot. The video has been shot in urban locations across London showing the groups working class background, and playing upon the iconography that the genre is for ‘urban youths’. The editing of the video is also minimalistic in that the only transition used throughout is fades in and out of shots, which could show a lack of software used for editing. The only main convention of modern-day music videos noticeable is the usage of multiple locations for shots. There is an extreme emphasis on the youth culture associated with the genre, and a heavy presence of large groups of youths is used to play upon the stereotypes the song is addressing.

Tinchy Stryder feat. N-Dubz – Number 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJsVDH-3b3Y&ob=av2n

I have chosen this video as it shows progression in technical quality, whilst still being extremely simplistic and studio based, most likely to be due to label budgets being low. This also provides a stark contrast with Dappys latest video in that there are no location based shots; it has been completely shot within a studio setting, whilst also being a performance video without the presence of a narrative. There is a heavy emphasis on lighting between shots, keeping the schemes black and dark and placing the performers within a prevalent mid-shot light, keeping the focus on the performance. The camerawork in this video is evidently more advanced than the ‘Love for My Slums’ visual as there is a consistence between edits and camera angles show continuity. As with most hip hop videos, the clothing is the main associative iconography, the use of baggy clothes and Dappy in tracksuits and hats keeps in touch with the genre.

Tinchy Stryder feat. Dappy – Spaceship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTV4mr94ijk&ob=av2e

I have chosen this video as it is the closest to Dappys’ new video, most likely to be due to new label backing and a large increase in financial support. The presence of a lakeside hotel and Lamborghini and Ferrari cars shows a stark contrast between the ‘Love For My Slum’ video where the car Dappy is visible in is a Volkswagen Golf and the location is the base of high rise tower blocks, showing the opposite ends of the wealth spectrum, and the size of his progression, both in terms of wealth and within the music world. The camerawork within this video is extremely structured, and the continuity between the use of pans and zooms is precise, showing that, in contrast with the first video I chose, the equipment being used is more technically advanced.  The editing of this video is also extremely much more complex and technical, although using mostly cuts, the speed from which some shots to others varies adds extra dimension to the scenes. The main iconography evident with the genre is the clothing worn, baggy trousers, hats and chains keep in touch with the roots of the genre, despite the video showing extreme affluence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTV4mr94ijk&ob=av2e

Genre related Digipaks

As my chosen music video was within the 'Hip Hop' genre, i have been reviewing various digipaks from the genre as a whole...

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

This album cover is from prominant Hip Hop artist Eminem, and is one of his earliest releases. The general conventions of the genre are depicted within its dark and dingy colour scheme, and plays upon the early views that hip hop was an underpriviliged genre in that it shows the artist retreated against a flood drain, in  a dark alleyway. The font used is very simplistic, however possess a powerful present amongst the colour scheme, in pure white, it provides a contrast with the darkness of the cover.

Kanye West - Graduation

This cover is more mainstream orientated than the Eminem cover,  and this is mainly evident in the extensive use of bright colours, and cartoon representations. This cover has placed an extreme emphasis on the illustrations as the font is relatively small, and placed in the far right corner. This relates to hip hop in that, in recent years, the genre has begun to merge conventions with genre such as RnB and Pop, in that the audience it aims at is vastly different to the audience who would have bought the early hip hop CD's.

N-Dubz - Uncle B

To keep in touch with my artist, Dappy, i have chosen this album cover from his group N-Dubz, to show the general conventions related with Hip Hop in the UK. The font used for the group title is in a graffiti style, which in general would connote to their underprivileged background. The clothes worn by the 2 males, Dappy and Fazer, are iconic garments worn within the genre i.e. hoodies, hats, and bandanas.

Chosen Video - Dappy - No Regrets

Within the uk hip hop genre, we have chosen to recreate the video for Dappys debut solo single 'No Regrets' the original video is below...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoImizvsj5w

Dappy Write-Up

Dappy, real name Constodinos Constavlos, is a singer-songwriter from Camden, United Kingdom. Focusing around the genres of Grime, Rap, and Hip Hop, Dappy has been performing musically since the age of 13 as part of UK based act ‘N-Dubz’ alongside best friend Fazer, and Cousin Tulisa. N-Dubz have become a prominent name within the UK music scene racking up 8 top 40 hits, and releasing  3 albums to date, ‘Uncle B’, ‘Against All Odds’ and ‘Love.Live.Life’, all of which are now certified with Platinum selling status. Throughout his career, Dappy has been a consistent source of controversy, from drug use, abusive phone calls to being removed from a flight for being disorderly. Controversy has also been an extensive feature of Dappy’s song writing, often being martyred by critics and various charities for his outlook on life and various situations, which they feel that the topics being portrayed in his lyrics are ‘glorifying thug culture’. In early 2011, N-Dubz decided to take a break from their group ambitions, and launch solo ventures. Dappy’s solo career began by signing to management company ‘Takeover Entertainment Ltd.’ He then released his first solo single ‘No Regrets’, which debuted at Number 1 in the UK, and is set to be the title single of his first solo album ‘No Regrets’, set to be released in early 2012. In a recent media interview, Dappy said that, in going solo, he planned to aim his music at an older audience, indirectly referring to N-Dubz early teen dominated fan-base. This artist has shown his appeal to his new projected audience, and his old fan-base, by combining his old style of lyric-writing, with a thoughtful outlook on life.

Hip Hop History

The early origins of UK Hip Hop lie within the hip hop scene of America. Breakdancing, graffiti, and live PA’s were all common amongst the beginnings of the scene, as in the US, however the UK scene emerged as a multicultural scene in the early 1980s, as opposed to the heavily African American dominated US hip hop, however the US has become significantly more multicultural in recent years. General stylistic conventions of hip hop are things such as the heavily computer-based backing tracks, the unmelodic and rather un-conventional lyric delivery, however there most conventions can be shared with the US versions i.e. lyrical content, clothing, jewellery etc. Within the genre iconic radio DJ’s include Tim Westwood, Mista Jam, Logan Sama, and even the late Radio 1 DJ John Peel gave life to the genre on his daytime show,  seen as a breakthrough by artists and fans alike. Many of the most noticeable artists within the UK hip hop genre are those from America, people such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem etc. but artists with roots within the UK music scene as a whole are people such as Dappy, Wiley, Sway, Tinie Tempah,  Professor Green, Example etc. There are numerous Iconic songs of the hip hop genre in general including tracks such as 99 Problem by Jay-Z to name just 2 Stan by Eminem, however the list of tracks from within the UK is significantly smaller, even despite an insurgence of UK artists breaking into the scene. Artist such as Tinie Tempah, with pass out, frisky and written in the stars, and also Professor Green with Jungle, Just be good to green and Need you tonight, among numerous others, possess what I’d like to call the key songs of the genre, as they have all cemented the UK in mainstream Hip Hop history, as their chart positions show a clear progression.

Research Task - UK Hip Hop Mind Map

Firstly I researched the UK Hip Hop genre in order to identify general conventions, iconography, origins and key songs and artists. My findings are shown adjacent, in the form of a mind map.