Focus Group

As a part of our primary research we chose to use a Focus group, this where a variety of different people are asked for their opinion towards something. It is a quick way to find out different views on the medium that a corporation promote. The data gathered although it is qualitative data, can be vconverted into quantitative data, by categorising the types of question, shown through graphs and charts. These can be presented to give statisical information on demand and wants of the target audience. However to be accurate the environment has to be comfortable enough for the participants to answer honestly.  There are of course some pros and cons of using Focus groups.

Advantages include;

• Being able to interact with participants how are linked to the target audience, or other audiences that may have an interest.
• You are also able to ask questions specific to the music video that we wanted to produce, information like this may not be available or tailored to our project.
• you can pict up on subtle information unable by questionnaires, like body language and gestures, giving a fuller understanding.
• It is also cheap and time effective

Disadvantages include;

• Planning and putting together the focus group can be time consuming and parties may not turn up (often considered to be boring and pressuring by participants)
• Same of the sample group may be unrelated and give false or inaccurate answers which could throw the whole project.
• Reliability of answers.

We have hence decided to use a focus group, aswell as questionnaires over other forms of research and planning. We have decided to do this as the questionnaires can be used to gather mass of information but the reliabilty of the results can be questioned as people may fill in answers to speed up to interview process.The focus group will allow us to tailor the questions to be able to find ezactly what we want, like the most popular music genre to relax to. Therefore our focus group will be consisting of 6-8 participants aged 15-19, using a specific type of sampling, chosing the participants that we know and what music genre they prefer and therefore represent a differing view. This allows for criticism, we did not want people to tell us it was a great music video and a great idea, we wanted to gain their personal opinions in order to tailor to our main target audience aswell as complementing others.By doing this we feel we are able to obtain the most honest and critical views. This will enable us to form new ideas or adapt our ideas. Although this choice of sample is not the fastest way of finding participants nor is it the fairest as it is just as hard to generalise as an opportunity sample, but it suits the information we want to gather.

Questions we used,

1. What are the typical conventions of a rap music video?
2. Are women seen as a comodity in rap music videos?
3. Do you think all rap videos objectify or subjectify women?
4. Can you think of any rap videos that go against this convention?
5. Would you then say there is a niche for that type of video?
6. What typical iconography can be seen in a rap music video?
7. Can you think of any setting related to rap music videos?
8. Do drugs play a big role in the videos, do you think this has to be so?
9. What is your favourite rap music video? and Why?
10. Any rappers that go against normal conventions of a rap music video?

Our focus group

AB Productions

We are now in productions with AB Productions which is Anoop's media production. Anoop specialising in editing and the production of videos and photos, he will be using his knowledge to conduct and produce the Digipak consisting of a front cover, back cover and four other images, he will also design the advert to go in to the magazine and he will also produce the music video.

Collection of Photos From Day Two Shooting

Health and Safety

Shooting Schedule Day Two

Date and Time	“Shot” (On Story Board)	Location/Setting	Synopsis	Characters	Iconography	Equipment
1st December 3.00pm	Chelsea Embankment, Matt and Anoop singing “Loving the Crew”	Chelsea Embankment, next to the river Thames.	Singing the Hook “Loving the Crew”, looking like they fit in in this exclusive place.	Drake (Anoop) The Weeknd (Matt)	Thames in the background with the London eye also, iconic landmarks in London. Denim jackets match, fashion and fame.	Camera, Tripod.
1st December 4.30pm	Shot at bars, had license problems, so we decided and iconic place.	Piccadilly Circus, singing in front of the Shaftesbury Avenue and the massive Video display	Matt singing the opening verse again, just to compare against the other, and also drake doing his verse.	Drake (Anoop) The Weeknd (Matt)	Massive video display in the background, denim jackets, wait for empty street to implicate the artists fame,	IPhone 5
1st December 5.00pm	Shots of out Marble Arch station, Originally wanted various scenes up London.	Marble Arch Water feature, Distant View of Winter Wonderland in Hyde park.	Matt and Anoop both were singing the song, a duet and collaboration with both artists waiting on their lyrics.	Drake (Anoop) The Weeknd (Matt)	Water feature in background, lighting was dark, Artists both collaborating on song.	IPhone 5, Tripod
1st December 5.25pm	Additional shot, Wanted a scene of both character jumping up and down, ready to be edited to align with the bass on the Hook.	Marble Arch Park	Matt and Anoop are both jumping around edit in with the bass of the Hook .	Drake (Anoop) The Weeknd (Matt)	Lampost in the Background, lighting was dark, but the light and shadows make the artists stand up.	IPhone 5, Tripod.
1st December 6.15pm	Cable cars, giving a more bird’s eye view of London, Canary Wharf Lit up.	North Greenwich Cables cars, over to the Excel arena.	Anoop rapping the whole of his verse, many cameras set up to capture a different angle of the shot. Also Matt sang his two verses.	Drake (Anoop) Matt (The Weeknd)	Canary Wharf in the Background, 02 dome visible, idea to show off wealth of air travel, not public, more exclusive because of fame.	IPhone 5, Tripod, Camera, IPad.

Shooting Schedule Day One

Date and Time	“Shot” (On Story Board)	Location/Setting	Synopsis	Characters	Iconography	Equipment
24th November 9.00pm	“Party scene” (shot had changed from round Jakes house to an 18th party, more realistic)	18th Birthday party in Navestock	Get shots of the dance floor, statistic camera, too pick best footage film for 30mins	Not main characters, it is shot in the 1st person, giving impression of being drunk.	Dark scene with lights and lasers across dance floor, lots of shots of alcohol and women to keep in line with conventions.	Camera, Tripod.
24th November 9.30pm	“Party scene”	18th Birthday party in Navestock	Move around the party to catch footage of dancers. 15Mins worth of footage.	Not main characters, it is shot in the 1st person, giving impression of being drunk	Close ups of female dancers, pointing at the camera as if they were pointing at a person.	Camera, Tripod
24th November 9.45pm	“Party scene”	18th Birthday party in Navestock	Go into smokers area, talk to people and engage, footage of fun and laughter to match the “Crew Love” theme.	Not main characters, it is shot in the 1st person, giving impression of being drunk	Interaction with people at party, it doesn’t matter what they say, want scenes of laughter and fun.	Camera, Tripod

Lyric of the song -Started From The Bottom - Drake

Drake - Started From The Bottom

Lyrics:

Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now my whole team fucking here
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now the whole team here, nigga
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now my whole team here, nigga
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now the whole team fucking here

[Verse 1]
I done kept it real from the jump
Living at my mama's house we'd argue every month
Nigga, I was trying to get it on my own
Working all night, traffic on the way home
And my uncle calling me like "Where ya at?
I gave you the keys told ya bring it right back"
Nigga, I just think its funny how it goes
Now I'm on the road, half a million for a show
And we...

[Hook]

[Verse 2]
Boys tell stories about the man
Say I never struggled, wasn't hungry, yeah, I doubt it, nigga
I could turn your boy into the man
There ain't really much I hear that's poppin' off without us, nigga
We just want the credit where it's due
I'ma worry about me, give a fuck about you
Nigga, just as a reminder to myself
I wear every single chain, even when I'm in the house
Cause we...

[Hook]

[Bridge]
No new niggas, nigga we don't feel that
Fuck a fake friend, where you real friends at?
We don't like to do too much explaining
Story stays the same, I never changed it
No new niggas, nigga we don't feel that
Fuck a fake friend, where you real friends at?
We don't like to do too much explaining
Story stay the same through the money and the fame
Cause we...

Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now my whole team fucking here
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now the whole team here, nigga
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now my whole team here, nigga
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now the whole team fucking here

Story Board Analysis

Costume Analysis

This is an analysis for our costume from our final music video 'Started From The Bottom' the clothes which feature in the video are evaluated here.




This is another analysis for our previous idea although the costumes analysed in the video do not appear in the music video the vostumes do appear in the digipak so all areas of costumes are evaluated.

Weather

This was the Weather of our Day two Filming, this is also the same weather as day threes shooting. This is why it was unnecessary to put up another picture. As it was slightly over cast it did not matter to us as most of our footage we wanted to take, we wanted it to be from dusk to the night. However we were glad that we wrapped up warm as it was very cold, colder than 11 degrees. 

Dairy of Day Two Shooting

Our second days footage we went to London to various locations around the capital. We wanted to make our footage look realistic and that our characters Anoop and Matt (Drake and The Weeknd) as they are wealthy world famous rappers, there were not in a classroom, setting and locations are vital in making our it look like a music video and not some sixth former's playing around with a camera. Our first location of days two footage was along the Chelsea Embankment. Chelsea is renown for its wealth and powerful residents. This was ideal as it corresponds with the message of power and wealth we want the characters to portray.

Our second location of the day was in Piccadilly Circus, we chose this because the location is widely known throughout the world, the big screen is iconic and creates an association with the audience. Being at a place like Piccadilly creates and association of not caring, the characters will go anywhere and do anything, this links in well this the motto of Drake, 'YOLO' You Only Live Once. This is about taking all of the risks no matter the consequence, living for the moment. Piccadilly as it is heavily populated and busy, for it to be relatively empty would make the suggestion that our characters being there have made 
space for themselves.

Our third location of the day was in Marble Arch, at the fountain lights. The lights in this location are vibrant bright, and many different colours. Most however were blue, purple and red; all of these colours are royal and give an impression of wealth and power. In the distance, you can also the WinterWonderland in Hyde Park, also with very bright colours visible from the frame. This is easy for the audience to recognise, this alongside the variety of shots used in our video up London, this collaboration will give another impression of the characters exclusivity, never being in one place for long, very similar to a 'Rock star' lifestyle. We also thought that as the style of The Weeknds voice is quiet and soft, and should be contrasted with bright colours to make him stand out more as a character. 

We also filmed further down the Road still at Marble Arch, we thought that the lighting of the lampost looked effective and is similar to a scene from Drake Marvin's Room, it makes the characters stand out more in the dark, alongside with their silhouettes.




Our final location was the cable cars, filming the duration of the journey from North Greenwich to the Excel arena, and back. We thought that this scene portrayed a look of 
exclusivity for the characters, as they are 
world famous they wouldn't walk to places
and used any and every mode of transport 

available to them. As the journey goes to 
the Excel arena it suggests
that the characters are on route to a concert.
The view of London especially Canary Wharf and the 02 dome lite up. Shooting in the dark instantly gives an impression of wealth and exclusive as in the dark they are unsocial able hours raising the price in most things, like the mode of transport and also it looks most effective in the dark as the buildings in the background are more visible,
and easier and quicker to establish for the 
audience.