Character Mood Board

This is the mood board that I have created in order to represent our character within our music video. In this mood board I have used pictures of Kehlani herself who is the artist that sing the song that we are using for our music video.This is because she has the sort of style and characteristics that we want for our character within the music video. Furthermore, our character and our actress have very similar attitudes which means that we would be able to put across within our music video the same sort of ideas and feels that Kehlani is able to do within the actual music video. Pictured is also a baseball bat which is featured within the actual music video for our song. The same baseball bat is also used within the film 'Suicide Squad' which links between the fact that the song is used within the film. Other things pictured are temporary tattoos. I have chosen to put on the mood board white temporary tattoos to match the same tattoos that Kehlani has. I have chosen white ones instead of black ones because I believe that white tattoos on someone with darker colour skin tones will be more effective and stand out more to make it obvious that she is looking for the 'gangsta' to match herself. I have also used pictures of knuckle tattoos. Kehlani again has these, and they are also something that reminds you of a gangster. Across the knuckles of our actress, we have thought that the word gagster would be effective. We would prefer our actress to have dark lips which I have shown within the mood board because they are effective especially on someone with dark skin tones. Furthermore, neutral nail colour would be something that could relate to the target audience. I have also used pictures of Kehlani's style because it is the similar style that we would like to have our actress in. We believe that this also would link and appeal to our target audience as Kehlani is of the right age and the right sort of person that we would want to appeal to. Finally, I have put in a picture of a orange prisoner jumpsuit to give the idea of prison and gangster. We wouldn't have our main actress wearing this but we would like to have a few other people wearing this to think that she associates with prisoners which links to her association with gangsters.

Target Audience Mood Board

This is the mood board for our target audience. We would like to aim our music video at females between the ages of 16-22, therefore having the audience be able to relate and look up to the artist in question. Within this mood board I have chosen different things that I believe will reflect the age group of 16-22. I have also included some pictures of our artist Kehlani because she fits into this age group and she is the type of person that we would love to appeal to when creating our music video. Furthermore, due to myself and the other members of my group being within the 16-22 age range, we feel like we know what sort of things appeal to us and our peers and also, what sort of thing we would like to have represent us within a mood board. We have chosen quite a girlie theme to our target audience meaning that we would be aiming for girls who are into fashion and makeup. This links to our artist Kehlani who is girlie and always has the latest fashion but makes it look effortless. We have also chosen quite a neutral/nude theme due to the calm nature of the song that we have picked which suggests that the person that would wear these sorts of things or associates with these sorts of things would be rather calm and cool instead of outgoing, loud or brash.

Genre Mood Board

This is the mood board for our chosen genre of R'n'B/Soul. Featured within this are many different R'n'B/Sould artists all of which are very famous and well known. I have also included some picture of our artist, Kehlani from the original music video which will help to inspire what we use for our music video. As I previously mentioned there are a lot of artists on this mood board that are very famous and inspirational. We believe that by basing our music video on ideas that we collect from other artists such as The Weeknd and Beyoncé, we will be able to make our music video the best that it can be. Furthermore, we want to make our artist inspirational and someone that younger girls can look up to. By using people such as TLC and Alicia Keys as ideas behind this, we know that our artist will be able to leave a great lasting impression on the audience the same way that these other artist have done and still do today.

Bryson Tiller- Sorry Not Sorry

I have used a prezi to present this information about Bryson Tiller's Sorry Not Sorry.

TLC-Waterfalls

TLC is an American girl group whose line-up consisted of Tionne 'T-Bonz' Watkins, Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes and Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas. Originally, the group only consisted of Watkins, Lopes and another girl named Crystal Jones. This is where the acronym 'TLC' came from (Tionne, Lisa and Crystal). However, after managers of the band and numerous record labels commenting that Lisa and Tionne were great singers and performers but Crystal just didn't gel with them. This lead to one of the managers spotting Rozonda Thomas and snapping her up to become the third member of TLC. Now, all of the three allocated themselves a nickname allowing the acronym 'TLC' to keep applicable to the group. Their debut album called, Oooooooohh... On the TLC Tip, was released on the 25th February 1992 by LaFace/Arista Records.

The album became a huge success with it selling over four-million albums in the US. Three singles off of the album come into the top 10 and one other in the top 30. After releasing their second alum CrazySexyCool on the 15th November 1994, it became critically acclaimed with Rolling Stone naming it in their list of the Top 500 Best Albums of all Time. The same album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and spent over two years on the chart. The album sold over 11 million copies in the US alone and still remains the only album by a female singing group in history to receive diamond certification from the RIAA. CrazySexyCool sold over 23 million copies worldwide and became one of the world's best-selling albums of all time and was only later outsold by the Spice Girls in 1996.Two songs off of the album peaked at number 1 on the BIllboard top 100 charts, one of which being their song 'Waterfalls'. The song itself was written by band member Lisa Lopez with Marqueze Etheridge and Organized Noize.

The song was a huge change to the typical R'n'B sound due to the song tackling issues of the illegal drug trade, unprotected sex and HIV/AIDS. One artist also commented that 'Waterfalls' was the first number one song ever to reference AIDS in one of it's verses. The music video also reflected its risky lyrics. However, it went on to win four MTV Video Music Awards in 1995, including top honours for Video of the Year. This then meant that TLC became the first Afircan-American group or artist to ever receive the accolade. The group are undoubtably a household name when it comes to R'n'B, and are often referenced as the worlds best R'n'B girl group. With 'Waterfalls' being as popular as it was, it is no surprise that it is still heard being sung now by those remembering the songs release, and those not even born when the very sad passing of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopez lost her life in a tragic car accident in 2002. More recently the two remaining members of the group released 'Crazy Sexy Hits: The Very Best of TLC' in the UK in 2007. Later on in 2012, both Watkins and Thomas appeared in Stooshe's music video for their cover of 'Waterfalls'. Fans were extremely happy when on their tour alongside New Kids on the Block and Nelly, TLC announced they would be releasing a new album within 2016. However, after recording 15 songs for the album, their manager refused to allow them to release it because they were 'slated'. However, fans will still be able to cast their minds back to when TLC were the biggest band on the planet and listen to their songs which bring so many people joy. 

 

 

Kehlani-Gangsta

Within this blog I will be looking at the song Gangsta by Kehlani. This is part of the genre R'n'B/Soul. After this I will also be looking at and discussing two other songs which are from the same music genre.

Artist Kehlani was born on the 25th of April 1995 as Kehlani Parrish in Oakland, California but has previously described her ethnicity as a mix of black, white, Native American, and Hispanic. Raised by her aunt due to her father dying when she was young and her mother constantly in and out of prison, Kehlani attended the Oakland School for the Arts initially with a focus on dance. However, whilst training in order to follow her dream to attend the Julliard School, she injured her knee which meant she turned her focus to singing. With her aunt mostly listening to R'n'B as she grew up, Kehlani said that her early influences in life were the likes of  Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Jill Scott among her early influences. Later on when she was 14, she was recruited to join a local pop cover band known as PopLyfe. In 2011, they auditioned for the sixth season of America Got Talent, and end up finishing in fourth place in the finals. Piers Morgan told Kehlani in their final performance that she had 'real talent' but she didn't think she needed the group. With fear of being sued by the groups management, Kehlani didn't pursue
any type of music career after the group split up shortly after America's Got Talent finished. In 2012 and 2013, Kehlani became homeless, moving from house to house and often sleeping on sofas. She later was offered recording deals with a rap group by Nick Cannon (America's Got Talent presenter). She later rejected and moved back to Oakland. She then released her first solo track on Soundcloud called "ANTISUMMERLUV." Cannon called her back after hearing the song and set her up with an LA apartment and studio time. This lead to Kehlani releasing her first album called 'Cloud 19'. The album ended up being ranked 28th on Complex's list of the 50 Best Albums of 2014. In April 2015, she released her second album 'You Should Be Here' which was named by Billboard as the 'year's first great R'n'B album and debuted at number 5 on the States 'R'n'B/Hip Hop' charts. In order to compliment her album, she went on the You Should Be Here tour which sold out every North American date and European dates. Complex went on to call her one of the "15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015" and Rolling Stones magazine named her one of the "10 New Artists You Need to Know." She was also nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Kehlani also went on to collaborate with Zayn Malik on his single 'Wrong which was on his debut album.
Kehlani went on to record the single 'Gangsta' which was released by Atlantic Records on the 1st of August as a part of the Suicide Squad soundtrack. It was written by Kehlani, Myron Birdsong, Skylar Grey, Andrew Swanson, and JMIKE. Andrew Swanson and JMIKE also were the producers of said song. The song, lyrically, describes how the singer longs for a 'gangsta' to love her better than all the others do. This is said to be foretold by the relationship between Harley Quinn and The Joker in the film Suicide Squad. During the music video, clips of Harley Quinn and The Joker are shown portraying them as without a doubt in love with each other but Harley Quinn almost worshiping The Joker. This links to the love and passion that Kehlani is singing about wanting and needing.
The good thing about choosing this song is that it has a great tone about it. The tempo is a variety of both upbeat and slow meaning that it is diverse and we are able to use different types of choreography and different angles, lighting and mise-en-scene to adapt to the feel that the music is giving in that particular moment. Furthermore, this song is very diverse in terms that it is able to create many different ideas behind the song. For example, if the music video shows something like a girl swinging a baseball bat it would fit with the song However, if it also showed a
female loved up with a someone else then it would fit with the song.

On the other hand, the song can be seen to be rather basic. This may be due to it being just another song about love or because it is following suit with other R'n'B songs by talking about 'Gangsta's' which entails crime and violence.
Overall, we have decided that this song would be the best song for our group because it s very diverse and gives us the room to adapt the song how we want it to be. It also is rather alternative with a different sound about it compared to some other songs that are around at the moment. Although it sticks to the original sound of R'n'B it allows me and my group to work with something that we wouldn't normally listen to.

Rock Music in reference to our music video.

Within this blog I will be analysing a Glam Rock music video in comparison to the song that me and my group will be using for our music video. 
The first sub-genre I will be analysing is Glam Rock. The song I will be using will be 'Life On Mars?-David Bowie'. Firstly, the artist singing this song is male which means there is going to be an obvious difference when comparing the two. However, David Bowie in this video isn't dressed very masculine. Though he is wearing a suit and tie, the suit is a sky blue colour and he is wearing matching colour eye shadow. This shows that he isn't afraid to be over dramatic. To add to the drama, Bowie is seen with bright ginger hair of a large and volumised hair style. This draws attention to himself making sure that focus isn't lost off of the eccentric character he is playing. To match the hair, the striking colour is also used on the singers cheek bones to highlight a chiselled look.  As you can see in the picture on the right, Bowie is also seen with one very piercing blue eye which is thought to be the work of a condition called anisocoria. This gives quite a sinister feel about the extreme close up of his face because he is staring directly into the camera and if anyone else wanted to create this look they would have to use contact lenses. Another sinister look about this scene is that his whole face, due to the high key lighting, blends in with the white background. He then bares his teeth slightly also which shows a rather menacing/threatening look. The slight movement of his head bobbing gives a very strong connotation of how he may be angry and he is giving off quite a gutsy attitude and look about himself.

'Take a look at the wrong man, beating up the wrong guy'

Seconds later, Bowie can be seen to be standing in the middle of an all white room which is where he remains for the rest of the music video. However, at this point in the video he is standing very sternly with both arms crossed. This juxtaposes the next movements he makes with his legs which are where he lets them become looser. This once again shows a rather sassy/gutsy attitude that he is giving off. The fact that he is closing off his body shows that he has something to hide and that maybe he isn't too comfortable within that environment. This isn't something that I feel would work very well within our music video because we want our artist to be comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera and to be able to express herself rather than to close herself of. Bowie however, does go on to release his stern position and lets his arms hang loose. He is then seen pointing with an angry expression at the camera with his other hand on his hip showing his stubbornness and anger. He then goes on to continue the sinister look by rolling his eyes back very creepily.
This isn't the sort of style that we would like to use in our music video because although she is talking about a 'gangsta', it would be more of a dark and gloomy idea rather than scary and creepy. The idea how ever to use contact lenses to create a suspicious and confusing look has been discussed within our group. This then would give a darker feel about the music video. Low key lighting is an option to consider to conotate the deep and dark place that our artist would be in in order to want a gangsta to love her. This contrasts to the lighting that has been used within David Bowie's 'Life on Mars?'. He uses lighting to emphasise the attention on himself however, we would use things such as mise-en-scene and props to draw attention to our artist.

Country Music in relation to our music video.

I have made a prezi allowing you to see the relation of country music with our chosen song and our music video.

History of Country Music

The genre of Country music originates from the southern states of America where in the 1920's, mostly white working class Americans created the genre by generating it from other music genres such as blue, western and folk music. Country music often associates itself with ballads or dance music using mostly string instruments such as banjos or guitars and can sometimes be accompanied by harmonicas. Country then gained popularity in the 1940's where it was referred to as 'hillbilly music'. 

Later on in the 1930/40's, record sales of country music dropped due to the great depression. However, due to the radio being a main form of entertainment, radio stations began to set up 'barn dance' shows where country music would be played. The most important one was the Grand Ole Opry which is 8still as popular today as it was when it began all those years prior. Many different acts have performed there including Jenny Lou Carson who from 1945-1955 was the most popular country singer in the States.  More recently they have had artists such as the Alabama Shakes and two time Grammy Award Nominated artist Mindi Abair.

Progressing through to the 1950's many Country artists were using blends of western swing, country boogie and honky tonk to create their unique sound. Rockabilly, a sub-genre of Country music, became very popular in the 1950's with Country music fans, with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash taking 2nd and 3rd place on the charts in 1956. Elvis Presley, although having been referred to as a Rock and roll artist, said himself 'I'm only playing hopped-up country music.'

Later on the in 1960/70's is where Country music became recognised globally with artists like Dolly Parton become a household name even still to this day. Her song 'Here you come again' topped the charts in 1977 and many, many more successful records followed.

By the 1980's, Country artists continued to soar through the charts with people like Willie Nelson topping them two years in a row. Four country singers then went on to top the Billboard charts in the 1980's bringing more and more popularity to the genre.

Through the years, Country music has grown in popularity massively. Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Shania Twain are just a few stars to mention that are regular names to hear when talking about country music. However, now in 2016, Country music can say it was responsible for creating fame for a certain solo female artist.

Taylor Swift at the age of 14 moved to Nashville, Tennessee in order to live out her dream of being a Country singer. This meant she then became the youngest artist ever signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house.  Taylor then went on to write a self-entitled album which contained the song 'Our Song' which she wrote in her junior year. The music video to the song won both nominations for "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" at the 2008 CMT Music Awards. In the United States, 'Our Song' became Swift's first number one single on the Hot Country Songs Chart, maintaining the position for six consecutive weeks, and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Taylor has received many awards and honours, including 10 Grammy Awards, 19 American Music Awards, 23 Billboard Music Awards, Country Music Association Awards, 8 Academy of Country Music Awards, 1 Brit Award and 1 Emmy. As a songwriter, she has been honoured by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriter Hall of Frame. By the beginning of 2016, Swift had sold more than 40 million albums, 130 million single downloads and was one of the top five music artists with the highest worldwide digital sales. Each of Swift's studio albums had sold at least four million units in the U.S.: Taylor Swift (5.5 million), Fearless (7.0 million), Speak Now (4.5 million), Red (4.1 million) and 1989 (5.7 million).

History of R&B

I have created my presentation on the website prezi which will there describe the history of R'n'B.

History of Rock Music

Rock music first originated in the United States in 1950's with a combination of R'n'B, blues and folk music being used with further incorporations from classical and jazz music. With the electric guitar being the main focal point in early rock songs, it also included other instruments such as the electric base guitar and the drums. Unlike other music genres, rock music isn't afraid to draw influence from social or political issues when creating songs, but also links to folk music where both of the genres will use their songs as a 'protest song' against many different social or political issues such as sex, race and drug use. This also links to the similarities it shares with other music genres in terms of lyrical aspects where rock music will use love as a lyrical focus.

Rock music over the years has been a driving point for many different cultural and social movement such as the sub-cultures of 'mods' and 'rockers' in the UK during the 1960's. This was closely followed in the 1970's to the creation of further sub-cultures such as 'goths' and 'emos'. The genre of Rock is often used as a break from conformity by teenagers, allow them to express their own emotions through the controversial music genre.

The first time that rock music was introduced was by Alan Reed who started playing R'n'B music but used the term 'rock and roll' to describe the music. There is much debate about which record was the first 'rock' record. However, Bill Hayley's 'rock around the clock' was the first rock and roll song to top the Billboard charts in 1955. By 1962, rock music was introduced by the likes of The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers from big cities like Liverpool, which was closely followed by The Rolling Stones who later adapted a more high energy and an upbeat tempo with influences from American music. They took a different approach when it came to rock by producing more aggressive songs which is the form of music that is more commonly known as rock music in today's society.
Since the 60's rock has gone on to be very diverse with it's different variety which has been adapted to still be classified as rock music. There are many different varieties of rock including, heavy rock (AC/DC), glam rock (David Bowie), progressive rock (Electric Light Orchestra) and psychedelic rock (Jimi Hendrix).