Logo designs

Final chosen logo

We decided to use this logo as our official choice as oppose to the other two because this one represents the music that Kehlani creates and the song that we have chosen because the darkness of the purple shows that the music isn't upbeat and happy, but has a slow and deep rhythm instead. Another reason for choosing this is because the font has a special effect which makes it looks rough and unfinished. We wanted it to look like that because it adds to the messy and grungy feeling and for the colours and fonts to match the name of the label is good because they need to link and relate to each other. Another feature we liked about this logo is the glossy effect the brush stoke has, as it stands out from the other features which are quite solid, so it gives the logo a special touch. 

Location research

Locations

For our music video we need at least 3 different locations to film in , but we have researched a variety of locations so that we can have our actor in places that only suit our theme and character, so by having more options we can choose the best for our video. We want locations that are very run down and urban so that we can represent the theme of the song thorough the setting of the video.

One of our locations is Leake Street tunnel, this is the image we want for our setting because we feel as its very urban and run down, but it has a creative and artistic side to it swell, so the different colours would look really good for parts of pure song where we need to show different emotions or a transition to a filler because even if we just have some shots of the graffiti and art it will still look very effective. This tunnel is also in London which is an advantage for us because there are many other places in London that look very run down and dirty so whilst we are there we will be able to film other places and get her lip syncing in different locations that we may suddenly see. The tunnel is also a good place to use because we could use different camera shots with Mikah heading towards the end of the tunnel with the arch which would look very effective especially when it gets darker in the day as her shadow may be all we see. 

Another location is an abandoned stables, this is located a lot more locally in Rainham. This means that its a lot more accessable and will be less time consuming. This is also a good place to use because its been destroyed and vandalised a lot so the dirty feeling will really be represented through this location. Also the stables is very big with many different locations within it, which means that we can use it for multiple shots especially with the different graffiti on the walls it could be very effective with Mikah stood in front of art. Another reason why we want to use this place is because its very dark and the lighting is quite minimal as you can see in the image above the only lighting that is available is coming from the broken ceiling with holes and it would have to be sunny outside for us to even get that amount of light. This is good because we don't really want our video to be bright because that wouldn't really represent the right image of the song, so that darkness is very beneficial to us when creating the vibe we want for the video.  

A third location is a council estate with flats, we have found a specific one in Brompton called Melville Court and we want to use this place because it again has the run down feeling and it looks almost deserted. These themes are beneficial to us because the song is about a gangster, which can either be very rich and successful, or have a lot of money some times but often owes people money meaning that they cannot afford lavish items and we have chosen the second type of gangster so this living accommodation will convey to the audience that she doesn't care if the gangster is rich or poor she just wants his love.

Other we have for our location...

Actor Auditions and advertisement

To advertise for our the auditions for the artist in our music video we created a poster which we put around school and anyone who wanted to do it could contact us with the information on the poster shown below.

This is a video showing the auditions our previous possible actors were involved in, so that we can see who would be best for our video, as they need to be good at lip syncing as well as having the right image and being confident.

Possibe Actors

Possible actors

Rhiannon Elliot

One of our possible main actors is Rhiannon Elliot, we chose her as one of our options because she is a very alternative, expressive and confident. She has an image that is very unique which is what we are looking for our final choice. Whilst taking pictures of Rhiannon she was very confident in front of the camera and did exactly what we asked for her to do. She also showed how she is not shy to pose in different positions that felt comfortable to her.

However when we informed Rhiannon that she will need to be seductive in the role, she was slightly opposed to the idea, and when asked to pose seductively she could not. This is an issue because we need to represent a very seductive character as Kehlani herself is.

Even though she is not seductive, she can show other emotions very quickly, as the picture shows her smiling and being serious, which shows that she can show different emotions that the song may be conveying very easily.

To conclude, Rhiannon shows that she is very confident in the camera as well as outside of it, she follows the instructions we give her very easily and has very good skills when a change in emotion was needed as she completed the change very quickly. But as she struggled at the attempt of being seductive, it is hard to give her the main role as that is one of the main characteristics that our actor needs and the most important.

 

Mikah Arnold

 The second possible choice of actor is Mikah Arnold. We chose Mikah because she is very confident and has the natural attitude we want for our character.

When taking the pictures she showed her confidence in front of the camera as well which was good because she needs to feel comfortable with the camera on her as if we choose her she obviously will be in front of it. However she wasn't extremely confident at first as we were in a room with external people not involved in our media project, but she soon tried to focus on us and became fully confident.

As Mikah wears glasses we thought this may be an issue in the music video as glasses aren't really associated with a gangster, or that theme at all. But we did have this conversation with her and she was fine to use contact lenses instead, which erases the issue.

As we want one of the main characteristics of our lead to be seductive, so when taking pictures of her we asked her to pose seductively and she showed us that she could be very seductive, which is a necessity for us so it appears that Mikah if the strongest person to fit our music video.

Another positive aspect of Mikah is that she has many piercings which the pictures show, on the side profile and she also has a neck piercing at the back of her neck. These are positive because as Kehlani has many tattoos so piercings are a very good alternative as they are both adding to her body.

 

 

 

 

 

Balinder Powar

 

 

 Our third and final possible actor is Balinder Powar, she is also very confident and probably the most confident one out of all three options. She is not afraid to do any facial expression, anything with her body and just if overall open to playing any character usually in a very humorous way.

When taking pictures of Balinder she was very helpful when we asked her to do a certain pose or be in a certain position, but also was very whiling to express her own poses. This is good because when it comes to the actual recording of the music video, we want our actor to be able to do their own   thing without us having to direct every move, it will just make it a lot easier if she can have some input to what she feels she should do in some shots.
However as mentioned previously, Balinder does have a very humorous way of expressing her personality, which shows her as a happy and joyful person. Unfortunately this image is not what we want to convey to the audience, we want the feel of seduction and love, which I don't think Balinder will be able to represent in the video.

After taking in to consideration of all our possible actors we have decided to cast Mikah as our lead characterbecause she is confident in and out of the camera, she can be seductive, and her overall image, especially her piercings, is what we want for our character.

 

 

Lip syncing practise

To practise and get an insight of what lip syncing is actually like we used two member of our group to test it out. It showed us that it was quite difficult to get the timing right so that the lips matched up with the actual song. But this was fairly easy to edit as whilst we were filming we played the song so that they knew the timings of the song, so when we edited in the original music, there was little editing needed to be done.

The difficulties that were shown whilst carrying out our practise exercises, was that the syncing looked too forced and fake, due to over pronouncing and moving the mouth too much, this made it look very fake and clear to see that they weren't actually singing the song. But after we practised it more and more, they became more natural. However if this happens in the real music video and the actor is miming the words too much, then we can get them to sing through the song so that they wont feel the need to make it look real, because they will be actually singing and we will just silence the video when we play the music over it.

Another problem we may encounter is the confidence in front of the camera. This is because even though the two people we used were very confident girls, when put in front of the camera they became less confident and found it much harder to act natural and feel comfortable whilst being recorded, so if the future actor we choose for our music video struggles to be as confident as we need her to be then this would be a very big problem. To solve it we could get them to just practise a lot in front of the camera before we start filming what we need and do whatever they need to feel comfortable. For example if they don't like us watching whilst she lip syncs then we would face a different direction, as this would make her feel better and overall perform better.

However this exercise has helped us learn how to position our actor in the camera and what angles look best in different locations, because as you can see, the girls weren't directly in front of the camera they were actually at the side of the shot because it made it look less basic which has already helped us gain a better idea of what is best for our official video.

Final song choice

Discussion of song choice

Record labels logos

Island Records

Island records is a conglomerate record label that was founded in Jamaica and now has three brands in different locations, Island UK, Island US and Island Australia. They have signed artists such as Ariana Grande, Florence and The Machine, Nick Jonas and Catfish and the Bottlemen. The logo has a palm tree which shows the origin of the record label as it was founded in the Caribbean. The black and white colouring is also very effective as the black circle looks like the sun with the white tree appearing like shadowing. The large lettering is also beneficial to the logo as it is clear and eye catching even though it is black. The font is also very timeless in the way that as it is so simple its hard for it to look dated and old fashioned, because it was founded in 1959 and even now over 50 years later it still doesn't look outdated, it still looks moderns and new.

The image it gives is of an island, which gives the feeling of freedom. This could show the potential audience that the music that they create can give you the feeling of escape from their everyday lives. The target audience appears to be a very broad range from 16 to late 30's as the artists also vary from young pop stars like The Vamps to older artists like Annie Lennox.
 

Night Slugs



Night slugs is a very recently made record label that was created in England in 2010 that signs electronic and base music artists. As they are an independent label the artists are not as well known as the previous record label Island Records, as they have artists such as Lil Silva, Kingdom and DJ C. The logo is very vibrant with the bold colours of pink, blue and green which really stand out up against the black outline. As the black outline is so thick its defined more and as its so dark it relates to the name of the label because it gives the image of the night time with the dark sky.

Even though the logo is very eye catching the geometrics of it does make it slightly difficult to read the wording as it is 35 and quite confusing. This would be something we would consider when creating our own logo, as we don't want it to be difficult for people to read. However for this specific record label it is relevant as they specify in base, garage and electronic music, which doesn't really have a clear structure like other genres as a lot of the time its just music and no vocals, so the confusing and lack of structure could be showing how the music that they create also has no fixed or clear arrangement. But as the genre we are focusing on is RnB, this wouldn't be an idea we would carry on to our logo.

As the record label was only recently founded in 2010, 6 years ago, it could potentially look outdated in the years to come, but for this year and society it still very much fits in with the modern look. It could possibly look outdated because of the bright colours, they can often make something look tacky or unprofessional in the future if these types of colours are not popular.
 

Cinematic Music Group

The Cinematic Music Group is a record label in New York City founded in 2007 that focuses on the Hip Hop genre. It includes artists like Mick Jenkins, Joey Bada$$ and Pro Era. As they were created fairly recently 9 years ago usually the logo would look more modern, but this has a very classic feel to it with the image of a vinyl record, which are a very old fashioned way of listening to music. But it suggests that the music produced will have a classic of in some way a traditional hip hop sound. The black and white colouring also fits the old theme that it appears to have. As its very basic and if it was created when records were the main way of listening to music then the logo probably would've been black and white as they wouldn't have had the resources to create colour.

The font of the title is very bold and clear to see because its of a large size. Also the record is not in the shape of a full circle because instead they have chosen it to resemble the 'C' for the word Cinematic which gives it a different twist of the original design.

The target audience for the music produced by this label would be around 18-30 because of the rap styles in the music, but the logo contrasts with this as it would be more suitable for an older audience due to the logo appearing quite old fashioned.

I think the logo is quite plain and dull because even though it has the nice classic feel to it, it doesn't have anything that really catches the eye. I think the thickness of the black outline makes it less effective because everything is outlined so it doesn't show clearly what the main focal point is.
 

Columbia Records

Columbia Records are a record label that is owned by Sony Music Entertainment, it was founded in America in 1887. It the longest running record label in the world and the second most major. It is involved with artists like Beyoncé, Adele, John Legend and Alicia Keys. These artists are the type we would want for our record label as they are part of the Soul RnB genre. As the company has ben around for so many years (129 years) I would expect the logo to look a lot more dated, but it actually still looks fitting for this century. It has an older feel with the font, its very classic but sets a statement. The background colour is a very deep pink, almost a cranberry colour, it really brings our the blackness of the wording and image. It also makes it different from other logos as most of the other record labels have logos with either a white or black background, which makes this one stand out above the rest. The main focal point of the logo is the image above the writing which appear to be just a picture made by them and not a different image I have seen before. It looks a little bit like an eye with the wide oval shape of it and the darker circle in the middle resembling the pupil. Which is quite captivating as it draws the eyes especially with the surrounding circles. In a way the repetition of the circles looks like it could be try to hypnotise the person looking at it which is a very smart idea.
Overall the logo is very bold and unique when compared to other logos I have looked at, but it is definitely the one that I would take more from when creating my own logo, because it has many good characteristics and features that would be good for our genre, target audience and overall look for the artist.

Kehlani Biography

Kehlani

Kehlani Parrish, known as Kehlani in the music industry is a 21 year old R&B, Soul and Hip Hop singer born in Oakland California in 1995. She was born with a unique mix of ethnicities as she is African American, Caucasian, Native American, Spanish, and Filipino Native American. From an early age she was raised by her Aunt due to her father dying and her mother having a drug addiction and being in and out of prison.

From the beginning she wanted to be a dancer, she went to Oakland School For The Arts to achieve her dream of becoming a ballet dancer, but she later on suffered a knee injury which meant she could no longer continue dancing. This then lead to her finding solace in music that she would listen to with her aunt, it would be artists mainly women with soul and passion in their voices which fuelled Kehlani's passion for singing.

As she now had a dream to become a singer, so at the age of 14 she became a part of  a girl group called Poplyfe which was successful in the Bay area where they would perform concerts, which they did for about 2 years. They later went on to be finalists in America's got talent, but unfortunately didn't win, but it got Kehlani noticed by producers. So months later when she decided to start singing again, she found herself trying to do so whilst trying to find somewhere to live due to her being almost homeless. This made it very hard for her to pursue her career seriously as she had no money and no home. As she had no money she found herself having to steal from shops for food.

In 2013 her luck changed, as Nick Cannon the host of America's got Talent when she was on it, contacted her asking if she wanted to be in a rap group, to which she said yes to. However when she got to the studio and discovered the sound and direction the group wanted to have, she had to decline the offer as it was not what she wanted. So she moved back to her home town in Oakland where she made and released her first song 'ANTISUMMERLUV', to which Nick Cannon listened to and then got into contact with her and set her up with an apartment in LA and studio time so she can pursue her career.

The studio time that was given to her allowed her to make her first mix tape in 2014 called Cloud 9, the album was very successful and ranked 28th in the Complex's list of the 50 best albums of 2014. This was a great start to her professional career and led to other chart successes. Only a year later she released her second mixtape called which was an even greater success as it was 5th in the National R&B Hip Hop chart, shortly after this was released she had been signed to a new record label, Atlantic Records. This meant she had finally made it in the music industry even though she had a lot of struggle to get to where she is now.

Although in 2015 everything was going well and prospering, in 2016 Kehlani's personal life was not doing so well. At the beginning of the year he got in a relationship with a NBA star Kyrie Irving, and their relationship was very clear on the media. But they later on broke up with each other, but the public were unaware of this, this lead to her being perceived negatively to the public as a picture of her in a well known artist, PARTYNEXTDOOR's ,bed which appeared like she had cheated. This lead to her attempting suicide shortly after because she didn't want to live with the image the media has created of her. But fortunately she survived and has fully recovered and has started her career again with a song that's even featured in the new film Suicide Squad.

 



Character Mood Board

Character mood board


The image we want for our music video is present in the mood board with images Kehlani herself, many different styles of clothing, makeup ideas and further costumes for the character surrounding the main one. In the mood board I have incorporated many images of Kehlani outside of her music videos, this is because even though she is the artist we have chosen, she also has the style we want our main character to have in our video. Her style is very unique and involves many dark colour which is good for the video because we want to convey a theme of darkness with the message of the song so for her clothing to also be dark would really accentuate the seriousness of the lyrics. Also Kehlani's style gives of a very urban and confident vibe to her, this is good for our main character because as she wants to be loved by a gangster, she needs to fit the image of a gangsters girlfriend. So with the styles that Kehlani has would really suit the stereotypical image of the partner of a gangster, especially with that large hoop earrings, large jewellery and bandanas shown in some of the images.
I have also involved pictures of red and black lips, this is to how the makeup choices for the main character and i have chosen the red to represent the love she wants to receive from a man as red is seen to be the colour of passion and love, but also to show that she is a strong and powerful woman because usually when you see he colour red on anyone it does show that they have confidence to wear such a bold colour, which allow us to show the audience that even though she wants the love off of a man she also can take care of herself. I chose the colour of the black lips however to show the contrast of the love and darkness that comes with loving a gangster because with the passionate love that he will give to her, comes the dangerous side of the relationship.
Another image that we want for our main character is for her to have the similar tattoos that Kehlani has. These include tattoos on te shoulder, arm, back and especially on her hands and finger and possible one or two on her face if the actor is able to have them, because it will definitely show the gangster in her as many gangsters and criminals have tattoos on their body everywhere especially their hands. Fo the tattoos to be on her hands also shows that she isn't trying to hide that she as them, a she is proud of the art. It also shows the commitment to the gangster culture which proves to the audience how much this woman wants to be loved by a true gangster.

Target Audience Mood Board

Target Audience Mood Board

Our target audience is mainly young women with the range from teenager to young adult. The mood board shows many different women and not men because as the chosen artist is a female, it is a lot easy to reach out to female fans as men may reject the idea of listening to a female singer and would typically rather listen to a male artist. Also, women are more likely to feel the emotion that Kehlani has in the song and they may feel empowered by how strong and powerful she is in the video better than men would.

The women in the image are young adults each with different styles, they range from unique clothes to unique hair such as the female with the silver/grey braids. But there are also some generic image involved like the blonde girl wearing the black hat a she is wearing clothing that is seen on many other women. 

I have also added images of brands like Asos, Zara, Topshop and Nike which are clothing stores which would have similar female shoppers as our hopeful audience for our chosen song.

Genre mood board

RnB Soul Mood Board

The chosen genre of music is RnB Soul it encompasses  elements of both passion and  rhythm. The artists vary from Whitney Houston and Beyoncé to  Bryson Tiller and The Weeknd which all have very different sounds but involve the same features to be classed as RnB. This genre is very popular in the current music industry, this could be because as the features of he genre are very broad, it allows these artists to also involve other subgenres of RnB into their music as well as the soul. Fo example one artist shown in the mood board includes Bryson Tiller who has a very unique soul sound and also incorporates rap into his songs, which can make him more popular with a much larger audience because his music is incorporating elements of rap, RnB an soul. The mood board also shows some of the greats that helps in the making of this music being as wanted as it is now, such as Whitney Houston, who has impacted the involvement of soul and rhythm with her songs having her passionate voice with a strong beat behind the lyrics. It also shows artists who are not yet as popular as the singers like Whitney and Beyoncé, such as Kehlani who is a young woman that has a lot of fans but has not yet branched out as much into the same category a the mainstream artists, but her music style is becoming increasingly more popular. Suggest she is an up and coming well known artist for the RnB soul genre of music. 



RnB music videos

To show the RnB music videos that I have analysed I have created a prezi   https://prezi.com/dnz_uft4_4nl/edit/#1_24309637

Country music video

To show the country music videos that I have analysed I have created a prezi
https://prezi.com/j76o-ijj--dl/edit/#1_24309637

Rock Music videos

To show the music videos that I have analysed I have created a prezi
https://prezi.com/ousmzdgp3lle/rock-music-videos/

The History of Country music

Country music originated in the southern states of the USA in the 1920's, it was one of the first genres of popular American music but old-time music was its original style but it developed into a mixture of folk music from churches, African American blues and the British Isles. The instruments usually involved in country music would be banjos, guitars, harmonics, fiddles and mandolin. The first recording of country music was by the group called Carter Family, they consisted of vocalists and guitars.  This is what country music originally sounded like....

Country music is said to be mainly from white singers and there is a great lack of diversity within this genre as many of the popular or well known country music artists were white such as Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, who are the three most well known country music stars.

Throughout the years country music doesn't have a drastic change as the genre has a very traditional sound. In the 40's country music became very popular and overtook the previous country music known  as 'hillbilly' music because started to involve more Western styles of music so a broader audience was able to enjoy twist of their usual music.
In the 50's country music labels in Nashville were losing a lot of money because rock and roll and soul music had taken over, so the genre had to change its sound. To compete with the new popular music, the country music labels decided to have a smoother vocalist and kept the traditional instruments but gave it a more orchestra sound. This new country music then became more popular with people that didn't like soul or rock music but hadn't liked the previous country music, so new fans were brought to this sound.
However many country artists were unhappy about what Nashville had done to the traditional country music because it had changed so much. This then lead to a new genre of outlaw country music which involved musicians one being Johnny Cash. This outlaw country music saved the original sound of
country and was very popular once again.
Even though country music has evolved throughout the years and created many different subgenres, it is still very popular now especially in the southern countries of which it originated from, but in many other countries this genre is also very popular and not just with the older population. As the sound has modernised and kept up with the social trends but has still kept its traditional feeling.
The poplar country music artists in 2016 include Florida Georgia line, Kelsea Ballerini, Sam Hunt and many more, but these are the three most popular currently.

The History of R'n'B

RnB is the abbreviated term from rhythm and blue music which originated in the United States in the 1940's. When RnB was first created it was very popular within the African American communities because often the music would represent the oppression  and pain that they were experiencing at that time, which made the music very relatable to thousands of people in the US. The features of the popular RnB music in the 50's would involve a piano, bass, guitar's and a saxophone. These instruments together would create a very soulful and passionate sound.
In the 1950's the sound of RnB was dominated by artists such as Ray Charles, Ruth Brown and groups like the Drifter and Coasters. Here is one song from Ruth Brown called "Mama he treats your daughter mean".
                                     
Even though this sound dominated the 50's, overtime the sound of RnB has changed many times because this genre has said to be the creator of rock and roll, especially as in the 70's many British bands were said to be RnB, so instead of the original jazz and blues sound The Rolling Stones were being classified as RnB.
Rhythm and blues once again changes in the 70's to a more soul and funk sound with groups like the very popular Jackson 5, which involved one of the greatest artists of all time, Michael Jackson. Shortly after in the 80's there had been a new sound created which was called Contemporary RnB, this involved many different sounds such as soul, funk, hip hop and dance. The 80's then lead the changes in the millennium where rap becomes very popular and starts to be the main sound of RnB, particularly in the current music scene with very popular artists like Kanye West and Drake.

However there is still a very soulful sound within RnB in 2016 with artists like Beyoncé and Rihanna who often dictate and dominate the popular music for many years.

             

           

History of Rock music

Rock music started in the United States in the 1940's and 50's, its was originally based with music from other genres such as electric blues and folk , but with a different twist. Rock music has also created the 'rock and roll' title which influences a lot of different artists from different genres since the  50's. There is a large debate as to what the first ever rock song released was, but the first rock song that topped the Billboard magazine's charts and airplay was Bill Haley with the song "Rock Around the Clock". This showed the rock genre that their music has been accepted in the music industry, which is why rock is still around in 2016.

Rock often involves heavy instruments such as drums and an electric base guitar, these create a very hard and loud sound which rock is known for. The typical lyrics in the songs are about romance, love and often social or political views that the artists express throughout their songs. This genre in past years has been seen to be white and male dominant, which effected the themes that are involve din the music. However more recently there are rock bands lead by females and other ethnicities.
Throughout time such as in the 1960's rock has developed subgenres such as blue rock, folk rock, country rock, raga rock and jazz rock. It also influenced the Punk genre in the 1980's and in the 90's, forming from Punk, Alternative rock which dominated the 90's rock scene with grunge, Britpop and indie rock. Since the 21st century there has also been the creation of pop rock, rap rock and rap metal which are very different to the original rock sound, but have been created to keep up with the new social trends and to stay a modern genre. This is the link to one of the 21st century creations of rock, Rap metal

 

Rock music often has the stigma of young people rebelling to social standards and not conforming to the adult consumerism that they witness in their youth. This links to the political expressions that certain rock groups express through their music. When artists express their own views on social issues and politics they often have a very large impact and influence on their listeners, especially when they have the views to be defiant to their societies social norms and values and this can create certain sub cultures, for example the 1970's punk culture created 'Goth's' and 'Emo's'. A typical 'Goth' would typically be dressed in very dark clothing, often Victorian style with very pale makeup on their skin but very black eye makeup and hair, to make them even more different from what society would deem as normal. Whereas the 'Emo' culture was a lot less physically obvious as it was more about the emotion that the music involved and the term 'Emo' actually comes from the "emotional hard-core" title that the punk fans were given. Even though the emo culture has changed overtime and moved into more indie music, the subculture does still exist.
 

Eventhough the rock genre has changed and evolved overtime with social trends to modernise itself it still very much exists and is still as popular as it was in the original rock and roll era.