Rap Music History

The word ‘rap’ originated from the early 15th and 16th century in Britain. Within the 60s the word then started to appear in the black community in America. Rapping came about thousands of years ago from Africa ‘griots’ which were villagers that told their family stories or current events by using basic homemade instruments. DJ’s & Rappers were going  around everywhere to every block party however record companies didn't see anything to invest in. However rap music finally became mainstream in 1979 and the first rap song to get commercially released was “King Tim III” by Fatback Band. In the 80s “Rappers Delight” came to reach top 40 in the billboard spot. Rap therefore is known to bring focus on families and lifting spirits in moments of heartache and pain.

Digipak analysis 2

Rita Ora- Digipak analysis

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Below is my question 3 evaluation.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research
Technologies I used -
I used the internet to look up about other music videos by using software YouTube.
New skills-
I didn't learn any new skills as this piece of software is simple and I use it in everyday life. Which means that I didn't improve in anything during the research part.

Planning
Technologies I used -
I used the internet mainly which is a software which means that I used it to look up what I need to use throughout my production to make it look professional.
New skills-
I didn't learn any new skills as I use the internet everyday and therefore didn't learn anything.

Productions
Technologies I used -
The technologies I used whilst doing the production of my ancillary texts and music video is two types of software which where photoshop to improve the ancillary texts. iMovie to improve the music video and put all the clips together to make the music video as best I could. The only part of hardware I used was a camera which I used to take photos for my ancillary texts.
New skills-
During the production of my ancillary texts I learnt how to use photo shop which was a new skill as I never used it before. I found it quiet hard at first due to having to pay very little detail to everything within the ancillary texts. However during using iMovie I had used it before and therefore didn't learn any new skills.
Features-
Whilst using iMovie I used features such as speeding up the film to make it look like times moving quickly. The video effects which I used to change the colour of the videos and different effects over the videos to change what they looked like. I think it looks very effective because it looks like it is s CCTV camera and therefore creates the atmosphere of the location.

Evaluation
Overall i used both new and old software and hardware some that I’ve used before and some that i haven’t. due to this i have learnt new skills such as how to photoshop and change the effect on iMovie therefore learning most of my new skills during the production stage. however i didn’t learn any new skills when i did my research and planning

Digipak analysis 1

Digipak Analysis- Part 1

Rihanna's album 'Loud'

To analysis a digipak from the R&B genre we decided to look at Rihanna's album 'Loud' this is because it is the same artist as ours and therefore would be the best digipak to get ideas from. 

Front cover

The main colour that are used for the front cover of the digiak is red this is usually stereotypically a sexual colour and can symbolise love. throughout this digipak red becomes a theme as she shows the colour red through her lipstick and her hair. the love and desire that is shown throughout this front cover can be expressed through the colour red and has a link to the lyrics in the song that is being advertised. The blushed cheeks will pull in the male attention and her skin tone against the bright red hair will pull their attention to her eyes.

The way her eyes are portrayed in this front cover looks like she is trying to hide away or not be seen. however in contrast her lips are slightly open and therefore can be seen as sexualised. Also by her eyes being nearly shut can link to the lyrics in the song that is being advertised as she may be trying tot shut the rest of the world out. Following this it may be seen as her trying to flirt and subdued someone which therefore draws the attention from the audience in. 

The tattoo on her neck is fully visible however stereotypically women aren't seen to have tattoos and therefore this may show her to be stronger. This may link to her being independent and able to stand on her own, this may also show her to be strong as tattoos are seen to hurt and therefore shows that she is able to go through the pain. 

The font that is used on this front cover is simple and the white wiring against the red and her skin tone makes it stand out and catch the buyers eyes. The way that the font is spaced out and only is four letters which takes up the whole of the bottom of the front cover, can represent that she needs space therefore linking to the lyrics. 

The close up of Rihanna on the front of the digipak makes the audience attracted to buying it due to the audience feeling closer to the artist. Due to the close up of her face makes the digipak and Rihanna more attractive as it is simple and there isn't a lot to concentrate on. As her face is in the centre of the digipak it makes the audience know who is the artist in this single and they would know what it looks like straight away. Following this it will be easy to remember as it all links the digipak and the song and lyrics together, as she is on the front cover and sung the song. Her target audience would be attracted to this front cover as women usually like other artists due to their appearance and how they would like to look like them. 

Inside

Inside the digipak the main focus if Rihanna, this shows the audience that she is the main artist. Which is following the typical convention of Rihanna by using most of her body to cover up most of the surface. The main focus within this mid-shot is focus of her face and chest which attracts the male gaze to be attracted to this digipak. 

The inside of the digipak follows the colour scheme due to having red roses, lipstick and her hair colour. The colour red the is carried on throughout the inside of the digipak still symbolises sex and love.

Following that the colour red is symbolising love something else that links into this is the roses. roses are typically a flower that represents love and therefore links in to the symbolisation that her hair and lipstick is representing. Roses are also normally given to women from men and therefore this can indicate that she has got a lot of admires due to the amount of roses. 

The way that Rihanna is laying can be portrayed as Sleeping Beauty the fairytale therefore could represent that in her song she wants a fairytale kind of love and romance. 

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Below is my question two evaluation.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

YouTube

The reason why I chose to use YouTube to upload my 'Man Down' music video is because it is easily assessable for everyone to see. The challenges that comes with using YouTube is that you have to have Wi-Fi to watch YouTube and if you haven't got Wi-Fi you cant watch it. However by having it on YouTube everyone is able to watch it.

Advert

To make our advert we used Photoshop so that we could attract our target audience in the best possible way. Our advert is a tour date poster and this is therefore a poster that is seen everywhere.

Digipak

To make our digipak we have also used Photoshop which links into the advert above.

Genre

Throughout my digipak nd music video we have gone against and followed typical conventions of the R&B genre. We have done this by using locations, costumes, editing, camera shots and gender representation.