concept pitch/ treatment

in depth artist case study

American rapper, record producer and actor Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He never knew his father, Marshall Mathers Jr., who abandoned the family when Eminem was still an infant and rebuffed all of his son's many attempts to contact him during his childhood. As a result, Eminem was raised by his mother, Deborah Mathers. She never managed to hold down a job for more than several months at a time, so they moved frequently between Missouri and Detroit, Michigan, spending large chunks of time in public housing projects. "I would change schools two, three times a year," Eminem later recalled. "That was probably the roughest part about it all."

This itinerant lifestyle left a large impact on his personality. He had no close friends, kept almost entirely to himself and was treated like an outcast at each new school. "Beat up in the bathroom, beat up in the hallways, shoved into lockers," he remembered. Eminem has been scathingly critical of the way his mother raised him. Through his song lyrics, he has publicly accused her of being addicted to prescription drugs as well as subjecting him to emotional and physical abuse. However, Deborah Mathers has vehemently denied all such accusations, and in 1999 she filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against her son. They settled the case for $25,000.

Eminem attended Lincoln High School in Warren, Michigan, where he failed the ninth grade three times and eventually dropped out at the age of 17. Despite being a poor student, Eminem always had a deep affinity for language, devouring comic books and even studying the dictionary. "I found that no matter how bad I was at school, like, and no matter how low my grades might have been at some times, I always was good at English ... I just felt like I wanna be able to have all of these words at my disposal, in my vocabulary at all times whenever I need to pull 'em out. You know, somewhere, they'll be stored, like, locked away."

As a teenage dropout, Eminem found a way to express his passion for language, as well as to release his youthful anger, through the emerging musical genre of hip-hip. He identified with the nihilistic rage of late-1980s and early-1990s rap music, and he was especially taken with N.W.A., the popular and highly controversial gangster rap crew from Los Angeles.

Although at the time rap music was almost exclusively produced by black people, Eminem, who has pale white skin and bright blue eyes, nevertheless entered into the Detroit rap scene as a frequent competitor in rap "battles"—competitions in which two rappers take turns insulting the other through improvised rap lyrics. Eminem proved highly skilled at such verbal sparring and, despite his race, quickly became one of the most respected figures in Detroit's underground rap scene.

He recalled, "I finally found something that yeah, this kid over here, you know, he may have more chicks, and he may, you know, have better clothes, or whatever, but he can't do this like me. You know what I mean? He can't write what I'm writing right now. And it started to feel like, you know, maybe Marshall's gettin' a little respect." Mathers assumed the stage name M&M, a playful reference to his initials, which he later began writing phonetically as "Eminem." This period in Eminem's life—working odd jobs to make ends meet while participating in rap battles and desperately attempting to land a record contract—was later dramatized in Eminem's semi-autobiographical film, 8 Mile.

It was also during this period that Eminem began dating Kim Ann Scott, and in 1995 the couple had a daughter named Hailie Jade Scott. Inspired by the birth of his daughter to make a living as a rapper, in 1996, Eminem released his first independent rap album, Infinite. Though the album displayed flashes of his verbal prowess, biting wit and flair for storytelling, the low-budget record failed to turn a profit or attract more than local attention

genres of music videos

conventions

hip hop:

In nearly all of the hip hop music videos i have watched they all involve either: money, cars, jewellery, drugs and lots of women. In the video's the artist was always centre of attention and there is always close ups of the artist. This is to show that it is their song. In all of the music hip hop videos they all use multi camera. I can tell this because in all of the videos there is always different camera angles shown. In hip hop music videos they don't follow a certain storyline, the music video follows the genre.


The music video Big pimpin by Jay Z is a really good example to show the convention of hip hop. In a hip hop music video you expect to see lots of girls. This music video really shows that off because there isn't a scene where the artist hasn't got a girl by his side. The fact that the music video is set and filmed on a multi million pound yacht shows off the amount of money the artist has which is backed up by the expensive jewellery he wears which we expect to see.


Again in the music video switch lanes by Tyga and The Game we can really see the hip hop convention. Like Big Pimpin by Jay Z there is lots of girls in the music video, they are not in every single scene, but we see them most of the time. The artists like to also show off their money in this music video by flashing the expensive super cars and also by wearing big flashy expensive jewellery.

Indie:
In all indie music videos i have noticed that the videos tend to be black and white. The artist or band are usually shown throughout the music video. The use of extreme close ups in the music videos were very popular. There was filming in a lot of dark locations and there was some use of special effects in the music videos.

This song Ho, Hey by The Lumineers follows the indie convention really well. This music video starts off with the band walking around a building that is dimly lit by light bulbs. The band are singing and playing instruments at the same time. This is a good example of indie convention because it is dimly lit and not very bright which is what we expect to see. The fact that we can see a member of the band playing a instrument allows them to show off their talent to the viewers. The dim lighting gives a welcoming warm feeling following the song and genre of indie.

In the song Midnight City by M83 it really shows us the convention of indie. Throughout the whole song there is no bright lighting. All of the scenes are very dull and dark which we expect to see from an indie music video. Unlike Ho, Hey by The Lumineers this music video doesn't seem very welcoming as it is too dark and there is no type of warm lighting. There are effects such as out of background focus in this video which adds to the indie feeling of the song. There is some type of computer editing in this video where there are items floating through the air which are computer generated.

Pop:
After looking at a lot of pop music videos i have noticed that they are all bright and colourful and there is a lot of close ups used to show the cheerful  and up beat emotions. There is often a lot of extreme close ups which tend to show the purity and innocence in the personality of the artists. The videos are aimed towards the teenage audience and are very up beat. Pop music videos are very different to indie and rock mainly based on the colours used throughout the videos. Pop is very bright and colourful and indie and rock is very dark and dull.

This video wings by little mix is a very good example of showing the convention of pop. When watching a pop music video you expect to see a lot of bright colours. This music video shows that really well as a lot of bright colours such as pink, yellow, blue and purple are used. The use of bright colours like this gives the viewers a really positive, fun and energetic feeling. There is a large amount of close ups used in this music video which is what we expect. The use of close ups in pop music videos is to show off the artists good looks. There is always dancing in pop music videos which adds to the fun and energetic feeling they give the viewers.

Another good example of a music video that follows the music convention of pop is 22 by Taylor Swift. Just like Wings by Little mix this music video also really uses a lot of bright and vibrant colours which also gives a fun and energetic feeling back to the viewers which we expect to see from a pop music video. There is also a very large amount of close ups on the artist in this music video to show the artists good looks, but also shows the emotions and personality of the artist in the music video.

rock:
After looking at rock music videos there is a lot of key things that i have noticed that make them unique from other music convention music videos. I have noticed that the music videos always show the main singer in the video, the music videos and songs always show and tell a story. The Band are always shown playing their instruments so that the viewers can see the skills of the performers. In rock music videos i have also noticed that the lighting is always low and dark.