The document discusses conventions used in grime/hip hop music videos. The author analyzed music videos by artists K Koke, Lowkey, and Devlin to inform their own music video for K-OS. They looked at camera shots, edits, narrative, location, clothing, facial expressions, lighting, and color. Their goal was to follow conventions of the genre to make their video feel authentic. They used locations in London, varied camera shots and edits, and styled K-OS similarly to other artists. By understanding conventions, they aimed to create a music video that fits properly within the grime/hip hop genre.

1. By Saagar Shah

2. Before Producing any music video for an artist, the producers, editors and directors look at other
current artists’ music video to have the same conventions. The type of conventions they look for are
the type of camera shots used in the video, the type and quickness of the edits, the narrative used
and the Mise En Scene. This included the locations used in the music video, the type of clothing,
makeup worn, the body and face expressions used and finally the lighting and colour used.
In order to feel like the music video belongs in that genre, these seven elements are extremely
focused on and makes up the whole music video.
Therefore as the producer, editor and director of the whole music video, I decided to view other
artists in the same genre as K-OS and look at their music videos. I particularly focused on the
seven elements throughout watching several Grime/Hip Hop music videos.

3. The first artist I looked at was Grime artist K Koke who already has the same conventions as K-OS.
Firstly, both artists were born in London, K-OS is from East London while K Koke is from
Stonebridge. Secondly, both artists are in the same genre of music. However, unlike K-OS, K Koke
is signed onto a record deal with Hip Hop artist Jay-Z.
The song I decided to analyse and view was K-Koke’s song “I’m Back”.

4. Camera Shots:
K-OS – Kick Dat Down [Our Music Video]
K Koke – Im Back
As the screenshots show, we tried to follow some of the same conventions of camera shots. The shot
on the left is a mid shot of the artist with no one behind him. The same can be said for our video

5. Camera Shots:
K Koke – Im Back K-OS – Kick Dat Down [Our Music Video]
The shot on the left is also found on K Koke’s music video. It shows a long shot of traffic on a road.
The clip was quite shot as it faded in for two seconds and then faded out. We also decided to use the
same conventions and created the same type of shot. However, our shot was one and a half seconds
long.

6. The second artist I looked at was Grime/Hip Hop artist Lowkey who also has similar conventions as
K-OS. Firstly, both artists are both English and Arab descent. Secondly, both artists are in the same
genre of music. Thirdly, both artists like to talk about negative things about the world, for example
Lowkey likes to talk about the government politics, wars and global peace in the song “Hand on
your gun”. Like Lowkey, K-OS likes to talk about the problems with mainstream artists and the
current poverty in the world in his tracks such as the song “Kick Dat Down”.
The song I decided to analyse and view was Lowkey – Hand On Your Gun

7. Camera Shots:
LOWKEY – Hand On Your Gun K-OS – Kick Dat Down [Our Music Video]
The shot on the left is found on Lowkey’s song called “Hand On Your Gun”. The shot is an low angle shot where the
camera is placed low on the vertical axis to make the artist/character look more strong and powerful. Furthermore, in
the Lowkey music video, there is a iconic statue behind the artist which seems like the music video was shot in London.
For our music video, we decided to film the artist in the same low angle. We also decide to shoot in Leicester Square
which contains very iconic buildings and statues which will mean other viewers will know it was shot in London. This
location could give the feeling that this is where K-OS lives.

8. Camera Shots:
LOWKEY – Hand On Your Gun K-OS – Kick Dat Down [Our Music Video]
The shot on the left is also found on Lowkey’s song “Hand On Your Gun”. The shot is another low angle shot where the
camera is placed low on the vertical axis to make the police man look more strong. The use of the British Police is
widely used in Grime music videos and in the lyrics as it usually shown to give a negative look to the police. We
decided to use the same conventions and add it into our music video.

9. Camera Shots:
LOWKEY – Something Wonderful K-OS – Kick Dat Down [Our Music Video]
The shot on the left is found in Lowkey’s song called “Something Wonderful”. It shows the artist walking away from
right to left while the camera is only filming only one side of his body. This is called a ‘Pan Shot’. The shot is also a
mid-shot. We decided to use the same conventions in Lowkey’s music video and place it into our music video.
However, the clip from Lowkey’s song is ten seconds long which we thought was too long. Therefore we made our shot
two seconds long. Furthermore, the shot in Lowkey's song goes from right to left while we make our artist go from left
to right.

10. The third artist I looked at was grime/hip hop artist Devlin. Like Lowkey, Devlin likes to talk about
the poverty especially where he was brought up which was in South London. This shows that K-OS
has similar kind and also likes to talk about the same subject.
The song I analysed was Community Outcast by Devlin.

11. Camera Shots:
Devlin - Community Outcast K-OS – Kick Dat Down [Our Music Video]
The shot on the left is found in Devlin’s song called “Community Outcast” It shows a homeless man sleeping on the
streets. These type of shots of poverty are widely used in music videos to portray the real world of poverty and how bad
it is. Also, the use of having these types of imagery gives the user looking at the music video a sense of emotion and
sadness due to people not having a proper bed/food/water etc. Also the use of making the music video black and white
or greyscale emphasis the video by making it look dull and depressing. Our media product also uses these conventions
as we decided to film an homeless man and changed the colour to black and white to get the desirable effect.

12. Edit:
As well as analysing the type of camera shots used in current music videos, I decided to analyse the type and
quickness of the edits used. I once again looked back at the two mainstream grime/rap artists (K Koke and Lowkey) for
further conventions as these artists relate best to K-OS.
The type and quickness of the edits which use similar conventions to real media products:
The shots on the left is from another Lowkey song called “Obama Nation”. The three separate shots were put
together by myself to show the different text which appears in one segment of the music video. This was clearly done
after the filming of the music video was completed and was in the editing stages. The text itself seems to tell a story
while the artist mimics his own lyrics. The use text on screen gives the music video more emphasis of what the artist
is really saying. As a group, we decided to use this idea and put it into our music video. I said that we should show
the lyrics on screen by text and then sync it with the music so when the artist says it, the lyrics appear on screen. The
text and the background was all made by me.

13. Edit:
By analysing the different grime/rap music videos, I found that the editing is very quick and one shot lasts no longer then three
seconds. To make our music video feel like it belongs in the right genre, we decided we needed to make the music video very
fast pace by having very shot clips in the music video. Our music video also needed a lot of straight forward jump cuts and
needed minimum ‘fancy’ transitions like ‘wipe’ or ‘star’.
Here is an example of our music video which has very quick shots and straight jump cuts:
Duration: 2 seconds Duration: 2 seconds
Edit: Straight jump cut Edit: Straight jump cut
Here is an example of other real music videos with similar style of edits:
Song: K-Koke – Song: Lowkey – Hand
I’m Back on your gun
Duration: 2 Duration: 1 and a half
seconds seconds
Edit: Straight Edit: Straight jump cut
jump cut

14. Edit:
Throughout editing the music video, we decided to add little effects onto the clips. The first effect we used was called ‘Bad TV’.
We used this effect because it gave the music video a more gritty and urban feel to it by distorting and shaking the clips to make
it look like a broken/faulty TV. Here are screenshots of the ‘Bad TV’ effect being used in the music video:
This effect is not really seen in current real media products therefore its challenging the conventions.

15. Edit:
Another effect we decided to use was called ‘Tint’. This effect made the clip greyscale (black and white). We decided to use this
clip as it would give an effect as the artist is having flashbacks of how is life was like when he was poor and on the streets. It also
makes the music video more sad and depressing due to the lack of colours.
Here are screenshots of the effect being used in the video:
This type of effect is also used in real media products. For example, the song “Community Outcast” by
grime artist Devlin uses the tint effect in his music video for the same purposes:

16. Edit:
Another effect we added onto our Music Video was called ‘Earthquake’. This effect shook the screen like an actual earthquake.
Here are screenshots of the effect being used in the video:
We decided to add this effect after the bottle We decided to add the earthquake effect on
got kicked by the artist because we wanted this part of the lyrics as these are the main
to give a visual feeling that the camera got words spoken throughout the video.
hit with the bottle and therefore shook the Therefore to make them feel more dramatic I
whole camera changed the texting and also added the
effect.
This earthquake effect has rarely been used in music videos in the same genre as K-OS. Therefore I believe we
are challenging conventions of a real media product

17. Edit:
The last edit/effects we added into our Music Video was changing the speed of some of the clips and a effect named ‘Trail’.
By making some clips slower and some quicker, it gives a different depth to the music video and makes it more exciting to watch.
This can also be said about the effect ‘Trail’. The effect makes the clip leave a light trail of the object. We decided to use this
effect with the speeded up clips to make them look even more quicker. As well as this, we also added the speed effect on its
own.
Below are a few screenshots of both effects (sped up and trail) being used in our music video:
This effect of speeding and slowing down clips have widely been used in other music videos. One example is K Koke’s music
video called ‘Im Back’. The clip in K Koke’s video is a long shot of a road. It is then sped up. This shot is very similar to the shot
we made.
The long shot of the
road from K Koke’s
music video

18. Narrative:
After analysing multiple music videos, I found that many of the grime artists and there songs don’t particularly have an narrative.
As well as this, during our research and planning of making our music videos, we decided that we would make our music video a
performance music videos and not an narrative.

19. Mise En Scene
Mise En Scene is key-term which means all the essentials inside every shot of the music video. There are five elements in the
Mise En Scene. These are:
-Location
- Type of clothing/makeup worn
- Body and facial expressions
-Lighting
-Colour

20. Location:
For our music video, we used three locations. The first was Leicester Square in Central London. We decided to use this location
as many Hip Hop/Grime/Rap artists use Central London as their location because it is quite bright and looks elegant. It also has
rich buildings which are iconic and will mean other people will know it is from London. Finally, most artists use Central London
as there first location because it makes them feel like they are rich and have grown out of the poor areas of London or other
parts of the UK.
Here are a few screenshots of Leicester Square in our music video:

21. Location:
Here are a few screenshots of other real media products who choose Central London as a location for their music video:
Here is a screenshot of a shot from K Koke’s The same can be said of this screenshot of
music video called “I’m back”. The location Lowkey’s video called “Hand on your gun”.
looks like a bridge in Central London. This
location was most likely be used because of
the lighting, built up buildings and the fact that
K Koke is now more rich because he got
signed onto a record deal.

22. Location:
The second location we went for were suburbs in Stratford. This is because we wanted to film K-OS in a location where it was
more run down and feel like this is where K-OS lived and was part of. We also wanted an area which was a complete contrast to
Central London. Finally, we decided to choose Stratford for the shooting as K-OS is from East London and it will hopefully let him
represent the people in East London.
Here are a few screenshots of Stratford in our music video:

23. Location:
Here are a few screenshots of other real media products who choose low run down suburbs as a location for their music video:
Council Flats
Closed Shops
Here is a screenshot of a shot from Devlin’s Here is also another screenshot of a shot from
music video called “Community Outcast”. The Devlin’s music video called “Community
shot is an mid shot of the artist and behind him Outcast”. The shot is an mid-long shot of the
are council flats. This shows that this is a run artist and around him is a closed, empty and
down area. run down street.

24. Location:
The last location is inside a library. We filmed K-OS writing the lyrics . After analysing a couple of grime/rap music, this is less
conventional and is rarely seen.
Here is a screenshot of the shot we did:

25. Type of clothing/makeup worn:
The type of clothing worn in a music video is very important. The clothing reflects what type of
genre it is. For example a music video from rock will wear leather jackets and black skinny jeans.
By researching through music videos I found that grime/hip hop artists like to wear big jackets,
baggy jeans, era caps, tank tops and big baggy jumpers.
For our music video, we decided to dress K-OS wearing baggy jeans, trainers, a puffy jacket and
a black hat. I believe this fits K-OS into the correct genre and makes him look big and thuggish.
We also dressed him the way we did as we wanted to follow the same conventions as other real
media products and not confuse the viewer into what he is watching.
Here a few screenshots of K-OS’s clothing:
Black Beanie
Black puffy jacket
Blue Jeans
Trainers

26. Type of clothing/makeup worn:
Here are a few screenshots of other real artists in the same genre as K-OS wearing similar
clothing:
K Koke – “Cold roads” K Koke – “I’m Back”
Big Puffy Jacket Blue Jeans
Black Jacket with hood up

27. Body/Facial Expressions:
The body/facial expressions in a grime/rap music video is clearly conveyed through every music video. The body expressions
are generally moving your arms in flow with the lyrics.
Here is an example of other artists who tend to move their arms when lip syncing the lyrics:
K Koke – “I’m back” K Koke – “Cold roads”
Both screenshots above show the artist moving his arms and hands with the lyrics. Secondly, the facial expressions the artists
use go with the tone of the song. For example a song to do with hatred, the artist is angry. On the other hand, in the music video
“I’m Back”, K Koke shows that he is happy because he’s back after not making music for a long time.

28. Body/Facial Expressions:
When making our music video, we decided to tell K-OS to use these type of body/facial expressions. Here are a few
screenshots of K-OS using these type of body/facial expressions.
Here is an screenshot of the Here is another screen of the artist using
artist using body expressions to body expressions to go with the lyrics. The
go with the lyrics. The artist artist points at the camera to give an effect
shakes his fingers which goes that the artist is personally talking to the
with the lyrics “I ain’t going to be viewer.
a bay-cat”

29. Lighting and colour:
When making our music video, the use of lighting and colour was very important. The type of lighting and colour used in a music
video represents the emotions in the song.
In our music video, we decided to use both dark and bright lighting. The bright lighting will represent K-OS rising in fame and
money. This was then filmed in the rich parts of London. Secondly, the colours will be much brighter and have more white and
blue tints. We will then film in dark lighting which will represent the poor location and how K-OS was like before the fame. This
will be filmed on poor streets. The colours used will be dark reds and black tints as these colours are seen as miserable and
depressing.
Here are a few screenshots:
Bright lighting with more bright Dark lighting with dark red and
colours in Central London to black in suburbs to represent
represent success sadness and isolation

30. Lighting:
By setting the lighting and colour to different levels to show emotions is widely used in real media products. Here is an example
of a artist as the same genre as K-OS called Ghetts and his music video “Artillery”.
The screenshot above shows dark colours like dark On the other hand, the screenshot above of K
green, dark blue and black with a lack of lighting Koke’s music video “I’m back” shows bright colours
This gives an expression of negative emotion like light blue and white and has well lit up lighting
which suggests fame and success