Planning- Costume and Props (Research)

Over the years R&B music videos have had ever changing costumes and these have changed a lot over time and we are going to try and represent this in our own music video.

1940's- 1970's

In the 1940's music was mostly about the soft sounding Jazz Sound and as shown by music artist Duke Ellington the style used for music in those days was a very smart style and suits were worn by most of the big music artists in the 1940's, this style continued into the 1970's as Jazz was the dominant genre of music for these decades. Artists such as Elvis Presley and Marvin Gaye are the only artists who really challenged these conventions as they regularly wore suites but put their own variations on it, for example Elvis Presley had a sparkles put on his suit and did not wear a shirt but just a blazer with sparkling sequins and this made him a unique artist one that was different to the rest of them, 

1980's

in the 1980's the music that was available to the public became more and more diverse with the introductions of artists such as Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson who's music was a different type of style than that of which was listened to in the 1940's through to the 1970's. the style in this era was a lot less smart and there was more flair and eccentricity to the outfits that musicians wore in this era of music. Below is Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, Jackson is rocking a red leather jacket and wearing smart black jeans and shoes so he is not completely deserting the smart style set by the artists before him, but he has put his own revolution  on it which made him one of the most fashion forward R&B artists of his time.  Whitney is pictured wearing a more male type of clothing as she is rocking her own leather jacket with a white shirt and scarf. 

1990's

There were a lot of r and b music artists such as LL cool J and R Kelly and they both challenged the fashion conventions set by previous artists. Artists such as LL cool J and R Kelly placed more emphasis on the wealth that they had and this was reflected in what they wore and as you can see below both were wearing a lot of jewellery to show of their wealth and this a theme that is still followed in today's music. 

2000's

The music that has dominated most of this era is R&B and Rap music and the artists had much more fashion forward outfits. Below are 50 Cent and Jay-Z s s and the outfits they have chosen to wear has emphasizes the wealth that they have but these outfits also represent their backgrounds as these are the outfits worn on the streets where both artists grew up in and this is why both artists are seen as representations of the Gangster Lifestyle.

For our Music Video we have been influenced by the style of all the decades and so the scenes in our music video will show our character not only representing the Gangster Lifestyle and showing off his wealth but we will also show the smart variations set by artists such as Duke Ellington.