Week 3 - Hip-hop Research + Initial Planning for Music Video
Grace Watson 16 February 2021 Media Studies Week 3 - Hip-hop Research + Initial Planning for Music Video
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During a group phone call on the 16th of February 2021, we, as a group, decided to create a music video within the hip-hop genre, and then discussed and brainstormed possible songs and artists within this genre to use as our final song choice.
Below is a link to a website which cited a few hip-hop artists, a few of the popular ones being Post Malone, Khalid, Drake etc.
One of the group members, Kayla Lockington, suggested perhaps using one of Stormzy's songs. Here is some more personal information about Stormzy, a well-known rapper and hip-hop artist.
At this point in time, we plan on using Stormzy's song "Lessons" for our music video. According to my team/group, it's quite a cool song to create/shoot some narrative footage to in our video. I've never personally heard this song, but have decided to take their word for it for now, then listen to the song and see how I feel about it before our next group call which we've scheduled for tomorrow 11 am.
Because the song does apparently contain some swear words and course language, Levi Wijohn (another one of our group members) is going to find a clean version of it, and has reassured us that finding one should be an easy task. If we're unable to find a clean version, we'll have to find another song.
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Today is now the next day, and since I last added to this blog, Levi has been able to successfully find a clean version of the song, linked below. I have had a listen to the song and feel that there is quite a bit we can do creatively to create an impressive music video.
Before going full-steam-ahead with this song and genre though, I'm first going to do some research of the hip-hop genre in more depth to triple-check that it's the one we'd like to go forward with.
In the above video, the presenter discusses how rappers, "producers, artists and musicians alike are progressively beginning to dismantle gender roles and the stereotypical expectations that come with them.” In previous years, being numb to emotions, “hard” and extra-masculine have all been a “staple of the hip-hop community”, and it's been believed that the more masculine a man is, the better. Within the hip-hop genre it was (and still sometimes is) very common to hear homophobic comments and see very stereotypical depictions of men being manly, and thug-like, with some songs having the main goal of questioning another man’s masculinity.
Both the visuals and the words in hip-hop songs often depict what society deems as being ‘normal’.
Back in 1990, the song “Ya Strugglin'” attacked black men for displaying feminine gender traits. Below is a photo of one of the song's verses.
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There are now several individuals globally who have begun to believe that gender is, more than anything else, about something you relate to and “what feels right” to the person. Dot Brauer believes gender to exist on a spectrum, explaining how one should "imagine the spectrum and imagine the most feminine expression you have ever seen and most masculine you have ever seen and just sort of imagine where you are on that," and it’s for this reason that many hip-hop artists now are beginning to “transition into a style of music that expresses more of what feels right as opposed to what traditionally looks or sounds right.” This means that now more than ever, artists are beginning to express a very clear sense of vulnerability in their lyrics.
Artists such as Kalani, Young Thug and Future have, together, paved a new way of “challenging the culture” of gender expression. A very well known rapper was quoted pointing out that you “can be a gangsta with a dress, or you can be a gangsta with baggy pants. You don’t have to feel like there’s no such thing as gender.” It's comments like this one that are breaking down the typical stereotypical images of how a man or woman should dress, and how they should appear on a screen.
Below are a few hip-hop music videos I watched as well as a few brief notes I made on each one as well.
VIDEO ONE:
- Some interesting opening shots.
- Really good cutaways at the beginning of the music video as well.
- Love the actual logo at the beginning of the video - really creative and captivating.
- Lyrics match visuals = effective.
- Great locations -> Hollywood Stars. Really want to shoot my music video in some really unique and interesting locations and settings as well.
- I don't really like the shots of the 'singer' in the puffer jacket as it just seems slightly unprofessional.
- The lip-syncing is not always perfectly in time with the audio which can be distracting = be aware of this in my production.
- I love the creative flare to having the camera knocked over in one of the shots, paired with the diegetic sounds of the talent asking if the camera is alright - effective and unique. May consider doing something like this in my music video.
VIDEO TWO:
- Great audio.
- The video's simplicity is effective at first, but at some points it does feel almost too simple such that it gets slightly boring. This might be because the song has that depressed feel which can generally have that boring, monotonous feel.
- Interesting use of slow motion.
- The effect of having the spa lights turn on and off to different colours in time with the beat of the song is successful in creating an exciting atmosphere. I may try this effect with my own spa at home for one of our shots.
- I love the wide shot of the boy smoking on the log -> realistic.
- Overall, this song is too slow for my liking. I plan on going for a more upbeat, fast song with quick-cuts, similar to the first video.
VIDEO THREE:
- Effective opening sound.
- Dirty mirror = self-reflection. Would like to incorporate some shots with mirrors into my sequence.
- Really powerful to pair the opening shots with a voiceover. Interesting how we, as viewers, watch the talent brushing his teeth (shots of the dirty mirror, basin etc), all while listening to the voiceover, and then only having the music begin.
- I quite appreciate the thought gone into having talent of opposite genders and different races - plan on thinking of gender and race representations in my production as well.
- I LOVE the whole idea of having the talent standing side by side in front of a projected video of Town Square. This enables the producers to include locations without actually having to go there personally, which is helpful when you live across the world from exciting locations. Adds an interesting atmosphere. May incorporate something similar in my video.
- The fact that the train is actually departing matches the lyrics where the artist sings "I gotta leave". Visual representations of the words being sung are powerful in portraying messages.
Since I last posted on this blog we, as a group, have collectively decided to change our song for the music video. Instead of filming a music video to Stormzy's song "Lessons", we'll now be filming our music video to "What Other People Say" by Demi Lavato and Sam Fischer.
The main reason for this decision is the fact that the new song really provides us, as a group, with so many fresh and exciting opportunities and possibilities to create an interesting, immaculate and captivating music video that is to an exceptionally high standard. There are endless options we can choose from when it comes to shots, because the song lyrics are so clear and easily heard as opposed to the lyrics of "Lessons" which are quite hard to clearly hear, at times sounding a bit bland and monotonous. We plan on really playing around with some narrative editing and additionally incorporate cutaway shots to our talent lip-syncing the song as well.
While we did have a few ideas for the hip-hop song "Lessons", it just didn't seem like the best option for our team, and for that reason we are so excited to move forward with "What People Say" as our new official song.
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