Music Video Evaluation

We are very pleased with how this unit went especially the final video. We think that the video is a high quality and is of a professional standard. After planning the idea over a day, the next day we booked the music studio out at college for two days so that we had a good amount of time to get the footage that we needed.

The first day was spent getting the majority of the coverage for Lewis' verses in the song. Neither of us had shot a music video before so at first we were unsure on how to shoot so that the lyrics synced up to the footage. The way we ended up doing this was to have the song playing on a laptop in the room, which gave Lewis something to perform along to. This also acted as our way of syncing, as we imported the footage to Premiere and used the audio from the footage to align all of the clips. Our first step of editing was to simply get all of the footage in to the timeline which then allowed us to spot any areas that we didn't have coverage for. Then on the second day we got B roll footage in the studio of things like us using the instruments and Lewis writing lyrics to give the feeling that the video is showing us creating the song. We also shot footage from my car at night, driving around with the streetlights on. The gave us more footage to break the monotony of the studio footage and gave the video more variation.

In terms of things we did well, I think that we did a good job planning the video in a short amount of time. We left the planning till last minute but coming up with the idea to shoot the video in the music studio allowed us to have a confined simple idea that wouldn't mean going out of college to locations and shooting. This is why we managed to shoot the video just over two days. I also think that we utilised the studio space in an effective way, as we shot footage of most things in there and got a wide variance of shots. I also think that we managed to have a good mixture of subverting and conforming to the conventions of hip hop music videos. One of the conventions that we decided to conform to was the handheld camera movement during the performance, which is something we saw often in lower budget videos. We focused on moving around with the camera, never keeping it completely static. This also meant that because we were shooting on a low aperture lens, the shot would go out of focus until we adjusted it which I think added a nice touch to the shots.

In terms of things that we could improve on, we had clips of me singing at the start which I don't think matched the energy of the rest of the performance. This was a last minute decision to add another element to the video, but I think that if we had an actual performer they would have been able to look more natural and fit in more. We also wanted to make the footage look last crisp and digital, but I was unable to find the right effects to make this possible. I did blur it the slightest amount to make it less sharp but it didn't achieve the full effect that we were going for. This could have been aided by looking in to the effects more and familiarising myself more with Premiere Pro.

Despite this, we are both very happy with the outcome of the video and with the feedback that we've had from friends and our teachers. Here is some feedback from Twitter:

Humble Beginning (FINAL MUSIC VIDEO)

This is our final music video, to the song 'Humble Beginning' recorded by Lewis and Sam Woollard last year. The planning, filming and editing was handled by both me and Lewis.

Music Video Planning

For our music video we have decided to shoot it in the college studio and make it look like we are creating the song as we go along. The inspiration for this idea is the Beats commercial featuring Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar where they are trying to make a track and are struggling to get it right. It was this idea of breaking the rhythm of the song to show a trial and error process that drew us in.

This subverts the norm of hip hop videos because very rarely do you see the creation behind songs, you just get the final product and you don't get to see how the process might have gone down. It leads people to believe that songs are created out of thin air without problem, when in reality there is usually a countless amount of hours that goes in to the creating process.

The track that we have chose to use is Lewis' own track called 'Humble Beginning' which he created with another student last year as part of his media course. We thought that this would be a great opportunity because it would seem a lot more natural for him to be performing the song if it is actually him. Also, this avoids any copyright issues that we might encounter with songs from high profile artists, and furthermore if Lewis wanted to promote the song when he is able to focus on music then he has a video to go along with it.

With the idea of 'being humble', we could could two ways with it. As is shown in Kendrick's 'Humble', he subverted the idea of being humble, showing things like him posing as Jesus at the last supper. The other option is to conform to the idealism of 'being humble', which is the route that we want to take

Music Video Ideas

Music Video Ideas

Rap music video

Either a non copyrighted song or Lewis’ song

Typical rap video, shots of the performer lip syncing to the song combined with landscape shots and other cut away shots that give the video a level of cinematography. Handheld camera shots of the artist that have a lot of movement to match the energy of the song. Shots are typically intercut at a fast pace to also maintain a high level of energy. Locations will be local, shooting at parks, alleyways (to give a gritty low budget feeling, also reflect the context of the music). Song is played multiple times while filming to make sure that you have enough coverage to be able to cut through multiple camera angles to keep the video from becoming repetitive.

Narrative Video, focuses more on a story in the video. There may still be shots of a performer lip syncing but the majority of the video will be used to tell a story (either relating to the subject matter in the song or something unrelated. ‘She Knows’ by J.Cole is a good example of a narrative based video. Although the narrative isn’t largely based on the subject of the song, it does have some links to it. Narrative videos require a higher level of continuity relating to this like the weather, shooting conditions, locations etc. This would require a lot more planning than a standard non narrative based video as not only do you have to think about performance shots but also come up with a short story that is easily achieved and able to be incorporated in to the video.

Studio Performance, shoot the video in a studio environment such as the college’s music studio. This could include pull focus shots of the music equipment in the studio and shots of somebody in the engineering room recording the song. This would give the feeling that you are watching the artist create the song, even though the song would have been recorded before and this is a reenactment. A good example even though it isn’t strictly a music video is

which is an advertisement for a Beats speaker featuring Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar. The video shows them recording a song but also breaks away from the studio environment when they can’t figure out what the song is missing. This is a good guide because it shows the artist passionately performing the song and also the producer recording him. It includes cut in shots of Dre adjusting sliders on his module which are shot at a low aperture giving a shadow depth of field. The camera movement in this video is either slow or completely static, showing a less distracting view of the artists in their element. The video has a high production value, being that it is a for a big company. It is shot in a huge wide open studio, which wouldn’t have been where the song was recorded, but the video is shot there to give it a grand feeling, subsequently portraying the product in a luxurious way.

J.Cole - She Knows

Illustrating:

There is only one point in this video that illustrates the lyrics, and it doesn't illustrate them in a clear way. During the hook of the song, Cole repeats the line "She knows, she knows" which on first listen you would assume that he means his woman knows he is being unfaithful to her. However it is the opposite, with Cole talking about a woman knowing that he has a girl at home that he has to be loyal to. Linking to the video, there is a mid shot of the boy's mother and Cole getting undressed implying that she is being unfaithful to her husband, which goes against these lyrics.

Amplifying:

The video is entirely narrative based and contains no lip syncing of the lyrics.

Contradicting:

This video builds a narrative that leads up to a scene that reveals a contradiction. The video details an adolescent skipping school with his friend, doing illegal activities such as breaking in to property and smoking and when he goes home he finds his mother cheating on his father with J.Cole. Throughout the song Cole is talking about him having to turn down a woman at the club or party because he is loyal to his woman at home, and that he 'can't be what the woman' wants.

Cutting To Music:

The video is mostly cut to music, which is aided by the fact that the song has a strong constant beat. An effective moment that cutting is use in the video is when Kyle catches his mum cheating. When he realises, the music cuts out and you get diegetic sound of his mother saying his name. There is a moment of suspense with no music, and then the music comes back in cut to a shot of him running out of his house, followed by a tracking shot of him and his friend running down the street. I think it's a very effective moment as the energy of the music matches the mood of the moment very well.

Genre:

The genre of this video is purely narrative. It tells a story of a young man skipping school with his friend and finding out that his mother is cheating on his father. The video has a high production value, being shot well, edited well and is colour graded to make it look more like an excerpt from a movie than a music video.

Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.

Illustrating:

There are multiple points throughout this music video where the lyrics match the visuals, the first one being:

"Ayy, I remember syrup sandwiches and crime allowances
Finesse a n*gga with some counterfeits
But now I’m countin' this"

During these lyrics, Kendrick is lying down on a table surrounded by dollar bills and holding a machine that is spitting out money. This reflects the theme of being rich and overcoming a struggle to have a lot of money is he is basically bathing in dollars.

Another example is the lyric:

"My left stroke just went viral"

And during this lyric there is a shot of Kendrick on a car playing golf, to reflect the 'left stroke' lyric.

Amplifying:

During the majority of this video, Kendrick is lip syncing to the lyrics, which is pretty much a staple in hip hop nowadays. Whereas other genres feature a lot of abstract videos that do not include any lip syncing, hip hop tends to favour this type of video, which allows the artist to amplify the mood that they want the song to convey.

"If I kill a n*gga it won't be the alcohol" is paired with a shot of Kendrick behind a window with multiple red dots on him, grabbing his crotch and maintaining a cocky stance. This amplifies the lyric but also contradicts it at the same time, as he goes against what he is saying by looking drunk and aggressive.

After the lyric:

"My left stroke just went viral"

Kendrick hits the gold ball which is timed to be right on the beat, further elevating the instrumental. This works well because when people hear the song without the video, they will hear the lyric and instantly visualise the video.

Contradicting:

The main contradiction in this video relates to the subject of the visuals and the subject of the song. Throughout the hook on the song, Kendrick repeats the phrase:

"Sit down, be humble"

This goes against the visuals which show Kendrick being braggadocios and indulging in vices such as money, women and fine food+ wine (The Last Supper Reference). This may have been done to imply that Kendrick is exempt from his 'Be Humble' refrain and that he is above other artists.

Cutting To Music:

Right at the start of the video after two lines, the beat kicks in and the camera cuts from the establishing shot to low angle medium shot. Also throughout the song the video has a fast cutting pace which is often cut on the beat.

Genre:

The video is both a location and an experimental video. The video is shot in a variety of locations, presumably throughout L.A., including a church, the Los Angeles river and various back alleys.

Release Forms