Hip-Hop/Rap Track Presentation

Video Concept I will be using the rap track “Mow Down Flocka, With My Choppa!” by ChoppaHolic$.

Within the Hip-Hop/Rap genre, I hope to convey messages associated with Hip-Hop/Rap lyrics such as aspiration, wealth, voyeuristic attitudes toward women and imagery regarding violence and crime.

In order to do this I will use aspects of synaesthesia , to bring the music closer to the audience so that they get a personal feeling of the aspiration. I will also attempt to use an equal mix of relationships between lyrics and visuals, employing illustrative for realism, amplification for the theme of aspiration (Slow Motion – Dream like), and disjunctive to give the audience specific appeals, whether that means using performance to sell the artist or employ images that would attract the audience (E.g. – Fast Cars, Women).

Most videos have a level of performance in order to attract the audience to the artist but to also attract the audience to the lifestyle of the artist, for example – rich, or good with women. I will employ a level of performance in my video that will particularly attract the audience to the lifestyle.

http://soundcloud.com/choppaholics/choppaholic-mow-down-flocka

Hip-hop/Rap videos often don’t contain narratives, because many of the lyrics often don’t have a storyline to them. I will attempt to employ a narrative in my video, that will coincide with the theme of aspiration in order to further engage the audience who are only used to seeing disjunctive imagery that only attracts the to the artist, that deters them away from interaction with lyrics and song.

How I came up with the conceptI used a synaesthesia exercise in order to configure what content would feature in my video. This involved closing my eyes and listening to a number of tracks. The one that gave me the most ideas is the track I will be using for my video. This helped me bring aspects of ideas of seeing the music and lyrics and create montages in my head.

I also did some research into current top hip-hop music video directors and researched their influences of style in their videos that will help me implement my own individual style into my video.

Influence(s)Hype Williams- An Auteur hip-hop/rap music video director, who has won numerous awards for his videos including “HIP HOP VIDEO DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR” at the Bet Hip Hop awards 2012.

Style – Started his career by tagging billboards, storefronts and playgrounds using the tag “HYPE”.

This “Street” style is evidenced in his work, with contrasts between the shady grey of the streets with explosive colours that emulate graffiti .

Hype can be considered an auteur, with recurring individual stylistic features that are a result of his experiences, and he also collaborates frequently with the same cinematographer, John Perez.

Examples of his work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E58qLXBfLrs - Kanye West - Can't Tell Me Nothing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92FCRmggNqQ- Kanye West - Diamonds From Sierra Leone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwNcNOTVzY - Kanye West - Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk2K_PSPshs - Fat Joe - Pride N Joy ft. Kanye West

Quote from Wikipedia – “Williams first displayed his work by tagging local billboards, storefronts, and playgrounds using HYPE as his graffiti tag. "That's probably what stimulated my interests in colour," he says. "I wanted to be Basquiat or Keith Haring of the streets."

Hype’s visual style is very effective and fits well with rap videos expressing wealth. I hope to use a mixture of lighting and lens colours in order to emulate hype but also create a style that differs slightly from his.

Audience

http://www.bloodyloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/PopChartLab_RapMap_Large221.jpg

Group B (Managerial) - Group C1 (Non-Manual) People who emulate the life of rap artists (Like to show off what they have) but not to far up the Jicnar scale to not have aspiration. Age Range – 16-24 Gender – Prominently Male

Demographic – Hedonists – Related to aspiration and wanting to maximise the “Pleasure of life” E.g. Money, sex, power.

Audience Classification – “Likes to spend money on themselves”, “Likes to indulge and have praise given to them” “Will surround themselves with sometimes pointless items, that show off wealth” “Traditional and rash attitudes to the opposite sex”