Filming the choreography - Prep

Today we will be filming the choreography scene. We will be taking the shots in Pooh's dad's studio, in order to create a 'sterile' set, similarly to josh pan and X&G's music video of their song 'Platinum'

We will be taking a variety of shots, ranging from long shots to close ups of the dancers. In the close ups we will abuse camera movement, in order to add to the effect of motion and movement. 

I'm hoping that we will be able to record in higher frames per second than the standard, so we can slow down the footage smoothly, and create 'speed ramps' in the editing. 

Tutorial explaining how it works briefly:

The reference we will use in the editing - Modestep's trailer for their album 'London Road'
(2:36)

While this does not have a choreography, and the style of music is very different, however we really liked the editing and wanted to do something similar

Preparation - Face Masks

One of the things we wanted to use in our music video were face masks. Face masks were originally a convention used from time to time in Asian hip hop. Asian hip hop was very obscure, and only recently it was popularised and noticed by the mainstream. Because of Asia's lack of hip hop being popular, the instrumentation for most songs are reminiscent of modern hip hop, which shares a similar culture to Trap.

This convention is used mostly in Japan, as face masks are used by many people on a daily basis. While most people use it for personal hygiene, it is also used as part of fashion, as well as a well to hide one's own identity.

An example of this convention is found in Keith Ape's music video of his track 'It G Ma'. This is also an example of Korean and Japanese hip hop.

Another example is from Vic Mensa and Skrillex's track No Chill. While it is not an Asian hip hop song, the music video is set in Japan, using the street fashion found there:

We wanted to do something similar to this, and decided to use face masks as part of the clothing for the dancers. This will add to the sense of lack of identity. 

When we decided on this, we also realised we could create meaning through the masks - the dancers would be the visual representation of the protagonist's emotions, which will be conveyed through using different colours for the dancers's face masks. 

For the scene where the protagonist gets assaulted, the three hooded figures will wear black. The black represents negativity, which is also a metaphor of the protagonist's mental situation. 

Music Video Planning #2 Plot

Now that we have enough research and ideas, we need to gather our ideas in one accessible bundle.

The images are not in chronological order

The plot we have revolves around a protagonist who sees his other half interacting with another person, who he expresses anger and jealousy over. He leaves, and the scene cuts to the camera closeup to the protagonist's back, where the logo of the record company is shown. The camera zooms out to the streets in slow mo. This is to reflect the music, as the vocals are pitched down, which may suggest a sense of altered state of mind.
As the first verse kicks in, the camera will cut to the artist singing and walking down the street. Eventually the artist and the protagonist will walk past each other, and there will be a long shot, seeing them both walking away from each other.
The song enters the buildup, and here we see the protagonist getting mugged by 3 hooded figures. Eventually he gets thrown in an alley, where the camera shoots this with a birds eye view shot. A close up to the protagonist's face will have the effect of the camera dropping, and it will cut to the choreography in a studio setting. This will be in the majority of the 'drop'.

Car shots - Friday 18 November

Today we will be taking shots of the car. We have asked a friend in Uni to help us with drone shots. We have decided on the different shots. The idea is to take as many and on top of what we plan, improvise in order to give the editing process as much flexibility as possible,
We have asked a friend of ours to use his car, a Mercedes Benz S Class.

With interior lighting, we will be able to use different colours in order to enforce meaning into our music video. This with work well in creating a connection to the dancers.

Equipment includes:

Tripod x 2
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EOS 750D
Stabiliser
GoPro Hero 4
DJI Phantom 4 Drone

The point of these car shots is to follow one of the hiphop/Trap conventions of showing off a 'whip' to show off status and wealth.

Examples include

 GTA ft. Vince Staples - Little Bit of This

Major Lazer - Night Riders (ft. Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, & Mad Cobra) (Official Music Video)

This shot will also be an opportunity to show the 3 artists in the song. While they won't actually have a part in the plot, it is often that producers and artists are present in the music video as if they were a prop.

Artist and producer Diplo, on Diplo x CL x RiFF RAFF x OG Maco - Doctor Pepper (Official Music Video) 

These are a few shots we took. We did the shots that we planned, and improvised further.

The drone belonged to a friend of ours, we told him what we wanted and Pooh and Ten directed the shots. 

Music Video - Meaning through colours

A few days ago we came to a decision for a new idea. We wanted the dancers to have more significance and importance than just being animated 'props' to the music video. One of the conventions in Trap music, established by the label OWSLA and more asian based Trap/hiphop music videos, is to wear face masks. The set for the dancing scene is going to be in a studio, so the background will be sterile. We want to keep the dancer's clothing t be black and white to stick with the urban street fashion theme, but the masks will be coloured. The intention behind this is to have the dancers represent the emotions of the protagonist. We will need to create the transition between the protagonist passing out to the dancers suggest that we are going into the protagonist's head.

Colours have always been used in films to enforce or create meaning and emotion for the audience to interpret.

We found a website to base this concept off from.

http://filmdirectingtips.com/archives/157

1. RED – anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence

2. PINK – love, innocence, healthy, happy, content, romantic, charming, playfulness, soft, delicate, feminine

3. YELLOW – wisdom, knowledge, relaxation, joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard

4. ORANGE – humor, energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant

5. GREEN – healing, soothing, perseverance, tenacity, self-awareness, proud, unchanging nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, vigour, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy

6. BLUE – faith, spirituality, contentment, loyalty, fulfillment peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, sky, water, cold, technology, depression

7. PURPLE/VIOLET – erotic, royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning, power, sensitive, intimacy

8. BROWN – materialistic, sensation, earth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity

9. BLACK – No, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger

10. WHITE – Yes, protection, love, reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical, sterile

11. SILVER – riches, glamorous, distinguished, earthy, natural, sleek, elegant, high-tech

12. GOLD – precious, riches, extravagance. warm, wealth, prosperity, grandeur

-Taken from the mentioned website

6 Stills

Getter - Forget It (feat. Oliver Tree)

This music video struck home for me, it conveyed a powerful message. There were so many frames i wanted to use from the video, but I felt that this particular one held the most meaning.
In a musical perspective, this frame, as one of the first shots of the video, is very key to establishing what the listener is expecting. Getter is well known as a producer who makes aggressive/ club music. In contrast however, this particular song is almost the opposite of what fans are expecting to hear. This frame really reflects the music, and somewhat prepares the listener for what to expect.
The set of the frame is very key to the music video - there is only a single light source that is very 'cold', creating a very dark atmosphere. immediately the lack of colour in the room is identifiable, and the viewer is drawn to the single colour that seems almost out of place in the room - the tree that the girl is touching. This emphasis on the plant tells the viewer that it holds meaning.
The plant is a symbol of life, supported by the colour scheme used in the frame. In contrast, it can be compared to the girl touching the plant, as her eyes seem to suggest almost a lack of life. This important to the story told through the music video.

Twenty One Pilots - Heathens

In many music videos that involve a plot, usually the band/artist of the song don't play a major role in the music video. However, Heathens is an exception to this.
The setting of the frame is in  a prison cell, with the singer of the duo singing as the camera pans.

The music video is set in a prison. the mood is established through lighting and colour - primarily the lighting is cold. against the grey walls of the prison, it gives a sense of lack of emotions. This is used to highlight the use of warm lighting, that is introduced in key parts of the song

Skrillex - Dirty Vibe with Diplo, CL, & G-Dragon

 The reason I chose this music video was for a number of reasons - its the first time that these 2 American djs tried to introduce American's mainstream listeners to Korean stars and vice versa, and the style of the song (influences)

The nature of the song is very wacky and playful, and the music video is reflective of this. I felt that this frame was the best from this video to represent this playfulnes. However, true to the genre of the music, the video holds somewhat similar influences from hip hop music videos.The music video shows subjects of intimidation (weapons, objects of wealth) however, the music video also seems to make fun of it (guns being water guns).

The editing in this music video is very flashy and erratic, very similar to the music itself.



tout†

Choreography research

Trap music has a big connection to choreography and dancing. The style of dancing is called hiphop, similarly to the music as Trap also stems from hiphop music.

Dj Sliink - Run Ricky Run is a good reference and example of dancing to Trap music.

In the first track of this music video, it features multiple dancers in different locations with different styles and choreography. The editing in the video alternates between them all in a fast paced manner.

We have decided on 3 dancers - Carol, Ching, and April. We will present them with a few ideas and influences we would like them to include, but we will focus more heavily on camera work and editing, the actual choreography we want to leave it to the dancers.

A common thing in hip hop dance videos, especially from dedicated dance channels on Youtube, is the use of camera. The movements of the camera follow the movements of the dancers in order to emphasise the sense of movement.

This is a video from Urban Dance Camp. Other channels such as 1 Million do use this camera effect in a subtle way, however this video uses it in a more obvious way.