Song Choice

For my  music video I decided to use J. Cole's 'killers' it's  from an earlier mixtape of his and isn't quite known or has a music video either. I chose this song because i feel like that it is the right song to portray my narrative. The song is about how anyone can become a killer, in the first verse the artist is rapping from a first person perspective from a killer's first confessing to his mother about what he's done.The second verse he talks about how he the people he knew once before have no changed and are doing triple life. The third verse is about his younger days as a teen, and what his and his friends mentalities were.

                             

These are the lyrics for the song. The song doesn't have an official clean, radio edit. However there are clean versions on YouTube where all the swearing in the song is left blank. I can't find any clean lyrics, so i replaced the swearing with words that still helps portray the song's message.

[J. Cole - Verse 1]

Momma I just killed a man
My body still trembling can you feel my hand
Don’t shed no tears, it won’t be long before they find out it was me momma
This may be the last time you see me free ma
Don’t spend it cryin’
You did your best, me I was blessed, know you were stressed trying
To keep me out the streets, me ducking police
Trying not to make a peek to wake you up out your sleep
A drunk and high fool
Skipping class, flunking high school
I know you taught me better, somehow I never learned
Said I was playing with fire, somehow I never burned
You tried to set me straight, somehow I never permed
You tried to show me right, but somehow I never turned
Lost in a cloud of marijuana, are you ashamed of me
Dry your face mommy, your not to blame for me
See I’m a man, I gotta take whatever came for me
At times I wonder ’bout my father
Would it change for me if he was around?
Would I still be running 'round with the lowlife’s
Bum people with, no jobs, no life
Seen them brothers killed for no price
I watched his life flash before his eyes like a strobe light
I pulled the trigger momma
Tryna be hard, I ain't mean to kill the brother momma
But what’s done is done
I’m on the run, I live my life like a movie now it’s way too realer
Who woulda thought your baby boy woulda grew up to be a killer

Yeh, now I’m a killer
Guess I’m a killer
They got me in here with the killers
Yeah I mean the killers

[J. Cole - Verse 2]
I wonder whats in store for me
Lately been stressing, pray for blessings, hope that there’s more for me
Than just a simple life
Brothers that I used to hoop with is doing triple life
Gave up the jump shot
Work on the John shot
Who woulda thought I used to block this brother's lay ups
Now he’s in a cell layed up
I wish you well, stay up
Like insomniacs
This life can make a brother fold like a laundry mat
I sip this cognac though to ease my brain from all this pain
And so that I react slow, in this fast world
Slow brothers, fast girls
Girls give up self while these brothers hold triggers
Blast on ‘em
Hold up that old checker flag for ‘em
Chalk lines by the do not park sign
It’s deep, all these cold hearted brothers holding heat
I’d rather blast before they steal a brother
Tell ‘em now boy, don’t make me turn into a killer

Yeah, into a killer
Don’t make me turn into a killer
Yeah, to a killer, yeah yeah

[J. Cole - Verse 3]
To those who had love for me in the past
Who woulda thought time would fly by so fast
I remember back in class we used to make believe
Like it was draft day
Swore that we would make the league, be rich
Saturday morning had to rake the leaves, awww ish
Watch how they pile up
Seem like a mile up
I wash the blisters on my hand than I dial up my best friend
Skating rink is where we headed tonight
And if a brother disrespect, yes we ready to fight
In retrospect that  seemed petty
At the time, the issue was heavy
Cause life was all about your name
You had to scrap with any brother that would call you lame
Ashamed no doubt, so many brothers got they brains blown out
Snatched a brother chain and he got his name rolled out in obituaries
Another body in a cemetary
Another young brother in the penetentiary
And he don’t give a damn no missionary
Rap visionary, paint a picture bro pictionary
Tell you what it is, I’m a dictionary
I knew a brother that threw his self in every chick in every city that he went to
Went hard like the rent do
Till he met the wrong chick, man just came home ex-convict
And he stay on with that Thriller
Messing around with them killers

Yeah, with them killers
Messing around with them killers
Say I’m a killer

For my video, I want to use the first verse to portray a teenager, who is respected and loved by all. You see some shots with him and his family and his friends, to portray how innocent an good of a person he is. Around the chorus and the instrumental, i want to show how his world turns upside down because his sister goes through domestic abuse, this won't be shown but implied. Ever since the abuse, he acts different toward his family and friends in a negative way. This is during the second & 3rd verse. Everywhere he goes he's followed by a hooded figure after the abuse. Then there's a jump cut to a scene where he's washing his hands and looks up in the mirror, where he sees the hooded figure threatening his life with a weapon. You then see the hooded figure reveal himself, and it turns out to he him. As the hooded figure is threatening him, the original actor has a weapon of his own that he is drawing out. During the end of the 3rd verse and last chorus the screen goes black. You see only one of them come out of the bathroom, but you're not sure who it is that survived because they are dressed in completely different clothing. During all of this there will be shots of the artist wearing the last clothes seen rapping the song. My narrative is about a young person life can change because something sets them off (such as abuse). You see how they changed, and now they're conflicting with themselves of who they want to be, the old innocent them or the more new tough and stone cold them. I want the audience to guess who survives, because whoever survives gives a different message. If the old innocent them survives that portrays that the past always survive or that the good always survives. If the old them survives then it implies that the past is behind you and that your good self is gone soon as you inhabit sins. so there is two ways for the audience to imagine what had happened. I wanted the audience to guess who survived so that they can watch the music video over and over again.

Illustration, Amplification, Disjuncture

Childish Gambino's song "Sweatpants" is about is a sarcastic response to how some people view him to be spoilt and rich, as well his alter-ego "The Kid" who is spoilt rich. Regardless of the song's meaning the video doesn't at all portray that, it uses a disjuncture method. All the people in the video eventually turn into the artists,  basically saying that everyone wants to be him or, everyone sounds like him in the rap game.

Big Sean's video Blessing, illustrates that he's blessed by the stairway to heaven. Blessings are associated as God's gift from heaven, an that the blessed go to heaven. It also illustrates his chorus "I'm way up i feel blessed", as he says this at the en he goes up the stairs. This portrays that he's successful in life and the staircase is never-ending, he is still walking up to heaven.

Kanye West's video " All Of The Lights" really amplifies the word "lights". Throughout the whole music video there are flashes of light in different colours, red white blue red and etc. He is also seen on top of a cop car with the lights flashing. The video uses the repetition of lights to really embed the audience's mind with what Kanye is rapping about.

 

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' uptown funk, illustrates the style of the song. The song is a reminiscent the 80's era where funk R'n'B was huge trend. This is illustrated by the first few shots of a woman's shoes walking. This was very common in the late 80's and 90's video. The style is also represented by the clothing the artists wear as well as the mise-en scene, which contain 80's cop and taxi cars, with pedestrians walking dressed in the 80's style.

Aaliyah's Rock The Boat video literally illustrates her on a boat, in the middle of the ocean. The illustration of the boat works well because any other location wouldn't give the the mood or atmosphere that the boat does. The song is relaxing and the idea of travelling on a boat in the ocean is  deemed relaxful too. There is a  very clear relationship between the visuals and the lyrics of the song. This was really effective as the video gives the same vibe that that song gives.

"Hot Like Fire" is another song and music video of Aaliyah. Even though the song is quite intimate, the music video amplifies red throughout the whole Music video. Most of the people including the artist Aaliyah are wearing red, the lighting is red the cars are red. The colour red in the video symbolizes fire,  there is even a fire truck in the video to establish an even more clear relationship between the video and visuals. There is some disjuncture to the video as the song is about an intimate relationship between two people, however the amplification of the colour red throughout the video, was really effective.

Vernallis

                                

TLC's Creep video uses a lot of edge of the frame shots, to how off the artists features. As most people fantasize about a certain artists, it's as TLC is teasing their admirers of what they cannot have. As well as the song is about a woman cheating on her man, so in a way the song combined with the visuals build up a lot of tension, and keeps the viewers watching.

                             

Another video that uses Vernallis's theory of the edge of the frame shots is Ginuwine's Pony Music Video. The Music video shows quite a lot of Ginuwine's torso to remind the audience of what they cannot have and builds on the artist's ostentatious nature. The edge the frame shots seems to be used a lot in the 80's and 90's era.

         



A more modern music video that uses Vernallis' theory is 1+1 by Beyonce. It reminds us of what we cannot see, it has shots of her body, this could be because the song is a love song. It makes the auidence admire her regardless of thier orientation, as the video is showing her off as someone to have or someone to be.

Music Videos I Like

                       

                            

                   

What I like about Michael Jackson's Black Or White video is the fact that it used morphing to tell the song's message. It shows men and women from different ethnicities, morphing into each other. This shows the audience that we're all alike, and that we're all equal regardless of our colour or sex.

                                  

                                                   

                           

Nines is an unsigned London rapper, so this video was a surprise to many as it's filmed professionally with ariel shots. What I really love about this specific video is the camera movement from one scene to another, it shows the video has a smooth style, thus giving Nines a smooth style.

                           

Kendrick Lamar's video 'Alright' is one of the most original music videos I've ever seen. The black and white effect, with so much going on in the background of the video, such as the cars and the dancing. What I really love about the video is the special effect they used and how Kendrick Lamar is floating, which in itself is a visual metaphor of how he is above the ground and how he is successful. As the song is about how he recovers from depression and hard times, so the visual metaphor works really well.

                           

This another part of the video that I like, it includes the spoken word poetry of his depression. It uses visual metaphors again, the police officer shooting him down, it could be taken literal too, but in my eyes it shows that the government shooting him down, therefore he falls from his success and falls back into his depression. So overall the police officer (the government) shoots down his success,ambitions and dreams. This use of visual metaphors really intrigues and i might consider using this technique if im telling a narrative in my music video.

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Chris Brown's "Don't Think They Know" is one of my favourite music videos, as it uses colour to tell a message. In this clip it highlights the colour red, which is the infamous blood's gang colour, it shows that this particular group of people fight for this colour red.

                        

In this clip it shows Chris Brown with a different group (Crips Gang) that identify themselves with the colour blue, which is highlighted this time in the video. This sends a message using Chris Brown that you could be fighting for different things, but we're all the same.

                       

In this final clip, the colour effect shows different colours on children's clothes. The video used this colour technique to send a message, that we should unite, regardless of what we represent we are one and the same.

Goodwin's theory

Goodwin's theory



                    

This part of the music video shows voyeurism. However it challenges the normal conventions of voyeurism which is usually of women, used in sexual way. This music video uses voyeurism to show the relationship of the family and how happy and close they are. We're watching the family from across the street, as if we're watching a movie, making the family feel more relatable to the audience. 

               

In this clip of the video there is a relationship with the video and the lyrics in the song. The video illustrates the artist getting arrested, while simultaneously, the lyrics in the song are " Hey officer, man we don't want nobody getting killed, just open up that cell, let my brother out of jail". This highlights what the song is saying at the moment. You could say that there is some intertextual references as the lyrics are saying "we don't want nobody getting killed",it could be interpreted to link with the issues with the police and young black males in America, such as the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner.

              

This is another use of voyeurism, this time through a reflected mirror. Voyeurism used here also challenges the typical convention, as here it used to show the similarities between two supposed enemies, a young black male and a police officer. This may amplify that even though they are supposed enemies, that they both start their day the same way, showing that their both human and more alike than different.

            

This clip shows iconography of hip hop. The music video shows the young male having a bag of of marijuana and hiding it in his shoe. However, it also plays on this as it shows the police's icon, as he puts on his badge simultaneously. Iconography in hip hop is usually used to show the artists character with cars money and jewellery, but in here its used to show the differences and similarities between a young male and a DEA officer.