Artist's Permission

I've emailed RocNation which is the record label to ask for permission to use the song.  In the industry, legally you would have to have the artist's permission to use a song to avoid copyright infringment.  I haven't heard back and probably won't in this case, but if this was 'real' I would not be able to go ahead without this

Change of Song

Although my decision to change the song has come 2 months into the project, the song still has the same theme of police brutality so my research still helps me just as much for this song.

I feel a lot more confident about doing this new song and have a solid and well thought out idea for it.

Casting - Main Actor/ Star

After casting Ella by asking her to recite some of the lyrics of the song and talking to her about her availability, I have given her the role of main actor / star.

She's very reliable, we have a similar timetable meaning I can film a lot of the time when she's free, and she's also very passionate about the song and the sub-genre of police brutality.

Practice Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro

Editing - Colour to Black and White

This was a practice of me editing in premiere pro to go from colour to black and white.

I cut the video into segments and gradually changed the saturation of each segment from over 100 (colour) to 0 which is black and white.

This creates a subtle colour change and I really like the outcome.

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Editing Speed - Slow Motion

I used Adobe Premiere Pro to change a segment of the video to 50% speed. This resulted in 100% speed to 50% speed and then back to 100% as seen above.

I think this editing worked really well and I intend to do this in my music video.

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Editing Speed - Fast Forward

I decided to do the opposite as above and changed the speed to create a fast-forward effect this time.

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Editing Speed - Reverse

To do this, I cut a clip into segments, copy and pasted it twice, side by side so there were 3 segments together.  I reversed the middle on and kept it at 100% speed to create the video above.

Practicing Camera Work

I decided to practice my camerawork and used a Canon 70D and a tripod to get a steady pan across the room.

This worked well, however, watching back I know I need to work more on my pace and make sure the camera moves around at a steady speed.

Organisation of locations and props

Production Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment - Location 5

Location recce/ search

Location 1 + 2 - Colegate, Norwich NR3

These 2 locations in Colegate in Norwich are local and easy to get to for all my actors, but are also away from busy public areas meaning we can get all the shots we need without any interruptions.  The benefit of it being in a public area also means that I don't need to ask anyone's permission to be there.

The left location is very edgy, and the fact that there's a line down the middle with two different colours means that I can create a really cool effect in post-production.  I feel like this would be good for a Hip-Hop music video and sticks to codes and conventions.

The location on the right (Location 2) is perfect.  It's in Colegate, just like Location 1 which means it's easy to get to from the other location meaning I can use all my equipment.  'No gods, no masters, no cages, no borders' basically means that we're free, and that's what the majority of black people want, is to be free.  Being free is a sort of utopia, and my music video is about the dystopian world that black people live in so it's kind of ironic, but also gives us hope.

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Location 3 - The Alley, Norwich NR2

The Alley would be a good location to shoot in either the outside space, the inside space or the art gallery space.

It's local and easy to get to for all my actors including the owner of The Alley who has full access to every room.
Sometimes it's fairly quiet for times when I want emotional shots, but also when it gets busier I may want shots with lots of people in.

There's dim lighting in the inside space, natural lighting or street lighting outside and harsh lighting in the gallery space.

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Location 4 - Norwich underpass, Norwich NR1

Norwich underpass, like the other locations, is public place meaning I don't need to ask permission to use it - which takes time. (Something I don't have a lot of)

This makes filming here a lot easier and more viable and because it's public, it's open 24/7 so I can film at any time of the day.  Filming at night time isn't as easy because there's no natural light, something I intend on using, but in the underpass there are working lights.  I did this location recce in the day time and at night time to ensure it would work just in-case I need to use to lights in the underpass.

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Location 5 - Peaceful protest, London

I'm unable to do a location recce of London as it's expensive to get there, but I can work out the risks and ease of access etc without going there.
When I shoot in London I will be going alone and filming everyone who's already there so I only need to pay for my own transport, this makes filming here a lot cheaper and a lot easier for me.
As it's a protest, there are risks in terms of violence and riots, but it's supposed to be a peaceful protest, and as it's just me going, I've only got myself to look after instead of a group of actors.

After weighing up the pros and cons of this location, I've decided to still go ahead with shooting.  This location is perfect to capture the emotion I want, whilst still sticking to Hip-Hop music video codes and conventions.  It allows me to get multiple protest board shots, multiple shots of crowds of black people, and also to speak to some people about their own experiences of police brutality and ask them for their opinions on my music video idea.

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There will be background noise in all of these locations but the sound will not be used in the music video and will be edited out in post-production.

Storyboard

I have created a detailed storyboard with shot types and descriptions of directions for the actor to create a clear understanding of what I want done.  This means I can easily directer her and produce the high standard of music video that I'm aiming for.
As it's hard to read, please click on the photo(s) for an enlarged image.  If this isn't big enough to read, feel free to watch the short video below.

I edited the individual storyboard sections in time with the music to make sure I like how it all works together and to see if I need to change anything.  I'm really happy with how it looks and am glad that I edited it to the music.

Casting

I posted a listing on an agency website called StarNow to recruit some professional actors to feature in the music video as I want a professional looking music video and this was a professional approach.  7 people applied for the ad but most didn't live near Norwich and wanted me to pay for their travel despite me explaining that I was unable to.  I arranged to meet one of the actors who lived near Norwich but he cancelled on me last minute which led me to believe that he wasn't as serious about my project as I am.

I confided in some friends who are incredibly passionate about music and know how important my projects are to me, out of the 5 of them, only 2 fitted the character I had wanted of someone of colour who has predominant features relating to their ethnicity, and after auditioning them, they said they were more than happy to help. I found some other extras through mutual friends who were also of an African/ Caribbean decent who applied to be in the video.

Reasons for casting:

Main Actor:

At first I was going to cast the role to someone between the ages of 17-40 to represent a sister or a mother affected by police brutality, but because my music video is aimed at a fairly young audience, I  then decided to present the main actor as a young woman to make it more relatable and to show that any one of us young people could experience this when we grow up if we don't do something to stop it.  My main actor is also in the LGBT+ community.  A black woman in the LGBT+ community is one of the most discriminated against people in my opinion.  Racially for being black, in regards to gender equality and the fact that women have less rights, and because of homophobia still existing.

I decided to cast my flatmate and best friend as she fits this criteria perfectly.  This role also requires professionalism, commitment and passion.  The Black Lives Matter movement means a lot to her, and myself, and this music video means a lot to her too because she understands how important it is to me.
I'm able to direct her easily, and because we live together, I can retake the shots as many times as I need to without having travel problems.  She knows the song very well and knows all the lyrics off by heart which makes editing in post-production much easier because the correct words will be rapped in time.

Foreground Extra 1:
Natasha is very organised and reliable and also incredibly professional.  I can rely on her to show up on time and put in her 110% effort.  As I am close friends with her she knows how important this is to me and is much more likely to try her hardest.  This is much better than using someone from an add agency who isn't very committed as I experienced before with StarNow.

Foreground Extra 2:
Stephen has very predominantly black features which is perfect for the music video as it's all about racism against black people.  Stephen is very loyal and I can depend on him to perform well. He also raps so he is able to lip synch to the song if needed.

Foreground Extra 3:
I decided to cast myself as I too know this song very well.  I am incredibly passionate about the Black Lives Matter movement and everything this music video is about.  It's very easy to direct myself, and I could also record myself to show everyone else in the music video how I want things done.

Foreground Extra 4:
Will Sims lives quite close to my house meaning I can film with him easily.  He has dreadlocks which is stereotypically associated with black ethnicity which works well with my music video theme.
Will is going to be doing an amazing thing and he's shaving off his dreadlocks for Macmillan Cancer Support.  Depending on how my production schedule goes, hopefully I'll be able to film him with his dreadlocks before they go.

Practical Production Treatment

Music video treatment canal st from h1hadaway

Outfit Planning

I decided to create a moodboard to help me decide on outfits for the music video.

There's a clear difference between the outfits, the tracksuit is very 'rough' and street style, and the suit is very sharp and sophisticated.  This is because the protagonist in my music video plays the part of someone who started from rock bottom and worked their way up to wearing a suit and being able to afford designer clothes etc

Below I have also created a tumblr to look at outfit planning inspiration, looking at the actual artist A$AP Rocky and what he wears etc, please click on the link to access the blog

https://hollyhadawaya2mediastudies.tumblr.com

Music Video Proposal

Music Video Proposal

Band & Track Name: A$AP Rocky ft Bones – Canal St

Running Time: 03:30

General style of music video. The music video will be performance narrative (Lynch 1984.) I want it to be part-performance as it’s a music video and it being performance is a typical convention of a music video that I want to keep, and the lyrics in the song are up for interpretation so it being part-narrative is important to get my message across. The visuals in my music video will have a direct relationship to the lyrics.  There will also be a direct relationship between the music and the visuals as there are parts of the song where you can hear a ‘rewind’ sound and some of the visuals on the screen will rewind. My music video will coincide with the pre-existing hip-hop music video style (Goodwin codes and conventions). Typically hip-hop music and lyrics are about problems in the world (usually in places like the ghetto etc) and usually have visuals accompanying these lyrics such as 99 problems by Jay-Z which was also directed by Romanek. Jay-Z raps about being pulled over by the police because ‘he’s young and he’s black’ and in the video he gets pulled over by the police.  There may also be intertextual references to the media and news, in which I’d like to recreate news stories about police brutality.

Briefly describe what will happen in your music video.       What will we see? The music video will be a mix of videos I took in New York, clips of places in London, Norwich and Milton Keynes that stick to the codes and conventions of places seen in pre-existing hip-hop videos, and clips of my actor lip-synching to the song. I have the opportunity to shoot in extreme close up, big close up, close up and mid close up with my actor.  They will be black/ mixed race and I’d like these shots to show their prominent black features, and also clips of them at the barbers etc.  I’ll also be using worms-eye-view as that’s seen in a lot of hip-hop videos. The clips of buildings and places gives me the opportunity to shoot some establishing shots as well as long shots and mid shots, as well as close ups of signs etc. This video will be a typical hip-hop music video, touching upon topics of racism and black lives matter which are seen quite regularly in hip-hop videos.

What resources will you need? Props, styling, location, recording and lighting equipment, actors, etc.: Props and styling – alcohol bottles, cigarettes, gold chains, designer(ish) clothes all of which I already own (or the actor already owns Location – New York,  Norwich - Studio CCN + colegate graffiti + alleyway by newlook.  London - UFFC Annual Remembrance Procession. Recording equipment- Tripod, Canon EOS 70D, Sony ax3000 Lighting – Natural daylight + lighting in studio

Who will you need to organise for your music video shoot?  Are they reliable? The actor I have in mind is someone I live with and am very close with so we’re able to film whenever, light and dark.  They’re very reliable and I’m also helping them with their photography work in return so it’s a win-win situation.

How will you access/organise location(s)?  Is your idea ‘do-able’ in terms of resources and time scale? New York is already filmed, the rest of my locations are very easily accessible as I travel to them regularly.  My idea is very do-able in terms of resources and time scale.

Final Song Choice

Song: Canal St.
Artist: A$AP Rocky
Genre: Hip-Hop/ Rap

I've decided on Canal St. by A$AP Rocky ft Bones, but I decided I wanted to change the song slightly to better suit my vision.  I decided to add in a gunshot sound effect to emphasise my narrative about police brutality, and also part of Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech which is about racism in America.

To make sure I could actually use this song, I contacted RCA Records which works with Sony, and the whole of A$AP Mob to ask for permission.  Below is proof of this.

I also wanted to make sure I could use the speech without copyright issues, so I did some research on that as pictured below.

The 'I have a dream' speech is actually copyrighted by the King family.

After doing this research, I think that I can use part of this speech through 'fair use' as I'm using it for educational purposes and the use of the material is transformative as I'm putting it into a song.  If I was working at Industry Standard however, I would have to pay a licence fee to use the song legally.

I then decided to use software to play about with the song to get it sounding how I wanted.

As it's music, I was initially going to play around with Adobe Audacity, but I'm very confident using Adobe Premiere Pro so decided to use this as I was only making minor changes.  Below are screenshots of the changes I made.

This is where I added in the gunshot noise.  I had to adjust the pitch to make it match the rest of the song so that you couldn't hear the difference.

Towards the end is where I added the Martin Luther King 'I have a dream' speech.  I wanted to still hear the hook of the song so I placed this underneath.  You can hear both the hook and the speech and I think they work very well together.

Audience Research - Audience Profile

Audience Research - Questionnaire Feedback

I've waited a few days to get all the feedback from the questionnaire, I got a lot of responses, some were clearly 'trolls' so I haven't included those in my evaluation.