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.