Research 1 (Song Choice)

As seen in my brainstorm, I've taken on board a variety of considerations, concepts and ideas. In this part of my research, I will go more in depth.

To begin with, in the process of choosing the song I want to make a music video for, my decision boiled down to three choices. Which are; Kendrick Lamar - The Art Of Peer Pressure; Weeknd - Thursday; Tyler the Creator - Her. The reason it came down to these three songs is because they all have completely different themes, moods and they're all from genres that are affiliated with Hip-Hop.
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Kendrick Lamar - The Art Of Peer Pressure

The artist: Kendrick Lamar is an example of a classic hip-hop who is on the rise to success. However, the character he portrays and maintains is a very humble and popular one, unlike a lot of rappers. The typical rapper would have more of a boastful and flashy personality but not him. Kendrick Lamar is a unique character because he is the type of person who would let his words do the talking for him rather than portray a false image of himself. He has a down-to-earth aspect about him, therefore, his fans are more likely to be 'Hip-Hop heads' [see audience profile post] because his image is based on authenticity.

The song: 'The art of peer pressure' is a song is orientated around the artist's childhood, growing up in an impoverished and ghetto area. The entire idea of the song is contradiction because the lyrics are a short story on how the artist is usually a good person, but when he is around his cousins and his friends he turns completely ruthless. This involves scenes of him in a car looking to cause trouble with his 'homies' and and in his journey he comes across different situations. At the end of the journey him and his 'homies' commit a house robbery.

Advantages:  Its a song with a fairly straightforward story line I could use as a template for my music video. Advantages of the song's story are that I have a car I could use as a prop for my music video and willing participants to represent his 'homies'. Furthermore, the car I can use is a Toyota. This is good because in the song a Toyota is mentioned as the car the main character is riding in. In addition, I have in mind a variety of locations which I could use to film this music video to make it as ghetto as possible (e.g. buildings and flats that are run down, car parks, staircases, a house (for the robbery) and an underpass). I think I would be competent enough to portray the oxymoron mood of this song by incorporating suitable costumes and applying witty camera angles.

Disadvantages:  The disadvantages of trying to make a music video for this song would mostly be trying to force such a ghetto image in the suburban town I live in (Harlow). Also, trying to direct the main character to behave in such a vigorous manor would be a bit tricky.

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Tyler, the creator - Her

The artist: Tyler The Creator is an artist unlike no other. His persona revolves around the idea of being a 'walking circus' meaning that nothing he does is taken serious because 99% of everything he does is a joke. He has a kind of personality where it seems as though he is stuck in his childhood. This is because he does whatever
he likes. His music is mainly alternative rap and he is viewed as 'the joker' in the hip-hop world. He associates himself a lot with skateboarding therefore his dress code is predominantly skateboarding clothes (cap, shorts, vans shoes and completely random t-shirts). Tyler's fan base consists of mainly white teenagers aged 14-19 and these people are attracted to his free spirit and his unorthodox rapping.

The song:  'Her' is a song is a song about a fictional character who is a stereotypical 'looser' teenager who has fantasies about his friend (a girl). Throughout the song there is an extreme stalker kind of mood as the fictional character gives a disturbing and in-depth description of his affection for his friend and this mood only gets creepier as the song continues.

Advantages:  The advantages of using a song like this for my music video would be: how easy it is to manipulate the dark using a variety of camera techniques and tricks to best portray the dark and boarder line predatory theme though out the song.

Disadvantages:  Unlike the first song choice, this song doesn't have a particular story line. It has more of a series of events therefore it would be more difficult to make the video flow and stay exciting to the audience.

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Weeknd - Thursday
The artist: Weekend is yet another artist who doesn't fall into any stereotypes. He is an artist who is more of a lady's man. This is purely because virtually all of his songs are love songs. The genre that Weeknd represents isn't particularly hip-hop, its more RnB, however he is widely recognised by the hip-hop culture . He comes across as a character who is more down-to-earth than the typical man and his music is jam packed with feelings and emotion. His image is slightly scruffy because of his messy hair but, other than that, he mainly wears
regular urban clothes.

The song: The song is very intimate and slow. Noticeable, the there are aquatic sound effects which give the song a dreamy and surreal mood to it. Its about how the character in the song has a girl for every day of the week, however the girl for Thursday fell in love with him. The entire song is just sexual reference telling the girl to be ready for Thursday.

The advantages: The advantages of making a music video for this song would be the fact that I can use utilise special effects to compliment the surreal sound of the song and I could also experiment with a few camera filters. In addition I could use some slow motion effects to capture the intimacy between the characters.

The disadvantages: The disadvantages of making a music video to this song would: finding willing participants to play the role of the main characters (boy and girl) and setting up a sexually romantic theme.

Conclusion

In conclusion, after weighing up my options I have decided to make a video for Kendrick Lamar - The Art Of Peer Pressure because I think it would be a more practical project in terms of locations, costume and acting. And above all, I think I would be able to incorparate all of the essential aspects of a well thought out music video and lastly, I would enjoy it because I know the culture like the back of my hand.