Research on our Chosen Artist

·         Kendrick Lamar, Born June 17, 1987

·         Signed to independent record label TopDawg, 2012 he joined a joint venture deal with aftermath and interscope records. 

·         His major label debut studio album good kid, m.A.A.d city, was released October 22,2012 to widespread acclaim. The album spawned the Top 40 hits "Swimming Pools (Drank)", "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe", and "Poetic Justice". Swimming Pools being the song we have decided to use for our media video.

·         The album, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In early 2013, MTV crowned Lamar the No.1 Hottest MC in the Game, on their annual list.

·         BET awards 2013 Kendrick won best new artist.

I then went on to research Kendrick's influences so that I can look at their music and compare, this also widens my knowledge of the genre of music and how to target our video to the audience we are going for.

Kendrick's Influences include:

·         2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas and Eminem are his top five favorite rappers. Tupac Shakur arguably his biggest influence as he has not only influenced the style of music but Kendrick's day to day lifestyle. 

·         In terms of subject matter and technical ability, Kendrick Lamar has often been compared to Tupac, Eminem, Nas and Jay-Z.

·         Kendrick also gave Lil Wayne credit for influencing his style. He has said that he also grew up listening to Rakim, Dr Dre and Tha Dogg Pound.

·         He also cites rapper DMX as an influence "DMX really got me started on music." 

Filming of the Clock

The reason for why we chose to film a clock in our video is because this illustrates that time was passing and that Connor’s drinking happens on a regular occurrence. We filmed the clock at different times so then in the video we can make out that his drinking is happening throughout the day. We filmed the clock for a minute at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00. We will be playing the clock scene when the lyrics in the song says ‘Wake up’ as if the time of the clock is when he wakes up due to him passing out throughout the day due to excessive drinking.

The first clock we filmed:

This was the first clock we tried to film, however, it didn't work as well as we hoped for because it didn't have a second hand which we wanted to be the main feature so that the audience can see time passing by. We carried on filming the clock for an hour so that we could test speeding it up so that you can see the hands moving, but the footage wasn’t good enough. Another reason for why this clock didn’t work because it had a school plaque on show and the colours and style wasn't manly enough for it to look like Connors clock. This shows that the clock clearly isn’t Connor’s which would make the quality of the video weak. It doesn't look spooky or unsettling which is what we were aiming for as it had to look quite dangerous and scary as it is presenting quite a haunting message. Mrs Mckenna very kindly then gave us one of the clocks she said we may be able to use, however, we came to the conclusion that that clock would not look right in out video.

Cally went home to find other clocks that we could use and she messaged us in a group chat we made. There was one clock that was similar to the previous one but this one had a second hand which is what we wanted from the first clock. After discussing thoroughly in the group, we decided that the silver clock would look best in our video as the dark lighting would react well to the white face and the silver frame the create a good effect.

This shot was unsuccessful as the lighting wasn't bright enough which meant the clock wasn't standing out enough and didn’t create the tone we wanted.

The lighting in this video was used with a torch in full darkness. We turned off all the lights in the corridor and placed the clock in a dark corner. We then shone the torch on the clock to create the tone we wanted. This gives a sense that Connor is always in darkness. This footage was filmed for a minute at 12:00 which would then be sped up.

Filming the Bath Scenes

For the bath scenes, we planned to have the same angle shots of both Lily and Connor to create a link between each person and that they have some kind of connection. They would both be in a bath and they would be doing the same things such as grabbing the bath to show panic and distress and coming up from the water quickly to illustrate fear and running their hands through their hair to illustrate their reflective state as if they are thinking about something which is bothering them and causing them distress. This also gives the audience another reason to believe that the reason for Connor’s depression is because of Lily.

LILY:

This footage is of Lily going under water and coming up quickly to highlight her fear and panic as she is always portrayed to be scared of something which raises the question of whether she is dead or not. We controlled the lighting by putting the light outside the door and then shining it through a thin gap of the door. This was because it had to be dark to create the right tone.

In this clip, Lily is grabbing the side of the bath. We asked her to do this so it highlights panic within the video as she is clearly worried about something and is grabbing the side in desperation. The angle featured solely on the side of the bath where she will grab to ensure the shot focused entirely on the hand as this is the main feature. We made sure her nails were painted red to represent danger.

This is footage of Lily running her hand through her head which is what artists commonly use to show that they are thinking and may be depressed. This creates a psychological effect on the audience as they would be thinking that it should be Connor doing this not Lily. But Lily is always in his mind.

CONNOR:

Similar to the footage of Lily, this footage of Connor shows him running his hands through his head to show that he is distressed. This highlights how he is annoyed and depressed as his face appears reflective as if he is thinking about his life and getting distressed about it. This footage is used to show why he drinks as these shots clearly show he is distressed and depressed.

We asked Connor to grab the side of the bath like we asked Lily to. We asked him to keep his watch on the let people know that it was Connor and not Lily. We made the footage lighter as we wanted Lily's to be dark to question whether she is really alive or not as the footage is quite mysterious. Connor's is lighter to highlight how this is happening now as a result of Lily. Connor grabs the bath angrily to show how worried he is and how he can’t escape his thoughts and worries of Lily.

This footage is of Connor coming up from under the water links to the lyrics about 'diving in.' We have him coming up quickly and rubbing his hands through his head to show how he is distressed and panicking about something he is thinking about which we make sure the audience know is due to Lily as we show her going under the water too. We asked Lily to do the same.

Filming Connor in the Empty Room

We thought of having this kind of footage in our video to show Connor’s alcohol abuse clearly which was achieved. The camera shots and angles are low and on the same level as Connor himself which allows us to feel connected to him and watch him personally which highlights how he is revealing something personal to us which makes the audience aware of how serious his alcoholism is. This footage is successful as the alcohol and his depressive facial expressions and gestures create the perfect tone and the controlled lighting creates the perfect tone.

This footage shows the affect alcohol has on people as Connor is holding a bottle of alcohol and uses his facial expressions and body language to indicate his depression as he looks at the floor and the bottle in his hand to show that he is reflecting on what is making him drink. He then runs his hands through his head to indicate that he is distressed and makes the audience think that he is thinking about Lily and that this is the reason for his drinking problem.

The lighting was controlled by covering up the windows and closed the door and then we just had a torch on his face. This was to illuminate him in complete darkness as it reflects his state of mind as he is in a depression which is the darkness. The torch light acts as an interrogation light which illustrates that he is the main focus and that there is a danger due to his constant drinking and state of mind.

This camera angle is more intimate than the other camera angles as it is a close-up shot of his face which is on the same level as him to create a personal shot. This shot has Connor staring at the camera which is successful as he looks depressed and drunk. This angle creates the correct tone and mood for the music video we want. 

This footage is of Connor drinking alcohol from the bottle is to show his drinking problem clearly. This is successful as it confirms to the audience that the reason for why Connor is drinking is to block out the pain from losing Lily.

This footage of Lily will be added in amongst this footage of Connor as it will highlight what is running through his mind while he is sitting there drinking. This gives the audience an idea that he may be feeling guilty about something. This is clear due to the lighting as Connor's lighting is brighter and clearer while Lily's is darker and grainy which highlights how she is in his mind and not there in reality.

Emailing the Rose Company

For the front of our CD case, we wanted to use three very small gold roses so we had to find the email address of the owner of the photograph asking for their permission.

First I typed in what I was looking for and found the rose we wanted to use.

I then went on the website and scrolled down to ‘contact us’ to get the email of the owner.

When I found out how to contact them, I sent them an email asking to seek their permission to use their picture of the rose. I explained that we were wanting to use it for our A2 media. 

I sent the email and and waited for their reply.

They replied giving us permission which allows us to use the rose without committing plagiarism. 

Album Artwork

These are our initial Ideas for the album artwork, Becky and I researched into current albums in this genre and decided what ones we should take inspiration from for our album artwork in order to entice our chosen target market. We chose these album s to work from as they connect more with our ideas in terms of colour tone and setting. We have a clear idea of what we want our ancillary task to look like as we have done different research on different options and then pick the best features that we could use on our own digi-pak.

Day 5 - 7th January 2014

Due to a lot of problems we had with the previous filming we did, it took us a while to get back into the routine of regular filming. After we had concluded that we were unable to get back the filming we had lost, we had to do some filming again. Cally and I went to collect Lily (our main girl) to retake the parts she was in. Before Connor (our main boy) arrived, we were able to film the scenes with lily in the bath and the faded shot of lily. When Connor arrives, we filmed the scenes with Connor in the bath, his looking depressed while holding a bottle, drinking from it, head shots and so on. We were also able to film a bottle rolling on the floor in the bathroom. Cally did a lot of mise-en-scene work and lighting work while I did the filming.