Fmp Idea Generation

1. Idea Generation/Proof of concept
(Rap Out)
Jack Henderson

2. My project, titled Rap Out, revolves around the interviewees thoughts on the
genre of Hip-Hop and Rap. This is accompanied by original music and visual
content relevant to what the person is saying. The intention of this is to create
a factual piece documenting the effects the genre has on people and the
repercussions that has for society. The first episode (the piece I have created)
outlines the interviewees first impressions of the genre such as, when and
how they started listening to it and how it appealed to them at the time. At
only 5 minutes long, the film was made for a younger audience on a
streaming service such as YouTube which can be consumed as much or as
little as available.
I chose the art concept to be in style of an VHS player to reflect the old school
connotations that are connected to Hip-Hop and its origins. This was exciting
to create as not only did I relate to the topic but the creation of the content
and specific animations that I added into the piece were unlike anything that I
had practiced before. This made the whole experience an enjoyable one it
allowed me to create something that I, as a consumer, would enjoy and also
to experiment with my own abilities and create a product that I am proud of
and will be valuable when creating my portfolio.

3. The first task during production was to design the introduction
sequence for the series. I thought it was important to include
this as it serves as something recognizable when the content
of each episode changes. I started by creating the logo of the
series on Photoshop. This began by referencing my research
and concepts that I had collecting prior to beginning
production. The font I chose to best reflect my intention was
named Nervous (sourced from dafont.com). I selected this one
as it had a stuttering effect when it was in motion which suited
the VHS theme very well. I then layered 3 copies of the title in
this font, each different colours (green, red and blue), slightly
off centre of each other to as to mix the colours together when
they shifted position from background to forefront. This
created a mixture of colours being create such as purples and
turqouise when in reality the only colours that were used were
green, red and blue. As seen in the picture of the Premiere pro
track, I placed these images in quick succession so that the
colours shifts and warps. This is something that I came up with
to reflect the an older technology which is slightly broken due
to age.
Through the use of overlays and motion tools, I distorted the
images to duplicate and change colour as if the “tape” was
broken.

4. As for the content of the film, this was all comprised of found footage from music
videos relevant to what the interviewer is saying. Because the film was focused solely
based on Hip-Hop, these music videos were easy to find on YouTube and similar
streaming platforms. I wanted to make the visual content representative of what the
audio content was describing so the interview was conducted first. I created this by
finding a subject who was passionate about the genre and had their own story to tell
about at, as to make it as original as possible.
Myself and my friend Tom sat down with a voice recorder and discussed the topics
which I wanted within my piece. I’d attempted to lead the conversation yet stay
distant from my personal opinions whilst trying to invoke Tom to speak freely. This was
successful in some ways as I did get the content I needed to create the piece, however
I found that the conversation kept straying from what I wanted to include. I solved this
by writing down a flow chart for the conversation with each subject leading into the
next. Regardless of this, it was still a natural conversation and does not sound forced
or staged through the way Tom spoke. One downfall of this was the sensitivity of the
voice recorder as it picked up ever single sound in the room including hands being
placed on the table or feet shuffling. This is something I will improve on in future
projects as I intend to explore audio production more to accompany my video
production skills.

5. I believe I catered my product to its specific audience better by being part of
the audience I intended it to be for. It was a lot easier to create a product
that I will enjoy as a consumer as it helped me decide what I would and
wouldn’t find enjoyable. When finding clips to add into the piece, I chose to
include as many subgenres as I were suitable to make the piece more
relatable to Hip-Hop in general. I decided to do this because the community is
divided by new and old sub cultures, such as new wave and old school hip
hop. The art style is based around Old School Hip Hop due to this being the
most recognizable style for the whole community.
The different effects within my piece were created via a mixture of stock
footage and effects within Premiere Pro. The intro sequence features a shot
of water rippling (which is stock footage), this is then blended and overlayed
throughout the entire piece with the Opacity setting Colour burn as it gave
the video tape effect a more distorted and broken look. The VHS effects are
primarily overlays that were open source online however the effects that
duplicate are involve reducing the size were all created by me. I found this
challenging at some points due to having to keyframe the motion exactly the
the point were the VHS “break” in the overlay crosses over the text.

6. My product has served its purpose as a reflection of the views of a Hip Hop fan. I am
proud of the links and connections that were made in the project as they help the
product connect to the audience. I believe a big strength of the product is the
introductory sequence as it includes an aesthetic which is quite unique to Rap Out
which differentiates the brand from other products which use basic colour schemes
and effects. In creating this product, I wanted it to appeal to both old school and new
age Hip Hop fans which I achieved through combining motifs such as VHS style visual
and audio effects which reflected the age of VHS which revolutionised the distribution
of media. To appeal to New Age fans, I used a modern Hip Hop soundtrack with
elements of old school boom bap which combined the two eras and demographics.
I believe the main weakness of my product is the fact that there is only one piece and
not multiple products. Due to time and logistic constraints I was unable to add
multiple subjects to the product with different voices speaking over different sections
of the film. I don’t feel that this alters the effectiveness of the product however ideally
I would’ve liked to add multiple subjects. The piece does not take a mainstream/linear
style and is more of an art piece rather than an informative narrative or documentary.
Overall I am pleased with the final proof of concept and the process it took to create
and distribute it. It has taught me that I prefer to do factual pieces rather than non
fiction narratives as I like storytelling through true stories and visual effects. Doing this
has given me more ideas as to how I can complete my final product