2. Context to video
• The concept of our music video is to display elements of hip-hop
culture and to portray an eerie feeling.
• There is no storyline to our video because our research indicated that
many hip-hop videos do not adhere to this either. Although, the
mood of the video is quite gloomy and threatening due to the dark
lighting and emotionless facial expressions produced by the actors.
• We don’t have a particular message that we are trying to send, rather
just a representation of hip-hop with an ghostly vibe to it.
• Our video has been edited to evoke a desolate and alert emotion as
the slow pace and powerful lyrics of the song grips the audience.
3. This is a close up of our actor with quite dimmed lighting. It is
appropriate to our audience and genre because of the clothes he is
wearing, an Astroid Boys beanie (hip-hop band). This appeals to our
audience because they are fans of hip-hop, so potentially fans of Astroid
Boys too.
4. This is a shot that pans across the actors bed room with bright lighting
so you can see the content on the posters. It provides context relevant
to the genre due to the various skate posters. According to a survey of
ours, 100% of our audience liked skateboarding, making it even more
necessary.
5. Another close up is used here of our other actor. He is wearing a face
mask to hide his identity due to connotations of crime being related to
hip-hop, which is the genre he is representing. This actor is also
youthful, allowing our audience to relate to him as they are similar ages.
6. This is a close up with very dark lighting in a woodland area. The
inclusion of a desolate area evokes a gloomy mood, which can have
quite an intimidating affect. Many hip-hop artists rap about their
dominance and intimidation, either over another rapper, or in general
e.g. Drake said ‘I let the diss record drop, you was staying right below
me, n****’, which clearly shows his dominance.
7. A low angle shot is used here, yet again with dark gloomy lighting. Their clothing
allows the audience to relate to them as they are wearing ‘Champion’, a clothing
brand frequently worn by rappers e.g. Chance The Rapper (as shown below).
8. This is an action shot with dark lighting to portray an element of street culture
features within hip-hop. Like already stated, our audience is proven fan of
skateboarding, hence explaining why we included this shot.
9. We used a long angle long shot to show our two actors sitting on top of a car in
dark lighting. This conforms to a convention of hip-hop music videos as they
frequently drive around in their cars, consequently showing relevance to our
genre. An example of this is in Travis Scott’s music video for ‘biebs in the trap’,
which is an extremely popular song with millions of plays on Spotify. This
similarity with professional hip-hop music will engage our audience in
understanding our attempts to conform to specific conventions.
10. A car mounted close up is utilised here as our actors drive down a dark,
isolated road, connoting more gloominess.
11. This is simply a high angle shot of the candles being blown out. Whilst it
has no relevance to genre or audience; Earl blows/exhales as part of the
song, which shows that we have considered the lyrics.
12. More lip syncing is shown here with quite dark lighting, but with the
compound blur effect being used to display that his vision is blurred; an
effect of intoxication, which is also a common aspect of hip-hop culture.
13. This is a wide angle shot with a fish eye lens attached to illustrate the
bedroom. Once again, the actor is young and sporting hip-hop relating
brands to relate to the audience and genre.
14. Another fish eye lens shot is incorporated here whilst lounging in the bedroom.
These actors are resembling the common gangs you see in hip-hop videos. Whilst
they aren’t conveyed as intimidating as professional music videos, they are still
wearing hip-hop brands such as HUF and The North Face. Dark lighting is still
used here to add an eerie effect.
15. Yet again, a close up is used for lip syncing shots so the audience can actually see
how the movements of our actors lips move in time with the song. The dimmed
lighting in combination with how the hat covers half of his face suggests a
determination to keep his identity hidden and to evoke a mysterious effect.
16. This screenshot from the video shows the word ‘waves’, which is a synonym for
saying you are drunk or high. Our youthful audience will understand this concept
and the concept of intoxication fits in well with the genre of hip-hop.
17. More skate scenes are shown here with quite bright lighting and a high angle
action shot. As already stated, our audience is a fan of skateboarding and it is a
feature of street culture and hip-hop as multiple rappers skateboard themselves,
including Earl Sweatshirt himself and Tyler, The Creator.
18. This is a close up on our album front cover to show the audience what it looks
like so they can easily purchase it. However, the lighting is extremely bright, this
distorts some of the image so we don’t reveal too much, allowing the audience
to make their interpretations of the album.
19. As the final shot, we have included the emblem for Earl Sweatshirt along with the
song title and the artists name. This long shot clearly illustrates the logo and has
the pixelated television in background; a frequent theme in our video as the
pixels connote distortions which relate to intoxication. Sweatshirt is a very
popular rapper, so by clearly stating his name and logo entertains our audience
and highlights our conformity to the genre as he raps hip-hop.