Locations

Today we went to look at some locations to film in. We took the following pictures in daytime and in the dark.

We also took some time to get used to the new video camera.

The Conventions of the Rap Genre

Conventions of the Rap Genre

The rap music genre consists of many things that other genres do not, which makes it unique and recognisable by almost everybody.
Usually ‘rap artists’ are seen as black African/Americans because the genre itself was created by an African American. Nowadays there are many White rappers including Eminem.

Rap songs are sang or “rapped” at a fast pace. Which is iconic of the genre, it is how everybody recognises it is a rap. The beat itself has heavy/deep bass.
Artists in the rap genre tend to use more explicit lyrics than any other genres. One of the most popular explicit terms used is “Nigger(s)”. This term is used because it used to be used by White people back when racism was a big issue in society. Nowadays the term is controlled by Black people not as a sign of racism but more to show their roots and how they were brought up.

The rap genre also consists of baggy clothing and exaggerated jewellery. The clothes show that the people of the black communities will never let go of nor forget how they started, having to buy big clothes which they could grow into because they could not afford to keep buying new ones. The jewellery shows that they now have the money to spend on what they could now afford to buy many a year ago. The same concept is shown through the use of cars in the music videos.
Many rap songs have the rapper as a protagonist and the society, along with the police force, as the antagonist.

Some rap songs are about relationships and girls. Girls along with the cars and jewellery are a sign of respect and success. Rap songs are usually based around a theme this could be; violence, drugs, sex etc. These themes are made clear through the use of acting and the lyrics used. The tone of voice is also a factor which can indicate the theme of the song.

Wealth is portrayed in every rap song through the use of Jewellery and cars as mentioned above and also through the use of branded clothes. Not only are the branded clothes shown in the music videos but also mentioned during the song itself, E.g. Giggs “True Religion jeans matching the Ralphs”.

Violence is also one of the conventions for rap songs as nearly all rap songs mention fighting and weaponry. The violence from the genre is again linked back to life lived by African Americans when racism was a big issue in society. It shows that people had to fight for freedom and to have rights.

Overall, the conventions of the rap genre are there to represent the life, as it was, for Black people in comparison to how they are living now. How everything has changed for them and they are free to live their lives as they wish to. Still though, the rappers have chosen to respect their roots and keep wearing their baggy clothes as a sign rap and Hip Hop.

Costume

Since we will be following conventions as well as breaking them we will be needing various costumes and types of clothing.

For instance, we will need big over sized clothes and baseball caps for one character, along with big shiny jewelery and a big belt buckle.
For the second character we need more fitted clothing, perhaps polo t-shirts and smart shirts, to show that he is a gentleman that can rap.

Our Schedule

November 1 --> Animatrics to be shot and finished.
November 8 --> Video shoot to be shot and roughly finished.
November 15 --> Video shoot to be fininished and ready for editing.
November 22 --> Video should be ready for editing and the remainder of the time will be used for reshooting what we need to fix.
November 29 --> Continue with the editing and start the two ancillary texts.
December 6 --> The editing should be in the final stages or even finished and the ancillary texts should be finished by the end of the week.
December 13 --> Our video is done and dusted and ready to upload onto Youtube and we should be aiming to finish our evaluations by the end of the week.
December 20-21 --> We will be asking friends and family and classmates for feedback on our video.

Analysis of The Lyrics

I am going to analyse the lyrics of our chosen song, after they have been sized up onto an A3 piece of paper. As you can see in the post before, the lyrics really,have understandable meaning to them and lots of slang is used. We will be translating the slang terms and should hopefully be able to understand the lyrics.
Once analysed, they will be posetd onto blogger.

Our Chosen Song and Lyrics

The song we have chosen is "Na-NaNa-Na" by Nelly. The song was released in 2004 in the rappers album "Sweat". The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard Chart.

Jazze Pha:
Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen
This, is truly an event
Nelly Nel, Jazze Phizzle, Jazz Phiza-fel
(Na-nana-na, nana, nana, nana) Woooo-eee!
(Na-nana-na, nana, nana, nana) Woo, woo, woo, oh boy!
(Na-nana-na, nana, nana, nana) Oh boy! Ohhh!
Hey, hey hey hey hey hey hey

Chorus:
Well uh-huh, well uh-huh girl I'm parked outside
And you know that it's sittin on chrome, chrome (uh-huh)
Hey, I'm just lookin for a pretty young thang
that uh, I can take home (take home)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr - shorty can we
leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)

Nelly:
I'm a denver nugget type of fellow I push the Carmello
Yellow on yellow flooded the band and the bezel
Hear me now! Oh, no, did you see the hero?
I took the Phantom to the Opera, same Phantom through the ghetto
Can we leave hurr? Shorty need to make up her mind
I seen them niggaz over there, but they ain't takin my shine
Got 7 niggaz tryin to be me, out here breakin they spine
But they got 7 different levels for they make it to mine
I want you both shorty (oh) go get it crunk shorty (oh)
I see your A-T-L stamp and go' head and stomp shorty (oh)
I got that shake now, and don't be scared now
Cause we can come from the kitchen up to that bed now
Shit it ain't nuttin to a boss, I heat you like air off
It ain't nuttin, they ain't cuttin, they frontin, that's they loss
Cause the, 'Tics is good, and the van is paid off
And I done got so damn cocky I took that Band-Aid off

Chorus:
Well uh-huh, well uh-huh girl I'm parked outside
And you know that it's sittin on chrome, chrome (uh-huh)
Hey, I'm just lookin for a pretty young thang
that uh, I can take home (take home)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr - shorty can we
leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)

Nelly:
Uhhhhhhhh, picture perfect, I paint a perfect picture
Third album, same focus, my intent is to get richer
I'm with my dirty Jazze Phizzle, he yieldin that instrumental
Youse a cold-ass nigga on the track (SHO' NUFF!)
Man - I'm tired of poppin these bottles, tired of fuckin these models
I'm tired of these menage-a nights - yeah right (PSYCH!)
I was built for it, I got hip for it
I even got a little swagger in my limp for it
I done had, sex in the city plus sex in the country
You know - sex in the zoo di-rectly behind the monkeys
Hold up! Don't get me wrong, I'm lookin for Ms. Right
But tonight ain't the time, I'm lookin for right now
It's two-thousand-fo', I'm in a new home
Threw out the Bentley bought a Double R TO GET SOME GONE
It's like I'm holdin on to permanent mistletoe, I think you been sittin low
I got a driver dirty, he come when the whistle blow

Chorus:
Well uh-huh, well uh-huh girl I'm parked outside
And you know that it's sittin on chrome, chrome (uh-huh)
Hey, I'm just lookin for a pretty young thang
that uh, I can take home (take home)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr - shorty can we
leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)

Nelly:
(Na-nana-na) I'm smoother than you know
(Na-nana-na) Cadillac do's and bank rolls
(Na-nana-na) I simply go places you can't go
Ain't see me in no Linc', but you know that derrty in Brougham
I be on my (grind-na-grind-na-grind-na-grind)
With my money on my (mind-my-mind-my-mind-my-mind)
Plus I'm still in my (prime-my-prime-my-prime-my-prime)
And we be smokin that (la-lala-lala-lala)

Chorus:
Well uh-huh, well uh-huh girl I'm parked outside
And you know that it's sittin on chrome, chrome (uh-huh)
Hey, I'm just lookin for a pretty young thang
that uh, I can take home (take home)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr - shorty can we
leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)
Can we leave hurr (yeah) can we leave hurr (yeah)

(Na-nana-na, nana, nana, nana)
*repeat to fade*

Our Chosen Idea

The idea we have chosen for our music video is the Child Gangster idea. This seems like a really good idea bacause of all the hip hop themed music videos i have seen, none of them have a child as a main focus.
Though some do make references to children in the gangster genre conventions they do not have a whole storyline based around them.

So, we asked William Crooks, Andrews little brother, to be our main character. He agreed instanly to this propsal. We than asked his Mother if she could give us consent (as he is only 10 years old) she also agrred it was alright as long as we keep him safe under our supervision.

We then realised that we would need to use a "flashy" car as a representation of the good life. Andrews' Mother then told us that she will let us use her new Audi A4 for some of our shots when she is not using it.

We will also be needing baggy clothes for William to wear, he said that it would be alright to wear my clothes as they are bigger than his and it would save us money to use the resoources we already have instead of buying new ones.

So, upto now we have many of our main character, many clothes for him to wear and a car. We will now be looking into locations for our video to be filmed in and characters to be involved as extras.