Experiment 2: Open Letter
Proposal:
Kendrick Lamar's album “To pimp a butterfly” covers many different topics and each song has a different feel to it. I chose to do a hype video with the song “Alright” ,because for me personally this song is very applicable to my athletic life. As an athlete there can be a lot of stress, anxiety, and worry that comes along with competing. There's injuries, bad performances, and many other things that can get in the way of an athlete enjoying their experience in their sport. But the song “Alright” is very comforting because it touches on a religious aspect. Long story short, the song is saying that as long as God is watching us everything will be okay no matter what challenges we may face. I chose practice footage rather than competition footage because of the fact that when I am in practice I feel more at peace because I am working on perfecting my craft. Practice is a time for building and making mistakes , which is another reason why this song fits because its alright to make mistakes and practice gives you a reassuring feeling that everything will be okay in the end, because you are putting in the work.
Genre Analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj6meQG6JmY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUxZCvYkwss
The definition of hype is to promote or publicize (a product or idea) intensively, often exaggerating its importance or benefits. Hype videos can be done in any way and there is no “correct” way to do one. Its however the creator wants or feels a certain thing should be hyped. The adidas hype video and Serena Williams hype video are perfect examples of people doing hype videos in different ways. My experiment one will mimic something more like the adidas hype video but my complexion portion of my final project will be more like the serena williams vogue video.
Sketch Draft
For my experiment I have a minute of a song titled “Alright” and what it means to me. Because athletes go through ups and downs and can relate to the alright lyrics, I chose to focus on my sport for that song and for the 57 seconds of my experiment 1. But the entire project will consist of multiple parts.
Kendrick Lamar's album consists of fifteen songs ,but for my video I want to include 4 or 5, 20-45 second videos that feature different songs of the album. The genre analysis will still fit under the category of a “hype” video but there will be different types based on the feel of the song, because ultimately I still want to reveal what type of emotion and feeling that Kendricks work is producing.
BREAKDOWN:
First video: “Alright” - Kendrick Lamar , featuring the video of my track team.
*transition*
Second video: “Complexion” , featuring all shades of black people being proud of themselves and their skin
*transition*
Third Video: “Mortal Man”(possibly a third video) , featuring an athlete who is currently injured but a star before then.
Fourth Video:
Fourth Video: “Institutionalized” , featuring *Possibly me*
Reflection
After making this video, and taking a more selfless approach to it I was very happy with my final result . I sent the video to all of my teammates who were in it and they were very pleased and excited with the final result. I had planned on including myself in the video but I like the fact that I am not in it. The video actually came out better than I expected it to, being that I didn't have much time to film anything because I was injured. It made the music applicable to everyone rather than just me.I was really proud of what came out of it and am excited to get the chance to continue working with it even if i don't use it for my final experiment.
