End of Marking Period 1 Checkpoint

In this Marking Period, I've been mostly filming a project in a group made up of Don, Tyler, Noah, Garret, Trevor, and I.

We've been working on a film about a High School student and his dark path into drugs and his downwards spiral after he meets two guys and parties with them and then he ends up doing drugs, as well as his friends trying to get him out of it after he's hooked, it's harder to go at a subject like this because of the grey area of what schools allow and don't when it comes to the subject matter, so sometimes we may have to tiptoe around things said or shown but we've pretty much got it figured out as of now.

Here are some pictures of us filming:

As for my individual work, I've been scriptwriting and will soon start filming them and actually going though with them as compared to last year.

For the next marking period I want to finish the film about drug use then start working on shooting for the scripts I wrote.

I also want to incorporate animations into films as well as stop-motion to integrate them to create hybridity in my art.

Music Video Investigation: HUMBLE. - Kendrick Lamar

On April 7th, critically acclaimed rapper Kendrick Lamar dropped a single off his new album DAMN. along with a music video to go with it.

After his last full length project To Pimp A Butterfly in 2015, and a B-Sides album untitled unmastered. in 2016. Kendrick comes back now with a new project called DAMN. and had released HUMBLE. as the first and only single off his album which had dropped on April 14th and already has been praised as Kendrick is now being considered to be one of the best to spit on the mic.


HUMBLE. as a song itself is pretty self explanatory by the title. On the track, Kendrick preaches about being humble, being modest, and how certain people (speculated to be rappers Drake and Big Sean) need to sit down and be humble, to take a step back because Kendrick might be trying to say that they aren't as good compared to him to be so prideful and think so highly of themselves. Kendrick's first couple of songs before DAMN. had been him taking shots and sending warnings to rappers, letting them know that they need to up their game for their popularity or to even compare to him as rappers and lyricists. But in the song, Kendrick also covers being humble in general, also commenting on the use of photoshop in the media and natural beauty, as well as him referring to himself as "the realest after all" while chanting the chorus that preaches and demands people to sit down and be humble.

The music video starts off with the same shot of Kendrick that is on the cover of the single, it's him standing in front of the door and windows of a church with a ray of sunlight shining in on
him, dressed up as a pope, which I honestly think is intended irony considering the song is about being humble, maybe this is also part of Kendrick saying that he's the best out of all current rappers in the game and that they should sit down and not too think so highly of themselves when they aren't the best or near best, continuing the competition the has been a part of Hip-Hop for a long time. He then starts chanting and then begins rapping starting off the video and leading us into the next scene and shot. In this shot Kendrick is shown laying on a table full of money in a birds eye view shot as he shoots money out of a cash money gun and into the camera then a scene of him in what looks to be a hair salon under a blowdrying machine and a sequence of the current and older scenes from before switching between eachother. Then a shot of him riding a bike in a 360 panoramic view, afterwards a shot of him golfing on top of a car in the LA River which pans away from him with what i'm guessing is a crane that was used for this shot. The next shot is Kendrick amongst rows of bald men with their head down as he raps to the camera, but then when the chorus comes in some start rapping along with him. More religious symbolism comes in the next shot when a recreation of The Last Supper with Kendrick sitting in Jesus' spot with his disciples, there's an effect in this part of the video which I really like whien the camera starts moving back and forth for a shake effect.

Overall I really like how this Music video was shot and edited, I usually don't like music videos that are overdone or over edited to be taken too seriously, but when it's done right like this video, it works perfectly.

Text & Image

What is Text and Image?

Text and Image is a style and form of art where both visual aspects and text are combined to convey a certain message and or meaning. Usually, text and image is mostly done when artists are stating their own opinions and certain things such as, political, religious, and any views they want to send a message about. Alot of text and image art usually becomes very influential and infamous in scenes such as street art, music, and fashion.

The example of Text and Image art I will be using is Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger is an artist that hails from New Jersey but made an impact on text and image type of art in the New York City and L.A. street art scene along with "Obey Propaganda" artist Shepard Fairey who would continue to make this type of art influential, she started booming during the late 80's and early 90's. Her art consisted of her opinions and commentary on civil rights issues such as Feminism, one of her most infamous pieces of art "Your Body Is A Battleground"(1989) is about women's reproductive rights and was used during protests and became known for being part of the beginning of post-modern activist art, Which many artists would come to be a part of.

Examples of Barbara Krugers art pieces:

Hybridity in Art

JOEY HOLDER & HYBRIDITY IN ART:

In art, there are many sub-genres and types, hybridity in art is when different types of art making comes together in a combination, a hybridity of art.

One of the artists that partakes in hybridity is Joey Holder, an artist based in the UK, she uses many elements in her art that mesh together to make one big constant mixed melting pot of media.

In an interview with Dazed Digital when asked how she would describe her work she stated "I paint, sculpt, make video, multimedia installations and have numerous blogs and image streams. My work seems to be about how these things are networked together, how they are set in ‘constellation’ – its about the 'tissue' which connects them.

The very 'human' way in which we make sense of the world is to name, structure and hierarchize things, yet these systems are always in flux. In my work I mix elements of biology, nanotechnology and natural history against program interfaces, screen savers and measuring devices. I see no object or substance in a fixed state; everything is always transforming and morphing into something else."

She sculpts, uses film and video, and paints all to mix these elements together in order to make the hybridity she's known for. One way I can describe her art is futuristic naturalism. Like a forest, technology, and LSD, all put into one to create the morphing and transforming pieces of art Joey Holder creates.

I actually enjoy Holder's art a lot because it's very aesthetically enjoyable, it kind of compromises the way you would normally view art because it's so simple, yet so complex. Mixing 3-D and 2-D aspects of art and sometimes even sculptures, it creates the very surreal aspect within art that many fans of contemporary art love. And that is something that shows up in art that uses hybridity a lot because it's so unorthodox and so mixed within the arts. How I might be able to use hybridity within my own art by using music made by me, sculpted clay and the use of video if I ever want to continue stop-motion claymation, as well as incorporating images and audio to create a video or film rather than having to shoot to make a video. Something that also really interested me is the eeriness in Holder's art, the use of colors in some of her art really shows how a different hue or a mix and shade of colors make you feel some type of way and I feel that it's very important to convey the intended feeling to an audience even if art is subjective, and Joey does an awesome job at it.

Themes in Conceptual Film

POLITICS AND SOCIAL ORDER:

In art, themes are very important and crucial when not only differentiating between art but also as a way to see the vision and place artists see and are coming from when putting them in their topics and origin. For example in the theme i'm focusing on, a lot of the contemporary art within the theme of politics and social order focuses on the commentary of politics and society, an artist known for doing this is Barbara Kruger, an east coast conceptual artist, collagist, and activist known for her use of text and image, usually incorporating photos with white over red captions that have social commentary usually through one liners on them. One of her more well known and controversial pieces is the untitled(your body is a battleground) which is of a woman who's face is half a negative image with a caption over the picture that says "your body is a battleground". This artwork focuses on the issue of abortion and women's rights as well as the whole pro-choice/pro-life issue. Kruger compares a woman's body to a battleground as people in society debate over the choices and options woman have  over their bodies and their ability to have services such as abortion, calling out and shaking up the political and social order with commentary through art. The theme of political and social order also transcends into other types of art, in music, especially in genres like hip hop and punk rock where denouncing, resenting, and questioning authority and our social order is encouraged. Notable artists that have done this consist of artists like Public Enemy, N.W.A., PRO ERA, The Sex Pistols, Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, and etc. In various films the topic and theme of political and social order is also very present, films like A Clockwork Orange, Soylent Green, Fight Club, V for Vendetta, and many others have heavy use of the ideals concerning political and social order and a lot of symbolism and themes that reflect our own society. In the 21st Century, political and social commentary within art has definitely increased as of late, consciousness and the talk of society's issues has made a comeback even though it never left due to the many events that are happening in this decade. I feel like and I do hope that this theme is one that will always have a big place in the art world, in my eyes the self and social awareness that we express through art is amazing and is something that will always be dope because it brings us closer to being human and being intellectual people within our own system.

What I Worked On This Year/4th Marking Period Blog Post:

During this year, I was more experimental with what I wanted to focus on, at first I was focused on scriptwriting, then some more scriptwriting but never really filming, then stop motion tests because I'd found myself getting interested in claymation, animation, etc.

As far as what I have to show for the year, I have screenshots of models of what characters in my scripts would look like and stop motion tests as well.

In this marking period I mostly helped out the seniors in the class on their final films and projects for the District Arts Festival. But I also have things I might be working on for the summer just messing around and brainstorming ideas.

Stop Motion Tests

I've finally managed to export the stop motion tests I've made on my phone so here they are:

Music Video Investigation: Tame Impala - Let It Happen

On July 17th, 2015, Australian psychedelic-rock band Tame Impala had released their third studio album Currents. Along with a string of music videos of songs off the record, one of them being the first track and the music video in which i'm talking about this time, Let It Happen. 

The video starts out with a man in a suit running into the shot, then cutting to him walking with urgency through an airport, appearing to be late to a flight he needs to catch, while the fast paced drums and synths along with frontman Kevin Parker's singing match up to the protagonist's urgency. Then Kevin singing the hook "Let it Happen, Let it Happen" which is a phrase that will make sense in the video soon. One thing I noticed in the shot when starts walking through the seating areas, is that an airplane flies behind where his heart is located, symbolism that will also make sense soon. So the video and song continues, now the protagonist slowing down in the seating areas, seeming tired and out of breath, then grasping his chest as he slowly starts falling, then collapses as he's trying to catch is breath. Then the next shot is a POV of him looking around then at the ceiling, then a shot of his face, in pain no doubt. Then the next shots are where it gets more surreal, the protagonist falls through the floor that opens up as he lands on an airplane seat, looking around confused, then finds himself holding a giant wooden alarm clock, then all of a sudden he now finds himself on a bed, holding a smaller realistic version of the clock, the setting it down and shoving his face in water, then taking his head out, failing to catch his breath again, then going to a near table, struggling to get pills, then seeming to have a shock of pain, collapsing again. Back to the POV shot of him looking up at the ceiling, then a flight attendant appears, she looks to be holding him and calling for help, then back to reality, it's really her calling for help in the seating areas. Then there's a close up of him opening his eyes, back on the plane, an attendant hands him a tray with a sandwich and a drink on it, he looks confused due to him still going through this episode. As the song continues the man now looks at the sandwich as it starts singing along to lyrics. After this things get worse, the airplane starts what makes it seem to be about to crash as the wind starts rushing all throughout the plane, and the man is the only one that seems to be panicking, he reaches for his seatbelt and it releases, sending him out into the air in his seat and falling in the sky then he finally takes the belt off separating him from the seat. Then the sky turns dark with a birds eye view of the man with trippy visuals around him. While this is going on, there are cuts to a shot of him getting defibrillated and back to the shot of him to the sky, struggling, and reaching for his heart. Then, he gets defibrillated one time more and then he takes one final breath and one final shot of eyes as his life fleets from them, fading into a shot of the sky and him still falling, but then he starts falling up, then starting to float into the sky, and into a light shining from the clouds, fading into it, which I believe to be symbolism for the heavens.

 I always love when music I enjoy has visuals to go along with it, especially when the meanings of both the lyrics and the video coincides. This video is one of them, the cinematography and editing in this music video is in my opinion really cool, and the video itself does make you feel some type of way, and it does evoke the sense of struggle when facing death, as well as letting go and to Let it Happen.

Digital Portfolio End of Marking Period Presentation 3

What I've Been Working On:

Stop-Motion Tests:

In the 3rd Marking Period I've found an interest in Stop-Motion animation, specifically claymation. So, I made a few tests not using clay but different objects and items I found in room 172 to see what works and what doesn't in terms of FPS and making the animation move smoothly without it looking too choppy or stiff. They are some quick little tests but there's about 40-80 pictures in each one, it takes a good amount of pictures to make a stop-motion animation that is somewhat fluid.

Below are some of the tests I made:

After these tests, now I would want to start writing a script and/or concept for a stop-motion project using clay instead of objects, hopefully I can get the concepts and script writing for a larger project I could maybe get done in my senior year of digital portfolio. But, do some shorter projects during the 4th Marking period, or at the beginning of the following year of Digital Portfolio.

Aside from my interest in stop motion, I've also found a new enjoyment in reviewing music videos, having my first review done on rapper Joey Bada$$' music video for his song 'Land Of The Free'. I've found that reviewing and investigating music videos and their messages could be a way of combining my two favorite things into one, music and film. This is something i've always seen and enjoyed but now I want to take my enjoyment for it and turn it into something I can put into my blog posts. The next review will be on 'Let It Happen' by Tame Impala.

Below is the link to the first review, as well as the music video:

http://jamilfilm.blogspot.com/2017/03/music-video-investigation-land-of-free.html

Music Video Investigation: Land of The Free - Joey Bada$$

Yesterday, on 3/6/17, New York City Hip-Hop artist released a visual for his single Land of The Free from his upcoming album titled ALL AMERIKKKAN BADA$$ scheduled to drop on 4/7/17.
In the song itself, Joey tackles old and modern political and societal issues, primarily race and immigration, over a throwback type of beat produced by PRO ERA's own Kirk Knight. In the video, Joey does the same with the visual aspects to further his point and to accompany the song itself.

The video starts out with a Mad Max/New Americana type setting in a desert followed by titling, then a car drifts into the shot with the American Flag made up of bandana pattering on the top of the car. The flag resembling the cover to Joey's upcoming album, shown below.



The next shot in the music video shows Joey in the front lined up along a group of POC's, all chained up, then showing them walking in a circle around Joey, followed by shots of Joey with the bandana patterned American flag. Then Joey starts rapping, talking to a group of kids like a mentor and a teacher as they're all gathered up around him. Then we see more of the previous shots we've seen and then more shots of the kids gathered up around Joey, the future of the world then seen running happily through the fields innocently, while the adults are chained up and prosecuted. After more shots of Joey spitting knowledge to the kids, the chained up, and the audience, he brings up his resentfulness for our society and current events, rapping "Sorry America, but I will not be your soldier, Obama just wasn't enough, I need some more closure, And Donald Trump is not equipped to take this country over, Lets face facts 'cause we know what's the real motives."
After this he goes into the bridge going "And the land of the free is full of free loaders, Leave us dead in the street to be your organ donors, They disorganized my people, made us all loners, Still got the last names of our slave owners." The next highlight in the video shows a shot of all the chained up people in the previous shots of the video all lined up, standing in front of a line up of police officers and government officials, then proceeds to show the officers and officials shooting the people chained up dead. This song and video maybe one of Joey's most politically charged, recently reminding Hip Hop fans of the legendary late rapper Tupac Shakur and his activism in the 90's and being compared to him. The next shot shows the officers continuing to shoot at the folks chained up, but as Joey stands in front of them rapping and dancing, he has some sort of force shield blocking the bullets, preventing them to kill him and the people, maybe alluding to his consciousness saving himself and the people he's preaching to. The next scene of the video shows Joey standing in front of a burning cross, cutting to him lowering the officers guns, leaving the rest of the people to run away. then cutting back to the burning cross, now surrounded by 4 KKK members, then one of the next shots showing a silhouette of Joey hanging, then a shot of him dancing in the rain in front of the burning cross. After this the next shots show the KKK members removing their hoods, revealing themselves to be police officers. Then the final shots cut back to the fields, with the kids running around with Joey happily.

Since 2012 when PRO ERA's rise to fame started, following the tragic death of founder Capital STEEZ, Joey and the rest of PRO ERA have evolved as artists, people, and a voice for the youth and Hip Hop fans alike. Hopefully they will continue to progress, leaving the PRO ERA and it's movement to be unstoppable.

#LONGLIVESTEELO

Work Log (2/27-3/3)

Monday- Help Brian film
Tuesday- Stop Motion Test
Wednesday- Help Kevin and Tommy shoot
Thursday- Script writing
Friday- Catching up on work

Work Log 1/23 - 1/27

Monday: Studying Claymation

Tuesday: Looking over recent movies with Kevin and Brian

Wednesday: Filming with Quinn

Thursday: Researching music videos that incorporate claymation

Friday: Looking for outfits available for claymation

Claymation

Lately, I've been getting back into my interest in films that are made using stop motion, claymation films. Films such as the Wallace and Gromit film series, or Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and the many films produced by Laika Entertainment.

In the past stop motion was always something I had interest in when I was younger and now have found my interest again due to music videos such as Madvillian's Strange Ways music video and Fleet Foxes' White Winter Hymnal music video.

 So, now I'm interested in and considering making a stop motion short film using clay and other materials. I'm gonna start writing the script this week and then after that see what my limits are, what I can and cannot do, how I will do it, and go on from there.

Before I actually start on the short I want to make a couple of tests to see what works and what doesn't and how I can use the Adobe softwares as best as I can for it.

I've been thinking about concepts for the story of the short film and whether to take just a typical whimsical story approach or maybe make it political in a sense, I'm brainstorming different idea but we'll see what I come up with.

2nd Marking Period Checkpoint

END OF THE MARKING PERIOD CHECKPOINT #2:

In the second marking period I focused more on writing scripts and coming up with short film ideas that would be practical to film within or outside of school. While it's bad to limit creativity and such, it's much easier to have your limits on script-writing when it comes to practicality. This is because alot of the time what ends up happening is that I write scripts that I usually end up never filming and "saving it for later" so it's much easier writing scripts you're sure you can be able to film without certain issues holding it back.

When brainstorming with scripts I still use the Plotagon software to make models of what I imagine characters looking like and dressing up like. As well as using it for makeshift storyboards for the time being as you can put the characters you make into scenes and type in dialogue and action for them, although only two characters are allowed to be in the scenes you can make which hinders some things, but like I said it's just a makeshift storyboard for the time being.

Besides script-writing I also have been working with Tommy and Brian acting in their films, and we filmed a fight scene for fun and for Brian to test out some motion tracking and lighting and it ended up turning out good.

I've also caught an interest in music video editing, specifically type of music videos that have scribble or art over the original shots taken from a camera and then drawn over frame by frame in post production. I've tried testing it out in After Effects but I need to practice a bit more because it didn't turn out that good but practice makes perfect. Here's an example of what I mean.

For the next marking period I definitely want to focus on actually shooting the scripts I write rather than just writing more scripts, or just filming even if it's just test footage for after effects and such.