Systematic Destruction

Well, the term is over and my final project was publically viewed at Lawrence University today. Jinglie and I worked extremely hard for ten weeks to construct this music video. I truthfully think the ending result was beyond amazing. It was a joy to work with Jinglie, he really is stylish in everything he does. To Azati Williams and Corey Torres, the artists who helped create the song, I thank  you as well. This video was such a major collaboration assignment and I enjoyed every moment of it. The rendering on Final Cut Express was not always fun, but it was worth it.  

Gentrification

Strikes our nation making it,

Better? No. Far worse.

“Systematic Destruction” is the title the music video Jinglie and I showed for our final piece. The video begins with a poetry slam between myself and Azati Williams. During the poetry slam, we chose to keep the background black and have different words that were being spoken appear in the background. I think this aspect of the video was captivating, intriguing and creative. Once this part of the video was over, we entered into the actual music video section of the video. Throughout the video we showed various parts of Chicago along with different alleys and graffiti images. The video was very stylish, full of color, and still delivered the overall message. Check out the video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZYdQju6Bus

Hype and Us

This week I researched an artist that related to my final project. Harold “Hype” Williams is a well known music video director today and has been for close to twenty years. He was born in Queens, New York in 1970. Hype attended an art and music high school and completed some of college. There is not much background information on Hype as a child. However, the work he has created through the years is absolutely incredible! His style and concept he places in all of his videos are intriguing to watch. As a student, I can only wish and hope to be as successful as Hype is today, seeing that I want to pursue the same profession.

In class, we presented a brief presentation about our artist we chose to research. I chose to show this video by Hype that stirred up some conversation among my peers. I chose this video because it related the most to the concept of out video. Gentrification is a serious issue, and so are the Blood Diamonds in Sierra Leone.  Check it out.

Hype is also known for directing singer/actor Aaliyah’s last video titled “Rock the Boat”. Shortly after the shoot was over her plane crashed as she was heading back to the states from an island on the Atlantic coast. Here is her last video before she passed, directed by Hype.

Another aspect that Hype did really well was market himself through artists’ videos. I think this is really clever. Here is a video where his name constantly is flashing through the production.

I can go on and on with videos by Hype. Research says that he has made 196 videos in counting and that is not including some of his most recent work, like “Turn off the Lights” by Kanye West ft. Rihanna and “Not Myself Tonight” by Christina Aguilera. He is truly a remarkable artist. I only wish our work will turn out just as successful.

On another note, I thought that Kristen was a great guest earlier this week. She was perfect for many of us to hear from, especially the seniors. I have had trouble trying to decide what my next steps would be once I graduated from Lawrence. It was great to get some insight from an alumni that is just getting her foot in the door. She gave great advice, and was just an overll cool person.