ASSIGNMENT 3 - REFLECTION

Why did you choose this particular music track?
For assessment 3 I decided on using Common Streets by the Hilltop Hoods. Originally I was inclined to use a the Kraftwerk track as I was inspired by the Tour de France music video by the same group, but after a thorough listen of the track I felt that the song appeared to be visually uninspiring and the ideas I was generating at the time were simplistic and was something that I did not feel like exploring. I also attempted to deconstruct the two Beastie Boys tracks, but felt that the two songs had a great level of musical complexity which would be needed to be translated visually, and I felt that I did not have ample time to commit to such a project. I also listened to the other two tracks available and felt indifferent about the music.

However with the Hilltop Hoods track I was instantly drawn to its Rhodes instrumental track, and the song’s obvious cityscape/ urban lifestyle influence. Although I’m not a fan of rap/hip-hip, I felt I could draw concepts and ideas from the lyrics and theme of the music which appears to be a more insightful piece compared to previous releases from the same artists.

What is the identity you chose for this piece and how did you decide on it?
For the identity of the piece I chose to keep it obvious and inline with the lyrical content of the music. I used cityscapes to foreground the identity of ‘common streets’ which is also the title of the track.

I decided to use cityscapes as I felt it suited the style of music (Rhodes driven instrumental, urban sound etc). There are also obvious cues within the lyrics that suggest the song relates to an urban lifestyle. When choosing the identity of the piece I also factored in what ideas I could employ and successfully achieve in the limited time frame I had available, to achieve the most successful result. As I had recently worked on an additional video piece which had a cityscape theme, I felt it would be beneficial to translate some of my experience towards this assignment.

I also researched past videos and the music style of the Hilltop Hoods and found that their previous releases such as The Clown Prince were superficial and light hearted in comparison to Common Streets. The Clown Prince is a party-orientated song, which is accompanied by a light-hearted animated music video. For this piece I decided a more reflective and mature theme would highlight the direction and content of the song and differentiate the piece from the group’s past releases.

What is the style you decided to go with and why?
When I was working on the concept for this assignment I decided I wanted to use stylized live footage of urban areas in Brisbane. As I researched images for the storyboards I was instantly drawn to cityscape photos taken in the lomography style. Lomography is a type of photography which utilises Lomo and Holga branded cameras prized for their consistent inconsistencies and production defects which produce vivid and interesting photos. These cameras are manual film cameras which can also create a variety of effects such as multiple exposures on the same frame of film (overlaying two ore more pictures), taking multiple photos in the same frame of film (eg 4 separate photos on one piece of film), and having the ability to use coloured filters and flashes resulting in colourised photos. The cameras themselves are entirely plastic and produce photos with an artistic vintage look and often vignetted edges.

The music video uses live footage that I have shot on an old DV camera and have made available as creative commons material through torrents (due to large file sizes). The footage was degraded and colourised to reflect the lomo style, which I also believe, captures the essence of cityscapes and urban imagery.

What symbols have you used in the composition and what is their meaning?
I used two symbols within the piece that are drawn from the lyrics. The first is the graphic equaliser, which reflects the ‘vibe’ as described in the lyrics. The equaliser acts as a mask for a drive through shot of the city. It’s meaning reflects the song’s relationship between the music (‘vibe’) and cityscape theme (‘common streets’).

The second symbol is the use of TVs which reflects the second verse in the lyrics. The use of television sets is to reflect the turning of music to commercialism and becoming a prison for the artist. For this effect I superimposed the free flowing ‘vibe’ equaliser graphic into a broken television set which was duplicated.

How does the motion contribute to the chosen identity?
The motion and scene transition reflects the themes expressed in each verse/ section of lyrics as well as the instrumentals used in the background. For instance the beginning of the music video features a colourful and sound reactive equaliser which transitions to television sets as per the lyrics; as the instrumental section builds the scene transitions using a soft fade to cityscape footage until the scratch/remix section which features a variety of motion and past footage remixed.

How does the composition contribute to the identity?
The composition of the scenes all reflect a cityscape/ common streets identity as a whole through the use of street footage which reflect on the content of the lyrics as explained in the various other sections of this written piece.

What would you do differently and why?
Given better time management and preparation I would have liked to firstly added more complexity in the scenes especially within the last 10-20 seconds of the clip which was done rather haphazardly due to time restraints. I feel that the footage I used doesn’t do the instrumental section justice and breaks the flow of the graphics used in the first half of the clip.

Secondly, to have included transitions that are better synced to the music therefore giving the music video better pace and visual diversity.