Ryan Playground

It amazes me how many times I go into a project, and how many lessons I take away from it in the end.  Because I have fallen in love with music videos, and want to pursue it as a career I am trying to collect the ones I love the most. This video by Ryan Playground catches everything I wish I did in Miami and more.

Here are some:

1. Take way way way more shots of random things (B Roll) 

2. Slow the fram rate down (60 fps) for slomo 

3. Utilize the artist whenever he/she is not singing. Just shoot them walking around. It will come out nice in the long run

With every video I watch, I learn that there is always a certain style that I can take away from it.

SAVE DAT MONEY

As production students, we all attempt the best method to either raising or avoiding costs for our films. Last year, my fiction 2 film was a complete disaster in terms of money. 

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-pee-wee/x/6776249#/

This film was called "The Pee-Wee" which is a story about fathers who gamble on their kids hockey games. It was a good story, and over $4,000 was spent on the project, but I simply had the wrong team. It just goes to show that although money is a quick problem solver, it can really bite you in the ass in the long run. 

As I begin my journey into creating my final Ithaca College video, I am devoting hours upon hours trying to save dat money. And I think it is only fitting that because I am doing a music video for my thesis, I talk about Lil Dicky's "SAVE DAT MONEY" 

This video is a huge inspiration to me because Lil Dicky did it without spending a cent. At the end of the video the even do a behind the scenes on how they got away with it. And lastly, I think as television/film students we all have a lot to learn fro Lil Dicky.

Fox's New Series Empire

Empire is an American musical drama television serious that debuted on January 7, 2015. The show is based on a hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Enterprises, and the drama among the members of the founders of the company. They are all fighting to control the mass music company. It is shown every Wednesday for an hour, and has done so well that it is already renewed for a second season on January 17, 2015, only seven days after its television debut. The hit series is getting a lot of buzz on both music and television blogs.  Every show has a hook and ends in a nail biting cliffhanger that makes you wanting more!  It is only five episodes in and has quickly become my favorite television show. 

Empire is Fox's number 1 new show due in large part to Henson's captivating and unbelievable performance as the scorned and sassy ex-wife of music mogul Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), who returns to the picture after a 17-year jail stint to claim a stake in the entertainment empire she helped launch.
"She's the truth. She is the walking truth!" Henson said when asked what she thinks draws viewers to Cookie. "She spent 17 years living with some of the most horrible humans on earth. She has nothing to lose."
Fans immediately embraced Cookie for her honesty and fearlessness.  I also admire her determination and ambition, she is truly a role model- minus the jail part.
"You can't scare her," Henson said. "She's not scared of anything or anyone."

I would definitely recommend watching this show, it's very well made and there is a character for everyone to relate to! 

Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap

Recently, I watched the documentary Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, directed by Ice-T. The documentary is a series of interviews that highlights the history of hip-hop culture and explains the meaning of rap music. All of the interviewees are hip-hop legends that shaped the culture and started a revolutionary music style. This was Ice-T's (yes, the guy from Law & Order) first film and as a fan of old school hip-hop, I was extremely pleased with Ice-T's execution. Due to Ice-T's high status in the hip-hop world, he was able to get in touch with the pioneers of hip-hop. The interviewees included Snoop Dogg, Grandmaster Caz, Afrika Bambaata, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Common, Immortal Technique, KRS-One, Ice Cube, Doug E. Fresh, Raekwon, Rakim, and many more legends. The documentary highlights the history of hip-hop on both the East Coast and West Coast and each interviewee spits a freestyle. The video is comprised of city life helicopter shots and street level b-roll. Many people don't appreciate what I would consider to be "real hip-hop." Hip-hop is a form of poetry and art and many mainstream rappers today give hip-hop a bad name and image. I recommend The Art of Rap to those who listen to old school hip-hop and the names of the artists I listed above. I also recommend this film to those who think mainstream rap is good music so that they can understand the poetic roots and appreciate true pioneers of the culture. I also recommend this film to those who dislike hip-hop so that they may come to appreciate the music and learn why and how the culture was created.

                                                    WATCH THE TRAILER.

"Hip-hop didn't invent anything. Hip-hop re-invented everything." - Grandmaster Caz

The Wackness

The first thing I heard about this movie before I saw it was “Josh Peck from Drake and Josh is a drug dealer in this! And is such a boss.” My mouth dropped, how could the fat goofy kid I grew up watching on Nickelodean be taken seriously as a young pot dealer in New York City in the mid 90’s? Well of course I had to see this for myself to decide. 

The movie is about Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) who begins to deal weed out of an Italian-Ice cart on the Upper East side of Manhattan because his family is on the verge of eviction. He is very depressed and sees a therapist named Dr. Squires (who is also one of his main drug clients) Dr. Squires has a step-daughter named Stephanie who Luke falls inevitably in love with. This film shows his first taste of heartbreak and his overall steps to maturity. His relationship with Dr. Squires makes him grow up a little bit faster then he intended to. The cast is what makes this movie so enjoyable, with Mary-Kate Olsen as a drugged out hippy and Method Man as his drug dealer Percy.

One thing I really admired about the film is the authenticity. Taking place in 1994, the soundtrack is all hip-hop that was current in the time period. Notably Notorious B.I.G, Raekwon, Faith Evans, A tribe called Quest and the Method Man. Many of the songs also fit in with what was going on in the plot at the time and is tied together smoothly. Although Josh is a white kid acting gangster, he plays the role well without looking like he was trying too hard. 

Another aspect that really made the film feel authentic was the desaturated color in the shots. It made the movie seem old and dream-like. Since there is a lot of pot smoking in the movie, the desaturation also made the movie have a hazy feel to it.  There are also a lot of fantasy scenes that are in Luke's imagination, that play with the coloring as well. 

This movie isn’t my favorite of all time, but it definitely was entertaining and different then anything I’ve seen. I recommend this movie to any old school hip hop lovers and Josh peck fans!