Music Videos Lack Soul

One aspect of music videos that I would sincerely love to change is the lack of artistry and meaning. Because the music our general population listens to is trash, the videos we create from the music no longer are sincere. We are teaching the newer generation that you can get rich and famous by simply wearing nice clothes, driving a nice car, or waiving dollar bills in your hand.

It amazes me that we have so many quick and easy tools to create art, but we still dont make content that is harmonious to great music. Maybe its music no longer tells a story like it used to, or maybe its because the stories we tell to music dont make sense. Either way the music video industry is dying and somebody needs to do something about 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.

WORLD STARRRR

World star hip hop is a video blogging site that averages a total of 1.1 millions views per day. Although some of the content is kind of sketchy the website Alexa 983rd for worldwide traffic. It all started as a hip hop site in queens to appeal to hip hop fans world wide. But ten years later it became "The CNN of ghetto." The website posts fights, brawls, robberies, twerk videos. You name it world star has it. But despite all the fucked up content it has to offer, World Star can display the truth behind underprivileged living, and the struggles that come with that culture. At the end of the day, World Star Hip Hop is going to keep blowing up, and until the world will become less shitty, shitty content will exist on the internet

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhCk1K4qPjLF25690D

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhNuM6zw3SPwEB894S

Why Am I In Media?

A lot of friends and family at home always used to ask me "What got you interested in radio and television?" or "Why are you a TVR major." Some people think it started in high school radio, others when I was honing my craft at a tiny bench in Brandywine Little League. It certainly wasn't the hours I spent speaking into a tape recorder in front of the television.

I haven't told a whole lot of people this, but I owe everything to Black Entertainment Television (BET.) I never had a ton of friends growing up in an inner city elementary school. I always heard the other kids talking about some new music video they saw on 106 and Park. One afternoon, in an attempt to be cool, I decided to switch over to Channel 33 to see what all the fuss was about.

Rather then pay attention to what everyone in my school thought was good music, I was completely blown away by the editing and choreography of the hip hop music videos. It got to a point where I was addicted. There are a few in particular that specifically blew my mind, which I posted below.

I personally think music videos are the hardest thing in media to produce. Most of them have a lot of quick cuts. The singers often have to double as actors, mouthing the words of the song at the exact pace it was recorded. Hip hop videos are especially tough, as there is often a lot of fast talking and interesting lighting techniques. I realize now that most of them aren't very well made and have obvious flaws, but I thank the BET channel for helping me choose a career path.

Here are my top five favorites from that era:

5. Tha Block is Hot- Lil Wayne featuring Juvenile and B.G. (1999)

4. Back That Azz Up- Juvenile featuring Mannie Fresh and Lil Wayne (1999)

3. Neva Eva- Trillville featuring Lil Scrappy and Lil Jon (2003)

2. Number One Stunna- Big Tymers (2000)

1. (and most influential) Dipset (Santana's Town)- Juelz Santana featuring Cam'ron (2003)