Video

"New American Ghetto" Four Kings http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=64659731 Editor: Hernan Cerezo Higher Quality Version: http://bluekanine.com/index/images/artwork/American%20GhettoHD_480p.mov Project: Film & Edit a Music Video ------ So here's my final project for my video class. We were limited to about 3 days or so (due to the recent SoCal fires), to film and edit a music video. We were put into groups, and set off to work. The first day our group of 5 was to work on the project, three of them were absent at first, so it was up to me and one other to decide on the song. We were both dry of ideas. That is, until he mentioned that his friend was in a band. So naturally, and politely, I nodded, and gave the song a listen. Honestly, I was expecting a song that completely sucked and that I completely did not wanna work with. To my pleasant surprise, the song not only sounded pretty professional, but I kinda dug it. I only liked it more, the more I listened to it. So him and I decided on it. Then one of our three absent team members showed up a little bit late, but it was fine. So the three of us brainstorm ideas. My classmate calls up his friend in the band, who happens to be the lead singer, and tells him about our project. So my classmate's friend agrees, after stating that him or his band mates did NOT want to be in the video. So we head off, downtown San Diego, headed for a very dirty area, to which, my classmate's friend, already knew of. Then we shot the video. We had a tripod, but we weren't going for a very clean look, so we rarely used it. But it felt funny, cause we were in dirty downtown San Diego, walking around with a VERY expensive camera. Our mistake though, we didn't completely understand the camera, and so a lot of the footage we got, was pretty crappy, and looked very over exposed. So I worked with what I had, did a bit of editing, and actually got a look pretty close to what I was envisioning. All in all, I'm pleased with the work my group and I did. The assignment required all of us to pass around the camera to film the shots we wanted, and then we each individually edited a unique music video of our own, using the footage we captured together. The only thing I regret not doing is....well, let me quote a buddy of mine; I needed to "grow some huevos." I was often too shy to ASK for the camera to film these cool shot ideas I had in my head. I was shy cause, I felt like I had SO many, and I was SO nitpicky about it, I'm VERY specific. But, I was still brave enough to ask for a FEW shots, ie: the opening scene of the video. ---- So let me explain the video, a little bit. The song is about, simplified, all the bad crap in the world. The video opens with the singer looking left. I took a bit of inspiration from Michelangelo's famous sculpture of David ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/images/david_big.jpg ), who is also looking to his left. The reason for this, is it's said that evil comes from the left side. So I wanted the singer to start the video off, by just staring off into all the horrible crap in the world...and then begin to walk away from it, in attempt to get away from it. There is also a "no left turn" sign in the beginning, to further imply how it is the wrong direction to head. There's a few more symbolic things, here and there, like him going through the hole in the gate, the ambulance, etc. Some are obvious, some are not so obvious. By the end of the video, he's walking toward his left, to kind of show that you can't really just run away from it all, you've gotta face it and be the solution. I know it's kinda cheezey stuff, but :P My group did a great job, and my classmate's friend, who's the singer, was very cool and more than cooperative, he was enthusiastic and wanted to really help. :) It was all a good experience. --- ps: THANKS A TON BEN COON, FOR HELPING ME EVEN GET THIS VIDEO TO REACH MY PC.