MEST4 Linked production: Research and planning

MEST4 Linked production: Research and planning

Production brief

Music video of the track 'Sunkissed' by Mick Jenkins as a form of social commentary on the issue of police brutality.

Research

• Kendrick Lamar - Alright

The music video for the Kendrick Lamar song ‘Alright,’ which has been heralded as one of ‘the songs of Black Lives Matter’ by Rolling Stone, shares most of its similarities with 16 Shots. Displaying a narrative where a fleeing suspect (black man) is shot by a white police officer and also accompanied by a monologue, this time by the artist himself describing the current racial discrimination that goes on, a real dark, harsh vibe is given of the USA today.

Elements such as the monochromatic, black and white filter which is present throughout the entirety of the video only help contribute to this but the visuals in the video itself are what really strike as being quite powerful in terms of social commentary. One scene in it for example shows Lamar and other members of the rap group he’s in being carried by 4 policemen in a car as he raps along to a different track. What’s quite interesting to remark on here though is that the audience could either perceive this as in some way at least, a form of representing ascendancy above the injustices that the police force have made over recent years or the car that the officers are holding the rappers in is a casket and they’re the pallbearers for it. As all 4 of the rappers are black men, perhaps it’s just going to show that anyone despite their position in society or success can often be a victim to police brutality simply on the basis of their skin.

The final part of the video shows the artist himself being a victim the hands of the police. Standing on top of the lamppost a policeman can be seen ‘shooting’ Lamar down and we’re presented with a shot of him in slow motion hurtling back down to the earth. Just after he hits the ground though after he’s supposedly killed, a close-up shot of him smiling is shown and maybe this is done with the purpose of matching up with the hook/refrain that’s sang throughout the track which is ‘we gon’ be alright.’

• TI - Warzone

In this music video, the artist himself which in this case is TI takes more of a backseat just rapping along to the lyrics of the song. However what is really striking here is the narrative of the video and how it flips or inverts what we’re usually used to seeing in society where black people are the ones marginalised by other groups. Instead what we see is white people in this position through different walks of life.

Throughout the video there are clear re-enactments of cases of police brutality all the way from Tamir Rice evident with the kid playing around with a toy gun, Eric Garner as you can more or less tell he’s saying ‘I can’t breathe’ and also Philando Castile as we’re shown a shooting happening with 3 seated passengers, one of which being a baby and the other another of an adult filming the aftermath of the shooting for a live broadcast. The only difference in all of this though is that all of the victims were white and the police officers were black. It’s evident that this was done with the purpose of perhaps being a wakeup call to groups other than black people in America, to not just sit down and allow injustices like this to take place anymore. The audio extract of Jane Elliot asking a white audience whether they’d want to ‘be treated the way blacks are’ only helps further get this across as it really does work to galvanise audiences to stop being passive to things that they know aren’t right.

• Vic Mensa - 16 Shots

Vic Mensa’s '16 Shots' presents the issue of police brutality in both a more graphic and disturbing way. Displaying Mensa being riddled with bullets by multiple police officers, the video really helps reflect the hard reality that there is with each case of police brutality. Helping to get this across even more is the inclusion of the dash cam footage showing the shooting of Laquan McDonald. This is aided not only with a monologue describing the events that took place in his shooting, but also in another scene that there are jumps between with an actor mirroring the body language of Laquan in his final moments. This was particularly effective in conveying what is often the case time and time again, with cases of police brutality.

• Ant Deko - Right Hand Man

'Right Hand Man' helps contribute to the production in terms of the location that it'll partly be set in. Being in Alexandra Road Estate, the aesthetics/connotations that we get are that of a place that is impoverished, grimy and to some extent run down. The chiaroscuro lighting that the location can offer is something that could be used to our advantage in achieving the visuals we want for the video.

Project schedule

The basis filming has been done. The filming including the cast should be completed by the break up of Easter and the editing will be completed by the first week of Easter with us coming into school on some days of the holiday to finalise it.

Treatment

Outline

• Artist name - Mick Jenkins
• Song title - Sunkissed
• Record label - Cinematic Music Group
• Genre - Hip-Hop/Rap
• Target audience - young people 
• Style of music video - performance

Overview/concept

The production will be a performance-based video offering different takes and representations on black culture that have and do exist. This will be done of course through the very lyrics of the song itself but also things like clothing items such as dashikis which will be worn by different people at different points within the video. It'll take place over a number of different locations with some of them featuring people in the background which is something that we're used to seeing in hip-hop/rap music videos of today. The locations that are shown in it will exhibit more of an urban look which a place like Alexandra Road Estate exemplifies particularly again, fitting into the conventions that we see rap music videos have.

Equipment and resources you will need

• Tripod
• Camera

Shot list

Producer: Ladan & Abayomi

Production:

Shot No.	Shot Type	Details of Shot	Timing
1	Medium shot	Blurry tree coming into focus	00:01
2	Medium shot	Cut to blossom tree	00:02
3	Hand Held shot	Another cut to blossom tree	00:04
4	Medium Shot	Abayomi sitting on bench	00:06
5	Right Angle shot	Abayomi rapping	00:09
6	Left Angle shot	Abayomi rapping	00:11
7	Long shot	Abayomi walking while rapping	00:15
8	Panning shot	Abayomi rapping	00:19
9	Tracking shot	Camera following the cast	00:22
10	Rotating shot	Abayomi rapping while walking	00:25
11	Handheld shot	Abayomi rapping	00:28
12	Medium shot	Abayami sitting with cast/rapping	00:32
13	Low angle shot	Abayomi rapping	00:34
14	Handheld	Camera following Abayomi	00:35
15	Tracking shot	Abayomi rapping	00:37
16	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	00:42
17	Handheld shot	Abayomi rapping	00:43
18	Slow motion shot	Abayomi walking	00:44
19	Long shot	Abayomi sitting down rapping	00:47
20	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	00:49
21	Long shot	Abayomi sitting down rapping	00:51
21	Slo mo	Abayomi walking	00:55
22	Low angle	Abayomi sitting down rapping	00:59
23	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	01:03
24	Medium shot	Shot of cast	01:02
25	Tilted shot	Back to Abayomi rapping	01:07

26	Low angle	Abayomi rapping	01:12
27	Hand held shot	Camera following cast	01:14
28	Tracking	Abayomi rapping	01:15
29	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	01:17
30	Long shot	Shot of London skyline at Primrose	01:19
31	Close up	Shot of one of the casts	01:22
32	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	01:26
33	Hand held	Camera following Abayomi rapping	01:29
34	Close up	Shot of one of the cast	01:32
35	Long shot	Shot of the whole cast/rapping	01:34
36	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	01:35
37	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	01:36
38	Hand Held shot	Camera following Abayomi	01:40
39	Low angle	Abayomi rapping	01:42
40	Panning shot	Camera following Abayomi	01:46
41	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	01:48
42	Panning shot	Abayomi sitting down rapping	01:53
43	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	01:57
44	Long shot	Shot of cast	02:00
45	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	02:03
46	Left Angle shot	Abayomi sitting down rapping	00:04
47	Hand held shot	Shot of cast	02:07
48	Hand held shot	Abayomi rapping	02:10
49	Right Angle shot	Abayomi rapping/with cast	02:13
50	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	02:16
51	Close up	Shot of character	02:22
52	Tracking shot	Following Abayomi rapping	02:24

53	Medium shot	Cast saying a few words of the song	02:25
54	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	02:26
55	Medium shot	Cast saying a few words of the song	02:30
56	Long shot	Abayomi rapping	02:32
57	Tracking shot	Abayomi rapping	02:34
58	Tracking shot	Camera behind cast following Abayomi	02:36
59	Hand held shot	Camera shot of cast with abayomi	02:39
60	Panning shot	Abayomi rapping	02:41
61	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	02:43
62	Medium shot	Shot of cast	02:45
63	Hand held shot	Abayomi rapping	02:46
64	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	02:47
65	Panning	Abayomi rapping	02:49
66	Hand held shot	Abayomi rapping	02:51
67	Medium shot	3 of the cast members together	02:53
68	Long shot	Camden estate, cast walking away	02:55
69	Hand Held shot	Abayomi rapping	02:57
70	Low angle shot	Abayomi rapping	03:00

71	Medium shot	Shot of cast together	03:02
72	Long shot	Shot of cast together	03:04
73	Long shot	Abayomi walking to camera rapping	03:05

74	Long shot	Shot of location	03:06
75	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	03:07
76	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	03:10
77	Long shot	Shot of cast	03:12
78	Tracking	Camera following Abayomi rapping	03:13
79	Hand held	Abayomi rapping	03:15
80	Hand held	Abayomi with cast	03:18
81	Hand held	Abayomi rapping	03:22

82	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	03:23
83	Slo mo	Black power fist pump with cast	03:25
84	Long shot	Cut back to Abayomi	03:27

85	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	03:29
86	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping with cast	03:31
87	close up	Close up of character 1	03:34
88	close up	Close up of character 2	03:36
89	close up	Close up of character 3	03:39
90	Medium shot	Back to Abayomi rapping	03:41
91	Close up	Close up of character 4	03:43
92	Long shot	Cast walking out of Leake street tunnel	03:45

93	Long shot	Cast at black history monument	03:47
94	Long shot	Abayomi rapping	03:49
95	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	03:52

96	Hand held	Camera following cast	03:56
97	Medium shot	Back to abayomi rapping	03:58
98	Medium shot	Abayomi rapping	03:59
99	Slow motion shot	Abayomi walking out	04:00
100	Long shot	All cast standing together	04:02

Mise-en-scene

Casting/model details

• Abayomi Atiko
• Rashida Dowding
• Sumeya Omar
• Masika Ismael
• Ladan Abdulle
• Julian Ntow
• Sharife Anderson 

Costume and make-up

• Abayomi Atiko - wear clothing that is predominantly casualwear, however in at least one location wear a dashiki as a representation of the black culture we see the lyrics of the audio track itself describing 

Props

• History book - 'I mean who's history's author'

Location scouting with photographs

Leake Street - the graffiti on the walls has connotations of more of an anti-establishment culture which is something that could be said to be inherent in the subject matter of the song. Also from a more visual standpoint, the location could help provide a change to what we mostly see throughout the video

Canary Wharf - a time lapse of a shot of the Canary Wharf skyline could help the video from an aesthetics standpoint and bring home this idea of a fast-moving city plagued with a problem that most refuse to pay attention to which is the 'routine' discrimination of black people by the police. 

Gilt of Cain - sculpture in commemoration of the abolition of transatlantic slavery. This can be seen with the '17 sugar canes which rise dramatically from the ground surrounding a slave auctioneer’s pulpit.' These are too accompanied with a poem by Lemn Sissay which lends its name to the sculpture itself. Its appearance could potentially link into the black pride sentiment that the anti-police brutality topic could arguably be said to contain.

Alexandra Road Estate - aesthetically having looked at other music videos filmed here, a location like this could really help the video from a cinematography front with the more grimy look that the estate has.

Classroom - similarly to the Leake Street location selection, having a scene where the lyrics of the track are rapped along to in a classroom would help provide a difference to what see for the majority of the video. As well as this this, it could play into the line: 'Who's history's author, you was never right if you read it right,' if a prop like a history book was also used.

Primrose Hill - this location would act as a good complement to Walpole Park with the greenery that's present there. As well as this, the London skyline in the background could contribute to the whole urban look that the majority of the video has.