Music Video Review

Little Game by Benny

Recently I have been obsessed with this video, Little Game. Not only is the song amazing, and the video incredibly well thought out and created, the message put out by both and the way this message is portrayed make this video truly remarkable. Not to mention the entire thing was the brain child of a fifteen year old from Dallas.

"Don't you think it's funny how they tell us how to live?
Don't you think it's funny how we're all delinquent kids?"

"Gender roles impose control and deceive progressive times.
Welcome to the land of the broken mind."

Benny uses this video to point out the strict stereotypes society places on its people about gender roles and what it deems "appropriate." The stark contrast between the white, representing the lack of other influence, and the blue and pink, representing the forced roles of boys and girls in today's society, displays just how society thinks its youth should present themselves and how there should be no other influence around to possibly "corrupt" a perfectly "obedient"child: boys obsessed with sports and cars and everything manly, and girls

only concerned about their looks on the outside

rather than their thoughts on the inside. The two who are shown going against the others are "glitches" in society, those who don't fit in perfectly with everyone else, even though, in all actuality, they are the ones who have a strong enough grip on their own reality to know how to do things for themselves and not because someone "tells them how to live."

"Hush boy, oh hush boy, don't say a word, throw on a jersey and
no one gets hurt. Hush girl, oh hush girl just bat your eyes."

The video also touches on the bullying that can be experienced by those who dare to break the stereotypes and social norms placed on them by society and enforced by the "broken minds" who see no wrong in the actions they've been programmed to believed are normal. The ones who defy what's considered normal are torn apart and ridiculed by society just for being the slightest bit different.

"Play our little game, play our little game tonight."

The action of mixing the paint on his face, which started with pink and blue both totally separated, shows what happens when the two opposites-- femininity and masculinity-- mash, and the fact that contrary to society's belief that it would end in chaos, it instead ended in the beautiful purple, a symbol that they two sides can, and should, work together in harmony.

The video showcases the power of a mind when it refuses to work how the rest of the world thinks it should, and how strict gender stereotypes amongst the population should cease to exist. The effects presented by the video and the music, and especially how they work together, give a sense of hope that there is a way to break out of the social norm and be who you truly want to be, who you truly are.

Here's the link. Watch it. I think you might like it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNr3x1kVVEc

Roller Derby Montage

A Glimpse at My Life as a Derby Girl

I play roller derby for the Kansas City Roller Warriors Junior Team (here's their site if you're interested: http://www.kcrollerwarriors.com ) and a few weeks ago one of my coaches asked if I could make a promo for our team. So I got my best buddy and together we tried to make something pretty cool.

Many issues arose in the pre-production stage such as me planning to one song and then a few days later finding out there was a vote for a different song (we ended up not using either in editing) as well as a limited time for filming. During the actual shoot, I found out the skaters had not been properly informed of my plan, and with only a two hour time frame, which was also practice time, I threw out most of my plans and we just went with whatever we could get. In editing, we had to somehow figure out how to turn our footage into an awesome promo, as well as a montage piece for our film class. We edited for awhile, chose a completely different song, and this is what we came up with. It was really fun to make. Hope you enjoy!

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrqK0yQwIMg&spfreload=10

Music Video Review

Animal by Maroon 5

While many disapprove of the message given off in the video for Maroon 5's Animal, in which Adam Levine plays a stalker to a gorgeous woman (played by his real life wife, Behati Prinsloo) who enters his butcher shop and continues to follow her around, eventually making love to her in his mind, I find it very artistic and the story was well portrayed in the allotted time.

I'm particularly intrigued by the symbolism and parallelism between Adam hanging the pictures of her and hanging with the meat in the basement. The purpose of the two is to show how his obsession went from wanting to see her, to wanting to be with her. He was able to control the images, but he wasn't able to control her. He hung on a spot in the basement surrounded by meat, but not containing meat itself. Perhaps he realized his action would make him just as "low" as the dead animals around him. Or perhaps because he had been able to control a copy of her on the clotheslines in his room, he now wanted to control her body and just created a connection to the hanging of the meat. He saw her as a prize.

During the bridge of the song, Adam imagines making love to the girl and between shots of them together, he is seen in the basement somewhat mimicking his actions between him and the girl with the meat: he kisses her, he kisses the meat. This is yet another example of him seeing her as nothing more than a prize, a piece of meat that he can do what he wants with, can control. Before, he had hung with the meat, then he was distant  from it (on the opposite wall) when she was rejecting him, and then finally, when in his mind he was with her, he was all over the hanging meat, arms wrapped tightly around it and caressing it.

That's just some of the symbolism I saw in the video, but overall, I quite enjoyed it. Though I understand the message that some people are getting from it (stalking, raping, and the fact that his character seemed to think she was enjoying the whole thing), and though I absolutely don't support that message (seriously. I want to make that completely clear), I love the art of the video and it definitely expresses his thoughts in a way that makes you feel his same desire for this girl.

Here's the link for the full video if, for whatever reason, you haven't seen it yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpgTC9MDx1o

Watching the Making of a Commercial

Don't Underestimate Film Crews or Mothers Who Work at Dairy Queen

My mum works at Dairy Queen and around 8:30am on a Tuesday, she texted me during my video class saying something along the lines of "They're shooting a commercial at DQ. I asked if my daughter could come watch and they said sure. Do you want me to come get you?" and I replied with something like "HOLY CRAP YESSS!!!" Half an hour later I was perched between two tables watching the making of a Dairy Queen chicken strip commercial.

The first thing I noticed was just how many people there were on set. There were a lot! I played a game with myself (we had just learned about all the different positions on a film set in video class) and tried to match all the people with what jobs I thought they had. Once I had "placed" everyone in my mind, I started watching how each of them contributed to the production. But by far, the most interesting thing to watch was the interaction and communication between the director and the actress.

I was particularly amazed at just how many phrases the director had written out in advance and how many different ways he told the actress to say them: flat, normal, cheery, super cheery, etc. I loved how the director was making jokes to lighten up the mood and keep people from getting frustrated (though it seemed like most of them were having a pretty good time, despite being in a pretty serious time crunch).  Everyone was doing their jobs, but they were doing them in a way that made me think they all really love what they're doing and it comforted me knowing not every director is like those stereotypical directors in movies portrayed as major jerks.

I learned a lot about the perfection of lighting, the communication and cooperation that is necessary between all the people involved in a shoot, and the importance of being extremely prepared so as to remain on schedule among other things.

I also learned that it's never good to assume things about people because the girl you thought was just an assistant may turn out to be a producer who just really likes to be actively involved in anything she is a part of. But it's okay, because when you thank everyone for letting you come watch, and you start with the "assistant" because she's not too busy at the moment, you might just earn a new contact in your ever-growing search for experience in the film/video industry.

Here's the link to the finished video, if you're curious:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152422159796669&set=vb.15508591668&type=3&theater