Song Lyrics analysis - Holy Grail

These are the Lyrics for the song that we will be using on our music video (Jay-Z Ft Justin Timberlake - Holy Grail). There are some annotations on the lyrics below that show how we represented certain lyrics in our music video.

Lyrics Mind Map

As you can see, the lyrics feature an abundance of the use of the word 'Nigga'. This word is featured in the song heavily and is only coming from Jay - Z as he is rapping. He also uses a range of explicit words as well, this is to make himself seem more intimidating.

The inclusion of Fire in our Music video

We decided to set fire to certain props and film them to include them in our music video. The reason why we decided to set fire to our props is because we wanted to represent the destructive nature of fame, gambling and alcoholism. We did this by setting fire to a wine glass, setting fire to playing cards and poker chips. The fire was a feature that we knew would add a dynamic edge to our video if we constructed it properly, filmed it well and edited it effectively to ensure it has maximum impact and a clear meaning that is relatable to the viewers.

We went to the regal community centre because it was not in use at the time and we had access to it thanks to Ahsan. We chose to do the filming outside to prevent setting fire to anything indoors. We made sure that we wore gloves and eye protection to prevent any injuries. We also remained a safe distance from the flames to ensure that we didn't get any burns. The difficulties we encountered when attempting these shots was that we had troubles sometimes when we tried lighting the flame, it sometimes took a few tries to get the flame lit.

Main task Props

This is a list of all the props that we will be using in our music video. The reason why we chose these props is because it would relate to the modern gang culture that is present in the rap and hip hop genre. 

The use of guns portrays violence in a dynamic and exiting way that will make the video more entertaining. This is the element that would relate to the gang culture. 

Masks and balaclavas are put on by the rescue team in the preparation of the raid. this is to conceal their identity and make them seem more threatening.  

Cards are used to represent risk. This is the card we set on fire during one of the shots within in the video,we used the queen as a personification of fame, the woman in the video and power etc.

We used a modern phone to appeal to the younger generation that listen to hip hop. This is the phone that the protagonist will use when he receives the call saying that his girlfriend has been kidnapped.  

Shotgun

Light is used to conceal the identity of the character by making his face blacked out because of the shadow and make it more intimidating and mysterious. 

Chips are used again to represent risk and wealth.

 Pistols

 Ring is used to represent love between fame and the girlfriend.

Dolly equipment for our video

This is the dolly we are going to use in our video, we decided to create a dolly because it would be easier to use and shot will be alot smoother than having to hold it in your hands and walk around a table with it. So we decided to create a dolly with the help of the Art and D.T department. The main idea came from Mustafa as he thought of a good panning shot around a table where we would be sitting playing a game of cards we all decided it was a good idea and good use of a shot so we created the dolly for easy, smooth and quick use.

The dolly was originally seen to small to be able to hold the tripod but we made some adjustments and decided to make the dolly bigger and the holders bigger as well so that the tripod can extend properly and sit nicely on the dolly.

This is ideally what we wanted it to look like with the tripod sitting nicely in all the triangles and giving it enough space in case it falls. It also has quite a big wheelbase which means we are going to have to create some room for it to be maneuvered properly around tables and people. But overall we are happy with what we set out to create as it will be easy to use in our production as it is very light and can be easily transported.

Film Journal

18th February 2014:

Location: Cheney school field

Time: morning - afternoon

Scenes: Scenes for Narrative & Single shots

Actors: Mustafa

Props: Craters & Cigarette

What we achieved in the shoot?

What type of shots did you focus on?

We mostly focused on high angle shots and mid shots throughout the entire shoot. The reason we tried high shots is so that we could clearly see the craters graffiti which helped us implicate the whole gangster and rough look by having the graffiti in the background and character wearing smart wear rapping infront of it.

What costumes did you use?

We had Muzzy who was playing Jay-Z wearing a suit jacket and smart casual wear to match in with the whole smart/gangster look also it matched in with the other shots from the narrative wear he's also wearing a suit.

What went well?

We did get in some good shots but from different angles (mid shots, high angle etc) and we got it done in quick successions and the shoot was done quickly but precision

What went wrong?

When we reviewed the shots we found that they we're to shaky and that the panning and mid shots kept showing the background which was a field so we decided to scrap the idea of using the crates in our music video so we changed up the idea and decided to film somewhere more run down which didn't have things unnecessary things in the background

17th February 2014:

Location: Oxford Business Park

Time: 5pm -6pm

Scenes: Narrative & Studio Shots

Actors; Ahsan and Mustafa

Props: Car

What we achieved in the shoot:

The main thing we wanted to achieve in this filming session was to complete studio shots for the second verse as we have been lacking in footage for this part of the song. We also felt that we needed to change the location between the verses because if we had kept the location the same, the song would have become a tad tedious and boring. 

The actors were dressed in smart but casual clothing. Justin Timberlake is dressed in a fashionable navy blue suit which gives him an up to date look which all R'n'B artist tend to have. Jay-Z on the other hand has more of a gritty look which almost says "I don't care how I look, I'm cool". The look consists of a tie which is not fully tied and an untucked shirt but his confidence takes away the idea of him looking scruffy, the look automatically becomes cool because he's wearing it.

How did you set up your equipment and what went well

We positioned the car behind the actor, beside the actor, and we placed the actor in the car and recorded our actors performing the song. We filmed in a place that lacked lighting, to fix this, we used the car headlights to film and this created a spooky and mysterious atmosphere. This was executed with a good degree of success. 

What went wrong

Due to the fact that we were filming and in a private area and we looked awfully suspicious with the car e.g. we were driving around in circles and looking quite dodgy whilst doing it, we were promptly told to leave the premises, so we decided to go film in another open car park.

What we need to achieve next time?
Next time we need to re-shoot the office scene and get started on the main fight scene.
Write five bullet points about your filming plans for next time.

•  Fight scene
•  Filming of the office scene.
•  More ambiance shots to make the video more dark and mysterious. 

17th February 2014:

 Location: Horsepath Bypass
Time:7-9pm
Scenes: Performance Scenes for the second verse
Actors: Mustafa & Ahsan
Props:Cigarette & Car

What we achieved in the shoot:

What type of shots did you focus on?

We focused mainly on the performance shots for the second verse. We tried to use these shots to help us create more of a distorted and hectic feel for the second verse. This is because we felt as if the first verse was a little bit too clean cut and tamed to fit in with the conventions of Hip-Hop.

What costumes did you use?

The actors were dressed in smart but casual clothing. Justin Timberlake is dressed in a fashionable navy blue suit which gives him an up to date look which all R'n'B artist tend to have. Jay-Z on the other hand has more of a gritty look which almost says "I don't care how I look, I'm cool". The look consists of a tie which is not fully tied and an untucked shirt but his confidence takes away the idea of him looking scruffy, the look automatically becomes cool because he's wearing it.

How did you set up your equipment?

Since we were aiming for a more hectic feel to our video we decided to go off book when it came to filming the second verse of our video. We did this by filming almost the whole verse by hand and purposely shaking the camera whilst doing so.

What went well?

The shots where we see the handsome actor playing Jay-Z walking beside the car work very well as they match perfectly with the non-diegetic music which we have synced with it.

What went wrong?

The shots which we decided to distort. The whole idea of distorting the shots almost worked too well.I looks as if we didn't intend for the shots to be distorted and therefore the quality looks terrible in comparison to the rest of our video.

28th of January 2014: 

Location: Regal community centre

Time: morning - afternoon

Scenes: Scenes for Narrative & Random shots

Actors: Mustafa & Ahsan

Props: Wine Bottle & Glass, Shattered Glass, Playing Cards, Poker Chips, Phones, Laptop & Money

What we achieved in the shoot?

What type of shots did you focus on?

We focused mainly on the shots that are used to set the feel of the video; the glass smashing shows the shattering of our leads heart when he finds out that his beloved girlfriend has been kidnapped. The fire shots represent the anger of Jay-Z when he gets fired up to go save Nini (JT's Girlfriend). These shots are normally seen in Hip-Hop music videos and are used to give more depth to the video.

What costumes did you use?

The actors were dressed in smart but casual clothing. Justin Timberlake is dressed in a fashionable navy blue suit which gives him an up to date look which all R'n'B artist tend to have. Jay-Z on the other hand has more of a gritty look which almost says "I don't care how I look, I'm cool". The look consists of a tie which is not fully tied and an untucked shirt but his confidence takes away the idea of him looking scruffy, the look automatically becomes cool because he's wearing it.

How did you set up your equipment?

We used a tripod for most of the shots. However we adopted a rougher method of shooting by just using our hands for the hi-shots of the glass and the bottle smashing. We also decided to place the camera flat on the ground whilst filming the smashing scenes so that the camera is perfectly level with the glass and the bottle whilst the shards of glass fly towards and past the camera.

What went well?

We established that the shots we took of the glass, the bottle and the fire work amazingly well in slow motion and we achieved our aim of making the video have more depth using them.

What went wrong?

The scene in the office where we see JT and Jay-Z having a conversation just before finding out about the kidnapping.In this scene it seemed like the video has a satirical feel to it. This is not what we are aiming for. Therefore these shots will have to be redone.

What we need to achieve next time?

Next time we need to re-shoot the office scene and get started on the main fight scene.

Write five bullet points about your filming plans for next time.

•  Fight scene
•  Filming of the office scene.
•  More ambiance shots to make the video more dark and mysterious.

23rd of October 2013:

Location: Assembly hall (Cheney)
Time: Afternoon
Scenes: First verse performance scene
Actors: Muzzy and Ahsan
Equipment: Camera, tripod, lighting equipment

What we achieved in the shoot?

What types of shots did you focus on?
We mainly focused on performance shots that featured many different shots to add variation and keep the scene exiting. Examples of shots that we used are close ups of JT's face singing to express emotion. We also included shots such as mid - long shots of Jay-Z performing to express his body expressions to make his scenes more dramatic.

What costumes did you use?
The actors were dressed in smart but casual clothing. Justin Timberlake is dressed in a fashionable navy blue suit which gives him an up to date look which all R'n'B artist tend to have. Jay-Z is also wearing a similar costume which consists of a black suit and black trousers.

How did you set up the equipment?
We used the tripod for most of the shots featured in this filming session and we also used the dolly which was effectively used to create good camera movements that made the shots more exiting. The smooth floor also helped make the shots look much more professional. we also included hand held camera shots for high and low angles which worked well and gave us more freedom in our movement. 

What went well?
We shot lots of the performance scene and the acting on the day was very good as well. Filming was done well and the lip syncing was on point thanks to the actors memorising the lyrics. 

What didn't go so well?
We could have filmed a wider variation of shots which would have given us more footage to work with and would have helped us to pick and choose all of the best shots.

Costume (JT Character)

We took inspiration from Justin Timberlake and the way he dresses and applied that on our music video. We noticed that JT dresses smartly and has his hair gelled back which makes him seem sophisticated and smooth. We are going to try to go for the same affect by making Ahsan dress like JT and act like him in our music video, he will be the centre of attention of the music video because he is the main character so he will have to play a convincing performance to pull it off which we believe he can achieve.

This is the exact look that we are going for in our main task which can be accomplished by Ahsan because he can grow a full beard and he does a suit to wear for the video which looks similar to the one in the screen shot. The darkness of the outfit really gets across that we are telling a story of a kidnapping that is distressful and dark.

The person in the picture is Ahsan and this is the outfit that he will be wearing in the music video. The  outfit consists of a black suit, a black shirt, black tie and black shoes. It will alter a little later on in the video when he puts on his balaclava.

Locations

We will be using the regal community centre which is located on the corner of Ridgefield road in Cowley as one of our locations for our music video. The main reason we chose this as one of our locations is because its a large and open space that can imitate a number of different locations and it would leave us enough space to have an elaborate action scene. 

After having one filming session at this location, we decided that what we had filmed had been unsuccessful and that we would use this location for another scene (instead of the poker scene and the scene where the character realises his girlfriend has been kidnapped which was due to go at the start of the video). We decided that we would use this location for the fight scene because as i said once already, this location has the ability to imitate a lot of different locations.

This is the set where we filmed all of our performance shots. This location is in the assembly hall of our school. This is a very good location because it has a black background and is also a spacious area to work in. It can also imitate a number of different locations.