Narrative Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axPv-rwXDEg

Narrative Poster

Phrases/ Script

What's Good

by: Curtis Bethel

Enters Five Guys - Night

TYLER enters through the door, wrapped in a navy blue hoodie, he looks around and heads over to where his friend Curtis is sitting, and then proceeds to greet him.

TYLER

"Curt, what's good with you bruh"

CURTIS turns around and in turn embraces TYLER

CURTIS

"What's good man"

TYLER

"Man not too much, just trying to figure out what's the move for tonight"

CURTIS

"I feel that bruh, Katie actually just text me an address to a party if you're trying to come"

TYLER

"It's lit. Let's go"

Phrases

"What's good with you"
-This was a greeting my friend used when I met up with him this weekend. In so many words it's just another phrase for "what's up" or "how are you".

"Imma peep it out"
-This was a phrase one of my friends used when a group of us were talking about a new song that dropped last week. It means that when he gets the time to he's gonna look up the song and give it a listen.

"It's lit"
-This is a phrase I heard a lot last week and really on a daily basis. The last instance I can remember it being used is when me and my friend went out to eat and the server arrived with our food. You use this term in response to good news.

"What's the move"
-This is a phrase one of my friends asked me when we were driving around last week. It was another way of asking, "where are we going" or "what are our plans for the night".

"I'm about to pull off"
-This is a phrase my friend used when he left my house last weekend. This is just another way of saying, "I'm leaving".

Documentary Treatment

For this documentary we’re going to be interviewing an entertainer. It won’t be like a standard studio interview you would see at a radio station or on live television. We’re going to capture him in his element, that way he feels more comfortable and he’ll be able to give us genuine, honest answers to our questions. The objective is not only to conduct an effective interview but to also give the viewer insight into his world, following him around and getting footage of what would be a normal day to him. This could be getting footage of him in the studio or even as simple as recording him lounging in his living room. We’re looking to take a realist approach in documentary style, trying to keep things very authentic. By the end of the documentary, we want to assure that viewer has a better understanding of who this person is, as well as the environment that shaped them to be.

Documentary Subject

This is my friend Daniel Tshmunga. He's 22 and he's apart of the music and art collective that I'm also apart of called TRYBE. He's an artist who pursues singing and rapping under the name "King Damier" as well as a DJ under the name "DJ GXLDHXUSE" He has an array of projects available on his Soundcloud page as well as a DJ mixes. If I was to go about an interview for a documentary I would ask him these questions:

1. When did he find an interest in music ?

2. Who are his favorite artist ?

3. Does he prefer making music or DJing more ?

4. Who are some of his musical influences ?

5. What are some of his favorite songs that he's made ?

6. What gravitated him towards the TRYBE collective, what made him want to become a member ?

7. Why does he make music ?

8. Does he have a passion for anything else besides music ?

9. What does he hope to accomplish with music in the long run ?

10. What's your favorite album of the year ?

Music Video Song : Bellefontain by Brandon Lott

Emotion Video / Passion

EmotionVidPassion from Curtis Bethel on Vimeo.

Passion

Music Video Analysis

The music video I chose to analyze is called, "Hold On, We're Going On" by Drake. I chose this video because it doesn't follow the typical norm of your standard music video. For one thing, the video is about 8 minutes in length, however the actual song falls a bit short of 4 minutes. This hints that the video either goes beyond the boundaries of the actual song or it elaborates more on the concept.
This video is a combination of a conceptual and narrative type of music video. Taking influence from 80's mafia movies, the music video is shot like an actual film. To summarize the concept, Drake and his friends / business partners are celebrating their achievements , but are interrupted by a mysterious caller who claims to have kidnapped Drake's love interest. From this point, they go on a mission to get her and take out her kidnappers.
The tone of the video is dramatic, so the lighting is dependable on each scene and isn't consistent. There's a few scenes where Drake and his associates are at a club or at his mansion so there's plenty of lighting throughout those scenes however, there's a scene where they ambush the kidnappers in a late night shootout, so aside from the gunfire, there isn't as much lighting. This is necessary though to distinguish the two very different tones of the music video, being the bright light Miami vice setting and the gritty mafia one. There's primarily cooler colors throughout as well such as blues, greys and blacks.
The first key moment happens early in the video, where Drake gets the call about his girlfriend being kidnapped. This is a pivotal scene because it sets the tone for the entire video. The whole scene is shot at a bar table and you can literally see the mood change. It goes from a celebration to a tragedy and the director did a good job of capturing that. Since the setting is so small, you can see the emotion in everyone's face when they found out what's going on, as the camera pans from actor to actor. Another key moment is when Drake finally gets his girl back, which changes the tone right back to how it was at the beginning of the video. Throughout the video, the girl looks frightened and hopeless but once she sees Drake there's such a sense of relief, and you can see this same emotion in Drake's face once he realizes she's safe.
The camera moves from time to time, especially in the climax shootout scene towards the end of the video. It pans back from Drake and his associates to the kidnappers to capture the essence of a war zone. The rest of the video is shot primarily still so the camera movement in this particular scene is used to emphasize the action sequence.
I would say the video reinterprets the story of the song in a new way. To summarize the song, it's pretty simple. Drake sings about a girl, letting her know his intentions for her and assuring her that they're going "home" which could symbolize a happy or comfortable place or literally home. In the context of the video, this girl has been kidnapped, and he's letting her know not to worry because he's going to rescue her and take her back home. The spin that he made on the video really makes it that much more entertaining.

Self Portrait

Biography Statement

My name is Curtis Bethel.
My major is New Media with a concentration in audio technology. The picture I used for my self portrait is from a photoshoot I had with my friends, but I added a few filters to it. I feel like it's a good representation of me artistically.
I have a lot of favorite movies, shows, music, etc. because I see it everyday.
Some of my favorite movies are Scarface, Wolf of Wall Street and the Dark Knight.
My favorite directors are Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Some of my favorite TV shows are the Boondocks, Game of Thrones, and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
My favorite type of music is Rap, RnB and Alternative. My favorite artist is Drake.
If I could make any type of media without restrictions it would automatically be music because I already have experience with it, and I'm familiar with it than film.
When I graduate I want to create various medias, primarily I want to produce music. However I also want to experiment with as many medias as I can. Hopefully I'll be able to produce short films and music videos as well.
I'm interested in making media because being a creative, I'm simply interested in creating. From movies to music, media has moved generations for decades and still does. I love watching movies and listening to music, and I enjoy making medias for others to enjoy too.