Dukhan State of Mind

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After analysing and deconstructing 'Empire State of Mind' by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, we were given a task to create our own parody. To get some inspiration and guidance, we watched a parody called Newport State of Mind. What made this a successful parody was the fact that the director managed to mimic the conventions they are mocking in the original music video, but adapted it to their location; which is Newport - a small, industrial town situated in Wales.

In the parody, the video also started as black and white; but then gradually went into colour - much like in the Empire State of Mind video.
Our class did a quick task and noted down observations about the mise-en-scene in both the original and parody video:

We were then split into groups and we created a storyboard for our parody. Furthermore, our aim was to only create a storyboard and not a video as our intention was to look further at the different conventions and micro elements of the original music video.

PLANNING:
Once our groups were settled (the people in my group consisted of Abby, Abu and Adriana), we decided to focus on the first 30 seconds of what would soon be our parody and we discussed which popular sites around Dukhan we would include, which would replicate the images shown in the original music video. Afterwards, we  planned out which camera shot/angle/movement suited each frame best.

Since the introduction of the Empire State of Mind music video had images which were shown very quickly, we calculated that each image/'video' shown in each of the 9 frames would last three seconds as our parody was only 30 seconds long.

Our group decided that long shots were the most suitable camera shots as this would represent Dukhan as a whole. We've also included an aerial shot in the sixth frame as this would give the idea that Dukhan is a very remote area and it is not like New York where "dreams are made of".
This is the storyboard our group came up with. Illustrations by Adriana Sarpin.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNT
From doing this project, I have familiarised myself with the specific camera angles/shots/movements and how difficult creating a storyboard would be. This is because, upon making and discussing the production of our parody, I have discovered that it is important to take each shot into consideration as they symbolise different things. For example, an extreme close-up would have been inappropriate to use in the fifth frame because we did not want to emphasise a specific feature of the oryx - instead, we chose the medium shot as we wanted to display the oryx's body and face.


About The Author

An ENFP who happens to be an aspiring globe-trotter with a love for art, music and iced coffee. Trying to be pretty alright at everything.

1 comment:

  1. Mrs Holly31 October 2015 at 06:17

    I really like this post Rica. It is becoming clear that you are thinking about how meaning is created. I would like to see more detailed examples, such as the one about the oryx.

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