Drapht – Sing it Deconstruction

Australian born Hip-Hop artist ‘Drapht’ creates unconventional music that has an instrumental sounding slightly like a rock/pop song but with a quick paced rap over the top. The video was released may 17th 2011, created by Drapht performing Sing It (The Life Of Riley). (C) 2011 Drapht Music under exclusive license to Sony Music Entertainment Australia Pty Ltd.  This is not the sort of music that we intend to use for our music video but I still decided to deconstruct this because of the surreal feel to the video a long with really interesting editing effects. The Music video consists of Drapht playing his performance live with a guitarist and a drummer behind. The setting is this abandoned house that creates a rebellious feel. With a window in back shot for the most part that has metal bars on it also exaggerates this vibe. I really like this setting because it has such a contrast with the song, considering the song is upbeat. The abandoned house can also send out a message about the music, connoting that it is an underground genre and is concealed within. I won’t go into the music too much because that is not what grabbed my eye about this video.

What really grabbed my eye instantly was the range of shots. The instrumental is upbeat, and this allows a fast paced editing to occur. But I have noticed that ‘Sing It’ has more actual shots than other music videos. These shots above are all taken in the space of 5 seconds within the intro to the song. Each shot shows the exactly the same setting and the same motion, but with 2 macro shots at different angles and 2 mid shots it creates a really interesting start. It grabs the viewer’s eye because the cuts are edited to the beat.

As the video goes on it seems to take a more surreal turn by adding a teddy bear and a lot more colour gradienting to create a luminous red ambient light. I feel that when creating a music video the visual cinematography is a lot more important than when creating a short film. This gradient mapping is a really important tool to use and this video made me realize that.

The lighting in this music video was minimal. This was done to a) create the silhouetted figures that connote anonymous figures and b) to give an underground vibe to the video. The lighting may have been stage lights but it comes through a singular window. It is hard and streaks down upon the subject. I love this effect because it creates a mysterious atmosphere and is a versatile tool that can be used to symbolize many different things. It also adds to the stylish look of this music video, and in some cases, music videos are created to just ‘look cool’ to the target audience, this is accomplished amazingly here and I feel like we could use this minimal lighting within our own video

The teddy bear here is an ironic figure. This is because a big plush teddy bear can be linked with children and the youth, yet it is chasing Drapht with an axe. This exemplification of violence from such a safe character could connote the violence in the youth, or just add a surreal touch to the video as a whole.

My Inspirations from this videoI really felt that this video inspired me in 2 main ways: I love the editing effect that has been used, the way that jagged blue and red lines come off of outlines within the shot makes for an really interesting and different touch. It adds a level of attitude to the music itself and I love that. Also the range of shots within the video was awesome. Because the music was upbeat, the fast paced editing allowed a range of shots to be put in place, and seeing the drum kit from at least 7 different macro shots from different angles makes for an interesting video. I would like to put these sort of effect into my video but add my personal touch to it.

Also, a quick note about the guitarist and drummer in the video: Compared to Drapht who is jumping around being particularly energetic, the musicians seem static. This connotes them being anonymous. You could not tell who they are or recognize their faces. This Idea is backed up later in the video with people wearing masks and being silhouetted. I really like this idea of anonymity because it allows more than one target audience to relate to the video. Also, for a Rock/Funk Rock song it could be really interesting because a lot of the ideology and culture behind Rock is slightly rebellious and looked down upon in some cases. I feel inspired by the silhouettes and masks because they could tie into this culture.

Editing Effects

The editing effect is what I felt most strongly about when watching this video. On the beats there seems to be strikes or red and blue on significant outlines within the shot. This causes the shot to look chaotic and again ties into this upbeat rebellious feel of the song. A lot of the culture around underground Hip-Hop and Rock are similar because they both target young people who break away from a lot of societies ideologies. Also, there is a lot of sped up footage and then a contrast of slow motion within the same shot. I find this a really cool technique because it creates a surreal, stylistic atmosphere. I feel inspired by this effect because I feel it could work really well within a Rock music video.