Creative Journey - Progress Report (October)

After deciding to base my project on a music video I began to carry out research of existing products in order to gain a better understanding of the standards expected when creating my own product. Research included analysing a variety of CD covers from various artists and several music videos, both narrative and performance based. Analysing existing products has enabled me to know the direction I would like to take in order to gain the best results for my production and has also initiated ideas that I would like to include and adapt in my own product, however I have yet to decide what song to select for my production.

Research into Existing Products : Music Video - Logic (1-800)

‘1-800-273-8255’ is a single from the album ‘Everybody’ by Logic, a hip-hop artist from America. The song’s title is the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The song also includes Alessia Cara and Khalid as features. According to the NSPL in the three weeks following the release of the single calls directed to the NSPL increased by 27%. The video currently has 43,522,142 views on YouTube.

Directed by Andy Hines the idea was to centre it on a young man who struggles with feeling accepted from his sexuality. The music video begins with a boy, played by Coy Stewart, running away from the camera in the dark on an empty street. This implies he is running away from his problems and the emptiness of the street suggests he is feeling lonely. The music hasn’t begun yet but there is a deep humming of a tune.



The humming tune continues, and then appears in slow motion a father (played by Don Cheadle) feeding a new born child a bottle with the lighting remaining dark. The music then begins with gentle piano chords. Following is a shot of the same child but now as a toddler with his father in slow motion, then follows a shot reverse shot showing the mother, which now displays a nuclear family.

The video then shows the child has grown up more and is now going to elementary school. As he steps onto the school bus his mother waves goodbye and mimes “I love you” and he waves back. We then see the child at school where he is alone drawing this suggest he has felt alone since a child.  

Followed is the boy grown up in high school running, from the mise-en-scene the male appears to be training on the school track team. This shot makes it evident that this character is the protagonist and we will be following his journey.  This shot juxtaposes the first shot of the music video. The current shot is in high natural lighting suggesting that this was before he struggled with finding acceptance. 

 He is looking happier that he did as a child which suggests he has found himself growing up and developing from childhood and now has a hobby. Not only has he found a hobby but he has found teammates shown in the shot where the team is all together doing a hand-stack. 

The scenery then changes to a party atmosphere where the room is dark and the protagonist is alone again.
Followed is a long shot of the protagonist greeting another male (played by Nolan Gould) with a personal handshake in the school hallways. These binary oppositions of black and white males also challenge narrative conventions, as typically the white male would be the protagonist. Logic is showing the break down of boundaries with diversity and is representing equality in more than one way. The video then transitions into a shot-reverse-shot of the 2 males talking in slow motion. This is then followed by a close up of their hands together, this shows that their could be a possible connection between the both of them. 

The protagonist then returns home from school, he appears happy until he sees his father who confronts him about a magazine of a shirtless male on the cover the protagonist owns. This indicates that he is homosexual. Shot reverse shot of the father speaking to the son. The father looks angry, the son looks troubled and the conversation looks tense. The close ups show expression and emotion.

Then appears a similar shot from the start of the video where the protagonist is running. He is in the same clothes as he had on when meeting the other male and when having the conversation with his father suggesting this all happened in the same day. The fact they keep showing the same scene suggests it is taking a long duration to find acceptance. He is now facing the camera when running implying he is looking beyond his family for acceptance but now he is looking at the viewers for support and empathy. The expressions on his face shows he is struggling with his profound emotions. It then reverts back to father sitting at the table alone with two empty chairs suggesting the boy had left.

   
Both males both appear to be in a quiet location, which is almost abandoned suggesting they are trying to get away from the rest of the world and be alone together. Followed by protagonist having a meal at the male’s house with what appears to be his parents, the father played by Matthew Modine. This family is also a nuclear family, however the atmosphere looks more positive.

 
The video is continued with a shot of both males in bed shirtless. The father of the male walks in looking shocked he then shuts the door, this is similar to earlier on in the music video when the protagonist came home to his father. The protagonist picks up his belongings and exits the room. Followed by a close up of the other male looking distressed. This scene makes it apparent that the father is aware his son is gay.  The shot then moves to an over the shoulder shot of the protagonist and the father of the second character. The father then guides the protagonist out of the house.

We are then introduced to the female artist Alessia Cara who is the first feature on the song. She is lip-syncing the lyrics due to the audio track being recorded separately to the video. This position and scenery suggests this an electronic notice board in the school, this is evident as the camera zooms in there are other paper notices on the wall. This could be implying a sense of help to the protagonist.  

We then see a computer room with the Logic lip syncing on every computer screen in the room. This suggests he is singing this message to everyone. The background that the singers are behind is minimalistic making the characters stand out. The lack of colour could suggest the feeling of emptiness the protagonist is feeling.

 
The protagonist is seen alone again in the changing room. He is then seen walking onto the track in his team uniform. He is also alone during training. We are introduced to his team coach (played by Luis Guzman). There is a close up of the coach looking at the protagonist, at this point we are unaware if he is looking at him in a judging manor or a concerning one. The protagonist returns to the changing room, when opening his locker he finds it has been vandalised making it evident people are discriminating against his sexuality.
A close up of the team doing a hand stack ritual shows that the protagonist has lost interest possible due to the lack of respect and bad treatment from his peers. We then see a shot of the protagonist alone looking unhappy. The dark lighting compliments the lighting surrounding the protagonist. It implies a sense of entrapment and little light coming into the protagonist's personal life.

It then appears the protagonist is sleeping rough in an unknown location. We then see him asleep at school where his coach approaches him and wakes him up. The coach then asks if everything is ok with a shot reverse shot. The coach is the first person we see in the video that acknowledges that the protagonist is unhappy. The coach then hands him a sandwich and give him a hug, which makes it evident that the protagonist has been avoiding home. The lyrics at this point in the song appear more positive with Logic singing, “Finally want to be alive” repeatedly, linking with Andrew Goodwin's key theory element of the audio and visual complimenting one another. It then appears that the coach has asked his father for a meeting as we see the protagonist’s father walking down the hall alone. We then see a shot reverse shot of the track coach talking to the protagonist’s father.

The protagonist is seen in a home location reaching above for a gun. A close up of him loading the gun followed by a close of his face shows the emotional distress he is in. The scene then continues with a handheld shot of the protagonist crying with his head in his hands in the bedroom. The handheld camera is a reflection of the protagonists feelings. The following shot is a close up of him with the gun in his hands. After that the shot is the protagonist holding the gun up to his reflection in mirror. This implies he is considering killing himself but cant bring himself to do it. He then holds the gun to his head. This shot was extremely short leaving the viewer questioning what the protagonist did.  We then see shots that were shown previously, effectively making the viewers re-watch the protagonist’s life. 

Khalid, who is the second feature of the song is seen on the computer screens lip syncing similar to when Logic was seen in the music video. 

The next vital shot is  a close up of the protagonist holding a phone and a piece of paper. He dials a number and puts the phone to his ear whilst crying. The name of this song is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. This implies the protagonist is ringing the lifeline. Logic has included this to show the protagonist is suicidal but reaches out for help.  

The following shots show that the protagonist did reach out for help and it worked, as he did not commit suicide. Firstly we see a close up of 2 males holding hands and a officiant.Followed by long shot of 2 grooms and guests dressed in all white gathering around. 

The guest includes the protagonist’s parents showing that he is the black male getting married. This shows the protagonist has grown up and has finally found happiness following his dark times finding acceptance growing up. The lighting is now a lot brighter suggesting there is more happiness within the characters. 

 The protagonist and his parents look happy and as the father and son hug and the father says “I’m proud of you” it becomes evident that the father has finally accepted his son’s sexuality and the relationship has been restored. The fact we have not seen the mother of the protagonist from the beginning until now suggests she was more accepting and did not participate in influencing the protagonist’s suicidal feelings.  

 It is not evident whether the other male groom is the same male we seen earlier in the music video as the parents aren’t there. It could be the same character and his parents did not accept his sexuality or it could be another character that wasn’t part of the previous scene. I believe this is not the same male we seen previously.

  

 
Towards the end of the video the lighting becomes dark as we see a child in a males arms with a male standing behind. It then becomes evident that the protagonist is holding the child, which implies he is the father to the child. This symbolises the circle of life, as this is how the beginning of the video started with the protagonist’s father and the protagonist as a child. We then see the protagonist’s parents who now appear to be grandparents. They both appear to be supportive including the father, which juxtaposes the story throughout the duration of the video.

As the video transitions into a long shot of the protagonist, his husband, his child and his parents the humming of a tune at the start of the video begins again. This implies the circle of life again as the protagonist is humming the same tune his father did to him as a child. The fact two males have a child shows the breakdown of discrimination is today’s society showing that everyone is equal and deserves the same opportunity in life. 

The music gradually comes to an end as we see the protagonist as a teen running like the continuing shots however this time he is slowing down. The camera then vertically pans to the sky where 2 red traffic lights appear. The red lights and the male slowing down implies he has received the support he needs and he no longer needs to run away from his emotions. The camera then continues panning into the black sky. Finally, the helpline number and credits appear on the screen as the video ends.

Overall, Logic touches on the subject of a few inequalities in today’s society, especially regarding sexuality. He also used a variety of characters with different ethnic backgrounds to show diversity. The video shows us the transition of a male who was not receiving finding acceptance of his sexuality, especially from his father. This carried on throughout the duration of the video but finally at the end of the video we seen that things got better for the protagonist and he finally restored his relationship with his father whilst staying true to himself.