Element
Element by Kendrick Lamar
Element is a short film/ Music video created by visionary hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar. The video is about the; pain, beauty, peace and violence that exists within his community or as he describes it 'His Element' and his hardship to fight whatever obstacles come in front of him to stop him from succeeding. For this video Kendrick Lamar takes inspiration from photographer Gordon parks who was a very influential american photographer who had battled through the civil rights movement with his photography and he had also directed the film 'Shaft' which made him an pioneer of the black exploitation era. Many images which appear in the music video completely recreate park's photos as a way to subliminally talk to the audience about elements of his community. I feel as though in the music video Kendrick himself works as the director of his own image that he willing to create for the video, he selects what influences and artists he wants to work in order for his video to be more compelling. The other artist which Kendrick collaborates visually in this video is Jonas Lindstroem who is the director of the video, Element is very reminiscent to lindstrom's short film truth or dare which contains 21 short performances which is about an exaggerated version of what content we find on our phones, what Kendrick takes from this short film is short moments which are used as a reference point to larger issues this mainly applies to the violence which Kendrick has clearly taken from personal experience. The Violence is soulfully the main issue which he addresses the violence in his community, the violence he himself has caused, the violence which opressed his people and the violence that plagues his friends and family on daily basis. Each one of these moments of violence which are shown in the video are somewhat photographic moments which are all connected but are mixed around creating this strange cycle of violence that have been created by these distinct images.
What I like most about this video is, like Kendrick's music the audience is made to work out what everything means, we are not given an explanation or some exposition scene before the video starts which allows the audience to create their own theories and ideas about what this all means. The imagery is fantastic because everything that is put into the frame is made to confuse the audience in a type of scrambled narrative but because of this everything that happens on the screen is so random and creative that intrigues me much more. This relates to my work in a couple of ways the entire message that the song and video create relates my ideas of the struggle to rise above those that stand infront of you and also I would like to use inspirations like Kendrick has used in this video to tell the story in compelling way with mixing various other stories or imagery which I wouldn't typically use when trying to tell the story that I would like to tell.
Element is a short film/ Music video created by visionary hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar. The video is about the; pain, beauty, peace and violence that exists within his community or as he describes it 'His Element' and his hardship to fight whatever obstacles come in front of him to stop him from succeeding. For this video Kendrick Lamar takes inspiration from photographer Gordon parks who was a very influential american photographer who had battled through the civil rights movement with his photography and he had also directed the film 'Shaft' which made him an pioneer of the black exploitation era. Many images which appear in the music video completely recreate park's photos as a way to subliminally talk to the audience about elements of his community. I feel as though in the music video Kendrick himself works as the director of his own image that he willing to create for the video, he selects what influences and artists he wants to work in order for his video to be more compelling. The other artist which Kendrick collaborates visually in this video is Jonas Lindstroem who is the director of the video, Element is very reminiscent to lindstrom's short film truth or dare which contains 21 short performances which is about an exaggerated version of what content we find on our phones, what Kendrick takes from this short film is short moments which are used as a reference point to larger issues this mainly applies to the violence which Kendrick has clearly taken from personal experience. The Violence is soulfully the main issue which he addresses the violence in his community, the violence he himself has caused, the violence which opressed his people and the violence that plagues his friends and family on daily basis. Each one of these moments of violence which are shown in the video are somewhat photographic moments which are all connected but are mixed around creating this strange cycle of violence that have been created by these distinct images.What I like most about this video is, like Kendrick's music the audience is made to work out what everything means, we are not given an explanation or some exposition scene before the video starts which allows the audience to create their own theories and ideas about what this all means. The imagery is fantastic because everything that is put into the frame is made to confuse the audience in a type of scrambled narrative but because of this everything that happens on the screen is so random and creative that intrigues me much more. This relates to my work in a couple of ways the entire message that the song and video create relates my ideas of the struggle to rise above those that stand infront of you and also I would like to use inspirations like Kendrick has used in this video to tell the story in compelling way with mixing various other stories or imagery which I wouldn't typically use when trying to tell the story that I would like to tell.
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