Jewish Boyz: How I made the song

Once I had decided I was going to make We're Jewish Boyz, I needed to find a way to make it legally. This first required me to search for an instrumental to the song that wasn't directly released by Wiz or any associates. Thankfully, Wiz had not released an official instrumental, which meant that prosumers were submitting their own variations of it. I asked the permission of a YouTuber to use the song, and he said it would be fine.


At first, I tried using the free audio creation service Audacity, as this would ultimately reduce my budget for the project as a whole. However, there was a disadvantage to using it because the audio quality wasn't professional enough after processing, so I ultimately decided to scrap it.

Luckily, a friend of mine owns the latest version of Logic Pro and I arranged a day with him to record the song and compile the track together all at the same time. This proved successful because it is what most music producers use to create songs and because I didn't need to start from scratch with the instrumental, I saved lots of time just recording the lyrics over the song. Comparing both the audio files from Logic and Audacity, it was obvious to tell that the Logic audio sounded a lot more professional, and one that could actually be used in any type of video or sold as a song online or in store. 

Once I create the Digi-Pak, I will credit him as producer of the song as he is the person who controlled Logic to make the song. 

Jewish Boyz: Green Screen usage

My video had gone through multiple drafts until it was fully complete. Initially, the only footage I had was in parks and outside locations. Thanks to audience feedback, I found out that this was quite boring and tedious to watch because it almost looked as if it was all filmed in the same place.

So I took this advice and tried to figure out how I was going to have more variant shots in other places. However, I had to be cautious because if you film somebody dressed in an obviously Jewish outfit, it can be risky in terms of causing offence to people, or being disturbed by intolerant people. 

I decided that the only way I was going to be able to make the video different in the way that it looked, was by using a green screen. The green screen would ultimately display images of things that I could not have been able to film in real life for certain reasons. It also provides me with the opportunity to use animation, making the video a lot more exciting. Green screens are typical of parody culture, and by using it for my intended purposes, I have matched the conventions of the genre. 

Experimenting with the green screen was something new to me because I hadn't used it for my AS thriller, so I was taught on how to encompass it into the video and how to replace it with images, videos and animations on Premiere Pro. Below are some pictures of me and the artist messing around with the green screen before we filmed for the video:

In order to not have issues with copyright, I had to make sure I used images that weren't posted by other people and instead use stock-photos. Below are all the green screen images used in the video, and how they are finally in the frame: 

This image here is a gif (moving image) of words in Hebrew obtained straight from the Torah. I used this image because the idea of animation of the words would make the video look more interesting.

 This image is a stock photo of Tel Aviv beach. The reason for using this photo was because I wanted to try and have a location that I wasn't able to go to in the short space of filming time, for example Israel. This would also make the video look interesting and entertaining, and could extend the audience's imagination. 

 This image is a recording studio and the reason why I included it was because I wasn't able to access a real recording studio for my artist to go to, so I simulated one in order for the authentic image of my artist to be brought to life.

 This image is a picture of cut-up brisket and I used it for the lyrics in the video "Smell it from here, the brisket's ready".

 This image is the Israeli flag and I used it in order to symbolise Judaism in lots of other ways and also to combine it with Israeli culture.

 This image is a gif of a Star of David that looks like a pizza, which animates and changes colour from blue to white. The reason why I chose this image was because it was interesting in its look and I liked the colours it was changing to. It also matched the dancing clip it was linked with.

 This image is a video of some other Hasidic Jews dancing in a circle in celebration. The reason why I used this video was because I had an issue where I lost a large amount of cast members, so I wanted to simulate what I would have done in real life.

 This image is a picture outside Hendon Central station. The reason why I used this image for the video is because I was not allowed to film directly outside the station, and in that particular position, because it was a breach of private property.

 This image is a picture outside Golders Green Station. The reason why I used the image for the video is because I was not allowed to film directly outside the station, and in that particular position, because it was a breach of private property.

 This image is a gif of a hypnotic spiral. The reason I used this image in the video was to associate the image with the line "Challah, challah, you drive me crazy" because it's a crazy colour and it is hypnotic, which is quite crazy-themed.

This image is a gif of a Mercedes Benz driving on a road. The reason I used this image in the video was because I was not able to find any Mercedes Benz's in any location I filmed in (which was quite ironic) but I also wanted one that was already moving, for added animation and effect.

In addition, I also used one image of a loaf of challah, which I got to rotate on the screen for added effect and entertainment, so that there would be other elements to include that weren't necessarily formed by the green screen:

The green screen had been part of my plan for quite a while, but I wasn't going to use it until the last day of shooting because it was readily available for me at school. I wanted the green screen to give a feeling of "DIY" to the video, and that's why the images that I chose were in the background because it needed that sense of induced organic theme so that I could amplify the star image of my artist in another format. 

Jewish Boyz: Cast List

In order to find my cast mates, I used opportunity sampling to see out of all my friends who was most available to feature in my music video. Before creating the idea for the video, I had no pre-conception of what I wanted the star to look like and I had no idea who would best portray the star image that I wanted to display.

My opportunity sample resulted in me having a cast of 10 people at the start, as my original video idea planned to have as many people as possible. However, at the last minute before the first shooting day, 3/5 of my cast had become unavailable for the video, which left me with a cast of 4.

When this happened, I was slightly upset and disappointed but I made a positive out of a negative, by justifying the reason for my small cast. The reason for my small cast is all part of the parody: Wiz’s cast for We Dem Boyz featured approximately 100+ people and my video features a dramatically different cast number, which adds to the humour. Here is the list of cast that featured in my video:

Elior Doani: Once my cast of 4 was finalised, I still had no idea who I wanted to be my star, because I saw that any of these cast members could perfectly portray the star image. Elior volunteered to be the star and he told me he did because he was intrigued by the video idea. I was happy with choosing him as the star because he has this confident demeanour that reflects my star image and I knew he could act and lip sync well enough for this video. Since the release of the video, its popularity has gained him some recognition within the Jewish community which he seems to enjoy.

Daniel Werb: One of the 4 members of the cast. He is an extra who I filmed with on shooting day 3. In terms of where he is in the video, he is most known for holding the LAY THE TABLE cue card, and saying OY VEY ZMIR, THAT IS AMAZING! And because of these scenes, he has gained recognition and has been remembered the most (because LAY THE TABLE was the catchiest line).

Josh Bergman: One of the 4 members of the cast. He is an extra who I filmed with on shooting day 3. In terms of where he is in the video, he is most known for wearing the sombrero and holding the LOCO LOCO cue card, and dressing up as a baby near the end of the video. I chose him for those parts because I knew he would fit them the best, based on the fact that we came up with these lyrics and scenes in particular together. Since the release of the video, people from my school who have seen the video ask me who he is.

Nadav Knoller: One of the 4 members of the cast. He was supposed to be another extra; however, he wasn’t available after he filmed with me on the first shooting day, so I had no choice but to axe him from most of the video because there wasn’t enough footage of him. He does still feature in the video in the ‘extra costume’ standing outside Carmelli’s whilst ABOUDY “high fives” him.

And although this person wasn’t in the video, I believe they still need a mention:

Jake Marlowe: He is the person who helped me create the song on Logic Pro, and without him, the song wouldn’t have the best sounding quality as it does. He is a musician and has experience with creating songs, and I knew he would be the perfect person to help me record the song.

Jewish Boyz: Shooting Schedule DAY 4

Jewish Boyz: Shooting Schedule DAY 3

Jewish Boyz: Shooting Schedule DAY 2

Jewish Boyz: Shooting Schedule DAY 1

Jewish Boyz: Location and Setting

INITIAL IDEA: I wanted to film most of the video in the streets of Golders Green, Hendon (and other Jewish areas etc.) so that the video would be more humorous with the inclusion of public reaction...

HOWEVER, After a few attempts at filming in the streets, I started to notice that lots of different groups of people were alerted by what I was filming. 
I had groups of other Jewish people in the area coming up to me asking what the video was for, and showing their interest and enthusiasm with my idea. 
I also had groups of Hasidic Jews (the look I was parodying) shaking their heads in disapproval, as well as non-Jewish people looking concerned with what I was doing.

Because of this, I decided to film the majority of the video in parks in those areas (as they are mostly occupied by Jews) and when filming there, I would film in the most recognisable areas of the park so that the audience could be familiar with the relation to Jewish stereotypes. 

These parks were:



Sunny Hill Park
Hendon




















Edgwarebury Park
Edgware

Oak Hill Park
Barnet

DEVELOPED IDEA: Due to audience feedback, I learnt that having footage from the parks only was boring and not creative enough, so I had to devise other locations to film in with purpose to make the video more entertaining.

I did film many shots of ABOUDY inside his car, either driving, parked or as he is about to drive:

I filmed shots of ABOUDY outside areas that provide Jewish-based services, e.g. a Synagogue, bakery and deli:

I also filmed in Elior's house because it was free and was big enough to create all the scenes I needed:

I finally filmed using a green screen, in order to simulate locations that weren't accessible and to simulate interesting animations and images: