Rap It Up

This is it! Your final project! We're using all of your skills in order to wrap up the year, by rapping up the year.

What does that mean?

It's simple! You're in a band, now. Just because the assignment's called "Rap It Up" doesn't mean you have to be in a rap group. You can be in whatever kind of band you want to be in. (Rap is pretty easy to write, though!)

Okay, I'm in a band. So what?

Your band has gotten big enough that you're about to embark on your first tour. This is exciting stuff! You have to actually sit down and plan the tour with your partner. This might be more difficult than it looks!

What does it take to plan a tour?

Here are the steps that you and your partner should be embarking on, whether together or separately:

(In the rare event that we have a group with three partners, partner 3 is responsible for a t-shirt design, city slide, and video. That means, in total, a group with three members will have two t-shirts, three city slides, and two videos for the same song.)

Then, you'll have to give a presentation, presenting the cities and the music video you've created.

Here's what each section entails:

Storyboarding:

Before you create your song and video, both team members must get together and come up with ideas during a "storyboarding" phase. In this phase, the students will sketch out rough ideas for both the lyrics and what video clips might look good associated with those lyrics. Then, each student will break off and do their own thing. Please use this document to guide your understanding of the storyboarding process. When you're done with your storyboarding, please check in with Mr. Alexander for a 10 point grade.

If you don't have any ideas for a song, consider describing the plot of the book you're reading currently in Language Arts class. That's what I did for mine! Since you're already so familiar with it, it's easy! Write about the plot, or write about a scenario from a certain character's point of view.

(Who does this step?: BOTH PARTNERS COLLABORATE ON THIS)

Planning a Route: You must go into Google Maps. Starting in Plain City, OH, you must make stops in four major cities and return to Plain City. A "major city" is a city that has a population >150,000 people. You will have to do research online to find this number for each city. Here is the catch: you are being sponsored and therefore you will not have to pay for your gas as long as you stay under 2000 miles. Therefore, your entire trip, including the return, should be under 2000 miles. That means it'll probably be more of a local tour than a national tour, but it can still go out-of-state, for sure! Take a picture of your route through Google Maps in order to attach it to your presentation.

If you're not sure how to use Google Maps or take a picture of the resulting journey, please see my tutorial!

AGAIN: your map should contain six locations--Plain City, four tour cities, and Plain City.

(Who does this step?:  PARTNER 2)

Creating a t-shirt:

For you artsy types, this is perfect! You'll have to create a t-shirt, both front and back, for people to buy on the tour. I have provided a template right here. Simply insert the template into Paint.NET to modify it. On the front side of the t-shirt should be a logo for your band. On the back side should be a name for the tour and a list of at least four cities which you'll be visiting during the trip, including dates to accompany the cities. You will be inserting this image into your presentation by saving it as a .png file (not a .pdn file) and uploading it to Google Presentations.

(Who does this step?: PARTNER 1)

Creating a presentation:

Each partner must create a slide about one of the towns that the band is planning to travel to. To do this, have one partner create a presentation and share it with the other(s) in their group. In this presentation, you must include:

Here is my example presentation to use as a template.

(Who does this step?: BOTH PARTNERS MUST DO A SEPARATE CITY)

Recording a song:

Your hit single! You must create a beat in Mixcraft (think about your previous Drop the Beat assignment) that is at least one minute long. Refine the lyrics you've sketched so that they go along with and match this beat. This can be the whole song, or simply a one-minute "preview" version of the song. Send this beat to your partner so they can begin working on the video. Then, using a microphone and a pair of headphones, you must import your beat into Audacity and record over it. DO NOT RECORD LYRICS WITHOUT A BEAT IN THE BACKGROUND. It is almost guaranteed that your words will not match up with your music if you do it this way. If your partner wants to and has the time (they will be working on the video during this time), they are more than welcome to join you in the song; however, you will be the only one receiving a grade for the song. When you're done, save it as a .wav. DON'T WORRY: you will not be receiving a grade for how well or badly you sing. This is not choir class. I am simply grading your ability to join distinct parts of technology (in this case, Mixcraft and Audacity) together.

When you are done with the song, share the .wav version of your song with your videographer on Google Drive (click "New," then "File Upload"). They're been collecting clips and tentatively placing them on a timeline, but can't complete their side of the project without your song, so please give it to them! 

Here is my example presentation to use as a template. Please make sure to share the presentation with Mr. Alexander when it's completed in order to view it in front of the class.

If you're not sure what the next step is in recording your song, I've compiled a quick supplementary tutorial that I highly recommend all audio folks take a look at.

(Who does this step?:  PARTNER 1)

Creating a video:

The videographer has a very important job! This song won't be a hit unless it has a super cool video to go along with it. Using your skills in video editing, you're going to create a video to go along with the song. Using the ideas that you and your partner came up with that match the lyrics, you're going to seek out video clips that will enhance the ideas of the song. Your clips must not be randomly placed--they must complement the beat of the song, and change along with it. Your video should also include, at minimum, two effects and one transition.

Your musician will be sending you a beat-only version of the music before they record the song so that you can get started on placing your video clips. Once they have fully finished the song, you can replace your demo version of the music with the final clip. When finished, save it as an .mp4 (Save Movie -> For Computer, as seen in this tutorial).

See my example for more information. When you're done with the video, share it on Google Drive so we can see it during the presentation.

(Who does this step?: PARTNER 2)

My example for the final music video is here. 

Visual Timeline:

Exemplary student examples:

The Unibiscuits - Video, Presentation

The Scratchers - Video, Presentation

The Aureates - Video, Presentation

Cheesy Tunes - Video, Presentation

Country Riders - Video, Presentation

Christmas Cats - Video, Presentation

Pop Tart Queens - Video, Video, Presentation (Note: two different videos are included because of an assignment modification.)

Insert Band Name Here - Video, Presentation (Note: This presentation does not include a map/t-shirt because of an assignment modification.)

Lord of the Flying Pigs - Video, Presentation (Note: This presentation does not include a map/t-shirt because of an assignment modification.)

Chicken Potato Heads - Video, Presentation (Note: This presentation does not include a map/t-shirt because of an assignment modification.)

The Cereal Boxers - Video, Presentation (Note: This presentation does not include a map/t-shirt because of an assignment modification.)

Stray Observations: