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Freedomsong

After lengthy discussion and agreement, the group have decided to focus on the historical roots of the hip hop culture across art forms and the different elements as it was agreed that the struggle towards freedom of expression of identity was not just about the creation of music alone but also the under represented groups most specifically females, and the elements of spoken word, dance and graffiti. After the initial research it was then agreed that the decisions would be made as to the key areas of focus for the documentary and the inspirational element of the musical song and video creation. The girls put together a timetable of research contacts events and workshops to attend, and the boys primarily focused on the representation of the project through graphic imagery and written releases.

It was agreed that work done in researching the historical beginnings of the genre would inform the stylistic aspects of the project in terms of film, press photography and web page creation, the group also expressed an interest in portraiture and decided to style much of the imagery in this way. Sam and Ishidene decided that one key idea would be to seek out female role models across the art forms in the UK, both historically and today in terms of a younger generation with their own historical influences. One idea was to attempt to get female artists from different historical periods in discussion about the changes they have experienced in culture and society.

Preferred roles were decided in terms of research. design and production preparation and a schedule was put into place for tasks and production work. Amit was appointed responsible for photography along with Farah, Daniel B Daniel F and Anthony agreed to look into graphics and design for the project, Nashon requested to take first lead in the directing of the documentary, Keisha and Farah were keen begin camera operation and crew techniques training, Lynda agreed to shadow the production roles for both the music video and documentary and Ishidene and Sam set research tasks and a list of events and workshops to attend for themselves and the rest of the group.

Ishidene Hamilton, Samantha Thodliana
Steering group representatives 'Freedom Song' January 2008