City Knew

"City Knew" is a track by artist, rapper, and songwriter, Vicio. In this track he delves into the flaws his environment is known and mocked for, whether they be drugs, killing, or robbery. He discusses how these ideas and theses acts not only create hate for the city he lives in, but he also delves into his and others psyche's where he begins to rationalize why these "immoral" acts must happen. Instead of blaming those who carry out such hate, Vicio comes from a point where he is self aware of what is going on, but is also very in tune with those who are being blamed. Ultimately leaving him and everyone in the city in a constant battle of blaming everyone and nobody at the same time whilst nothing happens to create a change.

  • Erik Mandujano
    Director
  • Israel Torres
    Writer
  • Erik Mandujano
    Writer
  • Shaun Chatrath
    Producer
  • Frezjon Thomas
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Music Video
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 37 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 3, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Sony A7 III, 4K 24ps, HLG3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Erik Mandujano

Erik Mandujano (September 29, 2001) is a director, cinematographer, editor, & writer from Stockton, California. He fell in love with filmmaking in high school after taking a pre-collage experience at the Academy of Art of University. Since then he has made music videos, short films, as well as advertising videos for brands. Erik's creative style in his work follows inspiration from movies that he loves. His goal in filmmaking is to entertain and inspire people in a way his favorite filmmakers inspired him.

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Director Statement

I directed this music video, City Knew, after I watched The Batman (2022) film. The cinematography & grittiness of The Batman inspired me so much that I knew that I had to take inspiration for my next project. The only problem was, what was going to be my next project? Fast forward to 6 months later (January 2023) I texted Vicio, a friend of mine who makes music, if he had any music he wanted to make a video for. He then sends me a track list of 12 songs in which I listened to each one, but there was one in particular, City knew, that made me envision what I was looking for. I then tell him my vision & direction towards the song in which he loved & agreed to do. My goal was to make my own version of Gotham in Downtown Stockton, and match the visual with the grittiness of the lyrics in the song by following three versions of the protagnist, and in the span of a week we did it. The only delay that we had was the night shots, we tried to aim for a rainy night for that sequence but our prediction was off & we were on a time crunch with equipment and crew. We were fortunate to have amazing friends that provided us with the equipment, and helped us with the gaffing. To this day, I wish we could have gotten those rainy night shots but in the end the message was delivered and the song fit the tone of the video as I had imagen it would.