Planning - Locations

Location

Intro: 

Location is an important aspect to consider when creating a music video as the location is a main factor, determining the success of a music video. The locations chosen in a music video must fit the scenery and the narrative. For example, if the shot consists of a couple expressing their love, the location should reflect this through its cosy and warm surroundings, therefore, it should be a house or a conventional place that couples go to, such as a park. Carrying out a questionnaire also helped to finalise our decisions on our chosen locations, as we asked our audience "What locations do you expect to be evident in an alternative R&B music video?" Our target audience said they expected to see alternative R&B music videos shot in the streets and inside homes. We have also considered potential advantages and disadvantages of our chosen locations, as it is important to identify what problems could occur or how the locations could be adapted. 

Chosen locations:

• Underpass: 

• Empty room:

• Dance studio:

• Drama room: 

• Streets: 

Conclusion:

Overall, we have decided to use various locations in order to make our music video more interesting and of higher standards. Certain locations we have chosen are conventional to the alternative R&B genre, such as the streets and the empty room. However, the underpass and drama studio are less conventional as other alternative R&B music videos are not shot in poorer and less stylish locations. All of our chosen locations are relevant to our narrative and our target audience, therefore, we are hoping these locations will be beneficial and our scenes will be shot accordingly. However, we have also identified potential disadvantages and how to overcome them as this is important when planning, as we must ensure each location will be relevant and can be used. 

Planning - Characters

Characters

Male character 1:

Name: Matthew 

Age: 18

Ethnicity: Carribean 

Gender stereotype of role: Matthew will take on the role of a professional dancer who is training. He will be flexible when dancing and fighting with the other male characters. 

Costume: He will wear a black top and tracksuit bottoms as he needs to be comfortable when dancing. This outfit is also conventional for dancers to wear. 

Body language and facial expression: He will have a determined and eager facial expression when dancing and fighting, however, when he connects with the tarot reader he will have a confused and helpless facial expression promoting his confusion. 

Role within music video: He will play one of the tarot readers love interests. He will be dancing until he feels a connection with the tarot reader. He will then fight against the other three boys, promoting his passion and determination to win over the tarot reader. 

Male character 2:

Name: Kayne 

Age: 17 

Ethnicity: Carribean

Gender stereotype of role: He will take on the role of a sporty yet normal student who is active and lives a stereotypical lifestyle, until he feels a connection with the tarot reader causing him to 

Costume: Black tracksuit, to promote his casual attire as he is jogging. The use  of black also connotes mystery, suggesting that the audience will not know what to expect. 

Body language and facial expression: He will have flexible and bendy body language as he will be sporty, which will be supported by his tired and breathless facial expression. This will also be promoted when Kayne is fighting against the other boys. 

Role within music video: He will be another one of the artists love interests, he will be jogging when he feels a connection with the tarot reader. he will then fight against the other boys, fighting for the tarot readers love.

Male character 3:

Name: Josh 

Age: 18

Ethnicity: Asian

Gender stereotype of role: Josh will take on the role of a stereotypical 'geek' through his representation, portraying his weakness and his vulnerability when it comes to fighting. 

Costume: He will wear a black shirt and tie to promote a smart attire, with glasses highlighting his 'geeky' characteristics. 

Body language and facial expression:  He will have an upright posture and a determined facial expression to express his 'geeky' persona. When fighting he will portray his vulnerability through his worried facial expression and bent posture. 

Role within music video: The geek will be in the library reading books until he feels a connection with the tarot reader due to him being another one of her love interests. 

Male character 4:

Name: Sandro 

Age: 19

Ethnicity: African 

Gender stereotype of role: He will take on the role of a conventional male, who is living a normal life like the other boys until he feels a connection with the tarot reader and finds himself fighting against the other three boys for her love. 

Costume: Black T-shirt and black jeans, promoting his casual persona. This is conventional for a young boy to wear, however, the colour black connotes danger, suggesting that the character will promote danger when he is fighting. 

Body language and facial expression: He will have a relaxed posture, supported by a calm facial expression, until he fights, causing his body language to change, with him adopting an upright posture and a straight face, showing his confidence. 

Role within music video: He will simply he watching TV until he feels a connection with the tarot reader leading to him to the fight scene. He will fight against the other boys and he will win the fight, winning over the tarot reader and  her love.

Conclusion:

Overall, we believe it is important to plan effectively as planning the characters allowed us to identify the role each character must follow and how they'll be represented. Without planning each character properly we would be unsure of the characters roles. This way we are now confident about each character, and we will be able to express to them what character they must represent and how they will portray their character through their costume, body language and facial expressions. This prevents any confusion or problems from occurring. We have decided to use characters from different ethnic backgrounds,and of similar ages to reflect the target audience and their needs. Overall, we are now clear on how we want to portray each character, and we are hoping that this planning will be beneficial when it comes to creating our music video. 

Planning - Artist Image

Artist image

Genre ideas:

Our genre is Alternative R&B, therefore, we intend on following conventions as well as challenging certain conventions, by making our artist conventional to other alternative R&B artists, such as SZA who has her own original style of performing.  However, we will also challenge stereotypes by allowing our artist to fulfil her emotions and morals through the song and themes, which is not evident in all alternative R&B music videos, due to artists following conventions. 

Morals and values:

We want our artist to portray subcultural ideas through her character, in order to appeal to subcultures and a niche audience. It is important that the artist is able to portray her spiritual values and morals, as her character will need to pursue this through the use of a psychic mystic ball and tarot cards. 

Media perception: 

Our artist will be perceived similar to FKA Twigs in the media, as she will be identified as a good performer in the industry rather than a fully established star. This is due to her lacking ultimate popularity and not being noticed by a mainstream audience. As a result, our artist will be perceived as niche, rather than mainstream, as she will confidently express her different views and values which may be viewed as controversial by certain audiences. Also, she will not be in the public eye as much as the mainstream artists, due to her being relatable to the audience though her normality and lack of consistent fame. Moreover, our artist will be perceived as expressing her true self to the audience, rather than being portrayed as 'fake', which is important when it comes to the audience forming an opinion about an artist. FKA Twigs similarly expresses her true self to the audience through her unique image which is evident in the media, through newspapers and magazines. 

Similar Artists:

These solo artists, including Grimes, Sia and Lady Gaga have helped us in planning our artist representation as they each portray their own unique/quirky style through the use of their music and image in their music videos. Although they all look different, they have similar morals and values as they all represent originality and may create controversy at times. 

In our music video, we want our artist to dress differently reflecting an existing character like these artists do in their music videos. We will dress our artist in all black clothing like Lady Gaga supported by a black bandanna over her head to represent the darkness and mystery in her character as she controls male characters fighting over her love. Her make up and hair will also reinforce this image as she will have exaggerated make up (smokey eye shadow, fake eyelashes and dark lipstick). This reflects the alternative R&B genre as genre characteristics suggest that alternative R&B artists challenge stereotypes to make their music video unique and intriguing for the audience.

These existing artists are all niche and do not appeal to mainstream audiences due to their originality which is  reflected in their music videos. I want my artist to be portrayed in a similar way by promoting herself as different, however, we also want her to appeal to a mainstream audiences by ensuring we do not portray her originality in an extreme manner. This is because in her other music videos she is seen as more 'normal'  and appears in this way through social media, radio chat shows and public appearances.

We are hoping to fulfill this type of artist image through mise en scene and cinematography. If we succeed, we believe it will enhance the star image of Carlie Cokell-Smith, making her more popular and interesting to watch on screen. By following theories we will also enhance this image.

Our artist: 

We have decided to use Carlie Cokell- Smith as our female artist, as we believe she will be able to reflect FKA Twigs' characteristics, but she will also express her own values and opinions through her persona and her performance. She will reflect a tarot reader, therefore, she will wear a black costume, consisting of a cloak and bandana with exaggerated hair and makeup, which will make her look like a real tarot reader. However, her niche representation will not prevent Carlie from expressing her subcultural and spiritual morals and vlaues.Carlie is also the right age as she is 18 years old, therefore, she will be relatable to the audience through her niche performance and by expressing herself to the audience through a pure  and truthful representation. Carlie also has current experience in acting and dancing, and therefore, she will be able to reflect these skills in her performance and acting, making our artist image successful and genuine.                                                                                                                          

Link to Theory:

Goodwin: Close ups, Extreme close ups and Mid shots are used to portray the artist clearly to the audience and make the audience feel anxious whilst watching her on screen. It will also enhance her star image.

Mulvey: We will not be taking Mulvey's theory into consideration as we do not want to portray our artist in a sexual manner.

Popular Culture: As the artist is a Tarot reader, she will not engage in popular activities. Instead, her actions will be more spiritual and controversial.

Dyer (Star Theory, Audience and Industry): Our artist will not be a star, but will portrayed as a good performer in the industry. This is because she is not in the public eye regularly like other popular artists such as; Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Rihanna and Taylor Swift. However, despite her not being a star, she will reflect her spiritual and religious values through her music video.

Hebdige: Our artist will appeal to subcultures as she portrays niche conventions through her persona and music. Also, her spiritual and religious views will attract particular subcultures. She may also convey controversial ideas which may not appeal to mainstream audiences, however, we will try to make our artist and the music video more mainstream to gain success.

Conclusion: 

Planning our artist representation has been extremely beneficial for us, as we now have a clear idea of how we want our artist to be portrayed, which is to express her spiritual and subcultural morals and values, which is important in making our female artist different but relatable. We are also now more aware of which similar artists we want our artist to reflect which is Lady Gaga, Sia and Grimes who all differ from mainstream artists and can crate controversy at times through their truthful and varying representation.  Now we are aware of this, we will ensure our artist is portrayed in the correct way, making her niche but also mainstream, through media perception which will allow the audience to notice her and the fact that she has her own style of music and an original persona. creating the right artist image is important in the long term as the audience should be able to identify the artist from the offset, identifying their beliefs, values and persona, which should not continuously change as it could turn the audience against the artist. Without planning our artist representation we would not be able to link our artist to certain theories such as Goodwin and Dyer who promote important factors within their theories, that should be evident within all music videos. Therefore, by planning our artist representation, we have now identified which characteristics our artist will follow and which theories will apply to her role.

Planning - Analysing Other Music Videos

Analysing different music videos 

Content and visual style

Video 1: Sia- Elastic Heart

Whilst analysing this music video I was particularly interested in the content and visual style of the video. 

• Themes apparent: Themes evident in this music video include; Isolation, struggle, connection, escape. These themes are similar to our chosen themes, as we would also like to show connection and struggle promoted through the narrative. 

• Lighting and colour: Natural lighting, top and back lighting, no added colours. The use of the natural lighting makes the music video more realistic, and the top lighting adds to the effectiveness, showing the characters in a clear manner.

• Body language and facial expression of the characters: Both characters have flexible and bendy body language throughout as they are dancing and moving around, this is supported by their emotionless facial expressions at the beginning, which then turns to aggressive facial expressions. This creates suspense and tension for the audience.

• Setting: The narrative takes place inside an empty white room, with a large cage in the middle, which is used by the characters who dance inside the cage. The use of the cage represents imprisonment.  

• Iconography/ objects: There is no iconography evident within the music video other than bandages wrapped around the male characters hands, portraying his struggle. 

• Character representation: The characters are represented in an unconventional manner, as they are perceived to be looking dirty and having no emotions, simply expressing themselves through their dancing, which is their form of communication. They are not reflective of mainstream characters and therefore, this music video is likely to be targeted at a niche audience. 

• Artist representation: This is not evident in the music video as the artist is not evident. 

• Editing: slow editing is used at the beginning of the music video, as the characters are emotionless, and towards the end when the male character is trapped and struggling to let go of the female character. Fast editing is evident in the middle of the video when the characters begin to show more emotion. 

• Use of camera work: There are drastic panning shots around the cage, establishing shots allowing the audience to see the surroundings as well as the characters, and extreme long shots and long shots capturing the characters when they are dancing together. 

After analysing this music video, we have identified similarities to our music video as we will also portray themes of struggle and escape throughout our video, between the boys who will be fighting for the tarot readers love. We will also have the male characters fighting in an abandoned and empty location where they will also fight each other through homoerotic dancing, like the characters in Sia's 'Elastic Heart' music video. We have similarly decided to  use fast paced editing during the fight scenes to increase suspense supported by the use of panning shots and long shots around the artist and the male characters. 

Artist representation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wagn8Wrmzuc

                                       Video 2: Lady Gaga- Judas

Whilst analysing this music video, I was particularly interested in the artist representation which was promoted through the camerawork capturing her, her costume, hair and makeup, her facial expressions and body language throughout the video and her interaction with the other characters.

• Body language/ movement and facial expression of the artist: The artist has a straight face, expressing her lack of emotions which contrasts with her free body language as she is dancing and moving continuously. Towards the end of the video, her facial expressions adapt as she begins to show emotion as the artist cries, with tears streaming down her eyes. Her body language also becomes vulnerable as she is unable to aid herself, requiring support from other characters.

• Costume, hair and makeup: The artist has a unique costume consisting of long blue jacket supported by a red bandana she wears over her head and forehead. Her makeup is also unique and differs from mainstream artists makeup as she has face paint under her eyes promoting the artist as different and intriguing the audience.

• Interaction with others: The artist is portrayed as interacting with the other characters through leadership as she dances, leading the dance, with the other dancers following her. However, towards the end of the video, she promotes vulnerability which contrasts with her dominance at the beginning of the video as she holds on to the other characters needing their support. 

• Camera work around her: The camera captures close up's of the artists face giving the audience a clear insight into the artists thoughts and feelings through her facial expressions and the camera captures her through long shots when she is dancing. 

From this analysis, I have found similarities associated with my artist as my artist will also have an unconventional outfit like Lady Gaga, consisting of a black cloak and a black bandana covering the artists head and forehead. Her makeup will also be unique as she will have dark makeup, such as long black lashes, black eyeshadow and dark lipstick. Her differing look will allow our artist to follow the stereotype of her character, but also to promote her individuality. My artist will also show leadership as she will be controlling the male characters through her powers and dominant body language. From doing this analysis, we have decided to take some ideas including the way in which we capture our artist, like the existing music video we will also present our artist through close up's and long shots so the audience can connect with her, and relate to her.

Structure and artist representation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrgqUZaeRuc

                     Video 3: Chris Brown- Fine By Me

Whilst analysing this music video, I was particularly interested in the structure and  character representation. 

Performance from the characters: The characters in this music video are fighting against each other through dance when performing. I also want my characters to reflect this by fighting through dance in my music video.

Concept/ abstract ideas: The abstract ideas within this video include the characters body movements, which are unique as the characters move in a slow manner. 

Narrative within the video: The artist follows a girl and is led to an empty room, where he must might fight against three supernatural males. The artist manages to escape however, the girl is instructed to follow him.

Character representation: 

• Character 1: The male character has an angry facial expression and an upright posture. He also has face paint over his face concealing his identity to the audience. The lighting surrounding him includes back lighting and dark colours including black and red. 

• Character 2: The second character conceals his entire identity as he has a cloak on covering his body and head, and he wears a mask to support this. He also has dark lighting surrounding him, reinforcing his evil persona, and unpredictable behaviour.

• Character 3: The final male character is the only character that reveals his identity, the male only wears bottoms and no top, allowing the audience to see his weird movements that he does using his stomach and chest. 

As a result, I will be using similar ideas, as i will also portray my characters in a mysterious and unpredictable way, through their dark coloured costumes, upright postures and angry facial expressions which connote danger and anger. This evokes fear and suspense for the audience. 

Planning - Storyboard

Storyboarding 

A storyboard is a graphic representation of how a moving image will unfold, shot by shot. It is made up of illustrations or images representing each shot that will be included in the moving image which is supported by important notes for each shot including the camera shot, location, props, lighting, actors, sound, dialogue, editing and narrative description. A story board is vital to have when creating a music video as it used as a plan which will be extremely useful. After deciding on our final idea and identifying how the narrative was going to progress throughout the music video, we created a storyboard of each frame, identifying the micro elements; camera shot, location, props, lighting, actors, sound, dialogue and editing that we will include in each frame, supported by a brief narrative description, of what will occur in that particular frame. Story boarding our idea has been beneficial as we have been able to look closely at the narrative, taking each frame into consideration, rather than identifying a brief overview, which does not give us any insight into the details we need to draw upon when creating our music video.