Planning - Initial Planning

In this lesson we were put into our production groups to discuss our ideas as individuals, allowing us to come together to make one big idea for our music video. Also allowing us to create our own idea through the use of our questionnaires and our own research.

Idea 1: Marlyn.

Narrative: the video opens up with the star walking towards the chair as she’s recording with her band singing whilst sitting on a chair in an empty room, she then begins to have flashbacks of her and her partner having fun, running around London, he time comes back to the present and her singing in an empty room, then two dancers appear as they are contemporary dancing as she sings, then it goes back to a flashback.

Narrative structure: performance and narrative based.

Characters: one couple (boy and girl during the flashbacks), two dancers (two girls contemporary dancing).

MES:  hair and makeup (sweet, innocent makeup/messy curly hair to portray the young teenage carefree look) low key lighting during the flashbacks, there should be an important object like necklaces (iconography) that she remembers receiving. The setting will be in a crowded place when she has flashbacks.

Application of theory: 

- Dyer star image-  The female artist will be represented as a star in the video, by looking glamorous although she will look like an average teenager so the young female audience can relate to the star and the video. 

- Mulvey's theory- I will be going against this theory, as i do not want to sexualise the female character. 

- Goodwin's characteristics- The characteristics Goodwin has identified in his theory will be evident within my video. Characteristics will include: 

• Genre characteristics: The genre of the song consists of three genres combined, therefore, i will use conventional characteristics from each genre, including a young , female artist, who is attractive and relatable to the audience, dancing, exaggerated genre reflecting their young ages. 

• Relationship between music and visuals: The visuals will reflect the music as the music has a slow pace which will reflect the artists sadness and the difficulty she is experiencing. 

• Star image motif: The artist will be perceived in the video through the numerous close-up's and mid shots. 

• Performance, narrative, concept: The narrative structure will consist of performance and narrative, with a story forming supported by the artist singing about her relationship.

Advantage: 
-Has a message behind it, promoting that we should not be pressurised into having sexual relationships, and reinforces that building a strong friendship in a relationship is what matters. 
- The female artist will be easy to find. 

Disadvantage: 
- The narrative needs to be clearer and structured through storyboarding in order for people to understand it, and for it to be portrayed clearly.  
- The length of the song is only 3.53 minutes which is too short. 

Popular Culture: I will be using most of the popular culture  characteristics like settings.

Idea 2: Fatma.

• Song: Kandi – Don’t think I’m not 
• Genre: R&B

• Narrative structure:  Performance, narrative and concept 
• Performance: The artist will perform and appear in the music video to ensure she makes herself familiar to the audience.  She will sing and dance during the chorus. 
• Narrative: The narrative will include a female who argues with her boyfriend and then walks out on him.  She then goes on to show her independence by partying and having a good time suggesting that she is over her boyfriend. 
• Concept: The narrative sends a message to women in unfaithful  relationships and women in general to be independent and to stand up for themselves promoting gender equality and women independence. 
• Characters: 
• Female (artist)- The artist will dominate the music video as she will perform throughout the video. 

• Male (female’s boyfriend) – He will be trying to persuade his girlfriend that she is innocent and will chase after her trying to get her back. 

• Backing dancers- They will be the female’s friends partying with her and will also dance with the female. 

• MES: 
• Lighting: - Low lighting- Make it more mysterious                                                                       - Colours: Red, pink, 
• Costume, hair & makeup: 
• The female and backing dancers should wear short dresses, miniskirts, and crop tops with heels, with their hair open to make them look ‘sexy’, ensuring their independence is portrayed. 
• Facial expression & body language : 
• The male should have a regretful facial expression and body language suggesting that he doesn’t want to lose his girlfriend and regrets his unfaithful behavior. 
• The female should be aggressive at the beginning and abusive when arguing with her boyfriend portraying her anger at him.   
• The females should have attitude and comfortable body language when performing. 
• Setting: 

There should be various locations, including; 

• A house- The argument between the male and female takes place 
• A party/club- The female portrays her independence and has a good time partying.   
• Green screen should be used when the artist and backing dancers are performing. 

• Advantages: 
• The characters will be easy to find.   
• There is a clear concept behind the video suggesting that women should not fear their partners and should stand up promoting gender equality and women rights. 
• The narrative will appeal to a wider audience, as females will be encouraged to become independent rather than reliant on their boyfriends. Males will also find the narrative appealing due to the females that will perform in the video. 

• Disadvantages: 
• The setting of a club may be difficult to use which is one of the key locations that will enhance the music video, making it more realistic and believable. 
• The narrative may be perceived as too mainstream, typical breakup situation.

Idea 3: Carlie (Me).

Song: "Run This Town" - Rihanna, Kanye West and Jay Z (Trap Remix)

Genre: R&B/Trap

Narrative: Females going out into the streets to be rebellious and start riots to prove that they run the world/town, hence the title of the song. Violent attacks to the street, may start damaging shops and other areas around them to prove they can do what they want in the town. They come across another gang of maybe guys to prove the gender battle is won by the females.

Narrative Structure: Narrative and Performance.

Characters: 5 girls, a mixed race girl as the artist who is part of the girl gang. Artist is the leader who wears all black costume and is scary/intimidating.

MES: Low key lighting to represent the darkness and violent attacks in the scenes, costumes are all black to represent darkness, settings are the streets of London (cold and dark), and iconography can consists of bats or other items used for weapons. Black and grey colours used to create a dark and negative atmosphere.

Application of Theory: Mulvey won’t be present as I am not showing the girls in a sexual way as they are aggressive and violent.

Dyer is present as the artist is structured to be a powerful and violent character.

Popular culture also is present as the song is mainstream but with an element of controversial as it’s a trap remix of the original song.

Goodwin is present as a lot of the 8 things will be present, such as; Relationship between visuals and music and Relationship between lyrics and music.

Hebdige will be used to show their type of people (gang) as it is represented as a subculture. This shows them as different to everyone else.

Advantages: Promoting equality in genders, empowering woman.

Disadvantages: Difficult to show violent attacks on the street as it is illegal and causing damage isn’t something we can physically do for a music video.

I created my own source of primary research by creating a questionnaire which is easy to fill out and sufficient for me to gain feedback on my idea and what is best for my idea.

My Questionnaire:

The initial idea that i like the best out of the three of my groups is Marlyn's. I think the song is very powerful and the idea with it is creative and sweet. I like the fact she used the idea of her flash backing while rehearsing as this shows that the song means something to her and she wrote the song because its from her deep feelings and thoughts of her past with relationships. I also really like how the narrative is conventional to the R&B genre. These three ideas have made me think about how people go through many different situations which can be represented through music videos. It would be nice to represent many different situations in one music video so an audience can connect to more than one character in the music video. This would be relatively successful towards teenagers and young adults.