Planning: Initial Ideas

Ideas

After deciding who was doing what by dividing up the group roles to each other fairly, we shared our ideas to each other taken one another's idea into account. We had to consider each others ideas by identifying the elements associated with it such as the genre, concept, micro-elements, theories, conventions, advantages and disadvantages etc. By doing this, it was much easier for us to come to one idea yet include our individual ideas that we had our own. Moreover, it enabled us to see clearly who had the more realistic storyboard. By combining the previous lessons I had, I was able to take all the theories into consideration such as Mulvey, Goodwin and Dyer seeing if they would fit our idea.


Idea 1: My idea
I presented my idea to my group:

Song: Future ft.Weeknd - Low Life
Genre: Hip-pop
Narrative: The song I chose is both upbeat and mellow at the same time and therefore I wanted to use this song and for quick montage shot which I find very effective when it comes to the hip-pop genre. These lyrics portray
a guy who is quite reckless and does what he wants for example, he mentions sex, money and drugs throughout the song. The term 'low-life' often has negative connotations, however he says that he represents the low-life because he does what he wants and he doesn't care.
Narrative structure: Performance
Characters: Two young men with their friends in a black and white background to really focus on their lip-syncing.

Mise En Scene:
Costume, hair and make-up: Our artists costume hair and make-up is heavily influenced by how the youth dress nowadays, with hoodies and caps to really attract our target audience who at use to seeing this. Various of different outfits for each location to make the artist look attractive as hair and make-up will be minimalized to the average young male.
Lighting: Low-key lighting will be pre-dominantly used in my idea because it allows audience to understand that this artist is not a typical mainstream artist who likes to be glamourized and in the spotlight, rather in the dark singing about what he knows.
Iconography: Bottles of expensive beverages to reflect the lyrics of the song. Further illustrates what young people like to do nowadays.
Setting: Various urban locations to represent his working class background such as parks/fields, skate parks, streets, an estate, studio, car parks etc.

Application of Theory:

Goodwin Theory: This music video follows the conventions of Goodwins theory of a hip-pop music video.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals - The lyrics the artist sings tell the audience that he's proud of where he comes from despite him originally coming from a low working-class background. Despite this, he was able to become successful through his love of music and has made it in the world. He sings about all the luxuries he has including the money he buys drugs and girls with. You see the two artist smoke marijuana and girls in the back with very minimal clothing as close-up shots present their female assets. In my music video, I want to create something similar to this as I believe it allows the audience to understand what he's singing about even though they might not fully understand what he's saying. The visuals that match the lyrics will be very helpful as audiences are able to understand the song much faster than usual just by looking at the images.
Relationship between music and visuals - The quick beat supports the visuals very well as there are multiple cuts and edits such as shot reverse shots, montages etc to compliment it. Moreover, to match the mellow backing track, there are some shots slowed down where the girls are moving in slow motion to really exaggerate the calm but fast beat song. I want my music video to have a good relationship between the music and its visuals as i believe it puts the audience in a happy mood when watching and listening to it as they feel in sync with the song. In addition, the quick cuts and edits allow the audience to further feel like they're in a trance as it makes them feel apart of the music video.
Star image motif - Just like the original music video for 'Low Life', I want to include many close-up and long-shots of my artist as I present him as the brand. This makes it easier for audiences to recognise him as the artist faster.
Performance, narrative and concept - I want my music video to be quite similar to the original one as I believe that the video and song compliment each other very well, I want to create my own version of it. This music video will be mostly performance base as well as concept as there is no consistent or particular theme in it.

Advantages:

1. As a mostly a performance based music video, the audience will be able to understand that it is just a performance and there isn't much of a hidden message they need to struggle and find.
2. Watching a performance in a music video is always entertaining and allows the audience to enjoy it

Disadvantages:

1. The song lyrics can be quite explicit and controversial and may offend some audiences
2. There is some nudity in the video so it might not be suitable for young viewers and some others might get upset whilst watching.

Idea 2: Dillan
I presented my idea to my group:

Song: Post Malone - Too Young
Genre: Hip-Hop
Narrative: A young man, preferably in his late teens is going to all the places he goes to during a typical day for him. Showing his life as it typically is, this relates to the lyrics as he doesn't want to die "Too Young".
He is from a lower socio-economic background and shows those areas almost presenting it as the 'Ghetto', he may also go to more developed areas to show his goals and where he would like to be once he achieves more.
Narrative structure: Performance
Characters: A young man, his friends in the background as moral support as friends should be there for you.

Mise En Scene:
Costume, hair and makeup: Various outfits for different shots and locations, tracksuits and jackets. Hair will be a typical short hairstyle for a young male.
Lighting: Low lighting due to the topic of the song and natural lighting for the shots outside.
Iconography:
Setting: Various locations, parks, near flat blocks, in a studio, car parks.


Application of theory:
Goodwin's theory: Genre characteristics can be applied to my music video as my will contain conventions of a
hip hop music video with the artist being the main focus of the video, as well as the artists costume being very casual.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals - The narrative in the visuals will match the lyrics.
Relationship between music and visuals - The music will match the beat and pace of the song, with multiple edits and cuts.
Star image motif - There will be many close ups on the artist as I will be using them as the brand, this will increase their star image and make them identifiable.
Performance, narrative and concept - the video will mostly be performance but may have elements of a narrative music video.
Mulvey's male gaze: I will be applying Mulvey's gaze as I will not be following the common convention of a hip hop music video and having women dressed in costumes with minimal clothing. If women do appear in the video they will be the main artist's friends and be considered equal.

Advantages:

1. The main character will be clear as they will be the main focus of the music video.
2. The whole video should relate to the audience as it is about a normal young man. There will be no special effects or extraordinary abilities given to the character.

Disadvantages:

1. The video and song is about dying too young which could be a sensitive subject for some people.
2. People may not enjoy the dark themes of the video as well as the low key lighting

Conclusion:

Overall, we both shared our initial ideas with each other which was very helpful as we could take in a account the ideas that we had and make it into one. Discussing each others idea made us eliminate the disadvantages and weaknesses the idea had, as a result, we were able to choose an idea that would be the most effective and easiest to do. In addition, this helped us picture the type of concept, performance or narrative base our music video would be, micro-elements, structure ideas and theories that we could apply to our music video to give the audience the full experience of fun and entertaining music video.