The concept of my coursework piece is based on the narrative form of music videos. It will be performed to Cults ‘Oh My God’. My target audience will typically be both male and female genders in the 16-30 age range. From interviewing several female individuals I have ascertained that many females do not like both the sound and the idea of a female lead! Due to the fact my song features a female lead; the target audience may therefore be slightly more swayed towards men.
The video will be shot entirely at night in my uncle’s garden, which will be lit by a bright filming spotlight, with three extension leads to the house. There will be 13 actors – one of which is the lead protagonist, and three crew members including myself. Costumes will range from the personal dresses and items of the actors helping out, as well as things I have bought and borrowed items from my neighbour and theatre group. The camera will be a Canon 550D, chosen for its high quality motion-capturing, lighting gadgetry and the aperture lens which enhances the look and style of the colours and overall image. Once the footage has been transferred into a usable format such as vlr or wmv, I shall commence editing via Adobe Photshop Premiere Pro.
The narrative follows the lead protagonist as she ventures out from the security of her home during the night, to find herself being watched by a boy in a rabbit costume, an allusion to Carol’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. After showing her his pocket watch (the referencing of being ‘late for an important date’), the rabbit dashes off into the further recesses of the garden, where it is dark and overgrown. The protagonist follows and is caught up in what appears some kind of masked ball/celebration, a mixture of nymphs, masked individuals, animal faces and ‘Wonderland’ allusions. At first wary, the protagonist is led to the picnic, where she spends a lengthy amount of time, before being engaging in a night of revelling and dancing in the dark. In the end, the protagonist has transformed from her simple white night dress, to a nymph-like frock. She has joined them.
Goodwin’s theory:
Links between lyrics and visual – no real explicit link, i.e. ‘I’ll leave you to stay inside dreaming’ is not entirely relevant to the music video plot, however it does focus on the theme of going outside and venturing out, breaking with norms – a heavy theme in the piece. Another link would be the fat the action plays along with the music – during climatic moments in the music; the events may also reach a pinnacle. This is what is known as working in a complimentary way.
There will be motifs seen in this genre of music video. These include, ambiguity, innocence into some kind of hardening or strengthening or even a darkening.
Intertextual reference to Lewis Carol’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as well as other music videos I have cited in my blog previously.
Notions of looking will feature heavily, albeit in a much less sexualised manner. There will be a focus on the leads innocence, she first appears in a white night dress and untainted by maquillage. By the end, she will have gained a nymph outfit, a shorter cut dress, flowers and face paint. As the central focus, there will be much camera focus on her, she is being watched completely throughout. This links in with the theme of Voyeurism and a constant figure of attention. All the characters will be fascinated by her and she will seem oblivious to the camera’s presence save for a few dramatic exceptions.
There will be no demands on the record label as such as the artist is not being represented in the video.
