Planning: Initial ideas

INITIAL IDEA
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KHALED'S IDEA

Song: G - eazy - "oh well"

Genre: experimental hip hop

Target audience: 

Age: 14 - 30

Gender: mainly male but females can also listen to it

Audience category: C2 - E

Narrative: more of a concept song showing a young artist and his everyday life in the music industry which includes; meetings, recording music; shooting a music video, handling paperwork and even photo shoots. Rather than a typical love story of a male and female. The concept ideas will be shown through the setting and themes within the visuals of the one single shot style. Because it will be more concept based, there wouldn't be much of a story or a message behind the music video.

Narrative structure: Concept and performance narrative

Representation of artist: Composed and cheerful in order to promote their personality and values towards the audience as the artist will be more of a commodity. By representing my artist like this, it will allow the audience to feel more comfortable listening to his music in the future or even becoming a fan. 

MES:

Cinematography: one shot

Setting: studios, offices

Lighting: high key

Costume: from smart bright formal clothing to dark clothing 

Application of theory: Goodwin all his 8 characteristic of what a music video should include will be utilised. Dyer star image will be explored throughout the music video as i would want my audience to connect with the star. Possibly Mulvey as i wouldn't want to offend the female audience but at the same time attract a bit of a male audience.

Advantages:

• easy to appeal to a specific audience
• will be widely recognised for the one shot visuals

Disadvantages:

• low marks on editing
• lip syncing may be harder when editing

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GIZEM'S IDEA

Song: How deep is your love by Calvin Harris and Disciples 

Genre: House 

Target audience: Both females and males, ages from 16 - 29

Narrative Structure: Performance and Narrative

Narrative: Female artist at home with her boyfriend and she is trying to believe her boyfriend that she loves him. As the beat drops, the scenes into a club setting. 

Representation of the artist/ characters: The female artist will be dancing and singing to her own song, she will be presented as the leader of her relationship. Male artist will be presented as a passive character who is trying to understand what the female artist is saying. 

Mise En Scene: A mixture of high/ low key lighting will be used, coloured filtered will be used when I start to capture the club scene. 

Application of Theory:

Goodwin's theory; genre characteristics are included such as low key lighting and constantly cuts to the beat showing a sense of rhythm and pace.

Mulvey's theory; I want my female artist to show some skin as she is being playful but I do not want to present her as an sexual object.

Advantages:

• Appeal to a wider audience 
• This music video is achievable to produce 

Disadvantages:

• Can be compared to original song as it is a new music video

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MY IDEA

Song: 'Rewind' by Kelela

Genre: Alternative R&B

Target Audience: males and females 18-25, dominantly black ethnicity/culture, social classes D-C1 (I have extended it to C1 because of the 'alternative' aspect to traditional R&B).

Narrative Structure: performance & concept & narrative

Narrative: I would like the video to have a club setting due to the house elements incorporated in the song. It's upbeat so deserving of an equally up-beat, fast-paced video. This is allow concept ideas as the purpose of a club is to be spontaneous and unpredictable. Though it would also allow for performance of the artist singing and dancing in the club, like Kylie Minogue in 'Spinning Around'. During the slow part of the song, I want the setting to transition outside, showing concept shots of street lights. Here a short narrative takes place, showing a shot of the artist in a different outfit sitting on the bench. Shot 2: showing the artist in her original outfit, looking out at where she was sitting in the past. Shot 3: showing her sitting on the bench looking to the right, toward the street light, as the lyrics 'turn my head to right, now I'm looking for you'. Shot 4: showing her again looking at herself in the past as the lyrics 'and I can't rewind' come. Shot 5: showing her sitting on the bench in her present outfit intended for the club. She gets up, and goes inside, and the song continues as if that narrative never happened. 

Representation of artists/characters: The artist will be performing and dancing to her own song. I plan for other characters to not be actual people, but objects such as dolls. These dolls reflect that she is seeking for someone, but has nobody, and tries to convince herself through being in a club that she is not alone. 

Mise En Scene: Mixture of high and low-key lighting to fit the club setting. Natural night-time lighting outside in order to include the shot with the street light. Artist dressed up to party - moderately short skirt, possibly a crop top. 'Trashy' club scene to show off how artificial it is.

Application of Theory: 

Mulvey's Male Gaze; I want the artist to be showing SOME skin to highlight that she is alone and dressed up to attract attention that she is looking for. She is constantly portrayed as lonely. 

Goodwin's Theory; genre characteristics are included such as low-key lighting for R&B, fast editing & club setting for house elements. Portrayals of isolation to link to the lyrics. And star image, everything is about the artist's isolation and she is the only one dancing which brings the focus onto her. 

Advantages:

• every aspect of this idea is achievable
• we won't have to find other characters

Disadvantages:

• it may be hard to portray isolation with the dolls, it could come across as scary
• solution: use more high-key lighting around those shots to reduce the potential theme of thriller

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I conducted some primary research for this idea, using a questionnaire. 30 people were questioned. 

MUSIC VIDEO QUESTIONNAIRE

1)   Name: ________________________________________________

2)   Age:    10-15 [  ]       16-21 [  ]      22-27 [  ]

19/30 people were 16-21 years old. This matches with my target audience.   

3)   Ethnicity:    White [  ]    Black [  ]     Hispanic [  ]    Asian [  ]

14/30 people were of black ethnicity, who are more likely to listen to R&B. 11 out of the remaining 26 were white, who are likely to appreciate the House elements.

4)   Do you listen to mainstream or niche music?

Mainstream [  ]   Niche [  ]  

24/30 people answered niche. This supports my idea of making a music video for a niche genre.

5)   How often do you watch music videos?

Never [  ]   Sometimes [  ]   Always [  ] 

21/30 people answered always. This shows me that a sufficient amount of views can be accumulated for niche genres.

6)   One a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you like R&B music?

1 2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

17/30 people answered 8. This tells me that a new R&B music video would receive moderate hype. The rest can come from House audiences.

7)   What do you expect an R&B music video to generally look like?

Urban [  ]   Futuristic [  ]   Formal [  ]   Innocent [  ]   Sexualised [  ] 

25/30 people said Urban, while 23/30 said sexualised. This matches with my ideas of the narrative.

8)   What do you expect an R&B artist to sing about?

Love [  ]   Politics [  ]   Loneliness [  ]   Youth [  ]   Recreation [  ]

14/30 people said love, 6 said youth and 10 said loneliness.   

9)   Do you like it when the artist of a song is the main focus?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]

28/30 of people said yes, which shows that generally audiences like the performance structure.

10)                Should female artists be sexualised in R&B music videos?

Yes [  ]   No [  ] 

22/30 people said yes which shows that audiences support the Male Gaze.  

11)                Should music videos link to the lyrics of the song?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]

18/30 people said yes, the remaining 12 people said no. Therefore concept would prove beneficial for those who prefer abstract ideas.   

12)                What personality traits do you expect an R&B artist to have?

Passion [  ]   Confidence [  ]   Depression [  ]   Alter-ego [  ]   Down to Earth [  ] 

16/30 of people said depression, while 9 said passion.  

13)                Do you think you have a connection with any R&B artists?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]  

If yes, who? __________________________________________

17/30 people said yes, linking to Hebdige's theory of audience expectations.

14)                What is your idea of a satisfactory R&B music video?

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15)                Would you watch an R&B video with non-mainstream elements?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]   Maybe [  ]

16/30 people said yes, which was most likely those who are of white ethnicity and said no to visuals linking with lyrics.

16)                Would it work to combine R&B with House?

Yes [  ]   No [  ]   Maybe [  ]

25/30 people said yes, expanding on the question above.

17)                Which location appeals the most to you?

Restaurant [  ]   Club [  ]   Park [  ]   Home [  ]   Work [  ]  

27/30 people chose club. Therefore these audiences would anticipate a music video with a club setting.

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We are most likely to go with Khaled's idea of a music video for 'Oh Well' by G-Eazy. This is because the practicality of it seems the most achievable, and as we are all familiar with the genre, it will be easy to outline conventions at a later stage. 

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This planning has been beneficial in learning about each others planning techniques. For example, Khaled and I had the most description on the narrative whereas Gizem had the most on her character representation. From this we can predict roles - Khlaed or I would do well as the director or producer due to a clear storyboard in our heads. Gizem would be good at Mise En Scene, to fulfill her ideas on how to represent the character.