Initial Ideas

Cinematography

Shots I would like to use;

• Close ups (main characters face, hands etc)
• medium shots
• long shot
• extreme long shot (from the roof of lord line)
• Pan 
• Point Of View (my entire video will be shot from the point of view of the male artist)

A lot of shots like these are used in the Closer lyrics video by The Chainsmokers, I would like to use this video as a main influence and an initial idea on cinematography and editing for my video.

An example of point of view shooting within cinematography would be the 2016 film 'Hardcore Henry' and the music video for 'False Alarm' The Weeknd this is an initial idea and another main influence for the cinematography of my music video.

Mise-en-scene

Location influences;

Below are a list of video examples from music videos which include different location ideas which will have an influence on my music video

Sia - The Greatest, location- abandoned building

Twenty One Pilots - Ride, location - forest, woodland area 

Tonight Alive - The Edge, location - roof of a building

Of Mice & Men - Bones Exposed, location - cafe/coffee shop (Beginning of video)

Costume influences;

As I have decided to create an unconventional music video where my artist is not shown at all throughout my video below are a range of music videos showing costumes which have influenced my ideas for my main female character in my video.

Lynn Gunn - PVRIS

Jenna Mcdougall - Tonight Alive

Taylor Momsen - The Pretty Reckless

Hayley Williams - Paramore

Documenting Thoughts

I'm listening to my chosen song and have had thoughts about scenes in my video and decided to document them for further development. The beginning of the song I had an idea to show different shots on the beats (montage editing) before the music starts one being a closeup of my main characters face with the song title 'andria' over the top with other shots being of my main character and maybe different locations.

Further into the song when the beat speeds up and the vocalist starts shouting I thought of an idea being in this part of the narrative the couple in my video would argue with my main character screaming at the camera 'I've been at home here' 'I've been alone' and create a distressing scene to match the tone of the lyrics and music.

Synopsis

Brief outline of my video plan:

The song for my music video is about love & loss, when I hear the song I think its about the vocalist recalling all his memories with his (past) love, therefore my main idea for the video is that its going to be shot from the guys point of view and the artist is not going to be featured in the video only the girl, his love. The shots will be as if they are shot on different days and will literally be 'acting out' what is said in the song. The song is very poetic therefore I would like to convey this emotion through my video. The main themes will be love, loss and heartache.


Mind Map of my overall initial ideas for my music video:

My Artist

Influences;

As I have decided to create an unconventional music video with no performance and the artist to not be shown within the video I have decided to create my artist as mysterious much like pop singer Sia. Sia is not shown in her music videos, all her videos are purely narrative based and not performance based therefore this is why I believe this will work well.

Identity

Existing artist within the indie rock genre;

Costume ideas;

Although my artist will not be seen on camera I have come up with a range of costumes I think my artist would wear, most costume ideas are dark as this is what is stereotypical and conventional within male artists of the indie rock genre.

Examples of my costume ideas within existing artists are shown below;

I would also like my artist to be portrayed with the same types of personality traits and attitudes as the examples below

The 1975

Arctic Monkeys

Twenty One Pilots

Nirvana

La Dispute

Artist name ideas;

• Golden days
• The impossible year
• Lane boy
• Ghost
• The Dispute
• Victorious
• Wonderless
• White Noise

Logo ideas

Below are a range of logos from existing bands;

Due to my music video being unconventional and me hand writing the lyrics and putting them over my shots I have decided to experiment more with my logo ideas and create some hand drawn logos to link with the continuity of my video. I also aim to do this with my didgipak and magazine advert. Below are examples from existing bands who have used a hand drawn style for their logos which have influenced my ideas.

Logo Designs

I created these logo designs by drawing them with a fine liner or felt tip pen and then scanning them in onto photoshop. I then made each one into a transparent background so i could therefore create merchandise designs. I am very happy with the outcome of these.

Merchandise designs;

Representation

Stereotypes;

Definition of a stereotype taken from google -  a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

O'sullivan et al (1998) details that a stereotype is a label that involves a process of categorization and evaluation- we can call stereotypes shorthand to narratives because such simplistic representations define our understanding of media texts- eg we know who is bad and who is good.

An example of stereotypes in indie rock videos is the video is usually low budget as most indie bands and independent and or owned by an independent label, the videos also stereotypically show the band performing and playing the music 'live' An example would be 'Such Small Hands' by La Dispute-

Feminism and Stereotypes;

The male gaze is used in many music videos which is the objectification of womens bodies in the media and is a constant running theme.

Laura Mulvey (1975) argues that the dominant point of view is masculine. The female body is displayed for the male gaze in order to provide erotic pleasure for the male (voyeurism)

Women are objectified by the camera lens and whatever gender the spectator/audience is positioned to accept the masculine point of view.

Examples of male gaze;

Asking Alexandria - To the Stage

This is an example of male gaze due to the way the main woman in the video is dressed and conveyed, and the way the guy goes after her and to the bedroom with her. Objectification of her body is key in this video.

John Berger (1972)  came up with the argument of the ways of seeing

• "men act and women appear"
• "men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at"
• "women are aware of being seen by a male spectator"

The below video is an example of Berger's theory.

Asking Alexandria - Death of Me

Objectification of women is shown widely throughout this video due to the women being dressed in little clothing and them being placed in vending machine boxes and being 'bought', this could represent prostitution, the females are there for the men.

Fergie - MILFs

Male gaze is easily portrayed in this video as well as through the lyrics, the video is full of women and only one man, the women are dressed in very little and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian are also in the video, this is significant due to Kim being known for a sex tape.

New Years Day - Angel Eyes

This video shows a masquerade party and the male vocalist going after the female vocalist, male dominance is clearly shown in this video as when the male 'captures' the woman he acts quite violent by giving her an injection and then ripping her heart out which screaming 'Youre fucking mine'.  

An example of the opposite of male gaze is Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me maybe

This is the opposite to male gaze as instead of men being dominant and gazing over women its the opposite meaning in this video the female is gazing over the male and the male is being objectified.

Narrative

Narrative - The structure of a story

Audience

Audience Theory

Theorists-

Bulmer and Kate (1959)

• Entertainment and diversion = escapism
• Personal companion = media is a friend, caring about the cast or pop star
• Surveillance = Finding out what is happening in the world. 
• Personal identity = How do i fit in? Who am I?

Cultivation theory;

Gerber and Gross (1975)

• Audiences consume media and gradually develop views about the world, some of which are false.
• Impacts on audiences understanding of representation- gender,, sexuality, age, disability and ethnic groups

Reception analysis;

Hall (1980)

• Audiences make sense of media texts according to their social position (gender, age, class, ethnic background)

Copycat or modelling theory;

Coleman (2004)

• Audiences are influenced by the media texts that they consume
• More of an assumption used by journalists to explain an individuals negative behavior

Long Tail theory;

Anderson (2006)

• The theory describes how the internet has influenced audience consumption
• Since broadband was introduced, these impacts have been most prominent