Draft music video

Mise en scene planning-COSTUME

How is Todorovs concept of narrative explored in the music video for Teenage Dirtbag by Wheetus?

The music video for Teenage Dirtbag by Wheetus follows a teenage boy’s journey through a school day, focusing on his crush on a girl who doesn’t know who he is, the day ends at the school prom where the girl offers him tickets to see iron maiden. This journey is explored through a linear episodic narrative.  According to Todorovs theory of narrative, the first part of a linear music video like Teenage dirt bag is Act 1 where the first equilibrium is established, in Teenage dirt bag this is from where the boy is biking to school to where the band are playing the song in a school hall. After this there is an inciting incident which disturbs the balance of the narrative, in this case this is boy’s bike being ran over by the boyfriend of the girl he has a crush on. This inciting incident makes room for act 2 and the disequilibrium which follows on the story. This is introduced from this point on to where the location changes to the school hall for the prom. According to Todorov, this disequilibrium follows a struggle to get/achieve something, in this music video this is a struggle for the boy to get a girl, because she has a boyfriend. This narrative structure is clearly followed through the focus on the girl’s boyfriend through the lyrics and the camera shots. Following the disequilibrium, a new equilibrium comes into play, during this, the struggle is resolved. In this case, the struggle to get the girl is resolved in a denouement by her offering “tickets to see iron maiden”.

Roland Barthes theory of narrative codes can also be applied to this music video. The 3 part Todorovian narrative structure creates a pro-airetic code where the audience sees the opening of an action and wants to see the close. In this case, the opening action is his bike being knocked over by the girls boyfriend, this event means that the audience are keen to watch on as it signals a new chapter in the video. Another example of pro-airetic code in the Teenage Dirtbag music video by Wheetus is when the main boy makes eye contact with the girl in the corridor. This is an example of pro-airetic code as it makes the audience keen to see what will happen next as his dream of getting her attention has just been hinted at. Act 3 (the new equilibrium) creates a resolution to the boys struggle to get the girl as she invites him out. Compared to the previous events of the music video this is unexpected and creates an ideological close as this is exactly what he wants. This ideological close satisfies the audience as they see a clear closure to the struggle they witnessed and it meets their expectation of media texts and stories for there to be a beginning, middle and end. The song “teenage dirtbag” is an extremely well known, mainstream song and music video. This un-niche style means that the audience do not expect to watch a particularly academically thought provoking piece of media text. Therefore, the clear 3 part Todorovian structure suits the audience and their expectations well and gives them what they’re used to, in turn satisfying them. 

Narrative timeline

During the planning for my music video I created a narrative timeline detailing the makeup of the song (which instruments are used and when and when the lyrics feature) in order to visually plan the timings and features of the song. This helped me to produce my shot list and story board in a more coherent way. It also ensured that I had a plan for the whole of the song so that I did not have nay gaps in the music video.

Genre- Shared codes and characteristics

Annotated lyrics

Initial concept

“Your Light”-MEGA Initial concept

In the music video that I am creating for “Your light” by MEGA, my concept will base around building up a character profile of a female artist on her way to a band performance. 

The narrative will show a female (playing the artist) in a plain room with a dull colour pallet to represent the way she feels before she finds the light described in the lyrics. Once the lyrics begin at 0:27 it will then move onto her walking moving into a forest/park (to reflect the nature imagery in the lyrics) finally moving through inner city streets and suburban areas (to fit with the conventions of the contemporary soul genre). She will appear to be singing the song in order to make sense of her character by establishing her as the main vocal artist. I will achieve this through lip sync when it comes to editing. Throughout these shots I will cut to clips of a band playing the instruments in the song but she will not arrive until the end of the video where she will join the band, pick up a guitar and begin to sing with the band. I will use a mixture of different shot types and uses of cinematography including adapting the rule of thirds by placing the main character in all sections of the screen at different moments. I will use a majority of close up shots to draw attention to detail so that the characters profile can be built up in depth, focusing on the clothes worn, small movements and the location surrounding her.

I have drawn influence from many other music videos and short films. For example, Daughters music video for “Still” which focuses on a female character and successfully constructs an idea of her identity through close ups of her shoes, jewellery and photos in her bedroom. Influences for the narrative of walking includes Amy Winehouse’s music video for “Tears dry on their own”. This particular video inspired me to place the character in all 3 sections of the screen according to the rule of thirds in order to make space for other people to walk past in pairs or groups and add the notion of the female being alone in comparison. I also looked at Keaton Henson’s music video for “Lying to you” which is of a different genre but has a very similar narrative as it also features a girl walking through a suburban area. This video has given me the ideas to use a range of shot types (although mainly close ups) in order to keep the simple narrative interesting, and also allow me to demonstrate my knowledge and ability to explore different shots.

I took influences and inspiration for the style of clothes that I am going to use from artists shared by MEGA on her soundcloud as well as artists of a similar genre and style to what MEGA wears in her photos. 

Research and planning into style, location, costume, inspirations, conventions.

Conformation to use "Your Light"-Mega, chosen song

Track details:
Song Name: Your Light
Artist: Megae
Artist contact network: https://soundcloud.com/justmemega
Artist website: http://www.justmemega.com/
Release date: May 2016

Evaluation of potential song- Your light

I also found Your Light by MEGA on sound cloud, MEGA describes herself as an R&B and soul artist however this song is focused mainly around the soul genre. I was originally drawn to this song because of the quality of the recording, her voice sounds strong and loud as it was seemingly reordered in a large space. This means that the lyrics she is singing come across as strong and meaningful. The lyrics that are sung are based around falling in love, at first listen I interpreted the song is have religious connotations due to the repetitive mention of “light”. However, the lyrics are not one dimensional and lend themselves to multiple ideas. For example, I could base the narrative around falling in love win a conventional way or around finding god and a new life.

Another advantage of the song is the beginning, starting with an interesting, diverse, and complex beat which sets the potential of the beginning of the music video on a good start. The beat is slow and therefore I would also be inclined to use the narrative of someone walking. In comparison to Cherry Tree by JACKIE, the narrative of someone walking could be further developed and potentially more successful. For example, if the lyrics are interpreted as finding god and a new life, the walking narrative could represent this discovery. However, if the lyrics are interpreted as falling in love then I could also use the walking narrative as a representation of discovery but for a lover instead of God.

As the song only has one main vocal artist, I would only need one main actor. This would be easier for me as I am working on my own and need to find reliable actors for my production. If I only have one main vocalist, I would be able to only use one actor more suitably.

A disadvantage of this song is that it is fairly slow, this means that it is vulnerable to having an unexciting video due to the slow beat. However, I believe that with the potential narratives

Evaluation of potential song- Cherry tree

I came across Cherry Tree by JACKIE on sound cloud. This song has an electronica genre as well as hip-hop, this interested me as it is complex and means I could draw on multiple sources such as hip-hop music videos and electronica music videos for inspiration. This genre is also attractive to me as it gives the song its self a lot of different elements. At 0:19 to 0:24 seconds there is a simple beat occurring every few seconds which then develops into a more complex beat at 0:24 seconds. This is an example of how the song progresses and has an interesting beat.

One of the strongest elements of this song is the addition of a female artist’s voice at 0:40. This makes the song more diverse and brings it into a new stage, whereas the producer of a music video, I could have a stronger narrative. One of the ideas that came to me for the music video was footage of someone walking, this would suit well to the downbeat and slow beat at points in the song, especially at the beginning. My original plan was to have a male walking when the male voice was present, with the addition of the female voice, I could liven up the video and keep audience interest at a high by adding in a female walking when the female voice comes in. This would allow the video to flow as well as being applicable to Andrew Goodwin’s music video conventions (music link to visuals). 

The lyrics at the beginning of the song are based around reflecting on the artists past as a young boy growing up, this concept imminently creates the opportunity for a strong narrative. For example, street names are mentioned which would make the idea of a man walking down streets more relevant. The female sings lyrics that link to reflecting on the past, such as "sailing down memory lane". Because of this, the song makes sense and the two opposite sounding voices are brought together, this inspires me to bring them together further through the visuals of the female joining the male in his walk. 

The song is 3:39 minutes long, this is an achievable time for a music video to be made for the whole song, I believe that I would therefore be able to have enough footage to not have to cut the song short or take parts out of it. When searching for songs to use, a lot of them were longer and not suitable for a music video that would keep the audience interested without cutting it short. 

One disadvantage of this song is that it is quite repetitive, this is especially prevalent in the lyrics that the female voice sings. The problem with this is that the footage may need to be applied in different ways to the lyrics and therefore I would have to come up with different interpretations of the lyrics so that the visuals are not also repetitive. However, I plan to use this is my advantage by using different shots of the same scene (which is applicable to a particular lyric), this would mean that the video will link together at different points and make it more coherent.  

Rough mood boards for possible songs

When listening to these two potential songs for the first few times I came up with these mood boards of images that came into my head. These images are largely based around the lyrics in the songs. "Cherry tree" by JACKIE has lyrics which reflect memories of growing up, this is where the images of photos on the wall came from as well as the image of four different pairs of shoes in different sizes. If I was to use this song, these images would represent reoccurring symbols that would feature in the music video as a symbol of growing up. There are also images of different locations on this mind map, such as a dark bedroom, a bedroom where someone is making music (as well as a set up in a room for making music) and an urban yet suburban street. These are possible locations that I would use if I was to use this song for my music video. The location of the bedroom where music is made directly links to the lyrics which describe the artist starting off making music in his bedroom. The suburban street is a location I would also use in a music video for this song as it is conventional of the songs hip-hop genre. As the lyrics describe growing up, there is an element of time passing hinted at, the image of the sun at different stages in the day over the water represents this. I would use a shot of different parts of the day, demonstrated by the sun, to symbolise time passing. There are also various other images in this mood board which directly link to the song lyrics, such as the image of the cherry tree and the man riding the boat across the sea. The second mood board is for the song "Your Light", most of the images used are symbolic of the lyrics, rather than things I would directly involve in my music video. For example, the image of the two young children holding hands represents the mention of young love in the lyrics, however I would not feature two young children as the main characters of my music video. This is because I would rather use someone who represents the artist as this is conventional of the soul genre. There are also images of different locations in this mood board, for example, a plain room and scenic nature locations. These are places I would use to film my music video if I was to use this song. I would use the plain room in order to keep the audiences focus on the character playing the artist, instead of the various objects that could distract the audiences attention in a cluttered room. I would aim to keep as much focus on this character as possible as it would promote them, which is conventional of the contemporary soul genre. As can be seen in modern soul artists music videos such as Amy Winehouses music video for back to black and tears dry on their own, where she is the main focus of the audiences attention. I would film in scenic nature environments as the lyrics describe elements of nature, such as flowers and rivers. The lyrics also describe a journey, suggested by the notion of the artist once being in the dark yet now being in the light. This journey is represented on the mood board through the images of flowers budding. These images also link with the first line of the song "I opened up like a flower in the sun". Also in this mood board are images with religious connotations, although I may not include this element in my music video as it risks taking away the contemporary, urban element, I have included them in my mood board as the lyrics can easily be interpreted as religious, as a light is described as well a new way of life. Other images on this mood board include direct links to the reference of light in the song as well as the possibility of making the music video based around a relationship.

Goodwins music video theory- Akala/ Find no enemy

Goodwins music video conventions- J.Cole No Role Modelz

Here is my A2 media studies blog.