The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music

Now comes the difficult task of choosing the perfect song for my own music video and creating a treatment for it. Through studying iconography and looking into different genres and creating my own Frame by Frame remake I can see which genre offers me the opportunity to get creative and to create a music video which follows the typical conventions and iconography of that genre but also challenges it. through my research I have discovered that choosing to create a Rock music video will typically mean a performance based video. If I were to create an indie video it would be narrative driven but also has scope for performance based. If I decided on pop my video will typically be performance based, however more scope is offered to create an unrealistic performance than in rock and I can incorporate some narrative if desired. 


"MAN I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN"
Shania Twain.

Shania Twain was a pop artists and released her single "Man! i feel like a woman" in 2003. Although a performance based video has already been created for this song, i feel as if there is so much potential for a different type of performance based video which follows the typical conventions of pop, lots of costumes, lots of settings, a little bit of humour, a little bit of sexy and also challenges the genre. The original video for the song lacks flair and focuses on the artist singing and undressing, of course she's got sexy down to a T, and her dance moves dominate the male backing dancers.

For my own music video I will use a performance based video with multiple characters as having a mix of characters means i can max out on mise-en-scene, costume and location, using a mix of real locations and a green screen which I had already had practice using in the Frame by Frame remake task. Also the use of different locations and characters means there is more potential during editing to create a fast paced edit which fits to the beat of the song but also fulfils the conventions of other pop songs.

The original video uses intertextual references from "Robert Palmers" "Addicted to Love". I want to take a similar post modern approach to the song using intertextual references to iconic females within film and music and history, and exploit these characters. (In a good way!).

TREATMENT:
Performance based. Iconic women within history, music and film. The roles of these characters are all played by the artist. The comedy value comes from these iconic females acting in a very stereotypical way, for example, the artist may play the character Audrey Hepburn from the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's", she'll be sat at her table lip syncing to the verse, as the song builds to its climax she begins dancing out of control, standing on the table and dancing provocatively, as if taking on the role of an out of control teenage girl having fun. All characters within the video will take on a similar persona, one that is wild and fun. These individual performances will cut between each other to build the final product. 

"SET FIRE TO THE RAIN"

adele.

 Adele is a modern pop artist and her music falls into the Pop Rock Genre, as she uses conventions from both genres, such as dramatic themes and a strong narrative. Fortunately a video has not been made for this song yet, therefore there are no chances for influences to effect my final product.

For my final product I wil use a performance based video as it is typical of the pop genre as it show cases the artist and makes them recognizable and often builds brand identity.

For my music video I want to challenge Adele's already huge brand identity and create my own, by targeting a new audience, such as an aspirant market and following the conventions of the pop genre, such as sexualising the artist and using elements of mise-en-scene and costumes. Typically Adele's music videos tend to be Adele sat on a stool singing, very Westlife, so I want to use multiple locations which cross cut between the artist and other elements of pop, such as choreography. I want to take a post modernist approach and use intertextual references such as moody lighting used in Chicago and Flashdance, but also costumes and iconic dance routines. I will also take inspiration from Black Swan when developing costumes.

 

TREATMENT:

As the music video plays out the artist sings using a 50's microphone. Close ups are used of her lips, arms and legs in order to sexualise the artist. The shots of the artist are used to cut in between other shots used within the music video.

 

Shot 1: A young girl walks into a dance studio, she begins dancing, falling over and becoming frustrated.

Shot 2: Taking inspiration from black swan, my character is then dressed in a masquerede mask, she continues to dance as the song reaches its first climax. As the character dances she throws flour to create a dust like effect, adding and element of mystery.

Shot 3: Taking inspiration from Chicago, my characters costume changes to something sexier as she replicates the dance from "I can't do it alone" as the song reaches its second climax she re creates the iconic image from Flashdance.

Shot 4: As the song reaches its final climax the dance character is dressed all in white as the song quickly cross cuts between all different versions of the dancer and the artists performing