Planning - Synopsis

What is your idea for the music video?

After a long process of thoroughly studying the song tempo, lyrics and genre, and after researching narrative and genre theorists, we came up with an idea in which we feel will be suitable and entertaining for indie rock. The song itself reflects upon a 'cheeky' male character who we show to be the type of male who likes females and enjoys the attention he receives from them. Utilizing this, and the typical representation we find many indie rock bands to have which is the 'admired by many females' look, we are including six different girls in our music video who will accompany the lead singer, who will act as his six different girlfriend type characters but all at the same time. We want to show how although his ways wont change and he is sticking to his cheeky chap character, whereas the girls will be consistently changing while in the same place by using skilled editing in terms of continuity. We will combine this narrative process with a performance of the song itself in a real like set up setting. We want to portray the relationship between members of the band and how indie rock bands are stereotypically renown for their fun, cheeky and rebellious characters, therefore we want to portray them having fun, particularly at the end of the performance. 


How will you conform or challenge conventions? 
We will be conforming to nearly all of the generic codes and conventions within the genre of indie rock in our music video which we found to be the important elements within our music video. For example: 

• Costume - laid back and dark clothing as a connotation of the rock genre.
• Setting - we are going to incorporate a urban setting within our music video as this is where the indie rock crowd are associated with rather than rural areas. We originally considered using a park within our music video however we feel this may confuse the audience therefore are sticking to the urban feel on a street. 
• Gesture - gesture will be typical of males at the late teen age for example, walking with a strut to highlight their own view of their importance. As we are including girls as a partner of the lead singer, he will be holding their hands, hugging them to show a connection to each girl. 
• Positioning in the frame - lead in the centre towards the front with direct eye contact to the camera to ensure the relate to the audience and are they main focus and also that the band are positioned together with drummer at the back, two guitarists at either side and lead in the middle towards the front.
• Props - typical instruments expected to be seen within a indie rock music video/song being the drums, guitars and microphones. Mobile phones are very common within the young urban crowd as a form of communicating therefore we need to use them within our video within the narrative section.
• Band members - all male as having a female within an indie band is not a common thing
• Editing - quickly paced straight cuts as a connotation of their quick and exciting lifestyles as bands who are on the road and their fame. 
• Camera Shots - long shots of the band together to show their friendship and typical 'group' identity. Close ups of the leads face while singing to identify him
• Camera Movement - following the band is a key aspect therefore tracking may be a useful movement to use. A pan is something we are keen to use as this way, we can look over the bands performance part varying from angle to angle. 

As we can see, the majority of micro elements of pre and post production parts, we are conforming to however, we are going to challenge the stereotypical facial expressions used. Instead of the very serious and plain facial expressions, as the song we have chosen is much more upbeat, we want to have the band members smiling and laughing to show they're having fun.


What narrative devices are you going to deploy in your music video?

• Firth (1998) - States that music videos often have a performance which conveys a concert like experience which provides audience with a visual of the song which is the main element to a music video. They also may have a narrative which often to do with female/male relationships and love. We are planning on using both these narrative typologies within our music video to ensure it is entertaining and engaging.
• Steve Archer (2004) - Similarly to Firth, he states that music videos often include a combination of narrative and a performance of the song to create visualization and entertainment.
• Andrew Goodwin (1992) and John Berger - Both these theorists use the idea of the 'star within the text or the narrative'. We will not be doing this however we will be using the band in the performance section which the audience can see, but due to the actors we could get and what they were willing to do, we couldn't get a lead 'singer' who was willing to act in the narrative too, therefore we're having to use two different people. 
• Levi Strauss - Strauss's theory was that in all media texts there are binary opposites which cause the audience to side with a group/person/meaning/emotion etc, therefore creating a 'political theme'. Binary oppositions were apparent in our media text without deep thought. They are good and bad, through the male within the narrative cheating on six different girls and they have no idea therefore the girls are seen as innocent and good. Male and female is an obvious one which is reflected through males appearing as dominant as it is an all male band, and the male is the bad, dominant character in the narrative. Love and hate is also apparent in the narrative. At the start we each see how happy the girls are when they are in the males presence, but then it turns to hate at the end when he sits down and we see him say to each girl "I've been a bad man to you".
• Roland Barthes - Barthes theory was that in media texts there can be up to five different codes which through narrative engages the audience. We will be including a narrative in our music video. We will be using the enigma code as within the narrative, we are showing a male with six different girls to show the negative portrayal of teenage males who like to play around. However, the audience may be intrigued as to what happens. For example, will the girls find out, will he do something wrong, will he admit to his mistakes?
• Vladimir Propp - This theory suggests that in media texts, there are a set of stock characters which most/few are apparent in all media texts. After analyzing the characters we wanted to portray within our narrative, we realized the male character can be perceived as a hero by the female girlfriends within the narrative, as he is fulfilling their desire to have a boyfriend and a male to look after them. However the audience will see him as a false hero as he is actually cheating on the six girls and that's what the audience see. However, we feel the audience will mainly see his character as a villain despite the happiness he is bringing at the beginning of the narrative to the females, the audience see a different side and will see if the girls find out, he will cause hurt and disruption. The female characters will be seen as the princess characters.

All the above theories we have conformed to to ensure a good structure to the narrative of our music video. 

Are you going to challenge narrative convention? 

• Andrew Goodwin (1992) and John Berger - Both these theorists use the idea of the 'star within the text or the narrative' as explained above. We didn't conform to the basis of these theories based on issues with casting, however, we had originally planned to use the lead singer as the main male character within the narrative.
• Todorov - This theory states that media texts have an structure based on five stages. We have tried to weave this theory in naturally, and we do follow a few stages roughly but not all throughout the narrative. Therefore, because we are not conforming to the set stages we feel we are challenging this theory slightly. There is no attempt to restore the disruption. 

We are going to conform to all the other theories mentioned in the previous question to ensure our music video follows a stable narrative convention to ensure the audience have a clear understanding of the structure of the music video but also find it entertaining.

How are you going to appeal to your audience?
When we completed a summary of all our findings we received from our audience questionnaire, we knew that to really gain full attention of our target audience, and to appeal to them most using the products we create, we would have to show what they wanted to see. Therefore, by including the elements they wanted to see, we are conforming to the audiences needs and the genres codes and conventions, making it very appealing for audiences. We have planned for our products to be entertaining, modern and suitable for the target audience. We are doing this by combining a narrative with a performance to give the music video particularly, a story for the audience to follow therefore keeping them engaged, and hopefully, making it appealing at the same time. 


Could your music video be criticized in any way?
The theme of cheating may offend some people as it is not a nice thing to see, and some may see our music video as undermining females and portraying males as an alpha male by reinforcing patriarchy throughout our music video. This could be seen as a negative because we are reinforcing the stereotypical view which has been trying to escape from the media for a long time.