Storyboard

Annotated Lyrics of our song.

The Pitch

Our Music Video is following an 18 year old girl who witnesses a party rather than being a part of the party. As she visits rooms she sees separated scenarios, creating a multiple-stranded narrative. As the party progresses the scenarios escalate quickly, reflecting the dangerous undertone parties often hold. The protagonist visits the first room to witness a couple arguing. She then wanders into the kitchen to witness beer pong as well as witnessing a pair of males sprinkling an unknown powder into a drink. She leaves the room and she discovers a girl passed out in a bedroom next to an opened bottle of enigmatic pills and a male character in another who lay with a note in his hand, un-moving.

The characters are highly Americanised in order to create a cliche party scene. The cliches are later used to subvert the ideologies held towards parties. For example, the sporty, popular character who will have committed suicide. This challenges the audience's own knowledge and preconceptions of characters as they would assume he would not die.

Updated version//
The music video follows a similar narrative in that there are separate scenes which are passively observed by the main character. For example, one of the first narratives observed includes a male character dancing suggestively with a female and then his boyfriend separates them. Then, later on in the music video the same couple are on the stairs having an argument. As well as this, another "jock" character is in the bathroom with a girl drinking and then is seen walking out with the girl who is in an intoxicated state, casting a dark undertone to the song in order to reflect the bubbly synth sound juxtaposed against the dark, drug-related lyrics.

Music Video Characters & Initial Ideas (Updated)

We initially began to mind-map our ideas before we chose specific roles. This allowed us to splurge our ideas onto a page where we could then narrow the roles down and allocate characters to actors.

Our music video was formed from the different character types so creating different characters was the most important aspect of planning.

We then noted down the scenes and which scene required which character. For example, scene 3 is the scene in which the main character is in the hall. The scene would include the main character and so, to create our party atmosphere we need some characters in the hall.We then tallied how many characters we'd need: 6 boys and 6 girls.

We then wrote down each character type we wanted and began to give roles to actors. Initially we could not find actors however as time went on we were able to get the important characters.

Preppy Inspiration- A style which
combines the high formality, typically
seen in Cambridge, with a fashion-conscious.
It was originally a style associated with private school
children who are wealthy.  Its roots began to grow in 1912
from the Ivy League; establishing itself in the 1950s. By 1980
it had become its own, categorised style, being marketed by
huge fashion labels such as Lacoste. In the 21st century the
style has evolved into a simple mix of formality with an avant-grade feature;
something that is different. This usually is in the form of bracers or a bow tie.

This character is based on
the "preppy" fashion style
as we want to have a wide
scope of personalities. The
mix of formal shirt and bracers
with a bow-tie is a whimsical
style, showing another personality.

  This character is inspired by our Thriller
Opening I did last year and is therefore
our inter-textual link to our Thriller Opening.
The red dress connotes danger. seductiveness
and passiob.

Our jock inspiration- we took our character idea from Ryan Shay from the sitcom
Suburgatory. The character adorns a classic varsity jacket which we
 decided to swap out for a  burgundy bomber jacket. We also changed
 the blue colour to a simple black  jeans and white top.

   This character is based
heavily on the American
"jock" aesthetic to match
our American-like House
Party setting

Mean Girls Costume Inspiration

                    This character is based off
the film "Mean Girls" as we
want to have a wide range
of character and personality
types.

This character takes inspiration
from a "gangster" sub-culture.

 Similar to our "gangster"
character, this character is
inspired by the sub-culture of
"chavs". 

Chav and Gangster inspiration- we decided to split this into two separate characters. This fashion style entered the scene rather late in the 1970s,  most notably brought in by Adidas. The fashion rose to popularity by Will Smith during his appearance on  "The Fresh Prince of Bell Air". In the 21st century it is now associated with snapbacks and low-waisted jeans. However, we wanted to try use a 90s style of gangster/ hip-hop so we wanted to use chains and hats.

This is our main character. An enigmatic, mysterious and invisible main character, observing the party as if she is a fly on the wall. Her casual costume presents her as a care-free character who does not want to be at the party.

Music Video planning

Case Study on Genre- Chvrches (UPDATED)

We have decided to use the song "Bloodstream" by Firehorse as our music video song, an indie synth hybrid sub-genre which will allow us to be versatile whilst planning. When planning I researched various bands with a similar genre and one of the artists I found was Chvrches.

Figure 3

Chvrches song "The Mother we Share" is a similar genre. The band was nominated for the Best Breakout Band at the 2015 Brit awards. This song is very typical and is similar to their song "Clearest Blue". The music video uses various close ups, such as the close up of the artist's hair and hand (figure 3). This shot intensifies the tone of the music video, giving the main character a sense of power which is later removed as she is isolated. These close ups are well used and are features which we would like to use in our own music video, particularly a close up of a watch during the lyrics "tick tick tick" during "Bloodstream".  There is also a shot of the girl where she is not lit up and all that is seen is a silhouette of her. This shot removes the identity of the girl and can therefore be a metaphor for how
isolation can happen to anyone and it is difficult to notice as in one shot of the girl sitting on the window, her costume makes her fade into the background so she seems invisible and unnoticeable.

The music video by Chvrches also has a section where the usual flow is disturbed. In this part in the protagonist is alone and a development is made in the narrative is drawn to a close. This section in the song is similar to the modulation in "Bloodstream" as we are also using the different section to change the narrative. Although there is now modulation in "The Mother We Share" it is still similar to our song choice due to the interesting motif and it is similar as both songs come to a sudden climax at the end.

The song uses a synth motif in the verse and the camera cuts away on the second note of the motif. This motif is similar to the synth motif in "Bloodstream". The cut on the second note is an idea which we could use in our own music video as the motifs are similar and therefore we can use conventions of the synth indie hybrid genre. This synth motif is almost a trademark of the indie-synth genre. The synth makes the genre what it is and Chvrches exemplifies the indie-synth genre perfectly. A mix of husky vocals with a synth motif makes the genre, therefore making "The Mother We Share" a song that stays within the genre conventions. The synth motif is a generic convention within the indiesynth genre. The music video is purely narrative and tells a story with integrated band shots. Therefore, Goodwin's theory can be applied here as the music video demonstrates generic characteristics through the prioritisation of the story over the band themselves. The indiesynth genre is a branch from the indie genre which focuses on telling stories rather than showcasing the artist themselves.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The music video uses a bleak colour palette, reflecting the main character's hopelessness and loneliness.The low-key lighting and dull colours in the first "section" portray the main character as alienated and isolated by the rest of the world. This isolation is further illustrated by the mid-shot (figure 1) where the main character is very hidden within the shot due to the costume blending into the background. She also has a very minor presence within the shots, often occupying a single third of the camera. Her isolation is also shown through the use of a shallow focus when she is watching the game of basketball (figure 2). Her isolation is shown as she is on her own due to the shallow focus as she is separated from the rest of the characters. This gives the audience a sense of sympathy towards the girl as she is alone and we experience her isolation with her as her day progresses.

Goodwin's theory can be applied to "The Mother We Share" as there is dispersed band shots throughout, bringing the audience to a separate narrative of just the band in a dark room which shows the audience that the song is part performance and part narrative. Also, Goodwin's Theory states that the demands of the record label includes shots of the band. This is clearly demonstrated as there are band shots throughout the video, showing the audience who the artists are as well as creating a story.

During the crescendo of the video the protagonist exudes blue lights from her body. The blue may represent calm and serenity which juxtaposes against the violent and sudden explosions it creates. The blue light may refer to Chvrches other videos, such as "Clearest Blue" where the blue light is used again and Goodwin's Theory of a link between visuals and title can be applied as the title is called "Clearest Blue" and therefore there is a link between the visuals and title, utilising Goodwin's Theory. The blue used in "The Mother We Share" reflects the protagonist's inner serenity and desire to be away from any chaos or noise. The protagonist chooses to leave the party to release her blue lights. This is symbolic of the protagonist's content to be alone and calm.

Preliminary Planning for our Music Video

We have began to storyboard our shoot, including annotated lyrics with the shot types too.

Add caption