Style of our Promo

What will your video include?

Our video will include both performance and narrative. The performance in our video will have no band, but it will be close ups of our actress Georgia miming to the lyrics. We will include many extreme close ups of objects such as jewellery and antique items to create interest and there will also be extreme close ups of the singers mouth while miming and her other features. There will be many long shots of both locations because these suit the style and time period look we are aiming for.

Example of extreme close up of eyes

There will be only one actress through out the video and this means that her emotions will need to be intense to create a narrative while it also creates an enigma for the audience to guess whether she is singing about an ex-boyfriend or someone else. We will try our best to make sure all the shots have excellent lighting and are as clear as possible however some shots may have a filter to make them look dream-like which is a technique we admire from some of Lana Del Rey's videos. The editing will match the pace of the song which is quite slow however we may include a montage of faster paced shots to maintain audience interest. Our video will also use slow motion in some shots such as when the actress drops the ring on the floor and this is inspired by some of Lana Del Rey's slow motion shots in her videos.

Lana Del Rey - Music video 'Ride' - An example of strong filter

What style will your video be and did any artists/videos inspire you?

The sound of our song choice is very melancholic and the way the artist sings sounds as though she is very hurt by her boyfriend which made our group feel as though our music videos mood and atmosphere should reflect the singers emotions. The two locations we are filming our video in are Sutton on Sea beach and Georgia Allman's house. These locations have a lot of natural lighting and as we are filming in October the dull weather will reflect the melancholic mood of the lyrics.

Lana Del Rey was a huge inspiration to us while we thought of ideas. The style of our song is very similar to Lana Del Rey's music and so we explored her music videos to find out that she uses very wistful themes and her videos contain a lot of her 50s/60s style. We loved her editing techniques which were a homemade video style and also the filters she uses which makes the video look like an old polaroid. We decided to research 50s icons and realised that Lana got a lot of inspiration for her style from Marilyn Monroe and we also liked the style of the 50s pin up Veronica Lake who was famous for how she styled her hair.

One video which inspired us was Gabrielle Aplin's video for 'Home'. Aplin is an indie-folk artist who uses rural areas in her videos with a lot of close ups and extreme close ups of her face while she mimes. We liked the idea that when the actress ran away in our video, it would be to a more natural place than her stylised house full of antiques and expensive furnishings. This is when we began to look at more videos and found the music video 'Flood' by Cheryl Cole. In the video, Cole is singing about the pain she is going through during problems with her lover and the setting is on a beach. We liked the interpretation that Cole had escaped to the beach to be free from her lover and the location is also natural. A beach setting would be a contrast to the Edwardian house and we decided that our actresses look and style would also become more natural and less glamorous. This signifies escapism and the artist leaving behind her boyfriend and the things she associates with him.

Below is a moodboard with images of artists and icons which inspired us: 

Will you subvert/adhere to any theories?

1. Narrative Theory - Narrative is rarely complete and often fragmentary"..."therefore complete meanings/narratives don't exist"

Our promotional music video will adhere to this theory as there will not be a complete narrative throughout the whole video. Instead there will be fragments which suggest a narrative, helped by the lyrics. For example the narrative we have decided on for our video is about a girl who has an abusive boyfriend and she has just broken up with him or has decided to leave him. This is represented by her removing her jewellery (which could have been gifted by him) or by removing her glamorous makeup which she wore for her boyfriend. She will also escape to the beach away from her troubles so the narrative is hinted upon however the audience does not find out what happened between her and her boyfriend or what will happen when she returns home from the beach or whether she returns at all.

2. Binary Opposition

This theory by Strauss is adhered to in our music video because there are obvious contrasts during the  video. This includes the actresses makeup/costume and the location. In the beginning of the video everything is very stylised, for example the makeup and hair are very glamorous and the costume is dressed up. The location of an Edwardian house is also stylised with antiques and expensive furniture. However towards the end of the video the actresses hair and makeup are more subtle and natural while the location of a beach is also more natural and contrasts the house. This opposition is meant to highlight how the girls boyfriend changed her or how she had to act like a different person while she was with him.

3. Laura Mulvey's Theory

The male gaze theory suggests that we are viewing the video through a mans eyes and the shots of female characters are there to please men. It also states that women are portrayed as either a "virgin or a whore". Our music video will subvert this theory as the video is about the girl escaping her boyfriend and her situation and becoming empowered, finally being who she wants to be without him. She is not presented as a sexual object or something for men to look at because she is upset during the beginning of the video and despite being styled to be glamorous, she is not purposely portrayed as being a 'virgin' or a 'whore'. However, there will be shots panning up and down her body and of an extreme close up of her mouth which could be thought of as sexualising the character and this could relate to the way her boyfriend thought of her.