2. Lyrics
So far I've not really stayed in touch
Well, you knew as much
It's no surprise that today
I get up around two from a lack of anything to do
[Chorus]
And I might as well just grin and bear it
Because it's not worth the trouble of an argument
And in any case I'd rather wear it It's like a bad head in the
morning
And I know
[Verse 2]
And you have not really stayed in touch
Well, I knew as much
It's no surprise that today
I get up around two with nothing to do, except get a touch
of flu
[Chorus]
And I might as well just grin and bear it
Because it's not worth the trouble of an argument
And in any case I'd rather wear it
It's like a bad head in the morning
And I know
[Instrumental break]
[Chorus]
And I might as well just grin and bear it
Because it's not worth the trouble of an argument
And in any case I'd rather wear it
It's like a bad head in the morning
So I might as well just grin and bear it
'Cause it's not worth the trouble of an argument
And in any case I'd rather wear it
You're like a bad head in the morning
And I know
3. Treatment
This music video is a narrative / performance to give an accurate representation of the Blur song, ‘Badhead’. The band are known for their happier
music videos but this song is no doubt a sadder song with a downbeat mood. It’s not ironic, the lyrics feel genuine and the tempo and choice of
vocals go to match this.
The song begins with 19 seconds of instrumental in which I will be shooting between the performance and the narrative aspect of my video. The
performance shoots will be to establish the band, an establishing shoot / long shot will be used so that all are in frame and the audience gets a good
look. This will include the band simply talking, possibly laughing. Acting normal like they are waiting to perform a song. The Narrative aspect will have
some shots which can establish the mood of the video. A mattress will placed in a fairly empty room. My ‘actor’ will be in the bed, looking up towards
but past the high angle camera I have set up. The high angle is used so we are looking down on the person. He isn’t feeling confident, he isn’t feeling
happy, he is feeling sad and lacking direction. That’s not a person who people naturally look up to.
The band are displayed a as a three piece. The singer has the lead guitar and will stand left. The bass guitarist will stand right, with the drummer
behind centre. Lip syncing will be used to give a good illusion that the acting singer is actually performing the song. I will be getting close ups of the
instruments and the band members, especially the singer, extreme close ups of the hands, the shoes to really give the audience the full experience of
it. It keeps the video visually entertaining and captures the mood of the video well. The shoes are going to be quite muddy and dirty shoes so I can
give off the rock feel that I discovered in my music video analysis of Supersonic and Bitter Sweet Symphony. A ‘I don’t care’ attitude is quite common.
I didn’t feel that leather jackets were the correct type of clothing for my video despite the fact they were so common amongst the video analysis, I
think more common-man type clothing is better suited. Jeans, Jumper, scruffy hair. This type of clothing is more familiar to the band (Blur) in their
other videos I have watched so I will be applying that to my own music video.
4. Because the cloths and general style are a key part of the video, I plan to show lots of close up shots of these because it is a good representation of
what the band are. The hair-styles and the shoes are the key to close ups, the cloths will naturally be seen and it is much harder to emphasise these.
They will be seen throughout the video anyway.
Isolating the performance from the narrative in this treatment will make things easier. The performance part of the music video isn’t as focused on
creating the mood of the song. The band are more there to visually entertain because and actually bring something a little more positive to the video.
With the band it really will be about capturing various shots. The shots will include a long shot at the beginning of the music video. The lead singer will
gain the most focus because that’s a natural thing in videos, he will be getting closeups of his mouth, of his guitar, of his shoes and of his hand wrapped
around his microphone (if the visual works for the microphone. I think it might be better suited for high tempo music) The drummer and base guitarist
will be shown less and the general focus of them will more be on the instruments they play. They will be shown in the establishing shot but other than
that I will rarely use them as I think the instruments are more important and I have to balance the narrative with it too. I will be having shoots from a
lower angle camera shot during the performance to conflict with the narrative. The music video is here to sell the artist. I feel comfortable having high-
angle shots to look down on the artist in the narrative because that is the visual representation of the lyrics. The performance is different. It is time for
the musicians to step forward and these are the people that the audience ‘look up to’, so giving this feeling through the low-angle, to give the actual
musicians their time to shine and give the audience the chance to see their favourite artists in full flow makes sense. What the band are wearing is
relevant as it is a visual code and it implies the emotions of the band, therefor I will be having close-ups of the shoes (which will be dirty) and the
trousers will be scruffy. They wont have rips, as that usually implies they have been intentionally ripped to give off a very specific look, which would
project the band as genuinely caring what they where, which is the opposite of I what I want the audience to think. The jeans will have one leg turned up
and one turned down, because then is comes across as natural.
5. The narrative will have plenty of different shots and different locations. The bedroom and the living room will be the most frequently used. The first shot
of the narrative is the actor (Sam) lying on his mattress in his quite empty living room. It will be shot in the daytime (around mid-day) but the curtains will
be closed. The intention of this scene is to imply metaphorically the emptiness Sam is feeling currently and to imply to that he is lying in bed during the
day, potentially showing he is unemployed. This will be shot from a high angle, as I previously said to make us look down on him. In the living room shot
I intend to have Sam sitting in his chair watching the television. He is constantly flicking through the channels because he is bored. I will show this with a
close-up of him pressing the remote, a mid-shot from behind the chair of the Tv changing channel and possibly a close-up of his spare hand pressed
against his check to show his fatigue with what he is doing.
6. Mood
As I said previously, the music video is going to match the tempo and the general mood of the song, so because the mood is
about a man (singing from first person perspective) about lacking general direction in life. This lack of direction gave me the idea of
shooting the video with a mixture of a claustrophobic feel to it and signifiers for the general emptiness this person is feeling. This
will lead to lots of my shots being from a distance to make the man look small, or having shots which are very zoomed in with the
intention of making the overall shot look claustrophobic. The lighting can also play a key role in the mode. Having dimmed lighting
and mundane colours will effectively reflect the feeling of the song and the narrative. I want to have these symbolic messages in
my narrative but I also don’t want to go overboard with this because the narrative is supposed to be looked at from a relatable
point of view just as much if not more than a sympathetic one, so rather than manipulating the emotions to the extreme, I want to
keep a lid on it to maintain the realism of the narrative. During the performance part of the video is where I want to be a little more
creative. I want the shots to be more creative, I want emotion to be flexible because I feel the performance and the narrative
should be kept separate and not necessarily reflect each other. The band performance is a band performance so I want the
audience to feel that and not feel they are watching an add-on to the narrative.
The performance will take place quite often during in the chorus, which is where the tempo of the song Increases to its max.
Because of this I want to have quicker shots. The background will be used. I want to have a picture in the background (next slide
shows it) first being shown from distance before having a flash effect before cutting to the next shot which will still be the picture
but this time it will be a extreme close up shot of the eye. This technique is generally entertaining to watch and is a good technique
to upping the tempo of video.
7. Examples of performance
The pictures how different angles and different types of performance which would all be relevant to my video.