2. SYNOPSIS
- Setting: ‘male dominated’ world, dark
gloomy, isolated, industrial
- Character: female, 16-18, insignificant
- Mise-en-scene: gloomy lighting, dark,
gritty
- Props: Something that shows the girl
wants to achieve, e.g school books
- Themes: Society, feminism, patriarchy
- Inspiration: Peace – I’m a Girl
IDEA 1: FEMINISM
3. IDEA 1: FEMINISM – MUSIC VIDEO PLOT
GENERAL PLOT:
One female amongst a world of men (‘mans world’) whom underestimate
her and take away her rights one by one, this ‘world’ will be extremely
dark and gloomy, the girl finds herself isolated and feels as though
there is nothing she can do. The girl however, fights through these
struggles, despite the men that undermine her, and finds escapism
through trying her best to achieve (e.g through schooling or a specific
hobby), for this section the ‘world’ will gradually become more brighter
and the music will become more upbeat/fast paced as she finds her
escapism. This concept is a representation of women in countries that
aren’t given the same rights as men, allowing the audience to open their
eyes and realize how it would feel to be secluded from something
simple in western society like schooling (e.g dark, lonely, no way out),
perhaps to further this idea of placing yourself in the characters shoes
we will use some dolly shots of a close up of the girls face, to show her
wondering about this world alone.
4. IDEA 1 RESEARCH: PEACE – I’M A GIRL
“I’m A Girl” by Peace is a song that explores the importance of gender roles
within society and what they truly mean, it is a song that fits in perfectly
with our theme of feminism and the impact of patriarchy.
The lead singer of Peace, Harrison Koisser, has mentioned that the songs
itself was inspired by Emma Watsons “He For She” speech and
campaign. In an interview with NME Koisser stated; “Once, I was
waiting for someone on Digbeth High Street, wearing a fur coat – two
Irish guys came up to me and were like, “you’re a queer” he then
continues to state how “I think that I’m A Girl is a bit regressive, though
– I think I was thinking how I used to feel. Now I’ve just learnt to live
with it”
MUSIC VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=hVhCzM
QjRwU
5. IDEA 1 RESEARCH: PEACE – I’M A GIRL
I’m A Girl lyrically focuses on how gender roles within society characterize all
men as typically “masculine”, and how they are purely put on the earth to
consume food, be aggressive and have sex – these are the characteristics it
takes to truly be a man, and if you don’t live up to them you don’t identify
with the gender you were born whatsoever. This aspect of the song lyrically
helped inspire Idea 1, the idea of being held back and restricted from what
you want to do with your life purely because of the gender you were born
with.
Whilst lyrically there is frequent use of the “F” word, this helps relate to the
“masculine” and aggressive tone of the song and is almost the bands way of
acting “mock masculine”. It also links back to their social class and the
social class of the people of Digbeth (as mentioned in the song), Digbeth is a
generally working class area of Birmingham and the MP of Birmingham,
Shabana Mahmood, is a Labour supporter. The Labour party are really trying
to make a change in terms of gender equality, thus their social class and
political views have has an influence on the writing of this song.
Article in which Shabana Mahmood shares her views on gender equality:
http://www.shabanamahmood.org/shabana-mahmood-mp-shows-her-support-
international-day-eliminate-violence-against-women
6. IDEA 1 RESEARCH: PEACE – I’M A GIRL
At the end of the song Koisser repeats “I don’t feel like a man”, dropping
the “mock masculine” act that conforms to societies ideals of what a
male should be and admitting that if this is what it takes to be a man,
then he doesn't’t consider himself one. The use of repetition of this lyric
further pushes this message, Koisser totally rejects gender stereotypes
so much so that he ends up rejecting his gender all together.
7. IDEA 1 RESEARCH: PEACE - I’M A GIRL
“I’m A Girl” has an interactive 4-choice lyric video. One Video features Harrison Koisser himself
standing in front of a clear white board and writing the lyrics as they play on screen. This music
video is the first choice the viewer gets, and the use of Koisser physically writing the lyrics,
word by word, suggests that what he’s saying within the song has a real message and truly does
mean something to him – he wants the audience to see what he is saying. This is made clear
with the fact that through the video “IM A GIRL” is always present in the middle of the white
board, further suggesting the idea that Koisser has rejected his male gender.
In the second interactive video, the lyrics are written on a drum as the bands drummer plays the
song continuously hitting the lyrics. The use of the drum instrument and the constant hitting
action against the lyrics reinforces the idea of “masculinity”. The aggression and power behind
physically hitting an item really creates an impact and ideal of this “masculine” image that
Koisser has been singing about. Yet again, the band reject this ideal as in bold capital letters the
lyrics “I DON’T FEEL LIKE A MAN” are prominent at the bottom, suggesting that the band
disagree with the idea that in order to be a man you must be “manly”.
8. IDEA 1 RESEARCH:
From the research I did on Peace’s “I’m A Girl” and my personal views on
feminism helped to shape the idea for my first music video. I believe
that patriarchy is still extremely evident in modern society, and
feminism is so important in stopping this unfair inequality between
genders.
I was inspired to create a story of a female who is held back from what she
wants to do (like getting an education) by Malala Yousafzai, a girl who
was shot by the Taliban at the age of 15 for simply wanting to go to
school. Though Malala today is an activist for women’s rights and
education, this traumatic event should not have happened – she is a
true inspiration for people everywhere and a woman who was not afraid
to fight for what is right.
Article on Malala:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24379018
9. IDEA 2: DRUG AND ALCHOL ABUSE
SYNOPSIS:
- Setting: house party, forest,
teenage bedroom, warehouse,
housing estate
- Character: group of teenagers,
one single teenage boy/girl as
main character, working class
- Mise-En-Scene: bright lighting,
brightened colouring, intense
camering/shots, fast paced
- Themes: drugs, teenagers,
modern society
- Inspiration: Wolf Alice - Fluffy
10. IDEA 2 PLOT: DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE
GENERAL PLOT:
A teenager who has ‘gone off the rails’ and has began hanging around with
the wrong crowd. As the music video plays we see a once studious teen
begin to experiment with drug use and excessive alcohol consumption.
With the use of lighting and editing, the video will show the affects of
drug use and the toll they take on the teenager, when they first begin to
experiment with alcohol and drugs the lighting will be extremely bright
and colorful, we will use the forest setting and editing effects to show
how the drugs make the teen ‘feel’. However, towards the end of the
video will we show the negative affects of drug use, the once bright and
colourful world the teen saw will become dark and gloomy, the teen will
become paranoid and almost loose their mind.
11. IDEA 2 RESEARCH: WOLF ALICE - FLUFFY
“Fluffy” by Wolf Alice helped inspire Idea 2 due to the themes within the song of
the boredom of youth and what that boredom leads to. The song is about a
girl in a small town who finds her self bored of the same day to day tasks she
finds herself doing, so much so that she admits that she is willing to “sell her
soul” in order to get herself somewhere. Shocked by the state that she finds
herself in she joins a youth subculture and begins to get up to mischief.
The repetition of “sixteen, so sweet” within the lyrics acts as a form of irony, as
whilst stereotypically sixteen is an age where you are thought to be naive
and angelic (especially as a female), adults don’t know what she is actually
up to. This is furthered by the fact that throughout the song these lyrics are
shouted furthering her frustration with the boredom of this small town.
I believe that this song fits perfectly with the theme of drug and alcohol abuse
due to the negative stereotypes of youth and subcultures which is generally
led up to by the masses of pressure on the youth today. Youth subcultures
have also been around for generations, for example the mods and rockers of
the 1960s.
12. IDEA 2 RESEARCH: WOLF ALICE - FLUFFY
The song begins with the lyric “you look smart but I don’t care” – this furthers
the idea of pressure on youths to live up to what is expected of them;
school, exams, university, a job etc. But as a teenager you are limited in
what you can do, your whole life all you’ve known is living up to society's
expectations and so from the beginning of the song the lead singer rejects
this stating that she simply doesn’t care, all she wants is to find a form of
escapism from her boredom in a small town.
As the song continues it’s clear the only form of escapism is through “cheap
thrills” – something that provides short enjoyment. As the song is about
youths its clear that this is suggestive towards drug and alcohol abuse,
something stereotypical of youths.
The band are from North London, and London has been stated as the “drug
capital of Europe” with the highest percentage of drug abuse throughout
the whole of Europe, as the band origin from London drug abuse may have
been something that they were in contact with during their youth and thus
helped influence this song.
13. IDEA 2 RESEARCH: WOLF ALICE - FLUFFY
The music video for “Fluffy” shows the story of two youths who are bored
with their lives, the pair put a music video on and social media platform
as a way to get themselves “out there” in order to escape their
boredom.
The pair are introduced to two “rockers” and begin to get influenced by this
youth subculture – so much so that they begin to vandalize the streets
and start getting into mischief.
The video concludes with a performance of the new band they have
created, the girl we saw at the beginning of the video has completely
changed and the band appear to be having fun together. Bright flashing
colours are used for this clip in a fast paced motion which again could
relate to the affects of drug and alcohol abuse.
14. IDEA 2 RESEARCH:
Wolf Alice’s “Fluffy” lyrically was a huge influence on my idea surrounding
drug and alcohol abuse, the idea of a youth being so bored within their
surroundings that they get sucked into and excited by something
dangerous like alcohol or drugs without any knowledge of the bad side
affects is something that I believe a lot of teens can relate to. There
have been a lot of deaths of teens due to the abuse of drugs and the
lack of knowledge surrounding them, this negative portrayal is not one
often presented in the media. I believe that my music video will also
reject this glamorization that certain media platforms have created,
such as E4’s TV series Skins.
As a teenager myself I believe that there is a negative stereotype
surrounding teenagers and the assumption that all youths abuse drugs
and alcohol. I wanted to create a music video that explores these
themes whilst showing the negative side of them. By showing the bad
affects of drug and alcohol abuse I believe that it will set the record
straight that not all teens believe that they are a good or safe thing to
use,
15. IDEA 3: BULLYING
SYNOPSIS:
- Setting: school grounds,
classrooms etc, teens bedrooms
- Characters: teens that don’t fit
in, don’t fit in with society's
‘norms’
- Mise-En-Scene: dark lighting
(showing unhappiness), gritty
looking school, florescent school
lighting
- Props: School textbooks, pens
etc, glasses on characters that
are misfits
- Themes: Youth, society, bullying
- Inspiration: Taylor Swift - Mean
16. IDEA 3 BULLYING: PLOT
GENERAL PLOT:
Shots of pupils that don’t fit in within a school because they don’t live up to
their social expectations. The video will show their progression within
school and the effects of bullies who single them out/underestimate
them because of the fact that they are different, we will use dark gloomy
lighting and editing effects to show them walking around the corridors
looking almost lost, we will also include the effects of bullying outside
of school (e.g cyber bullying). After every bullying incident within the
music video there will be a short clip of the victim holding up a piece of
paper that says ‘HUMAN’, showing to the audience that despite the
bullying, they are staying strong and proving that we are all human
beings – the ‘differences’ that single us out do not define who we are.
17. IDEA 3 BULLYING: RESEARCH
For my third idea I decided to find a song that focuses lyrically on the
impact of bullying. I didn’t want to find a song that was going to bring
people down or make them feel sad about the subject, I intended on
finding a song that reached out to my target audience and urged them
on to keep trying to succeed/find happiness.
In my opinion, Taylor Swift’s song “Mean” fits in perfectly with this idea, it
emphasizes the idea that although you're being mean to me now, I’m a
better person than you'll ever be and I will achieve my goals. This song
is an uplifting song with a fast paced beat to it which will fit in with my
music video idea well as well.
18. IDEA 3 BULLYING: RESEARCH
Bullying is a very emphasized subject within media, there are several public
figures that have come out and told their personal bullying stories –
such as Lady Gaga, who was bullied for her “strange” dress sense and
personality, Rihanna who was bullied for her “fair” looks whilst she
lived in Barbados, Robert Pattinson for his love of acting – The list
continues. With this emphasis in the media it is made aware of for so
many young people, and is well accepted as one of the worst things
about growing up.
There have also been films made surrounding the topic of bullying such as
Carrie (1976), Cyber bully (2011), Mean Girls (2004) and many, many
more. Further suggesting the importance of this topic due to its large
popularity in the media – it is a subject that needs to be talked about.
