The document outlines ideas for a music video for the song "Mad World" that will have a sad, emotional tone represented through a black and white, low-key aesthetic. It will tell the story of a depressed female character through flashbacks and scenes of her attempts at suicide, while cutting between her narrative and performances by the male singer. The video aims to portray the relationship between the two characters and generate a sense of following someone's journey through the use of tilts, tracks and fragmented storytelling.

1. Jordan Dale
Ideas generation
The product I am making will be a Music video using the song ‘mad world’. We had the
idea to create a more of a sad slow video to fit the pace of the song. Other thoughts have
been too have the video in black and white this will help set the mood of the video
easily. The target audience for our video will be sixteen plus this is because the video
will be emotional and distressing and will not be suitable for young children.
The male character will be the performer, his hair will be long and messy to represent
the rock genre he will also wear a flat cap which is stereotypical of the soft rock/folk
genre. The female character will be the main character for the narrative she will be
represented as lonely or depressed through the actions of attempting to drown herself
and other means of suicide. She will also be seen crying, adding to the representation of
depression. Two children and a mother will feature in some scenes to suggest a
flashback to the female character’s childhood. They will be seen sitting around a
birthday cake to show that they are happy and the juxtaposition between her once
happy life and her depression. These characters will reveal a friendship link between
the performer and the female character, suggesting a relationship as they get older.
The narrative of the video cuts between performance, with the male character, and a
fragmented narrative of the female character’s life, telling a story of her attempts to
escape from her depression, concluding by revealing the link between the performer
and the female character, however this will create a narrative enigma as it is never truly
revealed.
Tilts and tracking shots are utilised to create the illusion of following someone’s
journey. The tilt up to the sky generates a fairy tale-like atmosphere as if you was about
to be told a story. The tracking shot also helps immerse us into the music video reality.
The lighting of the video will be low-key maybe black and white this will represent the
darkness of the narrative. Slow edits will take place to fit in with the pace of the music.
There will be an over the shoulder shot used at the end of the video to represent the
female character letting go of the memory of the male performer as she walks away. We
shall apply a special effect to the scene of the flashback it will cause the scene to look
hazy this helps create the
The main setting of the video is a house which represents family and a place that should
be seen as safe and happy. The representation of this setting is contradicted, however,
by the attempts of suicide made by the female character. The second location used
within the video is a forest. The forest portrays tranquillity at the end of the video the
female actress will be seen placing a flower next to a tree in a forest this shows that she
is now at peace with herself.
Iconography will be used within the video to represent the genre of the song the
performer will be wearing a flat cap while having messy long hair. The flat cap is an
iconic representation of the soft rock/folk genre. While the long messy hair is very
iconic of the rock genre. Throughout our video there will be iconic symbols of suicide
such as in one scene the female character is seen scrambling for pills which are often
connect to suicide in postmodern media. Towards the end of are video the female
character will place a flower next to a tree in the woods. The flower is an iconic symbol
of both love and death.

2. The music video will conform to the stereotypical conventions of a soft rock/ folk music
video as the edits will be slow paced to fit with the gentle rhythm of the music. The use
of black and white editing also conforms to the soft rock genre conventions as it creates
a dark mood which is stereotypical of rock music. The video also follows conventions as
soft rock music videos often only contain a single performer. The music video deviates
from the conventions as it has a fragmented narrative enigma when normally music
videos of this genre consist of one long linear take and narrative.