In order to organise my thoughts and choose a song, I decided to make some notes on three songs that I was considering using for my media coursework.
You Are the Problem Here - First Aid Kit
Narrative
- Opening wide shot of a band readying themselves to play on a stage without the music. Cuts to shots of the bar they're performing at with a majority older male audience sitting in pairs and threes and talking. At the bar, there is a woman sitting in a red dress with a glass of Coca Cola and the bottle next to it.
- The main singer walks on stage wearing a t-shirt, jeans and a black, wide-brimmed hat. She looks up and the camera cuts back to the girl at the bar who gives her double thumbs up. Cuts back to the singer who smiles at her straighten her microphone and the room goes quiet.
- Close-up shot of the singer's mouth with red lipstick near the microphone as she sings opening lyrics.
- An older man walks up to the girl at the bar and starts speaking to her which she brushes off in favour of listening to the music
- With the line "From some man's sweaty, desperate touch", the man runs his hand along her waist/up her thigh and the camera follows the movement in a close-up before cutting to the woman's face visually uncomfortable.
- Singer gets off the stage and begins to fight the man in tracking motion before it cuts to the same band busking on the street.
- A similar scenario occurs and a man touches a woman inappropriately and the singer of the band does the same thing - leaves the band (still singing the lyrics) to help the woman.
- For the chorus, the camera cuts between the band performing and the singer in a fight with the men whilst singing the lyrics.
- Second verse cuts to the band walking through a group of women with signs saying 'Women's rights', 'No means No', 'My body my choice', etc. with closeups of the band for audience gratification.
- Bridge with "Sisters or daughters or mothers" cuts to mid shots of lots of women of different ages, ethnicities, sexualities, etc.
- Chorus again is the band performing and women protesting with their signs with close-ups of women shouting and of their signs.
- The final line of the song "And I hope you fucking suffer" is a close-up of the singer looking down at the man back in the bar holding the girl from the bar's hand and mouthing the lyrics.
Location
- Smallish Pub - Fatty's Bar, Hadleigh
- Southend High Street at Night
- London Oxford Street
Actors
Singer
2+ Band members
15+ women of different ages, ethnicities, etc.
5+ middle-aged men
Colour Palette and Mise-en-Scene
- Use a range of darker colours like reds and dark yellows to connote rage and reflects a darker mood in the video.
- Shoot colours from beneath the actors to cast shadows to create an imposing atmosphere that can be seen as accusative.
- Give the sense of poor lighting on the street to suggests that sexual assault happens in everyday life as well.
- Want the mise-en-scene to reflect how, although the band are small (playing in small pubs/busking) they sing about pertinent issues that affect people in life all the time and how things won't stop unless we make a change.
Camera and Editing
- Range of close shots used to fulfil Andrew Goodwin's idea of gratifying the audience with shots of the artists
- Tracking shots of the artist moving and also whilst playing their instruments and these shots also give the audience a perspective, as though they're following along with the narrative too - makes it more personal
- Want the shots to change on the beat with the song and be a couple of seconds long to match the song which isn't fast-paced - therefore the editing shouldn't be fast-paced either
Pros
- Would be extremely powerful.
- Could raise awareness of sexual assault and rape.
Cons
- Would be extremely difficult to get the right characters for the role and I don't know enough people to play them.
- Would need to get permission from a pub to film in and, being under 18, this may be difficult.
- Requires a lot of moving about and would take a long time to film.
Girl with One Eye - Florence and the Machine
Narrative:
- Opening shots are of women walking along, some paired, some solitary before cutting to the singer standing against a wall with a suit on and a drawn-on moustache.
- The singer begins lip-syncing the song, walking along, cutting down to her feet skipping along the pavement, avoiding the cracks, as said in the lyrics.
- Scene changes to the singer pushing a woman against a wall in an alley hounding her and mouths the words "Not to fuss and relax" with "relax" being zoomed in on her mouth
- Cuts back to singer walking along and suddenly comes to a halt I time with the lyrics with her hands up. However, a woman walks past and the singer follows her with her head, despite having 'stopped'.
- Cuts to the woman from the alley in bed on her back and she turns to switch off the light
- Back to the singer walking down the street who takes a flower from a woman sitting on a bench before she crushes it with her hand.
- Drags her finger across her neck for 'Slip her a smile' and smiles at the camera.
- Cuts to the woman from the alley in bed on her side with her eye wide open before she rolls over.
- Pushing up girl against the wall mouthing the lyrics and on 'cry' the singer puts her hand over the other girl's mouth.
- Low angled close-up of a hand rising up the girls skirt and a closeup of lips mouth 'Don't worry, it's not gonna hurt'.
- Girl's face is fearful and her makeup has run cause she's scared and crying.
- Cuts to victim closing her front door before sliding down it and sobbing into her hands.
- Repeats the assault by the singer but the girl pushes her and begins to mouth the lyrics herself with 'Hey' and 'Get your filthy fingers out of my pie'.
- Close-up of the girl near the singers mouthing the lyrics and on the 'cry' the camera moves fast in a circle and cuts to 10+ women in a park with protest shouting 'You made me cry' with that on some of their signs.
- The breath cuts back to a close-up of the singer on the street, slightly dishevelled and it zooms out as she staggers along, not singing the lyrics any more.
- Falls onto her knees and when she looks up, she's in the park with the protesting women around the singer, singing the lyrics.
- The final lyric 'cry' is said with an ariel shot of the singer as the women walk away with their fists raised and their signs aloft.
Location
- Rayleigh High Street
- Alley in Hadleigh
- Bedroom
-St George's Park/John Burrow's Park
Actors
- Singer
- Girl from the alley
- Approx. 10 extras
Colour Palette and Mise-en-scene
- Bright colour palette for street scenes to represent the idea that abusers walk free and around us every day with the singer wearing a suit and a drawn-on moustache to symbolise the idea of men sexually assaulting women.
- Dark red colour palette for alley scenes with the woman wearing white, symbolic of purity and as though the abuser is going to take that from her.
- Dark blue colour palette for the victim in her bedroom as she reflects over the horrors she suffered
- Bright colour palette for the protests suggests that there is light in a dark world
Camera and Editing
- Range of close shots used to fulfil Andrew Goodwin's idea of gratifying the audience with shots of the artists and fulfils the performance aspect
- Tracking shots of the artist moving and also whilst playing their instruments and these shots also give the audience a perspective, as though they're following along with the narrative too - makes it more personal
Pros
- Not too difficult to make.
- Sends an impactful message.
Cons
- Difficult due to COVID-19
Exit Music for a Film - Radiohead
Narrative
- First chords are close-up shots of around a teenaged-girls room of family pictures, a picture of the virgin mary, a catholic cross, etc.
- The first line "Wake" is a birds-eye view shot of a teenaged girl in bed and, when the line is sung, she opens her eyes and begins to get out of bed.
- She wipes her face with her hands and reaches a hand down the back of her bed and draws out a bag/purse with "ESCAPE" painted in red letters on it. and cuts between close-ups of her face and drawn out wide shots of her in her room.
- With the next lines, she begins packing a bag and getting dressed into a conservative outfit that covers a lot of her and then continues packing the bag, throwing covert glances to the door.
- Cuts to a symbolic paintin' of hell/devil and cuts to a low shot of the 'father' sitting on the sofa in the living room with a bottle of beer.
- The girl glances towards her father before leaving and getting on train/in a car and meets a friend, they hug.
- Cuts between close-ups of the girl looking out of the window, breathing and her changing into a rainbow outfit and pulling a pride flag out of her bag and laying it on her lap, smiling.
- Shots of the girl and her friend at a pride festival, laughing talking, shots of the parade
- Looks up and the camera follows her to look at the other girl and they smile at one another and when "Alone" is sung, they hold hands.
- Short quick shots of protest signs with intertextual references to famous songs/movies but against LGBT and someone runs at the main girl to hit her and the screen turns black
- The shot is of the girl curled up and she stands up and the camera follows her and she has SFX makeup of bruises and blood on her head and running from her nose, her pride flag over her shoulders.
- She begins to walk and the camera moves back as she moves forwards with a determined look on her face. She wipes away the blood from her nose with her fist and walks through a big crowd of people/down an empty street.
- When the music rises ("Now/ We are one") the shot cuts back and forwards between her walking and her and her girlfriend kissing, touching, holding hands and being intimate as a lesbian couple in love.
- There are also shots of her father yelling at her pointing at pictures of the gay couple together whilst she shouts back - he goes to hit her before it cuts back to her walking down the street.
- The final line is her opening the front door to her house and her father standing there. She takes a deep breath, opens her mouth and the video cuts to black.
Location
- Girl's house: Bedroom, Living room (Bathroom potentially?)
- Train/Car/Bus
- London Pride
- Oxford Street
- Neal's Yard
Actors
- Main Female character who matches the target audience
- Father
- Girlfriend
Colour Palette and Mise-en-scene
- Neutral colours used for the house scenes as there isn't really anything too special going on
- Brighter colours when filming in Neal's Yard and at Prides with saturated reds and yellows to create a warmer colour palette
- When the music changes, the colour palette becomes cooler with blues and greys in order to create a sombre effect.
- Want the mise-en-scene to reflect issues that the audience will both understand and may be able to relate to. The use of young people reflects the audience and, by filming it at Pride, it requires a certain cultural/social awareness.
Camera and Editing
- Range of different shots from both low and high angles to create a perspective for the audience.
- By using a continuous tracking shot, it allows the audience to feel like they themselves are walking with the character.
- Want the camera to build up a crescendo so the video clips may get shorter to create more tension in the video.
Pros
- Is an important topic for the target audience with a large percentage of young people identifying as LGBT.
- Would be easy for the primary target audience to relate to LGBT themes and the idea of standing up for what you believe in.
Cons
- May be difficult to do due to COVID-19 and Pride Parades being cancel
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