Ideas

Ideas For Music Video

• Live Lounge videos: we thought this may be a good idea as none of these type of songs have any pre-existing videos and therefore we can create something unique that will not be compared to the original video.
•  A local band: we thought of actually using a local bands music and the band themselves to feature in the video.
• We thought that our video should be highly ambiguous, with many messages being conveyed and codes being used. We thought we would do this by using typical music video conventions through things such as camera movement/editing, mise en scene, lighting, sound etc. 
• A band ‘The Skints’ – Michael thought of this band as he goes to see them playing live often but we all enjoy this music. We thought this would be a good idea as, although they are an signed, they aren't 'famous' and also they have no video to compare ours to which gives us creative freedom. We thought we could perhaps film the band at a gig as well as feature a narrative in the video. However we realise that this may not be one hundred percent feasible, so we may use people to act as the band or if not create a predominantly narrative based video.
• We decided to focus on the band the skints to create our video around. From listening to their music we gathered that the band is of the ‘ska’ genre.
• The lyrics focus on society, violence, culture etc.
• The band is not generic/mainstream

Details such as this can help us to create a video that we believe could reflects the bands nature and ideologies effectively.

We have chosen to do Up against the wall

Ideas for videos

• Stereotypical reggae/ska features: Drugs (cannabis), anti authority
• Possible location: Camden, typical urban area
• Perhaps lyrics fit with what the audience see on the video
• Party 
• Horror type movie convention to fit in with the song. For example at the end of the song the sound fades down in pitch then suddenly shoots back up. We thought this reflected the part in horror movies where equilibrium is restored then suddenly something odd and unusual happens again as a sort of cliff hanger.
• To fit in with the lyrics at the beginning. A male protaganist 'grabs his coat' in a run down messy flat. Colour tones of the video = greyscale. Makes his way to the job centre. Smoking = anti authority. Looking on the touch screen computer for jobs - Sign in the background 'shortage of jobs' Later on show him busking - people not interested in his music. TV shop across the road - a bunch of teens looking on admirably at a mainstream pop artist - JLS? Shows the protagonists face - noticeably annoyed - drops guitar slouches '
• End could start at the beginning - cuts to band performing/gig throughout.
• Another idea could be featuring characters that completely do not fit into the ska/reggae genre to cause the audience to be somewhat confused and make them think about the music they are listening to more.
• We thought that we could include temporal leaps and mix up the chronology of the video. We could film the gig sequence and throughout edit these clips in between the narrative until the character in the narrative finally ends up at the gig. We thought this may be a good idea as it is a common feature of the ska/new reggae genre.

After anaylising ska/reggae like music videos from bands such as

Dub city rockers

Sonic Boom Six

Random Hand

We found that there was a sort of rawness to these music video's as quite often, due to not being mainstream music, these artists were not signed to a major record label, if any at all. This caused the video's to be some what D.I.Y and home made. Sonic Boom six and Random hand were the closest to the skints in terms of music, as they had an ska vibe but were english and mentioned their roots in their lyrics and video. They always combined the band performance and sometimes narrative. This narrative is often a portrayal of a person who is completely separate from the ska/reggae stereotype, and shows their mundane life. Often creating a depressing atmosphere, to juxtapose the upbeat and often cheery soundtrack.


Posted by Louise