To begin with, I had the idea of having my artist sat in a busy street, as if asking for money like a hobo or something. The audience would not see the people walking past my artist, only the legs as the pass through the shot. I would use a low angle medium shot, then zoom towards my artist as she starts singing. Instead of collecting money, I would also have a jar ( reference to jar of hearts) in the mise-en-scene, with people placing little hearts inside it. I believe this would connote how easily people give their hearts away, as if it were nothing.
Another initial idea is having my artist walking down a street filled with people whilst singing. I would then speed up the people passing her to look as if life is passing her by.
I also plan to use at least three locations; the street at the beginning, the additional street and also perhaps a theatre of some kind.
No, I can't take one more step towards you
‘Cause all that's waiting is regret
Don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore
You lost the love I loved the most
I learned to live, half alive
And now you want me one more time
[Chorus:]
And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?
I hear you're asking all around
If I am anywhere to be found
But I have grown too strong
To ever fall back in your arms
I've learned to live, half alive
And now you want me one more time
[Chorus]
It took so long just to feel alright
Remember how to put back the light in my eyes
I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed
‘Cause you broke all your promises
And now you're back
You don't get to get me back
Who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
Don't come back for me
Don't come back at all
And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
Don't come back for me
Don't come back at all
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
*I will later add an annotated version of these lyrics to help plan my music video
Music videos represent a crucial part of the music industry and its history. Most or all artists owe their careers to music videos as they are being given the chance of impressing the public with not just their vocal talent, but also with their looks or dance moves. A music video is a short film clip that uses both song and imagery as a promotional tool for the artist. Modern day music videos use a range of techniques such as animation and can often take the form of documentaries, such as The Beatles in their mock documentary ‘A hard day’s night’ in 1964. Before music videos, feature films were used to view the artist and to see them perform, and The Beatles are considered the first to use this technique. During this time, the band had reached a status that no other group had reached before and were a worldwide phenomenon, and were one of the few artists such as Bob Dylan that actually wrote their own music. It was not possible for them to perform for the masses of people that came to their concerts, so they used the feature films to perform the songs instead.An anti-realist narrative was used throughout the documentary and was segmented with music clips. This style was then the base for many of the future music videos and inspired the American TV series ‘The Monkees’ which aired 1966- 1968.After the success of ‘A hard day’s night’, (filmed in black and white and consisting of hardly any editing or cinematography) followed their 1965 film ‘Help!’ that was filmed in colour and shot in numerous London and international locations. Even in the short space of time between the feature films, it’s easy to see that the technique had been developed and the feature film had grown in importance.
The modern day music video is considered to have been born in 1975 with Queen’s ‘Bohemian rhapsody’ that was made to be aired on Top of the pops and cost £4000, which is a miniscule amount compared to the hundreds of thousands or even millions that are spent on current day videos. Two of the videos that are most famous for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time are Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream" which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story" which cost $5 million. "Scream" is still the most expensive video ever made. In 1981, the American video channel MTV was launched and thus began the age of 24-hour music television. They launched the channel with the video, "Video Killed the Radio Star."From then on videos became an important part in marketing an artist, with singers such as Madonna using them to not only promote her song, but to promote her ever-changing image. From 1992, MTV began listing it’s producers and directors of music videosand song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Spike Jonze and Hype Williams all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze and F. Gary Gray, went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as Lasse Hallström and David Fincher.
Through the years, music videos have changed from being mainly an artist performing to focusing on the song or narrative used. For example, David Bowie’s ‘Space oddity’ in 1972 consists mainly of the artist on a guitar, with few special effects used. The video is repetitive and used the same dissolves in every sequence to show the mixing board, which is supposed to be new technology which in turn relates to the song. This contrasts with the recent Fatboy Slim single ‘Right here right now’ that has no appearance of the artist whatsoever, and focuses on the narrative of evolution and the song itself. The Fatboy Slim video therefore goes against the conventions of the music video form as there are no close ups of the artist and therefore not promoting the person.
