Whilst planning my music video, I have tried to concentrate on the characterisation of each of the personas within the product; the supporting characters as well as the artist themselves. I want each of them to appear relatively stereotypical of a certain label in order to make them instantly recognisable within the short production and additionally to establish a certain relaxed and ‘jokey’ feel. The song itself, whilst containing sorrowful and sad lyrics, is sung in a style that is fairly upbeat in terms of the tempo and does not immediately turn off the listener. Therefore, I want to incorporate this feeling into my music video so the song can be represented in such a way that is suitable to its construction.
The main character and artist of the piece will need to appear misunderstood and lonely in points along the song to reflect the lyrics. His guitar is his most prized possession, music being his only escape from his lonesome world. Therefore, I will ensure that I include frequent close ups of the musician playing the instrument on his own; this is also a convention of acoustic music videos with the artist often outside and away from any kind of civilisation, making the music the main focus. In terms of the clothing, the character will need to look neutral and casual in style so it is easier for the audience to relate to his position as an everyday, ordinary person, just unlucky in love.
In the first verse of the song, a female character is introduced and the audience is made to feel that the artist and this girl are a couple in love before it becomes apparent that this is just a part of the artist’s dream/fantasy. She is the girl of the boy’s dreams so therefore, I want her to appear as girly and fashionable as possible in terms of her style of dress to appear out of his league as well as very smiley and happy go-lucky to contrast with the lonely, miserable mood that the artist appears in later on when he has lost her. The audience will then be able to sympathise with his scenario at a much greater level as they know that the girl is very special. During these scenes, I will include several shots of the artist very much at a disparity to his other self, extremely comfortable and happy when in the girl’s presence as opposed to upset without her. This will work to offer a much more empathetic mood and define him as a person much more.
The final character that will appear in my music video is the girl’s current boyfriend. In the second verse, the protagonist of my video meets the boyfriend of the girl he is fantasising about and proceeds to tell him about their day spent ‘together,’ as told by the lyrics. This is followed by a chase fight scene and the boy left beaten with no girl and no pride. As this boyfriend beats the artist up, I want him to appear as threatening possible – the stereotypical teenage thug. The clothing of a flat peak and hoodie will portray this sentiment in an appropriate way as well as low angle shots to make him appear big and menacing. Also, this look will distinguish how different the two boys are and show the girl’s tastes in that the character is definitely not what she wants and even further out of his league. Whilst I am looking for the boyfriend character to be menacing and there will be a fight scene of sorts included, I do not want it to appear too serious and emotional; empathy will be created at a greater level for the artist but I do not want the scene to dampen the whole video and turn the main theme into bullying as the underlying theme is about unrequited love and the unfairness of it.
Overall, I hope these suggestions of characterisation will carry through the right messages when included in my music video at the same time as matching the ideas put forward in the lyrics effectively. Whilst I am following the narrative rather closely, I also want to include other abstract shots to offer that televised bard feel too and make the video as diverse as possible.
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