Wordle (First ideas for my Music Video)

I have created a Wordle from Wordle.com containing all of my first ideas for my music video, including genre, shots, actors/actresses and scenery. This contains my initial ideas as to what I should be thinking about in terms of my music video.

My Chosen Song's lyrics (annotation).

After some deliberation I have decided that my chosen song will be The Wombats - Kill The Director mainly for its quirky and ambigious lyrics, giving me the freedom to play around with mise-en-scene and camera shots in a comical way.













To draw up some initial ideas, I have decided to draw some ideas from the bands lyrics. I found the lyrics on http://www.sweetslyrics.com/. The annotated lyrics I will highlight in red.


The Wombats - Kill The Director (Lyrics)


I've met someone that makes me feel sea-sick



Oh what a skill to have
Oh what a skill to have



So many skills that make her distinctive



But they're not mine to have



No they're not mine



Whenever she looks i read the nearest paper



Though i don't care about the soaps



No i don't care about the soaps



Though i'm acting like i'm in an Eastenders episode



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director please



Carrots help us see much better in the dark



Don't talk to girls; they'll break your heart



And this is my head and this is my spout



If they work together; they can't figure anything out



So with the angst of a teenage band



Here's another song about a gender i'll never understand



Here's another song about a gender i'll never understand



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director please



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget, Bridget Jones

• The first prominent idea seen from the lyrics is the use of repetition, this means that I will be able to repeat certain shots, settings, props and people a lot, to compliment the tone and pace of the song.


• The lyrics are very intertextual, and often mention modern pop culture today. This therefore gives me the idea to include humourous references to said pop culture


• As the beat of the music ranges from slow to fast, I will vary my camera shots consistently in time to the music always.


• The singer is male and therefore, it is my belief that I will include various male actors into my video. I may exclude female actresses to draw upon the male "teenage angst" that is present within the song and lyrics.
• Through the lyrics, its clearly seen that the song is about romance, or lack of. Therefore, I shall include some narrative, romantic tale to it. Though it will not be the primary theme of the video (i.e. it will not be completely narrative and romantic and I will need to incorporate some humourous aspects)
• The character sings about himself personally, meaning that I will probably be doing lots of head on, close up or medium close up shots directly looking at the "main character". In that case, I will need a main character.
• The lyrics contain random lines such as "I've met someone that makes me feel sea sick". In this case, because they're random and a bit amusing I will use some humourous images in relation to this. For example, At the line "I've met someone that makes me feel sea sick" I will throw a sick looking product over the said actors.
• As the lyrics are about a teenage love; "So with the angst of a teenage band", I will use primarily teenage, male actors.

Deciding The Song For My Video.

So far, I have decided on four potential songs to make for my video. All songs contain aspects of an indie/alternative nature, something I have consciously done, as from my previous research, I came to the conclusion that Indie or Alternative genre music songs and videos often have the liberty to create wackier, quirkier videos - something I would like to dabble in. My four potential songs are:

Ellie Goulding - The Writer

I chose this song as it is a romantically theme, alternative song that I believe would be able to allow me to dabble in romantically genre'd mise-en-scene, aswell as drawing up ideas for camera shots and lighting to add to its slow beat.

Pro's - It is a popular song and therefore my video would have the potential to attract a large and wide variety of audiences and whilst it is mainly pop, it dabbles in other genres such as indie, allowing me to try different aspects of filmings in addition to their genre.

Con's - As the artist is popular, and the song is quite famous, I might run the risk of being rejected for permission by the artist. Aswell as this, it could be difficult for me to supply potential actors for my video, as the video suggests a narrative, romantic tale to it. Something that, if not professional, could be executed disastrously.

The Wombats - Kill The Director

The idea for this song came about as once again, the genre is alternative/indie, a genre that would give me the freedom to play about with quirky ideas. The lyrics throughout are quirky and humourous, giving me different ideas as to how to execute a music video (i.e. with comical effect).

Pro's - The song is a fast paced beat, meaning it would be fun to play around with. As the song is fairly comical, I would be able to get away with silly acting skills and fun shots as it would all contribute to the beauty of humour.

Con's - The song is fairly popular, and because of this there is a great risk of an imposing rejection by the recording artists if I applied for permission to use their song. The lyrics also contain detailed imagery of certain settings or scenes (for example, the sea is briefly mentioned) that would be quite difficult to pull off in my filming.

Flamboyant Bella - Break Away

Flamboyant Bella are a band that typically rose to stardom from posting their independant music on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Whilst they now have a record label, they are still considered the epitome of Indie, non-mainstream music.

Pro's - The band is generally well unknown in terms of mainstream music, and this would give me an advantage in them accepting my proposal of using their music. The bands unusual quirkiness and sociorealistic lyrics would provide a good muse in ideas for my potential music video. As of now, there is no music video for the song so my ideas/creations about the music video would be completely virgin.

Con's - The bands lyrics for "Break Away" can actually be said to be too subjective, and therefore it would be hard for me to create ideas as to what I could use in creating the music video.

The Futureheads - Skip To The End

The Futureheads are a predominately Indie band that have generated a large fan base over the years, whilst still being typically Indie and non "mainstream". Skip To The End is one of their most popular songs, primarily about a failed or failing relationship. This would be an unusual subject to cover in my potential music video.

Pro's - The lyrics are subjective, but in a sense that is fun and would allow me to play around with the lyrics and the camera shots. The beat is also quirky and therefore would also allow me to play around with fun camera shots pertaining to the quirky beat.

Con's - As the lyrics are generally about a failing relationship, I might have to conduct my video in a narrative sense, which might be more difficult to provide good actors and a more serious notion. The lyrics are of a fairly serious nature, meaning it might be tricky to execute a serious and professional video with a narrative tale.

Death Cab For Cutie Tour Poster

This is the concert advertisement poster for Death Cab For Cutie. As the entire poster is made from cartoon, the artists and designers have given themselves the freedom to be more creative in their design. This is seen distinctively in the poster as much mise-en-scene is shown all throughout the poster. For example, references to the bands unusual name are presented through the mise-en-scene through the cartoon picture of a skeleton driving a cab (hence "Death Cab For Cutie"). In terms of the posters colouring, there is a contrast between the dark, black background and the bright colours of pinks, purples and yellows used in the cartoon and title underneath. By creating this contrast, the designers have drawn further attention to the poster by making it appear both obscure and therefore more attractive. In terms of the title and concert details, the title is placed in large, roundish font towards the bottom to further attract the audience, allowing them to clearly see the concert details but without drawing the attention away from the main images. The roundish font suggests a more lighthearted feel to both the bad and the concert itself, aswell as it being flattering to the cartoonish, light hearted theme of the above images.

Sia Tour Poster

This is the concert advertisement poster for the artist Sia. Through the colouring and general mise-en-scene, the audience can instantly see that this is a female dominated artist, and could be a female dominated concert. The main artist, Sia, is featured in a medium close up image centred in the middle of the poster. By doing this, the audience is instantly drawn to the artist and is able to easily recognise her, thus advertising her work. Upon this, the mise-en-scene surrounding her (i.e. the quirky items placed on her face) are used in this way to further draw attention onto the artist, connecting the advertisement for a concert to her work. The concert details (amongst other details such as the album release date) are placed in the right hand side corner in a small (probably size 6) font to draw more attention onto the artist. This may be because your typical audience would focus more on the aesthetic details on the poster, as opposed to the formalities. The concerts tour name, aswell as the artists name is placed high above the poster in a large font, with the artists name placed with an unusual and colourful font to further draw more attention to her and her work. By making both titles at the top in a large font, the audience is instantly drawn to the title. This is complimented through a general lack of mise-en-scene, allowing the audience to only focus on the main aspects of the poster.

You Me At Six - Underdog (Single cover) and Album cover.

Music by You Me At Six is typically of a punk rock nature and this is reflected unconventionally through the amount of colour, and lack of darkness that is usually associated with punk rock music. Whilst there is a lack of colour designed to be unconventional to the bands genre, the images and mise-en-scene surrounding are projected to imply the theme of love or broken love, a quite conventional theme of punk rock music, and of You Me At Six's single itself "Underdog". Through the colour explosion seen on the Album cover, and the colouring of both covers in general, (that being whites, pinks, reds, blues and random bursts of colours) the audience recognises the many colours as symbolic of emotions (ones that would be associated with the punk rock theme of love/broken love), especially that of the prominent reds and pinks apparent on both covers. Upon this, the image of a rose is apparent on both covers along with these colours, presenting to the bands target audience the furthered idea of romance and broken love. As both the single and album cover are heavily connected, it can be said that the general theme throughout the bands music is that of broken love (often prominent in the bands genre of music). On both covers, there is a white banner that covers the majority of the area on the bands cover with the bands title placed upon it. This is used to make sure the bands name (coloured black) is appeared prominent and not washed out through the high amount of colours that have appeared on the main bands cover, the album cover. This theme is followed through to the single cover to make the connection between the bands music. The font of both covers' titles differs in terms of font between the bands name, which is a mainly masculine type of font, to the title of the actual album/single which is predominantely feminine, giving the implication that both album and single cover is neutral in gender.Unusual is that of the album/single covers title, to which the writing is small and scrawled, making it harder to read than larger and more clear style fonts. The intentions of this may be so the audience has to look harder, and thus it draws more attention to the covers. Through the picture apparent on the single cover, (which is centred in the middle to draw the most attention to) we can see that the bands music is designed for teenagers (mainly because the image is of a teenage boy) and this is further implied through the colouring and the conventions of punk rock music to which teenagers are its biggest fans.

We Are Scientists - Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt (Single Cover) and Album Cover

The album and single cover of the We Are Scientists have surprisingly almost no connection amongst them besides their features that represent the "Indie/Rock" genre. As Indie music is typically an alternative and quite quirky style of music, the band have represented this by putting random and quite quirky cartoons/pictures as the majority of both their covers. Whilst the band are redundant in their appearance, the album cover is implicit in the way it suggests the three "headless" men could be the members of the band. Looking introvertly, a connection could be made between the two covers through the way they hold slightly feminine aspects about them. Looking at the mise-en-scene for example, the single cover is totally black apart from one clearly female hand holding a cigarette. And on the album cover, the three men are holding up kittens, a typically female type of animal. By doing this, the band are contrasting against their typically male music types and drawing further more upon the general male genre of their band and music, making the overall genre of these covers either neutral or male dominated. On the single cover, the entire background is black, except for the title and the small picture. By doing this, the band are attracting their target audience by drawing the only attention to the small picture (added for further quirkiness). Because of the lack of mise-en-scene apparent in the single cover, the band have the liberty to make their title smaller with the added chance of the audience becoming more drawn to the smaller writer due to it being one of the only things apparent on the single cover.Because there is not much mise-en-scene, the band have placed the title in the middle, thus drawing more attention. In contrast to this, the album cover, (to which's mise-en-scene is plenty) has a much larger title because it is needed to dominate over the other preceding mise-en-scene and it is placed underneath the pictures in the aim of making sure it does not become faded amongst the other images. Another difference between both covers is the use of colour, that being the album cover is plentiful in light and intense colours such as light blue, bright pink and red whilst the single cover is dominated entirely in black. Though very different, both provide the feel of "quirkiness" and thus pertain to the chosen genre and target audience - indie, young, usually male. There are no apparent logos, themes or icons throughout both covers, most likely to maintain a feel of quirkiness with random images.