Maya is an India, Sikh girl aged 21. She will be releasing her first album this year. Her music genre is indie pop, and tries to express her thoughts, feelings, and emotions through her songs. When she was younger she felt quite isolated and didn't have anyone to talk to. This is what sparked her interest in writing music. Since then she has been writing her own songs and has been performing locally to family members, friends and in pubs. She has had a lot of attention and now at the age of 21 she has been recognised my republic records who have taken her on. She is planning to release this album and go to music festivals to promote her album. She is going to be creating a CD and Magazine poster for this promotion. She is hoping to have a second album in a couple of years time.
I am an A level student requesting your permission to use Lana Del Rey's track Summertime Sadness. This track will strictly be used for educational purposes, A2 level Media Studies. This includes: creating a music video, an album cover and a magazine advert for our new upcoming artist. This involves of creating a new name, therefore I will not be using Lana Del Rey's name. If we gain your permission this track will only be used for educational purposes and only be viewed by my media class, teachers and the OCR exam board. This track will not be used for any financial purposes or to gain any profit. The artist and the record company will fully be acknowledged throughout the project and production, including the final music video created.
My artist will be shown as very simple from her work side however when she is getting ready I want the audience members to feel like she is taking her time and is putting a lot of effort in what she is doing. In the master shots I want to make sure she looks emotional and serious as I want the audience to think about the lyrics while watching her 'sing'.
Costume
These are some outfits that I am planning for the artist to wear. The red dress will be for her getting ready to go out as it relates to the lyrics of the video and I believe that there could be some connotations to the 'red dress'. Additionally I will make sure my artist has a good amount of make up on and she is wearing high heels to make it look more realistic. Her hair will be done in a bun as it was mentioned in the song and it adds to her look of looking smart and sophisticated. The simple vest tops will be for when she is singing to the camera in the master shots. I have chosen a vest stop as it shows simplicity and I want the artist to look stripped back. There will be some make up used in this part. For the outside shots, I will need a coat that looks smart to go with her red dress outfit. Lastly, her work attire will include a simple smart/casual shirt with trousers. I don't want her to look like she is going out to work. Keeping it smart/casual will help the audience realise that she is working from home due to the simple outfit. Her hair will be very simple and there won't be much make up being used at this point.
Props and Mise en scene
For the work scene I will need a laptop, some papers the artist can work with and a pen. This will make the home environment look more like a work area. When the artist is getting ready I will need a very 'girly' dressing table full of perfumes, make up, a mirror, hair brush and more. This will help set the mood for the audience. Because the artist is getting ready, I will have to give some jewellery for her to put on during the music video.
I would like my actress to be in a red dress as shown in my mood board due to the connotations you can draw from just a 'red dress' and also the visuals will show a relationship with the lyrics (Goodwin). I want to spend some time on when the artist is getting ready to show how much she wants to 'doll up' and go out. This will contrast with her working at work as shown in the title of the song, Summertime Sadness. Also my actress will be looking very simple when the master shot will be taking place. This is because I want the audience members to see the actress stripped back and be seen for who she really is. At some point in my music video I would like to include a close up of the actress' lips when she is singing just to make it look appealing, for example when the song says 1,2,3,4. I also want to include a time lapse in the video to show that time is passing and maybe a typical day of the artist. Lastly, I want to show that the actress is bored and feels stressed at work, generally fed up with life. I could do this by either making her sit in an office or work from home. If my artist is working from home, it will make her look like she has an even more boring life. This is because a normal person will have to go out to work, however if my artist works from home it will show that she doesn't go out much and is restricted as to what she can do.
One part of the feedback that I received was that I may not have enough content for my music video. Furthermore, the music video idea was seen as a cliche. I now have to think about how to make my music video more interesting for the audience members, so they could watch the music video again and again. I don't want the audience members to be hesitant about watching the video again.
To improve, I would try and use graphic matching. I think this would really show the contrast of the original side of the actress and then the side that she wishes to be. For example, if she is at work singing a piece of paper, the other side of it would be maybe her signing an autograph.
One thing I may consider is when the actress is getting ready. I could show the difference between how she would get ready when going out and how she gets ready when going to work everyday.
Overall, I have to think about some more interesting things to do in the music video, maybe not a dream but I could include maybe a day dream.
I have interpreted the meaning of this song. I believe that I could do something unique with this song which I am looking forward to do. Perhaps I could create two sides of a girl. These days many females go through a lot of problems however they don't always show it. I think I want to show this somehow through the music video. Some women look alright from the outside but may be upset on the inside therefore I can use 'Summertime Sadness' to show this. Just through the title there is contradiction being shown. This could be done through the girl having a dream and showing the 'other' side of the girl.
My final choice is Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey. I believe that this song will give me freedom to do anything when editing and shooting the music video. Furthermore the lyrics are open to interpretation therefore I can come up with any narrative for the song but first I will have to analyse the lyrics and brainstorm my ideas for my music video.
Also I am in a dilemma as to whether I should do the original version of Summertime Sadness or do the remix. Here is the remix to Summertime Sadness:
This remix version is much more upbeat than the original version. For this version, again for the visuals it is open to interpretation. Some shots I can edit to the actual beat of the song which will make it more appealing for the audience to watch.
I have decided to use the original version as I believe I can include a narrative in the song and make it more meaningful.
At the moment I came across the idea of having a dream. I really liked this idea as I would like the music to be fun but also have maybe some sort of meaning to it. Here are some songs that I have considered:
I like this song as I believe I can create a dream within this song. One idea that I had was about a girl dreaming to be the perfect worker and be with an amazing supportive boy friend. I could also show the girl as being religious and being quite conserved as the lyrics of the song have many references to religion, this could be in real life.
This is my favourite song so far. I think that I would be able to show two sides of a girl just by looking at the title of the song 'Summertime Sadness'. Generally people would not think of summer as being sad and I believe that I can show two complete opposites by choosing this song. For me, there is a hidden meaning in the song that I would like to explore.
Alicia Keys is a well known artist worldwide. This particular song makes me think of something fun to do. This is because it generally talks about life and what a person could do and not do. I believe that I can show a variety of different scenarios about peoples lives. This could be done by showing how one person is having fun whereas the other person is fed up and has a lot of problems.
At the moment, I think I would like to choose Summertime Sadness as I believe there is something about the lyrics that attracts me. Also the beat of the song and generally I can interpret my own meaning of the song through my music video. For each song, there is no clear narrative which gives me the freedom of being creative with my ideas.
GENRE
The genre's that I have chosen for my music video are Indie Pop which is a sub-genres from Pop. This genre is an alternative of rock music that originated in United Kingdom in the 80s. I believe that the music I have chosen will help me think of creative ideas in terms of camerawork and narratives. I can experiment with different types of shots for my chosen song such as 28 thousand days. This song has a clear beat in it that I could pace my shots with. Three of these songs have a music video to it which will make it difficult for me to make my own video completely different and unique to the original.
