Woodkid - Iron Prezi

Pitch

I pitched the concept the Luke, the head of Media. Due to Carla's absence, the pitch didn't go very well. The main criticisms were:

1. There wasn't enough content - the narrative of the video didn't involve enough interesting things to look at.
2. No performance element - the video should probably involve some sort of performance. We spoke about the possibility of a singer or somebody playing the drums.

:(

Researching genre conventions

We did research into Iron by Woodkid. Woodkid (Yoann Lemoine) is a very genre-bending artist. He's been described as rural-rock, neo-folk, prog-rock and baroque rock. We decided to choose elements of his style and image which appealed to us. A few words which popped up were 'gothic', 'classical', 'bleak'. We compiled images from other bands which reminded us the genre.

Woodkid

Smashing Pumpkins

My Chemical Romance

Neo-folk aesthetic

Smashing Pumpkins

For the video, we discussed an idea involving a man buying a sword from a blacksmith, then walking to a party with the intent of killing someone. Whether or not the assassination is shown is not yet decided.

Song Choice

In a group of me, Daria, Carla and Harry, we brought our ideas together with the intention of choosing one for our video.

Daria

Pavrov Stellar - Clap Your Hands: This idea involved taking advantage of the blend of electronic music and jazz in the track. There would be a dance-off between two groups of dancers, one made up of young, cool teenagers and the other made up of older, Fred Astaire style tap-dancers and cabaret dancers.

Ned (Me)

My Chemical Romance - Teenagers: See here for details.

Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For the Wicked: See here for details.

Harry

Maverick Sabre - I Need: A narrative video about a physically disabled ex-sportsman, reflecting on his life and struggling with his disability.

John Newman - Love Me Again: A video about a young couple running through a forest, away from some unknown threat.

Pursuit of Happiness - Kid Cudi: Having passed out, a man wakes up in a huge water tank slowly filling up with water. He slowly accepts his death as the tank fills up with water.

                                                                            Carla 

Woodkid - Iron: A man with a baseball bat (or possibly a sword), walks through a village to a specific location to commit a murder/assassination. Black and White and interspersed with a blacksmith making a sword.

Go Radio - Goodnight Moon: A video showing lots of different types of couples falling in love and fighting and having problems, etc.



Lots of these ideas were developed and changed just through discussion, the three ideas which gained the most popularity were Teenagers, Iron and Pursuit of Happiness. As a group, we voted on it and decided to go with the idea for Iron by Woodkid. We discussed the possibility of changing the setting of the video to a more medieval time period. That way we could explore the Gothic imagery. It also fitted more with the song.

Pitching Initial Concepts to the Class

I pitched my two ideas to the rest of the class and recorded their response.

The idea which got a lot of response was the Teenagers video. This is because of the irreverent, comical aspect. I like the idea of a video which incorporates comedy as well as being off the wall, original and quirky. We also discussed the possibility of including a performance element.

Music Video Idea - Aint No Rest For the Wicked

Aint no Rest for the Wicked – Cage the Elephant.

Intro

Man sitting in bar, drinking pint. Band playing in background. All the band members are wearing novelty devil horns. He puts some money on the counter, gets up and leaves.

First Verse

Man walks down street and is solicited by young prostitute wearing the same novelty horns. All the direct dialogue is lip synched to the respective character.

First Chorus

The chorus flips back and forth between the band back in the pub still playing, the man walking down the street and the prostitute on her own, singing along and dancing.

Second Verse

As described in the lyrics, a man in a large, sinister trench coast and a similar pair of novelty devil horns slips out of sight, into an alleyway. He then jumps out beside the protagonist and puts a large, revolver up against his head. Again, the lyrics are synched to the character speaking them.

Second Chorus

The second chorus flips back and forth between the band back in the pub still playing, the mugger singing and dancing along and the man walking home.

Instrumental

The man sees a pair of devil horns on the floor, bends down, picks them up and shakes his head. The throws them over his shoulder and carries on home.

Third Verse

The man is home, sitting and watching TV. On the TV he sees an elderly priest with devil horns, stuffing his pockets with money from a church collection bucket. The man watches in shock. He looks down, on the sofa next to him is another pair of the novelty devil horns. He picks them up and puts them on.

Third Chorus

The last chorus shows the prostitute, the mugger, the priest and the man dancing in the pub. The band are playing in the background. They dance, sing along and pour each other champagne. As the video ends, the lead singer winks at the camera and smiles.

Music Video Idea - Teenagers

Teenagers – My Chemical Romance

[They’re gonna clean up your looks…]

Interior of an old people’s home, a small group of elderly people are sitting round the Television. They’re watching a punk rock channel. One of them is smoking a cigarette. A middle aged female carer walks up and changes the channel to an old black and white film (maybe a George Formby song). The old people complain and one man gets up to change it back but the woman gently pushes him back into his chair. She takes the cigarette out of the smoker’s mouth and walks off.

[Because the drugs never work…]

It’s night, inside an old woman’s bedroom. One of the old men turns on the lights and comes in, fully dressed. He wakes up the woman and explains something to her. She rushes out of bed and starts to get dressed, excitedly. Outside, a group of elderly people are forming. They all pile into a bus and drive off.

[Chorus – Teenagers scare the living shit out of me…]

The bus rushes down the street at an alarming speed.

The rest of the video features the old people committing crude, rebellious acts that would usually be committed by rebellious teenage delinquents including:

• Buying several bottles of vodka, which they drink on the street.
  
• Swearing at traffic and throwing empty bottles at cars.
  
• Ringing people’s doorbells and running away.
  
• Public urination.
  
• Stealing a stop sign.
  
• Giving the finger to a police officer.
  

As the song concludes, the old people hurry back home and get into bed. We see one old man hurriedly hide under the covers. Shortly after, the nurse opens the door to check on him. She sees that he is in bed and smiles.

Researching that appeal of music videos to 17-19 year olds

The class chose three music videos and analyzed them. We made notes on who in the class liked the video and what the artists had done to appeal to their target audience.

Blue - Beyoncé

The video for Blue, by Beyonce proved popular amongst the girls of the class. The focus was on Beyonce's child and filmed in the style of a holiday home movie. It managed to crack into the maternal, romanticised image of the glamorous family mother without sacrificing too much of Beyonce's signature sex appeal and suggestive dancing because it wouldn't be a Beyonce video without a bit of twerking.

Persuit of Happines - Kid Cudi

The music video for popular rapstar, Kid Cudi's song, Pursuit of Happiness was moderately popular over both sexes. Nobody liked it a lot but several people liked it a bit. It shows the fun of the decadent rap music lifestyle as well as the dark side of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

When You're Gone - Avril Lasagne Lavigne

The video for When You're Gone by Avril Lavigne was moderately popular amongst the female students. The focus on relationships and the sad moments of relationships is a popular theme amongst artists who target young female audiences.