Accepted/Rejected Ideas

Due to analysis of the target audience research which I have conducted I have decided to use a dramatic narrative for the music video, because the majority of people felt that it would be the most suitable genre to match the song “Closer” by The Kings of Leon. For the music video I am going to produce I am going to use the narrative based around an individual centric character. The narrative will follow the life of the character as he struggles to come to terms with loss of his wife, following an accident. The storyline will lead the character into a dark aspect of life as his mental state begins to deteriorate because he is struggling to cope without his wife. At the beginning of the video the character will appear to be the protagonist of the video but as the video progresses he will appear to become the antagonist. The centric character will be a male character because I think it is most appropriate for the narrative idea for the video. I have chosen to apply this narrative because I feel that it would work well with the lyrics of the song, for example; “She took my heart, I think she took my soul”, this would apply to the male characters wife having been killed in the accident, and represents how the character feels in the aftermath of the accident. I feel that the use of dark lighting would be most acceptable for the video because it creates a strong representation of the negative lifestyle which the central character has succumbed to. I also think that it is important for the pace of editing to begin slow and gradually quicken as the storyline develops in order to avoid juxtaposition with the composition and genre of the music. The gradually change in the pace of editing represents the characters change from protagonist to antagonist and how the characters state of mind has become increasingly unstable. Similarly, slow paced editing is used in the video “Someone Great” by LCD Soundsystem, which allows the emotion of the song to be shown through the video.  From my initial idea I have chosen to build in an enigma at the end of the video, which stems from the idea shown in the video “Just” by Radiohead, the enigma will keep the audience interested and focussed in the video.

I decided not to use my initial idea of basing the narrative around a relationship because I felt that it was not what the audience wanted to see, as shown by the target audience research. This is because the narrative could possibly closely related to a romantic genre, however the narrative might match the lyrics partly “Leaving me stranded all in love on my own” being an example of this. Although the idea of using an enigma at the end of the video like in the music video “Just” by Radiohead appealed and I feel that it could be applied to the narrative I have chosen to develop for my music video. 

I rejected my final idea because I felt that out of my three ideas, it least applied to the songs style, lyrics and title. Although it matches the description of a dramatic narrative which the audience wanted it does not match the song where as other two narratives would be better suited to the song. However, the idea of using dark lighting to create more of a negative mood and atmosphere surrounding the character would be suitable for the narrative that I have chosen. Although the second idea of using bright lights to show the characters purity and search for a new life may also be applicable to the final narrative for the video.