Planning: Final Idea

Song: No Role Modelz – J-Cole

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Target Audience: 16-30

Narrative: Starts off with artist performance on their own, in a simplistic white room. The artist reminisces on his high school days and how he loved a girl. Realised he had to give up because “she don’t want be saved” from the way she is acting around males. After reminiscing on the relationship that they shared she finds herself in a toxic relationship with a different man. The young lady realises that the artist now has money, fame and happiness and now wants him back; however, the artist is no longer interested. The older version of the girl will return at the end to J-Cole and they are standing face to face expressionless. Both the younger and older characters will wear similar clothing in order to portray the representation. There will be a clear use in Todorov’s theory with the equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium.

Characters:

•    J-Cole
•  Older female
• Younger J-Cole
• Younger female

MES:

Lighting & Colour:

• Low-key lighting, top lighting, spot lights
• Grey, blue, green

Setting:

• Bedroom- low key lighting with lamps
• Library - show the old times
• Restaurants
• Alley ways

Costume/Hair/Make-up:

•             J-Cole – To portray simplicity, a plain t-shirt, jeans, bomber jacket, trainers. Jewellery to emphasise the fame.
•            Older female – Jeans, crop top, trainers. Hair, natural and curly. Make-up, simple and natural look to show the natural beauty.
•            The younger J-Cole and Female will wear a similar outfit to represent that they are a younger version of them.

Iconography:

•         Gold chains/Medals/Trophies/Plaques to portray the fame and lifestyle he has adapted to.

Body Language & Facial Expression:

•   Confident body language.
•  Lust being portrayed through body language
•  Angry/frustrated/envy emotions

Theory:

Goodwin:

•         Relationship between lyrics and visuals: Visuals will reflect the lyrics e.g. “she don’t want to be saved” will show him leaving her and not trying any more.
•         Relationship between music and visuals: There will be slow edits/motion to portray the slow pace of the song.
•         Intertextual Reference: There will be references to George Bush and a quote of his will be mentioned. 
•         Notion of looking: There will be close-ups of the younger female character when the artist first sees her, and also at the end when the artist meets her again after several years to portray the lust.
•         Star image motif: There will be close-ups of the artist as he performs the song in his bedroom where the full focus will be on him.
•         Performance, narrative, concept? Our music video will be narrative and performance based.
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Mulvey:

•          Mulvey’s theory doesn’t really apply, but the slight attraction of the girl may cause a ‘male gaze’.

Dyer:

•         In our video, “star image” will be emphasised through the focus on J-Cole as he performs the song/rap.

Adorno:

•          Relation to audience through narrative of people being heartbroken which is a mainstream idea. This applies to the majority of the public as the theme of heartbreak is common in society.

Discuss your final choices in relation to your audience feedback:

We received audience feedback about our final idea which helped us significantly in planning. We found that the audience preferred a narrative rather than a concept based video which was something they could relate to. Also, the audience had stated they would like to see intertextual references as well as the relationship between the lyrics and visuals being strong. Our audience feedback ensured we had researched into the right target audience and finalised our idea.

Why and how is this music video conventional to mainstream music video making?

Our music video would come across conventional because it follows the typical theme of having a narrative that most mainstream videos pursue. Lip syncing is also a huge part of a conventional music video as this is the focus of it. Also, star image is significant because mainstream music videos concentrate on the artist throughout the video which we will follow. Moreover, the relationship between the lyrics and visuals are also a mainstream feature of a music video. We will also follow this to ensure we stick to the mainstream conventions of a music video.

How is this music video conventional to your chosen genre?

Our music video is conventional to the Hip-Hop/Rap genres because we will be following the conventions of the genres to ensure this. We chose J-Cole as he is a Hip-Hip/Rap artist who fits well in the genres due to the style of his music. The conventions that we chose to use in our music video are iconography such as gold chains to display the lavish lifestyle. Also, we chose to use attractive females in order to follow the Hip-Hop/Rap convention, however, not sexually which may challenge the convention. Moreover, another convention we will follow is portraying a love story between the artist and a female character which is usually evident in Hip-Hop videos.

How does your music video represent your artist?

Our music video will represent our artist in a unique way due to simplicity we will use. He will be portrayed in simple clothes to show that he is normal and ordinary like his fans. We would prefer to portray him in a humble manner where he is able to show his true self to his fans which will create bonds between the artist and the audience. Also, we want to show that famous people also go through the same problems as the audience. This portrayal of the artist will be beneficial and will ensure success because the audience will be able to stay engaged.