BASTILLE – GOOD GRIEFConcept and Performance

Music Video Idea.

WHY THIS SONG?I have chosen the song Good Grief by Bastille as it is a song which explores various interesting themes surrounding the death of a loved one. I also find that the music sounds fairly upbeat, which does not correspond, in fact contrasts, with the nature of the lyrics or the themes explored, such as death, fire and a mourning family. I feel that this contrast would lead to a music video that would be interesting for the way that the mood/tone and narrative do not truly match.

A second reason I have chosen to come up with an idea for this song, is that it is one which is known well by our group, it is not over played, and explores themes that are relatable to all people, but avoids becoming depressing by contrasting its music style.

STYLE?I have decided that this will be a combination of both a performance and concept music video. This is because the style of the song supports the idea of a band performance in the video, as well as having recurring themes in the lyrics which could add to the concept element of the video.

HOW WOULD THIS SYLE BE EXPLORED?

I would explore the concept style of the video by including various shots of fire and smoke in the transitions to enforce the fire as a recurring theme, to match the line, “burning bright right ‘till the end…” This will make my video compatible with Goodwin’s convention of a match between the lyrics and the visuals. I will secondly link my music video to the theme of death by carefully planning and adapting the outfits of all of the performers to give the impression that they are at a funeral.

PRACTICAL DETAILS- Mise En Scene -

During their performance, the band will wear a black tie suit to convey the theme of death to the audience by suggesting the band member’s presence at a funeral service. Secondly this will enforce the idea that the singer was close to the deceased. This idea is suggested through the lyrics: “I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more…” and “What’s gonna be left of the world if you’re not in it.”

I will include flashback shots of the deceased female, who I have chosen to dress in white to connote her innocence to the audience. These flashback shots will be bright, using high-key lighting to further enforce the idea of positivity and innocence and link to the lyrics, “burning bright right ‘till the end.”

PRACTICAL DETAILS- Camerawork -

I will include a range of straight-on-to-moderately-low-angled shots of the band to convey their importance to the song but not to the point which they become dominant and antagonised as this will not help with enforcing the meaning and messages in the lyrics.

The innocence of the female character will be enforced further through the use of high-angled shots, which make her seem smaller and less dominant, as well as close-up shots of her innocent smile to convey her virtuousness.

PRACTICAL DETAILS- Editing -

I will ensure that attention is drawn to the female character in the flashback scenes of when she was alive, by significantly slowing down the editing pace to allow individual shots of her to last much longer.I will also ensure that in post-processing the shots of the female will be separated visually from the other shots in the video in order to make it clear to the audience that they are flashback scenes.

PRACTICAL DETAILS- Locations and Settings -

“Missing from the photographs…”

Funeral/Death as a concept/theme…

I have decided that the two main shot locations will be at a church or graveyard in order to present the idea/concept of a funeral, which is something mentioned in the lyrics. This will, as a result, allow my idea to conform to the conventions set out by Goodwin.The funeral shots will frame the band playing live, linking this idea to other performance music videos.My second location will be a family home, with a particular attention drawn to the empty photo frames, linking my video idea to concept based music videos.

REPRESENTATIONSThe innocence of the female character will be highly stereotypical of how women are presented in the media. However, this is not so much stereotypical of music videos as they are stereotypically presented as the most highly sexualised, promiscuous and objectified gender.I will also challenge the conventional gender representations of men as, in music videos, they are stereotypically represented as dominant characters which sexualize females and are focused on to be looking at the females as part of the male gaze theory. I will challenge this and portray the male singer to be more emotional than what is conventional in music videos, I will not present him as dominant, nor will he be ‘looking’ or sexualizing a female character – instead mourning the loss of one.

GOODWIN 7• This music video will demonstrate certain genre characteristics as it will feature

a boy band playing live, drawing a particular attention to the instruments being played.

• There will be a strong correspondence between the music/lyrics and the visuals through the fire and smoke imagery, as previously mentioned, also I will include shots of empty photo frames to link with the lyrics, “missing from the photographs…”

• I will include close up shots of the main singer of the band in order to satisfy the demand of the record label to present the image of the band in order to boost their brand image familiarity and popularity.

• No element of the ‘notion of looking’ will be made deliberately as I feel that this music video would not suit this concept because of the seriousness of the themes and concepts which it explores.

• I will make an intertextual reference to the film Weird Science (1985) because of the reference to the film in the first line of the song’s lyrics.