Second proposal

In recent criticism of my idea and concept for my music video I have gone ahead and created a second proposal with new ideas. 

Name: Joe Panton

Platform:

Working title/brand/artist and song:James Blake: Retrograde

1. Your inspiration

Outside of music, things I've seen and heard have acted as inspirations for my idea. Programs such as 'American Horror Story' gave inspiration for using a character with physical deformities and using it as a metaphor for feeling different, detached and alone. The character of Larry Harvey in 'American Horror Story' season 1 would have looked like anyone else but it seems that in part due to his severe burn scars he is not accepted by anyone. In my video, I will aim to use make up to disguise one side of the female character's face to look like a skeleton. This will act as my metaphor to show how the character is clearly different and separate to everyone else, with the skull and its negative deathly connotations making it clear that this is a bad thing.

The music acts as an inspiration - James Blake's music usually carries some kind of wacky edge to it, which is great because I think it allows you to produce a video with many weird and interesting elements. Infact, you can see this in some of his own videos such as 'Overgrown' or 'Limit To Your Love'. 

Real life situations also inspire my ideas. James Blake's 'Retrograde' has lyrics which can be interpreted very openly. They're so vague that you can apply them to many different situations and have the song still make sense. You can apply it to a break up, to a death, and to many other scenarios too. 

My first interpretation of it is that James Blake is singing about someone he loved who has changed and not for better. He wants things to rewind back to how they were hence the title of the song 'Retrograde'. He thinks that the girl also knows she has changed for the worse, this is connoted by the lyrics:

'So be the girl you loved,

Be the girl you loved'

He is practically begging her to return to how she was before, when she was happy and loved herself. He shows that he is willing to accept her as long as she doesn't give in to her new persona:

'I'll wait, so show me why you're strong'

I also got the impression that because she has changed so drastically she no longer has any real friends and is deeply alone:

'And your friends are gone

When you friends won't come'

Until she finds her old self again, she is going to feel isolated and different from everyone else, and that is why she wears the skull make up - it is a constant reminder that she doesn't fit in with anybody in her new life and it's not a positive emotion. 

There are times in many people's lives when they don't feel that they fit in. A lot of the time this comes after a break up, where you don't feel that anybody understands you in the way that your old partner did. 

The uncertainty that comes across through the tone of the music and the lyrics shows that James Blake could have been trying to relate his music to a very wide target audience. We all have many real life situations in which we don't know how to feel, how to react or what to do. This would inspire me to centralise my narrative around a real life situation such as love.

2. Explain idea/concept

My idea is to have a narrative focused around a female protagonist who feels incredibly alone and detached from everyone else following a recent event in her life. There will be many shots in different locations, the first few will focus on her in her bedroom. They will show one side of her face but at one point she will suddenly turn and the side painted into a skull will be visible. This is not an attempt to make her look like a realistic skeleton, but is rather a metaphor for her feeling different from other people who would have normal faces. Other shots may include looking into a mirror - trying to 'be the girl you loved', but only finding the skull face looking back at her. Later in the video, she will go on a journey into the woods - the natural loneliness of the environment helping her to feel more like she belongs. Towards the end of the video, she reaches a steep incline in the woods - a hill. It represents the struggle to find your happy self again after you're put rock bottom. Once she reaches the top, it is revealed that her skull make up is gone.

It will have a dark possibly black and white colour palette used to connote the darkness that she feels as she has nobody she can properly talk to that will understand her. 

3. Explain target audience

The target audience would be ages 16-35. A younger generation in which split ups or emotional breakdowns can arguably be more common and where we are coming into terms with new and very difficult life experiences including what it means to be in love with somebody. Audiences might sympathise with characters based on their experiences. However, they will see that the main character's determination to find herself was successful and that things can be good again. 

4. Who will feature, what will feature, where will it be set 

Character 1: The protagonist female character. She has recently hit rock bottom and lost sense of what made her happy. She wears half a face of heavy make up to resemble a skeleton and is pretty much devoid of happy body language and facial expressions, instead giving a moody and a little sad expression throughout the video. 

Other characters might be very minor ones who only appear briefly and feature to give the main character scorning looks. 

It will be set in the woods, a field, a bedroom, a bathroom. 

5. What kind of institutions are likely to be involved?

6. What ideological values will be mediated?

Depression after a life changing and saddening event is normal, but you can push through it. The lyric 'Is this darkness of the dawn' represents this perfectly. Things can get better so don't give in and remain static, do something. 

7. What equipment will you need?

A camera, a tripod, make up

8. What locations will you use?

Woods (Belmont downs area), a bedroom, a kitchen, a shower room.

9. What permissions will you need?

The permission to use James Blake's 'Retrograde' audio from Polydor Records

10. What costs are involved?

None