Initial Ideas

Brief 4: Music Video and online

For my coursework, I have decided to do Brief 4: Music Video and online. This is because this brief intrigued me the most, not only because I enjoy rock music, but because I want to push myself to produce a good music video as this is something I’d like to do in the future. It was between the music video brief and the magazine brief, but I decided against doing the magazine as I’d done this for GCSE Media Studies.

My initial idea was to do a music video for the song ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ by the rock band Simple Minds. The music video will be split between performance shots of the band playing and shots following the narrative of the video.The song was popularised and most well-known from the 1985 film ‘The Breakfast Club’, and so I have chosen to parody the movie in the narrative.

The film follows a group of polar-opposite students who represent different highschool stereotypes (such as the nerd, the jock etc) all being put in detention together. By the end, they all become friends and discover they’re much more similar than they seem. The narrative of the video will follow a similar route, with the characters not speaking to each other at first but soon bonding and eventually mirroring the friendship that’s seen throughout with the band performing.

Each member will represent a different main character/stereotype from the movie:

• The Athlete - The Singer
• The Brain - The Bassist
• The Criminal - The Lead Guitarist
• The Princess - The Drummer
• The Basket Case - The Rhythm Guitarist

The music video would act as homage to 80’s movies in general, with other intertextual references of some of the most iconic 80’s movies also included due to the influence that the ‘band’ takes from 80’s rock music and culture. These references may range from shots mimicking scenes from the movie, to ‘Easter Eggs’ in the mise-en-scene for the audience to recognise.

Some of the movies that may be included are:

• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
• The Lost Boys
• Back To The Future
• Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Big
• E.T
• Ghostbusters
• Gremlins
• Stand By Me

The band’s description would be along the lines of:

‘An up-and-coming rock band, taking influence from 80’s new wave, dance-rock and post-punk artists like Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, New Order, and The Cure.’

Colour Scheme:

Above is a colour palette that I initially created when thinking into the visual aesthetic that I’d like the website to have, inspired by the ‘retro’ 80’s theme of the band.

Brainstorming:

When thinking about my NEA, I have come up with a few ideas along the way that I may or may not want to include:

• Cameo of a 'teacher' character
• Projections/silhouettes
• Title card is a painting - sell painting on website
• Opening- put VHS into old TV which starts up the title card - zoom into music video
• Write one of the lyrics on each of their faces/hands "dont" "you" "forget" "about" "me"
• Badges of 80s films and pop-culture references for 'Criminal's' jacket