FIRST PITCH

There are a group of conventions which are common in pop videos which I plan to either subvert or imitate in my pop video. Due to my pop video being in French, many of the conventions will be subverted because I will be unable to truly imitate the English/American conventions. However, the band which will play the song will have an aesthetically pleasing style, which will be unique and individual. I plan for the singer to be a female dressed in a unusual brightly coloured dress which puffs out at the bottom, and the band will be dressed in all black with quite strange make-up. This will make the audience be interested in them and their product because it will be unique, however, they will still be able to relate to it because it is not so strange that it seems completely foreign. The type of music, generic, will be different to normal English bands, due to it being a French song, however, the audience will be able to enjoy it still because it is an upbeat song, with a catchy rhythm. My pop video will not be ideologically pushed because it is about a broken-hearted girl, however, due to it being in French and the video being slightly abstract, the audience won’t feel it is predictable and tedious. These subverted aspects of the pop video will hopefully attract a mass audience for mass consumption. Keith Negus says that pop videos each have certain conventions. I deal with them paragraph by paragraph:

A feature that will be imitated in my pop video is the appearance of the artist. The band will be in both the narrative story and the performance aspect. In the narrative, the singer will be singer the song to the girl sitting down, and the band will be part of the group which are trying to make the girl happy again. In the performance frame, they will be playing their instruments and singing the song. This is imitating the convention because many bands do the performance and also play a role in the narrative. I chose to imitate this convention because it means the audience can relate to the band as they see both stories.

Although I have not organised each shot yet, I do plan to use a wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement, as Negus says. However, in the narrative story, I plan for the band to be seen in the perspective of the girl who is sitting down, because it will seem like she, and the audience, is being entertained.

Much of my pop video will be quite realistic, which could be subverting previous conventions. I have chosen to do this so the audience can relate to it, because it is realistic and not fantasy, however, the video will still be abstract in the singers actions, that way the audience is still interested.

I plan to do many quick shots will which reflect and cut to the beat of the song, that way the audience will feel comfortable with the normal convention, as Negus says. However, at some points in the pop video, I plan to remain on a shot for longer than usual, that way it will slightly shock the audience, because it is different, however, not so much that they will not enjoy the pop video.

I plan to use some special effects which Negus states is common in pop videos, in the post production stage. Due to the song being in French, I would like to for the main line of the song: “Je vais prendre ta douleur” to be incorporated into the video in English. For example, I may have the girl roll her sleeves up in frustration, and “I will take your pain” will be tattooed across her arm so that the audience know what is being said. However, I do not plan to use too many after effects because I feel the attraction to the pop video is that it is a simple story, and therefore the effects should reflect this.

I plan for the Mise en Scene to be slightly French, due to the song choice. It will be in a black studio for the narrative frame. This is neutral and simple, however, the methods that the singer and band will do to make the girl happy, could be slightly French and bizarre in order to reflect the lyrics and language. For example, the band could be miming a situation in order to make the girl happy, and I could incorporate red, white and blue into the set to advertise the French flag.

I feel that the audience will have a high impact instantly due to it firstly being in French, because this is not what they will be expecting. Then their amazement will sustain due to the content of the video. Negus argued “high impact” is vital for a pop video, therefore I plan to achieve this.

When pitching the idea to Luke, our teacher and executive producer, I showed him the song on youtube, and he was quite interested in the video and song to begin with. I explained my pitch for the video which is a French song called “Ta Douleur” by Camille, by clearly describing the narrative frame, against the performance frame. Luke felt that the narrative frame was very interesting, due to its simplicity. He liked the idea of the audience and the girl being entertained, and to increase this aspect he suggested that the camera be from the girl’s perspective in the narrative frame, and therefore hardly move at all. Luke also said that the methods which the band carries out to make the girl happy, need to be specific and interesting in order for the audience to enjoy it. Therefore, what I now need to do is decide exactly what the methods are going to be, and explain them in detail, that way nothing can go wrong on the shoot day, and also the audience will appreciate the specificity.