Mise-en-scene

I am in the process of coming up with my music video idea and today we learnt about mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a media text. Mise-en-scene continuity is very important in real life music videos so I am to replicate that as best as possible.

Music Video Moodboard

I've been doing a little research into my chosen genre: electropop and the types of music videos that accompany songs of this genre. The backgrounds/locations in these videos are always quite abstract so I tried to think outside of the box via locations for my song.

My friend told me of this art exhibition, called Gods Own Junkyard, with vintage neons lights that I think would be great to use in the video. As far as I am aware, photography is allowed in the establishment so I'm planning to go with my friend to just film a couple shots to add into my music video.

The variety of lights is huge so I want to get shots of lights similar to the ones on the top row of my mood board. I like these ones because they are great visual representations of the song I want to do. The 'sweet like chocolate' light portrays how the female has a sweet facade but inside isn't what see appears to be, hence the 'error' light - showing the error inside her mind. Also, there are many sexual references in the song so I think the 'sex, drugs and bacon rolls' light would be very good to represent that.
I added some photos of newspaper titles because I had an idea that to show the chaotic state the females mind is in, I wanted to have her bedroom wall covered with newspaper articles, words and images all to do with death, suicide, murder, etc as a visual representation of the lyric "feeling super, super, super suicidal".

"Teen Idle" Lyrics

I wanna be a bottle blonde
I don't know why but I feel conned
I wanna be an idle teen
I wish I hadn't been so clean

I wanna stay inside all day
I want the world to go away
I want blood, guts and chocolate cake
I wanna be a real fake

Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been a teen, teen idle
Wish I'd been a prom queen fighting for the title
Instead of being sixteen and burning up a Bible
Feeling super, super, super suicidal
The wasted years, the wasted youth
The pretty lies, the ugly truth
And the day has come where I have died
Only to find I've come alive

I wanna be a virgin pure
A 21st century whore
I want back my virginity
So I can feel infinity

I wanna drink until I ache
I wanna make a big mistake
I want blood, guts and angel cake
I'm gonna puke it anyway

Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been a teen, teen idle
Wish I'd been a prom queen fighting for the title
Instead of being sixteen and burning up a Bible
Feeling super, super, super suicidal
The wasted years, the wasted youth
The pretty lies, the ugly truth
And the day has come where I have died
Only to find I've come alive
Come alive, I've come alive

I wish I wasn't such a narcissist
I wish I didn't really kiss
The mirror when I'm on my own
Oh, God! I'm gonna die alone
Adolescence didn't make sense
A little loss of innocence
The ugly years of being a fool
Ain't youth meant to be beautiful?

Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been a teen, teen idle
Wish I'd been a prom queen fighting for the title
Instead of being sixteen and burning up a Bible
Feeling super, super, super suicidal
The wasted years, the wasted youth
The pretty lies, the ugly truth
And the day has come where I have died
Only to find I've come alive
Only to find I've come alive
Only to find I've come alive
Come alive

Feeling super, super, super!
Feeling super, super, super!
Feeling super, super, super!
Come alive

Group Assignment

In lesson, we were told to get into the groups that we wanted to do our coursework with. I decided to by myself because I prefer to work on my own and I can rely on myself rather than other people. Also, I can do my own ideas and be in charge of all executive decisions to make my video as best as possible.

"Mrs. Potato Head" - Melanie Martinez (Potential Song No.4)

"Teen Idle" - Marina & The Diamonds (Potential Song No.3)

"Carmen" - Lana Del Ray (Potential Song No.2)

"Gasoline" - Halsey (Potential Song No.1)

Potential Songs

I wanted to do a music video based around the fragile mind so I've spent a lot of time contemplating what song I would like to do and after a lot of thinking, I whittled it down to four potential songs before making my final decision:

1. "Gasoline" - Halsey.
2. "Carmen" - Lana Del Ray.
3. "Teen Idle" - Marina And The Diamonds.
4. "Mrs. Potato Head" - Melanie Martinez.

To decide which song to do, I decided to do weigh up the pros and cons of each song then finally decided which one would be best.

Genre Research: Interviews

Over the summer holidays, I decided to do a little more research into my selected genre. I have two potential artists at the moment: 'Marina and the Diamonds' and 'Halsey' so I've been watching lots of interviews of those two artists talking about their music. In the first interview, the interviewer talks to Marina about her songs being two different styles; either more upbeat and dance-like compared to more "coldplay-esk" and sad which primarily is the essence of the electro-pop genre.

In the interview below, Halsey discusses the influences of her life on her music. She promotes the genre in her music videos by basing each video off of cult classic teen cinema where she felt everybody could feel apart of the music and everyone could relate to it - which is a common convention of this genre. She believes that the best way to achieve that is to have as much visual content as possible, which is why music videos for songs are very important.