Alternative Ending Discussions

For the end of our music video we each came up with an alternative ending which would fit the narrative as well as creating a comedic value.

Alternate ending #1:
The first alternative ending was that of our two protagonists being kicked out of the parties entrance where the music video first began. For this scene we would simply have other party goers crowding around the door and throwing the confused pair onto the driveway, they would then stand as the music fades off and slowly walk away, the screen also eventually fading to black

Alternate ending #2:
Our second idea consisted of a successful ending, the two leads being shown to be passed out a bathroom, surrounded by females who are also passed out. This would infer that the characters eventually gave way to their finicky personalities and had a good time. Furthermore, the camera would zoom out of the long shot in the bathroom and then fade to black.

Alternate ending #3:
In our third and final idea we decided to evoke the audience's interpretation of the character's fates. During a small shot in the midst of the party atmosphere we would have our two protagonists sitting on a sofa as they appear exhausted by the party atmosphere. After this the negative introduction in the party soon changes to a positive one, the party goers bringing the nerds to the centre of attention. In the end scene we would then switch to see the pair of characters asleep on the sofa in which they previously sat. Meaning that either the characters fell asleep during the midst of the party and dreamt the rest, or they genuinely had a good time and fell asleep.

Album Cover Ideas

For our album we decided to combine several ideas, the album we must create is that of Rizzle Kicks' 'Stereo Typical'.

Our first idea was the recreate the original artwork but replacing the two real band members with our two actors. In similar stances to the album cover our actors would evoke their 'nerdy' personas through to add a comedic effect. This would require a photo shoot of both Matt and Steve together with a white background and simple layout.

Another idea of ours included inferring the Alternative Hip-Hop genre into the cover, with a simplistic white background contrasting with a cityscape. As well as this we considered photoshopping the cityscape into a stereo like silouhette, relating to the 'stereo' in the title.

Our third and final idea was that of a classic cassette tape taking central composition against a white background, adding an almost vintage element. Despite being simple we felt the the contrasts between the item and black lettering would create an effective, stand out album cover.

Selected artist information

For our music video we selected the fairly recent song 'Mama Do the Hump' performed by Alternative Hip-Hop duo the 'Rizzle Kicks'. The song is taken from their 2011 album 'Stereo Typical'

Not only did we select the song as we are fans of the artists and feel that we can get an interesting energetic video, but we felt that it would be open to a wide demographic, much of the younger generation knowing the popular rhythm. During December 2011, 'Mama Do the Hump' was number 2 in the UK singles charts, proving its popularity with the public. Gaining a positive reception and celebrity fans such as James Corden (who appeared in the official video). Along with the video a dance move was incorporated with the song, something which we want to include at some point in our own production.

Costume Designs

As we wanted our productions two leads to display the stereotypical geek attire, we decided to research into what it required and what the geek look often entailed.

Both 'Geeks' and 'Nerds' can be seperated into two  categories meaning:

Nerd: noun Slang .

1.

a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person.

2.

an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with anonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer nerd.

Geek: noun Slang .

1.

a computer expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often considered offensive when used byoutsiders.)

2.

a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, especially one whois perceived to be overly intellectual.

Considering both of these terms we investigated images and popular characters who resembled this popular stereotype. The indie film 'Napoleon Dynamite' by director Jared Hess displays its protagonist as a typical socially awkward geek, along with his brother Kip, whom also has 'nerdy' tendencies. The costumes from this inspired our own designs.

Other examples of geeky attire also include:

The most common accessories include: 

Glasses

Braces

Combed Hair

Buttoned up shirts

High waisted trousers

Stationary

White Socks

Character Designs

When planning the personas of our characters we took to a manga character designer to create cartoon of what we would like our characters to be like. The two main male protagonists in particular were planned precisely so that they would emit the 'geeky' stereotype; as well as this, they have an opposing character to show how they believe they look. Also, the female cartoon represents the latter of girls present at the party as there will be several.


Character 1- Male #1

Reality:

Fantasy: 

Male #1 is one of our music videos main protagonists, similar to Male#2 he is trapped in a fantasy where he oozes confidence and is a real ladies man. However, the audience will be able to notice that in reality he is a clueless, stereotypical 'nerd', who regularly fails at both his social and romantic conquests. Unlike Male#2 however, he can be seen as the more authoritative figure having to mime more lines towards the camera. Significant character  traits include a cap, bow tie and checkered shorts. - He will be miming the parts of Rizzle Kicks member 'Rizzle'

Character 2- Male #2

Reality:

Fantasy:

Our second male protagonist Male#2 is the other character trapped within a fantasy of sexual confidence. He is more of the henchmen of the pair, being Male#1's second in command. His outfit consists of sunglasses over regular glasses, a cartoon t shirt (which is tucked into jeans) and a mismatched tie. As well as this, Male#2 is the more promiscuous of the two, attempting to chat up ladies with his frankly cringeworthy dance moves. His miming segments will be that of Rizzle Kicks member 'Sylvester'.


Character 3- General Partygoers

This anime character represents the latter of female party goers who display both shocked and disgusted attitudes towards the male protagonists cringeworthy behaviour. All female characters reject the prowess of the two main characters, the music video concluding with them being thrown out of the building.

Task 10: Filming Schedule

Film schedule for the opening scene.

Task 9: Casting

When selecting the actors for our two male protagonists we had to consider actors that could pull off the correct look, as well as them radiating confidence.

For the character 'Male#1' we selected our close friend Matt Nield, who displayed interest in starring in a music video. As the Rizzle Kicks are in fact one of his favourite bands we felt it would be easier for him to get into role and mime to the lyrics. His part would require him to mime the parts of Rizzle Kicks member Rizzle, who mimes the majority of the verse lyrics. Furthermore, we felt that Matt had a diverse enough appearance for us to change him into both geek and 'heartthrob', as his appearance has a certain youthful quality.

The selection of our second protagonist 'Male#2' came down to one of our other close friends Ryan Evans , another student who previously starred in other productions. We felt that Steve possessed the right demeanour to portray our 'nerdy' character, he himself being a self confessed geek. For his role, he was required to learn the lyrics of Rizzle Kicks member Sylvester, a task he found easy as he is also a fan of the Rizzle Kicks work. Due to Ryan's previous performances we were confident that he would portray our character both confidently and professionally.

Task 8: Final Proposal

The title of our music video will consist simply be that of the artist and song name ‘The Rizzle Kicks- Mama Do The Hump’ which will coincide with the production within the bottom left hand corner (often seen on popular music videos during their airtime on television).  For our production we felt that music channels based more around a younger demographic would be more suited for our music video. This is due to the song itself, being fairly recent (released in 2011) therefore making it more appealing  to the younger audience, for example 10-20 year olds. Channels such as MTV, Viva and 4Music being our primary suggestions as they also gained high votes in our audience research questionnaires.

In terms of age, class, gender, ethnicity etc, we felt that the target audience from our selected song was incredibly broad. In particular however, we felt that our music video’s typical audience would hit more of the younger generation as they will be more familiar with the fairly recent track; ages 10-40 would certainly be our key targets. Despite the fact that all classes may be considered as a target audience, the more outstanding viewers would be more lower to middle class citizens, as the hip-hop music culture may be associated more with the latter. Furthermore, the song’s catchy beat has made it widely recognised as a party tune, often played to an audience for an energetic reaction. Also, we felt that the appeal of the music video would be left widely open for the demographic of gender as well as the majority of ethnicities.

As the Rizzle Kicks are often regarded as Alternative Hip Hop artists, ‘Mama Do The Hump’ in particular containing a positive and catchy vibe we felt that our music video must contain a fun, exciting atmosphere. In addition to this, the lyrics of the song have an almost edgy, comedic value so therefore we wanted to incorporate a comedic sense into our narrative. Our group felt that the most effective video would come from a combination of Performance and Narrative techniques; our two lead actors playing out a narrative storyline during a party, as well as performing the song’s lyrics at the camera itself. We also felt that this would help the audience recognise the actors character traits, along with it creating a more diverse final outcome.

For the style of our music video we converged various ideas that we felt would create a unique look for our production. Upon considering camera angles we discussed many that would be used within the opening scene alone. These included: extreme close ups of the protagonist’s body parts such as their shoes, sunglasses, hats and lips, to create an almost ambiguity around their appearances. Other angles we suggested were Subjective POV’s of entering the building, establishing shots of the party room of guests and consistent two shots of the lead males and their conquests together. Throughout the scenes within the dance floor, we felt that we should edit the scenes in colourful lights similar to that of disco lighting effects. The entrance, concluding and performance based scenes would be regular everyday colours perhaps lit up in a specific way as if the characters are centre of attention. As the opening scene will hold a mysterious quality we decided to edit them in slow motion, to build up on the characters eventual revealing. On the other hand, a selection of the dancing scenes would be made quicker indicating the quick exciting party atmosphere. Quick cuts will be used between shots creating an energetic vibe for the audience also. 

Task 7: Role Allocation

In our group we decided to share all jobs equally between us, however as each of us had qualities in which we were best at we all decided to focus more on a specific role. Jess, James and I all agreed to seperate them evenly.

Camera person/Editer:
For this role we selected James as he has the most experience with filming and editing. As his skills with photo-shop were a lot greater than ours he set himself the task of creating the album cover, as well as controlling the camera as we decided to use his for a better quality finish.

Director:
This job role was taken by Jess who is confident in telling the characters what to do in scenes as well as being able to direct James' camera angles so to tell what would be best for specific scenes.

Writer:
For this job I decided to volunteer for the role as I have a keen interest in writing and enjoy the prospect of creating an original piece. During the filming I will also help Jess with matching the camera angles to our created storyboard.

Task 6: Storyboard