Research of Mise En Scene (Costume)

Costumes in music videos are used as much to tell a story as settings I feel, if a video has different cuts and time jumps, the costumes can help keep these ordered and making sense, costume is a very important part in stories and also getting across the message behind the song and video, in the music video for '23' by Wiz Khalifa and Miley Cyrus the entire video is based on a brand of shoes, this will create a hype with the audience over these shoes and everyone will want to be seen in them.


Costume in music videos can also enhance the setting, for example, Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' has elegant, large castles and beautiful backdrops, but the old fashioned costumes like the corset dresses, the curled hair and the man's lose fitting suit with boots really show the time period that the video was trying to create to go along side the Romeo and Juliet themed song.











Another important use of costume in music videos, is to create an identity for the artist. In Gerri Halliwell's 'It's Raining Men' the singer wore very little, tight clothing to show off her new physique after losing weight, Miley Cyrus used her outfit choices to represent that she is not Hannah Montana any more and that she is a grown up woman with a very sexualised personality and she shows this through her clothing. This kind of choice appeals to mainly the younger generation, probably teens and young adults as these will be fans of Miley and they will admire her confidence and want to dress like Miley. These clothes also appeal to males as explained in the Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing how women dress and act in a certain way to appeal to men.

This also applies to the opposite gender, Justin Bieber has recently been releasing more mature songs with videos to match, the provocative video for 'What Do You Mean' with Justin showing off his toned body while getting steamy with his also under dressed co star have caught the eyes of many teens and young adults of all genders, wanting to be them or be with them.

How this research has influenced my planning

This research has really opened my eyes to just how important costumes are in a music video, this has helped me decide that the costumes really need to represent the genre of our chosen song, but also make sense to the story line while creating a star image for our actors and telling the story. We don't want overly extravagant costumes so nothing like these shown above but just simple jeans and vintage shirts etc. 

Research of Mise En Scene (Setting) - Avril Lavigne 'When You're Gone"

Music videos are the main form of representing the story behind the song. The video created is the thing that brings the lyrics to life and gives them a physical representation. The lyrics of songs are meant to entertain and connect but the music video makes it a lot more real and relatable, for example, in the song 'When You're Gone'' by Avril Lavigne, the song is highly emotive and people can relate through a range of different situations be it a break-up, the loss of a loved one and so on, yet the video shows real people experiencing the pain that the intended audience are or have been feeling.
The settings are used in a way in which allows various different view points to be covered, these include...

• A very pink and girly bedroom in which a heartbroken girl has been parted from her roughed up boyfriend. The setting here really brings their story together, the typical yet forever romantic poor boy and rich girl who's parents will do anything to keep them apart. Her room and clothing suggest a sheltered and privileged upbringing but the tidiness shows a firm control. This scene leads to the wood area in which the girl and her boyfriend carved their initials into a tree.

• A dark and tired room, clearly representative of the feelings of this man, the story line surrounding him is that his wife has passed away. In this shot the dark colours and half made bed shows how he feels darkened and in disarray through the loss of the woman he loves, he looks at photos of her and cries and looks through all her clothes finding mementos of her to remember her. This scene leads to a graveyard at the end in which he stands wearing his suit, visiting his wife.

• This scene represents the military families that are missing a part of their lives due to fighting in wars. This is represented by a simple family home with a husband and a very pregnant wife. He is leaving for duty and therefore is wearing his combat gear, but the wife is wearing a white flowing dress maybe to highlight the innocence of her love and unborn child. There is questionable moments which could lead to the husbands death but the ending shows a text saying 'I'm OK, I miss you'.

These are just everyday scenarios that are so relatable to so many people and that's why its so hard hitting and emotional.

(There wasn't any costume changes really in this video so I will analyse costume from another video)


How this research has influenced my planning...
I feel like in our music video, we should use various locations which can portray a vary of different experiences but that also work together.
A list of possible locations we could use is...

• The old train tunnel in Brigg
• Woodlands
• Pebble Beach ft abandoned fishing hut
• the Humber Bridge
• Thornton Abbey
• Graveyard

Research - The Band (Mustang)

The band we have chosen to use is a local indie/alternate rock band. They have their own original song (which we will be making a video for) and they also cover other indie songs such as Pacifier by Catfish and The Bottlemen, Milk by The 1975 and The White Stripes cover of Jolene.

 The band do not have their own website yet but they use social media to advertise and promote their band and upcoming gigs. They have an Instagram page, a Twitter account and a Facebook page dedicated to their band so a wide range of people have access to their updates, but due to the social media platform, their audience is mainly teenagers and young adults as some of their concerts can become rather explicit although their lyrics are not. Soon they are playing a festival in Cleethorpes alongside Scouting For Girls and Reverend and The Makers which will be their biggest gig yet and so they are trying to market this event a lot on social media and they are arranging interviews, photo-shoots and are making a lot of posts on their accounts to create hype around the event. Their logo (pictured above) is featured on all social media sites and also on the badges that they give away for free at their gigs.

The band used to be a four piece but have recently gained a new member to add to their sound. The band now consists of...
- Andrew Thompson (Lead Singer and Guitar)
- Fraser Macdonald (Lead Guitar and vocals)
- Owen Peart (Guitar)
- Rob Brealey (Drums)
- Josh Peart (Guitar and Synth)

The bands style is very stereotypically indie. They clearly take inspiration from bands such as Catfish and The Bottlemen and The 1975, the all black outfits and striped tops are very in fashion with indie music recently so they are staying on trend in the photo from a shoot shown above. Their most recent photo shoot took place to announce their new member, in this photo their 'indie' styled long hair is show cased and the black leather and denim jackets with browns and neutral tones present a very modern indie/alternative style which will really appeal to the fans.

Social Media Links;

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wearemustang_/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/_Mustangggg

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Wearemustangband/?fref=ts

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/wearemustang/paralysed