1. Video – Concept/Treatment/Justification; Die Slow
Concept – (The big ideas).
1. Describe the band/artist, genre of music, title of song and career context;
I have decided not to have a performance in my video, therefore I don’t have a band, so I am going to use
the original artists profile and song name for my description; HEALTH are a four piece band from Los Angles
California. Their music genre has been described as a mixture of noise rock, synth punk, experimental, and
post-hardcore – it has otherwise been described as ‘artfully crafted noise and raw synth, haunting
monotone vocals and drum skills that are borderline insane’. The 4 members of the band are Benjamin
Jared Miller, Jake Duzsik, John Famiglietti, and Jupiter Keyes. Die Slow, is their 3rd single from their second
album ‘Get Colour’ which was released in 2009.
2. Give a brief descriptive outline of your video (narrative, performance, and concept);
My video will mainly have a narrative outline to it, but hopefully with some concept ideas thrown in, to give
a unique outlook. I have decided not to include a performance, because although the lyrics are quite
powerful, I feel I would need someone with a certain image to pull off the singer’s voice style. Using
narrative and concept should be enough to make the video interesting enough without being
overshadowed by all three. The narrative basis will be focusing on a male and a female who go to the
hospital to visit a fellow friend who has been stabbed. I would like the viewer to think that they are visiting
because they're concerned, however the twist will be that they are actually visiting to make sure she dies.
This is as they have stabbed her, which will be shown in flashbacks. I would like the concept part of the
video to come from interesting camera angles/shots, use of props and editing to fit in with the beat of the
song. As I will be using a 'hospital' location, I feel it will add interest and mystery to the concept too.
3. Describe the image (band/artist) portrayed in the video and how this may add to their appeal;
There will be no performance in my music video, so I cannot describe their image as no one will see them.
However the image of the actors portraying their characters reflects on the appeal:-
Jasmine and Khalid who play the Female and Male visitors are the main representations.
-They're clothes are casual, to fit in with the mood (which is meant to be concerned/grieving, so they are
not going to really look like they care what their wearing), but also alternative as to compare to a wider
audience. Jasmine will be wearing a green hoodie, black skirt, leggings and Doc Martins, while Khalid is
wearing a Trainerspotter t-shirt, trackies, Adidas jacket and Adidas trainers. It is simple, yet subtly effective,
as there are labels which a younger/trendy audience would relate to.
- They're hair is simple, but again styled and up to date (Jasmines is shaven on one side, and down on the
other, Khalid’s has gel in). Jasmine's make up is just mascara and eyeliner, again to look casual. She also has
a nose ring, which helps the image to show a young and rebellious image.
- I would like the Jasmine and Khalid to be a couple in the video, but in a less conventional way then normal.
The viewer will hopefully be unaware of this till the end of the video when it all comes together.
4. Describe the aims of this video;
Aims of the video:
-To sell the song.
-To entertain the audience.
-To be unique.
-To give a moral about how jealousy can get out of hand, if you let it get to you.
-To appeal to problems the audience may be going through.
5. Give a detailed description of the intended target audience;
From a direct point of view, my intended target audience, would be older teenagers and young adults, as I
feel the video would appeal to their nature. The most obvious reason being that the main characters being
portrayed are of that age range. Usually, in a film or television programme, if the main actor is of the
audience age range they will relate and be in favour of them more. The age of the ‘male’, ‘female’ and
2. patient characters are meant to be 17 and 18, which is around about the medium of my intended viewer’s
age range. As the style of music is eccentric, I would expect people who don’t normally listen to mainstream
artists to want to see this. However, that’s not to say that people who do won’t like this, because it is
something different.
Indirectly, I would like my video to appeal a deeper feeling of if they may harbour a strong dislike towards
someone else – hopefully by watching it, they would realise how bad a feeling jealousy is. There may also
be people who are in the medical profession that it may appeal too, or even thriller/horrow fans, as there is
blood.
Treatment– (How you will do it?).
1. Give a detailed outline of the narrative/performance/conceptual content of your proposed
video using film language and Freytags Pyramid of narrative structure;
Narrative Synopsis; A male and a female enter the hospital, to go visit their friend. When they find the
room, they are escorted in by a nurse, who shows their friend (who will be female) in bed, critically ill. They
look uncomfortable, and shifty. Their friend then begins to have a fit, so they leave. We then see more shots
of them walking around. Meanwhile, their friend has been stabilised and is now being cleaned up by a
doctor. The male and female then go to the waiting room. They then start to become disturbed and
paranoid about things and people around them (such as the doctor walking past and looking at them). They
split up and go off. We will then see the female having a nervous breakdown, while the male, keeps washing
his hands, which the doctor sees and becomes suspicious. Their friend has another fit, and through various
shots, but not directly, we will see she has gone to surgery. The males and female then meet up again and
decide to leave, because the doctor and nurse have become extremly suspicious over their actions and are
trying to find them. They leave and get to the car and drive off. It is then we see, their friend sitting in the
back. Intersected throughout the video there is flashbacks from both the male, female and friend to show
what has really happened – which is that, the female stabbed her friend, because she was jealous of how
she acted around the male. The breakdown and parania will be meterphorical senses of their guilty
consciences.
Freytags Pyramid=
Exposition – Establishing the setting, and who the people are. The male and female entering to see the
friend.
Rising Action – The male and female getting paranoid, while the doctor is suspicious.
Climax – Flashback to reveal who the friend was stabbed by.
Falling Action – The m/f trying to leave, while the doctor and nurse are looking for them.
Denoument – The m/f leaving but with the friend in the back. The viewer will not know whether she is dead
or alive.
2. Describe and explain you will use at least three conventions of a music video (shots, framing,
props etc);
SHOTS; I will use the convention of using quick fast shots to fit in with the beat of the music. As Die Slow, is
a fast song, with lots of drum beats, it will mean a lot of cutting, but shorter timing of film for each shot.
Close up shots of peoples faces to help sell the song and artist. By doing this the audience will remember
them when hearing the song elsewhere. Using point of view shots to make the viewer have a more realistic
sense of being there with the people in the video.
PROPS; As I am not doing a performance video, there is no typical instrument or microphone props to use.
However as my narrative is at a hospital I am hoping to use props that would fit this bill. Other conventional
in a narrative video that I could use are lighting, to help depict good and bad or dark and light moments.
SETTINGS; The setting for my narrative is a hospital. Therefore I am going to find somewhere similar enough
to film that will give that type of vibe. As the conventions of a hospital are usually sterile, and clean I will
need to depict these through props.
3. 3. Describe the tone of your video;
The tone of my video is definetly a dark feel, horroresque feel to it. This will be shown through the story and
props, and general mood of the characters within. By using connotions I will also show envy. However,
although the lyrics of the song Die Slow are rather bleak, the music itself, is rather fast, and electro pop
style, which is a major contrast, so I hope by putting two opposite things together it will create something
unique and pack a bigger punch to the audience.
4. Describe the motifs/symbolism/ideologies etc to be incorporated in the video;
As the band are called HEALTH, the best motif I could think of to link the hospital theme and to promote the
artist would be the red cross symbol, which I could easily incorporate somewhere in my video. The mood is
a horror style, so I would like to use ideologies from classic horror movies, such as written quotes, or actions
that would remind the viewer of them. I think a good example I could use is putting 'I KNOW WHAT YOU
DID' somewhere in the video, as this would also reflect on their guilty consciences. The ideologies I would
like to incorporate in this video is a blown up proportion of how teenage angst can make us do stupid
things, even if it is people we care. In a social sense I would like to use alternative and branded clothing on
the two main characters so that the intended audience can relate.
Justification – Why will you do it that way?
1. Explain why this approach to the video will be the best way to sell the song?;
I feel that by using a narrative structure would be a good idea to sell this song, because it is like a short film
or journey for the viewer. The song itself is very experimental and different, so viewers who are not used to
this style of music, can be grounded through the video or even thrown by the appeal of it, rather than using
the common convention of a mesh of colours and vibrant shapes which is usually seen with that type of
music. From viewing previous videos from the band HEALTH, I feel that the idea for my video is different,
but there are certain elements that are similar, so that fans of the band, can still enjoy the film. There is also
the fact that I am not featuring a band or performance, which I hope will keep the audience interested in
selling the song and further records because it keeps a sense of mystery, so that they will stay to see if they
can catch a glimpse of the band.
2. Why do you think this video will reach its 'target audience'?;
I think this video will reach its target audience because it has everything that can relate to to
teenagers/young adults – characters that are that age, a vibrant use of colour, fast paced action, an obvious
sense of panic rising, blood, trendy clothes/hair/make up. I am hoping to incorporate something that can
appeal to every style of teenager (in a stereotypical sense).
3.Describe the challenges you forsee in production;
•Getting props to film with. As it is a hospital theme, I can't just go and borrow them from the local hospital,
however I would not like to use toy props, as it will bring the level of seriousness down. As my parents work
at the hospital, I think I can get round this by asking them to help me or otherwise improvising.
•A a sense of continuity. As I am wanting to lots of shots, it will be important to make sure things don't
change, so that it becomes misleading.
•Creating different shots. I would like there to be a unique feel to my video, incorporated through new shot
types, but first I will need to think about what I can do, without it looking silly or breaking equipement.
•Sorting out dates to film. Roughly I will have 5 characters in the video, so I will need to set up dates that
they can all film at the same time. Again linking in with continuity, I need to make sure they are willing to
not alter their appearance to much.
4.Give an outline of any costs or time constraints and explain how they will be addressed;
I think the only costs will come from props, because everything else can be improvised. I would like to stick
4. to a small budget if I need to buy anything, and I will search on ebay or in charity shops if it is possible to get
from there. In terms of time constraints I will sort out dates of filming a few days in advance so that people
will definetly be free. Other aspects such as the weather wont come into filming because it will be done
inside. I will be hoping to film mainly after school, and on the weekends, because then it is more likely
everyone is free. For each time I film, I would like to keep it to a minimum of 2 hours each time, so that
actors don't get bored or tired and so that I can make sure everything is kept fresh.