Idea 2 for Music Video "Are You That Somebody"

My second music video idea uses the track ‘Are You That Somebody?’ by Aaliyah. I chose this song because of its up-tempo beat and interesting lyrics.

My artist has the ‘bad girl’ image, she is known for her provocative lyrics, seductive fashion sense and sultry personality. I would compare my artist to other similar ones such as Rihanna and Brandy.

In the lyrics she says “Boy, I’ve been watching you like a hawk in the sky/ That fly and you were my prey” she also says “If I let you know/ You can’t tell nobody/I’m talkin’ bout nobody”. She describes her pursuit for a man. The fact that she watches him like a hawk suggests that she is on the prowl and is almost stalking him. She also refers to having a secret that nobody can know. This led me to think of the concept of my music video. The music video tells the story of a girl who is after a guy, but he is in a relationship, so she sabotages his relationship, finally getting her man. She keep her motives secret from him and that what ‘nobody can know’.

The music video starts with her walking into the club while the rap starts she is wearing a white suite jacket, black pants and bright red lipstick.

 White suit jacket                                                                 Make-up 

The club uses heavy blue and green lighting. She is with her friends and they sit in a VIP booth overlooking the dance floor. 

She spots a man on the dance floor and she begins singing at 00:23 seconds. “Boy, I’ve been watching you like a hawk in the sky/ That fly and you were my prey” when she says that line the camera zooms across the dance floor to a extreme close up of the man’s face.  She moves up to him an dances next to him, but he moves away to dance with his girlfriend.

In the chorus she wears a leather crop top and leather pants as she dances seductively in a room with a metallic copper and steel background with intense red lighting. 

Outfit for chorus

Background

The dance is choreographed and she dances with back up dancers. In the chorus dance sequences there are close up body shots. During the chorus, I also want close-up shots of a snake slithering, either on the floor on her body. 

This is stylistic element is to connote that she is sneeky and manipulative like a snake. 

In the verses we see her doing various ploys to get her man. She stalks him with binoculars, follows him. 

She then places female underwear on the floor of the passenger seat of his convertible. She wears a red pants and a red crop top jumper.

We see a scene of his girlfriend finding the underwear and breaking up with him. 

It alternates with the dance sequence used in the chorus.

Towards the end, we see her consoling the guy and they start to date. It ends at the club with them dancing, she wears a tight one sleeve black dress. 

As the music fades, she turns around and winks at the camera while shushing the audience with her finger.

The video fits with the track because she talks about, how he is her prey and she has a secret. In the video we clearly see she is two sided and has an agenda. The video also fits with her star image the leather outfit and revealing clothing connote her provocative style and her behavior is manipulative and bad I the video which suggest her ‘bad girl’ persona. She even says in the lyrics “Right now I’m naughty-naughty”.

Idea 1 for Music Video "Honey"

My first idea uses the song ‘Honey’ by Mariah Carey. The song is an R&B/Hip Hop fusion. I wanted to use this song because I think that the lyrics are very fun and easy to adapt into a music video and the genre of music is one of my favourites.

The idea (image) of my artist was a down-to-earth, gentle girl but who is still glamorous and exhibits a diva personality. I would compare her to artists such as Beyonce and Mariah Carey. 

For the music video concept I first brainstormed the word ‘Honey’ it then led me to ‘Bee’ and then I thought about actual bees. After a Queen Bee lays her eggs they grow inside the hexagonal comb of the hive and then they hatch and go on to fly away and collect honey.

 I used this concept to build on the narrative for my music video. I wanted to express the idea of being under control (like a bee is controlled by their queen) and then breaking away and finding freedom (the bee flies away).

My idea starts with an interior of a honey factory, before the music starts. Interior of a honey factory

 For the outfits, I sketched a few designs that I will go further in to detail below. I drew the outfits with the background behind.

The image is in black and white, a line of girls shackled and chained, walk in a single file; they are wearing a black tube top with a black skirt with a slit. 

They approach a small metal trough, which holds a river of honey; and then they begin pouring bowls of honey into the small river. 

Then the main girl (singer) takes one of the bowls and smashes it on her foot chain, breaking the bowl and the chain; this is when the music begins. The image begins to saturate and slowly turn to colour. The girl frees the rest of the slave girls and then a short choreographed fight sequence begins with the guards and the slave girls. The slave girls end up tying up the guards on chairs; that is when the singing begins at 00:53 seconds.

 The rest of the music video is the girl giving the guards a piece of her mind by singing the song to them. In the first chorus at 1:13, the girls all play and throw around honey, the play sequence is semi-choreographed and mostly involves the girls jumping around, rolling and throwing honey. Whilst they sing to the guards the background and outfits change.

One of the outfits is a gold sequence skirt and tube top against a black shimmering background.

 Gold outfit idea

Black shimmering background

The other is a bronze flowing maxi dress against a gold background.

Gold background

The last one is a white crop top with wide white trousers against a bronze background.

Bronze Background

For the music video it will alternate between the 4 different backgrounds and outfits, the outfits will also swap different backgrounds. When the scenes change the other girls will perform as background dancers with the singer in a choreographed performance, they will not wear the same outfits as the singer but the same colour code will be kept.

In some areas of the set I will like to integrate the hexagonal ‘honeycomb’ design such as in on the floor or walls.

At some point, I would like to have a birds-eye view shots of when they dance because I want the dancers to be in a hexagonal formation.

During points where the music slows down, such as the bridge at 3:35; I want close up shots of the singer, kneeling in honey and rolling in the honey.

I found these photographs of people covered, I would want to do something similar with the singer, but not the same amount of honey, just half her body covered in honey.

 I also want close up shots of when the singer sings the high notes.

When the music begins to fade at 4:30, the singer and other girls return to standing in front of the tied up guards, the singer walks up to the main guard grabs a pair keys from his shirt pocket, unlocks the factory door and exits with her girl ‘squad’. When she opens the door, white light floods in and the songs ends completely white. The song ends at 5:01

During the music video the elements of the honey and hexagonal shapes are meant to connote honey and symbolize ‘the worker bee revolting against the queen bee and being free’. However, I do not want to make it very literal, I want it to be subtle. She sings about wanting something "Don't you see/ Every night and day/ I can hardly wait/ For another taste of honey"

 She wants to be in love and to be free and I'm sure the strong visual elements will convey that. 

The video fits with the track because like in the lyrics it discuss how love is smooth and beautiful, there is also a theme of being ‘liberated’; for example, the honey being poured out of the bowl, it is first contained but then it is ‘freed’ and poured into the river of honey. I think the style and message of the video fits with the star image of the artist. She is representing women as strong, independent and brave, whilst maintaining her sweet and seductive nature. The outfits and set also highlight her glamorous ‘diva’ style.

Why I Chose my Tracks for my Music Videos

The songs I chose for a music video plan are all from the R&B genre. This is because it is my favourite genre of music. Additionally, I've noticed trends over the past years of students' music videos, and most use Indie and Alternative genres for their music videos. Therefore, I wanted to choose a genre that is not often chosen; furthermore, the genre was more prominent in the 90's and early 2000's, thus people now, would be less familiar with the songs of this genre.

I also like the genre because the lyrics tend to describe a narrative, which gives alot of options when thinking of the music video concept; you can either go on a more literal route and describe the story or you can adapt it into a more abstract piece. 

I am also a big fan of 90's and early 2000's music videos, and in my concept's there are evident inspirations from this era in music videos. I would like to incorporate classic visual elements synonymous with this age in music (such as choreographed dance sequences), however update them for a more contemporary audience.

This is a compilation of 90's music videos, I would like to include the style and visual elements of 90's music videos into my A2 music videos.