We have decided to do our music video on
Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus. Although this is a typical love/break up song about a girl and boy, we have decided to take an innovative approach to it. We are still following the concept of a girl and boy love story, but instead, turning it into a
narrative that
alternates between a reality and fantasy world. The fantasy world is going to follow the narrative framework of Lewis Carrol's fantasy
Alice in Wonderland. Lyrics such as "
I fell under your spell", "
high up in the sky" and "
running for my life" help represent the fairy-tale dream world the girl falls into, as Alice falls into the rabbit hole and emerges into a parallel universe. Nevertheless, during the chorus, lyrics such as "
never been hit so hard before" and "
wrecking ball" bring the girl back into reality. The reality represents her true feelings about the break up, whilst the fantasy world is used as an escape from all these feelings.
Intertextuality is a common feature of music videos and we are confident that audiences will relate easily to our approach, all the more so because recent audiences will recall Jonny Depp's recent film
Alice which was a big box office success.
Our music video starts off in 'reality' as the couple are placed opposite each other at a dining room table. The beat of the song corresponds to the
editing as the camera alternates between close ups of the girl and boy. The mood is very subdued and their faces show neutral expressions. The lyric "
I feel under your spell" is the
transition into the 'fantasy' world. The fantasy world is represented as being dream-like. We are using fairy lights and dim
lighting to create this dreamy, romantic and peaceful place. We are using the location of a forest to represent this 'escape' from reality. In the fantasy world, the girl wears an Alice and Wonderland costume to represent this 'fairytale' she dreams of. We are using the
concept of the Mad Hatter's tea party to create this quirky, unrealistic, and dreamy state the girl is in.
The chorus is used as a comparison of the dream-like world, as we return to reality. This lovely, quirky tea party that is portrayed in the previous verse, is suddenly turned upside down, as Alice throws the cutlery and china across the room. This represents her angry and upset feelings about the break up. To
visually represent the change from the 'dream world' to 'reality' we are going to have the girl singer rip her Alice and Wonderland costume off. Underneath the costume a more skimpier, edgier outfit is worn.
Images of fire is used to metaphorically represent the turmoil she feels inside about the break up.
At this point we acknowledge the more predictable treatment seen in Miley Cyrus's performances: one that has a sexual explicitness that can border on the pornographic. In her article on MTV, Sherri Kathleen Cole explores the pornography of the music video industry from a feminist point of view: Andrea Dworkin has said that the first victim in pornography is the woman in the photograph. The article
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by
Laura Mulvey, a feminist film theorist, focusses on how films place women in relation to 'the controlling male gaze', presenting them as objects of desire and as 'spectacle' for men to look at. Although we arn't planning to take such a pornographic approach to our music video, but we are acknowledging the sexuality of the performer at the point where she rips her
Alice and Wonderland costume off to reveal a skimpier, edgier outfit.
Our artist performance is inspired by the Xperia advert. We are going to have
extreme close-ups of our performer singing. Drums are going to be played in accordance with the beat. Our idea is to perform in a white room to capture the colour of the powder paint that will be thrown on the drums and across the room.
Sources:
SHERI KATHLEEN COLE The Pornographic Ideology of the Music Industry
Enculturation , Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 1999 Enculturation 
For Will Hodgkinson, writing in The Times (‘Girls who succeed in pop without twerking’ 08.10.13) there are teen pop stars like Lorde, Birdy and Nina Nesbitt who succeed on their own terms without any of the antics of Miley Cyrus. He writes: ‘Lorde is just one of a new generation of young, female pop stars who are resisting such objectification. Charli XCX from Hertfordshire, who started her recording career at 14, writes smash hits for other acts when she isn’t being a teen idol herself: she penned the Swedish duoIcona Pop’s recent No 1 I Love It, a banging ode to being young, reckless, and loving it.’
Hodgkinson observes that the success of such an uncompromising singer has come in a week when sexism in the music industry has been in focus once again. Giving the John Peel Lecture for BBC 6 Music on Monday, former child star Charlotte Church said of the early years of her career: “There was a big clamour to cover my breasts as they wanted to keep me as young as possible. Then it became, ‘You should definitely get them out. They look great!’”
