Location and Iconography

Planning the locations and iconography

Music Video: I Wanna Be

Artist: Chris Brown

Director: Sabiha Naim-Osman

Using a variety of locations in a music video is essential because if you just use one location the video will get quite boring as you will be watching the same thing throughout the whole 3 minutes. Also using more than one location can add more of a story to the song as you can show much more happening which will give the audience a better understanding on what the song is about.

One of my locations in my music video will be in a bedroom in a house, this is because I want to show the feelings that my character is feeling and at that moment in time my character is feeling sad so by putting them in the bedroom alone just lying on their bed staring into space or looking into the mirror with a sad face you can convey that they are not happy. In the song the lyrics is basically a boy saying what he wants to say to the girl he really loves so the location can in some ways relate to the lyrics because I will have him practising saying it in his mirror then it will change to the next location of when they are together and show him saying it to her actual face. This location may be able to build a relationship with my audience is some senses because everybody likes to go to their bedroom when they want to be alone or are feeling down, so in some cases the audience may feel as if they can relate back to that. An audience love it when they can relate back to the song.

Another location that I may use is in the shopping centre because in the song it uses a line saying ‘Can I be the one to take your mama shopping’ so it would be useful to show the bond between the boy and the girl’s mother. This could build a relationship with the audience because it could show the boys personality more and make him seem like a really sweet and caring person, especially because they won’t be walking out of a men’s clothes shop it will be women’s which will show that he is not there for himself which will connect with the audience more.

When making a music video iconography is important because without it the video can become quite boring and dull because there is nothing to it. Iconography can give your video that extra push to make it better than what it was. For example if you want to show the romance, instead of just having them look at each other and smile the male could give the female a rose then it would make it seem more cute and enjoyable for the audience. It will also help the audience get in touch with the characters feelings because they have objects that can refer to it. Iconography is an object that can represent meaning for example if somebody has a passion over football, that football will be seen in the music video various times.

In my music video I will use many props to do with the actions that my character is doing. For example a mobile phone, this shows the communication between the two characters, this will benefit my production by making sense of the story being told. This bonds the audience creating a memorable moment in their own lives when they have text or communicated with a loved one nostalgia pulls a viewer in and creates thoughts of ones memories. Using a form of technology that is referenced to a younger audience it’s a prop that is up to date and is very now which shows this music video has been made to go along with a style that wouldn’t be in a video for a track made in the 60’s.

Flowers used in a video such as this one shows there is a romantic element to the song. This creates a mood for the track and the audience. This benefits the production by adding colour and depth to the feeling of the romance, this also aids the audience with the feeling of melancholy of the guy unable to reach out to his love which moves an audience gives them hope while watching that this man will get his girl, it keeps them watching. The flowers inform the audience that it is a love song the way the flowers are given and the way the characters are dressed shows the audience that this is a very RnB track.

The use of a mirror in the music video was a thought pattern of how many of us use a mirror to view ourselves. The guy in the music video uses the mirror to view himself talking to his girlfriend he wants to see how he comes across. He wants to rehearse what he wants to tell her.  The benefit of doing this is to have a prop which makes sense of the lyrics. This helps the audience view the guy as a character to build a relationship between him the song and the audience. They are able to see him vulnerable alone and how he cares how he is seen to his girl. This displays the genre by showing in detail how his appearance mirrors today’s dress code.