Pop Genre - Influences

Openings

It has become a growing trend in recent music videos to have an opening before the song starts, some examples shown below. This is what influenced us to have an opening to our video. Each opening adds something to the video, either further narrative (as with Avicii) or a better understanding of the concept behind the video (as with Eminem and Lily Allen).



As each opening clearly has a reason behind it, it is important that ours adds something to the video and would not present the same message without it. Our original ideas were all to have something that adds to the narrative as our video doesn't really have a clear story behind it. We initially thought off the artist throwing clothes out of a window and then storming out of the house. This then created a thought behind the whole music video of shes just left her boyfriend because she wants to have fun. Therefore bringing meaning to the video instead of just the artist having a laugh. After the lyric deconstruction we were all clear that the video had to, yes, be fun and upbeat, but have the underlying narrative of the girl leaving her significant other because she was fed up of him bringing her down and not allowing her to just have fun. We then came up with the idea of a young girl being trapped in the life of a 50s housewife (because of the line 'you're from the 70s... I'm a 90s...') and being subservient to her boyfriend who doesn't allow her to do what she wants. And so we decided to make the opening of the artist serving tea to her boyfriend who is mumbling about something dull and then the beat of the music kicks in and she snaps and shoves a cake in his face (adding a slight bit of humor to keep it light-hearted) and then storms out before the lyrics come in. This added the underlying narrative that we wanted so that the video can have some meaning behind it.

We also thought that this also could show further insight into some issues in today's society such as voyeurism and patriarchy. Showing how woman are being objectified and seen to have to serve men, not only literally but in the way the look and act; to please men. Therefore the act of her going against him could not only show how she is fed up of the relationship but how women of the 21st century are trying to push back against the domination that males have over them.