Statement of Intent - 'Idioteque' protest music video

Statement of Intent 

I am going to be making my protest music video to the protest song ‘Idioteque’ by the artist Radiohead. My plan is to reflect the ideas and themes presented through the lyrics of the song in my video. I will make sure to incorporate features and techniques that will be interesting to the middle/upmarket demographic of people ages 16-25. I hope to eventually create a music video that promotes the song to this audience, and displays the ideas in the song lyrics, reflecting the artists views about global warming and the environment well.

I am going to target this particular audience, and reflect ideas of protest, by including elements such as vivid colours, contrasted with black and white scenes in order to create tone and mood. I will also include toned down, natural lighting in my video. This will keep the video realistic and life-like, reflecting it to the lives of the audience, adding a sense of realism. This is very important, as then the audience will be reminded that global warming is an issue that is occurring now. As a result of this reflection to real life, the audience can also connect with the video and understand it on more of a personal level. 

My video is going to be primarily performance based, with a strong narrative in order to keep the audience engaged throughout the video, and display the intended feelings of protest. I have decided that for this reason, that I will not be incorporating the artist Radiohead in my music video. I would like the music video to be focused on the story in order to really promote ideas surrounding the environment and the damage that human kind is causing to it, and I think that the artist could be a distraction from this.

My audience will be able to connect with the video and reflect it to their own lives, adding a personal element as I will be including characters that they can identify with. My characters in the video are going to be from the same mature demographic of 16-25 years old. In addition, this demographic is the same age as the majority of people that are keen on advocating for protecting the environment, and are taking action.

To create my protest video, and keep the key theme of protest evident throughout, my narrative will start with a negative tone - themes of destruction towards the environment. The narrative that I intend on using, will be based on a girls discovery of some destroyed land, with the evident theme of ecological destruction present. There will be felled trees, and upturned soil. I plan for her to be exploring as the song progresses, displaying a once beautiful location that has now been destroyed for the mere production of goods. Then, as the song progresses I will lighten the mood of the video. To present the protest, I will show some beautiful locations to show what the artist is protesting for. I will edit this to look as if it is a dream, or her imagination. In turn, the audience can understand that this will all be lost. In this song, Radiohead is protesting against global warming. Hopefully, through using the correct shot types and lighting, I will be able to also provoke emotion in the audience. The natural lighting that I intend to use can be filmed during the day and evening. This will keep the video realistic, and reiterate the fact that global warming is an issue occurring now.

In terms of intertextuality, my music video will reference the Guardian Newspapers 1969 ‘Points of view’ advert. The advert was used to display the message that ‘things are not always as they seem’. It features a skinhead running at a man, and the idea initial expected reading by the audience is that the man is going to be robbed. However, it is later revealed that the skinhead was actually running to protect the man from falling objects. This intertextuality is relevant to my video and ideas, as I want my narrative to also reflect how things may not always be as they seem. I am going to include scenes of beautiful rolling fields, and flowers, and then cut to the destroyed land. This will create an almost dreamy effect, reminding the audience that global warming is an ever present issue, and that it cant be avoided. The flowers and joy that may be presented in the media cannot be a distraction from reality, and the happiness that is portrayed, is not always the case, as in the video it will be then revealed to be a dream.

I intend for my music video to represent the original producer of the song ‘Idioteque’ Nigel Timothy Godrich. I will make sure that my editing style, and features used relate to this producer, and reflect ideas that he wanted to be presented in the song.

I am inspired by some of the features used in the music video for ‘Land of the Free’, by the killers. I think that the range of long travelling shots in contrast to close-ups, will help to portray my locations and the emotion of the character in the video. This music video does not necessarily conform to the traditional conventions of protest song music videos. This is because it also does not contain any scenes with the artist, similar to my idea. The tones used are very dull, creating a sombre mood. This will be important too in my video, to make sure that the melancholy feelings towards global warming are portrayed. 

However, to display my ideas referring to picturing an ‘ideal’ environment, with beautiful hills and flowers to display the nature that we are losing as a result of global warming, I will take inspiration from the music video ‘You Need to Calm Down’, by Taylor Swift. Although this is not conventional for a protest music video, I need to also include bright, more vivid lighting when displaying the worlds beauty, in order to convey themes of joy, rather than sadness. I am inspired by the short, mid-shot scenes used in this video. I can use these features in my scenes to display nature and its beauty, in the ‘dreamy’ scenes. This is because the contrast between dull, naturally lit scenes against bright and vivid scenes will make more of an impact on displaying the differences in locations.

As a result of including all of these elements in terms of cinematography and editing, along with mise-en-scene, my music video will conform to the typical conventions of protest music videos entirely. However, I will take my own spin on the idea of protesting, reflecting the original producers style too, to create an overall stylish and modern music video.