Character Profiles

Character Profiles- The Conventional Tropes of Popular Male Music Groups

To work out how to make the ultimate boyband I researched the different character tropes associated with the stereotypical boyband. These conventions have come from decades of pop groups such as NSYNC, New Kids on the Block, and the Backstreet Boys.

I looked at an article on PennLive.com which outlined who's who in several bands writing a small paragraph about each member's personality, which helped me see examples of specific tropes. https://www.pennlive.com/go/2011/07/boy-band_breakdown_your_guide.html

Another source I used to establish some key character tropes of boybands is a reddit post I found on r/kpopthoughts that lists some conventional ideas of personalities presented in K-pop bands. Whilst this slightly differs from the Western boyband I am aiming to replicate the style of, K-pop shares many similarities with Western boybands, especially regarding fandoms where groups such as BTS's 'Army' can be directly compared to the craze of 'Beatlemania' in the 1960s. https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/14uzvro/lets_do_something_interesting_with_boyband_member/?rdt=45256

Below I have evidenced character profiles for my fictional band members, outlining each characters' inspirations to provide context to their role.

Music Video Test

 

Here is my short test I quickly put together in two days as a proof of concept for my vision of what I want my music video to be.

Filming

To get the test video done quickly, I decided on the day of filming that I wanted to record and edit it as the weather was very bright and sunny, which allows for greater colour and detail in the footage as cameras, especially an iPhone camera like I was using, achieve greater picture quality in higher levels of light.

As the decision to film was very impromptu, I messaged my friends only hours before I was planning to capture the footage. I asked Theo first and he said yes, creating his outfit from the prompt I gave him of 'the most 2000s boyband look possible'. Afterwards, I messaged my friend Gabriel asking if he could also come at the same time as Theo and replicate the look that he had created. Finally, I asked my friend Jack if he could also join us as the video would look better with a trio rather than a duo, to which he agreed although stating that he'd have to leave early as he had already arranged plans. In my final video I will arrange beforehand the days when everyone is available to film to avoid this issue.

Once all three of my friends had arrived I gave Jack an MTV cap and Snoop Dogg t-shirt to wear as his outfit wasn't appropriate for the effect we were trying to create and we headed out to film. Even just as we'd left my house I saw the opportunity to record my friends walking in slow motion as candid footage that is regularly seen in similar music videos. We walked down to the cliffs just below cliff parade and recorded most of our footage there, recording along with the progression of the song. When I record the full video I will organise which parts are being shot when as this was quite difficult trying to get everyone to move from place to place rather than shooting all parts at once.
After I recorded a few group shots Jack unfortunately had to leave resulting in him not appearing much in the video. After he'd left however, I could focus more on Gabriel and Theo directing them to do certain actions and movements to the song. Gabriel, being interested in drama and theatre, naturally picked up on my instructions following my choreography I was making up on the spot. Theo on the other hand, was initially embarrassed to be dancing around on his own resulting in a slightly low effort performance. However, I don't think it distracts from the overall product too greatly. As we were filming, they were coming up with intertextual links we could record to place in the test as you will see in the video.

In the end we filmed for a total of 1hr 45m, beginning at 12:27 and finishing the final shot at 14:12. By the end we were all quite tired of filming but wanted to have a swim as we were so close to the water and it was very sunny, that was a bad decision as it was very windy by the time we got down there and the water was so cold it hurt.

Conventions

• Candid footage spliced inbetween shots of lip syncing to give the characters personality and break up the video making it more interesting

• Group shots showing all members
• Medium shot- waist above
• Wide shot showing full body of group and their surroundings

• Lip Syncing to the lyrics of the song
• Close-up and medium close-up shot
• Direct address to camera, addressing audience as if singing to them (Attention, Interest)

• Walking is a common trope of music videos, it can represent the journey that the artist is going through and they're attitude of wanting to walk away from a difficult situation

• Slow Motion shots periodically inserted between clips
• It enhances visual impact and creates emotional resonance
• It can also convey a sense of drama

• Jump cuts used to break up a single continuous shot
• Cuts are made on the beats of the music

• Choreography matching lyrics of music- Andrew Goodwin
• "Two worlds..."- hand positioned to show two fingers
• "...apart."- arms move apart from the middle to visually show a distance growing
• "Can't reach to..."- subject physically reaches out towards camera
• "...your heart"- hand gesture in the shape of heart, pulses towards camera like the beat of a real heart

Intertextuality

• Snoop Dogg t-shirt. Tha Doggfather album released in 1996, the cover in itself is an intertextual reference to The Godfather
  
• MTV cap. MTV (Music Television) was known as a channel to see the latest popular music videos. It was very popular in the 1980s-early 90s

• Reference to the well-known cover of Abbey Road (1969), the Beatles' eleventh studio album

• Shot of Gabriel looking around confused, reference to Pulp Fiction (1994) where John Travolta's character Vincent Vega is looking around confused. This specific moment is well known with modern audiences due to it's popularity online as a meme template

• Iconic Titanic (1997) pose recreated
• Associated with romance and heartbreak due to the sad ending of the characters Jack and Rose's affair

Editing

Planning - Key Codes and Conventions

After closely analysing three case studies and watching many other music videos for my mood board as part of my pitch, I have noticed many key codes and conventions in them. There are many that span multiple genres of music so I have attempted to keep them relevant to the music video I want to create for my NEA.

Some of the key conventions used that I would like to reflect include:

• Slow motion- Throughout many music videos, especially those for slow, sentimental songs, slow motion footage is used to create a sense of drama and emotional weight. This could be used with any kind of framing such as a closeup shot or a wide shot, the significant thing is the emphasis it puts on the emotions at a certain point of the song. As my chosen song is quite emotional, I will use frequent slow motion shots to add a level of emotion that will captivate the viewer, making them feel more connected to the visuals.
• Jump cuts- jump cuts are used frequently in more fast-paced, energetic songs to break up long, continuous shots so they are more visually exciting and match the visuals more. They are frequently done with the beats of the music so they flow with the music and don't feel staggered. I will use this in my video so longer shots don't feel boring to the viewer and match the beat heard in the accompanying music 
• Narrative takes- in most music videos of this genre there will be two things happening, an element of story through an ongoing narrative and performance from the artist(s). They often take turns in the video to break things up and create a more engaging end product. I am hoping to use this effectively in my video to break the it up whilst giving the lyrics a deeper meaning as the situation presented will have a visual reflection of the subject matter of heartbreak and argument the lyrics detail.
• Performance takes- the other part of a music video along with narrative takes. They usually consist of the artist or band members either playing instruments along with the music as if they are playing the song live or they will lip sync to the lyrics. Shots of them playing can be done with wide shots to show all members playing but may also use closeups of each instrument. In my video I am not expecting to record any footage of members playing instruments, however I will frequently display them singing along to the song, allowing each member to have their own section to sing just like in the actual song.
• Close up shots of each member- these closeups display the personalities of each member to make them appear more 'real' to the consumer. With these built up personalities they can build an identity that leads to a superficial artist persona that audiences will see as the real person and gain interest in them for. I will do this in my video as each member sings their own section so they all get a 'moment in the spotlight', allowing for me to convey their individual marketable personas.
• Timings matching with music- this aligns with Goodwin's theory of lyrics matching visuals as the cuts made in video often match the timings of the music. This helps with the pacing of the video, allowing it to flow at an appropriate pace matching the tempo of the song. I will definitely make sure my cuts match up with the song as I do not want my video to feel staggered at all.
• Visuals matching lyrics- this outlines Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos how the visuals of a music video match the lyrics and general audio. It can be used to deepen meaning of lyrics by presenting a definitive deeper meaning that may have been unclear to audiences prior. Sometimes this may be through an action being describes as happening in the song whilst it happens on screen. I will use this in my music video to deepen meaning and present a situation that people will be able to visualise in the future when hearing the song, cementing the video in their minds.
• Aspect of time passing as the video progresses- I found that many music videos have an element of time passing by as the video progresses, often beginning with the start of middle of the day and ending at night time. I am currently unsure if I will use this in performance takes but I might maybe take it into account during the narrative sections of the video.
• Walking- I found that many music videos involving boybands include many shots of the band walking together. Metaphorically this often represents the mental journey that the members are going on, moving on from past events into the new, hopeful future. I aim to use this in my video as it not only has that metaphorical backing justifying its use but also is an effective way of establishing a scene and filling time while being visually interesting.