Music Treatment

Music treatment for Lana Del Rey –Serial Killer

For this song I want to keep it mostly conceptual,  as the lyrics speak for itself are very strong and sinister, which is what ultimately drew me to this song. My interpretation of the song is based on a an obssesive love for someone; for example lines like ‘’love you just a little too much’’ creates the mystery which I’ve interpreted this song, as it is as if Lana Del Rey essentially is a stalker who is in so much love with this man that if he was to get into a relationship with someone else, she will want to kill him because she’s the only one who can have him . The title within its self creates a mystery ‘’Serial Killer’’ has an impact as serial killers intentions are not rational or which is why I view the video in this way.

Initially I wanted to show a relationship which the boy cheats on her and she wants to plot a plan of revenge and kill him. However with this said I felt the words are so strong I wouldn’t need to have a narrative video to convey this, keeping the simplicity will allow the audience to create their own interpretation, this I believe will draw the audience in. Also the artist herself video's are very simplistic which allows the audience to create their own message from it, they also create a vintage thrill which I would like to show to highlight the style of this artist, so I would want to use some different shots with a old film look which is seen in video's such as 'Video Games'.

My concept is just having one person in the video, inspiration for this was behind Jessie J video ‘Who You Are’ Leona Lewis ‘Run’ and Demi Lovato ‘Skyscraper’. These videos were very successful and create an impact as the song itself had a powerful message. From this I like the idea of how Leona Lewis being in the woods, which I took the idea of this, shooting my video in the woods, would create the mystery which it has. And how in all three videos the different variations of close up shots, performance and narrative based create such an impact.

Having extreme close ups of the eyes and mouth will enhance the intensity of the words within the song, doing this keeps the impact of the mystery. I initially wanted to have the video black and white which will indicate the mystery, but I believe i can create a better impact by having different filters such as red to keep the intensity of the video.

By having my actor walking through the woods creates the thrill to it and keeps the powerfulness of the song, allowing the audience interprate the video in their own way. The reason I would want to do this is because this particular artist hasn’t done a full concept video, she normally has some type of narrative but stripping it down allowing the audience to view it in their way somehow creates the videos as everyone’s. It is not just the artists’ video its everyone’s, and just like an art piece everyone has their own interruption of the video allowing everyone to see it in their view, which will bring in more audience.

Feedback From Some Members of My Target Audience About Lana Del Rey

This video below illustrate feedback from some members of my target audience about my chosen artist Lana Del Rey.

I believe this was a great way to find out what members think about Lana Del Rey and the song 'Serial Killer'.

Also this has help me to think in more depth for the concept, for my music video as some comments of the artist and the song were "Dark", "Mysterious", "In the woods" etc.

Overall from receiving feedback from some members allowed me to consider their interpretation of the song, etc and come of with my music treatment and overall vision for my music video.

Different Types of Music Videos

Types of Music Video
Over the past 10 years, the development of music videos in the music industry has grown and changed immensely. New technology, abstract images and fresh ideas have encouraged artists these days to expand how they represent themselves in their music videos. 

There are three main types of music video; performance, narrative and concept. There are also a range of mixture and animated videos which are not as well known as a ‘type’ of music video.

Performance
A performance video focuses on showing footage of the artist or band either in a casual environment, i.e. socialising with friends, or performing, live performance or staged performance. This style of video uses the band/artist/group throughout the majority of the production and the artist, band members are often miming the words to the song. The genre of music where performance videos are common is indie and rock. The costing on this type of production are also most likely to be the lowest as the producers are in effect giving the audience the most realistic image of the band as it is only the band they are showing. The downside of this is that the band will need to be relatively established to pull off the video, or else interest will become saturated.

Here is an example:

Lana Del Rey - Chelsea Hotel

Concept

Concept videos are based around a single idea or concept and are usually unusual and obscure, even surreal for the audience. This unusual content is an attraction to many consumers, which draws them in. Concept videos usually are combined with one of the other two styles as the market demands for greater accessibly rather than the somewhat niche that is pure concept art. A successful concept video will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what or who is on the screen. No particular genre or type of music is more likely to use concept videos, in fact a range of artists covering all genres have used concept/ art based videos.

Here is an example:

Sia - Breathe Me

Narrative
A song with a narrative based music video the song includes a narrative story of the lyrics/ words being acted out in some way. This style relies on imagery to produce a story for the audience to follow and some narrative videos include clips from films that the song has been featured in. This seems to be used a lot in slower songs, and often tend to be love stories

Beyonce - If I Were A Boy

Lyrics Analysis (Lana Del Rey - Serial Killer)

Here is my Lyric's Analysis which may be altered in the following process, I felt by doing a analysis was a great way of understanding my actual song and concept as a whole.

Mood-Board For Music Video

Doing the story-board allowed me to look at all the aspects of what my character will be portraying through sub-text and emotion memory. Meaning the way her facial expressions, gestures will show the hurt, upset which could of potentially been because of a break-up. I'm only using one character to signify the mystery of what she could do, setting it in the woods will enhance this.

Overall doing the mood board was very useful as it allowed me to think of the storyline.

Permission For using Song

This letter above, is permission in being allowed to use the song 'Serial Killer' by Lana Del Rey

About Lana Del Rey

The Prezi above, is about my chosen artist Lana Del Rey, this is will inform you about the artist.