NEA Initial Ideas

I have chosen to focus on the music video brief of a Popular Music Ballad for Warner Music Group. 

The Warner Music Group describe themselves as a 'global collective of music makers and music lovers, tech innovators and inspired entrepreneurs, game-changing creatives and passionate teams. We turn dreams into stardom and audiences into fans.'

Their 2024 Impact report explained how they 'foster a culture of innovation and inclusion for our people, artists, and songwriters across the globe. Striving to become a more ethical, equitable, and environmentally sustainable company is imperative to us, and important to our longterm creative and commercial success.'

Artists signed with WMG include Hayley Williams, Paramore, ABBA and Teddy Swims.

Ballad Ideas:

• I Hate it Here - Taylor Swift 
• this would focus on a character who looks to novels as a form of escapism. It would include the constant flicking between reality and a fantasy world within the character's head. It would use intertextual references from the Secret Garden (novel by Frances Hogson Burnett) and other famous novels (e.g. Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella etc). The video would follow a female main character who finds salvation within the safe walls of a book rather than real life. We see her wishing the time away, especially at school and when spending time with friends, appearing as a distant figure. When in the fantasy worlds, she is a very confident character, unafraid of the consequences of her actions. The resolution of the video is when she realises that sharing her love for things like books means she doesn't have to rely on them amidst her loneliness. We see her then talking to others and entering fantastical worlds, as well as spending more time with friends in the present.   
• Locations: bedroom, school, park with a bench, beach?
• The lyrics below, for example, would reference the Secret Garden,and the idea that the worlds she uses to escape to are solely hers, which she sees the benefit in. Yet using this chorus will enable me to show the development of her loneliness, leading to the protagonist learning that she doesn't have to hate the real world because there are benefits compared to being in her own fantasy world. 
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• Guilty as Sin - Taylor Swift
• This is considered a soft-rock song, however follows a story that could loosely be considered a ballad. I would focus this on a character who imagines a relationship and drowns in the idea that it would never happen. She uses her strong imagination to demonstrate the distance between her and another character through symbolism such as a tightrope, running down a pier etc. The bridge of the song sees our main character doubting her makebelief before going back to it when she realises that she could have what she imagines. In the end, she is let down.
• Locations: School setting, fields, pier, bedroom, beach
• This section of the lyrics would provide an illustrative relationship between it and the visuals. The protagonist would lock her thoughts (on paper) in a safe/bottle and push it out to sea before regretting her decision.
  
  
  

• pretty isn't pretty - Olivia Rodrigo
• The focus of this video would be not fitting in with societal expectations as a teenager. It would look at social pressures such as peer pressure, but concludes that you're better as yourself. There will always be someone or something that you may consider to be better than you, but you should maintain self worth.
• The teenage protagonist is trying to fit in to the crowd within her school, and we see her spending lots of time on her appearance and catching herself out on how she acts around 'friends'. She is constantly changing her style, yet is never satisfied with the outcome. We see her becoming more and more fixated on her appearance and social status as time goes on, until the bridge, where she realises how insane all of this is, surrounded by the chaos she has created (through clothes, open palettes of makeup etc). The end of the video sees her accepting who she is - she cleans her room (cleaning the mess she put herself in) and accepts herself for who she is. The main colour scheme of the video would be purple to reference the artist, Olivia Rodrigo.
• Locations: school cafeteria/toilet/hallway, bedroom
• Verse one (below) would focus on the idea that people - especially young people -  feel pressured to change based on the people around them in order to feel more included. The protagonist is seen eating her lunch in a toilet cubicle, embarrassed. Her loneliness is amplified by the people around her using camera shots such as a crane shot and a zoom. 
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• Labour - Paris Paloma/ LABOUR - the cacophony (Paris Paloma)
• This is considered an indie-folk ballad, however has become so popular that it could be considered a Pop Ballad. My vision for this song is a girl who is trapped within an exploitative relationship. I would make intertextual references to Taylor Swift's 'Tolerate It' performance from the Eras Tour and The Handmaid's Tale. The song would end with our heroine escaping and using the Handmaid's Tale to teach society everything wrong with it. The Cacophony's version is much more impactful and dramatic, therefore I would most likely favour this version. It is also more pop-like. 
• The original version of Labour would consist of a toned-down version of the vision below:
• For LABOUR: the Cacophony: the video would begin with a dramatic opening, with multiple different girls/women struggling in their position, appearing weak in the face of men and completing traditionally feminine roles. The first verse follows our female protagonist, a timid character in conservative clothing (think the Handmaid's Tale) who complies to societal rules, but slowly begins to notice sexist aspects of her life, especially when in the presence of men. The chorus would be her realisation that the world is a cruel, unfair place, and that she must escape the 'trap' of a relationship she is in. The second verse shows her realising that other women and girls have similar experiences. The next chorus shows the beginning of a feminist protest. The bridge then shows this group of women - in less conservative clothing now - writing and stacking books, handing them down to each other in a line. This is the Handmaid's Tale, a book that is banned in the USA, and it is being handed out to the men we saw earlier in the video. Amidst this, cuts of our protagonist sees her ascending a podium/throne made of banned feminist books to the beat of the bridge/chorus, before taking a seat at the end of the song.  
• Locations: a dining room with a long table, fields, a house exterior
• These lyrics below would be set at a dinner table and would include the intertextuality of Taylor Swift's 'Tolerate It' Eras Tour performance with a long table, one person at each end. The protagonist is beginning to realise and notice the sexism within the community she lives in through the micro actions of her partner.
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• This then progresses to the rebellion of the protagonist during the last chorus as she walks across the table, symbolising her standing up to the oppression she has faced. Again, this is an intertextual reference to 'Tolerate It'.

  

  
  

• Notre Dame - Paris Paloma
• This song centres its lyrics around self-reflection and a deep-dive in to the meaning of religion and humanity. The video would focus on loneliness, with the character progressing to then bring awareness to the idea that 'you are enough'. It takes place in a gloomy setting such as a church, reflecting the song's name 'notre dame'. During the song, a visitor notices our main character, and they befriend each other, leading to the ending's message that you are enough and you don't have to be lonely. 
• Locations: eerie building, e.g. a churchyard/interior of a church
• The lyrics below would be partially illustrated and partially amplified. The first part of the bridge would illustrate the setting, then the focus would shift back to the protagonist, amplifying how lonely she is through her visiting the place in the church where the choir would sing, imagining she is one of them. 
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• No One Sleeps In Hollywood - Ben Ellis
• This song deals with the pressures of the entertainment industry and how difficult it is to 'make it'. The video would be set at night, referencing the lyrics 'no one sleeps in hollywood' and 'theres another road'. Then we move to a montage of an artist trying to make it, through working long hours with a guitar, constantly writing down lyrics and crossing them out etc. It would deal with the idea that the entertainment industry is hard on new artists, and eventually the character discovers their love for song writing through then being at peace with their song/life.
• Locations: music room, classroom, bedroom, well-lit road, city?
• These lyrics (below) would explore the idea that it is difficult to feel like making music is worth it because of the constant disappointments young people face within the industry. The first two lines would depict the artist walking down an empty road at dusk. The next two would see him sitting at a table with a guitar and paper, scribbling lyrics and crossing them out more aggressively with each cut. 
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• Portrait of a Dead Girl - The Last Dinner Party
• This song is about a toxic relationship. It would begin with two characters in an innocent-looking relationship, but slowly they become more and more toxic towards each other. They put words in to each others mouths, set the other up for an argument etc. Both characters want to make it work, but they just can't. The lyrics 'over and over again' provides a circular narrative of trying to make the relationship work again, but it always ends the same way. 
• The couple could use other paintings (reference to the title and the origin of the song being based on a real portrait) of which they imagine themselves in the painted people's position. 
• Locations: art gallery, house, dinner table with friends 
• The lyrics below show both the longing for a person and also the acknowledgement that a relationship with this person may not be the best idea or decision. The repetition of 'over and over again' would be used to show a circular narrative, each time getting more and more argumentative. 
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I have chosen to do LABOUR - the cacophony because I feel that the message can be incredibly deep and meaningful for the intended audience.