Estelle Naughton

The 1975 – So Far (It’s Alright)

CHARACTERSThe character we are planning to use is a girl who has her heart broken and then the presence of her boyfriend will be there through flashbacks and pictures but the boyfriend character isn’t actually present in the video. The boyfriend’s presence will be apparent within the flashbacks of happier times, however in the current scene of the girl in her bedroom, he won’t be there in person. The girl will be sat on her bed with a mirror across the room, allowing the girl to see into the mirror and look at the evidence of her drug use on her arms, with tears running down her face. The video will be shot in black and white which will intensify the pain and hurt she feels by losing her boyfriend and the physical pain of using drugs, which will be shown by her looking and contemplating her life choices regarding drugs.

NARRATIVEThe narrative will be visually fragmented due to the flashbacks of her relationship that she’s lost through drugs, yet the narrative will be linear as from beginning to end you will see the progression of the girl’s life from being positive and declining and becoming negative and lonely. The girl will be on her bed crying due to the broken relationship due to drugs, with flashbacks including boyfriend and the activities that couples do and then towards the end of the video, you understand that she’s lost her boyfriend to drugs. We’ve decided to demonstrate this narrative in our music video as the song talks about drugs and it’s relevant to ideas we have.

GENRE/STYLEOur music choice is by an indie/pop band and our music video will reflect this as our video will be in black and white which is conventional for that genre.

ICONOGRAPHYThe iconic elements featured in our video will include the Manchester skyline, Manchester Wheel/Eye, Fopp and the general streets of Manchester to show the area in which she lives in is local and links in with where the band originates from. Elements of love and pain are present due to the relationship suggesting love and pain as the breakup and the drug use is present. The most evident iconic element would be the use and representation of drugs and how they will be shown through our music video, slightly conforming but deviating from the stereotype of who use drugs as she’s a teenage girl in love.

SETTINGThe predominant setting of our video will be the girl’s bedroom focusing on her pain and the environment in which she feels is safe and secure unlike the outside world which has led her to drugs. Alternatively, to show this we will shoot flashbacks around Manchester with her boyfriend and being introduced to drugs and becoming addicted. The flashbacks we will shoot will be positive at first and then get progressively worse showing the emotional and physical separation of the couple. They will visit iconic visuals of Manchester including the Manchester Wheel/Eye to show the connection and bond at the start of the relationship, being all couple like and then the outside shots will show the deterioration of the relationship.

TECHNICAL AND AUDIO CODESWe will cross cut the flashbacks into the video and use close ups when demonstrating the pain and hurt she feels in regards to the loss of her boyfriend and the addiction to drugs.

NEALE’S ‘MENTAL MACHINERY’Our idea isn’t conventional of the genre as it will include flashbacks, and flashbacks don’t really appear in music videos especially not paired with an indie/pop song.