Ideas Generation for music video

The media project that we have chosen is to create a music video for the song ‘Under the Bridge’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In the video we will be portraying the themes of isolation and the toll of drug abuse. These themes can be seen through use of Lacey’s Repertoire of Elements.

In terms of character, the video will portray a young adult struggling with a gripping drug addiction during the narrative sections, and a live band for the performance section. The young adult will be down-trodden and sickly looking, stereotypical of the appearance of a drug abuser. His movement will be slow and heavy, trudging through the streets with no apparent emotion. The actor will not be part of the band, insinuating an external link that perhaps relates to the ‘everyman’ drug user, with no specific character intended.

The narrative events follow a fragmented structure that will display the self-destruction of drug abuse, following the young adult as he struggles to conform to life before turning to drug abuse. The narrative will convey that the character is gripped by a drug addiction that will ultimately take his life, which is apparent in the final segment of the video whereby it becomes more of a conceptual narrative following from him injecting the drugs into his arm. The higher tempo of the end of the song will befit this incident, eventually stopping and slowing down as if to represent his heart beat as he enters a drug induced coma.

The main iconographical aspects of the video will be the use of musical instruments such as drums and guitars, which are rock music icons apparent in almost all alternative rock videos. The band will represent a contemporary musical act performing the song, encapsulating the performance section of the video. Other icons will be the use of a syringe, if available, to represent his drug addiction more vividly.

The mise en scene will convey the desolate deterioration of his life through the surroundings. We will be filming in locations that represent this, using pathetic fallacy to create a direct link between his isolation and the world around him. His clothes will be earthy in colour and tone, representing his downtrodden personality and homeless insinuation.

Finally, the technical and audio codes used will enhance the feeling of isolation in the video. One technique that we will use is shallow depth of field, which will capitalise on the sense of abandonment and his loneliness.