WEEK 9/10 - statement of intent FINAL

In my media music video, I plan to make a protest video that will carry themes of empowerment and coalesce. The target audience in which the video will be directed to are socially and culturally conscious young adults in the 16-25 age groups who fall into the middle to upmarket demographic. The primary angle in which I am targeting my audience is through their age demographic and socially conscious leanings; because of this, I will be focusing on the themes of female empowerment and women’s liberation.

My chosen song is ‘100 years’ by Florence and the Machine and the video will reflect the artist’s frustrations at the current struggle of female empowerment by looking back at past movements. The song itself addresses the artist’s overwhelming feelings on major events that took place in the years around the song’s release in 2018 – namely the Harvey Weinstein allegations.  This personal approach to situations is part of the artist’s brand and ultimately creates a more human and intimate connection to the audience.

Like the song itself, the music video accompanying it will address the issues within our society – namely the people and the topics that oppose female empowerment and women’s liberation. This will target the audience’s beliefs through its socially conscious attributes and beliefs – the audience members will not necessarily have to be affected by the issues addressed to feel a connection to the artist and their message.

One of the reasons for the aesthetic choice is to complement the narrative and to be striking and interesting. This approach should appeal to the age demographic of the audience as the video will feel more contemporary. I will attempt to use media language that enhances and is associated with the themes and aesthetics throughout the video linking the intertextuality and mise-en-scene will also enhance the overall aesthetics and determine the direction that these will be taking them in.

Aesthetically, the video will also use the conventions from a traditional protest music video as to further appeal to the audience’s expectations of a protest music video; these features will also feed into the intertextual aspects of the video. As well as this, the video will feature floral and feminine imagery as an overarching theme – this will allow the video to have a consistent theme throughout the video and the webpage. I have decided to use this range of imagery as it can be used to juxtapose the women’s actions and break gender stereotypes.

The intertextuality integrated into the video’ aesthetics and will represent the different historical movements relating to women’s liberation: the suffragette movement during the early 20^th century; the women’s liberation movement during the1960s/70s; and the #MeToo movement popularised in the recent years. The imagery from these movements – such as flags and slogans - will reinforce the video and song’s social stance and message as well as supporting the aesthetical choices.

Regarding social groups, I plan to represent a range of ages – including ages of the target audience – to highlight and exaggerate the different generations and their struggle. Through the use of mise-en-scene and this age representation, I will be able to create a believable and immersive setting.