05 Planning - Production

(incomplete)

My Plan For My Music Video

Spinnin' - Madison Beer (Matilda Berry)

Meaning

 I have chosen Spinnin’ by Madison Beer because I believe the song has some very interesting and impactful lyrics that imply a clear message of feeling stuck in a repetitive cycle of anxiety where the singer feels as if she can’t progress through her feelings of depression and anxiety. Madison describes feeling anxious and spending time exploring her thoughts and emotions, which is like being in a "spinning" state of mind. I believe the song is meant to be relatable and offer some comfort and validation for the listeners, helping them to understand that it may feel difficult to navigate through challenging times, but it is possible and further implies that you aren’t alone, no matter if you do feel that way. 

The music video features a young girl (the artist) who suffers from anxiety and depression, depicting her as lonely even when she is surrounded by her friends because her friends don’t seem to understand or notice her suffering. She struggles with her turmoil of emotions, unable to escape this negative state of mind she is experiencing and feels as if the world has frozen around her. The lyrics of the song Spinnin’ by Madison Beer suggest that the world seems to be frozen, suggesting that the days feel long, like they would for a person who suffers from depression. The sensation of feeling stuck in a monotonous routine could represent the idea of depressive episodes while the lyric “the sky is grey,” implies negative feelings such as sadness and gloom, much alike to what a person with depression may feel. 

Mood Board

I want to focus on the lyric “I’d rather live in my dreams”, which I have interpreted as meaning she’d rather sleep and dream of this fantasy world she has built inside of her head where life is better than how it appears in real life. Her mind creates a fake reality where she is free and light weight compared to the emotions she feels in her everyday life. This is where the inspiration of the mood board comes from.

I want to appeal to my target audience of style conscious people by creating cinematic shots and interesting transitions in aesthetically pleasing places such as beaches, cathedrals and gardens. I believe this song will offer me some interesting angles and shots to play with, specifically the song title ‘Spinning’, allowing me to add some interesting transitions and movements to my shots which could be fun to work with, while the lyrics imply that she “dreams”, further allowing me to create an almost fantasy world with interesting mise en scene with costume, location and lighting. 

Appearance

At the beginning of my video, I want my singer to feature as a typical teenager with normal and basic clothing. I want her to appear as ordinary in a dark blue top, jeans and trainers to depict her as self conscious and fitting in with the group. Her hair and makeup with be very minimal and natural to suggest that she is normal and not a financially assured celebrity to appeal. I may use some makeup to make her look less lively and more sleepy to suggest the physical aspects of her bad mental health.

However, in her dreams, she will be wearing a light blue, long floaty dress, something she feels free and floaty and happy in. The idea is that she can be whoever she wants in her dreams while in real life she is struggling with social pressure to fit in. The singer is free to imagine herself without the weight of her bad mental health and the self consciousness and images herself in a juxtaposing outfit to the plain and basic one at the start. Her hair and makeup will also be more dreamy but natural. She images herself as "prettier" without her depression, caring about and enjoying how she appears, so she wears slightly more makeup and takes time and pride with her hair. This will appeal to my style-conscious target audience.

Transitions, Camera Angles and Editing

I will use jumpy and overlapping clips throughout my video to present the messiness of her feelings. To further convey this idea, I want to use some kind of hazy effect on my clips and use slow-mos to emphasize her confusion and worry. I want to use transitions to make the video more aesthetically pleasing to watch and allow the video to flow. I want to have a shaky camera as I follow my singer to further demonstrate fear, worry and confusion. I aim to follow my singer as she walks and runs around. I will use transitions and more my camera in a circular motion to emphasize the idea of "spinning".

Sound

I awnt the first part of my music video to set the scene by showing the surroundings of the garden party and show the group playing games and being happy. During this part, I want to use diegetic sound such as laughing, talking, bird chirping and wind to convey the lack of music and sense of normality. Then the non-diegetic sound will begin to play in my singers head and she'll see that everybody has disappeared, conveying the idea that she's stuck inside her own head, feeling alone, presenting her metaphorical loneliness through the world inside her head.

Style, Messaging, Representation and Stereotyping

I will use a narrative style in my music video, using the lyrics to convey how the singer is stuck in her head, feeling alone and sad, while everyone has disappeared and the world around her has stopped "spinning". I will create messaging through use of camera movements and her character panicking to portray her building anxiety at the thought of being so alone. My character is a young teenage girl who suffers from depression, anxiety and loneliness but I aim to portray her as a typical teenage girl with a friend group and going to parties, conveying the message that these feelings and mental health problems can occur in anyone and there isn't a specific person they happen to. I want to break stereotype that "normal people" don't experience anxiety or suffer with loneliness. However, I want to break the stereotype that teenage girls are "too emotional" or dramatic by presenting her as a reserved and closed off character who experiences emotions like a human being would but doesn't always enjoy talking about them. I aim to break stereotype that girls can't associate with the colour blue by dressing her in blue and focusing on lots of blue in the props and setting - sky and sea, plates and napkins. I aim to show her friends as a typical teenage girl friend group, laughing, smiling and playing games, breaking stereotypes that girl friend groups are toxic and emotional.