Final Song Choice / Lily Allen - Knock 'em out

"Knock 'Em Out"

Alright so this is a song about anyone, it could be anyone.
You're just doing your own thing and some one comes out the blue,
They're like,
"Alright"
What ya saying,
"Yeah can I take your digits?"
And you're like, "no not in a million years, you're nasty
please leave me alone."

Cut to the pub on our last night out,
Man at the bar cos it was his shout,
Clocks this bird and she looks OK,
Caught him looking and she walks his way,
"Alright darling, you gonna buy us a drink then?"
"Err no, but I was thinking of buying one for your friend..."

She's got no taste hand on his waist, tries to pull away but her lips on his face,
"If you insist I'll have a white wine spritzer"
"Sorry love, but you ain't a pretty picture."

[Chorus]
Can't knock em out, can't walk away,
Try desperately to think of the politest way to say,
Just get out my face, just leave me alone,
And no you can't have my number,
"Why?"
Because I've lost my phone.

Oh yeah, actually yeah I'm pregnant, having a baby in like 6 months so no, yeah, yeah...

"I recognize this guy's way of thinking..."
As he comes over her face starts sinking,
She's like,
"Oh here we go.."
It's a routine check that she already knows, she's thinking: "They're all the same."

"Yeah you alright baby? You look alright still, yeah what's your name?"
She looks in her bag, takes out a fag, tries to get away from the guy on a blag, can't find a light,
"Here use mine"
"You see the thing is I just don't have the time."

[Chorus]

Go away now, let me go,
Are you stupid? Or just a little slow?
Go away now I've made myself clear,
Nah it's not gonna happen,
Not in a a million years,

[Chorus x2]

Nah I've gotta go cos my house is on fire,
I've got herpes, err no I've got syphilis...
AIDS, AIDS, I've got AIDS!


We have chosen 'Knock 'em out' by Lily Allen as our song for our music video. This song has many of the qualities that we wanted in a song, which were: fun, cheeky and girly (without being cheesy). The girl's in my group love Lily Allen's rebel image and thought it would be fun and interesting to create a video for the song.We have already come up with a lot of different ideas for the video and are all excited about filming it. We agree that many girls our age can relate to the lyrics of the song, as it's about girls that are fed up of boys chatting them up. There is a lot of humour in the song lyrics and we'd like to emphasise that as much as possible (without going over the top) .  

Influences from the past.

The term 'Pop Music' originated from an abbreviation of the word 'popular'. Pop music is generally marketable and memorable and is known for its ability to attract listeners because of its versitility, derived from a plethora of years of musical influences. This genre has evolved and has branched out into many sub-genres, that still have some conventions of generic pop music but have also adopted other musical styles or genres to create a new, contemporary sound.

Many modern artists have clear influences from older musicians whether it be in sound or style.

Florence Welch of  'Florence and the Machine' has a distinctive similarity to Kate Bush.

Though Florence has a 'folk' feel to her songs and Kate Bush, a more 'alternative' sound they can both share a common genre, Baroque pop.

Baroque pop / English baroque originated in the mid 1960s it brought elements of classical music into the writing and recording of rock 'n' roll music. Artist of this style used instruments not traditionally used in rock music such as the oboe and cello.
       



Though not as imaculate and mellow as Kate Bush's, Florence's performace does really mirror many aspects of it.

Music video styles

Illustration -  A straight forward performance or simple narrative video or a mixture, to illustrate the meanings of the lyrics and visualise the music in a straight forward way.


Example: 




Amplification - The use of narrative or performance music videos in a less straight forward way in atempt to amplify creative interpretation, unusual and surrealist approaches. These still have a direct link to the song or lyrics.


Example: Biffy Clyro - 'God and Satan' 

Disjuncture - This type of music video presents an abstract approach to the music or lyrics, providing viewers with visuals that are not obvious or directly linked to the music, lyrics, song title or artist.


Example: Bomb the Bass - 'Black River'


This video was directed by Corin Hardy who spoke at a music video convention that I was fortunate enough to attend. He has made a variety of music videos for a range of artists. I was really impressed by this video in particular because of the way in which he described the filming.
He used his friend, a car, a cheap mask and filmed in the woods. With these limited resources he was able to create an interesting and slightly strange video that I enjoyed watching. Here is a link one of his profiles -
http://www.academyfilms.com/flash/#/academy/music_videos/corin_hardy/

Narrative music video / Plan B - Recluse

This music video has a strong narrative. The settings and storyline directly reflect the lyrics to the song e.g In the scene at the beginning the lyrics say "life behind bars in the 21st century ain't nothing nice" and it shows the artist in a prison having a fight with another inmate. These are conventions of an 'illustration' music video as it directly links to the lyrics and meaning of the song.

Genre mood board (Secondary sources)

Mood Board

I have created a mood board that represents the conventions of british pop music.The bright colours accentuate the girly aspect of pop music. We also intend for our music video to be cheeky and brassy, I used a leopard print pattern and an image of a fashionable girl in attempt to create this characteristic.I also thought our genre of music suits a 'girls' night out' theme so I added pictures of colourful cocktails and a nightclub/ bar scene. I incorporated a british flag to highlight the fact that british pop music embraces the culture; I intetionally used a flag that was slightly faded in colour to highlight the fact that some british pop artists have a non conformists, rebelious attitude such as Lily Allen who is a potential artist for the song for our music video.

Music genre

There are a variety sub-genres within pop music such as 'Indie pop' and 'Pop rock' so we have deceided to outline characteristics for our specific type of pop music.
We want our music video to be:
- Fun
- Light hearted
- Cheeky
- Girly
- Colourful

Songs that was considered for our video: Lenka - 'The Show'




Good Points: The song is very girly and could we thought we could ask a friend who is a ballerina to feature in it. 


Bad Point: The song has a slow pace and can get a boring. 

Katy Perry - 'Peacock'



Good Points: The song is by the famous artist Katy Perry but does not have a video which is an advantage because our video will not be compared to an original music video. 


Bad Points: We wanted to use 'british pop music' to emphasise on a certain type of pop music. 

Performance music video / Lily Allen - It's nor fair

This performance music video is interesting because the stage is set up in a country style which relates to the melody but doesn't really correspond with the lyrics of the song. Lily Allen has been styled to suit the set and her performance is visually tantalising and engaging. 

Music genre

My group and I have agreed on 'Pop' to be the genre for our music video. Though our chosen genre differs to my gerenal music tatse, I'm pleased because it will take me out of my element and challenge me to try a variety of different creative ideas. Nevertheless I'm interested in a broad range of music genres and really enjoy our potential songs and artists.

Performance music video / The Drums - Best Friend

A performance video that conveys the quirkyness of the band. Jonathan Pierce's (the lead vocalist) dance moves and entrance to the set instantaneously accentuates the band's uniqueness.

Performance music video / Prince ( and 'The Revolution')

'Purple Rain' is a pop/rock song by Prince (and 'The Revolution'). It is the epic title track to the album 'Purple Rain'. The video showcases Prince's talent and charisma as it just displays him performing the song to an audience and their reactions. Elements such as the close-up shot of the female guitarist's face when she begins to play the intro, that then lowers to a shot of her hands playing, emphasise the dramatic essence of the video.