Treatment of Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix) - Cameron

Treatment of Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)

Characters:
Lauren: She is one of the main characters throughout the video acting as a party goer who evidently enjoys a wilder lifestyle as she appears to indulge in the rebellious actions such as the consumption of alcohol and continuous partying. Glamourising this specific lifestyle similarly to British TV programmes such as Skins.

Shondelle: Shondelle is another main focus throughout the video representing similar characteristics to Lauren, she also likes partying and having fun with friends. She too glamourises the 'rebellious' teenage lifestyle as she presents herself to be wildly having fun.

Cameron: Cameron is present in several scenes of the music video, although he is not a main character. The initial narrative of the video was to follow two young girls (Lauren and Shondelle) on a 'girls night out' - this idea was is fairly relevant however we have now decided to present footage over several nights which highlights the perspectives of both males and females. When presented, Cameron is also seen to enjoy the nightlife and party atmosphere.

Charlie: Similarly to Cameron, Charlie is only present at selected points of the video; he is also seen however in these very few scenes to also enjoy the nightlife and appears to be having fun amongst his friends; this will further accompany the audio and dance track feeling to add a sense of euphoria and energy to the audience.

Friends and acquaintances: Acting as extras throughout the video for added effect and create an accurate nightlife/house rave vibe, as well as to further provoke a sense of euphoria which the audience will want to aspire to. 

Genre:
Our chosen music video genre is a dance track/ house music genre.

Settings: 

Various locations across Central London, including house parties, iconic landmarks, inside a limo.

Heads Will Roll:
Our chosen song for our music video is the A-Trak remix to Heads Will Roll. This as mentioned briefly above is a dance genre\house music song, and we have chosen this due to the fact that we can reflect a sense of euphoria, and an almost feel good emotion which, when viewed by a young audience to provoke a sense of higher self-esteem and belonging.                                            

Our video will begin with a range shots to set the scene as the song starts within the first 15 seconds of the audio playing. This will include fast pace shots of Central London to initially set the pace of the video and familiarise the audience with the setting as we plan to reoccur these images throughout. It will include cut shots of all the characters walking around as the audio begins. During this time the song title will appear on the screen for a short while.                          

From 15 seconds to 45 seconds into the audio, there will once again be cut shots of the characters enjoying the nightlife, this will be composed using a number of mid-shots and long-shots. This has the effect of making the audience feel as if they want to be involved, and create the idea that they wish to aspire to be like the characters presented in this video, which relates to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in terms of reaching self-actualization.         

From 45 seconds to 1 minute 12 seconds, shots of parties and other settings will be incorporated gradually becoming more consistent using faster shots for the party as the atmosphere is more electric in these settings. This will be presented through a number of mid-shots and long-shots.                                                                                                                                                                                    Between 1 minute 13 and 1 minute 16, the instrumentals disappear and only dialogue is heard as the song is about to drop into a full scale dance track audio. During this brief period a single shot of the party is prolonged throughout this time and is slowed down using a time stretch editing technique for added effect. There are jump cuts during this same shot at the same time the person singing says "off".                                                                                                                                                            

Between 1 minute 16 and 1 minute 45 after the audio drops into a faster paced dance audio beat, shots of Brighton pier fun fair, limo shots and party shots are incorporated using a mixture of long-shots, mid-shots, high/low angle shots in time with the beat using a variety of jump cuts. This further adds to the euphoric feel when viewing the video to get the audience to feel as if they have to aspire to do the things conveyed in the video, simply because it looks like allot of fun.                    Between 1 minute 45 and 2 minutes 14, the footage is slowed down in the form of a long shot, and directly after between 2 minutes 14 to 2 minutes 21, this same footage reverses in time with the audio when it appears to reverse as well. This emphasizes the reversing effect as depicted in the audio.                                                                                                                                                                       From 2 minutes 21 to 2 minutes 51, the audio resumes back to normal again and various shots of the party are shown again through the use of mid-shots and high/low angle shots in time with the beat, this will include a close up smoking shot for added effect.                                                                       

2 minutes 51 till the end of the video at 3 minutes 25 the audio resumes back to its full scale fast dance track beat. During this period more shots are once again incorporated in time with the beat, mainly mid-shots and long-shots of the parties, limo and Central London.                                                                          

The video ends the same time as the audio does at 3 minutes 25 with a two shot close up of Shondelle and Lauren walking up to the camera and blowing a kiss before the camera cuts to black at the same time as the audio ends. The use of the variety of shots to accompany or emphasize the audio links with Andrew Goodwin's theory of amplification in pop videos.                                                            

This follows the idea that the audio is amplified with the use of a video to accompany it and highlight the lyrics, which in turn has a more euphoric effect on the audience, therefore causing them to want to feel the same happiness or energy presented in the video. This along with the editing effects such as the use of a time stretch effect during some shots further emphasise the euphoric effect or the contrast of fast/slow pace shots to portray the thoughts and feelings of the characters. In addition to this a range of various colour filters on selected shots to portray the energetic mood of the characters: this is also an effect we have identified in many existing dance music videos.