Cast List

Within my music video there will be two female performers, both of whom will represent the lyrics from one of the original artists of the song each.
My first performer is Leonie Naylor, who will be representing the lyrics originally sang by Rihanna.



My second performer is Rebecca Cardell. Rebecca will represent the lyrics orignally rapped by Nicki Minaj.



I have chosen this pair for various reasons. Both girls are my best friends, and therefore I can rely on them not to pull out of filming at last minute, and to take my work seriously. Both girls also have the right image for my video, and will therefore work well within the video I am trying to produce.

Prop List

There are various props that I shall use within my video, including those that shall be directly used by the performers, and those that shall just form part of the overall mise-en-scene.

- Plastic gun.
I shall use a fake gun within one of the scenes of my music video. The gun will preferably be pink in colour in order to represent the feminism within the song and the video I am creating.

- Large torches.
Within the dance scene of my music video, each dancer shall hold a large torch in order to make their movements visable within the dark.

- Stereo speaker.
I shall film the speaker whilst it plays music in order to capture the vibrations of the prop so that they link with the rythm of the music.

- A variety of pound notes.
The stack of notes will gradually increase in sync with the lyrics of the song.

- Television.
My video shall be played upon the television to make it seem as though the performer is performing on television, inside of a television...

- Chair.
I shall use a plain chair covered in red fabric to create the illusion of a 'throne'.

- Champagne glassses.
These will be used to create the illusion of expense and luxury.

- Umbrella's.
These shall be used in the last scene of my video by both performers in order to represent the lyrics 'it's raining men'.

Animatic

Storyboarding

Lyrics Analysis

My chosen song is a very upbeat, positive song. It features two females who portray their power within society throughout the lyrics of this particular song, in order to reflect the change in balance between men and woman in todays society as they become more and more equal. My lyrics represent very feminine attitudes.

The song puts a very modern twist upon the original 1982 song 'Raining Men' in order to change the genre of the song completely and apply hip-hop conventions in order to attract a younger generation. These new ideas include rap and a change in the overall type of language, including taboo language.

LIIAR

Language
The connotations of the hip-hop genre are wealth and power, which will be portrayed within my video by shots that include champagne glasses and stacks of money. The costumes that my performers will wear will dennotate ideas about power and confidence in order to give them an edgy style that stands out and reflects the upbeat tone of the music.

Institution
The original institutons of my chosen song are Def Jam Recording's, Rihanna's record label, and Cash Money Records, Nicki Minaj's record label. Universal Music Group is parent to the Def Jam record label as well as the Cash Money label, both of which are therefore sublabels of this major record label. The institution for my own music video will be me, as the video will be created from my own production work. I will also distribute the video myself, by placing it on websites such as Youtube, and so my video will be produced under an independant record label that I will create myself.

Ideology
The ideology behind my music video is largely based around ideas about feminism and the growing female power within society. The song is dominated by two females, both of whom sing lyrics such as 'All you need to know that I'm a 2 times 5' and 'player keep your money I can buy my own drink'. These lyrics immediately send a message to the audience that reflects views in todays society on the growing equality of men and woman, as women become more powerful and independant.

Audience
'Raining Men' is a song that sits within the Hip-hop/R&B genre. The song is performed by two artists, and so the original audience for this particular song would have been fans of either Nicki Minaj or Rihanna, or perhaps both artists. As the two performers will not feature within my music video, my target audience will be fans of the hip-hop genre, particularly those of a younger generation. Specifically, through looking at the results of my questionnaire, my audience will largely consist of both males and females within the age range of 15-19. A slightly higher percentage of this audience may be female-orientated due to the feminist ideas featured within the song.

Representation
Within society, women are stereotypically seen as being less powerful than males. It is often said that females rely on males for money, and are less able to speak their mind without the danger of being judged. However, as society changes, women seemingly become more powerful and independant. These ideas are represented within my chosen song, as the lyrics challenge typical stereotypes of women. My chosen performers for my music video will therefore be confident in order to portray the songs overall ideas that women should never rely on any one man.

Questionnaire Results

These results show that for those who picked hip-hop as their favourite genre are generally within the age range of 15-24. Out of this group of people, almost an equal amount of them are males compared to females, however there were slightly more females than males answering the survey. Therefore, I need to incorporate modern aspects into my video that will attract a fairly young audience, and need to include features that will attract both a male and female audience. The majority of those who answered my questionnaire answered no to the question 'Do you prefer music videos to have an extended narrative?' and so I shall stick to the length of the song when creating my music video. The majority of those who answered my questionnaire said that they preferred a performance or narrative based music video compared with an animated or abstract one. I shall also take into account all of the feedback received from each individual person who answered the question 'what do you expect overall within a music video?' and apply this to my ideas on how to attract my target audience.