Planning the artist image - Miss Georgiou

Artist image

An artist has the power to influence the way in which their fans dress and behave because the audience often look up to an artist for inspiration, therefore an artist image is essential because they can dictate new trends, and how the younger generation will appear in society. It is easier for an indie artist to be recognised by their image due to the fact that they are often perceived as having their own individual style which usually does not fit into the mainstream. Indie artists are often more relatable because they seem to prefer wearing affordable clothing that their fans could copy if they wanted to. Also, the audience often associate an artist with their style. For example, Lady Gaga prefers to wear crazy, if slightly inappropriate outfits that cause her to be seen as an independent individual who is not afraid to challenge the mainstream.

The old lady character, who will be portrayed by Molly's nan and will be seen at the beginning and end of the video. We plan on using the narrative to explain to the audience that the elderly lady and the artist are the same person, therefore they understand that the narrative is her story, which will give the video a more personal because the audience will feel as though she is sharing a private story with them. In the video, the audience will see the older lady wearing a plain top, cardigan and pair of comfortable trousers, which most people will view as being typical old lady clothes. We want for her to be comfortable and to wear clothes that she would normally wear on a day to day basis, as this will help us to make our video more realistic. Her hair will hang loose in order to show the audience that she does not care too much about her appearance. This is arguably conventional to the indie genre which is often perceived as being old fashioned and vintage, and indie artists will often be shown as having their own style which does not usually fit into the mainstream. The older lady will first appear during the instrumental that plays before the song starts, and she will be seen walking through her back garden towards a wooden chair. The use of this location will help us to create a peaceful and homely setting, which helps us to make our video more realistic due to the fact that elderly people are often perceived as being peaceful and content with life. She will disappear when the lyrics "you are an avalanche" are sung in order to show the audience that the narrative is beginning, which is likely to make them want to watch the video until the end as they will be curious to see how she is related to the story and to the artist. The artist will be represented as being more relatable because the audience can see that she has grown old without having any plastic surgery and that she isn't wearing any makeup to make her appear younger than she is. Due to the fact that they usually have a lot of money and spend much of their time in the public eye, famous people often undergo plastic surgery to make themselves fit into the mainstream and fit into society's idea of what people should look like. The audience may also view the artist as being talented in the sense that she is able to tell show the audience that her songs have a deeper meaning, through the use of a flashback and a detailed narrative.

For both the main male character in the video and artist we plan on changing the way they appear on screen according to what is happening in the narrative. To begin with, when the characters meet for the first time they will both be wearing light colours, such as white and blue. We plan on dressing the artist in a white jumper and white skinny jeans, and the male character in light blue jeans and a white top. These choices of costumes will link into the lyrics "you are an avalanche" due to the fact that the audience will think of snow which is white, and the colour white is often associated with the idea of innocence. The use of light colours tells the audience that this is the beginning of their relationship, and that the two characters are innocent in the sense that they do not know anything about each other. This is conventional to the indie genre because the lyrics are often based on real life experiences about love and relationships, therefore most of the audience will be able to relate to the narrative as many of them will have been in relationships themselves. This will also help them to feel closer to the artist because they will feel as though they are being told a personal story, almost as if they were friends. Through the use of realistic, affordable clothing the artist is represented as being a normal and relatable teenage girl, due to the fact that some of her audience will not be able to afford designer brands. The artist may encourage the audience to dress how they want to because of the idea that in the video, the male character likes her regardless of what she is wearing. This section of the narrative helps us to set the scene for the rest of the video, because we have introduced the artist and the male character, and we have shown the audience how they met.

During the date scene which takes place towards the beginning of the video, both the male and female characters will still be seen wearing light colours due to the fact that it is still early on in their relationship. The audience are seeing them on their first date, which gives the audience the idea that the two characters are still getting to know each other, therefore there is still a sense of innocence within their relationship and within the narrative. The female artist will be wearing a plain white top, light blue skinny jeans and a white jacket, which we hope will look slightly more fashionable than her first appearance in the music video but still just as innocent. We hope that the audience will get the impression that she has made an effort to look nice for her date, and that they will feel envious of her ability to buy fashionable clothes because of the money she makes from selling her music. The audience will associate the idea of a date with getting dressed up in clothes that you would not wear on a daily basis and going somewhere fancy. The artist is represented as being more fashionable but still relatable because, although her clothes look more expensive, she is still not wearing designer brands, therefore she is not rubbing the fact that she has money in her audience faces, as some of the viewers may not be able to afford these types of clothes. The male character will also be dressed in clothes that are considered slightly more fashionable, he will be wearing dark blue jeans and a white buttoned up shirt. The use of contrasting colours could emphasise to the audience that the narrative is about to become more serious and not as innocent as it was in the beginning. It could also foreshadow his death that occurs towards the end of the video, which therefore makes the video more climactic because they know something bad is going to happen but they do not know what or when. Both of these images link into the lyrics “I never meant to fall for you” which could suggest that the artist could foreshadow that their relationship was not going to last.

The final costume that the male character will be seen wearing is an army print outfit, consisting of a top and trousers, in order to show the audience that he in the army, which could help the audience to create an emotional connection with the song because the army is often associated with war, and death, and sadness. The use of this uniform style costume will allow our group to show the audience that the character is part of the army without having to incorporate dialect into our video in order to explain it to them. This is conventional to the indie genre because indie music videos are often narrative based which allows an artist to show the audience that the song has a deeper meaning to it which is often based on real life experiences. Having said that, it is also unconventional to the indie genre in the sense that indie artists are often perceived as having their own individual styles that stand out from everybody else, however, there are a lot of people who own clothing in the style of an army print, therefore it is not very original. The artist is represented as being creative because she is able to use costumes to build on the narrative and draw the audience in. This use of costume will help us to develop our narrative because it shows the male character as going off to fight, which means the audience will not know what is going to happen to him or how their relationship is going to progress, therefore they will be curious to see what is going to happen. This links into the lyrics “the darkest fairy tale” because fairy tales are associated with love and happy endings, however, the idea of darkness suggests that the two characters are not going to have a happy ending, which could also foreshadow the male character’s death at the end of the video. The audience will feel as though they know what is going to happen without seeing the video, but it will also hook them into watching the video until the end to find out if they are right.

Following the date scene, the next costume that we plan on showing the artist wearing is an all-black running costume which will consist of black leggings, a long sleeved black top and black trainers. The colour black connotes darkness and death, therefore we can use it to show the audience how broken and upset she is feeling, which may cause the audience to sympathise with her because the song is based on a real life experience, therefore they feel as though she once actually felt the emotions that she is expressing. The video feels more personal because the artist is being honest with the audience in the sense that she is no sugar coating her life to make it appear better and happier than what it actually is. This is also similar to the final costume that the artist will be seen wearing, which will be black jeans and a black jumper, which will appear while she is scattering the male character’s ashes, suggesting to the audience that she has just come from his funeral. The artist is represented as being upset and in a state of grief which is unconventional to the indie genre which is often associated with happy artists who are content with life and passionate about their music, and who usually wear quirky, multi-coloured clothes that represent their individual styles. These visuals therefore destroy the idea that people who are famous and have money are happy all of the time and have nothing to worry about. All of the darker costumes towards the end of the video will link in with the lyrics "the darkest fairy tale" due to the fact that fairy tales are often associated with love and happy endings, however, the idea of darkness suggests that the two characters are not going to have the happy ending that the audience will expect and want them to. This use of darker clothing for the male character could foreshadow his death which the audience will see at the end of the video, and the use of darker clothing for the artist could be used to show the audience how she is feeling, for example, sadness and the idea that she is broken hearted.

The audience will be able to build a relationship with the audience because they will feel as though they have been with the artist through every step and every development in her relationship with the male character in the video, almost as if they were two friends in real life and she feels close enough to tell them about her private life. They will feel as though they are getting to know more about her, while at the same time the artist is sharing her music with them and exposing her music on a worldwide scale. The audience may also feel as though they were part of the relationship too, especially in the scenes that are filmed up London due to the fact that none of the characters are in the shot, therefore the audience can pretend that they are the ones who are there.