Pitch for our music video

Location: Living room (Harry's house), The Hamptons (Bike scene), My House (white room)

Costume: Green vintage prom dress, masks, one piece furry overalls, dungarees 

Cast: Robyn Archard; 'Evie'

Props: Bike, monopoly board, dolls house, piggy bank, inflatable hammer, various toys.

Narrative: The main themes in our music video are games, and imagination, and we will show this through the use of random props and a fun upbeat style. This will portray Evie as a fun, quirky and indie star. The music video unfolds with 'Evie' sitting on an old fashioned chair, looking bored and singing to the camera. We will have a scene of playing monopoly in the white room with three mysterious characters in masks. We will also show a dolls house and will try to make it look as if she is in the dollshouse. We will use a piggy bank to relate to the lyrics, however we will make this comical by using an inflatable hammer to pretend to try and smash the piggy bank. We will then have a scene with her riding along the streets on a bike. The main element of our video is performance and this will be in the white room, in which we want to create an over exposed effect. 


This is our main pitch for our ideas and we hope they will be successful. We have looked into how they fit in with codes and conventions of different music videos, and they fit most closely with a pop video. We have drawn some very close comparisons with Jessie J's video 'Price Tag'. Typically, pop videos feature performance, and this is a major aspect of our video so fits in with the codes and conventions well. Similarly, the scene we plan on the bike has been used numerous time in videos I have researched, for instance Eliza Doolittle's video 'Roller blades', and Cleo Sol's video 'High'. 

Problem with our song choice.

When first picking songs, we chose to do Lily Allen's cover of Everybody's Changing by Keane. We really  loved the song and were extremely happy that we had found it as it was not well known and only had about 300 views on Youtube. Although we knew that Lily Allen was a very popular artist we thought that it would be ok to use this song, as it was a cover and not well know. Therefore, we started to plan out our ideas for the song and were really excited with our plans.
Unfortunately, the exam boards published a notice saying that popular music artists were not allowed, and our teacher warned us that Lily Allen would be included in this. This was devastating as we had already started to plan and really liked our song choice. However, we have accepted the news and are now looking for new songs that are not as popular as we realise that people recognise Lily Allen's voice, and so if we did use her people would already have an image of the star in their heads when watching the video. We are now excited to create our own star with their own star image.

Lyrics Analysis- 'Moneybox' Eliza Doolitle

'Instead of going out to dinner tonight
We can grow vegetables
Underneath the skylight'


This first verse sets the theme of the song. Instead of going for dinner, Eliza wants to stay home and 'grow vegetables'. This demonstrates how she feels about money, and that she would rather stay in, than go out and spend it, reflecting her non-materialistic personality. The randomness of growing vegetables enhances her quirky, indie personality, and in our music video we will make sure to represent this.    


'Clicking these downloads everyday has its price
We can lounge on our couch
And listen to our 45s'

In this verse, the theme of non-materialism is continued, as she she would rather just 'lounge on our couch'. This is perhaps a statement to boyfriends that they don't need to spend money to impress her. Eliza is showing her personal views that you don't need money to have fun, and the free things are the best.


'So take your Dollar
Your Yen
Those Euros I can't spend
I won't get down with no pounds
Never need to leave this house'

The bridge to the chorus sums up the theme of the song, and by listing foreign currencies it makes the theme universal, showing that no matter which country, you don't need money to enjoy yourself.


'Don't need a moneybox
Cos I got lots and lots
Of what I need right here
Right here with you my dear
Don't need a cash machine 
To make our days happy
So do me a favour
Don't jingle your change Sir'


In the chorus, Eliza explains how everything she needs is 'right here', and she is referring to the person she calls 'you my dear'. Again, she is telling someone that they don't need to show off their money to impress her.


'Instead of going to the movies tonight
There's no shame in us playing
Dust of that Sega Mega Drive'

This verse again demonstrates the same theme, with the word 'shame' highlighting how others might feel about staying in, but she doesn't and would rather stay in than 'going to the movies.' 


'Hand me your trousers
You got holes in your knees
It's no fuss patch them up
Forget about that shopping spree'


Eliza is now telling the man that she doesn't care what he wears, even if he has 'holes' in his knees. Eliza's personality of not caring and freedom will be expressed in our music video. 
'So take your Dollar
Your Francs
Your Rupees no thanks
I won't get down with no pounds
Never need to leave this house'

'Don't need a moneybox
Cos I got lots and lots
Of what I need right here
Right here with you my dear
Don't need a cash machine
To make our days happy
So do me a favour
Don't jingle your change Sir'

'Lock up your moneybox
It's not much of a loss
All that gold just goes to waste
Cos you're worth more anyway'


This line is used to boost the confidence of the audience, as she puts across a message that people are worth more than money; 'cos you're worth more anyway'. 
'No need to travel round London tonight
We can play Monopoly
Buy Mayfair in our own time'

This verse uses a pun of monopoly and mayfair, because she would rather play the game and by mayfair that way than literally buy it. This theme of playing games that is expressed in the lyrics will be a major idea in our music video. We want to reflect the fun game playing star that Eliza is, and so will have a monopoly scene, and other games.  
The lyrics of the song are really fun and easy going and we will reflect this mood through our video. However, we don't want to use any literal shots, and so will use have hidden messages, but overall we will highlight the theme that money is not needed to have fun.  

Mood Board

This is our mood board of initial ideas...

Diary Entry- Planning

Today we started planning our music video. At the very beginning we chose a song by Lily Allen, which was a cover. Unfortunately we couldn't do this song as our teachers felt Lily was to well known. We have now settled on the artist Eliza Doolittle and her song 'MoneyBox'. We think it will be a great choice, and today we started brainstorming ideas for the video. We want to base the video on the theme of games and have ideas such as making an oversized monopoly board and having the artist playing the game with strange characters. We would also like to use a lego or dolls house to add a quirkiness to the video, and maybe include props such as cupcakes, lollipops, and dice.
Here is evidence of our initial brainstorm...

1st Choice- Eliza Doolitle 'Moneybox'

We have chosen to use this song for our music video. We really like the themes that are explored through the lyrics, for example not needing money to have fun, and the idea of games. We also like the randomness and quirkiness that comes out and want to portray this in our video. The up beat music was one of the main reasons we picked this song as we knew we wanted a bright and uplifting video. This was also a reason why we didn't choose Leddra Chapman- Sheila as we thought that it was quite slow and there was a lot of ambient sounds in the video.

2nd Choice- Leddra Chapman 'Sheila'