Andy Warhol's screen tests

"The true test of a screen test subject, writes Weingart, is “not just the capacity to turn oneself into a living picture; rather, it is the capacity to bear the gaze of the camera.” This gaze could empower or upset its subjects, some of whom came out of the experience feeling either exhilarated and star-like or deflated and broken down. Their engagement with the gaze took many forms, such as “the luxurious exhibition of oral activities” like eating or smoking that played with the erotics of being stared at."

Possible song choices

Regardless of what song I choose, my music video will follow the same premise - expressionless, natural looking girls in a studio with a projection overlay of the artists performing the songs and visuals relevant to the music that is not my own.

Depeche Mode - The Bottom Line
I feel that the song is nicely slow paced and quite ambient therefore it fits my concept very well. The use of lyrics like 'you' mean that the song is very personal and would be relevant to my music video as there is a prominence of female models.

The Beatles - I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Like The Bottom Line, this song uses the word 'you' and 'she' consistently throughout so it is relevant to my use of female models. Also, the minimalistic lyrics of this song will be reminiscent of the minimalistic idea for my music video. The song also has quite an eerie tone/subject to it, and my music video could be seen as a type of scopophilia, which this song definitely suits.

New Order - Fine Time
I would really like to use this song but I feel as though, due to the fact that my main inspiration is already a New Order song, it would seem lazy and unoriginal of me. The fast pace and upbeat acid- sounds of this song would work great with a projection and the lyrics would again be appropriate with the female models.

Apex Twin - produk 29 [101]
This song is appealing because I like it. There are no lyrics which makes it appealing as the models will not be singing any lyrics, therefore it would fit well. it is also one of aphex twin's calmer tracks, which would fit in with the visuals. I also like the sampling towards the end of the song of the woman talking about going to a club etc which would fit in great with the projection if I could find footage of where the sample is from.

Kanye West - Runaway
The main appeal for this song is to make my work more personal as this is quite an important song to me. It would allow me to create a more emotional and personal piece as opposed to a completely objective piece of work. It would allow me to use my own content for the projections, as I would use pictures from my life and things relative to the song's meaning. However, that in itself makes use of this song unappealing as I personally like it more when music remains subjective and without the music video forcing a particular meaning onto the audience.

Headshot moodboard

Above is a moodboard of images I have compiled of celebrity headshots. All of these except for the Beatles ones are the kind of headshots I want to use in my music video - not posey, lacking of expression, lacking of any background distraction and in a way, quite raw. I want the headshots in my music video to have girls lacking of makeup and not being so drastically posey as I want to keep that sense of rawness and reality in my music video as it goes completely against the current music video trends of big budget over the top performances (k-pop, mainstream American pop, etc). As pretentious as it may sound I would like my video to be a celebration of what people actually look like.

Projection moodboard

I plan to use a projection overlay throughout my music video over the models headshots to allow videos and images of the actual musicians through the use of found footage to add another layer to the video. This is to prevent the music video being purely just models - I would like to add something more to it and it is an aesthetically pleasing effect. I got my inspiration for this from Depeche Mode's music video Stripped:

Music Video Inspiration

A style of music video I personally like is when it is predominantly shot above the shoulders, showing the singer's facial expressions (close-up) and not much else. It is simplistic, minimalistic and allows the music to carry emotion whilst refraining from pushing a narrative that could hinder the meaning that the audience takes from the song. It also allows a sense of star appeal which is beneficial.
Examples of this type of music video are as followed:

Nothing Compares 2U - Sinead O'Connor (1990)

Du Riechst So Gut - Rammstein (1995), heavily inspired by Sinead O'Connor's video

Another example that I really like is Round & Round by New Order:

This music video doesn't have any singing as none of the models from the music video are in New Order or are even musicians at all. It is so simplistic and really emphasises New Order's anonymity (despite them not actually being actively anonymous), allowing the audience to focus more on the song. In a way, the music video is very relevant to the subject of the song as the song is about putting on a front and pretending to be something that you aren't - "The picture you see is no portrait of me / It's too real to be shown to someone I don't know". It shows models without make-up and without any flashy 80s clothing, so they are their real selves and it is quite personal. Ideally I would like to use this video as heavy inspiration and maybe perhaps recite it as homage or postmodernism.