I've contacted all the dancers, given them the song and asked them to come up with routines/dance moves to do on the shoot. A majority of the dancers take a Performing Arts course, which is an advantage to both them and us, as participating in other dance related activities, their overall grade moves up.
Whilst looking at various reggae/dancehall and hip-hop videos, I've analysed their hair styles, makeup and costume. The majority of these videos have women dressed sexually, for example, short, tight revealing clothing. This mainly due to the fact that the media industry is dominated by males, hence why most of the time the media portrays women as sexual objects. 98% of reggae/dancehall music videos reinforce the idea that women should be seductive and are portrayed as sexual objects to men.
For our video, I asked 100 people (50 females and 50 males from the ages; 16-25) :
'IF YOU WERE TO WATCH A NEW REGGAE/DANCEHALL MUSIC VIDEO SUNG BY A FEMALE ARTIST, WOULD YOU PREFER OR NOT TO WATCH WOMEN EXPRESSED (THROUGH CLOTHING & DANCE) SEXUALLY?'
Likely: 54%
Unlikely: 46%
Now I asked the same people a slightly different question:
'IF THE MUSIC VIDEO CONTAINED VERY TALENTED WOMEN EXPRESSING EMOTIONS THROUGH DANCE, HOW LIKELY OR UNLIKELY WOULD IT BE FOR YOU TO WATCH IT?'
Likely:
89%
Unlikely: 11%
I asked one more question in order to decide on how the dancers would dance and what they would wear:
'WOULD YOU PREFER FOR FEMALES IN A MUSIC VIDEO?'
Less Clothing: 22%
Not too less but not too much clothing:
58%
Completely covered: 10%
PRINCESS LANDA REPLACEMENT/DANCER: SIMONE
MAKEUP: Suttle, as she is wearing glasses (covers her eyes).
COSTUME: Shorts, rolled up tank top to reinforce the modern 'ghetto' look which correlates to the song.
JEWELRY: Colourful chain and big silver earrings to represent the dancehall/urban fashion.
FEMALE DANCERS COSTUME:
1) White tank top, black leggins (easier to move in and defines body movements).
2) Fitted/short-ish dresses to enhance curves and movement
3) Heels to enhance the length of legs
Preferably in black and white as the video will be in black and white
MALE DANCERS COSTUME:
1) Baggy t-shirts to enhance movements
2)Jewlery: Necklaces/chains etc to juxtapose the song's lyrics
DANCER 2: KIANA
DANCER 3: CHRIS
DANCER 4: PAIGE
DANCER 5: KAI
Having past experience in the dance industry, I told/choreographed 3 of the dancers and our artist (Simone) to do the same specific move - but filmed individually. I can then edit them down to very quick straight cuts in order to really enhance the hype of the beat. It would aslo be the signiture move of the video.
