Maroon 5- “MISERY”By Zara McDermott

My Treatment for

Artist and Song background Maroon 5 is an American Pop-Rock band which formed in early 1994 with their former name

“Kara’s Flowers”. They have released several albums since their debut in 2002, and have, over time, become one of the most successful Pop-Rock groups of the 21st century, selling over 27 million albums worldwide.

Their song “Misery” is the first single from their third studio album named “Hands All Over”. It was released in June 2010, and the complete studio album was released on 21st September 2010.

The song itself was written by Adam Levine (the lead singer in the band). It details the steady decay of a relationship and the emotions/feelings that this brings. Although not containing a sad, melancholic tones, the song seems to be powerful in expressing the true breakdown of a relationship whilst still retaining an upbeat tempo and vibe. Levine himself has made several comments regarding the origin of the song, and here is one which he made in an interview to MTV in the summer of 2012 regarding the new single:

'Misery' is about the desperation of wanting someone really badly in your life but having it be very difficult. Kind of what all the songs I write are about. I'm not treading on new ground, but I think a lot of people – including myself – deal with that all the time. Relationships are difficult, and it's good therapy to write about them’.

There is currently a music video for the song which has over 160million views on YouTube, which contains Levine himself, who plays a man caught up in a destructive yet enthralling relationship.

Why did I choose this song?There are several reasons as to why I chose this song, and they are as follows:• THE THEME- I liked the theme not only of being upset about a relationship, but also the way in which it

was addressed through the lyrics. I liked how the theme was not too deeply rooted so that it couldn’t be played around with in terms of aesthetics for my music video.

• THE LYRICS- Leading on from the previous point, I liked how the lyrics could be interpreted both metaphorically and literally. For example “So scared of breaking it that you wont let it bend” could be interpreted literally and then, through the use of mise-en-scene, a prop could be seen bending then breaking.

• THE TEMPO- Another element of the song that I really liked was the way that, I think, the theme of the song didn’t fit with the tempo. Personally, by looking at the lyrics, I would have assumed the song was a slow and melancholic ballad. I really gelled with the way in which Levine presents such a sad topic through happy, upbeat vibes.

• THE GENDER OF THE ARTIST- From the beginning of my planning, I always wanted a male artist. This is because I think that, when you have a female artist, it is easy to get caught up on the ‘star image’, and by having a male actor, the significantly smaller framework in which male artists do not tend to venture outside of in terms of style would make it easier for me to draw from current artists in order to create mine. In other words, there is less diversity within the male spotlight, so it is easier for me to get an idea of just what is successful in the current media market.

• THE AGE OF THE ARTIST- I was searching for a song that fitted my ideal age range of around twenty to thirty years old. I wanted the song to have an element of youth about it so it could be portrayed through a variety of actors. I found this in the song ‘Misery’, and I was happy that the age of the original singer was within my age boundary, so there would be no continuity issues. Also, I had a rough idea of the style of my actor, and the song fitted perfectly.

• THE ORIGINAL VIDEO- When assessing each song on the list carefully, I made sure to watch the music video to each song too so I could get a feel of how particular producers and artists have interpreted the song. For this song ‘Misery’, I saw that the producer had tried to represent the ‘misery’ through not only faults in companionship between the artist and his partner, but also through light-hearted violence. Personally, I had interpreted the song differently when listening to it, and thought the use of the artist being shot mostly alone would be a lot more impactful and would more clearly convey the syntactical meanings embedded within the text.

Conventions to considerPOP

• Artists are usually clothes in fashionable outfits with the colours indicating the mood. • Usually a happy and fun atmosphere which is created by the facial expressions of the artist and other

individuals contained within it. • Close ups are often used to highlight the looks of the artist and to show their facial expression. Long shots

are often used to establish the setting and in the dancing scenes. • Lyrics based around the idea of love and relationships and there is commonly a love interest within the

video• Consistent beat within the song however the addition of extra instruments throughout allows the song to

build to a climax, often reflected in the music video through the editing. • There is usually a link between lyrics and visuals• The idea of aesthetics is consistent throughout pop music videos- they must be pleasing to the target

audience.• Desirable and pretty locations are often used again to make the video aesthetically pleasing. The sets are

often

emotive in the sense that it is reflective of the type of atmosphere that the artist wants to spark within the viewer.

• There is often some sort of performance in a music video, be it with a band or as a group. • There is often synchronised dancers within the video, more often occurring when the artist is an individual

act. This is because the video would lack movement and aesthetic value (and could become boring) if the artist was alone. However the artist is also often highlighted and made to stand out from other dancers.

• In general music videos use a wide variety of different camera shots in them to create an effective piece of media text. In rock videos many of these shots are used to emphasise the importance of the band and 'musicianship'. Shots with this effect are mainly close ups and extreme close ups that are used to emphasis a particular band members emotion, whereas long shots are often used for full on band shots.

• Camera movement in rock music videos is often used to a higher extent in music videos that tell a story with actors rather than band performance videos. Often in band performance videos there is a very large variety of shot types but sometimes lacking in actual camera movement like tracking shots. I will, however, need to consider how I can overcome this as it is vital that my video contains camera movement.

• Mise-en-scene is a reference to the props, sets, costumes, make up and lighting used in a media text. It can also include posture and gesture. In rock music video terms mise-en-scene is often simplified, with sets being a stage with bright lights and even smoke machines. Band members often either wear plain casual clothes or more elaborate outfits. Examples of posture and gesture would be things like when a singer screams into the microphone and either pulling it close or leaning into it, or a musician playing a guitar might arch their back and lean the head forward. Make up used in certain genres of rock music video.

• Due to the often fast paced nature of rock music videos, editing is mainly done in the form of straight cuts in time to the rhythm. Fade ins and Fade outs are often used at the beginning and ends of more atmospheric videos but for the most part these are not used.

Conventions to considerROCK

The artist himselfI would like my artist to be a young male aged 22-30. I would not like him to be younger that twenty because then I would feel as though singing about ‘love’ and the breakdown of a long relationship would be inappropriate. I want him to have a fashionable, current style with slight edginess so he does not blend in too much. I think his look should be reflective of the artists voice, and this is very important to me. He should therefore be distinctive looking and likeable.

Clothing Hair General image

LocationMy ideal place for shooting the majority of the video is in a studio/studio like setting. I think

that, by doing this, the audience will be able to focus on the props that I want to use (which will be further discussed) as well as the ‘star image’ of my actor. I think that by using a studio, my actor will be able to portray all sorts of emotions because of the simplistic nature of his surroundings. I have, however, thought through the matter that if I shoot the whole video in a studio, it could get boring and not aesthetically pleasing. That is why I think that a minor interwoven narrative of perhaps the actor in a café awaiting his girlfriend to arrive would be effective. Here, we would see shots of him sending texts illustrating the lyrics such as ‘Why wont you answer me?’, which briefly conforms to Goodwin’s narrative theory where he states that the visuals relate to the lyrics. I think that by shooting in a studio, the whole filming process would run smoothly because there would be no extraneous factors to consider such as changeability of lighting and weather; these of which are concerns when filming outside. There would be no continuity issues and I could easily manipulate the setting. I would like the studio to have a white backdrop because then the audience will be able to focus on the star and his props/costume rather than be distracted by the background.

I have already discussed the look of the actor himself, so now I will move on to the props which will be the main focal point of my video. Ideally, I would like to integrate Goodwin’s music video conventions into my work, mainly the matter that lyrics should relate to visuals. For example:

“I wrote two hundred letters that I’ll never send” is accompanied by jump cuts of the actor writing letters in different positions on the floor and on the stool which will be centred in the middle, a different shot of a position is cut to each word.

“Why wont you answer me?” could be portrayed as the artist writing a text on his mobile phone to his girlfriend in time to the lyrics being spoken.

“Completely intertwined” could be shots of a thread being woven between the artists fingers.

Mise-en-scene

CameraworkI think that, due to the nature of my video, it will be difficult to avoid focusing too much on the star. I think that by using a variation of shots, I will be able to maintain interest within the audience and by using close ups of both the artist and the props. I think mid shots will be effective also in both conveying the meaning embedded within both the use of props and also the facial expressions of the artist. However, I think that it is important to use a lot of close ups too in order to give a clear focus on the artist himself and advertise him as a desirable male. Long shots are probably not as important because they neither convey emotion nor a sense of meaning; I will use them if large props require me to (for example, the balloon with the ‘sad face’ which I will use to convey the ‘misery’ and letting go of this), but I will not over-use them. I think that point of view shots will be effective in helping the audience to sympathise with the emotions of the artist which embed themselves within the song.

Camera movement will be a vital part of my narrative, and I am hereby somewhat opposing the general conventions of a rock video where minimal camera movement is required. I think that, due to the upbeat tempo and nature of the song, it is essential to have a significant amount of camera movement within it. There needs to be just enough so the significance of the props is not detracted from. I think close up pans across the face/mouth would prove very effective in conveying emotion, showing successful lip syncing and building up the image of the artist. Tracking shots of the artist walking when outside would be effective with keeping with the tempo, and rapid zoom ins/zoom outs going from a mid shot to an extreme close up in time with the beat would also demonstrate movement.

The music video will be both an illustration and an amplification of the original song; i.e. the video will closely follow the ideas which stem from the song and also will create some sort of enveloping storyline which fits around the song.

My video will both performance and narrative based. It will contain more performance elements however there will be an interwoven narrative within it. The performance element will take place mostly within the studio setting, and the narrative will take place in a café setting. The studio/performance shots will be the predominant ones within the video, and I would like these shots to take up at least two thirds of the whole video because I think that these elements would be more aesthetically pleasing, much more fun in terms of visuals and props, and also would give the impression that we are inside the thoughts of the artist.

Narrative structure