Music Video Idea #2 - Pray (Empty Gun) by Bishop Briggs

My second idea for a music video that my group and I could make next year as part of our A2 Media Coursework Portfolio is the song Pray (Empty Gun) by up-and-coming British artist, Bishop Briggs.

The song is so new and unknown, that it has neither charted nor had an official music video created for it - which is good, because it means that we would be playing with fresh material and thus not be compared to anything. Instead, our video would stand out as being entirely original. The song was only released on August 12th, which, at the time of writing this post, was only 5 days ago.

The artist behind my version of Pray (Empty Gun) would be an indie singer-songwriter duo named Pilgrim, comprised up of a female singer and male drummer - an organic duo of the indie pop and alternative rock genres. Their music style could be compared to American musician and singer BØRNS, as well as American rock band The Neighbourhood, or British indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, and the lead singer's attitude and general appearance would be comparable to Danish singer MØ, or Canadian singer, Grimes.

My idea for the music video is fundamentally comprised of two elements - a performance element, and a dance element. The performance element would, for the most part, be of the singer and drummer of Pilgrim, lip-syncing and playing, and the dance element would be of a pair of contemporary dancers. Ultimately, the lead singer is definitely more-so the frontrunner of the band, with her drummer counterpart more anonymous.

The first verse and chorus takes place entirely within an empty, dark room that's constantly being filled with coloured smoke - the left side of the room is a baby blue, and the right side a bubblegum pink. Within the haze are the two dancers, a male and female, dressed in matching silver leotards. The singer of Pilgrim sits in the foreground, in front of the haze, her hair tied into twin space buns and wearing all black - black lipstick, circular black glasses, a black choker, an oversized black sweatshirt, a short black skirt, black fish net tights, and black heeled boots. The drummer simply wears a black hoodie, dark ripped jeans and shoes, and he plays in the same setting, but alone from the other components of the music video's scene [i.e: he is not alongside the singer or dancers]. The sequence continuously switches between focusing on the lip-syncing singer in Pilgrim, the drummer in Pilgrim, and the dancing couple (although favouring the lip-syncing Pilgrim).

For the second verse and chorus, there's a series of shots (predominantly from above) of Pilgrim lying within a ring of weapons (largely comprised up of [prop] guns and knives). Once again, this is occasionally intercut with shots of the two dancers and drummer from earlier within their silver leotards and the coloured smog. Pilgrim has her hair in two, long pigtail braids and is wearing a see-through black top (with black bra beneath), a green velour tracksuit jacket and baggy, black, pleated trousers. She wears the same black lipstick, and shoes from before, but now in addition to some thick golden necklaces and rings. She may even have a grill. This is to show the duo's 'New Money' modern musician attitude, and their desire to enter the mainstream and sell records.

The final chorus of the song sees the music video's final location introduced: a forest of tall pine trees. There are numerous shots of Pilgrim running through the forest, spreading her arms as if like a bird and sitting on a fallen tree or large boulder lip-syncing to the song. In these shots she wear the same black glasses, lipstick and choker as previously seen, as well as a black crop-top, blue denim jacket, and tight black trousers with big, black military boots. In certain shots, the drummer can also be seen in a male-counterpart to her costume (i.e: dark trousers, dark shoes and a similar denim jacket). The purpose of this location is to show that whilst Pilgrim wants to be a modern, 'New Money' contemporary group and gain popularity, they are still trying to stress that they are organic, and appreciative of their music and the power of nature. In many ways, they are trying to show that they are debatably a contradiction: synthetic and organic -- finding the happy medium between success and passion. Throughout the ultimate chorus, the video regularly cuts back to the two previous locations, drummer and dancers.

I envision the song to be a single on the duo's first official album thus stressing the importance of creating their star image and showcasing the singer as their frontrunner. For me, the band is an organic band who has signed to a more synthetic record label and is thus being modelled in a certain way despite trying to retain their original look and character. Realistically, the costumes (perhaps with the exception of the leotards) are easily obtainable, and as there are only four people in the music video, they will be easily cast-able and likely free when filming. The locations are low-key and easy to make (should we be able to obtain enough knives), and even if the weather is poor, our school is situated within plenty of forests for us to film in.

In comparison to my first music video, this is far more sensible and realistic, and so it is much more likely that I will pursue this idea when moving forward into production.