Planning: Props

There are multiple props that I plan to use in order to strengthen the narrative of the music video. These will both denote and connote ideas of: alcoholism, debt and the theme of education.

The first prop that I am planning g on using is a Jack Daniels bottle. This will be featured towards the beginning of the video, applied in a subtle manner to connote ideas of alcoholism and character weakness. Initially, this prop will be shown underneath some papers in the draw of the teachers desk. The camera will momentarily focus of this, before continuing with other shots. I will empty the bottle and half fill it with tea to suggest that somebody has drunk a majority of it. Using a strong spirit like this would suggest the severity of his alcoholism and dependancy, and should be used to shock the audience considering this prop would be out of pace in a school environment.

Another bottle of alcohol, alongside a collection of others will be shown further on in the music video, in the characters home and sticking out of his bag. The choice to use a bottle of this size and shape, is meant to encourage audience recognition. Jack Daniels is one of the most popular whiskeys, meaning that it should be easily recognisable. Moreover, the stereotype of people who drink whisky is older males and in film, academics (such as professors and business men).

Another prop that I am planning to use is a alcoholism advice leaflet. I will source these from a doctors surgery and the welfare centre at school. For obvious reasons, these would generate ideas of alcoholism and support the themes of such.

This prop will firstly be seen falling out of the characters laptop bag and onto the floor of his classroom.

Again, this prop will only be seen momentarily as I would like to keep the narrative slightly ambiguous to begin with, to then develop and become clearer as the music video progresses. The character will then quickly stuff the leaflet back into his bag, suggesting that he doesn't share his problems with other people. This should create a feeling of pity from the audience, as they see his loneliness revealed. Later in the video, he will be seen getting the leaflet back out of his bag in the safety and privacy of his home, where we see the gravity of the pressure that this drinking problem is having on his emotional and physical well-being. The leaflet will be used to represent his want and intent to get help, and how he is trying to overcome his issues, yet feeling constrained by his dependancy on the alcohol. Seeing the leaflet at any point in the video will always trigger a change in his demure, connoting that he's struggling to admit to needing help.


The final prop that I am planning on using is a whisky tumbler. The purpose of the whisky tumbler is to represent the casual in which the character believes that he is drinking; it suggests that he perhaps began drinking for enjoyment as care has been taken in the presntation of the drink, where the sterotype of someone with alcoholism is that they'd drink from the bottle. Using this prop therefore subverts the stereotypes of someone suffering with alcoholism.

In one of the final scenes of the music video, I am planning on having the character smash the glass against a wall and then take a swig from a bottle of alcohol. This is intended to symbolise the transition between the character trying to mask their problem with ordinary methods (such as drinking from a tumbler), to then drinking from a bottle and accepting their unhealthy emotional state.