The choices of costume for the three main characters cast within our music video (Excluding the Priest) were decided upon through the use of stereotypes, conventions of characters and additionally colours which we felt not only represented themes within our music video, we also chose colours which created a link with colour through the entirety of our music video. The link can also be seen within the final designs of our digi-pak, which include our most commonly featured colours: Red and Blue.
The costume design for our Protagonist is complex, as this involved costume changes, due to the narrative story arc taking place over a number of hours and locations.
The Protagonists costumes are shown within the image below, these photographs were taken during the location search, with the protagonist in character for each photograph:
The Protagonist costumes (Left To Right) Costume: 1,2,3,4,5
The Protagonists 5 costumes will be shown within the music video to represent the degrading morals of this character as he becomes ever more “wicked” as the narrative continues. The labelled images above each show in order the change between costumes.
Costume 1) The Protagonists main costume, which will be used for mainly narrative shots. This costume includes a white shirt and black tie, to give the protagonist a higher status than the mugger, harlot and the priest. Additionally the Blue suit jacket is featured to represent the good within the character, as within our interpretation of the character blue will by used to symbolise his good side and red equally his bad. This shall be the protagonists main costume. The costume also includes black ‘skinny jeans’ to address the target audience by wearing fashionable clothing in relation to the characters age (17/18).
Costume 2) The Protagonist still has a similar costume, although a distinct change has occurred, there is no tie with this costume. This is used to show the slow start to the characters loss of morals, as we aim to show the character’s personality and morals degrading as he goes through the costume changes. This change although subtle is featured after the first and second verse, after the encounter with the Harlot and Mugger.
Costume 3) The most noticeable change within this costume is the loss of the protagonists blue jacket, symbolising that his “good side” is slowly slipping away and his character is being corrupted by this idea of being “wicked”. This change will be featured within shots of the protagonist walking showing that during the narrative of the story the character is becoming progressively more corrupt.
Costume 4) This next costume shall be featured after the third verse, in which the protagonist has encountered all three other characters, therefore this use of an almost entirely black costume (with a black t-shirt and jeans and leather jacket) shows the protagonist is no longer of a higher status, and this shall be reflected through his actions within the final verse of the song. The change in jacket also symbolises the transformation of the protagonist. This will be seen by the audience as stereotypically dark colour schemes such as black and grey are used to identify antagonists, with character connotations of evil. This costume therefore will relate to the protagonists darker actions within the final chorus of the song.
Costume 5) This costume will be used mainly within the lip syncing of the piece, it is shown as an extension of the 4th costume and this shall be used to incorporate elements of disjuncture into the video, as symbolically the protagonist is not the same character as he was in the beginning. Additionally the red shoes which the protagonist will wear in each costume represent, through the colour red, stereotypically the protagonists evil side. Hinting to the audience that the protagonist (and everyone) is at some level “wicked”. The change in costume helps to emphasise the colour of the shoes towards the end of the music video, symbolising the change in character.
Below is an image of me (Rob Anthony) out of costume, to show how we changed my ‘usual’ clothing to suit the character of the protagonist.
Rob Anthony out of costume
Ultimately this change in costume that the protagonist goes through shows his degrading character and ultimately how the narrative of the story changes him, revealing that he is “wicked”. This being a play on words from the title of the song ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’. Additionally within the lyrics of the final verse the protagonist states that “We cant slow down, We cant hold back” the repetition of the word “we” reinforces our idea that underneath it all any person can be seen as wicked to some extent. That is the message which we wish to convey through out music video.
The choice of clothing also helped address our target audience by dressing the protagonist in modern, fashionable clothes to allow the audience to relate. However the bold and bright colours (Red and Blue) help make out protagonist stand out, emphasising his star image within the view and individual style as a performer.
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