Props (with elements of costume in detail)

Braces

Braces will be used relatively prominently throughout the video worn by both myself and Isobel as actors playing band members. Braces are iconographic of the ska genre, most noticeably in two-tone and ska/punk/skinhead culture, therefore we feel them to be an ideal prop and of near paramount importance to include as part of our costume! A band that can be used as a comparison to our own actors and decision to use braces are The Specials whose front man, Terry Hall, frequently wore them during live performances. An inter-textual reference to our video relating to and influencing our choice to fashion the ska style braces is Shane Meadows’ This is England, where throughout the film many of the characters including Shaun and Milky are seen wearing them.

Lipstick

During one of the montages throughout the video (likely to be near the beginning to make it look as though she is getting ready to go out) we plan to use a shot like this one we’ve taken of Izzy putting on lipstick. We will use red lipstick as it is very iconic of a deviant woman or femme fatale character, and brings about large connotations of a glamorous woman, potentially the type who are likely to be money-grabbing and wealth orientated! We see it as a fitting prop to use as itwould immediately establish the female actor as a perfect fit to this glamorous, money-grabbing stereotype, being the image that we are trying to achieve.

Guitar
For the performance aspects of the video we will be using an electric guitar belonging to our group member, Lizzie. Because of the reason that none of our group (other than Lizzie who prefers to take a more directing role) can actually competently play the guitar, we will be using Andy to pose as the guitarist of the band and mime playing the chords in synchronisation with the track itself to give the appearance of actual performance. It is of my opinion that performance is a vital element of a music video, if only for small appearances, and especially seeing as our video will be a flurry of concept based shots in the form of a montage, it will be important to include them to keep the video interesting.

Trilbies

The trilby hat has been heavily associated with jazz, ska and the two-tone subculture since it’s popularity peak in the early 1960’s. It has been fashioned at times by members of Madness, The Specials, Reel Big Fish and the majority of the cast from This is England. Seeing as it has been so prominent in many famous ska bands and media texts of the genre, and is so widely renowned for being iconic of the genre we felt it greatly necessary to include in our own video, worn by myself, Jack and Andy (actors).

Boots

We dressed myself, Andy and Izzy in Dr Martens style military boots. These are more commonly of the ska-punk/skinhead culture side of ska rather than the two-tone image of our band, however we felt it appropriate to still use them as part of our costume as they represent the ska culture in itself nevertheless, and give connotations of skinhead culture, which instantly links the viewers’ train of thought to the ska genre. Therefore, we felt them to be a significant contribution to the prop and costume element of our video. They were famously fashioned by the large majority of characters in This is England, which highlights their appropriateness and relevance to the genre.

Monopoly money

As well as using the play money in our video for the obvious reason of our song being entitle ‘Moneygrabber’ and the theme of the video being about a money-grabbing woman; there is also an underlying train of thought for including it. When ska music was reaching it’s peak, particularly ska/punk in the 80’s, when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, the country was in the midst of a depression where many people were getting by with minimal amounts of money and employment was low (this being one of the main themes of This is England (TIE) ’86, so a great intertextual reference!). For this reason, we have chosen to use monopoly money in our production for some quirky stop motion animation, as it uses irony to present how the kind of ska fans like the characters of TIE value money so little, as if to say that it’s not important to them or their ‘tribe’s’ lifestyle, so the use of toy money presents this attitude and lack of need and care for actual money.

Mirrors

We will use mirrors in our production during the close-ups of Izzy when she will mime the lyrics, as if to appear as the lead singer of the band. Rather than simply filming her head on for all of the shots, as not for it to become tedious, we will film some of the shots via a mirror as if she is getting ready to go out whilst singing, i.e. putting on make-up etc. We have taken inspiration for this idea from TIE when the characters are shown getting ready in the mirror.