Main actor: The main actor will be shown as two different ages. The first will be a young boy, around 8 or 9, who has had a challenging life due to his parents constantly arguing. This will be portrayed during the first scene of the video as he watches his parents argue and decides to leave without them noticing. This unnoticed departure may connote that throughout his life he has not been recognised and been important within their lives and that leaving may be the start of a new life. Therefore by showing the couple fighting, we will encode this idea that he has never been wanted within the household and he belongs somewhere else. We are then shown him later on in life as a teenager, around 17 or 18, and he is still living on the streets. This character will be portrayed as a timid, dirty and socially unwanted person as he wanders throughout the streets looking for work. This image will be shown via his costume as it will be ragged dirty clothes which mirror his surroundings. By showing this portrayal of a young boy we are both conforming and challenging youth and gender stereotypes. For instance we are conforming as the natural idea of a young male is scrubby and troublesome, which may be true within certain scenes of the video (the fight scene). However, we are also challenging the norm as it shows that the young male has taken life in his stride and has taken responsibility for his actions, which is often looked over by the public as their views are shrouded by the bad coverage of teenagers via the media. The clothes that the actor is wearing are also challenging the typical representation of these categories as the normal idea of a young male would be rather chavvy yet clean appearance which is the binary opposite of our character as the clothes that he is wearing are smelly, filthy and ripped.
Parents: The two parents will be aged around thirty and will live in a normal house. Within the video they will be shown arguing about something in front of their child who has obviously seen it all before. This behaviour connotes their un-parental characteristics and proves that they do not deserve to have this child. As the child leaves the house unnoticed it shows that they do not have any true feelings towards the child as they have not realised that their 8 year old child is leaving their house. We will show their true feelings via their facial and body expressions during the argument. As they are not seen throughout the rest of the video we need to make an impact straight away therefore they will be shown with sheer anger and frustration which will automatically create an image within the audience’s mind as it’s not right to fuel this anger right in front of a child.
Managers: Throughout the video the main actor tries out for several jobs all of which are rejected except for one. Each of the managers seen throughout the video will be of different ages yet all of the same status, which is higher than the main actor. Each of the managers will be dressed in smart attire or in their work clothes depending on the nature of the job. Through these costumes it is easy to show that these people all have their own forms of dominance and importance in society compared to the main actor; which is common when people compare adults to teenagers. We will also represent them as typical middle/upper class adults as they are turning away a young man due to his troubled background. This view is very common in real life as adults generally look down on those younger then them, especially if they are from a different class (Marxism?).
Young lads in fight scene: At one point of the video the main actor is beaten up by one lad who is trying to impress his friends behind him. We have chosen 4 lads in total, two recording the event, one beating up the main actor and another standing there egging him on. We decided to choose a bunch of boys as this behaviour is typical within a group of youths, or so the media believes. We thought that having this negative image will have two main effects; first it will conform to the negative stereotype associated with youths through the media thus allowing for the audience to easily accept this behaviour. Secondly they will majorly contrast (Binary Opposites) to the main actor due to their difference in backgrounds and appearance. We will give them typical chavvy clothing i.e. hoodies, gold chains, caps, tracksuits etc. This image will be easy to acknowledge as this is the normal iconography associated with modern youths. We will also show a form of hierarchy within the group by having the ‘leader’ as the one doing the beating. We will encode this by making him look dominant within the group by having everyone follow him and his actions. Also once he main actor knocks out the ‘leader’ the rest of the group flee as they have lost their main man and are now shown to be the sheep they really are.
'Whores on seventh avenue': There will be three girls who will all be dressed in provocative clothing as they will be the "whores on seventh avenue". At the point where these three girls appear in the music video, they will be representing the lyrics that are being sung as by doing this we can allow the audience to gain a better understanding of what is going on in the music video and it also demonstrates the illustrative narrative that we are trying to create. They are shown multiple times throughout the video with one of them becoming attached to the main actor who later on in the video becomes his girlfriend once their lives have improved. The girls will be representing gender through the male gaze which was put across by Laura Mulvey who used the theory that men only see women as objects and that they are only there for specific things in life. We will show this representation by the dress code of them as it will be rather provocative which will show that we have understood the theory put across by Laura Mulvey.
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