IF YOU WANNA LEAVE

BY TYLER NOEL

https://soundcloud.com/tylernoel/if-you-wanna-leave

SONG INFO Written by: Tyler Noel Released: November 2013 The song is dedicated to one of the hottest reality shows in

the United States, ‘Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta’. Written by Noel, it sums up most of the relationships on the show that have crashed and burned. A line in the song stating “I was never disrespectful to your momma even though I couldn’t stand her” refers to the tumultuous relationship of ‘Lil Scrappy’ and his former fiancé, Ericka, and his mother, ‘Momma D’.

ARTIST BACKGROUND Tyler Noel began singing at the age of 5 in the church choir. At the age

of 12, she joined an all-girl group called ‘Solo Tre’. The group was signed to acclaimed producer, Derek Baker, also known as Bigg D, who produced Jamie Foxx's hit ‘Unpredictable’. At 18, after this group and many others that she had joined disbanded, Noel felt it was time to be a solo artist.

Ever since her solo move, she has been described as a “funky little RnB diva” originally from Ft. Lauderdale, FL who now resides in Atlanta, GA. She prides herself on being a “real” singer with dynamic vocals as well as a passionate songwriter who writes relatable songs from her soul.

SYNOPSIS OF THE SONG The song is about a woman who has been going through tough

relationship problems.

The woman has had enough of her self-centred boyfriend who is always thinking about himself even though she's been there through thick and thin with him and even supported him in

situations; for example, she didn’t like being around his mother.

She is now beginning to realise that the situation she is in isn’t right, however she is old enough to move on without fuss and

tears, following the phrase that many people live by: ‘life goes on’.

She is a strong woman, and is not going to let anything get to her - well at least to everyone else’s knowledge. She keeps a strong

exterior while inside she feels the pain of her boyfriend’s actions such as being out late without telling her where he is going and the jealousy she feels because of the other girls – “his fan club” - trying

to get in contact and closer with him.

The song is the ultimatum to their relationship. She is looking back at the things they have been through and is now telling the man if he wants to leave, he can leave because he has hurt her enough.

WHY THIS IS SUITABLE FOR THE MUSIC VIDEO

This song is suitable for a music video as it is based on a real life scenario. It relates to real people and the things happening in their life for example, Lil Scrappy, Erika and Momma D in Love and Hip-hop Atlanta. This allows us to work on a narrative based on their situation. Furthermore, due to the song being about pain and people leaving there will be a lot of emotion in the performance of the artist. This means that we can apply Goodwin’s theory of Close up shots to get to know the artist and also see the emotion that she is feeling in relation to the lyrics.

We feel these two songs below have concepts that we could replicate in our music due to the similarity in the songs as there are about relationships:

Mary J Blige – Be without you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XNaPX6MKlU

Mariah Carey – We belong together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0habxsuXW4g

SHOTS THAT COULD BE REPLICATED In both of these music videos the director gets the artist to sing to the mirror, and this can be seen around 30 seconds into both videos. The rest of time before that is used for setting the beginning of the narrative.This shot can be replicated as it shows the artist looking in the mirror thinking about the pain they have been through which relates to our song. Furthermore they both take into consideration the rule of third in which the mirror image of the artist is the main focus on the right centre line.

SHOTS THAT COULD BE REPLICATED Close ups are very common in R&B videos due to their lyric content which is mainly about pain and suffering. This means you have to show a lot more emotion due to the pain they are usually going through in the song. In these two songs the close ups show this as Mary J Blige looks stressed denoted by the hands by her head, her eyes closed and the black and white colour and Mariah Carey by looking away and her eyes looking quite watery as like she was about to cry.

GENRE Genre: R&B Brief outline of the genre: Rhythm and Blues, also known as simply R&B, is a

music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. Within this genre lyrics are usually based on everyday life focusing on the effects of relationships, work and drinking on a persons life.

Similar artists to Tyler Noel in the R&B genre include famous names such as Ashanti, Whitney Huston, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys

Conventions of the genre: Fashion:

In terms of males and females, within this genre it is common to see the male sex topless whilst the female sex wears minimal clothes. These are done in order to appeal to the genre’s predominately female audience whilst also pandering to its small male audience. Similar to Beyoncé’s video for ‘Irreplaceable’; we decided that we would challenge this convention as the female protagonist will be not be provocatively clothed in order to portray a character with power and control as she comes to accepts that her relationship is no longer worth keeping.

Music Videos: Within this genre both slow and fast videos can be seen. Whilst slow songs usually work around

the premise of love over a slow tempo and fast song focus on things such as parties to add to the sense of fun as well as excitement. We have decided to challenge this convention due to the tempo of the song and the lyrics which cause it to have both aspects. Unlike usual fast tempo songs which consist of bright colours and flashy cars, we have decided to follow a narrative portraying the fall and cracks within the relationship through-out the video.

CASTING Male Protagonist: For this role, we want to portray a character that is only and

always thinks about himself. This character must be cocky and brash in order to play the role of the antagonist within the narrative. By doing this we want the audience to understand aside from the lyrics why this relationship deserves to end; evidently supporting the decision that the protagonist is making.

Female Protagonist: For this role, we want to portray a female protagonist who contradicts the usual stereotype of a weak willed woman within a relationship but instead a powerful female that accepts that she doesn’t need a ‘man’ in her life. In doing this we hope to connect to and empower the female audience watching this music video whilst within the type of relationship portrayed within the song.

Mother: Due to the line “I was never disrespectful to your momma even though I couldn’t stand her”- we will need an older woman to play the role of the male protagonists patronising mother who will need to engage in a small conflict with the female protagonist.

Extras: The use of both male and female extras will be needed to act as the friends of both protagonists. This is to further exercise the extent to which the male protagonist spends time with his friends partying more than he spends with his girlfriend. As well as play characters that will be there to comfort the character in times of heart ache. An example of this being the line “No more heart break lies, tears on my pillow case” for this scene we could use extras to act as friends that comfort the protagonist as she weeps.

CAMERA ANGLES, SHOTS AND MOVEMENT

The main shot will be performance based with high angles during the verse to make her look vulnerable and weak as she is hurt.

‘I accepted all your ish, picked you up when you was down’

When she says ‘I ain’t gon stress on it, I’m way to grown’ the camera will began to pan down as she gains more confidence to leave the

man behind and ‘just move on’.

By the time she says ‘let this go’ the camera will be in a low angle to show her power and courage to cut loose the relationship she feels

isn’t working.

The camera shots will vary from medium shots to close ups. Medium shots will be used to show the women and her environment. These

shots will be used just before she reminisces as the environment she is in will dictate what she is reminiscing about.

The close up shots will be used for the audience to see the pain that the woman is going through because of the situation. Fans of R&B like to connect with the song and feel the emotions and to do this

the artist needs to show it.

EDITING The editing will involve a lot of cross-cutting

between performance shots and flashbacks of the protagonist's troubling relationship as she contemplates how to move forward in life

The footage of the flashbacks will be slightly over-exposed in order to make it easy to distinguish between present reality and memories. It will also give these scenes a dream-like effect as the woman wishes all these tough times were just a dream that she could wake up from

These cuts will be edited to match the beat of the song where possible in order to make the visual relate to the music of the song - this was stated as a music video convention by Goodwin

LOCATIONS Long path - used during performance shots as the

woman reflects on her relationship during a long walk House - this will be the home of the protagonist and

her boyfriend and will be the location in which some of their arguments take place; for example, when his mother comes over, there will be clear tension. Some performance shots will also take place here as she sings into the mirror to reflect upon who she has become in this relationship.

High street - night-time shots will be used of the boyfriend and his friends while they are on a night out while the protagonist is at home trying to call him. Day-time shots can also be used in a café in the high street as she tries to be affectionate (e.g. hold his hand) but instead, he behaves distantly.

PROPSCardsOne of the shots for the music video will be a game of poker. Poker is a independent game rather than a team based game where only the winner reaps the benefits. This relates to the boyfriend who is represented as that type of person by the line ‘All you ever thought about was you yourself and you’

Phones The boyfriend is seen as popular and has a ‘fan club’ of girls. She wants him to ignore them, so the phone will be used to show that he is still replying to their messages.

MirrorThe mirror will be used to represent what reality is and she making the choice to let the boyfriend leave based on what she is seeing which is her hurt. Its also a metaphor, she thought the relationship was going well but when she saw reality she realised doing all the work for him ‘I made you who you are’ but it wasn’t being reciprocated.

BedWhen people are in bed they use it as an opportunity for them to reflect on the past this allows people to relate it increasing it repeatability. Furthermore she says ‘No more heart break lies tears on my pillow case No more late night texts and lying that is your friend’ and this would involve the bed to showcase this.

COSTUMESLoungewearThe main protagonist is at home and she is just reflecting about her life. She wouldn’t look too dressed up due to the location if she was too dressed up the song would lose realism.

Shirt and jeans and Suit The boyfriend is self centred meaning that he will care about his presentation. Furthermore, he gets a lot of female attention due to his success so he has to look the part.

Plain T-shirt and jeans His friends will be dressed in more casual wear to show how much care that the man puts into his presentation even though their from the same social group