After searching on Myspace and Youtube for unsigned artists, i haven't been too keen on any song choices. But after buying The Script's new album, just released this month, i felt inspired to work with a track by the band as they are not too famous, yet still produce good music.
Here are my possible song choices and rough ideas i have come up with:
The Script - If You See Kay
the song is chilled, and has a relaxed tempo. the male lead is asking everyone he sees, if they've seen the girl he misses. he wants to find her, putting up "MISSING" posters, and talking to strangers, showing the audience that he has gotten rid of his pride for this girl. she'll be sitting down at the cafe, and once she gets up, he comes to the café asking for her, but keeps getting there a split second too late. i may not use this song because the title is subliminally explicit, and also the storyline could drag on and get pretty boring.
The Script - Before The Worst
this is one of my favourite tracks from the album, and i feel it's an excellent choice. i could shoot some performance scenes on a stage, most probably the school theatre or a studio/white room, and narrative will be on location. as he walks around town, he sees places that him and his girlfriend used to be together and reminices. the words "can we take it back, before the worst" will feature rewound footage of the couple arguing and not getting along, back to the good memories of the two together. i think i have the most ideas for this song, so it's likely that i will decide on this track.
The Script - Nothing
a simple straightforward narrative. song starts off as the lead singer talks about his friends taking him to the pub to get some drinks, because he misses a girl and they want him to forget about her. has a night time feel to the song, will shoot the main scene during the evening, with faded night lights in the background. plus performance footage. i feel this song would be a good choice.
The Script - For The First Time
this song's narrative is very simple and would be good for the visuals to follow the lyrics, the male singer reminisces about memories and speaks of the couple's state while being seperated. probably will not use this track because the official music video has already been released. the video is very good, and i'll probably use some of the shots for inspiration.
I have written an email to Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited and RCA Records Group, which is a flagship label of Sony Music Entertainment asking to use the song, to confirm that there is no copyright infringement. This is a screen print of the sent email: (please click the image to enlarge.)
After choosing my artist, i thought it'd be useful to look at their previous videos and furthermore, their genre's targeted audience. Their past videos have been both performance and narrative based, which is a conventional aspect in rock pop videos. They aim to portray their moods and feelings through their videos, a technique used to add authenticity.
Deciding on the song, Before The Worst, i have already mentally pictured a variety of scenes for my music video. Locations that would work well with the song can include busy cities, street scenes, homely rooms such as the sitting room and bedroom, as well as "lonely" isolated places such as an empty park, with trees, grass and empty benches. The weather could be damp, rainy, and cold as the guy feels empty without his love. Flashbacks should have a little sunlight, but as sunshine is quite rare in England during these months, i will use the editing software and camera settings to create a more "brighter" scene. Weather forecasts will be checked daily to ensure i will have the correct chosen atmosphere, as English weather is very unpredictable.
Studying the band closely, and listening to all their tracks on both albums, I feel that the targeted audience for my music video should be of mixed gender predominantly aged 16 to 25, reflecting the genre's popularity with teenagers and young adults. This track will most probably be more popular with females, as young male bands tend to attract many female viewers. The mix of the narrative and live performance of the band will be recognisable to the audience as they are familiar with other videos of the same genre. Costumes will be casual yet stylish, such as straightcut/skinny jeans and fitted jackets, allowing the band to appeal to a broad audience. If I were to condone this mise-en-scene feature, the video will only appeal to an audience which has similar interests. The song is about heartbreak which is a typical situation that teens get caught up in, so it will attract a wide audience, as they listen to him speak of his despair, which they can relate to and not feel alone.
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Early ideas for specific visuals to lyrics: As he walks out of his house, almost everything reminds him of her, and as he says "it's been about a week since the day that you walked" he remembers, (flashback to be edited: lowered saturation, colour hue, a slight Gaussian blur or bloom, and lighter vignette will help create this look) her walking out and slamming the door. The words "take it back to the night we kissed" will again flashback a scene where the two are flirting, and drinking outside a pub. Flashes back to the present will be the main lead singing while walking and reflecting. Split screen with the female lead lying in bed on the phone while the guy is in the same position when the words "there was a time that we'd stay up all night, best friends yeah talking 'til the daylight" are said, it will be a typical movie scene type of shot. Stage scene with band performance will begin from the first chorus, and different angles will be used to portray the whole band in a positive light, with a few close ups of each band member and also, theatre's lighting will be used, so i'll need someone to control lights. Rewound scenes, used after the second verse/chorus to emphasise the words "before the worst" and it also explains his thoughts on how he wants to go back in time, back to the good memories he had with the girl.
I have been keeping in touch with the cast via facebook and cellphones, and planning rehearsal time. Shooting will start on the week beginning 12th of October 2010 until the end of half term, using a Digital SLR; Canon EOS 550D/Rebel T2i, in full 1080HD and will be edited in Apple's Final Cut Express and Adobe After Effects. I have spoken to Mr. Hutchinson about booking the theatre and props and equipment such as instruments (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboard, full drum kit) and microphones, and he has also arranged to teach me how to use the lighting. (please click image to enlarge, and then click again, zoom to full size)
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I have taken photos of potential locations, that I may use for my music video's narrative. I have decided that the scene should not be too crowded, to reflect the lead singer's "empty" world without his love, and it will emphasise his loneliness. The weather conditions, and the season change is very effective as summer is seen as the "happy" stage, and it seems like it started to get colder when the female lead left. During this change, the leaves on the floor and the lower temperature can be adjusted to be visible on the camera. There was a problem with Blogger's site and my images' file sizes were too large to be uploaded, so I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 to create a montage of my photos, and this way, it's much more convenient to view all at once, as there are quite a few. All photos are original and taken by me, on a digital single-lens reflex camera around London (Walthamstow, Leyton, Stratford, Westferry, Shadwell, Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, Bow, Wapping).
(please click image to enlarge, and then click again, zoom to full size)
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This is the animatic storyboard which will give me a base plan and the audience a rough idea of the scenes. I drew on paper, (approximately 50 different sketches) and then filmed on the school's camcorder for roughly 10 seconds each allowing space and tolerance during editing. I used the tripod so the image will be stable and precise, I have then imported the clips into iMovie, thus allowing me to edit how long every shot will be, and also adding the MP3 file in sync with the video. This storyboard is crucial, as it has helped me run through the lyrics, while jotting down ideas I have come up with. I have then uploaded my video on Youtube for convenience, here is the embed link:
EVALUATION OF PLANNING
Andrew Goodwin’s theory identifies a number of key features which make up a music video, one of which is a link between the music and visuals. The lyrics of my chosen song often muses over past memories of the male lead, illustrated in many flashbacks creating the non-linear narrative, which imitates the structure and recall of human memory. Alongside the narrative, my music video will also feature the band playing live in a performance which conforms to the conventions of an alternative rock/pop rock band. Some examples of artists/bands belonging to similar genres as my video include OneRepublic, Lifehouse, Train, and The Fray, all of which have both narrative and performance based videos. Another common aspect of the genre is their costume; the artist/band does not need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on expensive costumes as the sole purpose of the casual yet stylish attire is to attract a broad audience and make them feel like they can relate to the artist, whereas if this area was overlooked, the audience would feel they are on a completely different level and cannot feel close to them. There will be many close up shots of the main artist, to show his sincere expression and regret that he and his love interest have broken up. There will be no references to voyeurism or notions of looking, contradicting one of the features of the theory, because my music video may not have many shots of the main artist looking directly at the camera as he is entirely in his own world, pondering and reminiscing about his love interest which will add to the nostalgic feeling of the video. There will also be no intertextual references, as I want the sole focus to be on the band and the characters within the video, rather than distracting the audience and giving them ideas of another type media.
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