Initial Plans for Music Video

Initial Plans for Music Video

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  Initial Plans Your Name
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  Remember…
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  Idea One: SOPHIE- Faceshopping • My idea for a music video for this song would be a black and white video of a dark room/garage where 2 scientists are working on what looks like an android made of cogs and gears (which would be represented as makeup over the eyes of the actress playing the android) as she lip-syncs to the song, each beat in-between lyrics would cut to a different angle of her face ranging from the left to the right of the screen with short flashes of strobe interspersed. When the break down in the latter half of the song begins with the “angelic singing” it would smash cut to a ballerina performing on a stage until she slowly breaks down and is dragged back to the garage motionless but still lip syncing to the song.
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  Idea Two: KimPetras – Heart to Break • A girl is awake late at night scrolling through her phone thinking about this person that she likes, acting out all the different emotions that are present in the song with different boys who appear in different corners of the room when the camera pans over, and are then gone when they leave the frame when the camera pans back to the bed, the baseline position of the camera being a medium shot of the girl lip syncing in the video but only here and the top end of the bed is visible (leaving enough room for different areas of the room that are unseen at the beginning to later be occupied). The video ends with a sunrise and a knock at the door, and it’s her date in a nice sundress.
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  Idea Three: YouMight Be Sleeping – Jakob Ogawa • This video would be “chair duet” type of performance between a boy and a girl but on a sofa together with an invisible wall between them as they try ‘peer’ through the glass to see each other as they day- dream about what the other person is doing as well as if the other person is on their mind and vice versa the end of the video would be both of them getting up off the sofa and walking their separate ways. The sequence would be shot in one take, in a still shot with different uses of lighting to show the passage of time beyond the beginning of the song which would start with a sunrise as to match with the theme of waking up early in the morning and the first thoughts being of your partner/significant other/crush.
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  Mind map ofideas
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  Summary • STRENGTHS • Uniquevisual concepts that deviate from already existing music videos from the songs that are chosen • Awareness of the branding/style of the artists and what would work within the limitations of their style • Usage of the ’required’ close-ups of the artist • Simple in presentation but complex in production ideas • Indirect interpretations of the song that aren’t one-to-one literal translations of the lyrics through visuals • WEAKNESSES • Low viability in some idea’s (Faceshopping – SOPHIE) • Not much variety in song choice (Most focus on general insecurities or insecurities in relation to love) • Most ideas would require heavy amounts of set redressing • Most ideas would require several actors that can consistently appear in the video and work on set • Some idea’s might be too repetitious if done poorly and therefore make the video boring
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  Final idea –artist/title/info • Heart to Break – Kim Petras • Kim Petras is German singer and songwriter who moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career. Back home when she was a teenager she had appeared in several pieces of media due to her going under gender transition surgery near the age of 12-13 which was being referred to as the youngest trans person at the time (which wasn’t true as although not common many other teenagers had done the same). Kim is a huge fan of all different brands of pop and from a young age wrote her own songs and wanted to be a singer, and since 2018 she is finally seeing her hard work pay off as her debut self published song ”I Don’t Want It At All” boosted her career incredibly, getting her a record label signing and even a cameo from one of her personal heroes Paris Hilton in the music video for I Don’t Want It At All” • Charli XCX, SOPHIE, Carly Rae Jepsen • Pop, Electropop
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  Final idea –track summary • Heart to Break is about committing “love suicide” (as described by Kim herself). It’s a song about knowing that by entering this relationship you’re face with you already know it’s going to end in heartbreak, but against every bit of advice and better judgement you are given you do it anyway purely out of the addiction/need for love and attention. Kim sings explicitly about the lack of better judgement that comes from this, with lyrics like “One look at you, I'm powerless I feel my body saying ‘yes’, Where's my self control?”. The content itself is very sappy and emotionally driven, the circumstance the song is based on isn’t exactly niche but it isn’t a very common place people put themselves in knowingly, so it speaks to a very specific kind of person. The songs duration is only 3:46 which is about average for a pop song and the pace is very 1-2, 1-2, not too fast but not too slow to really let the mood set in. Stylistically it’s very much on brand with Kim’s usual songs being very pop-oriented but in no way is it not unique in its meaning.
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  Final idea –your idea • The video will open with a pedestal upwards from the end of the bed with the girl portraying Kim on her phone lip syncing to the song, then dollying out to pan to a different corner of the room, this will repeat over the course of the song, with each corner having a different guy representing a crush. The imagery used is to show the artist being lonely and isolated, trying to find some quick way of achieving love by going from guy to guy, when in reality she is just obsessed with the idea of love and intimacy and not really too concerned with herself being hurt in the process and even expects it. The lighting will stem from the artists phone (as inspiration) and the room will be similarly illuminated as such. As with most pop music videos there will be lots of movement and dancing as well however in between panning around the room.
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  Final idea –techniques and styles • Since the song is a pop/electropop song, the colors used will have to be lighter than usual as the conventions of pop are commonly light and peppy, meaning that sense of joy and high energy will need to be conveyed in all aspects, not just performance. As well as this, the camera work may have to speed up with each chorus to jolt some more energy into the video overall with some good differentiating between the pacing of the video instead of it being a one note slow paced dolly-in-dolly-out type camerawork. The style of the video (especially given that it’s Kim Petras) will need to incorporate some form of “one thing imitates another” as is present with her other music videos such as the official music video for ’Heart to Break’ has her trapped in a tower that is made of bubble wrap and different packaging to protect her fragile heart.
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  Summary • STRENGTHS • Simpleeasy to follow presentation • Visuals are in conjunction with the lyrics with a pretty literal interpretation • Good potential to be interesting if shot well • ‘On brand’ with the artist’s typical style • Very viable to film and choreograph effectively for a good end result • WEAKNESSES • Low shot variety other than different angles • Could prove hard to choreograph for seamless editing • Will require very steady camerawork via equipment • One location • May need more than 2 actors
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  Potential research targets •For research I can use the official music video for the song, as well as look at music videos from artists in relation to Kim for style ideas. I can also search for other videos that aren’t too dissimilar from my concept as lots of pop songs have done a similar thing location wise.