2. The Song
‘Fall’, written by Beth McCord, is an emotional song about a relationship and
the difficulties it goes through. This relationship does eventually result in a
break up, even after all the good times which the couple experienced together.
Due to this, our video will show a selection of these ‘good times’, but also
show the viewer many of the bad times, as well as the dreaded break-up.
‘Fall’ is Beth McCord’s latest song, released in mid-late 2010. Fall is Beth’s
5th song, her others being: The Figure, Vampire in Disguise, London Town &
Skin and Bones.
The song is classed under the genre ‘contemporary pop’, but could also be
deemed as ‘alternative’. Beth herself classified it as alternative due to her not
being able place it within a specific genre when comparing her music to others
in the field.
3. Inspiration
In order to help us with our idea for the video we wanted to make, we textually
analyzed and/or took inspiration from various music videos. These videos
being:
Written in the Stars – Tinie Tempah ft. Eric Turner
How to Save a Life – The Fray
Something Good can Work – Two Door Cinema Club
Wedding Dress – Tae Yang
Emergency – Paramore
Man Who can’t be Moved – The Script
Only 4 of these were textually analyzed, however all of them provided us with
some food for thought in regards to what we want our own video to look like.
4. Written in the Stars
The reason this video caught our attention is due to the close up shots with
Eric Turner playing the Piano. These shots and similar ones, are the type that
we wish to use whilst we film Beth McCord playing the Piano herself. Other
than that, we didn’t really draw much from this song as it’s of a different genre
and not really anything we want to follow.
That being said, the video has been edited very well and has been cut timely to
the beat of the music as well as to the story being told on screen. The smooth
cutting done within this video is an aspect that we as a group should take on
board as the video will only be as good as the editing lets it be. Without good
editing throughout our music video, regardless of how well the shots are
placed, it still may look bad.
5. How to Save a Life
This an emotional song which makes good use of flashbacks and memories in
order to represent the feelings of people. The flashbacks and the live
performance scenes are what we hope to achieve well in our video thus
resulting in us analyzing this video further.
The video is somewhat distorted in some ways due to the numerous times
where numbers or words fade/float across the screen. This is not an aspect that
we want to take on, however, we do wish to take on how well it has been done
and apply that to other aspects of our video. Our concept is a good idea,
however, there are so many areas in which it can go wrong. For example, if
our final shot sequence of the rose falling to the ground looks bad, the video
would end on a sour note, which none of us want.
6. Something Good can Work
In this video, not much really happens, except the band members
jamming to the tune that they’re playing. What we like about this video
and what we’ve drawn from it though is the use of Black & White
throughout the video whilst also having a single prop on screen which is
in colour. We intend to display our memories in Black & White whilst
also having a single rose remain red to represent love.
Even though, a good 40-45% of our video is going to be in black & white,
we’re hoping that it won’t be too ‘overpowering’ in such of a better word,
and ultimately, make the video look worse than what it would be without
the special effect. As long as the cuts are done well, and shots are well
framed, and of course the rose is red against the grey background,
thinking ahead, it should come out looking very good if worked correctly.
7. Wedding Dress
Wedding Dress is a Korean song with a touching story line. From this music
video, we have decided to take a similar approach to the piano shots at the start
and an almost identical ending in relation to a ring dropping to the floor, however
we intend to use a rose. We are going to change the sequences of Tae Yang
dancing to shots of Beth McCord playing and singing but other than that, this
video is very similar to the one we intend to produce.
Looking at the Wedding Dress video, it has four areas. The first being memories
of the good times, the second being at the church/wedding, the third being in a
triangular room where Tae Yang is dancing, and the fourth being a large round
room where he is also dancing. Our video is going to have 3 areas following the
same kind of themes. The first area being the hall, in which Beth will be playing
her music, as well as singing. The second being all the memories, of the good
times and the bad times, and the third being in a woods/forest where Beth will be
singing and walking amongst the trees.
8. Emergency
From this video by Paramore, we have decided to use several aspects. The areas
we are drawing inspiration from in video are the close up shots on Hayley
Williams, the blurred and faded edges which will help represent our memories,
the throwing of a flower (namely a rose, to represent love) and the time jump
shots to represent the passing of time.
The time lapse shots I expect to probably be used within the wooded scene whilst
Beth is walking around, or during a break up as Connor is walking away after
breaking the news to Beth. The blurred edges would be used during the memories
to add another dimension to them so to speak and the throwing of the flower is
going to play a key part in our video. Well, maybe not the throwing of it
specifically, but the flower throughout the video. Our rose is going to be brought
into the video early on, and will be shown in the majority of scenes throughout
the video climaxing with it being thrown to the floor, and colour draining away.
9. Our Idea . . .
Our idea involves taking aspects from the various video. Examples of aspects
we intend to use are the following:
Black and White to resemble memories
A single prop in colour to emphasize its meaning
The use of blurred/faded edges to help resemble memories
Close up shots on the Pianist
A blurred initial shot
Time lapse shots
Draining of colour from the rose
Green screening to effective use
As a group, we’re hoping all of these elements combined with others, as well
as some timely editing will result in a well rounded, good looking final
product.
10. Actor – Connor O’Sullivan
Age: 17
Role: Connor is to play the boyfriend/ex boyfriend in
our video. In the first few memories, Connor will be
represented as your typical boyfriend but as the
memories get worse, Connor will begin to argue with
Beth and will then finally break up with her leaving her
crying. The whole video revolves around Beth’s
memories of her relationship with Connor, so he plays
a major role in our video. Connor has proven to be a
good actor in the past, so we’re hoping that he can
bring some emotion and realism to the table and make
what’s happening on screen seem real. The more
realistic that the memories and break up are, the
easier it is going to be to not only convince the
audience, but also to be like a memory for some of
those who have been in a similar situation.
11. Actor – Beth McCord
Age: 17
Role: As our video is going to be for one of Beth’s
songs, Beth herself will be playing the Piano and
singing live in our video. We intend use a variety of
shots to put emphasis on her whilst she is playing
in between our storyline cuts. Beth will also be
acting in her memories of her relationship with
Connor, therefore Beth will be playing a major role
in the production of this music video. Due to us
making the video for one of Beth’s songs, we have
to tie Beth into pretty much every stage of
production. In short, what Beth wants, Beth gets
(within reason). This makes it difficult in some
ways due to some asks being a bit ‘out there’, but
it also makes it easier on us in regards to coming
up with ideas as we get another brain so to speak.
12. Locations
There are 3 main locations for our video. These locations are as follows:
The Hall, due to the Grand Piano being there. In the hall, the majority of shots
will be close ups or mid shots mixed in with a few tracking. Lighting will only
be on Beth and the piano and the rest of the room will be caped in darkness,
with the help of the green screen to get rid of any excess light which the
curtains keep out.
Windsor, due it being a great place to use for memories of dates etc. along the
river and so on. Windsor is also a convenient place for all of us to meet up and
shoot as it’s near all of us. The shots taken here will be a mixed bunch of
everything, depending on the memory and what is taking place on screen.
A wooded area in which a memory takes place and Beth ‘casually’ walks
through singing. This third scene breaks up the intensity of only the Hall scene
and the memories. The wooded background is also a good idea for an album
cover background.
13. Location Shots
These are the shots of Windsor which we took whilst on an outing. These
places are some of the few we will use for the memories.
14. Props
Props which we will use within our video will include the following, as well as
more:
Grand Piano, for use during the hall scenes whilst Beth plays.
Green Rose, which we will use a green screen to make red.
Picnic Equipment which will be used during one of the memories, in Windsor,
on a river bank.
A large coat, for when Beth is walking through the forest/wooded area. She’ll
also be wearing this for the Album Cover Photo.
Bread, for feeding the swans with.
Other stuff, as nothing in particular comes to mind, however there is a high
chance that more than just the mentioned items will be used in the memory
shots.