As for the synopsis and general storyline /narrative contained within my music video, the viewer would follow a man (broad, with a thick black duffle coat, in his late thirties /early forties) as he walked home from work, possibly with a happy life and looking forward to Christmas, after getting off the bus (about a minute into the song) and continuing his journey home by foot. We see his thoughts on-screen, and as he passes shop windows the window displays of shops resemble a certain memory or thought, and as each shop window is differently laid out we start to gather information about this man and his life. He was a band member, and recalls the times he spent touring and selling the brand image of his music group. Performance will be incorporated into the video, the man singing along to the lyrics as he walks, then walks past the camera as the camera focuses on a shop window, and therefore one of his memories.
Another, alternative storyline could incorporate the same location, costume and window displays representing his memories, but instead of being happy as he walks home maybe he is depressed; depressed mainly through missing the good old days of his life and now looks forward to reliving those days, knowing that Christmas is on the horizon and that he will have to buy presents for all the family, even though Christmas decorations and presents have been in shops since before Halloween.
Either way, I was hoping to have Long and Medium-Long Shots of the character, with him on the right of the screen and the shop windows on the left (giving him some looking-space), maybe with some panning (to the left) shots.
For the location, I thought maybe the centre of Ipswich, but since this can sometimes be busy (especially before Christmas, when we are going to be filming our video) we might have to shoot these shots either first thing in the morning before the high-street shops open or at closing time (17:00-18:00 hrs) when it is dark. An alternative location could be backstreet shops - the lesser known ones scattered around Ipswich.
If it was to rain or there was bad weather on the day of filming, I was thinking of either incorporating this into the story or filming in an interior location but keeping the vibes of the original storyline (maybe inside College?).
If we were forced to film in an interior location, maybe the man is instead watching television and recalls memories as if his head were physically plugged into the television set, like plugging a camcorder to the television when viewing homemade movies and family photographs. Or, instead of watching television, he could walk past his refrigerator. On the refrigerator is photographs and fridge magnets, all of which remind him of his past. The camera focuses on one of the postcard-size photographs (developed from a negative from a film-camera), a Wide Shot of the photograph (including the paper-frame around it), and as with all the photographs and fridge magnets the still fades into a moving image for the viewer to watch, and I was thinking of making this transition in editing (post-production) so that the rest of his memory plays as a moving image from the photograph on the refrigerator. As we’re going to be using a new piece of Editing Software this year, called Final Cut Pro, I will learn how to create different transitions and hopefully I will be able to do this kind of transition in the video we choose to do as a group.
The destination of the narrative, or the conclusion to the video, would be the man walking (a tracking long-shot with him on the right of the screen and tracking left) the camera following him until he reaches his front door (where the camera stops tracking and the shot fades to black). The reason for this is I wanted to make sure the viewer has been made aware of his life and knows that life should go on, just like a show, “...the show must go on”, which is where the video ends, as we know what he wants out of life and the cold weather should reflect his current feelings and attitudes towards his life and also those feelings which he wants to feel, and the thoughts which he wants to come true - a happy life maybe.
Another, alternative storyline could incorporate the same location, costume and window displays representing his memories, but instead of being happy as he walks home maybe he is depressed; depressed mainly through missing the good old days of his life and now looks forward to reliving those days, knowing that Christmas is on the horizon and that he will have to buy presents for all the family, even though Christmas decorations and presents have been in shops since before Halloween.
Either way, I was hoping to have Long and Medium-Long Shots of the character, with him on the right of the screen and the shop windows on the left (giving him some looking-space), maybe with some panning (to the left) shots.
For the location, I thought maybe the centre of Ipswich, but since this can sometimes be busy (especially before Christmas, when we are going to be filming our video) we might have to shoot these shots either first thing in the morning before the high-street shops open or at closing time (17:00-18:00 hrs) when it is dark. An alternative location could be backstreet shops - the lesser known ones scattered around Ipswich.
If it was to rain or there was bad weather on the day of filming, I was thinking of either incorporating this into the story or filming in an interior location but keeping the vibes of the original storyline (maybe inside College?).If we were forced to film in an interior location, maybe the man is instead watching television and recalls memories as if his head were physically plugged into the television set, like plugging a camcorder to the television when viewing homemade movies and family photographs. Or, instead of watching television, he could walk past his refrigerator. On the refrigerator is photographs and fridge magnets, all of which remind him of his past. The camera focuses on one of the postcard-size photographs (developed from a negative from a film-camera), a Wide Shot of the photograph (including the paper-frame around it), and as with all the photographs and fridge magnets the still fades into a moving image for the viewer to watch, and I was thinking of making this transition in editing (post-production) so that the rest of his memory plays as a moving image from the photograph on the refrigerator. As we’re going to be using a new piece of Editing Software this year, called Final Cut Pro, I will learn how to create different transitions and hopefully I will be able to do this kind of transition in the video we choose to do as a group.
The destination of the narrative, or the conclusion to the video, would be the man walking (a tracking long-shot with him on the right of the screen and tracking left) the camera following him until he reaches his front door (where the camera stops tracking and the shot fades to black). The reason for this is I wanted to make sure the viewer has been made aware of his life and knows that life should go on, just like a show, “...the show must go on”, which is where the video ends, as we know what he wants out of life and the cold weather should reflect his current feelings and attitudes towards his life and also those feelings which he wants to feel, and the thoughts which he wants to come true - a happy life maybe.
I found the tune on a video that one user had created on YouTube - it is not the official video for the song, but it is the official song nevertheless (below).
