Music Video Proposal

What is the title of the song and artist you have chosen for the video? ‘The Poet and the Muse’ – The Poets of the Fall

What genre of music is the song from? Alternative Rock

What are the conventions of music videos from this genre of music? (clothing / performance style / setting / narrative / grading) For alternative Rock music videos the clothing used is very casual, often consisting of simple shirts (often black,) jeans and a dark unzipped hood-down hoodie. As for the setting and colours, they are often dark yet soft. A mix of purple and black colours that blend into a filter bringing out a darker display. When other colours are used they are often bright and prominent that seem to pop out of the screen, one such example of this would be Poets of the Fall’s ‘Locking Up The Sun.’

Highlight the style you have chosen for your music video? (As live, Performance, Narrative, Concept, other or a Mixture)

Why have you chosen this style of video for your music video? The song itself is a narrative. This means that we really only need tell the story that the song is about, however we will be adding in extra scenes such as a narrator telling the story around a campfire in a classic ‘scary stories round a fire’ style.

Highlight the term, which describes how your music video relate to the lyrics? (Disjuncture, Amplification or Illustration)

Describe with examples from the lyrics and your idea for the video of how your music video links with the lyrics.  If you have chosen disjuncture please explain where you got your idea from for your video? The song is a tale of two lovers, Tom the poet and his Muse. While their lives seem to be blissful and tranquil, one day the muse dies. Distraught, Tom uses the ancient power of the lake and the power of his love through his writing to bring her back. While she does return to the land of the living, unfortunately she is not. Recognizing she is only a shadow of her former self he takes her life as well as his own, granting them both peace one again. For this music video we will not only be acting out this story, but also adding in a narrator who will be telling the story around a campfire to others. This way it allows us to have more creative freedom, switching between the narrator and the story he is telling occasionally. The music video will start with a wide shot of the campsite and one of the campers telling a generic scary story. The other campers complain about how terrible his story is and start some basic banter. One of the campers then cuts in (The Narrator) and says about how he knows a ‘real’ scary story. The others, intrigued by what the narrator said ask him to tell the tale and our song begins.

Who is the cast of your music video and what are their individual parts? As of this current moment I do not know who will be staring in the music video itself. This segment will be updated when I have further information.

Where will you get your cast from and how will you source them? The cast used for our music video will consist mainly of fellow college students, not just our group. However I would like to also get hold of a friend of mine who is also a fan of the artists who performed the song. He could cameo as one of the campers at the start of our story.

Describe the clothing and style and image of the performers in your music video? You can copy and paste images in here of the clothing, hair etc you wish for your cast to wear. The clothing for this video will consist of mainly attire such as hoodies and jeans or cargo trousers, basically typical outdoors clothing, for the campers.

What mise en scene will you need for the setting of your music video?  You can add images here of the setting and location you envisage for your music video. There are only really three locations I need for this music video to work. First and foremost is the campsite in the woods. For this I have numerous locations in mind, after deciding on a location to shoot the scenes I will need to plan out with the cast members required for the scene when to all meet up there, this is because the scene will need to be shoot at dusk or night. Ideally I would like to shoot at this time so that I don’t have to worry about editing SFX as much but if need be I could film during the day and use visual editing software in post-production. The second location needed will be a lake, ideally with a cabin or house within view of it. I realize finding a location such as this will be near impossible, so in order to make life easier I could always film the lake and edit in footage of a house into it later. It might take a while and not look great however I see no other way of pulling this scene off without a bigger budget or spending hours finding the perfect location that may end up being miles away. The third and final location need would be the inside of a house that will be made out to be the inside of the cabin by the lake. In theory we could use any house however I would have to have at least two floors, so unfortunately my own home will not do. Using filters and post-production techniques, I should be able to give the illusion of making the house look like the inside of a cabin.

Include some screen grabs of the types of shots you wish to include in your video?  Write underneath the type of shot and why you want to use it?  Which shot types are you including to promote star image? This wide angel shot would be perfect as one of the first shots of the video in the pre-music segment. As stated before, the campers will be sitting around a fire telling stories. While one of the campers tells the end of his story to the others a shot that circles the campfire slowly at this distance and angle would be perfect to build tension up until the un-dramatic end. During the opening to the song, when we here the lyrics ‘Now the muse she was his happiness….,’ this is the exact scene I would like to play (of course with different actors.) Everything about this shot fits perfectly with this segment of the story; the sunset resembling the end of good into darkness, the near embrace showing the perfect relationship between the couple and the lake in the background that not only shows a romantic location but also references the lake in the song. If I can get a shot that is even 50% like this I would be very happy.

Paste an image below that best communicates the grading or colouring you wish for your music video.  You can use some adjectives to describe your scene too? For the campfire scene I would like it to appear like the fire is the only light source in the area. In reality I would need to set up other lights that aim up at the actors from the floor otherwise the scene will be far too dark and hard to make out.

Music Video Treatment

We open on a campfire with a group of people huddled around; they have their backs to us save for one of them who is the main focus behind the campfire. He is dressed in a typical camper outfit with a dark unzipped hoodie and jeans; he leans forward and begins to tell the story of 'The Poet and the Muse.' Throughout the music video we consonantly cut back to the storyteller dramatically telling the tale to the other campers.

As he tells the story to the other campers we pan up towards the sky, which fades us into the story the man is telling. We see a young couple cuddling together while looking over a lake in the middle of the countryside; there is a rather large yet quaint house behind them. After a short montage of the couple we fade to a misty version of the lake in which we see the woman walk towards the lake and disappear under the water. 

Cut back to the storyteller, we see that he is getting really into the story he is telling. Back at the lake we see the man go running down to the lake and scream out in mute for his love. He runs along the lake screaming for her to reply as the day fades into night. He then collapses to his knees after a few seconds of standing in shock, and begins to sob. Head facing towards the ground, he looks up slightly with tears running down his face. It seams like he has an idea. Cut back to the campfire as we see the man telling the story as the other campers seem more interested and engaged into the story. We then see the man in his study writing down something, he hesitates before finally writing the final words.

The man goes to his door slowly and opens it to see his love dressed completely in a black mourning gown. Looking from behind the woman we see the mans shocked and disgusted face. Without ever seeing the woman, the man leads her towards the lake. When they get to the edge he embraces her before pulling both of them into the deep dark waves. After along time of staring at the black waves we cut back to the storyteller who leans in closer and in a creepy tone tells them about the possible haunting of their spirits.

As the beat picks up the storyteller gets thoroughly into the story, standing up. Throughout the final chorus we see a montage of the couples happier times in their lives (possibly through pictures on a shelf,) as well as the storyteller continuing to tell the story. Finally we see that the place the campers are at is the same lake the story is set.

Music Video Questions

1-2.) What would you consider to be the main purpose of a music video and what other purposes might there be?

There are multiple purposes to a music, from promoting the artist to experimenting with different special effects and filming styles to making money. You could argue that any of these is the main reason behind creating a music video, but the truth is that there is no one real main reason but multiple.

The generally accepted main reason for creating a music video would be to promote the artist or song. doing this allows the artist to become more recognised and hopefully get the song to have more purchases by the public.

Making money is also an obvious reason for making music video. If it is believed that the song in question will be popular or earn a lot of money, a music video will be made to further the profits.

During the creation of a music video the director may wish to experiment with numerous special effects or convey a unique visual style. One music video that really shows this idea would be Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

Re-enforcing the message of the song can be another main reason for creating a video for a song, this is especially obvious with songs about love or other strong emotions. One such example would be Jason Derulo 'Whatcha say.'

3.) How might an artist extended their income through having a music video?
Artists extend their income though music videos in numerous different ways. For example, one such way would be though the popular video sharing website 'YouTube.' Every time somebody clicks on a video from the official channel of an artist (for example their music video) the artist(s) get a small profit. Considering how views can end up in the 100,000's + per video this can end up with a good few thousand extra pounds per video. Their income can increase even further with advertisements under these videos. If the viewer clicks on this advertisement they will be sent to either the artist/ band's website or YouTube page that may inform them about any concerts coming up an how the viewer can purchase tickets.


4.) Describe how and why music videos have been used to fill in for bands on tour or when otherwise unavailable?
Although this is uncommon, some artists or bands may not be able to make it to live performances due to illness or even something as simple as being caught in traffic. In cases such as this instead of delaying or canceling the performance the music video for the song will be played instead. While this isn't as good as seeing the band perform live, its better than having 'Dead Air' for a few minutes or  hours.



5.) Thinking back through history and presently.. how have music videos enabled an 'extension of outlets' (opened up ways to get music to the masses?)
Music videos have seen an explosion of popularity in recent years, however music has shown numerous extension of outlets since as far back as the 1940's. Back then music videos didn't exist as we know them, instead soundies were around. These contraptions allowed people to view black and white snippets of movies featuring music, these short videos often would have the audio playing over a bunch of people dancing onscreen while the band performed onscreen.

By the 1960's music was becoming more and more popular. So it was with this that the 'Scopitone' was invented. This machine was a lot like the previous 'soundies' machine however music now had full videos to go with them of the artist(s) performing and the whole song was able to be played. With such artists as 'The Rolling Stones' and 'The Beatles' becoming the most popular artists of their time, music videos for them started to expand further such as having the video for the song be from the film its from. One such example would the the song 'Help' by the Beatles.

In the 70's music videos became more than just simple entertainment, with such shows as 'Top of the Pop's' becoming extremely popular in the music industry. However with this popularity of all these live performances from famous music artists there came a problem, not everyone could make the performances. To stop 'Dead Air' from becoming a problem, music video were shown to the audience whenever this problem occurred. This meant that the program could continue smoothly without looking unprofessional. The 70's also showed the rise of experimenting with music videos using special effects and camera tricks, one famous example would be Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'

By the 80's music videos have become so popular that whole TV channels were being created devoted to showing only music videos and little else, the most popular of these being MTV. Many of these channels would make their presence known for a few decades later. The 90's had music video's fully realized as we know them today with such famous examples including Michal Jacksons' 'Scream' and The Beastie Boys 'Sabotage' showing more modern styles.

The world of music changed hugely by 2005 with the birth of YouTube, this new and interesting website allowed anyone with a computer and access to the internet to upload almost any video for the public to view on the YouTube website. This meant that music videos became more accessible to people as well as allowing lesser know artists perform to people all over the world from the comfort of their own home. Since then viral music videos have become increasingly more popular all over the internet. 'This too shall pass' is a good example of these viral videos.

Styles of Music Video

Narrative:

A narrative music video is a video consisting mainly of a story based on what the lyrics of the song is about. this is often a popular method used in order to keep the listener interested in the music video as well as the song itself. This type of music video is moist often used in films to promote both the song itself and the movie its is either based on used within.

A good example of a narrative music video would be Chestersee's 'Whistle While I Work It' which follows a group of friends as they go to a local nightclub. See link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2WiKF1bqgI

The narrative style of video was chosen for this song mainly for comedic purposes, as the song itself is making a joke about what it is really like to go to a nightclub, as appose to what people may believe, this style highlights the overall message while still adding more humour overall.

Being a YouTube celebrity, Chestersee produces many different songs and videos. This production however got a huge boost in popularity when fellow YouTube star 'Tobuscus' and American actor/singer Wayne Brady stared alongside in order to create a YouTube hit that would combine the fans of all three and possibly promote each other in the process. The song itself became a huge success with many purchases on ITunes and a huge amount of views split between the three different locations the music video was uploaded for each artist.

Being a video I discovered after one of my subscriptions on YouTube (Tobuscus) posted I absolutely loved it and shared it with as many people as possible. The combination of good music, funny lyrics, funny video and good artists make this song one on my current favourites.


Performance:

A performance video is based mainly around the band or artist performing the song to either a camera or audience. This is a popular technique that rock bands use during concerts as there is often a higher amount of energy in the area as well as it being more interesting to the viewer to see numerous people performing instead of just one man or woman.

One such example of a Performance video would be Jon Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a prayer.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk

The video for the song features shots of the band rehearsing, then playing in front of a crowd. The first half of the video, featuring the rehearsal footage, is black and white, and the second half of the video, performing to the arena audience, is in colour. A performance music video was properly chosen for this song in order to promote and upcoming tour that Bon Jovi was doing at the time. The song itself is one of the most popular and successful rock songs of all time

Concept:

A concept video is often based around a single idea and is obscure or unusual. They will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what or who is on the screen.

One very famous example would be Queens' 'Bohemain Rhapsody'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ

This music video is famous for is spectacular special effects and lighting tricks which for the time had never been tried or seen before.