Preliminary

music promotion package

introduction

Before beginning component 3, we need to do a preliminary which is to choose a package project to create. I chose to do music promotion package for my preliminary as I've always wanted to make a music video and that it would be within my ability to do so.

song choice

There was a handful of potential songs to choose. One song had interesting pacing and structure, the other had lyrics that correlate to the story I want to tell and the other just sounded catchy. I needed to find one that has all these factors. It also should not be too long.

I've come to the decision I will be using ''No Other by Maylee Todd''. There's not a lot of info on the internet surrounding this song but I know the genre of is ambient electronic music around the likes of that. I couldn't find more specific name. It reminds me of the album Plantasia by Mort Garson which is an album specifically made for plants to listen to and in theory will help them grow. The sound is of the Maylee Todd's album sounds like that but with some jazzy melodies on some songs but for this song is one of the poppier ones but it maintains its quirkiness.

I chose this song because it's quite calm, serene and plenty of space which can compliment elegant shots which I plan to do while also using the space in the song to compliment more chaotic ones. The song is a sincere love song but my planned plot of the music video doesn't match. What I can do is probably follow the lyrics a bit and twist its meaning and give purpose to why the lyrics and music video is disconnected. You'll know what I mean when I finish the script but first, research.

research & analysis

I chose to research on The Smashing Pumpkins' music video of their song ''1979'' directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. This music is one of my 'awakenings' that got me into videography because of the looks and the camera techniques they used in the music video. It's one of my favourite music videos of all time.

https://youtu.be/4aeETEoNfOg

This music video follows a group of teenagers looking for things to do for fun. It is noticed that the teenagers have a little too much time and freedom on their hands which makes the video slightly unrealistic. The intention behind it was that singer of the band [Billy Corgan] wanted to capture teenage angst but idealized which explains the dreamy look of the video, the absence of parents and the level of 'care-freeness' that the teenagers had.

analysis of shots

The crew set up a camera rig that can pan around controlled by the camera who was in the trunk of the car. They did this to show that there isn't any artificial lights and other Hollywood production. Only the kids in the car.

The closeup shot of the girl's hand waving out the window makes me believe that this is a symbol of freedom accompanied with the shallow depth of field isolating her from care.

It cuts to a close-up static shot of the singer Billy Corgan lip syncing the lyrics of the song. It seems like he is sitting at the back of a car. It also seems that he is like a spirit watching over those kids having fun. He said in a commentary that he wanted to capture a 'teenage-hood' that he never had but wish he had. The shot of him lipsyncing occurs periodically throughout the video and follows the time of day depending on the scene.

It cuts to the kids going to a house-party with the band playing. A bird's eye view panning to show the surroundings. A snorricam was used to follow the main characters walking and dancing through the crowd and exploring the house. A couple of the teenagers went out of the house and snuck into the neighbour's swimming pool.

The music erupts into the chorus and the house-party intensifies and the crowd gets more rowdy. The couple is having a moment in the swimming pool [showed using random camera movement following the couple]. The way it was shot is stunning. The kids outside are up to mischief by 'tp-ing' a tree. I always wondered how the camera seamlessly follows the toilet paper with actual speed. I finally found out in a forum that they might have used 'lipstick' cameras [which are cameras that are very small and light and resemble a lipstick] that are mounted on wire through the roll.

The song goes quieter and enters another verse. The kids drive to a convenient store to trash it. The camera shows a low wide shot as the car stops to park to show the surroundings. One of the teenagers stayed outside to distract suspicious adults. The camera cuts back and forth between the teenagers who are in the store and the one distracting. I like how they showed the different perspectives such as the angle from the cctv and a low wide shot peeking from the car's back left tire of him distracting various adults and the shot fading repeatedly to show multiple encounters with adults to show that the group in the store are spending a lot of time.

In the convenient store, the cashier seems to be oblivious to the kids trashing the store while on the phone call. This is shown using a kind of the over-the-shoulder shot of the cashier on the phone out of focus with the kids in the background tossing food to each other. The closeup shot of the cctv monitor shows that the teenagers stand out and everything that they do is captured by the cctv and it makes me believe that the cashier doesn't care the kids are trashing the place. The cashier is actually the guitarist of the band named James Iha.

The camera pushes in to a closeup shot of two policemen suddenly entering the convenient store signaling that the teenagers might face the consequence of their actions and that someone called them. One of the policeman is played by the drummer of the band, Jimmy Chamberlin. Surprisingly, they were just there to purchase donuts and proceeded to leave.

The scene shifts its focus to what the teenagers are up to. The camera is at random movement following the boy carrying the drinks to make them as makeshift bowling pins. After he arranges them, the other rolls the a soda bottle as a bowling pin. The camera tracks the bottle as it rolls, jump cut to a fast push in to the 'bowling pins' and finally a bird's eye view of the pins as the 'bowling ball' crashes through the 'pins'. The use of jump cuts gives a sense of urgency.

It cuts to the cashier finally being somewhat aware of the kids' presence in the convenient store with a closeup shot of him looking around. The kids ran away but leaving a messy trail of destroyed convenient store products. The camera follows them at random movement to give a sense of chaos and thrill.

While the chaos in the convenient store was happening, there was a brief moment that the camera cuts to the girls in the car watching the boys trash the store. The girls on the right leans over to her friend with a smirk making me believe that she is plotting something. Lo and behold, when the boys exited the store, she drove away leaving them behind as a prank. The cameraman utilized the over-the-shoulder shot in a clever way showing the girl reversing the car while the boys run to catch up to them. Finally, the video ends with the music fading out.

In conclusion, that was my analysis of The Smashing Pumpkin's 1979 music video. I'm not entirely sure on what are the conventions of a music video. Compared to films, music videos seem to always break conventions and be abstract. Maybe that is the convention. Breaking conventions. However, a convention that this video has definitely broken is that this music video is raw in a way that they used equipment that they find in suburbs. There was no big budget, special effects, artificial lighting or strictly scripted moments. The crew let the teenagers do their own thing. The cast were also real teenagers who are 15-17 years old and are not professional actors. The camera techniques are very expressive and unrestricted. My guess is that this music video is the trend-setter for nostalgic-teen-angst type music videos but for me, this is still my favourite not just because of the video but because it's paired with the song as it is very melancholic while being energetic compared to other songs that glorify teen nostalgia.

pre-production planning

plot

The plot will be inspired by a statement made by Jake The Dog in one of my favourite cartoon series of all time Adventure Time.

The plot will be inspired by a quote by Jake The Dog from one of my favourite cartoon series of all time Adventure Time. The music video is about a boy who creates imaginary problems for himself as a coping mechanism to something that happened in the past. Perhaps from lack of attention. In this imaginary state he puts himself in, he has a love interest that creates the problems for him. He is infatuated and likes the torture and is part of his sick amusement.

Since the lyrics of the song is positive, I will base the lyrics off of the protagonist's perspective and show that he is disconnected with reality. The pacing of the video will definitely follow the cues in the instrumentals.

song lyrics

I will never ask another
Neath the sheets I find my love
No hum, no ha, no contemplate
The love you gives the one I'll take
Shoulders straight and head up high
You know you push beyond the skies
The sweet the sounds of melodies
You gave me some good to believe
There is no other kind of love
You're the only one I'm thinking of
There is no other kind of love
Where it starts and where it ends
Let's make believe can we pretend
No dawn, no work, no way not now
Turn off the phone, turn the lights down
Evening comes and evening goes
The morning wakes you kiss my toes
The light that streams into the room
It hits your skin it makes me move

You're the only one I'm thinking of
There is no other kind of love
Give me love and give me hope
Give me a taste so I can cope
I wish and want and wear it well
No one can feel the way I felt
Neck to neck and throat to throat
Take off your shirt and take my coat
Hey is this good can we go deep
Do it again then back to sleep, yeah
There is no other kind of love
You're the only one I'm thinking of

storyboard

This is my storyboard. Further changes will be made accordingly most likely during filming and editing.

screenplay

This is my screenplay. I will elaborate on the meanings and symbols that are seen in the video in my Coursework Development.

shotlist

This is my shotlist which I will use to refer to the summarized actions and camera work needed for the video while filming.

location

For the mise-en-scene, I plan to film at home because since this is only preliminary exercise, we were only given around a month to finish everything. So, I have to make it easy for myself and thought why not just film it in my house.

actors

Since I plan to shoot in my house, I will probably use my little brother Haydan as the boy in my film. He is free most of the time and why not make him useful and he is hitting puberty so that means he can fit my clothes and I can dress him.