I have been looking up transitions from other music videos to get inspiration and ideas for ours.
So far I have found a couple that feature the transitions which we want to use. Katie Melua's 'Nine Million Bicycles' uses transitions like we want. For example, when she is dragged under a table, she emerges the other side in a different place to the one she started in.
Another example is the opening sequence to Doc Martin. The camera passes infront of rocks and cliffs, leading to different locations.
The Pet Shop Boys in their song 'Go West' have a section (1:14- 1:20 seconds) where the use of a flag creates a transition to another shot.
Take That's 'Patience' has the theme of a journey, which links to our theme, also the deserted places they walk through
The Next Tv Advert 2009, also features transitions like i want:
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Music Video Script
In the introduction to the first verse we see a birds-eye view of a man walking down a long isolated road; to try and implant the feeling that the man is lonely and on a journey to a destination he’s not sure of, hence the long road with what seems no ending. The camera then, after about 5 seconds, starts to swoop down in a slow 45 degree turn to the right, this then becomes stationary when the man’s whole body is in view. While this is happening he has sung the first line of the song.
The man is continually walking, and line two verses one sees him walking towards the stationary camera. Line three verses one sees the man walking ‘into’ the camera, thus creating a transition to shot five. To where the camera pans backwards ‘out of the man’s back’ and rises to an eye-level view of the man’s head. The camera then pans left in a circular motion to show the man’s face; while he’s singing line four and five verses one of the song. From this position the camera zooms out (shot six) to shot seven, where we can see all the man’s body as he walks along a road at the same time as he’s singing line six verses one. As the camera zooms, a tree passes in front, making a transition to shot nine.
Shot nine sees him as he walks out from behind a tree; the setting is a playing field with play equipment, to the man’s right is an image of him and his girlfriend swinging on the swing, as he’s walking he temporally blocks them from view, and when he’s moved we see that the two are no longer there; as this is happening the man is singing line one and two of verse two. A football is then kicked in front of the camera, creating a transition to shot twelve.
In this shot the man is walking down a corridor, and on his right is an image of him and his girlfriend cuddling, as he is walking he obstructs the view of them from the camera, and when he’s gone we see that they are no longer there, as we see in shot thirteen; as this is happening he is singing line three of verses two of the song.
When we use this effect of him and his girlfriend disappearing while he’s on his journey, we are trying to show how he is pushing her from his life. By using him as a block to the camera for the ‘happy couple’ to vanish, we hope to portray that this split up between the two is his doing; he is the one who is pushing her out of his life.
The transaction between shot thirteen and fifteen is students walking past the camera (shot fourteen); in shot fifteen, as the students have finished walking past, the scene has changed to a woody field where the man is continuing on his journey. He then walks past a bush (shot sixteen) and reappears in shot seventeen emerging from a bush at the bottom of a bridge. During this he has sung line four of verses two.
As he starts up the bridge in shot seventeen he is singing line five of verse two. As he approaches the top of the bridge, while singing line six of verse two, camera is at a low angle, so much so that when he gets closer the camera only focuses on his feet, this then becomes the transaction to shot twenty, where the camera pans up from his feet to show a different setting.
The use of these transactions is to create smooth transitions between different shots, to emphasis the fact he is on a continual journey. By doing this, instead of cuts, we are exploring the band’s preference of ‘abstract’, as well as the theme of ‘the break up’. It’s abstract because normally if you walk behind a tree you come out at the same location, but by making the character emerge at different ones makes the music video different to a vast majority of them.
Shot twenty sees the man singing line one of verses three, in this scene we see him walking past him and his girlfriend arguing. The fact that they are arguing links into the lyrics of the song “Shakes her head, she’s not gunna join me”. The camera has panned up from his feet to show an over-the-shoulder shot of the two in disagreement, the camera then pans left around the man’s head so we see his face, while at the same time he’s singing line two of verse three. Then it pans backwards, so the man is getting further way, but he is still continually walking (shot twenty-one) whilst singing line three and four of verse three. A car in shot twenty-two, then drives in front of him, making a transition to shot twenty-three, where the man comes out walking up a road. The camera has a side view of the man, it then zooms out and round so, again, the man is in full front view of the camera. As the man is walking, the camera keeps the same difference away. (While this is happening he has sung line five and six of verses three.) But then it stops and as he gets closer the camera pans down, so eventually the pavement is in view. This then creates the transition to shot twenty-six.
Twenty-six sees him walking up from a hill on a road. The camera is low angled, and, as a result of this positioning we see his head appearing first. This links in with our abstract and break-up theme; in film this technique is sometimes used to show the hero/s coming home from battle, creating a sense of joy and relief. But because we are using this at a part in the song where he sings “if I was wrong, I didn’t know all I should have know, at least I know I died on the road”, instead of creating feelings of happiness, we are trying to make the audience feel uneasy.
When the man approaches the camera, as the camera is now stationary, he walks over it, but as he does this, the camera follows him, rotating 180 degrees in a swoop. So in shot twenty-nine we see that the image of the man walking away is upside down. The camera tracks him upside down until he walks over a wall and the camera goes ‘into’ the wall creating a transition to shot thirty-one, where it pans out at eye-level from the side of the building, to show the man standing in a busy street as people walk around him.
Here we are hoping to speed up the pace of the shot. This would hopefully show that the man is discontent with his life; everyone else is going about their business, but he is just stationary in the life he is leading at the moment; emphasising the issue that he wants to leave, as the song has been suggesting throughout.
The transition to shot thirty-two is in the form of a bag, a woman walks past the camera, and her bag brushes into it (shot thirty-one A). The camera then pans out from the bag, which we now see is hung on a hook in a house, and tracks a woman opening the door, finishing in a over-the-shoulder shot showing the man walking up the drive. When the door opens the man starts singing line one and two of verses five. The man approaches the door, the camera pans to a side view of the couple, and the woman goes to embrace him, but he ignores her and bends down to pick up a rucksack, showing in shot thirty-three and thirty-three A. The camera then pans round to face the woman with an over the shoulder view. But then as the man turns round the camera keeps it over-the-shoulder view, so we see half of the man’s face and the woman in the background standing at the door. Then we use the first cut of the video, to cut to an over-the-shoulder view of the woman’s face, so we see half of her face, who has now turned round so her back is to the man.
This use of seeing half of each characters face is to link the CD and DVD cover and magazine into the video. Also it’s to try and show that even though he has left her, he didn’t really want to, but he felt he had to; so they both have lost their ‘other half’. During this he has sung the last lines of the song. And the last shot is over the camera backing out of the door and the woman closing on the camera, implying finality on their relationship.
The man is continually walking, and line two verses one sees him walking towards the stationary camera. Line three verses one sees the man walking ‘into’ the camera, thus creating a transition to shot five. To where the camera pans backwards ‘out of the man’s back’ and rises to an eye-level view of the man’s head. The camera then pans left in a circular motion to show the man’s face; while he’s singing line four and five verses one of the song. From this position the camera zooms out (shot six) to shot seven, where we can see all the man’s body as he walks along a road at the same time as he’s singing line six verses one. As the camera zooms, a tree passes in front, making a transition to shot nine.
Shot nine sees him as he walks out from behind a tree; the setting is a playing field with play equipment, to the man’s right is an image of him and his girlfriend swinging on the swing, as he’s walking he temporally blocks them from view, and when he’s moved we see that the two are no longer there; as this is happening the man is singing line one and two of verse two. A football is then kicked in front of the camera, creating a transition to shot twelve.
In this shot the man is walking down a corridor, and on his right is an image of him and his girlfriend cuddling, as he is walking he obstructs the view of them from the camera, and when he’s gone we see that they are no longer there, as we see in shot thirteen; as this is happening he is singing line three of verses two of the song.
When we use this effect of him and his girlfriend disappearing while he’s on his journey, we are trying to show how he is pushing her from his life. By using him as a block to the camera for the ‘happy couple’ to vanish, we hope to portray that this split up between the two is his doing; he is the one who is pushing her out of his life.
The transaction between shot thirteen and fifteen is students walking past the camera (shot fourteen); in shot fifteen, as the students have finished walking past, the scene has changed to a woody field where the man is continuing on his journey. He then walks past a bush (shot sixteen) and reappears in shot seventeen emerging from a bush at the bottom of a bridge. During this he has sung line four of verses two.
As he starts up the bridge in shot seventeen he is singing line five of verse two. As he approaches the top of the bridge, while singing line six of verse two, camera is at a low angle, so much so that when he gets closer the camera only focuses on his feet, this then becomes the transaction to shot twenty, where the camera pans up from his feet to show a different setting.
The use of these transactions is to create smooth transitions between different shots, to emphasis the fact he is on a continual journey. By doing this, instead of cuts, we are exploring the band’s preference of ‘abstract’, as well as the theme of ‘the break up’. It’s abstract because normally if you walk behind a tree you come out at the same location, but by making the character emerge at different ones makes the music video different to a vast majority of them.
Shot twenty sees the man singing line one of verses three, in this scene we see him walking past him and his girlfriend arguing. The fact that they are arguing links into the lyrics of the song “Shakes her head, she’s not gunna join me”. The camera has panned up from his feet to show an over-the-shoulder shot of the two in disagreement, the camera then pans left around the man’s head so we see his face, while at the same time he’s singing line two of verse three. Then it pans backwards, so the man is getting further way, but he is still continually walking (shot twenty-one) whilst singing line three and four of verse three. A car in shot twenty-two, then drives in front of him, making a transition to shot twenty-three, where the man comes out walking up a road. The camera has a side view of the man, it then zooms out and round so, again, the man is in full front view of the camera. As the man is walking, the camera keeps the same difference away. (While this is happening he has sung line five and six of verses three.) But then it stops and as he gets closer the camera pans down, so eventually the pavement is in view. This then creates the transition to shot twenty-six.
Twenty-six sees him walking up from a hill on a road. The camera is low angled, and, as a result of this positioning we see his head appearing first. This links in with our abstract and break-up theme; in film this technique is sometimes used to show the hero/s coming home from battle, creating a sense of joy and relief. But because we are using this at a part in the song where he sings “if I was wrong, I didn’t know all I should have know, at least I know I died on the road”, instead of creating feelings of happiness, we are trying to make the audience feel uneasy.
When the man approaches the camera, as the camera is now stationary, he walks over it, but as he does this, the camera follows him, rotating 180 degrees in a swoop. So in shot twenty-nine we see that the image of the man walking away is upside down. The camera tracks him upside down until he walks over a wall and the camera goes ‘into’ the wall creating a transition to shot thirty-one, where it pans out at eye-level from the side of the building, to show the man standing in a busy street as people walk around him.
Here we are hoping to speed up the pace of the shot. This would hopefully show that the man is discontent with his life; everyone else is going about their business, but he is just stationary in the life he is leading at the moment; emphasising the issue that he wants to leave, as the song has been suggesting throughout.
The transition to shot thirty-two is in the form of a bag, a woman walks past the camera, and her bag brushes into it (shot thirty-one A). The camera then pans out from the bag, which we now see is hung on a hook in a house, and tracks a woman opening the door, finishing in a over-the-shoulder shot showing the man walking up the drive. When the door opens the man starts singing line one and two of verses five. The man approaches the door, the camera pans to a side view of the couple, and the woman goes to embrace him, but he ignores her and bends down to pick up a rucksack, showing in shot thirty-three and thirty-three A. The camera then pans round to face the woman with an over the shoulder view. But then as the man turns round the camera keeps it over-the-shoulder view, so we see half of the man’s face and the woman in the background standing at the door. Then we use the first cut of the video, to cut to an over-the-shoulder view of the woman’s face, so we see half of her face, who has now turned round so her back is to the man.
This use of seeing half of each characters face is to link the CD and DVD cover and magazine into the video. Also it’s to try and show that even though he has left her, he didn’t really want to, but he felt he had to; so they both have lost their ‘other half’. During this he has sung the last lines of the song. And the last shot is over the camera backing out of the door and the woman closing on the camera, implying finality on their relationship.
Our song is called 'Kicking up dust'.
The Lyrics are as follows:
-The song starts with a 10 second guitar intro, and then goes into...-
Verse One:- (Lyrics start at 11 seconds in, and the verse stops at 40secs)
Kicking up dust on the way behind me
As I focused on the track
I think it’s time that I was leaving
There’s no way of way of coming back
So if I fail, I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road
(A 3 second guitar interval is then played before the start of the next verse)
Verse Two:- (Lyrics start at 43secs, and the verse stops at 1:11secs)
Hear her voice going behind me…
…..And I’m too scared to look back
If you don’t want me to go, why don’t you join me?
It’s kinda lonely beside these tracks
So if I fail, I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road
(A 3 second guitar interval is then played before the start of the next verse)
Verses Three:- (Lyrics start at 1:14 secs, and the verse stops at 1:43secs)
Shakes her head, she’s not guna join me
But she’s built too much to leave
I wave good bye, I keep on walking
Another mile and I can breathe
So if I fail, I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road
(A 3 second guitar interval is then played before the start of the next verse)
Verses Four:- (Lyrics start at 1:47secs, and the verse finishes at 1:54secs)
If I was wrong, I didn’t know all I should have known
At least I know the answers weren’t at home
(A longer guitar interval is now being played, lasting 24 seconds)
Verses Five:- (Lyrics start at 2:18, and the verse stops at 2:40secs), (This verse includes some interval guitar sections init)
If I fail I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road………
……If I fail I never go where I wanted to go
Either way I have nothing to show, (After this line the song then continues for 3 seconds with a guitar pieces then fades out and the song is finished), (Song finish at 2:43secs)
The Lyrics are as follows:
-The song starts with a 10 second guitar intro, and then goes into...-
Verse One:- (Lyrics start at 11 seconds in, and the verse stops at 40secs)
Kicking up dust on the way behind me
As I focused on the track
I think it’s time that I was leaving
There’s no way of way of coming back
So if I fail, I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road
(A 3 second guitar interval is then played before the start of the next verse)
Verse Two:- (Lyrics start at 43secs, and the verse stops at 1:11secs)
Hear her voice going behind me…
…..And I’m too scared to look back
If you don’t want me to go, why don’t you join me?
It’s kinda lonely beside these tracks
So if I fail, I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road
(A 3 second guitar interval is then played before the start of the next verse)
Verses Three:- (Lyrics start at 1:14 secs, and the verse stops at 1:43secs)
Shakes her head, she’s not guna join me
But she’s built too much to leave
I wave good bye, I keep on walking
Another mile and I can breathe
So if I fail, I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road
(A 3 second guitar interval is then played before the start of the next verse)
Verses Four:- (Lyrics start at 1:47secs, and the verse finishes at 1:54secs)
If I was wrong, I didn’t know all I should have known
At least I know the answers weren’t at home
(A longer guitar interval is now being played, lasting 24 seconds)
Verses Five:- (Lyrics start at 2:18, and the verse stops at 2:40secs), (This verse includes some interval guitar sections init)
If I fail I never go where I wanted to go
At least I know I died on the road………
……If I fail I never go where I wanted to go
Either way I have nothing to show, (After this line the song then continues for 3 seconds with a guitar pieces then fades out and the song is finished), (Song finish at 2:43secs)
This is a rough idea of how we want our CD cover to look. The picture fading from white links to the 'I'm missing you' photo shown in my previous blog. The image of the man in the woman's eye relates to our music video, its to symbolise the feeling that the woman doesn't want the man to leave her, so she's locked him in her minds eye. He'll always be with her in memory even if not in person.Monday, 16 November 2009
We've been in contact with our band, but sadly they can't meet us, so we've had to send them our pitches via email.
In their reply, they said that they liked the idea of 'the break up' but they would prefer it if some aspects of 'the Abstract' pitch could be incorporated into the final idea.
The band especially liked one of Lee's sample pictures:
They asked if we could do something like this but with the theme of 'the break up'. Fitz liked the way that only some body parts showed through the balls, giving the impression that either someones hiding (hiding from their ex-partner) or something/ones buried (burying the past).
A picture they also liked was:
A picture they also liked was:
They said they liked the background, and how the black changes to grey. Fitz said that it represented how a person might feel after a relationship has ended.
So, now we know what the band want, we can finally start working on the final product.
Monday, 9 November 2009
We have finally come up with our three pitches. To begin with we were planning to go down a completely different route with our ideas; by this I mean we were going to base our pitches on certain aspects of the song, be it words like ‘lonely’ or feelings like ‘trapped’. But we felt our designs for the pitches didn’t really represent the song to its full potential.
Instead of us all trying to come up with the same pitch, we decided to do one each, and after long deliberation we settled on doing two pitches that symbolized a literal representation of the song, but from different view points, and the third pitch to be abstract, while still with our theme of relationships. My pitch is ‘The Break Up’, while Paul’s is ‘The Make-up’ and Lee’s is abstract. To come up with ideas for my pitch I listened to the song again and then searched the internet for pictures that I could use- using key words- to show where I was thinking of going with it. For example;
With this picture I liked how the background was faded into two different pictures, and the theme of dull sombre colours; which I thought could be good representation for how the man may be feeling after his break up.
After doing this, I put together a short leaflet with my ideas, so I could refer back to it while presenting the pitch.
With all of our pitches done we need to try and find a time when we can pitch our ideas to our band.
Instead of us all trying to come up with the same pitch, we decided to do one each, and after long deliberation we settled on doing two pitches that symbolized a literal representation of the song, but from different view points, and the third pitch to be abstract, while still with our theme of relationships. My pitch is ‘The Break Up’, while Paul’s is ‘The Make-up’ and Lee’s is abstract. To come up with ideas for my pitch I listened to the song again and then searched the internet for pictures that I could use- using key words- to show where I was thinking of going with it. For example;
With this picture I liked how the background was faded into two different pictures, and the theme of dull sombre colours; which I thought could be good representation for how the man may be feeling after his break up.
After doing this, I put together a short leaflet with my ideas, so I could refer back to it while presenting the pitch.
With all of our pitches done we need to try and find a time when we can pitch our ideas to our band.
Friday, 2 October 2009
30.09.2009
(Morning lesson)
We were shown previous students work of music videos to help us get more ideas of what we should be looking for and doing. One was a narrative, while the other was a montage. Originally before this I was set on doing a narrative text, but on seeing the student’s film, I am now wondering if a montage would have more effect, based on the atypical manner we want to achieve from ours. This I put across to my partners, but both still liked the narrative idea. So to compromise we have come to a decision that we will use both types.
(Afternoon lesson)
We started by listening to our chosen song. The narrative of the song is of a man who wants to go and do things his girlfriend/wife doesn’t want him to do, but he goes anyway with the suggestion if he doesn’t go he will regret it for the rest of his life. This is something he needs to try no matter what.
From this we wrote down what we thought were key words which we could focus our pitches around. These are what we came up with;
· Dust
· Leaving
· Time
· Failing to do what you want to do- go places
· Her voice behind him
· Too scared to look back
· Lonely
· Died on the road
· Waves
· Walking
· Nothing
The first word that jumped out at us was ‘Lonely’. We brainstormed a few rough and basic ideas;
- A montage of a man walking down deserted roads and through fields
- A montage of how his life used to be
Because this narrative is quite a strong one (the meaning is clear) we have found that this isn’t to our advantage as we thought previously it might. As if our text is too abstract it won’t fit into the song, so we’ve had to rein in on how ‘wacky’ we want to be so the video ‘makes sense’.
We were shown previous students work of music videos to help us get more ideas of what we should be looking for and doing. One was a narrative, while the other was a montage. Originally before this I was set on doing a narrative text, but on seeing the student’s film, I am now wondering if a montage would have more effect, based on the atypical manner we want to achieve from ours. This I put across to my partners, but both still liked the narrative idea. So to compromise we have come to a decision that we will use both types.
(Afternoon lesson)
We started by listening to our chosen song. The narrative of the song is of a man who wants to go and do things his girlfriend/wife doesn’t want him to do, but he goes anyway with the suggestion if he doesn’t go he will regret it for the rest of his life. This is something he needs to try no matter what.
From this we wrote down what we thought were key words which we could focus our pitches around. These are what we came up with;
· Dust
· Leaving
· Time
· Failing to do what you want to do- go places
· Her voice behind him
· Too scared to look back
· Lonely
· Died on the road
· Waves
· Walking
· Nothing
The first word that jumped out at us was ‘Lonely’. We brainstormed a few rough and basic ideas;
- A montage of a man walking down deserted roads and through fields
- A montage of how his life used to be
Because this narrative is quite a strong one (the meaning is clear) we have found that this isn’t to our advantage as we thought previously it might. As if our text is too abstract it won’t fit into the song, so we’ve had to rein in on how ‘wacky’ we want to be so the video ‘makes sense’.
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