Music Video - Group Idea

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play

Pink Floyd were a psychadelic-prog rock band founded in 1965 in England. They split up in 1996, but played a one off re-union performance at Live 8 in 2005.
 "See Emily Play" was the second single released by Pink Floyd. Apparently the song was written by Syd Barrett about a girl he saw in the woods after taking a psychadelic drug, although he later confessed to this story being made up. People also have suggested that the song is in fact about a girl he knew from when he was younger who had died.
  Our idea for the video was to have our protagonist have psychadelic dreams about this girl. It would be mainly narrative lead although because of the genre, there is a big opportunity to do more concept driven elements. We would use locations such as those mentioned in Barrett's story, for example on the Moor or in the woods. This would help both signify the protagonist's confusion and also again link back to the lyrics. Abstract imagery would again work well, possibly featuring overlapping shots or even time lapse imagery.
We would use weird vivid colours to help signify the drugs and psychadelia, with the girl in white to connote her fragility. We would possibly show the girl singing the lyrics faded on to other imagery, though this is just a brief idea at the moment.
  For further inspiration we plan to look at Pearl Jam's Jeremy (which features a similar story), Nirvana's Heart-Shaped Box (which has the correct colour scheme and imagery) and also perhaps Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Zephyr Song (which again channels the psychadelic appeal). It is hard to find more directly linked songs, as Pink Flod themselves didn't have music videos so perhaps looking at fan-made videos will be a useful alternative.

Podcast 1: Welcome To The Group!

Getting into Groups

Having pitched our own individual ideas, we then got into groups to work together on the project. Our group consists of:

Myself (Jonny Hughes)(far left): I love artistic style films and likewise, music videos. My main influence is the amazing Darren Aronofsky. For our music video production, I will be acting as director.

Check out my AS blog here.

Or check out this year's blog here.


Joel Colborne (centre): I worked with Joel on last year's successful AS film opening "A Bat in the Belfry", and we have worked on a few short films since. Joel also likes psychological thrillers, as well as a lot of British indie films. His main focus is on the cinematography side of things although here he will act as Director of Photography as well as being in the cast.

Check out his blog here.

Callum Moreman (right): We haven't worked with Callum before and he doesn't necessarily have the same taste as us. That being said, we were extremely impressed with his work last year on the Rom-Com "Not a Chance", especially as he was working individually. He is also very practical and keeps on top of his work, so will be a great addition to the team. Callum will be working behind the camera as cinematographer.

Check out Callum's blog here.

Below is a brief video in which we all quickly discuss who we are and what we can bring to the group. Enjoy.

Actual Music Video Pitch

Idea #1: The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again

I wanted to do a concept music video in the style of another Smiths song - "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before". I liked the idea of doing a concept video as it allows for seriously artistic music videos. Though I didn't have a strong enough concept at this point, I felt that the song would be one to inspire ideas when working in a group.
 The concept I had initially involved people all walking around staring into the sky. A single man alone would walk around looking in front of him. Possibly a trail of arrows would be laid out in front of him which he would follow, eventually leading him to a spot where one girl sits and waits. The basic concept was to do with people becoming so obsessed with the search for something more, that they can't actually see what's in front of them. To some extent, they're ignorant. It also included aspects of the search for acceptance.
  More closely linking to the lyrics I thought of another concept where the central protagonist walks down a street handcuffed with everyone he walks past sneering and jeering at him. Again one girl takes pity on him, and they run away searching for a safe place. This concept focused on people harshly scrutinising people whatever they do.


Idea #2: Brand New - Untitled 2 (Morrissey Song)

Nicknamed "Morrissey song" both because of singer Jesse Lacey's obsession with Smiths singer Morrissey and also because of clear links in the sound to that of The Smiths themselves, I planned to play on that concept.

In a style similar to that of tv programme Life On Mars, our central protagonist would be sent back to the 80s. The narrative would follow them in their attempts to understand and break out of the era. The problem with this idea is the huge amount of set dressing required in order to accurately signify (with verisimilitude) the 1980's.

The Cure - Friday I'm In Love

We were given the task of creating a music video as a class in our school. Because of this I felt that the song "Friday, I'm In Love" by The Cure would be an ideal candidate as it deals with days of the week.
  Bearing in mind the location of a school, I felt that an idea we could do successfully could be based around a Romantic Comedy storyline. As the storyline does not vary very often in highschool romances, we would be able to have a very clear idea in mind. We would use the stereotypical characters and conventions of the genre. We could reference other films or music videos as this would increase audience appeal.

It fits with the song, as the theme and idea is a very-lighted one just like the actual song. Though the band themselves have reputations for being goths, very often their music was upbeat such as on this song, "Just Like Heaven" and "Lovecats". I felt my video would help capture that mood well. The Cure are also well known for their eccentric personas so this kind of of aspect could be incorporated into my video, as clearly the tone isn't the most serious.

Not personally being keen on the rom-com genre, I actually came up with this idea as I felt that it would have a large appeal to most people in the class. Unfortunately my idea wasn't picked, which would suggest rom-coms possible aren't popular with media students?

Below is the actual video for this song, released by the Cure in 1992.

Practice Pitch: Gary Numan - Cars

My idea for this video was a narrative about a taxi driver. The taxi driver picked up Gary Numan and his band as if to take them to their destination. When he releases who it is he has actually picked up, he tells them to play the song "Cars". When they politely decline, he locks the doors telling them they have to play the song. At first they play reluctantly before getting more into the performance. The taxi driver keeps interrupting Gary Numan's vocals, singing along himself. When Gary Numan continues to sing along, the rest of the band actually open the door and kick Gary out at the side of the highway. They continue to drive along with the taxi driver singing vocals, leaving Gary behind.

This idea puts a comedy twist on the iconic song. It plays with the line "I feel safest of all" as in fact they are not safe at all - least of all Gary. After later reflecting on my video idea, I noticed similarities with the Red Hot Chilli Pepper's video for "By The Way".

Gary Numan

Below is the actual video for the song, released in 1979.