Below is our pitch with a script for our music video, digipak and advert ideas:
HARRY: In terms of the emotional colouring, there is a very
cogent narrative in the lyrics of the song which we can reflect through a
narrative video. The song itself is extremely sombre and dark, consequently;
the general theme of the song is very grey and fairly dark to reflect the
darkness of the track. Because of this, we are aiming for a focused viewing, as
opposed to ambient, in order to emphasize the emotion of the song.
GEORGE: Discussing the grain of voice, the artist has a very
distinctive tone, he also sings in a very high pitch at many points in the
song, including one whole verse, at the beginning of the song. This fits in
extremely well with our piece. This is because when it is high pitched, we plan
to show the boy walking away from home disconsolately, and therefore the tone compliments
our line of action.
TOM: In terms of our initial ideas, we plan to incorporate
cross-cuts between the father and son, who are both grieving over the loss of
the mother (or wife). We would essentially like to expose both characters
emotionally, and emphasize the difficulty of their situation through the video.
HARRY: In terms of the genre of the track, we believe there
is a variety of genres mixed into one, this includes alternative, R&B and
electronic pop. Because Jack Garratt's music is not defined to one genre it is
unique as it gives us flexibility as there are little conventions the track and
video must conform to. However this does suggest the music video should look
independent and authentic.
TOM: However, through his lyrics it is clear how emphasis is
put on the emotions of his songs and that they are based upon real experiences,
this suggests that our video should reinforce his emphasis on emotion and
follow a narrative that should be powerful for its audience.
Because of the variety of genres, it is rather
unconventional, additionally as it manages to maintain a reasonably slow-pace
throughout the song, yet is extremely indifferent from a ballad.
Also, it is comparable to a pop song as it has several
chorus' in terms of the lyrics, making it very 'catchy'.
GEORGE: The main theme of our piece is bereavement, as
throughout the song, there is reference to the late mother. Also, the majority of the action shows the two
characters (father and son) struggling to come to terms with the death of the
mother, and consequently arguing, and being extremely depressed. Another theme
of our piece is family, as at the end of the video, the father and son realise
that they essentially need each other. However, it takes the length of the song
for them to realise that, which connotes that we are constructing a heartfelt
narrative story through our video.
HARRY: Discussing ideologies, the main ideology we are
trying to show through our video, is that the family will always stick
together, despite disagreements and difficult times such as the death of
another family member (the mother in this case). We also plan to show that a
family member drinking excessively has a very negative effect on the rets of
the family, and this is shown by the character exposition and the prevalence of
the boy.
TOM: The sequence begins with a boy, in his late teens,
lying on his bed having just woken up. The atmosphere is very grey and sombre
as he stares at an image of his mother on the wall, who has recently passed
away. The scene then changes to the boys father, in the living room of the
house emitting the same sombre, emotionless facial expressions. The boy enters
the scene and an argument begins almost instantly; doors are slammed and glass
gets broken causing the boy to storm out of the house. As we see him
aggressively walking down the street his group of friends appear in the
distance.
GEORGE: It isn't long
after he meets up with them that another conflict occurs, which again, sees the
boy storm off. A new line of action is introduced here, where the father is
shown drinking to excess, revealing both characters to have issues of a similar
nature. They both come to this emotional realization that they desperately need
each other.
HARRY: In this first verse, we plan to shoot in the bedroom,
with the boy just waking up. It is a very dark, sombre start to the song, and
therefore we are going to utilise low-key lighting and a slow-cutting rate.
Initially, we would like to show a close-up of the boy, followed by flashbacks
to his incomplete work on his desk, as he stares at the picture of his late
mother on the wall (this will be depicted with an over-the shoulder shot). When
it states "my eyes are closed", we would like to use a side angle, to
show him thinking deeply (back in his bed after the flashbacks). Shortly after
this, we are going to use a birds eye view looking down on the boy when it
states "You staring at me". The last line of this first verse states
"Has always left me feeling stuck in between", here we would like to
incorporate a cross-cut with his father, who is extremely depressed and
emotionless.
TOM: This is the first chorus in the song, and at this point
the pace of the song picks up which compliments our line of action, which is an
argument between the father and son. When it states "Pick apart the
pieces" is when we plan to start the argument, and shortly after the
"Let me worry about it", there is a clicking noise, which we plan to
enhance and use as a door slam as the boy leaves.
GEORGE: Here we would like to show another cross-cut between
the dad and the boy, with the dad drinking excessively, and the boy walking
back home distraught. Unlike the previous cross-cut, we would like to have a
slightly faster-cutting rate, to coincide with the faster section of the song.
HARRY: This is the last verse of the song, and for this we
would like the boy to come home, only to find his dad passed out on the floor
next to several bottles. When it states "Don't you worry about it",
we would like to show the boy, who is shown to be devastated. For the last two
lines of the song, we would like the father and son to come to the realisation
that they both effectively need each other, and need to stay strong. This
creates a rather emotional, empathetic experience for the viewer.
TOM: This verse is similar to the first verse, as it is
extremely slow-paced. We would like to have the boy walking in the street,
looking extremely depressed and disconsolate, prior to meeting his friends. At
this point, we could intercut between the father and son, who are both
extremely upset, after the argument and obtrusively grieving over the mother.
GEORGE: This is the second chorus of the song, at this
point, we would like to show the boy having an argument with his friends,
connoting that nothing is going right for him, creating a character exposition.
One shot we would like to incorporate is a birds eye view
shot, looking over the boy, who has just woken up.
HARRY: Also, we want to utilise flashbacks in our piece at
the beginning of the video, to show that the boy is unable to do any work, and
this shot will then focus on the mothers photo, making it clear for the
audience.
TOM: Towards the end of the video, we would like to use intercutting,
along two lines of action depicting the father and son, both depressed in
different locations.
To the right are some key shots we would like to use in our
video, this includes a slow zoom in shot of the son character during the
argument with his father, the camera slowly zooms into his face as we want to
show the characters emotions throughout and what impact the bad relationship
with his dad is having on him.
GEORGE: The primary visual effect that we will use in our
video are filters. We may decide to use a grayscale filter on certain parts of
the film sequence, however there are many factors that can result in changes to
our choice of filter, for example the weather.
If we film on a dreary, overcast day then the use of a
filter may not be necessary in conveying the sombre theme that we are aiming to
achieve. However, if the weather is
sunny, then a grayscale filter may be necessary. Depending on the look of the
shots and again on the weather, we will then decide whether to add colour
grading to make shots look more dull or depressing.
HARRY: Props- Several examples of alcohol surrounding the
father (to connote that he is drinking excessively as a result of the mother's
death).
A photo of the late mother, which we hope to utilise a few
times in the video, as a visual signifier.
In terms of costume, the boy will be wearing casual scruffy
looking clothing, and the same for the dad. We would like to intimate that the
pair are not too bothered about their appearance which could show their grief
over the mother's death.
TOM: There are two main characters that will feature in our
music video:
Depressed father (played by Simon Wiles)
Depressed son (played by Harry Garside)
We will also be using up to 6 people to play the friends of
the depressed son who will feature briefly in the sequence.
GEORGE: The two main characters will each
drive a line of
action throughout
throughout the
sequence.
We plan to use a few locations for our piece, the first
location is Harry's bedroom, as we plan to have the young boy waking up at the
very beginning of the video.
HARRY: Then, we would also like to use Tom's kitchen, where
we plan to stage a father/son argument, the main part of our piece.
TOM: The next location is Grosvenor and Hilbert park, which
is a setting we are going to use to show the young boy's group of friends
peer-pressuring him into anti-social behaviour, where he agrees due to his
depression over the falling out.
GEORGE: We have faced several challenges up to this point;
initially, we were struggling to find a song that was suitable for our piece.
Also, after selecting the song, we thought that we could
construct a narrative revolving around an emotional story about the father and
son. Though, we soon discovered that we couldn't think of a resolution at the
end of the video, as we needed to show the serious nature of the argument, to
make it different and less artificial (as it would be less empathetic and
emotional if it was just an ordinary argument).
HARRY: Another challenge we faced was deciding on the
locations for our piece, we knew we wanted to use internal locations (as the
story is essentially about the family, and we would therefore like to shoot in
a household), however, we didn't know which external locations to use.
TOM: In terms of the song, there are 4 chorus', and only two
dissimilar verses, which made it very difficult for us to think of a different
line of action for each chorus, especially having 3 continuous chorus' towards
the end of the song.
GEORGE: We chose this song as there are many different
layers of instrumentals, pace and pitch which we can expose through a music
video in a variety of ways. The general theme we are hoping to construct is
very dark, and sombre, which essentially reflects the mood of the song.
HARRY: We are aiming for a focused viewing, as opposed to
ambient, in order to emphasise the emotion of the song. There is also a very
cogent narrative in the lyrics of the song which we can reflect through a
narrative video.
