Planning

Song Ideas for Music Video

When we discused what song we would like to do for our music video we listened to songs from the 50's, 70's, 80's 90's and today. From ten we picked about nine songs we liked the best:

• Blondie- One Way or Another
• Madonna- Material Girl
• Taylor Swift- Jump  Fall/The Way You Loved Me 
• The Cardigans- Love Fool
• Louis Armstong- Dream a Little Dream
• Peggy Lee- Fever
• Extreme- More Than Words
• Nat King Cole- LOVE

We then went on to a further discucion about what our veiws were on each of the songs and artists.

• Blondie- We liked it but kept as a option
• Madonna- Whilst we thought we could have  funny ideas for the video, we felt that it has been covered many times before, so it was a no
• Taylor Swift- We felt she was too modern to use, so it was a no
• The Cardigans- We liked it, so we kept it as an option
• Louis Armstrong- We agreeed it would be a bit to slow to use , so it was a no
• Peggy Lee- We felt that the song was to ruanchy to use, so it was a no
• Extreme- Again we liked it, so we kept it as an option
• Nat King Cole- Yet again we liked it, so we kept it as an option

We then discused what we could possibly do for the video. by then our final list was:

• Blondie
• The Cardigans
• Extreme
• Nat King Cole

We then looked at our three options (Love Fool, More Than Words and LOVE) we decided that we wanted to use LOVE. We decided to make it our own by changing the emotion from happy to sad, by making it about break up. For our back-up option we decided that when Emma played Love Fool, the pitch was to high for her vocal range and we also felt that we could do more with More Than Words with the video and again we changed the lyrics. Also we thought that changing a male vocaled song into a female vocaled song would be fun.

Letters to the Music Companies
We sent two letters (one to Universal Music Group and the other to EMI Music) requesting permission to use the song. (Our last names and school address have been ommited for privacy reasons)

Universal Music Publishing Ltd.

20 Fulham Broadway,

London,

SW6 1AH,

United Kingdom

Dear Sir or Madame,

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter as we know you must be very busy.

We are a group of four early entry A level media students, from Holy Trinity Catholic Media Arts College, in Birmingham, England. We are writing to ask you for permission to use the song, More Than Words sung by Extreme for the completion of our A2 music video.

We have already began putting ideas together for our music video, and would be much obliged if you would allow us to use it. We may change lyrics and perhaps rhythm to the song but require your permission to do so in order to gain our full qualification.

If you allow us to use your song, our music video will be destroyed after the examination process and will not be uploaded on to any social networking sites, such as Facebook or Youtube. If you do not reply to this letter we shall assume that we have the permission to carry out this task with your song.

Thank you so much for your time.

Yours Sincerely

Sophie, Natalie, Emma and Anisa

Couple of weeks later we recievd a letter to say that we couldn't use the song unless we filled out a form.

Dear Sir or Madame,

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter as we know you must be very busy.

 

We are a group of four early entry A level media students, from Holy Trinity Catholic Media Arts College, in Birmingham, England. We are writing to ask you for permission to use the song L.O.V.E. sung by Nat King Cole for the completion of our A2 music video.

We have already began putting ideas together for our music video, and would be much obliged if you would allow us to use it. We may change lyrics and perhaps rhythm to the song but require your permission to do so in order to gain our full qualification.

 

If you allow us to use your song, our music video will be destroyed after the examination process and will not be uploaded on to any social networking sites, such as Facebook or Youtube. If you do not reply to this letter within two weeks we shall assume that we have the permission to carry out this task with your song.

 

Thank you so much for your time.

Yours Sincerely, 

Sophie, Natalie, Emma and Anisa

We didn't get a response from EMI which we assumed ment we had permission to use the song for our coursework.

Storyline
At the start of the video we have a girl and a boy who are in a relationship. However the relationship is becoming strained and the girl is concerned when the boy doesn’t respond to “do you still love me?”

A few weeks later, the girl is sitting on the stair case reading when she receives text message from the boy saying that “it’s over”. The girl, in distress, runs down the stairs and back to her room where she begins to reflect on the good times.

Soon she realises that she has been replaced by her next door neighbour and begins to seep into a depressive state while the boy and his new girlfriend are having a wonderful time together.
However, as time passes the girl finds love in a new boy. Meanwhile the boy and his girlfriend are having relationship problems, such as he would rather spend time on his mobile phone than talk to her, making her feel neglected. While the boy and the girlfriend are having a walk down the road, the girl is standing waiting for her new boyfriend and the boy stands and stares at her, wondering if her should go over and say hello, when her boyfriend comes round the corner and meets her. The boy’s girlfriend become jealous and begins to shout at him.

A couple of weeks later, the boy is waiting for his girlfriend to meet him. However to his shock, she dumps him and leaves, giving the boy his comeuppance. On the other hand, the girl and her new boyfriend are completely loved up and happy.

The events in the video are seen through the eyes of Jane Wesley-the songs artist. This makes the audience see what Jane sees as though she is reflecting on a past relationship. This brings the audience closer to the story.


Themes
The themes of the video are:

• Love- as the song title suggests, one of the main themes is love. Love can be seen in many ways such as the girl loves the boy, boy loves his new girlfriend (cheating swine). Also the symbolism of the imperfect, animated heart at the end is to show that romance isn’t as perfect as everyone thinks it is.
• Heartbreak- the other main theme of the video is heartbreak. Heartbreak is seen when the girl is dumped by her old boyfriend- quite without comparison or any remorse (as he dumped her via text message) and the video is about how the girl if affected by getting cast off and replaced. However on the opposite end of the spectrum, when the boy’s girlfriend dumps him, she gives him some dignity by breaking up with him to his face. His reaction is not one of gloom but rather astonishment over being dumped by the girlfriend.
• Reflection- a minor theme in the video is refection. This is shown through the girl remembering the good times with the boy and how it makes her feel. Refection can also be shown as it is a story from Jane Wesley so she in the video she is reflecting on a relationship with a past boyfriend (who in the story is the boy) and about how she dealt with how he pushed her aside and replaced her.
• Innocence- a small theme in the video is innocence. This is portrayed by the girl at the start at the video when she is with the boy and is seen wearing brighter clothes and seems to think that the boy is going to love her forever and it reveals the contrast between the girl and the boy’s new girlfriend as while the girl thinks that love is forever while the girl next door begins to notice when the boy is getting tired of her. However as the story goes on the girl begins to develop from doe-eyed girl to a more grown-up young lady.

Storyboards
Whilst we were waiting to here or not here from the the companies we started on our storyboards for the video.

LOVE Mark 1










We found that this one was lacking in a performance which we wanted in the first place so we decide against it and came up with a new one. With better drawings.

LOVE Mark 2

Cast List


Jane Wesley- Emma

Girl- Natalie

Boy- Jared

Boy's New Girlfriend- Emma

Girl's New Boyfriend- Chris


Costume
Emma-
(Jane Wesley):

• Black Wig
•  Green Flowery Dress,
• Black Leggings

(Boy's New Girlfriend):

• Jeans
• Leggings
• Various Tops
• Cardigans
• Various Shoes/Boot

Natalie-

(Girl):

• Shorts
• Various Tops
•  Jeans
• Cardigans
•  Leather Jacket
•  Trainers 
•  Shoes

Jared-

(Boy):

• Mainly Dark Wear
•  Dark T-Shirts
•  Dark Jeans
• Black Trainers

Chris-

(Girl's New Boyfriend):

• Jeans
• Shirts
•  Jackets
• Trainers

 Setting

• Inside-

1. Living room for the scenes such as "Jared, do you still love me?", the relationship and the drifting scene between Jared and Emma. Also they will be also used for the photographs in the video for both the relationship between Jared and Natalie and Jared and Emma. This will also be a large portion of the performance footage. The walls are a light brown and deep red colour to reflect the mature nature of the jazz theme.
2. Bedroom to show the reflection scenes in the video. The room is pink to reflect the girly, young and naivety of the girl. Also demonstrates the pop elements in the video.
3. The staircase is the turning point of the video as it is where the girl is dumped via text message. This scene setts up the rest of the video. Some of the performance will also be shot here as a gateway from Jane Wesley to the girl.
4. The hallway is part of the depression (or reflection) scenes in the story. A part of the performance footage is also going to be filmed here.

• Outside

1. Streets are in the latter part of the video, where the girl is in a new relationship and is going on dates with him. Among them is a scene with Jared and Emma walking along a road together when they see Natalie and Jared can't help but stare at her. Photos in this bit involve Natalie and Chris and their new relationship.
2. The brick wall is also in the latter part of the video as it is part of the performance and also where Emma breaks up with Jared
3. The park is where Natalie and Chris share a kiss and around them an animated heart draws around them. This is the penultimate part before the end of the video