Planning - Initial Ideas

In this section I have thought of my first ideas for the music video, complete with sketches of some camera shot ideas for the video. I like this idea as it is simple, quite easy to film and fits in with the conventions of both the genre and the music theorists. I pitched this idea to my teacher and gained some feedback on what is good and what could be done differently, as well as suggestions for different settings and shots. 

The band consists of;

Lead vocals/main guitar

Bass/backing vocals

Drums

Music video settings

Narrative

School classroom with a whiteboard and desk (start of video when we see Mr. A)

Exam hall (final section of the song)

Desk at home (a few shots of some revision before exam)

Performance

Band all together with plain background

Band in the exam hall/classroom (help link with narrative)

Maybe some specific shots of the singer

Some can be combined similarly to ‘What I Go to School For’

Idea for narrative

The video would start in a classroom with a close up of Mr. A writing his name on the board as if he is a new teacher, before the camera switches to a bored classroom with the band sat at the front. Mr A would be dressed with a big stomach, beard and glasses and would have to act like the classic stereotypical nightmare maths teacher.

During the first part of the video the primary setting would be the classroom with some lip syncing from the singer during some of the shots. Some ideas for this section would be a montage of F and E graded papers being handed to the band (camera being high angled pointing down onto the desk as the paper is put down), to their dismay, Mr. A doing horrible questions on the board or the rest of the class messing about while the band sit at the front getting told off. This would be mixed in with performance shots.

The next part of the video, after the second chorus, would be a quick montage of the lead singer revising in his room – shots of him snapping a pencil, throwing paper etc (could all be shot from the same place to show a passage of time) as the song speeds up, then as it slows down a high angle shot of the exam hall comes in, so we can see that the final exam is taking place. There could be another time lapse kind of section showing things such as the band struggling in the exam or Mr. A sat with his feet up at the front of the hall.

To end the video such as in the final chorus and quite high tempo instrumental after, the band can be dancing in the performance section and throwing their papers up triumphantly in the air after finishing the exam.

Finally, a shot of Mr. A handing the papers out back in the classroom. A repeat of the paper handing out shot earlier could be used, except this time there is an A on the front. This can then be graphic matched to the original ‘Mr. A’ on the whiteboard, before the writing is rubbed out and the camera fades to black.

Illustrated sketches of ideas for some camera shots were drawn on some A4 paper.