Finalised Music Video Idea: Treatment

Chosen song:
http://theohhellos.com/track/like-the-dawn

Music Video Treatment on PhotoPeach

Concept:

'In an unexpected turn of events, a young girl is on a journey of romance and realisation'

The music video is all about a young, female protagonist, as we follow her through a journey of clues, which are in the form of arrows. The video begins with various shots of soft light (direct sun and possibly through a window pane), natural surroundings and various effeminate bedroom objects. We are then introduced to the protagonist, and are welcomed into her personal space; her bedroom. A vintage, autumnal theme is clearly established through the location, lighting and mise-en-scene. As the protagonist is surrounded by letters, books, everyday objects, it seems that she is going about her everyday life (whilst day dreaming), though she seems quite subdued and sad. Within, or throughout this seen there is specific reference to a photograph; though blurred out of focus, the audience can see two figures. The young girl then begins to move papers and get back to what she is doing. However whilst slightly moving a piece of paper, she is confronted with the action code; an arrow.

This arrow is then the beginning of the young girls journey, to which she assumes that her final destination is taking her to the blurred figure (romance) within the photograph. Taking up a considerable section of the song, a 'montage' of shots follow; different types of arrows leading in certain directions, which the girl follows. For example, the protagonist will ride on a bike eagerly following and finding these arrows, taking us through different locations such as a garden, streets, and eventually, the woods.

The girl arrives in what she believes is her destination, after spotting an arrow pointing to an idyllic area in the woods. She holds up the photograph (which takes up the frame), and as she brings it down, the blurred figure is seen in the distance. The girl begins to smile. However, as we cut back to the boy (figure) we see another girl come into the frame and hug him, hence the 'romance and revelation'. Shocked, the girl turns back, only to realise that the arrow was pointing in the wrong direction all along. She runs away from the boy (possibly lending itself to reverse) as we are confronted with many fragmented shots; close ups of the girl, her feet, the light through the trees, her personal possessions back as home, and predominantly, a mug breaking (symbolising her current, 'broken' state).

As we track the girl running away, the video concludes with her finding a new romance and in fact, what the arrows were directing her to all along. The emotive storyline's pace begins to slow down, as their is a clear sense of resolution, to which the broken mug shall be reversed, 'healing' her broken heart.

As of yet, we are still unsure on an ending, to which we have two:

1. The protagonist finds her new love and things are 'fixed'.
2. As the new couple are together, the camera pans out to reveal a missed arrow, which is point to another direction; an ambiguous ending to which we question if she has actually reached her destination?

Mood board:

As well as the presentation which begins this post, here are various images from the mood board we created to accompany the treatment  The images reflect our overall, 'natural'/'vintage' theme, as well as our mise-en-scene ideas.

Style of Filming and editing:

Our main influences come from the likes of Jason Myraz and Half Moon Run. Both videos express simple cut transitions (where as we may experiment with fade transitions  at the beginning and end of the video), focus pulls and soft edges; aspects that we aim to include within our music video. Whilst in Post Production, we also aim to reverse a small section of the video. With reference to camera angles and movement, a wide range of shots from close-ups to establishing/long shots shall be included, accompanied by camera panning and tracking.

However, the 'artistic' and 'nature' montage/pick ups, as well as the protagonists fragmented thoughts can afford to be more rugged (shaky) portraying a sense emotion and well as supporting the overall organic theme.

Intertextuality:

Our main intertextual reference is to the novel and film 'P.S I Love You'. This is referenced through the concept of our protagonist following one clue to the next; similar to the film narrative, in which a women follows the instructions of several letters left by a loved one, in which she finds a new romance.

Trailer:

How will it appeal to the audience?

Our music video will appeal to the audience through it's strong storyline; all focus goes upon the girl and her journey. Although this can be argued as unconventional to an acoustic music video, in which there is almost always a performance element, our concept applies to the theory 'We derive pleasure from observing how the conventions of a genre are manipulated'. Therefore, by not including any element of performance, the audience will be intrigued to how the narrative will pan out and keep their attention. However, our music video also agrees with 'Genres permit the creation and maintenance of a loyal audience which become used to recognising the conventions of a genre'. This is because we have a strong relationship between music and visuals, as well as aiming to achieve an aesthetically pretty and natural music video.