Focus Group

After choosing the song Past Lives by Borns, we had a sat down discussion, to go over our main ideas and how we plan to proceed for our music videos.
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I plan on starting  my music video slow with simpler editing of road trips, dream like very calm and passive as for the first 55 seconds the song has a slow and calm ambience to it. Then once the beat starts I plan on using the Doly Parton challenge the show 4 different personalities.

Why have you chosen the 'Doly parton' challenge, how is it significant?

-It represents different/past lives. I want to take on the idea of the multiple personalities\lifes which would link to my chosen song Past Lives by Born, better, rather than going down and approaching  it as a love song.

Im also planning on using the same person for all 4 personalities and when I need to have all 4 on screen at the same time I plan on using a cloning method when editing.

To show the 4 different personalities of the Doly Parton challenge ill need to have 4 very different outfits- Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook and Tinder. An example would be in the Linkedin profile the person would be wearing a suit, while the Facebook profile would be more family and leisure related. I want it to look as indirect and as casual and not cryngy as possible.

Is the video going to be based off the 4 personalities doing theor own activities?

- No, I would like to start off with the idea of them walking around and  also incorporate it throughout but I also want them to meet at one point towards the end. I also plan on using the 'frames' of each platform to show even further 'which personality goes where'.

Are you planning on having the 'frames' in the actual shooting or would you incorporate them later in PremierPro?

-I plan on adding them later in, when editing as it would be a lot less time consuming and would make it look more put together.

Are you gonna film portrait in that case as the frames of all these are in portrait and you’re not gonna gave that much space if filmed on a landscape? Maybe even film on your phone?

Yes, you could even have the 4 different personalities getting ready at the same time at the start- everyones getting ready but theyre putting on different outfits. If you establish them from the start in their 'uniforms' when it comes to performing they’ll  be performing in the uniforms they’ve been established with and you wouldnt have to worry about the frames.

You should also get the person acting to act as if theyre the profile they represent, as in when theyre getting ready to act as if they would that day for example the Linkedin would be really smart and proffesional while the Facebook profile would be more casual and cheerful, when theyre saying the lyrics.

I think its a really good idea to also use lip-sync and link it to each profile-they all sing the lyrics at the start but the way they sing is linked to the profile. Then the whole realism, as in that’s clearly  not the person singing the song, that doesn’t  matter they would be acting it out.

I was also planning on having different locations to make it more 'dream-like' in the beginning, i probably wouldn’t  focus on complicated narrative, but im thinking of having locations such as the studio, the green screen, a field? I would like to fill the studio with different lights and lighting  equipment. On the green screen I would like to project some of the reacuring motives in the song of 'the night sky, the moon the stars.."

What about rather than having these multiple locations, which could be very time consuming and a nightmare to film, what about using a simple narrative of having all 4 personalities all on their way to a undisclosed location, and that location is where a green screen is set up, you could even have them all walk in front of the green screen on camera and then they all perform at the same time on the last chorus, and you could start changing  the background based on the lyrics? That way you can incorporate the green screen as well as all the different locations but in a narrative- getting ready to go and make a music video. 

For instruments I was also thinking of using either childrens toys as instruments or 'air' instruments when the 'band' is performing?

As the 'band' will be acting very serious  the whole time as in they’ll  be acting as thats their everyday life I think if you plan on using instruments the air instruments would be a better alternative as they’re not acting childish, they’re actually playing for a music video.

I like the idea of them all coming together, all these separate lives, very different from eachother, coming together in the end, to perform the same thing. Why not have them also perform a choreographed dance at the same time on the last chorus, as in the film 'Ex Machina- Tearing up the dance floor'

I think I like the idea of the air instruments a little more and would like to see how that would work put together, as when cloning the subjects, they shouldn’t be close to each other and I may struggle when editing if all 4 personalities are doing the same dance, thats the only concern I would have with cloning, all together if i would have enough space on the screen to place all 4.

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