Music Video Treatment (Chris Brown ft. Kevin McCall)
A beautiful, relatable song deserves a video with the same message. This is a fun and young love song and so the music video should be filled with the same connotations. There will be a lot of soft focus and extreme close ups to create intimacy between characters and the audience, also soft/dim lighting for interior shots and slow motion in certain scenes would romanticise scenes between our characters. The speed in this video will vary from fast, to slow, to normal. This is only to emphasise the unexpected trail love sometimes takes; especially when it involves young people. There are different characters singing their particular parts of the song either at normal speed, in slow motion or scenes are just sped up.
The beginning is where the narrative begins and is the instrumental for about 10 seconds before Kevin McCall starts singing the first verse. The male protagonist (Mickael Bolenge) is being followed by the camera as he walks down the street with his headphones in. He spots a young lady from afar (Sharlene Kawooya) and they catch each others’ eyes. The street will be relatively empty with only a few pedestrians and cars. The follow on will be in mid-shot of Bolenge and Kawooya will be walking towards the camera from further away. Using a POV shot, we will be able to create the effect of the audience seeing through Bolenge’s eyes. Bolenge will be wearing a white top, black jacket, jeans and black shoes/trainers. This is a typical urban teen look to create an appeal and make Bolenge relatable for young urban teen boys of around his age. Kawooya will be wearing tight skinny jeans, a red dress top and a black jacket; she will also have red hair. She won’t be too glamorized as we would like young girls to relate to her rather than meet an impossible bar. The red could connote a certain danger but also in this sense it’s more about ‘love at first sight’ and attractiveness.
Bolenge contemplates whether to talk to Kawooya or not and starts to daydream of what could be if he does. When he starts the daydream the audience will see him looking up then a cross fade into a scene in the future. The lyrics begin and Bolenge is on a bed with his arms behind his head looking straight up at the camera, lip synching part of the first verse. When he turns, his bed is empty but then Kawooya appears there fast asleep. This shot would be a close up that fits both Kawooya and Bolenge in it with a closer look at Kawooya and Bolenge behind her. Bolenge gets up and the next scene is him in the kitchen trying to cook whilst Kawooya is at the table. We’ll be able to make this apparent with both POV shots of Bolenge and over the shoulder shots also. The main shot would be a long shot though. During the rest of the first verse both characters play around together, laughing in slow motion, soft focus etc.
As the chorus kicks in with Chris Brown’s vocals, the second male protagonist (Dennis Kamara) is leaned against a wall on a pavement. He doesn’t lip-sync at this point but the scene is a very short scene with Kamara looking bored, like he’s trying to find someone to love. He is wearing a black winter jacket, a white shirt, jeans and white trainers with ‘nerdy’ glasses to finish off his look. This look is relatable for some whilst still unique and showing this characters personal style as opposed to Bolenge’s. There will also be extreme close ups of the couple (Kawooya and Bolenge) in slow motion for parts of the chorus. These will be very quick and in black and white. This particular filter creates a memory with the audience relating it to ‘old movies’, denoting memories or thoughts and fantasies. There will be a close up of Kamara as he lip-syncs the chorus. In the background are regular people in the street, paying no attention to Kamara or the camera. There will be another extreme close up of the couple for around 3 seconds in slow motion in soft focus.
The last part of the chorus starts and there will be a long shot of Kawooya walking towards the camera in slow motion. Not only does this glamorize her but it adds to the ‘fantasy’ Bolenge is having. Next are cameo appearances from some teenage boys and girls in different places such as school, their bedroom etc. They will be listening to this particular song in their head phones and through fast editing they will be lip-synching the end of the chorus: ‘Number one (one) number one (one) number one (one)...’
Once the second verse starts, focus will be diverted onto our second male protagonist (Kamara). Firstly, a close up shot of him lip-syncing against the wall, taking no notice of the camera. Another close up shot of him is shown when he is lip-syncing the rest of the verse while regular people walk behind him taking no notice.
The ‘build up’ has faster cuts and edits including extreme close up shots of both Kawooya and Bolenge; and reaches its apex when Kamara finally finds his ‘love at first sight’ (Dayna Wilson). At the end of the chorus, there will be more cameo appearances from teens listening to the song in their headphones and singing along. This just represents different types of young people all relating to the song and its lyrics. Also, it allows the target audience of teens to relate as well because many teens sit in their bedroom or at school and fantasize just like the cameos.
In the final verse and chorus, Bolenge and Kawooya will be sitting on a staircase looking at each other shyly. The use of close ups will denote intimacy, slow motion will connote romance and soft focus and lighting will denote ‘fantasies’.
The ending goes back to the beginning before the daydream and will show Bolenge looking to the camera for luck and then taking a chance asking out the girl, Kawooya. The audience will then see Kamara walk up to him afterwards and they walk off laughing together in a very boyish way. These will all be utilising fast editing and quick cutting.
No comments:
Post a Comment