Final Music Video

Final music video treatment:

I thought to make another treatment, post-project, so that I can clearly point out things we decided to change due to insufficient timing and impracticalities, at the same time conveying the initial message and an obvious use of the storyboard for guidance.

The beginning is where the narrative begins and is the instrumental for about 10 seconds before Kevin McCall starts singing the first verse. The first protagonist is the artist himself Chris Brown (Dennis Kamara) .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 ouffed jacket, chequered shirt and jeans. As he sits on the wall, with nothing to do, he sees a beautiful girl walk passed (Dayna Wilson). She is wearing a casual black hooded jumper, grey leggings and heeled lace up boots. He sees her too late and lets her walk off, having missed his chance. Throughout the video he thinks of her and what could have been. The point of the video is to show how on one hand, an opportunity was taken and on the other, it was lost; in Kamara’s case, the opportunity was lost. The second male protagonist (Mickael Bolenge) is being followed by the camera as he walks down the street. 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 an over the shoulder of Bolenge another shot of him walking past our female protagonist while they simultaneously spot each other. Bolenge will be wearing a white top, black jacket, jeans and black shoes/trainers. Both Bolenge and Kamara are wearing fashionable yet typical ‘teenage’ clothing to make them relatable while being inspirational. They each have an individual ‘swagger’ meaning different types of teenagers will be able to be inspired by either one. 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.

The attraction triggers Bolenge’s thoughts of the ‘future’ he could have with Kawooya. 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. Bolenge gets up and the next scene is him in the kitchen trying to cook whilst Kawooya is at the table. 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) sings part of the chorus while walking towards the camera. 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/slow motion/soft gaze. These particular filters create memories for the audience relating it to ‘old movies’, denoting memories or thoughts and fantasies. Also, the distortion is a connotation of the feeling people feel when they are in love: hazy, romantic teenage ‘puppy’ love. We tried to recreate this on film and make the audience remember or feel that particular emotion. There will be a close ups of Kamara as he lip-syncs the chorus.

Next are cameo appearances from some teenage boys and girls in different places such as school, their bedroom, on the street 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)...’ This is not part of the video but to show the reactions of regular teenagers to the song.

Once the second verse starts, focus will be diverted onto our first 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. Cross-fading allows us to show the different angles Kamara is in and it allowed us to add a little bit of performance from the artist to the video, without taking him completely out of his character.

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 cameos and leaving Bolenge and Kawooya in their love, Dennis walks away, on a darkened street, from the camera in slow motion. This denotes the end of the day from him and puts the audience into the video as he looks back at the camera as if to say ‘Goodbye’. We tried to make the ending as emotional as the song made the ending without taking away from the love found by two of the teens in the video.

It’s a very teen-oriented video with many reference to teens these days e.g. the modern day clothing, music style (r‘n’b) and the scenes of teens just enjoying themselves. The video may be seen to have a shelf life because of fashion styles for example; however the message of ‘puppy love’ is one that is timeless for generations passed and generations to come.

Production Schedule

Our production schedule contains the times in which we will film certain shots amd the actors and actresses we will use at those times. The reason for this is to ensure that in this weather we are able to film outside when the sky is clear. Some scenes will be filmed at a later time, for example, at 4pm when the light is fading into darkness. These scenes will be used later on in the video to show the progression of the day. Our main protagonists are very important to the video so they had to be notified of the times and clarify that it fits into their schedule. This production schedule is also a way in which the production company (Sharlene Kawwoya and myself) can keep track of what we have filmed and what we have yet to film. We decided to make it simple to understand for all the actors and actresses who also received a copy to ensure optimum practicality. An example is below.

Treatment

The narrative of SK Productions' music video is the story of how our male protagonist met our female protagonist. The video is mainly flash forwards of what the male protagonist is thinking i.e what could happen in the future if he talks to this girl that he just met. There are two parts of the video.

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.