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Music Video Treatment “Lucy” By Jordan-Joseph Ralph

Music video treatment

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Page 1: Music video treatment

Music Video Treatment“Lucy”

By Jordan-Joseph Ralph

Page 2: Music video treatment

LyricsHey Lucy, I remember your name.

I left a dozen roses, on your grave today,

I’m in the grass, on my knees, wipe the leaves away.

I just came to talk for a while, got some things,

I need to say.

[Chorus]

Now that it’s over,

I just wanna hold her.

I’d give up all the world to see,

That little piece of heaven looking back at me.

Now that it’s over,

I just wanna hold her.

I’ve gotta live with the choices I made,

And I can’t live with myself today.

Hey Lucy, I remembered your birthday.

They said it’d bring some closure,

To say your name (to say your name).

I know I’d do it all different if I had the chance,

But all I’ve got are these roses to give,

And they can’t help me make amends.

[Chorus]

Here we are! Now you’re in my arms!

I never wanted anything so bad.

Here we are, for a brand new start!

Living the life that we could’ve had.

Me and Lucy walking hand in hand,

Me and Lucy never wanna end!

Just another moment in your eyes,

I’ll see you in another life:

In heaven, where we never say goodbye.

[Chorus]

Here we are, now you’re in my arms!

Here we are for a brand new start!

I’ve gotta live with the choices I made,

And I can’t live with myself today.

Me and Lucy walking hand in hand!

Me and Lucy never wanna end.

Gotta live with the choices I made,

And I can’t live with myself…Today…

Hey Lucy, I remember your name.

Page 3: Music video treatment

TreatmentThe video will be a mixture of performance and visual narrative with both taking place independently of each other. The performers will be in a separate location and singing the song in its entirety, alone. The actors of the narrative will be filmed and vast opened spaces, most of which will be external in order to subtly contrast the negative connotations of the band’s environment. The aim is too have a somewhat cyclical narrative, beginning and ending with in mourning over the loss of his sister. The main body of song, will portray the boy’s imagination as he contemplates a life him and his sister could have had together if life had been different. This narrative will be intercut with a performance of the song in a dark, intimate space. By present the video in this way, there will be a better reflection between the emotive meaning of the song itself and the connotations of the video onscreen.The video begins with a close up on a pair of hands playing the the opening ‘bell-toll’ resembling notes of the song. Keeping the focus on the instrument in this way will emphasise these very distinctive and emotive sounds. Before the aforementioned narrative begins, we continue to introduce the performance aspect of the video with the lead vocals. This will be the same person playing the keyboard in order to reduce the number of people required to shoot the video, it will also help the audience to become more likely to take the preferred readings of despair that I aim aiming to portray. After this the narrative will begin following a fading transition. This will open with a low angled tracking shot of a boy’s feet walking along a path at a cemetery. A close up will reveal the boy to be aged around 15. will be carrying roses which he intends to place at the foot of a grave.A fading transition will be used again to give the impression of not only a passing of time, but also retain the tone and emotion of the the song between the scenes. The scene following the transition, will be a return to the performance of the song. This performance will be shown for the first half of the chorus, this shot will be a medium shot of the singer standing in front of a microphone, as is conventional with the genre of music, the instruments will receive a particular focus. The second half of the chorus , will this time feature the subject of the song: The boy’s sister, Lucy. She will be dressed in a white dress and be featured dancing a long side her brother (dressed in black) to create a binary opposition between life and death. He will be spinning her around in happiness. This will be in slow motion so that the action and pace of editing are in line with that of the music itself.The second verse will see the boy back at the graveyard, in the same clothes and conditions as before, except this time, he is delivering a birthday card which he opens in a close up. There will then be a graphic match transition as we see the girl opening the card at her home which through an eye-line match we see she learns it is from her brother.

Page 4: Music video treatment

The second chorus will be more performance orientated. This will use a variety of shots on the lead singer including camera techniques such as conventional close ups, medium shots and various camera tilts and pans. The aim here is to capture the singer’s emotional reaction to the song he is singing. It will be intercut with the brother at a lake (or river) side throwing rose-petals into the lake.The third verse, will have a strong relationship with the lyrics of the song, as we see Lucy with him by the lake. He is continuing to image what his life could have been. They are embracing in a hug and spin once again, this time however it is slower. The next few moments see the two engaging in various outdoor interactions, such as playing on the swings and see-saw at a park. When the music reaches the line “just another moment in your eyes”, we see a much more meaningful look on the face of the brother via a close up as he holds Lucy. As the word “heaven” is heard loudly, we can see another transition. This time, the transition is a white fade and reveals the brother and Lucy in the same positions but both dressed entirely in white.Returning to the chorus, sees a return to the vocal performance again. This time there is even more motion in the body language of the vocalist. As the song builds towards the climax with a slight variation of the chorus there will be crossfading between the performance and the narrative, the former actions will be recapped, with the actors both wearing white to emphasis how Lucy has been dead all along. These shots will be edited to almost be faded white, as though the scene is taking place in heaven itself.As the song draws to a close, the imagined time between the brother and Lucy come to an end with a final white fading transition revealing the brother in his original clothing back at the grave, alone and without Lucy. A crossfade returns to the vocalist as he delivers the final line directly to the camera before the video fades to black at the close.

Page 5: Music video treatment

Technical and Production InformationDue to to the very tight deadlines, and the potential for the limited availability of the cast the filming will take place mostly in external locations close to home and the city centre. This includes local parks and and the riverside. The shots of the performance will take place within my home, where the dark walls and furnishings are an ideal location to reflect the emotions of the song and the rock genre. Some inspiration for this has been taken from the music video for Nickelback’s “Lullaby”, in which the band perform in a dimly lit space. In my home, there is one room in which the lights can be dimmed to an appropriate level, as well as a portable lamp that can also be dimmed if necessary. The props required can be easily obtained, such as the roses and birthday cards which are readily available from local shops at little expense. The instruments including a piano (or keyboard), and microphone are owned by myself and are easily accessible to myself at short notice.The video will require a number of people that will be cast. Due to the time and budgetary constraints, I will be casting people within my social circle, such as friends and family. My original plan is to cast a female child aged between 7 – 13, with dark hair. Ideally she will be able to provide her own appropriate clothing for the shoot that will adhere as close as possible to the proposed treatment. Her co-star will be a slightly older boy, as her brother. I.e. 14 - 17. This boy will also be lip-synching the song.In order to improve the quality of the editing process, the song will be available and played during each take during the shooting process. During the interior performance filming, the track will be played via a laptop, with the possibility of taking advantage of any bluetooth speakers available to increase the volume of the track. This will aid the performer in the timing of their lip-synching as well as understanding the emotional aspects of the song to enhance their performance in addition to my own direction. When filming the external scenes for the narrative the song will again be played during each take. Although there will be no lip-synching in this narrative, playing the song to the actors will allow them to improve their timing as well as gain a better understanding as to how their character is supposed to be feeling. The song will be available in these shoots via an iPhone 6.Due to the likelihood of other commitments from cast members, most of the filming will take place outside of academic hours. This is important, as it is almost certain that the actors will have school commitments during these hours. Therefore most filming for the narrative is expected to take place during October half term and any weekends there after if required with all principle filming expected to be complete by 14th November. The shooting for the performance will also take place during this time, with filming taking place mostly in the evenings to ensure the appropriate quality of light. To avoid any major continuity issues, any shots requiring the same location will be shot on the same date or as close the date as possible depending on the conditions.

Inspiration for tone and lighting

Inspiration for exposure to achieve “heaven-like” shots towards the end of the video.