Shooting a Music Video

The Brief – “You escaped like a runaway train…”

For my music video production project, I was given the brief to create a music video at near-professional standard. I reviewed several songs that had interesting lyrics to find one that gave certain emotion and story. Knowing, the college band who would cover the chosen song liked the band, ‘Paramore’ (who ironically are my favourite band) I decided to choose one of their newest songs, ‘In the Mourning’ from ‘The Singles Club’ box set.

After deciding on the song, I analysed the lyrics and decided the song was an emotional one about a break-up (Perhaps the Farro brothers leaving the band), so for my interpretation of the song, I came up with the idea of two band members pretending to be in a relationship and then throughout cuts of the as-live footage show the relationship as the lead singer shows her sadness yet her need to move on. I created a basic storyboard and drafted my proposal to present to the band.

The Band – “…off the tracks and down again…”

I presented the proposal to the band and they liked the idea and even gave positive feedback. As two of the members were in a relationship during the production, they offered to give me footage they had recorded together of them at home that I could review later and use in the video. We scheduled to meet again to decide on costume and give me time to develop and complete all the production paperwork.

After finishing all the pre-production forms, I met with the band again to discuss costume. They gave input and suggested smart casual would be appropriate due to the mood of the song and conventions of the rock genre. We exchanged contact details and set a date for a rehearsal shoot. 

The Rehearsal – “…and my hearts tugging like a steamboat tugging…”

During the rehearsal, it became clear that more shots needed to be recorded and thought out to ensure there is no background footage of camera operators. As I was using a smaller room to rehearse in, it was difficult to work with the tripods during the session. As a team, we also weren’t given the opportunity in the small room to rehearse panning shots with the dolly.

Overall, the practice session was successful as although there were mistakes, it gave us time to correct them for the day of the shoot.

The Production – “All your burdens, on my shoulders.”

I selected certain members of the group to film on each take to ensure there would be as much high quality footage as possible. On each take, I described what sort of shots I required. As there wasn’t a room like the one I had wanted, the as-live footage was shot in the theatre on stage. The lighting was dimmed to set the mood with soft lighting.

The band performed perfectly, acting how I imagined they would for the video. As the lead singer was the focus of the piece (which is conventional of the rock genre and my narrative), she had the most pressure to perform along with the guitarist. They achieved convincing characters (and told what quite ironically what became their story) and they stole the show.

After reviewing the footage from the band’s couple, I decided a shot of the band together and the break up needed to be recorded. So, the next day I shot these two takes to be cut into the footage along with the home movies. 

The Editing – “In the Mourning, I’ll rise.”

During this stage, I reviewed the footage deciding what I was going to use. With the storyboard in mind, I created the first simple edit. 

By marking in points that I liked and points that needed improving I created a second improved edit. Realizing that there were shots in the footage that were interesting but hadn't been used, I created another non-narrative as-live edit combining points I liked from the two previous videos. 

The Final Edit – “In the Mourning, I’ll let you die.”

For the final edit I used sequences from all 3 edits to complete a final cut and ensured that the shots were in time with the song and flowed well. 

The Presentation – “In the Mourning, all my worries.”

When the final video was presented the band, I recieved positive feedback saying the video emphasized the emotion of the song and it gave viewers a empathetic feeling towards the characters in the video's story. 

If I had the chance to re-shoot the video, I would use smoother panning shots and do extra takes to ensure there are no poor shots. 

Here is the finished college music video production of Paramore's song, In the Mourning: