As I know that Jasmine is coming into our lessons later in the term to talk more in depth about her music video and I'm sure we'll do some sort of case study on it I'll only briefly cover the events of last Thursday.
I got to be a runner on Jasmine Blackborow's music video shoot for "Let's Dance To Joy Division" by the Wombats. It was a really good experience, mainly getting to watch directors and crew at work from very close quarters. I may have spent the morning watching out for on coming cars but the rest of the day was a lot more eventful, filming the on set location in the apartment. It was really cool getting to see all the equipment and talking to the crew about their various experiences in the filming industry. Can't really thank Jasmine enough for the experience!
Can't wait to see the finished product
Showing posts with label Wombats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wombats. Show all posts
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
"The Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division" music video treatment
The first thing that springs to mind is aided by the first line "I'm back in Liverpool." As this song is mainly about dancing and being happy I wanted a mainly performance based video and the sense of "return" from the first line gave me a good idea. The band met when they went to college together at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. What better place for the performance to be set than there seeing as the song is about going back to Liverpool. Although most people watching the video would not realise the significance of this, it would be a nice bit of trivia that would mean something to the band and their original fans, helping to magnify the whole going back to their roots theme.
My video would follow a simple narrative;
A couple fight and break up and the guy becomes upset and depressed, but as he walks through liverpool he is guided toward the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and there he finds the Wombats playing and joins in dancing with them on the stage to an empty room. The idea of this is not that everything is brilliant and spectacular but rather that although he is still relatively "alone" he has found his cure for a broken heart, which is to dance and forget his problems.
The guy will be shown in black and white to show his sadness and depression, but throughout the video as he gets closer to the venue and to dancing he will gain colour to represent his happiness returning to him. When he gets to the venue it will be before the second chorus with the line about telling the DJ what to play at which point he will hand the DJ his iPod which will be playing Joy Division (shown with a close up on the track title and album art on the screen). Little things like this will be done just to make sure that the story completely ties in with the theme of the lyrics.
Another idea I had was that when it's talking about the cure for a broken heart, we can see an out of focus image of what looks like his ex-girlfriend at the door to the venue, but when he looks there it goes into focus and it's someone like the band's manager instead, showing how he still thinks about her, but is getting over it and moving on.
Throughout this narrative we will also have the band practicing and performing in the venue, using lots of close ups and mid shots to show what they are playing making sure the band are a main focus of the video (as it is a video to advertise them as icons rather than just the song).
The band will be wearing typical indie clothing;
Skinny jeans, tight v-neck t-shirts. jackets, trilby hats, scarves, ties etc in quite dull colours and each with one randomly clashing colourful item of clothing to represent the happy joyful feel of the song in contrast to the ironic depressing theme of the lyrics.
This is my rough treatment of my pitch for the video.
My video would follow a simple narrative;
A couple fight and break up and the guy becomes upset and depressed, but as he walks through liverpool he is guided toward the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and there he finds the Wombats playing and joins in dancing with them on the stage to an empty room. The idea of this is not that everything is brilliant and spectacular but rather that although he is still relatively "alone" he has found his cure for a broken heart, which is to dance and forget his problems.
The guy will be shown in black and white to show his sadness and depression, but throughout the video as he gets closer to the venue and to dancing he will gain colour to represent his happiness returning to him. When he gets to the venue it will be before the second chorus with the line about telling the DJ what to play at which point he will hand the DJ his iPod which will be playing Joy Division (shown with a close up on the track title and album art on the screen). Little things like this will be done just to make sure that the story completely ties in with the theme of the lyrics.
Another idea I had was that when it's talking about the cure for a broken heart, we can see an out of focus image of what looks like his ex-girlfriend at the door to the venue, but when he looks there it goes into focus and it's someone like the band's manager instead, showing how he still thinks about her, but is getting over it and moving on.
Throughout this narrative we will also have the band practicing and performing in the venue, using lots of close ups and mid shots to show what they are playing making sure the band are a main focus of the video (as it is a video to advertise them as icons rather than just the song).
The band will be wearing typical indie clothing;
Skinny jeans, tight v-neck t-shirts. jackets, trilby hats, scarves, ties etc in quite dull colours and each with one randomly clashing colourful item of clothing to represent the happy joyful feel of the song in contrast to the ironic depressing theme of the lyrics.
This is my rough treatment of my pitch for the video.
"The Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division" song interpretation
We are looking at this Wombats song to come up with a treatment for a music video. The lyrics have many deep and hidden meaning to look at and interpret which could lead to obvious choices in mise-en-scene, location, costume etc, in the video itself.
I'm back in Liverpool,
And everything seems the same,
But I worked something out last night,
That changed this little boys brain,
A small piece of advice,
That took twenty-two years in the make,
And I will break it for you now,
Please learn from my mistakes,
From this verse we see that the character has returned (as far as we can tell) home to Liverpool after being away and has decided that everything seems just how he left it. However the line "that changed this little boys brain" suggest the transition from boy to man, the character having grown on their travels and become a more mature and wiser person. The line "that took 22 years in the make" suggests its an epiphany he has been searching for all his life. The end of the verse "And I will break it for you now, please learn from my mistakes" hints to us that the chorus of the song will be passing on this advice to us. So overall this verse sums up the theme of the song quite distinctly and simply, showing a journey of personal growth and learning a new revelation which he wants to share with us.
Let's dance to joy division,
And celebrate the irony,
Everything is going wrong,
But we're so happy,
Let's dance to joy division,
And raise our glass to the ceiling,
'Cos this could all go so wrong,
But we're so happy,
Yeah we're so happy.
The chorus of the song is not only lyrically ironic but musically ironic (irony being a main theme in the song). The music is jolly and happy while he's talking about the irony of "dancing to joy division". Joy Division were a late 70s band who's lead vocalist Ian Curtis committed suicide. He suffered from depression and would often have fits on stage. This shows the irony of the Wombats song. The line "but we're so happy" refers to the fact they're all dancing to depressing and sad music and forgetting their problems ('cos this could all go so wrong). The singer is not suggesting that life is brilliant or perfect, but rather that you should be happy and get on with life as it's the only solution to the sadness that life regrettably brings.
So if you're ever feeling down,
Grab your purse and take a taxi,
To the darker side of town,
That's where we'll be,
And we will wait for you and lead you through the dancefloor,
Up to the DJ booth,
You know what to ask for,
You know what to ask for.
This verse is simply an expansion of the themes already put into place, that sadness can be overcome by being happy and dancing your troubles away. There is no more hidden meanings other than the slight reference back to Joy Division with "Up to the DJ booth, you know what to ask for," saying that if they want to rid themselves of their sadness that they should ask the DJ to put on Joy Division to dance to.
The second chorus has one difference in which the first line states "Go ask for Joy Division," rather than "let's dance" so that it carries on the narrative from the verse and links the song together.
So let the love tear us apart,
I've found the cure for a broken heart,
This is the first time in the song we hear about the singers own personal problem that he has had to overcome. It becomes obvious that this is a love song in disguise, talking about how the best way to get over a girl is to dance it off and stay happy because life will carry on regardless, which I see as the general theme of the song.
We can see from looking deeper into the lyrics that the song is not actually particularly joyful which is ironic due to the upbeat lively feel of the music. The song instead chooses to portray an important life lesson in the form of a happy sounding song, with quite deep and meaningful lyrics.
I'm back in Liverpool,
And everything seems the same,
But I worked something out last night,
That changed this little boys brain,
A small piece of advice,
That took twenty-two years in the make,
And I will break it for you now,
Please learn from my mistakes,
From this verse we see that the character has returned (as far as we can tell) home to Liverpool after being away and has decided that everything seems just how he left it. However the line "that changed this little boys brain" suggest the transition from boy to man, the character having grown on their travels and become a more mature and wiser person. The line "that took 22 years in the make" suggests its an epiphany he has been searching for all his life. The end of the verse "And I will break it for you now, please learn from my mistakes" hints to us that the chorus of the song will be passing on this advice to us. So overall this verse sums up the theme of the song quite distinctly and simply, showing a journey of personal growth and learning a new revelation which he wants to share with us.
Let's dance to joy division,
And celebrate the irony,
Everything is going wrong,
But we're so happy,
Let's dance to joy division,
And raise our glass to the ceiling,
'Cos this could all go so wrong,
But we're so happy,
Yeah we're so happy.
The chorus of the song is not only lyrically ironic but musically ironic (irony being a main theme in the song). The music is jolly and happy while he's talking about the irony of "dancing to joy division". Joy Division were a late 70s band who's lead vocalist Ian Curtis committed suicide. He suffered from depression and would often have fits on stage. This shows the irony of the Wombats song. The line "but we're so happy" refers to the fact they're all dancing to depressing and sad music and forgetting their problems ('cos this could all go so wrong). The singer is not suggesting that life is brilliant or perfect, but rather that you should be happy and get on with life as it's the only solution to the sadness that life regrettably brings.
So if you're ever feeling down,
Grab your purse and take a taxi,
To the darker side of town,
That's where we'll be,
And we will wait for you and lead you through the dancefloor,
Up to the DJ booth,
You know what to ask for,
You know what to ask for.
This verse is simply an expansion of the themes already put into place, that sadness can be overcome by being happy and dancing your troubles away. There is no more hidden meanings other than the slight reference back to Joy Division with "Up to the DJ booth, you know what to ask for," saying that if they want to rid themselves of their sadness that they should ask the DJ to put on Joy Division to dance to.
The second chorus has one difference in which the first line states "Go ask for Joy Division," rather than "let's dance" so that it carries on the narrative from the verse and links the song together.
So let the love tear us apart,
I've found the cure for a broken heart,
This is the first time in the song we hear about the singers own personal problem that he has had to overcome. It becomes obvious that this is a love song in disguise, talking about how the best way to get over a girl is to dance it off and stay happy because life will carry on regardless, which I see as the general theme of the song.
We can see from looking deeper into the lyrics that the song is not actually particularly joyful which is ironic due to the upbeat lively feel of the music. The song instead chooses to portray an important life lesson in the form of a happy sounding song, with quite deep and meaningful lyrics.
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