Music Video Idea 2

For my second idea I wanted it to be a completely different style of music to the first. I decided to choose Conrad by Ben Howard. Ben Howard is an English indie solo artist who produces music in the folk and acoustic genres. He uses percussive instruments and guitar for his songs. He is most famous for his single Old Pine from the album Every Kingdom.

(I really love New York)

However as we can't fly out to New York (as cool as that would be) We could have the same effect in the nearest city London against the river or on top of a hill e.g. Southwark, Primrose Hill etc.

The concept of this video is narrative and performance based.
The narrative is that a group of 2 or 3 friends are seen camping together in the woods by a lake or on the viewpoint looking out to the surrey hills. They are sitting by a bonfire eating smore's and marshmallows etc. They are dressed in autumn/winter clothing with big padded jackets and wooly hats. The friends are dressed to appear young, around teens. The audience then starts to see shots of the 3 friends separately, looking much older, walking around the streets of London at night. They are dressed in smart wear as if they had just come from office jobs. They seem lost and confused about what to do. At the end of the video we see the three of them reunite on the river bank, and look at each other as if they haven't seen each other since the camping trip years ago.

The camping idea was inspired by Seafret's Give Me Something:

These images perfectly capture what I see in my head with the campers. 

Futhermore, the performance element of the video will be a young male solo artist singing in the studio. He is lit by a single light behind him, casting shadows. The background is dark, he is sitting on a stool playing a guitar and singing into a microphone. The singer will wear something casual such as a plaid shirt and a fedora.

I also like the idea of shooting the singer in Black and White, along with walking around London during the day instead of night. I think the effect will work better at night, however, in terms of contrasting the two narrative shots even further, there could be an experimentation with light and dark. 

This video includes a lot of cinematography and smooth editing techniques. For example, I liked the idea of panning the camera from the singers face to the light. Which could then transition via a graphic match with the stars at the campfire, before panning down to the bonfire. I also liked the idea of using a time lapse in some places, which I believe suits the track - as it suits the idea of the silence in the chaos. For example, at the end of the track (5:11) there is a change of beat, where I think would be really effective to reverse all the previous clips at super speed before showing the reuniting of the friends. 

This idea matches the star image of Ben Howard, as he is an organic act. He focuses more on his music and the feelings they connote rather than himself. Although one element of the video will be a singer, that will not be the main focus. One issue with this track is that it's very long, however, this can be fixed with some editing and cutting down. 

walking around at night