Chris Murray & Liam Cranston

MUSIC VIDEO PITCH

The track I have chosen to use is ‘Is This It’ by the Strokes. The Strokes are a New York based band and have been around since 1999 to present and are signed to RCA Records. The Strokes belong to the Indie Rock Genre with large fan bases in the UK, USA and Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd30xwa8nPI

THE TRACK AND ARTIST

Within the indie rock genre are the fashions, sounds and attitudes that come with it, the fashion. Indie can be characterised by the clothes worn by artists from woollen jumpers to skinny jeans to leather jackets and plain tee shirts and polo’s’, this fashion has been brought in by bands like cage the elephant, the strokes, the cribs and the stone roses. A vital part of the indie scene is the fact that when it started out it was a way of getting yourself known without the big record labels which only took on, at the time, music popular to the masses. The indie rock genre is said to have originated in the 1980’s in the UK and USA but in the present many have strived to become part of the indie rock movement, many of the original fans have seen this as the selling out of the genre as it becomes more main stream.

THE GENRE

The track ‘Is This It’ is a mid tempo song with memorable lyrics and riffs. Being the slowest track created by the strokes it was meant to be a ballad. The title track of the album ‘is this it’ does not have an official music video as such which rules out the problem of plagiarism or making a video which is not entirely our own.

ABOUT THE TRACK

The idea I had for my video is for it to be roughly two parts narrative and one part performance. The inspiration I have taken for my video comes from the official music video for the Franz Ferdinand single Walk Away (2005) (domino records).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1qPnSZDrAQ&ob=av2e I l ike the style of this video as it is nostalgic of the 30’s in

the costumes, props and sets that it uses also the style of the video where Alex Kapranos is the main actor as well as performing in context of the narrative at certain points. Although I take inspiration from this video the one I will be filming and editing will be different to quite an extent; the video will be all in black and white, reminiscent of an art-house film with emphasis not necessarily on the art-house style but the style of the indie rock genre, i.e. skinny jeans, leather jackets and long hair.

INSPIRATION FOR THE VIDEO

The t rack ‘ i s th i s i t ’ s tar ts off w i th a d rum beat inc lud ing cymbals , th i s w i l l be the in t ro to the mus i c v ideo w i th a c lose up on the d rums p lay ing th i s , the lead gu i tar then s tar ts shor t ly fo l lowed by the open ing lyr i cs ‘ can’ t you see I ’m t ry ing , I don’ t even l i ke i t…’ f rom the s tar t o f the ly r i cs a male actor w i l l be s i t t ing oppos i te a female act ress , the act ress w i l l be ta lk ing ‘a t ’ the actor , in a ca fé or bar , what she i s say ing wi l l not be aud ib le over the t rack , the male actor w i l l be say ing the ly r i cs to h imse l f , in effect l ip sync ing , wh i le look ing in to h i s dr ink appear ing not to know the camera i s there or that the act ress i s ta lk ing to h im. After ‘ I don’ t even l i ke i t…’ the actor w i l l look br iefly in to the camera , to the act ress and back to the camera , s t i l l l i p sync ing. When the ly r i cs reach ‘ I ’m jus t way too t i red ’ the actor w i l l s tand up and wa lk off screen (up t i l l th i s po in t a l l o f the shots w i l l be c lose up/mediums’ on the acto r and act resses faces . When the br idge s tar ts the band wi l l be shown p lay ing focus ing on the gu i tar and bass w i th c lose up on the f ret board and s t rums. When the l yr i cs are ‘ i s th i s i t…’ there w i l l be a shot o f the lead voca l i s t ( lead actor ) s ing ing w i th the band , th i s par t w i l l be influenced by the s t rokes v ideo ‘under the cover o f darkness ’ . Unt i l “1 .41” through the t rack the v ideo wi l l be main ly per formance in tercut w i th some narrat ive , main ly the lead actor /ar t i s t in d ifferent l ocat ions s t i l l l i p sync ing . At “2 .03” when the ly r i cs are aga in ‘ can ’ t you see I ’m t ry ing…’ the lead actor w i l l be ly ing in a bed w i th a d ifferent act ress to the 1 s t one at the s tar t o f the t rack , l y ing a d i s tance away f rom her , look ing in to the camera s ing ing the ly r i cs ‘ I jus t l i ed to get to your apartment ’ w i th the camera pos i t ioned d i rect ly above h im. At “2 .23” the song i s end ing w i th 8 drum beats /gu i tar s t rokes , in these 8 sect ions w i l l be fas t cut shots o f the lead actor get t ing out o f bed , get t ing dressed, the act ress turn ing over s t i l l as leep , the actor leav ing the f ront door , the act ress wak ing up to find the actor gone l ook ing a b i t angry and or upset , the acto r wa lk ing down the s t reet away f rom the camera and the act ress s i t t ing on the edge o f the bed look ing lone ly where i t then fades to b lack .

CONCEPT FOR THE VIDEO