P.O.D band site

http://www.payableondeath.com/index2.html

this is a link to P.O.D's official website. it shows you what the band looks like and gives you some information on their music and inspirations and such.

inspiration for video

i had another idea to have the singer find notes left by children in the playground. the notes will be about how the children feel. for example, one might say, 'i just want to be heard'. not only will this add more depth and drama to the music video but it will also amplify the mood i want, but it will also make my video quite intriguing. the idea is quite similar to the all american rejects video for, 'dirty little secret'. in the video you see people holding up secrets that they have. i've taken this idea and changed iut to work for me and my music video.

feedback to pitch

make sure that it doesn't get boring. filming someone in a empty playground might get tiresome so i need to film it in a way that makes it interesting

i'll need help shooting it because I'm most likely going to be the singer in the video.

i need to ask permission to use the playground and to take photos of the children for the picture

time management. when am i going to shoot each section?

think of more ideas to fill in possible spaces

might need to cut down the song because it's quite long

pitch 1

my first pitch is for 'youth of the nation' by P.O.D. my idea for the video is to have a mixture of narrative and performance that will blend together to create a mood that the song expresses. the song speaks of children growing up and being isolated. all they want to do is shout out and be heard. so my idea is to film the video in a empty school playground. the singer will be dressed in black so he stands out and so there's contrast between him and the background. there will be a strong performance by the singer, showing emotion through movement as well as expression. the video will be quickly cut to give the video a feel of disorientation.

apart from cuts of the singer and various scenes of the playground, they'll be imagery as well. for example, a picture of a school photo with the children disappearing, leaving only one child. this helps create the sense of loneliness. they'll also be cuts of children's faces going past the screen so quickly that you can hardly see there faces. with some of them i mite blur the face as well that will make the video darker and amplify the meaning. i aim to make a video that is as emotional as it is visually interesting. i was also thinking about doing layers of imagery. there's a part in the song where there's a choir singing as well as the lead singer of P.O.D. i was thinking of layering up the imagery to go with the music. this too will act well towards the disorientation.

i couldn't find music video's that had exactly what i wanted by the energy from the performance i want is close to that of 'chop suey' by system of a down. the performance in that video is really well cut and is full of confidence.

progress report

so far, i've thought about ideas for my music video and i've chosen the song i'm doing as well. i've asked permission to use the song. i've also thought about how i could do some of the effects i'm thinking about using.

the next thing i'm going to do is ask permission to film in my old school on a weekend. i'm also going to make some practice footage using the effects i want to do, to make sure they would work in my video. the effects i want to include are a ghost effect among others that include certain things disappearing.

music video inspiration

after discussing ideas with the class i've got some more ideas as to what to include in my video. i want to include a photo of a class and have each pupil disappear one at a time. the way to do this would be taking a  photo of one pupil with a steady cam, then add a pupil after the picture is taken. it would be easy to do but i would need permission to take photos of the children.

lyrics of the song

Last day of the rest of my life
I wish I would've known
Cause I didn't kiss my mama goodbye

I didn't tell her that I loved her and how much I care
Or thank my pops for all the talks
And all the wisdom he shared

Unaware, I just did what I always do
Everyday, the same routine
Before I skate off to school

But who knew that this day wasn't like the rest
Instead of taking a test
I took two to the chest

Call me blind, but I didn't see it coming
Everybody was running
But I couldn't hear nothing

Except gun blasts, it happened so fast
I don't really know this kid
Even though I sit by him in class

Maybe this kid was reaching out for love
Or maybe for a moment
He forgot who he was
Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged
Whatever it was
I know it's because

[chorus:]
We are, We are, the youth of the nation x4

Little Suzy, she was only twelve
She was given the world
With every chance to excel

Hang with the boys and hear the stories they tell
She might act kind of proud
But no respect for herself

She finds love in all the wrong places
The same situations
Just different faces

Changed up her pace since her daddy left her
Too bad he never told her
She deserved much better

Johnny boy always played the fool
He broke all the rules
So you would think he was cool

He was never really one of the guys
No matter how hard he tried
Often thought of suicide

It's kind of hard when you ain't got no friends
He put his life to an end
They might remember him then

You cross the line and there's no turning back
Told the world how he felt
With the sound of a gat

[chorus]

Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim
No matter what you say
It don't take away the pain

That I feel inside, I'm tired of all the lies
Don't nobody know why
It's the blind leading the blind

I guess that's the way the story goes
Will it ever make sense
Somebody's got to know

There's got to be more to life than this
There's got to be more to everything
I thought exists

[chorus]

what does the song mean

the song in itself is a story about a shooting that occured at a school in america (2001). a disturbed young boy took his dads 9mm to school and shot 2 children in his class. the band, p.o.d were at the recording studio accross the road when this incident happened. the band realised that children have a real hard time coping with life sometimes because, in some circumstances, they lose track and feel neglected.

the children are the next generation, that's what the song titles means. but in a darker sense, the children rule the nation when they use a gun at a school as well. that's what the song is saying. that children sometimes just want to be seen after living as a ghost.

ideas for music video project

i've decided not to do 'will you' because i don't have any good ideas for the song. i've decided to do 'youth of the nation' by p.o.d because i have some good ideas that work well with the songs meaning. the song 'youth of the nation' is one of my favourite songs so i'm really enthusiastic to make it well and have something i'm proud of.

the song is about thoughts and feelings of children growing up. the feeling that children are invisible to the world. that they lack importance and that they are treated with disrespect. my idea is to film an empty park and playground, occasionally seeing ghosts of children running about. the effect for making children ghosts is easy to do. i found this video on youtube that shows you how to do it

youth of the nation - lego music video

student made music video

this video is a very well made student video and the concept works well with the music. each of the beats to the song has a different image or motion. the motions move in time to the music. although no lip syncing was done for this song, because it features no live action, it must have be frustrating putting in the motions correctly to fit with the song.

there are a few parts of the video that get tiresome. theres a part where the music slows completely down and the screen goes blank. the student then has a go at making it seem as if the screen is rebooting. to me, it lasts too long and although the idea would work with the video, the standard isn't as good as the rest of the video.

goodwins six points

Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).