FMP (Unit 13) Brainstorm

Posted on January 27, 2021Comments Off on FMP (Unit 13) Brainstorm

Music Video

From the start of the academic year, I’ve had a broad idea of what I would like to do for my final major project. 2020 has been a long year of reflection which has led to the discovery of new interests for a lot of people; music was definitely an area in which I branched out more. Getting hooked on Tayo Sound’s ‘Cold Feet’ opened up a new appreciation for indie pop – a genre that I had never really known about before. I now find this genre extremely inspiring to me, and watching a few music videos for these types of songs, like ‘Crush‘ by Tessa Violet and ‘Frontlawn‘ by AVIV, have made me think of the production of music videos in a completely different way – especially when compared to most mainstream pop artists’ videos, such as ‘Save Your Tears‘ by The Weeknd or Ariana Grande’s ‘7 rings‘, shot in extravagant locations with the artists wearing intricate, expensive costumes.

Although high-budget music videos can be incredible to watch and wonder how such effects or tricks were done, home-movie style music videos are becoming more popular with young people as more are starting to get tired of being shown a seemingly fake, unachievable image from the artists they look up to. Many people now prefer those who are focusing more on relatable and attainable showcases that bring them closer to their audience in a way, showing they’re not that different from them; which is refreshing after the go-to high-production music videos that were quite prominent in the 2000s.

Watching these indie-pop music videos has inspired me a lot recently and had led me to want to create my own. My initial thoughts include filming a music video for an original song that I either write and produce myself, or (more likely) commission or work on with a musician (from the music course at college, or someone I know already) – I think this would really push me to make a great video and would definitely be something new for me.


Heist Short Film

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)‘, directed by Steven Soderbergh, is what I think is one of the most classic, enjoyable heist movies to date. It has characters that the audience can connect with and just the right amount of planning and action sequences, which makes it well balanced in my opinion. I would watch (and have watched) this movie many times as it’s just so well produced, directed and acted – especially with the accents of comedy.

Action is the most popular movie genre, behind adventure (as of September 2020), which is something I can agree with. Although this movie is classed as a crime/comedy, some of the heist scenes are very reminiscent of action movies, which a lot of people find enjoyable according to the statistics. I would love to direct and shoot a film with a similar initial concept to ‘Ocean’s Eleven’, so it’s something I’m considering for my final major project this year. Constructing an in-depth fictional heist plan, along with fitting characters and cinematography is something that could be done in so many different creative ways, which motivates me to really want to carry this idea out, whether that be now or somewhere in the future.

The main issue that is quite obvious about filming a complicated heist short film is Covid-19 and the restrictions (rightly so) put in place. It would be a very difficult production to do effectively expecting similar results to if there were no restrictions.


Verdict

Due to the high number of people that would be needed to film the heist movie, including actors and crew, as well as probable multiple shooting locations, an indie-style music video is most likely going to be the final decision for this project.

However, I’m going to be planning both of these ideas (at least a little bit) up until the time of production. I like both concepts and, even if I film one for Unit 13, I hope to film the other soon when the time is right, so it would be interesting and a good idea to begin drafting thoughts and starting pre-production for both now.