Planning

 I have chosen to land on the song "From The Start" by popular singer and songwriter Laufey. Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir is a half Icelandic, half Chinese artist born on April 23rd, 1999. She is famous in the younger generation for her slower, romantic songs to deal with heartbreak and yearning in which people find relatability. Alongside good lyricism, her instrumentals are often very catchy and engaging, making her a prime candidate for my project.

In specific, I chose "From The Start" as my song of choice because of its easy to understand lyrics and long drawn out musical periods where singer Laufey is scatting. These sections resonate with me as it gave me the inspiration to have my main character dancing along to these sounds, without a care in the world where he enters and exits the scene on a fixed camera angle giving a lighthearted tone. I think the metaphor and representation such a scene can provide will really make my video standout as compared to other videos. Also, the lyrics make it quite easy for me to make a good music video in which I can put representation and literal meaning too. For example, in the first verse Laufey sings "Don't you dare, look at me that way". In my mind an easy and engaging shot comes to mind in the form of a rigid close up of the main character's eyes, followed by a reverse shot of their romantic interest squinting at them. Then the next line "I don't need reminders of how you don't feel the same" can be represented as another reverse shot where the main character also squints but towards the end looks down to the right of the frame with their eyes showing their displeasure in their arrangement with the other character.

As of writing this plan, I intend on going to a railway station near NUML University (National University of Modern Languages) where I intend on shooting the opening scenes. A train station holds immense metaphor as it is both a place of new beginnings and a place of solemn goodbyes, and the architecture and upkeep of such a place draws me towards it. I plan on shooting an establishing shot of our main character from above, standing or sitting alone on the platform followed by the lyrics beginning "Don't you notice how... I get quiet when there's no one else around". At this part I will have a mid shot of our main character followed by a wide angle shot of the platform. I have specifically chosen this train station because it is in a place with little population and we will likely be alone. Thus "No one else around" can be represented both literally and figuratively, showing the train station as the main character's heart and their lack of desire for anyone else. "Me and you in awkward silence" is the next line which will be an OTS showing the main character looking at the romantic interest, again exemplifying how there is only one person in their heart. After this is followed by the previously mentioned "Don't you dare, look at me that way" which has been properly transitioned into by the OTS shot on the previous lyric. I plan on shooting all of this at the train station as well as the mentioned scat portions, where I will have the camera set up in a wide angle shot of the platform as he dances along, entering the scene from the left-hand side and exiting on the right side.

Another idea I want to implement is a personification of cupid in the form of a character. Lines like "cupid walks right through" will be taken literally shown through a static wide angle shot of the cupid character walking. Later in the song, when Laufey is scatting and no lyrics are being said, the cupid character can be shown dancing or mischievously enjoying himself, as if to show how cupid is having fun with her love life. Another aspect that made me want to cast a cupid was the idea that in the first chorus when laufey sings "Confess I loved you from the start", cupid can be seen standing with the female character representing the unrequited nature of her romance, but in the final chorus he'll have shifted to the male character who will finally acknowledge him, showing his growth into liking her back.

In the second verse when it opens with "what's a girl to do? Lying on my bed, staring into the blue?" Can open with an ariel top down shot of the actress on her bed, followed by her rolling over onto her side and a close up of her face (where I will take two takes, one where the camera is sideways like her vision and one where it is normal) and then an eyeline match of her window. The line "Have to get this off my chest I'm telling you today" will show the cupid character piling up more and more stuff for her to hold, playing around as she topples to the floor from the exertion, showing how her love is constantly growing and cupid is playing with her in this sense.