Class Feedback

I presented my song in class today to get some feedback on my song choice, and ideas to help me with for the music video.After playing my song through the class gave their feedback and notes on the song, I wasn't quite prepared for the variety of ideas and concepts that were said. With other songs that were played before mine, people could see the same themes within a song whether is be location, characters or an editing style. Yet with mine their were no real links with peoples suggestion.

So the ideas;
People dancing, and a lot of them! This was the only suggestion which more than one person put down. However there is subtle changes with each individuals idea, not least the settings for this mass group dance sesh to take place. The first idea was to have the setting at night at the beach. I think this idea could be developed upon further as you could add a bonfire, which the group could be dancing round. Using the fire as light will create atmosphere with the way it lights up people and the shadows it would project.

Another idea which came from have a group of dancers was to have them dressed in different costumes, the suggested costumes were; aliens, dogs, cats, fish, tigers, cows and teapots. And to have the video with slow and fast paced editing. I like this idea of have the group in costumes as it plays on the bands unique and quirky style.

The final idea which suggested having dancers was the idea of having a mature boat party, that was more fun than crazy. The party would take part at night, an in the slower parts of the song, known as the 'ohh bit' there could be a shot of the stars. The narrative was  of a boy liking a girl who doesn't like him, yet he gets her in the end. At the end of the video we would see him waking up with her the next morning. Again a good idea that works well with the song, however it is not the most achievable because of getting a boat. However, the narrative of boy and girl is something I intend to use too.

The next thought from a classmate was to have the video oriental themed, in particular they said; Chinese, China town and Chinese lanterns. I can see from where they are coming from, with the intro and other parts of the song sounding a little oriental, however getting Chinese actors may prove to be a challenge. Yet the other part of the suggestion, to have the video jump in and out of dreams was something I had previously thought to use.

One suggestion was to have a sci-fi theme to the video, and deliberately use 'bad' stop motion animation. Elements like; poorly coloured backgrounds, string or hands shown, spaceship bumps into parts of the setting. In the end in turns out to be a child's sci-fi film. A good idea and I like the idea of using stop motion, I will try to incorporate this into my music video though may not have it deliberately bad.

Another suggestion was to have a man walking down an unusually long corridor, with photos of his past on the walls. As he walks down the corridor he stops, every now and then, and looks at a photo and it goes into that memory. Then at the end of the corridor there is the girl (that he may be seeing in the memories). I really like this idea of looking back over memories with a person, though I am not sure if I will end the recollecting quite so nicely.

The final suggestion was to have a split screen showing the lives of two similar characters, and at the slower acoustic bit of the song their lives are shown going in different direction. One will have a great day the other, not so much. It may be as simple as one forgetting their keys at home, but it sets the rest of their day back and could ruin it. I like this idea in particular having a split screen to show the lives of the two men, I think it will show my skill well and there is so much I could show with one being successful and the other not.