The Plan

 The Video Plan

So I started planning my idea for the video and I wanted to keep it brief for here, so I started with generating a shot list.

My idea is to recreate the original video to Tenacious D Tribute but with a more creative twist. Instead of using live action as the subject for the video I have chosen to use stop-motion figures and models and more visualization of what's going on with the song. The type of live action I would go for is to use stop motion similar to that of Wallace and Gromit (Seen Below) but the change would be if the creator was on acid so as much as the graphics would be crude and rough around the edges there would also be some more manic images or ideas present an idea of how this would look is below the source image. This would help to achieve a point of visualization of the lyrics to an emphatic degree but also would help me to achieve one of my goals of providing a bit of humor with stop-motion animation and these little icon transitions.

Shot 1-Angle up looking at a stage with two models on it one of whom has a small guitar shape the other has a microphone in front of him. First two lines of the song.

Shot 2-Bird’s eye view of the two models moving down the desk pan down to them moving away from the camera. Match to the second and third.

Shot 3-Low-angle shot of a shelf with a new model on it, one with hons and a backlight to it. Illustration of lyrics, match the 4 lines. Transition jump cut pop (so nothing initially then jump to it being there)

Shot 4-Medium shot of model, floating symbols to demonstrate the next set of lyrics following an illustration theme of the lyrics. Ninth line set for this shot.

Shot 5-Close-up shot of two models on the desk. Have actions match the next set of lyrics. Up to line thirteen. Jump cut transition.

Shot 6-Repeat style of angle for Shot 1 for two lines, have camera move back showing more of the stage and an audience. Have a globe spinning behind in accordance of the next two lines.

Shot 7-Extreme close up on the eyes for the next line closely followed by;

Shot 8-Have a mid-shot of two models both with a 1 above, have them meet and become a single one with 2 above before separating out into a bigger and smaller model with 2 and 1 above them before remerging into a singular with 3 above it.

Shot 9-Pan up to the sky shooting star across it for the line after.

Shot 10-Back to the stage with images of a sun and moon both shining behind

Shot 11-Return to the low-angle shot of the shelf of the demon model with the back light with exclamation mark above his head before a tail move out to the right vicious swipe. Halo and a question mark above head

Shot 12-High-angle shot of two models shaking there heads one of them slamming something down. Following the next line have one of the models point to the other.

Shot 13-Close-up low angle of the two models with bright backlight on for the line “Ah, ah, ah, oh, wo, a-yo” with a quick cut to the demon model with a bright light on it making it turn away before going back to the two models on the desk.

Shot 14-For the next few lines of the song have some small strobe like lights going off. Mimicking shot 1.

 

This is what I drafted, here we can see the brief of the idea itself using ambiguous language as I hadn't decided the final method of visualization. However there's a structure outside of the numbering for the shots I have listed on screen now, which is to follow the flow of the lyrics to the song itself and using those to help me come up with ideas for what to have on screen.

The reason behind me using the lyrics to generate ideas is a two fold way to structure the video, it follows the flow of the video which means that synchronizing the visuals to the song is easier in the end and not only that but each shot works in tandem with what's being said to help boost the amplification of the lyrics to audio being played. The second is that the ideas came from the song itself which means that I can follow the rule of illustration that most music videos follow these days, but not just that however but a narrative for the song even though the song itself follows a narrative so it has to follow it in some way.

The next step is to work out the schedule. Now I followed a similar schedule structure to that of the previous project as it was an effective method with the right amount of dedication that can be set to each section and it also allows for suitable time during the production to make contingency plan or a bit of filming for the contingency in order to make sure that wouldn't start on the back-pedal for making the contingency.

The last planning section that I had to make was for the storyboard. Below you can see a sample of what I decided to go with for this production, it doesn't follow the usual format but as this production isn't typical I felt that I should try and capture the idea of what I was going for. Ordinarily on a storyboard you would have the motion that the characters and actors would follow while filming but as my characters are going to be done in stop-motion I felt that instead of showing the path and the motion of the characters I decided to make sure that you can see and tell the general positioning of the models/characters as I feel this provides a more accurate idea for the production more than others.