Someone
"Someone" Video Creative
Going to start shooting the video for "Someone" and thought you might like to have a look at the creative behind the shoot!
"Someone"
The video will open with a low angled close up of Franklin’s hands by his sides. They’re covered in soot and a fire burns bright in the night on this sandy deserted beach. Washed up seaweed lines the coast along with rotted out tree trunks. An old pickup is parked in the distance as Franklin walks away, abandoning it. But his love stands by the truck, watching the fire. Her facial expression tells us that this relationship has met its demise – she’s left trying to come to terms with it, but Franklin looks at peace with his decision.
As the first verse breaks, we’ll cut to a performance vignette with Franklin in the middle of this vast beach, at a vintage vertical piano as the fire continues to burn in the hazy distance. His piano is well-loved, the keys dirty from wear and tear – Franklin’s soot covered hands adding to the well worn love. The piano looks like it was once a seafoam green, the paint peeling like a sunburn, revealing what looks like the beginning stages of rot. But Franklin plays this piano like he knows it inside out; it’s been a part of him for a good part of his life.
Intercut with the piano performance vignette, we’ll jump back in time before this mysterious fire takes life. In this vocal vignette, Franklin walks the beach as he pours a clear liquid out onto the sand. He’s calm about it as the liquid darkens the sand next to his feet. Franklin continues to pace the beach, making circles as he pours out this liquid. His love watches him as she stands by the pickup, she doesn’t try to stop him.
As the chorus hits, we jump in time again – the vocal vignette pushed forward as Franklin sings to the camera with the fire large and bright behind him. This chorus/vocal vignette will be continually cut with the piano performance vignette.
On the second verse, we’ll pick up as Franklin continues to pace the beach with this mysterious liquid by his side. We’ll then cut to a wider shot, it’s a dirty red plastic gas can in his hands, and he tosses it far off to the side. It catches the rise of the tide of the ocean. He lights a match, holding it aflame. He gives his love a look goodbye, as does she. She’s coming to terms with Franklin’s decision to walk away.
As the track builds to the musical bridge, time slows down significantly as Franklin throws the match into the sand, the gas catching fire and snaking through the sand. Franklin’s love gives the fire one last look before getting into the driver’s seat. Franklin shoves his hands deep into his pockets as he walks away towards the camera. She starts the engine, seeing that Franklin has already turned his back. The pick-up truck drives off in the opposite direction. As the track comes to a close, we pull out to a wide shot revealing the worn out piano being devoured by the flames, along with Franklin’s lastmessage to his girl “love always” written in the fire. As Franklin walks away, a smile breaking across his lips, the fire is subsiding and the first peaks of daylight begin to lighten the once darkened sky.
Unlike most beach themed music videos, we’ll keep to a darker colour palette of midnight blues and overall cool tones, picking up the colour of the environment, the water and the moonlight. Essentially a look similar to Coldplay’s “Yellow” is the vibe I’m trying to create. Shooting on the Sony F3 is the camera of choice for this video for its cinematic image and varied frame rate, which will pick up the details and movement of the fire nicely. Shooting on a speed of 48fps for the build of the fire will propel the story as well as add to the ‘drama’ of the video. It will be an embellishing counterpoint to the performance and vocal vignette, which will be shot in standard 24fps.
The visual build of Franklin throwing the match and the snaking fire will be shot at an even quicker frame rate, 60fps to really push the dramatic effect of the beach catching fire and going up in flames. In the edit, I’d also like to play around with a bit of speed ramping with the lighting of the fire, which will compliment the musical bridge as well as cement that emotional turn in the story.
Composition wise, details and framing is key to making this story visually compelling. Fire is always a fascinating element so getting in as tight as possible during the musical bridge as the fire takes life will also serve as a visual metaphor for Franklin’s emotional change. Something rises up within him, giving him the strength to leave this tattered relationship. We’ll also keep to low angles to further push the emotional metaphor. It’ll create this feeling of being on the outside looking in, as well, we’ll shoot with slightly obstructed frames to add to the emotional distance between Franklin and his love. Taking this approach to the composition of the image will all inherently help in pushing the emotional aspect of the story.
Finally, I envision the edit to be quick and frenetic, especially during the chorus’. We’ll keep with the pace of the track itself, and shooting details and having interesting frames will keep the video flowing through the vignettes.