Lyrics ideas- Writing's On The Wall

Below are the lyrics for Sam Smith's 'The Writing's On The Wall', the song I am making a music video with. All the text in bold are my ideas for the visuals to accompany the lyrics.

[Sam]
I've been here before - walking into the gambling den
But always hit the floor - still walking, or chips hitting the floor
I've spent a lifetime running
And I always get away
But with you I'm feeling something - looking at cards or chips
That makes me want to stay

I'm prepared for this
I never shoot to miss - gambling some chips
But I feel like a storm is coming
If I'm gonna make it through the day
Then there's no more use in running
This is something I gotta face - facing protagonist

If I risk it all
Could you break my fall? -singing into camera

How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood -blood puddle with cards
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all -dice rolling
Cause the writing's on the wall

A million shards of glass
That haunt me from my past
As the stars begin to gather -shot panning around the gambling table
And the light begins to fade
When all hope begins to shatter
Know that I won't be afraid

If I risk it all -singing to camera
Could you break my fall?

How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood -blood dripping onto cards
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all -singing to the audience
Cause the writing's on the wall

The writing's on the wall -singing

How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood -heart playing card
Tell me is this where I give it all up? -deciding whether to go all in, close up possibly

How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you're not here I'm suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood -looking at cards
Tell me is this where I give it all up? -singing into camera
For you I have to risk it all -going all in
Cause the writing's on the wall

New Song Choice

Through capturing my footage, and viewing it on the editing software I have now changed my mind about the song. Chris Cornell's 'You Know My Name' is a fast paced song, which when played with my footage appeared too fast. The song would suit a more action packed idea, and the theme of my music video is not action packed enough, as it is based around gambling. This was an error on my part as I planned in the filming around the lyrics and not the pacing of the song, which has lead me to having footage which does not work with the song. This does mean that I will have to do some extra filming of lip syncing, for the new song I have chosen. The song I am changing to is Sam Smith's 'Writing on the Wall'. I experimented with many different songs whilst playing my footage, and this song works best. The lyrics are fairly similar to 'You Know My Name', as they are both songs written for James Bond, which means they will work with the shots I currently have. Throughout the song there is mention of risk, which is the premise of my music video. The primary reason this song works better than the former, is the pacing. 'Writing on the Wall' is slower in pace, and fits well with the pacing of my planned music video. Additionally, the song works as it has the same target audience, also being created for a James Bond opening sequence. My next step is to now arrange with the protagonist to film lip syncing of the new song choice.

Copyright Letter

Dear Copyright Holder,

We are writing to you in hopes of gaining permission to use one of your tracks by Sam Smith. The name of the track we are requesting is ‘Writing's on the Wall’.

Currently we are A-level Media Studies students. Our project in media is to create a music video for a track of our choice, and to produce an album, and a magazine advert for the artist. With your permission we will be using the track for our project.

If you were to give us permission, the track will be used strictly in an educational context allowing us to develop our creativity, but also hopefully to introduce a new audience to the artist.

The company and artist will be fully credited throughout preproduction and in the video itself. If required a copyright notice from you can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details.

We look forward to your reply.

Kind regards

Jordan Jackson

Kate Foster

Filming Progress #4

I have now completed the filming of all my extra shots, I now feel as if I have completed filming, but there may be a few extra shots I need. Many of these shots were the abstract scenes, such as the card lit on fire. Therefore I did not need any help for these shots. For most shots I created them independently at home, as people did not appear in them. I created small set pieces, such as the green cloth with a black background, where I would roll dice into. There was a shot where I did need the help of the music videos protagonist, where I had him lip-syncing the song.

Some of the shots I had planned, did not go as expected. For example the shot where I lit a playing card on fire. Whilst filming this shot I found out that playing cards are not very flammable, which lead me to printing of a playing card onto cartridge paper to burn instead. Even the paper was less flammable than I anticipated, which will most likely lead to me speeding the clip up during the editing process. Another shot I encountered issues with was the shot of playing cards falling from the sky. For this shot I had set up the camera outside in my garden facing the sky, with my plan being to throw a deck of cards out my window on the second floor. When I threw the cards out of the window, they scattered much farther than I envisaged, not looking very good on camera. It did mean that many of these playing cards went across the fence into my neighbor's garden.

Additional Filming Prop List

• Dice 

• Gambling Chips

• Green Mat

• Red cloth

• Playing Cards

• Raspberry Syrup

• Camera

• Tripod

• Smart casual clothing for protagonist

Additional Filming Plan

Now I have the main shots, of the gambling scene, I will be focusing on the rest. These will include, abstract shots, and the protagonist singing the song. Here is a list of shots I wish to take:

• Playing card lit on fire

• Dice rolling

• Playing cards falling from the sky 

• Chips falling from above

• Playing cards in a puddle of blood

• Poker chips spinning

• Blood drips onto a card

• Cards being dealt

• Protagonist singing the song into the camera

• Split screen of the protagonist singing to himself

Filming Progress #3

I have now taken all of the shots I needed from the gambling scene. I managed to get 4 people, including the protagonist, to be in the music video, which seemed to be a good number so there would be one person on each side of the table. We used the drama studio, and set up a gambling table for the 'actors' to sit around. There were a few staged shots that I used, where I directed my friends who were in the music video. However, for many of the shots I told them to play poker, and they ignored me whilst I filmed around them. This was not my original intention, but it worked well as there was less acting needed.

One issue encountered during the filming was the fact that the drama curtains did not cover every wall, which lead to me only being able to film from one side. Although, I do not think it will notice in the music video. Another issue was the stage lights, they were not working, which meant we had to rely on the standard overhead lighting. To conclude, apart from a few minor problems, I think the filming was a success, as I now have plenty of footage.

Music Video Storyboard