My life is like a video game
Trying hard to beat the stage
All while I am still collecting coins
Trying hard to save the girl
Obstacles, I'm jumping hurdles
I'm growing up to be a big boy
Trying hard to beat the stage
All while I am still collecting coins
Trying hard to save the girl
Obstacles, I'm jumping hurdles
I'm growing up to be a big boy
I battle with the evil ways
I travel far, and try and save
Sorry but your princess isn't here
I take a rest, I push the pause
Level up, and move along
In hopes that the next stage I will clear
(I fucking passed asshole!)
I travel far, and try and save
Sorry but your princess isn't here
I take a rest, I push the pause
Level up, and move along
In hopes that the next stage I will clear
(I fucking passed asshole!)
I'm just trying to keep from dying
It's just a game that we play
And for heaven's sakes
Looking for a better way to play it!
Life is for keeping score and forever more
Stop complaining and start changing it
And for heaven's sakes
Looking for a better way to play it!
Life is for keeping score and forever more
Stop complaining and start changing it
Today I went to therapy
Told him my embarrassing
Issues that I'm having with my life (with my life)
He told me that I need to change
Life is not a video game
So stop playing and open up your eyes
Told him my embarrassing
Issues that I'm having with my life (with my life)
He told me that I need to change
Life is not a video game
So stop playing and open up your eyes
Initially for my music video I planned to start with a fade in of an establishing shot of the band members performing as part of the intro, which would last for around 3 seconds. This was an initial idea and I decided against this very early on due to it not fitting the narrative I wanted to create with the band. The video was supposed to be about the band being in a creative rut, and one of the members coming out of said rut with the help of video games, meaning the band members should initially be unhappy in the beginning of the video. This is why I'm opting to instead start with an establishing shot of the two band members attempting to write a song and becoming overtly frustrated when they are unable to. This will then lead to the band member played by Mike to leave, and my band member to remain looking glum and uninspired. He will then get a package through the letterbox from Amazon containing a game, which he then proceeds to play. This is where the actual music will begin, with the game loading up and presenting a title screen and prompting the user to 'Press Start'. The band member played by me will do so, which will prompt the beginning of the song.
The first verse of the song will consist of my band member sat on the sofa mouthing the words to the song, and this scene will alternate with shots of the in-game character in the character creation screen with menus and customization options around him. These shot will last around two seconds each, making them synchronous with the beat of the music. This will last from lines 1 to 6, so from 'my life is like a video game' to 'I'm growing up to be a big boy'. From the second part of the first verse starting from 'I battle with the evil ways' my band member will get more interested and invested in the game now that he has customized his character. He will occasionally glance over at the note pad to his right, and the masks to his left and then back to the screen. This will symbolise how he is still struggling with creating new material and struggling with the identity of his band and how they both play on each other and magnify themselves as problems. From the lyric "I fucking passed asshole!" the in game character will have just fought an enemy and gained a level up and gained an item as a reward-a cowboy hat that increases his stats, cutting to a close up of the artist mouthing the verse enthusiastically. The following line 'I'm just trying to keep from dying' will see the the character killed in one hit by a stronger enemy, prompting the band member to storm off in an angry rage and return with a snack while the death screen continues to flash the words game over. When he returns he respawns and discovers he has lost his equipment and new found cowboy hat, causing him to pause the game and storm off once again.
I will then cut to an establishing shot of my aunt's house and show the band member entering and then one of him knocking on the door to the therapist's office. After prompting entry, the artist is shocked to discover that the therapist is wearing his cowboy hat and I will show this through a close up of both of their faces, with the therapist being as confused as the band member. The band member will sit down in the therapist's armchair and cough synchronously with the audible cough in the song just before the second verse begins. He will then begin to lip synch the second verse up to the line 'he told me that I need to change' as this is when the therapist will say the remainder of the second verse to the band member, as if instructing him to stop playing so many video games. My band member will audibly laugh this off synchronously with the laugh in the song, and begin to walk out of the therapist office. This will be followed by a medium shot of the band member holding the door open about to leave, but stopping to sing the verse 'I'm just trying to keep from dying' before closing the door, leading to a close up of the therapist shaking his head in disapproval.
From here, there will be a montage of the band member returning home and playing the game, to show him spending large amounts of time working on his character and progressing through the game. This will be complemented by shots of a similar nature of his in game persona gaining levels and discovering new areas, going through the world and changing gear/equipment in a variety of shots.This will continue on through to the bridge, wherein the band member will get inspiration to write a few lines on the notepad, indicating his return of motivation and inspiration.
This will be followed by him confronting a new boss in a new area, likely on the bridge that I displayed in my first batch of field photos. He will be having trouble with the boss at first, until eventually figuring out the bosses fight patterns and being able to defeat him with a simple input of button presses, the ones in the line 'Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start' this will be done to show that he has figured out how to beat 'the obstacle' in the game of the boss blocking the bridge and halting his progress to symbolise him overcoming the obstacle of the creative block in his actual life.
Initially the following paragraph was going to be my synopsis, but the word count was almost double the 200 word limit and I didn't want to waste a good explanation of my plan and ideas for my video, so I'm opting to post the paragraph here and it goes as follows:
For my music video I want to tell the story of how the primary band member in Buried In Boston is starved for motivation and how he overcomes this through video games and eventually decides on the reinvention of the band by the end of the music video, throwing away the thing that formerly defined the band-the masks. I want to start with an establishing shot of the two band members sat in the garage, starved for innovation and attempting to write a song but failing. Then after the pair become overtly frustrated Mic leaves, leaving my character to continue trying to find inspiration. This will lead to him sluggishly sitting down on the couch and playing a new video game, which will be the second diegesis of the video. In the video game he will create a persona of himself wearing all dark clothing to symbolise his current mood, and his saddened state. This will be done through a character creation screen. Through to the first chorus he will play the game and become overtly frustrated at his slow progression and the unfortunate events that happen in game. This will lead to him leaving, and attending a therapy session of which the therapist will advise him to stop playing video games. He will ignore this advice and then proceed to return home and play video games. The following chorus and bridge will be a montage sequence of the band member on the couch playing the game, constantly changing position, and his character gaining levels and unlocking more in the character creation. Inspired by in game events he will gain ideas about what he could write about and begin to write the lyrics to the song Game Over itself, while he changes his character into progressively brighter and brighter clothing to symbolise him getting out of his creative rut and finally finding the inspiration to write. The entry of a 'cheat code' will allow him to unlock the masks in the character creation screen, prompting him to add one of the masks to his character and 'fast travel' to a location in which the character discards the masks, finally giving him the title of 'Game Over' to add to the top of his paper as his character stands victorious over the masks, symbolising the completed reinvention of the band and the returned spark of inspiration. My band member will then invite Mic back and present him with the song, to which they will both then begin to leave. My band member will then stop in his tracks and go back to the room, turning off the console that the game is being played on to symbolise the complete ending of the creative dry spell.
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