Song choice: Seventeen

Artist: Sharon Von Etten

What my song choice is about and why I’ve chosen it.

‘Seventeen’ is a music video written and sung by Sharon Von Etten, following the narrative of a modern
day version of Sharon being met and talking to a younger, more naive version of herself, talking about her
struggles as a teenager that everyone has or will have gone through in their lifetime at one point or
another. Since this song is about Von Etten, looking back at how she was 17 years old, romanticizing
about wanting to grow up quickly and becoming an adult along with the freedom and the maturity that
came with it, only to realize that it wasn’t as perfect as she initially thought. In the lyrics of the song, she
talks about what the present version of herself remembers about the past and talks to her past self about
what’s to come in their lifetime.

Location
The location that I have chosen to film for the song ‘Seventeen’, is a school building. I want to recreate
that narrative of the daily life of a highschool girl in correlation with the lyrics, and the most relatable shots
are going to be the one where she would be interacting with her friends and her social life in her break
times as well as panning shots of her in the classroom, with books, papers and writing equipment to make
it more convincing. This will prove to be inexpensive as the location of the music video would be provided
to us, with no cost, due to my connections with the staff there as well as a shooting schedule that would
work for the school, as it won’t interrupt with the flow of the students and the locations that we plan on
shooting in won’t have any proper classes during the designated times that we have agreed upon, as
well as being able to have all the cast and the crew necessary for that day of filming.

Cast/Crew
My lead actor would be Miss. Yasmine A. as it would fit in with the song, due to the fact that the singer
who wrote and performed this song is a woman, talking to a younger version of herself. Along with the
costume, she has the stature and the physique of a high-school/graduating, young woman. Georgie R.
and Natasya T, both have experience in playing side-character roles as well as main roles in the film
industry as their experience and expertise.

In the scene where the lead actress is in the classroom, I’ve hired a teacher to play a supporting role, as
the character’s teacher along with some extras in the background of the classroom to make the
classroom seem more full and to make it more authentic.

Costume
The costumes that would be included in the music video would be based on casual clothes that any
student would go out to school with. The reason why the costume of the ‘pupil’ of the school wouldn’t be a
school uniform, is because we wouldn’t want the audience to focus on the kind of school that the student
goes to as that’s unimportant to the narrative. Also, keeping the clothes casual and not having it tied with
any school, keeps the element of relatability. Simple clothes consisting of Jeans, a casual shirt as well as
a backpack to complete the look and the identity of the student.

Equipment
I have access to a vast amount of different equipment. Varying from HD and 4k recording cameras, Nikon
DSLRS D3500 and D450, as well as sound/boom mics and studio lightings as well as camera tripods,
gimbels and green, white and black screens to make the editing process more efficient,I also have access
to a license to use adobe products i.e. aftereffects and premiere pro, and other editing softwares such as
Filmora if needed. Filming with these cameras and recording any diegetic sound that you would want to
include in the music video, with the mics that we provide would be able to capture the true essence of
your vision.

Financing
I would like to ask for an amount of $8,000, in order to gather all of the crew that Ineed to operate my
equipment as well as hire the necessary crew: operating the cameras as well as paying for the editors to
work on the music video on the designated times as well as purchasing some of the props that are
necessary to really sell the idea of the actresses being in school, with the use of backpacks, phones as
well as a couple of pieces of school equipment, text book, exercise book and etc. This sum of money
would also be used to pay for the Canon DSLR D4500s, in order to take still shots that becomes useful in
the music video, as well as using a portable camera so that the cameramen would be able to follow
around the actresses with ease, as the DSLR 4500 is compact enough, without sacrificing the cost of
quality, in both filming the sounds for the diegetic sounds for the music video as well as for recording the
actual music video.

This amount of money would also be used to pay for the 3 main actors that would appear in the music
video as well as the side actors and the main actor’s understudy, incase anything, unfortunate were to
happen to the main cast of the music video. This sum amount of money would also be enough to pay for
the compensation of using the location for shooting the music video. Any additional cash left over would
be used to pay for the comfort of the cast, food and etc. as well as being used to be able to rent any
additional equipment that we would need to have on standby, just in case any of the other pieces of
equipment were to fault or be damaged.

Marketing
I have connections that would allow me to purchase domain over public billboards for a discounted price
as well as having our public relations and advertising team, be in charge of the advertising, with their
experience in creating teasers, their knowledge of getting around YouTube’s, Instagram’s and even
Twitter’s algorithm, in order to give you the maximum exposure output, guaranteeing over 10K views on
each platform between 3 maximum posts each. In marketing, creating a teaser for the music video can
also ‘hype up’ the audience as it would show them a snippet as to what’s to come as well as keeping the
audience strapped on for the ride. Posters and Billboards would allow the final music video, and in turn
your song, to gain more public attention, if the poster/billboard seems interesting, some people in the
public might be enticed to check out the music video and the song, if they like it, it would have a snowball
effect and the said person would spread the word of the song and the music video, if he/she likes it, and
their friends would show it to their friends and etc.

Social media today would allow the public to see your post and any information regarding that post, even
posting videos in most platforms if not, all platforms. Social Media would also allow you to interact directly
with your fans as well as answer any questions, take suggestions and keep your fanbase informed about
any development of the music video.