Proposal/ Treatment with an updated Production Schedule

“Looking for Love” by Kevin Martin
A Music Video

This is a music video for those a fan of the San Diego music and film scene. It will feature a song by local artist Kevin Martin (known for his work in the band Get Back Loretta) and the directorial work of up and coming video artists, Kristine Kirchmeier (myself), and Matthew Unwin who are both interning at Cal State San Marcos’ Office of Communications producing videos for the school’s home page. The goal of this music video is to explore storytelling through the use of video projection mapping and to help get the work of these artists out into the world.

According to the Bio section on Kevin Martin’s website:

“Kevin’s style of music is what he calls “Throwback Pop” - which takes his modern flair for performance and combines it with his love of vintage piano-pop stylings.

Meet Kevin Martin - a solo pop-rock songwriter with a sound that’s described as “Burt Bacharach meets Queen and Elton John.” A San Diego native, Kevin got his musical start in taking classical piano lessons after his parents overheard him singing. He started writing songs at age 12 and played his first bar gig with a band at age 16. In high school he honed his vocal skills and won multiple awards for his stage performances in a variety of musicals, and by senior year was voted “Most likely to be on MTV.”

While Kevin is technically making his debut as a solo performer, he is a seasoned veteran of performing in rock bands - most notably playing keyboards and co-writing for established San Diego pop-rockers, Get Back Loretta. The band has won a total of six San Diego Music Awards while Kevin has been part of the band. With Get Back Loretta, Kevin has played notable venues such as The Casbah, Belly Up, House of Blues, and the Warfield in SF to crowds of 3000+.

To create his self-titled album, Kevin Martin paired up with local music producer Lauren Scheff (Scheffxp.com). Lauren’s pop production and arrangement skills alongside Kevin’s upbeat melodies have created an album with a sound that is hooky as ever for the masses, while still maintaining that indie sense of creativity and originality. The album was released in May of 2012.

Music your mom will listen to.”

I am going to produce a music video that reflects his “modern flair for performance” and “love of vintage piano-pop stylings” by using his background in musical theater and combining it with modern video art techniques. Video projection mapping is a relatively new technique so there are still plenty of untapped ideas out there just waiting to be discovered, and that is what I plan on doing.

The song that I am producing this video for is a personal song for Kevin about his never-ending search for love. It’s about the routine and monotony of days that never seem to produce results that he wants. As depressing as that sounds, the overall mood of this song is actually quite hopeful and earnest. Even though he hasn’t found love yet, he knows that it only takes one second to meet the right person and until he does, he will keep looking.

To convey the feeling that he has been searching for years, I am going to use three different versions of Kevin in this song. The first minute of the song will feature Andrew James, a preteen musician who will be lip syncing the words to “Looking for Love,” while doing some minor blocking/choreography in relation to the projections. The next incarnation of Kevin will be played by Drew Bradford, a teenager who also has a background in performing and like Andrew, he will be lip syncing the next 60 seconds of the song while doing some blocking. For the last minute and a half of the song, Kevin will take over and play himself as the final version and will bring the viewers into the present.

The video will be filmed entirely in one location on one set. The set will be custom built by RQ Construction and will consist of an 18’x10’ white wall built to stand independently as well as a white box 4’x5’x2’ that will be placed on the left side of the frame that will add depth and interest. Additionally, there will be a hula hoop covered in white cloth that will be an interactive screen/prop and a bar mounted at the top of the wall where Kevin and his doppelgangers can hang from.

The idea here is to have Kevin and all the versions of Kevin be singing this song while walking around this mini stage interacting with the props, set, and projections. Depending on the line in the song, the projection will change, therefore visually changing the location and the prop. A box will change from a car to a bed to piano over the course of one verse because of what’s being projected and Kevin’s interaction with it.

For example, during the first chorus when Kevin is still a preteen, he will be singing the lyrics “I’m looking for love,” while pulling the cloth covered hula hoop off the wall and putting it in front of his face. As he is doing this, the projection will be focused on and tracking with the hula hoop. Once the hula hoop reaches his face, the image will be an extremely magnified version of his face singing the chorus. The effect will be as if he pulled a magnifying glass off the wall and is now singing while looking through it.

Another example of this interaction will be during the line “I’m waiting for the day when I can finally move away and start new.” Here, the teenage version of Kevin will climb on top of the box while a building is being projected on it. The background will have a huge bunch of balloons floating up toward the sky. Once the tails of the balloons are almost out of the frame, Kevin will jump off the building and “grab” the balloons as we see the sky move down past him. Of course he won’t actually be grabbing balloons, but rather he will jump and grab onto a bar strategically placed to make it look like he is holding onto a bunch of balloons.

As far as logistics and the process behind the production, the first order of business will be to construct the set so that we can get to mapping out our projections. There is free projection mapping software available online that is widely used and perfect for this sort of thing. It aids in creating a custom template that represents where you will be projecting so that you know where and how to insert footage. The projected footage will be a combination of original content and found footage thanks to the creative commons license on YouTube. After we have our projection mapped out, we will be set to rehearse with and record the actors on set lip syncing to the song and interacting with the stage. After that, the video will be ready for editing and distribution.

Upon completion of this music video, it will be submitted to the CSUSM Media Festival as well as the San Marcos Media Festival and will be on display on Kevin’s website.

The video will be shot using a Canon t3i with a fixed 50mm lens and a wide angle lens. It will be editing using the software Video Projection Tool 6.0 and Final Cut Pro 7.

The bulk of this music video will take place in pre production so here is the anticipated timeline for completion:

February 17-23

• Confirm with actors their role in the video.
• Final consultation with RQ Construction about building the set. Get blue prints.
• Production meeting with Matt to give him details about his role as Assistant Director and Technical advisor.
• Begin storyboarding the video.

February 24- March 2

• Give final approval for construction of the set. Have it finished by the end of the week.
• Final draft of storyboard
• Full prop list
• Costume list
• Decide on a location for the stage to go

March 3-9

• Take pictures of the set as a template and begin the mapping and stitching together of the projected footage. Whatever is not going to be found footage, make a plan to film it. Go film.
• Figure out logistics of the location (power supplies, feeding the crew)
• Confirm use of projectors

March 10-16

• Continue projection mapping and running tests to make sure we are on track.

March 17-23

• Continue projection mapping and running tests to make sure we are on track.

March 24-30

• Continue projection mapping and running tests to make sure we are on track.

March 31-April 6 (Spring Break)

• Rehearse/ film with actors. Matt and I will have completely open schedules since we won’t be in class and we’ll have a break from our internship. This will allow us to be much more flexible with our actors schedules and we won’t feel like we have to sandwich this in between other obligations.

April 7-13

• Edit together a rough cut of the video with the final audio track we will be using.

April 14-20

• Rough Cut ready to show Professor.

April 21-27

• Fix any major glaring issues.
• Reshoot scenes if necessary

April 28- May 4

• Submit second draft
• Make any necessary changes

May 5- May 11

• FINAL DRAFT DUE MONDAY MAY 6th
• CSUSM Media Festival Screening 5.10.13

BUDGET:

Gas for commuting actors: $50
Paying 2 actors: $150
Food/drink for 3 days of shoots for a crew of 5: $180
Set building supplies: $150