Music Video - How to shoot 'time passing by'

[Franky000]

Hi, I am currently planning a music video for Pink Floyd's 'Time' and am looking for ways to convey how short life is, and how every year is shorter than the last. I have all of the obvious ideas down, such as filming sped up traffic, people walking in town (also sped up), a clock ticking away, an hourglass and a sundial. However, i'm looking for more original ideas, and would appreciate some opinions, bearing in mind that I don't really have a set budget to work with. Thanks.

FC

PS: I'm using a miniDV cam and Adobe Premiere

 

[lostprophet]

Hey,

First of all, I haven't heard 'Time', so any musical effect the song has on me is lost. Secondly, the concept for it is your idea; you should be developing it, not us losers who happen to be surfing the internet at 3AM :wink:

Based on your concept, I think attempting to tell a story would be more interesting than showing time-lapsed footage for the length of the song (which you basically described: sped-up traffic, a clock ticking away, etc...you could also show a flower growing, or the sun setting, or, if you're lucky enough to find one, a caterpillar emerging from a cocoon). Additionally, you could show sped-up footage of a day in the life of some random person. I don't know what you'd do exactly, but I'm in a free-thinking type mode; I'm just kind of throwing out ideas. Going with the idea of having a narrative, maybe you could write some dialog relating to your theme, and have it acted out while the song is played under it.

I think you have a great concept; However, it's important that you show your interpretation of the song.

 

[jodymichelle]

another suggestion for a music video is rather than being literal, try to be more metaphorical or abstract.

some nice music videos that are memorable to me are ones that do tell a story, or are based off (published) short stories or flash fiction.

 

[BigBeaner]

This is easy. Your main problem is you don't have access to Pink Floyd, so what you going to do, and you need to show passage of time? Easy; get as many, many many clips of Pink Floyd throughout the ages, the young upstarting band and all the way up, add your B roll, dissolves and bam. You're good.

 

[Dylan Walker]

Well, you can display the passing of time in numerous ways.

There's always the cliche 'sun up, sun down' method, which applies to plants and most anything like that.

If you're showing the passing of time in relation to Pink Floyd (i.e. their history) you could do something along the lines of: use stop motion, with one platinum record after another being mounted on the wall, or a Requiem For A Dream styled sequence in which a pair of hands receive each progressing Pink Floyd record. On the spot ideas, not meant to be used directly, but to spark the gears in your mind.

As for actual execution of time passing, I've put a light on a dolly, flagged it off to make it appear to be a window shining light on a wall, and simply moved the dolly across the room, which causes the shadow to move. If done right it's believable.

Anyway, just a few ideas. Good luck.

 

[Dill]

Sorry, but if you want more 'original' ideas I think you need to start again.
Don't mean to sound harsh but none of those ideas are what you might call original. Interesting maybe, visually. But done to death. If originality is that important.

I don't know the answer, but try to re-think your ideas of time.
For interesting thought, try reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. What is time?

To quote, 'Why can we remember the past, and not the future?', or something like that.

I don't know.