Music Video Finale

So, it's only, like, one week away from the last day of school!!! YEAAAAA! Time to plan vacations, relax, prepare for finals, and make an awesome music video! What? Were you NOT expecting that? Did you not read the title? Well, that's the FINAL project in 7th grade G.T. Pretty awesome huh? Our song that we (Micah, Me, Callum, and Jason) picked was "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry. It's a pretty old song, and I mean really old, like, from the 50s. In the project, we had to take the songs lyrics, and lip sync it while telling a story. Here's the song lyrics that were used:

Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans,

Way back up in the woods among the evergreens

There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood,

Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode

Who never ever learned to read or write so well,

But he could play a guitar just like a ringing a bell.

[Chorus:]

Go Go

Go, Johnny, go, go

Go, Johnny, go, go

Go, Johnny, go, go

Go, Johnny, go, go

Johnny B. Goode

He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack

Or sit beneath the tree by the railroad track.

Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade,

Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made.

The people passing by, they would stop and say,

"Oh, my, but that little country boy could play!"

[Chorus]

His mother told him, "Someday you will be a man,

And you will be the leader of a big old band.

Many people coming from miles around

To hear you play your music when the sun go down.

Maybe someday your name will be in lights

Saying 'Johnny B. Goode tonight'."

[Chorus]

Quite a handful, huh? It's the entire song, with a little bit of instrumental removed. So, the story that we used in conjunction with the lyrics basically told the story that the song told, but with a little bit of "creative details". (In other words, we made stuff up.) The story is about a country boy named Johnny B. Goode, who is really good at playing the guitar, and when he lived in the country, everyone celebrated his awesome musical talent. But when he moves into the city, a couple of bullies show up, (This happens at the second chorus) and shove him down. Well, he takes this pretty harshly, and basically quits guitar so he won't be teased for it. But, on his somber way back home, he remembers all the things people have said, and what his mother told him, and he returns to the awesome music business, better than ever. Great story, GG. I mean, GS? Good Story? I'm not sure.

Sooooooo, in most music videos there is fast- shot montages. We don't really have that, but we do have some fast-ish montage sequences that aren't really montages, but whatever. The main one is near the end when two bullies (acted by Micah and Jason) shove Callum over, he falls over, and runs away angrily. Another scene that isn't really fast-edit, but it could be considered a montage of sorts is in the beginning, when Callum is getting ready for the day, falling out of bed, washing his face, walking into the hall, picking up his guitar, etc. Put those two together and I guess you could have a fast-edit montage... I'm not sure. Personally though, I don't think that the song needs any montages or fast edits, because of it's tone and genre. I believe that it's good as is.

This music video totally shows the BEST WORK EVAR. It's like if work and best had a kid and it was named Team 8's music video. Perhaps that's an exaggeration. I'm not sure, because I think it looks great. It shows our best work because I think it is A: our highest quality that we could accomplish in the allowed time, and it shows everything we've learned this year. It has Wide, Medium Close, Interesting angles, A delicate plotline, (That couldn't be shattered with a sledgehammer, indicating that it's not as delicate as I thought...) and photoshop skills for the intro screen. We did have some difficulties, but we usually overcame them pretty quickly. This was probably one of the better projects of the year. (What was the best? You decide!) I think we did pretty well in total.

ONLY ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL LEFT :O

-Linden



Results of the critique: