Chosen Band: The 99s

I have chosen to make a music video to The 99s' "(What a Night) To Be Alive". When I first heard this song a music video concept popped into my head and I feel it'll allow me to be more experimental with the video. The 99s are a band of three members: Johnny West, James Loughlin and Adam Quigley. After much success they realised that their songs needed a larger sound and three instruments weren't enough anymore; this is when Jay Moran (multi-instrumentalist) began to help them. Both of their albums: 'Run Of The Mill' and 'The 99s' demonstrate their talent in creating catchy 60's style pop music. They've featured in Hollyoaks in October 2011 and northern artist Chris Cyprus painted the artwork for their album.

Permission:

To get in touch with them to ask for permission to use the song I decided to email them as their social networking sites don't have many recent updates so might be unreliable when it comes to contacting them. My email read:

Jimmy replied the same day to my email giving me permission to use their song:

Song Lyrics:

Well I know

You went out

On the town

And you danced and you act like a clown

Til the morn

Early dawn

You were up for the big come down

Oh what a night to be alive-ee

Oh what a night to be alive-ee

Woah-hh

So get out

Sing and shout

I got high as the ceiling only on the feeling of love

Now we go

But you left me believing I was only dreaming of love

And it’s time

For one more

It’s on me

And we’ll talk of all the things we could be

And then three to the four

And now we’re all spaced out on the floor

Oh what a night to be alive-ee

Oh what a night to be alive-ee

Woah-hh

So get out

Sing and shout

I got high as the ceiling only on the feeling of love

Now we go

But you left me believing I was only dreaming of love

[Instrumental]

Oh what a night to be alive-ee

Oh what a night to be alive-ee

Woah-hh

So get out

Sing and shout

I got high as the ceiling only on the feeling of love

Now we go

But you left me believing I was only dreaming of love

I was only dreaming of love

I was only dreaming of love - oo

I was only dreaming of

Initial Ideas/Concepts:

My initial interpretation of this song was a first person narrative who went to/is at a party. The lyrics "Well I know, You went out, On the town" suggest that the person is looking back on someone else going out the morning after. However the chorus "Oh what a night to be alive-ee" suggests that they've gone back in time and are imagining being out with the person the night before and having a good time. My idea is to have 2 main characters - a male and a female - the male is infatuated by the female and dreams of going to a party with her. By the end of the song it shows the male waking up - really he is homeless and is imagining going to a party with the female who he sees every morning when he wakes up. I feel that a variety of shots can be used to narrate this video and many editing techniques can be experimented with to portray the story from many angles. Additionally, a lot can be done in terms of mis-en-scene (props, costume, composition) to save the twist of the man actually being homeless for the closing lines of the song.