*I’ve created original concepts for over a hundred music videos. Many have gone on to win multiple awards. Below are a few of my favorites:
Katy Perry “Firework” - Best Music Video of the Year
Camera will match cut from Katy’s glowing heartbeat to the glowing heartbeat of the girl who now stands in between her fighting parents. Her dad yells at her, trying to push her aside, and her heart beats faster and faster, burning brighter and brighter as courage starts to course through her. Her mom’s screaming becomes deafening and the girl raises her hands up to cover her ears.
In the club, the guy sucks in his breath and his beating heart wills him to keep walking forward even though the rest of him wants to turn around and hide. Intercut with these intimate vignettes, Katy’s performance will rise in intensity as the light from her beating heartbeat surrounds her in an effervescent glow.
As Katy’s performance rises into a crescendo, camera will pull back to reveal a symphony of Katy’s fans playing the string sections of the song. The poetic reveal of this moment will blend back into Katy’s beating heart and then in slow motion, the spark of her heart will erupt into a firework as it shoots out from within her. Using the technique of a high speed, slow motion camera, the light will burst forth from within her like the truth of her soul breaking free. It will look like a rush of light shooting out from the front and back of the heart as the firework is born to life, lifting Katy up into this ecstasy of amazing hope and truth.
The firework bursting forth from within Katy will be the inspiration that will spread through more moments as each person finds their courage to erupt into an invincible firework.
Taylor Swift - Mean
Chorus
Taylor lands softly on the ground. She is still forlorn over her halo. A hand on her shoulder causes her to look up. She sees a girl who is pointing toward the halo Taylor still holds. It’s one of the halos she managed to rescue and Taylor hands it to the girl who gratefully puts it on. A smile lights up the girl’s face.
Taylor looks around to see where she is and the lights of the big city are twinkling just ahead of her. Taylor looks down at the other halos she has and her new friend points in the direction of the city. Now, Taylor knows what her next mission is.
Taylor walks toward the city. The lights glow brighter and brighter around her. She glows with every step she takes forward, the light of a grown up determination and confidence transforming every girlhood fantasy she once had into a new mission to return lost innocence and naiveté back to the people whose halos have been stolen.
Rihanna - Where Have You Been
We open on water rushing toward the camera. Quick cutting shots catch each of these moments from different perspectives as Rihanna’s body moves through the water like a crocodile, with just her eyes rising up over the surface of the water. The surface of the water is swampy. Branches and leaves float on the top of it, catching in Rihanna’s hair as she moves through the debris. Water-snakes move through the water. (They’ll be fake so just their movement in the water will just suggest that they’re there.)
Her eyes flash at us with the ‘red eye’ hollow reflection like animals have in the wild. When the camera moves into her eye the colors will intensify so it looks like a flash of kaleidoscopic color suddenly exploding in this fast cutting way. The sepia colored tones to the film will also make these bursts of red stand out even more.
Rihanna starts to emerge from the water. Steam leaves her body, surrounding her movements in a mysterious fog. The leaves and debris fall from her skin and the image of her emerging and coming closer toward the camera stutters in and out. Her cat-like eyes cut through the darkness.
She’s still slightly submerged in the water when the camera pulls into the pupil of her eye and when the camera pulls back out we’re surrounded in the forest and her dancers.
Additional music video concepts include:
P!NK “Fuckin’ Perfect” - Best Music Video With A Message
Selena Gomez “Hands to Myself”
JAY-Z & Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind”
Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” - Winner Best Music Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video