Final group project: Music video production

For the final group project, we have to produce a music video based on the theme that we chose. I teamed up with Edmund, Jamie, Samuel and Weiwei for this project.

In our brainstorming phase, we came up with many themes, from peace to love. We decided on theme of slavery. It is about a student being a slave to his studies and exams. We hope to show to the audience that there is life more than studies and making them to reflect on the unfortunate around him. It is a direct comparison of the differences between a student and a homeless guy.

Our song, "Enslaved" is written and produced by Samuel.

The initial scenes are scenes of the student and a homeless person doing daily mundane things. At certain points, the video would show 2 frames simultaneously depicting the story of the student and the old man. This is for the first half of the video where the general tone of the MTV is slow, dark and sad.

In the prelude before the second, the 2 would meet and chat. This is where the student realises his difficulties are minute as compared to the homeless man. From a slow piece of music, the rhythm and tempo picks up to a livelier jive. This signals a change in the attitude of the student, where he realises that his stress is nothing as compared to the old man’s stress of finding a home. That is when the student realises that he can choose to be free. He can choose to be away from all the books that used to tie him down.

The majority of the shooting was done at Samuel's place. We also went to Northpoint, Yishun Central and East Coast Park to shoot the other scenes. The beginning of the filming was hectic as we took quite some time to set up everything. However, as we get the hang of it, the rest of the filming was a breeze.

As the shooting progressed, we also faced some problems such as the unavailability of locations. As a result, we had to make changes to the original script. One example is the jetty scene. When we scouted the place before we went to shoot, the green tent was not set up yet. We didn't expect Mas Selamat escape to affect us too. The tent was there for the military personnels to keep a lookout for him. We were initially denied the chance to shoot at the jetty as it was supposed to be a cordoned area. However, after some assurance that we will not include them in our video, they let us finished the shoot.

Other problems that we encountered are like the lighting conditions. There were some areas that were simply too dark for us to shoot. Therefore, we had to change our plan on the spot and shoot other scenes to replace the original scenes.

Below is the lyrics of "Enslaved":

ENSLAVED

1st Verse

The chains on my feet are cold and heavy
It's making me feel all old and achy
No I have got to press on till he is happy
Until the day when I am set free

2nd Verse
I wake up each day with chores unending
I finish each job with some more coming
No I have got to press on till he is happy
Until the day when I am set free

Pre chorus
For the work never ends
And my rest is now
Enslaved but I yearn to be free
O give me a hope
A light or a voice
To God on high I cry
Set me free

Chorus
The chains on my feet are cold and heavy
And my rest is now
It's making me feel all old and ugly
No I've got to press on till he is happy
Until the day when I am set free

3rd verse
The chains on my feet are cold and heavy
It's making me feel all old and ugly
Until the day I choose to be free

4th verse
I wake up each day with chores unending
To finish each one is joy overflowing
I will not press on because I am happy
Until the day I choose to be free

2nd Prechorus
For the work never ends
And my rest is now
O give me a hope
A light or a voice
To God on high I cry
Set me free

2nd Chorus
The chains on my feet are big and ugly
It's making me feel all young and trendy

I will not press on because I am happy

Until the day I choose to be free

ENDING