10.6.13

never dull your shine for someone else- tell them to put sunglasses on.

I have a lot of things to be very excited about this month. First of all, my school is hosting the first-ever student film festival in Dubai, and it is going to be amazing. I actually cannot wait. I love film festivals because of the amazing talent that is showcased through them. Plus, the movies are great- they often have more depth than the typical commercial blockbuster. Two of the summer movies that I am really excited about premiered at festivals: Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing at SXSW (Much Ado is my favourite Shakespeare play EVERRR) and Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring at Cannes. Speaking of Cannes, can we just take a minute to marvel at Nicole Kidman's Cannes red carpet dresses? They were absolutely stunning.

A screenshot from Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. AAAH I'M SO EXCITED.
Anyway, back to the point. As a drama student, my final project was to create a music video that would be entered into the film festival. To do this, we got into groups, decided on a song and then worked on creating a message that would be portrayed through the four-minute video. Our group decided to communicate a simple message that we've all heard a million times before: Never change the person you are. In our video, we have five different story lines running parallel to each other: one girl is in an abusive relationship, another is being pressured into choosing a career she doesn't want, the third is being bullied and the fourth girl is under peer pressure. The fifth and last character is the constant, with no particular storyline. I can't tell you any more, because, as a certain archaeologist would say: 'spoilers' (you need to be a Whovian to get that reference).

Okay, I lied, I am going to tell you a little bit more, but I suggest you first watch the video here in order to avoid spoilers.

There can never be too much River Song on a blog.
I suppose you have watched the video by now, so I will continue. I love all of the storylines in the video, because I think that they're all really relevant. For example, the first storyline has to do with bullying, and I think that at some point in our lives, each and every one of us has been bullied in some way or another. It may not have been physical bullying, but all of us have been subjected to some kind of verbal bullying at some point or the other. And it needs to stop. I've always been told that if someone tries to bully you, just walk away because the bully is looking for attention, looking for a reaction. That's exactly what the girl in the video does. She gets up, looks around the cafetaria and she realises that no one is going to help her because they think that by helping her, they will be targeted. She then walks (well, runs) away from it all.

As for the second storyline- I'm not sure if this is clear, but basically the girls' mother is telling her that she cannot become a swimmer and should choose a career that has a future. Again, I think we can all kind of relate to this, because there's always someone who will tell you that you can't achieve your dreams because they're too 'unrealistic'. I guess you just have to believe in yourself. If you want it enough, you will get it, no matter how many people laugh at you.


I love the third storyline- where the girl is under peer pressure. I love this because she really does something about her problem. The others mainly just run away, and although it's assumed that they are never troubled by their problems again, it's likely that they would come back in the future. I love how she takes the bottle, and just when everyone thinks she's going to give in to peer pressure, she pours the drink into a plant and walks out of the party (thanks to my drama teacher for coming up with that idea). It kind of shows that you can't just run away all the time, sometimes you need to take action. That being said, sometimes running away can be taking action. In the case of the girl who has an abusive boyfriend, by running away from him, she's taking a huge step because she's showing that she's brave enough to escape.

The fifth character is interesting. She's just running for the entire video- she never stops right until the very end. And unlike the other characters, we don't know why she's running. She just is. She could be running to something- maybe her entire objective was to find and meet the rest of the girls, or maybe she's running away from something. The change in the scenery around her represents the change in the storylines- as she approaches more developed areas, the characters take those crucial steps towards getting out of the situations that they are in.

A screenshot from the video.
My favourite part of the whole video has to be the end, when all five characters unite. The audience is left not really knowing what's going to happen to them, but I like to think that they all stick together and help each other get over their problems and leave them behind. I think it shows how you can't always forget your problems by yourself- sometimes you need support and help. By coming together, these five characters are basically providing support for one another.

So there you are- my breakdown of our music video. I hope you guys enjoyed it and please let me know your thoughts on it in the comments. I'd love to know the different deeper meanings that you found because it's interesting to see how different people can interpret the same thing in different ways.

I will leave you with a quote from Coco Chanel: "A girl should be two things: who and what she wants."
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PS: on an unrelated note, you guys should check out this epic article on Flavorwire about what your favourite Shakespeare play says about you. It's hilarious!

9 comments:

  1. :( it won't let me watch it on a mobile device! However, it sounds really relatable, even without watching, and looks great from the screenshot (I will borrow someone's laptop at some point). I would loooove to watch the Bling Ring (who wouldn't with Sophia Coppola's wonderful visuals and Enma Watson acting?). I also like the quote "Fashion is made to become unfashionable" from Chanel, its like a "develop your own taste rather than succumb to a peer pressure that just wants your money" :)

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  2. Unlike poor old Cecily, I do have the ability to watch your video and may I say it was rather well done ;) And that article is sehr lustig, however they don't have Anthony and Cleopatra :'( And I can't wait for the Much Ado About Nothing movie, when my brother showed me the trailer, I just spent the next hour jumping around my house :P

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    1. Thank you very much! I haven't actually read Anthony and Cleopatra- probably should. THE TRAILER IS AMAZING, especially the UK one. I can't wait how they're doing the scenes where Benedick and Beatrice are being tricked to falling in love. And Nathan Fillion as Dogberry is just going to be amazing.

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  3. I love the video. It's so inspiring and relevant. It gave me goosebumps. I also love how you ended with a Coco Chanel quote x

    http://prettypassionsfinefashions.blogspot.co.uk

    http://sophiewilsonsbooks.blogspot.co.uk

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  4. Awh, it's a lovely music video. You've done a really great job with the shots. Keep it up. =D
    And I wish we also have a student film festival here in Abu Dhabi. That'd be nice... :'( However, I did volunteer for the Abu Dhabi Film Festival which was pretty amazing. ^.^

    I love Imagine Dragons and they're such an amazing band. <3


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    1. Yaaay, another person living here in the UAE (:

      Volunteering for the ADFF sounds amazing! I'd love to volunteer here at DIFF. As for student film festivals, you could always try to organize one at your school! (:

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  5. tagged you in a fun question/answer post! blog: instead of an elephant

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  6. Hey, I nominated you for the Liebster award, find out more on my post here...
    http://whimsicalprocrastination.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/liebster-award.html

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  7. Hey! Cecily and I have nominated you also for the Liebster award, therefore direct your mouse into this corner of the internet:
    http://theirfancies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/an-oppertunity-for-extreme-narcissism.html

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