The proposed music video will tell the narrative story of a man convicted of murder and sentenced to death. It will follow him from his court appearance, through his imprisonment and hallucinogenic dreams in his prison cell, to his final execution. The video will change in pace and style to match the different musical stages of the song, from a slow ballad to hard rock to opera. Influences include the original "Bohemian Rhapsody" video for its darkness and changing style, and films like "The Green Mile" for their depictions of executions.

1. Song: Bohemian Rhapsody
Artist: Queen
Director: Daniel Hopkins
Contact: dhopkins888@gmail.com
Production Company: Esprit Productions

2. General Concept
The song featured in my video is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. The song goes through
several musical stages, including a ballad, hard rock and opera. The video will represent the
pace of the music, going from slow to fast and there will be a mixture of effects and camera
shots to make the video effective. The video will generally have a dark, dismal theme as the
video will be set in a prison. The style of appearance will add to the impact and feel of the
video.
Attachments:
Things I want to apply in making the video:
The song is a narrative-based music video with elements of abstract.
The story is about a man convicted of murder and subsequently sentenced to death.
The narration follows him from court, to experiences in his prison cell and finally his
execution. The story will follow him through various stages of his imprisonment:
1. Being led to court, where he will be photographed by journalists, heckled and
abused by an angry group. A Steadicam will be required as he walks to the
prison van. All will be dark apart from the outline of the photographers, the
flash of the cameras and his orange prison suit.
2. His conviction and subsequent sentencing to death. This will take place in a
dim courtroom.
3. His hallucinogenic dreams on the night before execution. This will have bright
lights and he will experience punishment at the hands of demons before he
falls into darkness. He will also beg to be let go in an exchange with the
guards. (Let me go lyrics). A birds eye shot will see him pacing- a dolly rig
may be needed for this
4. His execution, where he receives the electric chair. A Steadicam will be
required to watch him walk to his fate and zoom down corridors and the
exterior of the prison.
There will need to be a main character and numerous extras. The main character will
be male and should be able to act to a professional standard, possibly with drama
qualifications. He should be hired from an acting agency along with the extras. The
man should be pale, slim and weak but, still retain a sense of innocence.
The video will be shot mainly indoors, with only brief outdoor scenes.
The lighting will be dark, to reflect the mood of the video. Low power lights will
suffice for the scenes, excluding the dreams. The only bright light that will be needed
is when he sees the silhouette of the angel in the doorway.
The video will make use of camera techniques such as close ups of tears on a face and
over the shoulder shots.

3. There will be simple cut-to-cut editing but, it will occasionally have transitions with
the camera sliding from scene to scene. There will be text on the screen, which will
fade in and out along with the background. This will require simple editing.
The main character will only ever be seen in an orange prison jumpsuit, which will
often be the bright pinnacle of the mise en scene, as it is telling HIS story.
Guards will wear uniforms; the judge will wear typical black robes and a wig while
everyone else will be wearing either suits or casual clothing.
Guidelines:
The video will have a general dark feel to it, to match the narrative-style lyrics. This means
the colour theme of the video should rarely stray from dark and solemn colours. Bright
colours will be used at various points in the video for effect. These include where he
envisions an angel (a bright light will be behind it, to create a silhouette effect) and where he
is plunged into hell in a nightmare, which will use some psychedelic colours. Also, when he
walks out of his cell and towards the prison van there will be focus on his orange jumpsuit,
with everything else varying shades of black, white and grey. To achieve colour contrasts
throughout the video, actors will have to wear certain clothing and editing will be required
post-production. There should also be a variety of camera shots depending on what is
happening visually, for effect.
Influences (visual style):
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ- The
original video of the song, I will be adopting ideas from this video, such as the darkness and
style of video when the music changes.
Akon – Right Now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIaH35-MLsk – The video slows
down as the journalists take pictures of him and I think I will use a similar style when the
prisoner is walking to his van. This is to show that this is HIS story and to also show the
emotions that he is expressing.
Madonna – Into The Groove - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52iW3lcpK5M - The only
influence I have gained from this is its use of close up shots of a camera‟s flash as a picture is
being taken. I will use the technique in the scene where he walks to the prison van. I want to
include this because I want the viewer to see the extreme attention on the prisoner and to
show he is the focal point of the video. The flashes of the cameras will make him wince and
shows his emotions.
Other influences:
The Green Mile – This film features an execution scene. The prisoner, John Coffey, walks to
his cell and it is eerily quiet and the atmosphere is tense. He, like the character in my video,
has accepted his fate so they are both very similar.
Concerns:
Weather may stall filming, but due to the video being mostly set inside this shouldn‟t
be a major concern. A shelter could be used or a rearrangement of filming times.

4. The budget may not stretch to cover the whole of the video. This may mean we have
to cut scenes out and use cheaper items.
People may be inexperience with the equipment, so they must learn how to use it
before filming.
Depending on uncontrollable factors the deadline may not be met.
Deadlines may not be met due to some of the above concerns.
Crew:
Director / Production Designer: Daniel Hopkins
Directors of Photography: Daniel Hopkins
Assistant Director: Daniel Harrison
Production Manager: Daniel Harrison
Art Director: Lewis Dunn
Set Decorator: Daniel Hopkins
Head Stylist: Daniel Harrison
Make-up: Olivia Singleton
Editor: Daniel Hopkins
GFX: Daniel Harrison
EQUIPMENT: Ryan Sharman

5. Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody
The type of music video for this song will be a narrative one with some abstract elements in
it. The theme will be quite dark but, as the song progresses and goes through different genres
of music the pace and style of the video will also change. The story of the video is about a
man who has murdered someone and is awaiting his fate in court. He is sentenced to death
and is taken to his cell. Once there, on the night before his execution he has hallucinogenic
nightmares with the images becoming more vivid as the rock part of the song begins. The
lyrics will symbolize images he sees e.g. God or the devil will be the „silhouette of a man‟.
When the song slows down, it will be his acceptance of his fate- being led to the electric chair
and being prepared for execution. The final image will be of the prison and the last line
“anyway the wind blows” will finish the video, as it will cut to black. One of my influences is
the „Wake me up when September ends‟ video which also has a narrative story, which is
quite elaborate and goes from a love video to a tragedy as the male protagonist is killed in
Iraq. Another of Queen‟s videos is an influence for me. „I want to break free‟ goes from the
band in drag together to an concept video when they carry on performing the song in a
strange, unique place.