The document provides background information and initial ideas for a music video for the song "For Reasons Unknown" by The Killers. It discusses lyrical interpretations suggesting the song is about loss, heartbreak, and escaping memories of a past lover. Ideas for the music video's plot involve a male character haunted by flashes of his deceased girlfriend as he tries to leave town. The video would combine the band's performance with a narrative following the character. Editing techniques like fades and flashes are proposed to transition between scenes and create an illusion that the girlfriend may or may not be real. The overall tone is meant to be dark, mysterious, and leave the song's meaning open to the audience's interpretation.

1. INITIAL IDEASFor Reasons Unknown

2. BACKGROUND ON THE SONGFor Reasons Unknown
For reasons Unknown, is the fifth track on
their second album ‘Sam’s Town.’ It became
on of their lowest singles in the UK to date
and only spent one week on the UK Top 75.
The lead singer said that they had released
too many singles for the album and wished
they hadn’t released the single ‘bones.’ By
making a new music video for the song it will
allow the single to be placed back into the
charts and hopefully be more popular than it
was previously.
Although it has been rumoured that the song was
inspired by the Lead singers paternal grandmother
and her battle with Alzheimer's. There are many
ways people interpret the song. This is why we
have chose it as we can give it a newer definition
that the audience can connect to. Even the band
have described it’s about falling in love. The
ambiguity of the song meaning it is personal to
whoever is listening. For some people the song is
about the fear of getting older and losing
everything. For others this strong idea of time and
perhaps getting older is clear in the song. Lot’s of
other people think it is about love. Where
Somebody has fallen out of love and it is
describing these inner emotions. As the
song can be interpreted in many different
ways the music video will try contain this
ambiguity as what is intriguing to the
audience is the fact that there is not one
definite meaning and it can be personal
to them and their lives.

3. OUR IDEAS OF THE SONGFor Reasons Unknown
Memories
Flashbacks
Death?
Seeing things that are not there?
Illusions? All in this mind?
Idea of mystery/ confusion
so the audience are
confused as to what is
happening
Links to the lyrics – For
Reasons Unknown
Love?
Somebody who
left him?
Somebody who died?
Heartbreak?
Don’t know what happened to add
suspense and mystery
Her ghost still haunts him?
Is he really haunted? Or is
it all just in his mind?
Is the reason why he is
depressed/ has to escape
He is reflecting
on the past
Happier
times?
He is surrounded by crowds of
people but feels utterly alone
Perhaps the meaning is
unknown and the song is
about confusing and
mystery?Maybe she is real?
Not just a ghost?
Sees her in the present
Is she really dead? Or is it
all in his mind?
Keep the audience
confused and wondering
Maybe this is just his
thoughts?
Stuck in the past? Is that
why he needs to escape?

4. LYRICAL ANALYSISFor Reasons Unknown
As a group we decided the song in itself had a
sad tone. We felt the main idea throughout
the song is that the singer is trying to escape
and leave the place where his significant other
died and he is haunted by the memories of
her. The song shows that he is emotionally
damaged and perhaps confused. This is quite
a simple idea and as the song is quite vague
within it’s meaning which allows us to play
around with this concept and make it unclear
to the audience when making the music video.
From the first lyrics we
immediately interpreted it as the
singer moving away from
something. This was a concept we had from the very start.
With the lyrics following after with him referring to
himself as older and colder. There is a sad presence
in the song. There is this idea that perhaps he is
trying to escape somebody. Although it does not
say it anywhere in the song we interpreted this as his
significant other is dead and he is trying to escape and
leave her memory behind and move forward. However,
it’s clear in the song he is still thinking of her. As he is
talking about change and he is heartbroken. He talks about his
heart not beating showing that he is physically feeling the loss. The
lyrics about not recognising and seeing her no more are interesting
and there is this idea that he feels that she is still there but she is not
who she was before as she is no longer here. This is an interesting
concept with this idea that everything he is seeing is within his mind.
This idea of the song being all about being his past love is clear
when he talks about an open chair. He says ‘we’ in this part of the
song and this is important to note that he is perhaps reflecting on
times while she was still alive and in a happier moment. The song
itself is quite vague and sometimes the lyrics we see don’t make
sense. This adds to the lyrics ‘for reasons unknown’ it’s clear that the
singer is feeling lost and doesn’t really know what is happening.

5. THE RHYTHM OF THE SONGFor Reasons UnknownThere is a consistent rhythm throughout the song, and
is why we initially chose it. This constant beat will allow
us to match images to the pace of the song without it
getting too complex, furthermore we hear lots of use of
the bass and guitar in the song. This means there can
be images matching to this throughout the video to
connect the band to the music video. However, near
the end of the song the rhythm of the song slows down
and then goes really fast. This will allow us to build
anticipation in the video. This will probably be done
through a montage of different clips relating to the
lyrics. As it has quite a steady tone throughout the
whole song this will allow us to easily create our story
at a pace that the audience can understand it. Also, the
lyrics themselves are quite simple with the beat and by
reflecting the story to this visually this will connect the
audience in narrative and lyrics making them want to
watch it more.

6. INITAL IDEAS FOR THE VIDEOFor Reasons Unknown
Main character is moving
away/leaving from something
Moving on from a past relationship?
Moving away from
heartbreak?
Fallen out of love?
Main character is male
to connect with the
band
Something upsetting has
happened to the character
Some aspect of
love/relationships?
Something feels
missing/lost in the
characters life
Death?
Mourning over loss of a loved one
He is escaping his thoughts over
this loss
Mentally detached from reality
Fixated on the past and cannot move
on without moving away
Friend?
Family?
Past Lover?
Flashbacks?
Illusions?
Is it really her? Or is it the
characters imagination?Incomplete
Girlfriend?
Memories of happier times

7. BASIC PLOT OF THE VIDEOFor Reasons Unknown
When thinking of an idea for the music video
we had quite a simple idea in mind however we
didn't know every detail of it. As we got deeper
into the song a backstory became more
apparent to us as a group. When thinking of
our main plot line and the lyrics is was clear
that the song itself is quite vague. This allowed
us to play around with our idea and making it
less obvious to the audience what is actually
happen. We feel that this will interest the
audience and connect on a personal level
Narrative:
The main character in the story is a male character. Not much is
known about this character but he is the main focus in the music
video, the character is connected to the lead vocalist of the band.
This is as we see the lyrics develop around this character and he is
connected with the lead vocalist to show they share the same
emotions.
The male character in the music video is looking for an escape and is
leaving where he lives. This is as the character is haunted by
memories of his past lover who has died. However, as he is trying to
leave he still sees glimpses of her. It is unknown whether it is her
ghost, his imagination or if she is actually alive (that is for the
audience to interpret.) The music video follows his journey to leave
and the last part of the music video is him leaving on a train,
escaping the memories of this woman.
It us unknown to the audience who the woman is to this man, this
allows the audience connect to it personally and have their own view
on what it means. This allows the music video to be subjective to
different audience and allows for more of a connection and mystery
when the audience watch it.
THE VIDEO IS A COMBINATION OF
NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE Performance:
In some parts of the video we will see
the band performing various parts of
the song. This will be in a studio with a
spotlight on them to give the band an
interesting edge. In the performance we
will see the lead vocalist sing the lyrics
and the other band members playing
the instruments. Direct address will also
be used to connect the band and
audience together.

8. EDITING IDEAS OF THE VIDEO
For Reasons UnknownColour Tone:
When in the editing process of our music video as a group we had
discussed this idea of colour in depth. We liked the idea of using a
darker and colder colour theme over the video to give it a sadder
effect to the audience to show that this is meant to make them feel
emotional. However, we want to make the performance of the music
video a warmer tone. This will contrast the two types of things in our
video showing the audience that they’re different. As we’re going to
have the band performing in spotlights this will be an interesting
effect making them come alive to the audience.
Fades/Flashes:
To transition between shots a main idea we have is to include
flashes. This will work especially well for when we’re trying to create
this idea of flashback to the audience and also will be a good
transition when going from narrative to the performance. We also like
this idea of fades for our music video. These are not quite dramatic
but will allow the audience to settle into a scene. This will also work
quite well if we use a slow fade of the mysterious girl as it will show
her fading away to the audience and will create an illusion to the
audience wondering if she is real or not.
At the moment as a group we’re unsure what
exact editing we will use in the music video.
This is as we’re currently unsure what will work
best in our music video. However, we do have
some basic ideas which may be a part of the
music video. This is as we want to convey a
darker element to the music video to contrast
the rhythm of the music and to link it towards
the digipak and advertisement which are a
darker element to show that this is a darker era
for The Killer's.

9. LINKING TO PREVIOUS RESEARCHFor Reasons UnknownAudience Research:
After finding audience research this immediately gave us
ideas what things we should include in the music video. One
of the main things was the combination of narrative and
performance as otherwise the audience will be disengaged.
Furthermore, from the audience research it is clear that our
clips need to match the rhythm of the music so the audience
can really enjoy the music. Throughout the ideas process this
is something we have clearly thought about and are putting
into place for the music video.
Band Research:
When looking at The Killers it is clear that they don’t fit all the
conventions of a rock genre. We have taken this into
consideration and are trying to give it a different tone as the
audience enjoy this quirky attitude that The Killers have.
From all their albums it’s clear that they’re all quite uplifting so
we wanted to give a twist to this and give The Killers a darker
edge, this will be consistent throughout the promotional
packaging too and we feel it will be really effective for the
audience. However, the video will still include appearances of
the band as that is what The Killers are seen to do in all their
music videos.