music video concept for Cory Wong
Concept
Our video opens on Cory playing guitar in his bedroom. There’s a tap on the window. He pulls back the curtain to see a briefcase floating outside.
We cut to Cory walking in the city with his briefcase. We're seeing him from above. He is surrounded by a crowd of business people, all holding briefcases. They stop, start, and turn around abruptly. Cory sings as he’s disoriented in the middle of the crowd.
Visual effects and simple choreography create overwhelming patterns of movement.
Cory rides an elevator up. He notices that he’s the only person not in business attire. Magically, the briefcase opens on its own and a business casual outfit pops out.
Cory and two other applicants wait in the office lobby. They each check their watch and straighten their ties in a sequence, creating choreography out of mundane movement.
Cory gets the job. Overjoyed, he and his briefcase fly through the skies around office buildings. The effects are cheesy on purpose, like the shoddy greenscreen from the 1970s Superman movies.
In the air, Cory leaps up a series of briefcases as if they were steps, creating an upward diagonal.
We transition to Cory giving a presentation to the office, beginning with a matching upward arrow on a graph.
In the second chorus, the briefcases open like mouths and sing the backup vocals. This is accomplished with practical puppet work.
As the video progresses, Cory’s office experience becomes sinister. In one scene he opens his briefcase to see his own head looking up at him.
Finally, Cory’s guitar comes to his rescue. It hovers outside the office window, beckoning him to return to music. He video ends with Cory and his guitar flying through the skies.
Visual Reference
Shot like a classic 1960s movie musical. The video is full of bright colors and vintage-inspired wardrobe. The color palate emphasizes pinks, yellows, blues, and purples.
List of Setups
A list of possible individual setups:
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Cory sees a lost briefcase and tries to return it to its owner but he gets lost in a crowd
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OR A flying briefcase taps on Cory’s bedroom window
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Cory is disoriented in a crowd of business people
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Cory tries to turn and leave but his briefcase pulls him to the front steps of a BIG OFFICE BUILDING
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Cory throws his guitar in a trash can
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Cory stamps various papers. He doesn’t notice that one of the pages is his own face. He stamps himself in the eye
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Cory and two other applicants wait in chairs. They echo each-others movement (simple choreo)
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Cory realizes he’s under-dressed but his briefcase opens to reveal a suit and tie, which magically dress him
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Cory sings “bus or on a flight” we see him and the three applicants act as if they’re on a bus with light effect
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Cory rolls around the office on a chair- pulled by the magical briefcase
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Cory flies with the briefcase. We see this in the background through the windows while a mundance office scene plays in the foreground
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Cory eats lunch out of his briefcase ontop of a telephone pole
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Cory serenades his co-workers with his guitar for the final chorus
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Cory walks up briefcases in the sky. It transitions to a presentation with an up arrow graphic
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Performance setup: Cory sits on his floating briefcase in the sky
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Cory bounces on a briefcase in the sky (filmed on a mini-trampoline)
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Cory gives a presentation. He uses Bob Dylan style cards that match the lyrics